KARDASHEV Unleashes “Seed Of The Night” Video/Single

“Seed Of The Night” is the latest single from progressive deathgaze alchemists, KARDASHEV. The emotional new track comes off the band‘s Alunea full-length, set for release on April 25th on Metal Blade Records.

Alunea is a direct sequel to the events of The Almanac and picks up right where the song “Beyond Sun And Moon” leaves off. Vocalist Mark Garrett comments, “The first releases in The KARDASHEV Mythos were broad and conceptual, but they‘ve morphed into something more granular and specific. Alunea tells the story of the main character from The Almanac album meeting a being created in the song ’Continuum‘ from the Excipio album. Their meeting is a philosophical examination of where responsibility and duty intersect. We don‘t try to answer those questions, but we do examine them deeply in this album.”

Garrett further elaborates on their latest single, “’Seed Of The Night” involves Sky-Brother telling the being of their destiny. He explains they were created to bring life to a planet that humanity could never be able to reach, and to continue mankind’s legacy. The being feels burdened by the responsibility and takes on the name ’Atlas‘ to represent the weight of their perceived destiny.

“Musically, this song was written as a progressive exploration in composition as it sees what the band refers to as ’the funk-down‘ when the traditional composition of a deathcore-style breakdown is enhanced into a melody throughout the rhythm section as opposed to the often-overused simplicity of ’Chug Chug Chug.‘”

Adds guitarist Nico Mirolla, “We (collectively) can find ourselves depending too much on the most powerful moments of music going so far as to make it into an entire composition of ’that moment‘ when in reality that approach can devalue the once powerful moment of something like an open chord breakdown. This song was an opportunity to break that mold, and hopefully people feel that.”

Watch KARDASHEV‘s “Seed Of The Night” video HERE:

Photo by Scream Dudes

Alphastate – The Grind (2018)

As most of you know I used to write for Ever Metal and have the kind permission from them to reproduce the reviews I wrote for them here.

We will start with this one from Alphastate

Alphastate are a Greek metal band, formed in 2013 as a personal project of Pete Breaker (guitars). Vocalist Manos Xanthakis joined in in 2015 and the line up was complete in 2016 with the additions of Dimitris Tsounakis on bass and Fivos Andriopoulos on the drums. They released their first album “Out of the Black” in 2015 and received excellent and positive press globally.

Says the band: “we wanted to combine modern metal with 80’s and 90’s influences such as Metallica, Ozzy Osbourne, Pantera and Nevermore to create a very personal and extreme style with no boundaries.”

So, what genre of metal are Alphastate? To pigeonhole them into one category would be wrong and do them a severe injustice. They play heavy metal that is heavier than normal, but they have thrown in a bit of power too, with just a hint of doom (think Sabbath, Candlemass and Trouble), and this gives them an almost unique sound.

I always think the vocals make any band and am always on the lookout for bands that have distinctive and different singers. If I am totally honest, on the first run through of the album, I didn’t actually like Manos’s vocals but after listening a few times, I realised I really didn’t give him much credit. His vocals are deep, and unmistakably Greek, which is by no means a bad thing. He could quite easily fit into a band such as Firewind if they were ever on the lookout.

I must admit that I hadn’t listened to the band’s first album before listening to this one, but the promo notes that came with the album stated that they wanted to take a more modern and aggressive approach musically with this new album. They wanted “very loud and distinctive guitars, a more modern production that had the vocals pushed up front and drums that punched through the sound.”  

I think they were successful on all three counts. Take the guitars out of this album and they would slot straight into a Pantera album, the drums are strong and tight, and I have already mentioned the vocals above.

This album includes a lot more of the band’s own thoughts and experiences making it the most personal release so far, and sonically it is their best. They have made an album that is “pure aggression with the best songs they have ever written.”

One thing that I wasn’t overly keen on with this album, was the lack of variation. Each song seemed to sound much like the last, and I am not sure if this is due to unfamiliarity with the tracks. Maybe with a few more listens through, the songs may start to separate a bit.

But this doesn’t take away from the fact, that this is a solid album, and for a band that has only really been together properly since 2016, it’s a good sign of things to come.

Give these guys a go……and they may just surprise you!

TRACK LIST

01. Trapped

02. Phantom Desires

03. Speak Your Mind

04. Theater Of Lies

05. The Grind

06. Forevermore

07. Behind The Dark

08. Heaven’s World

09. Man Made God

SOCIAL MEDIA

https://www.facebook.com/AlphastateMetal/

https://www.instagram.com/alphastate_official/

Reproduced with kind permission from Ever Metal

Incinery – Hollow Earth Theory (2020)

After being out of the reviewing loop for a while, I decided to take on a few new albums to review, and one that appeared on the list was “Hollow Earth Theory” by Incinery.

Incinery are a five-piece thrash metal band based in Nottingham. Formed in 2009 (why have I only just heard of these guys?!) they have built themselves a reputation for intense, energetic live performances, combining tight rhythms, blistering leads and aggressive vocals and this has earned them spots at major events throughout the UK and Europe.

After winning the Metal To The Masses competition, leading to their breakthrough performance on The New Blood Stage at Bloodstock in 2012, the band have also performed at Metaldays in Slovenia, Download, A Night of Salvation (Damnation pre-show) and Hard Rock Hell, sharing the stage with acclaimed acts such as Exodus, Onslaught, Lawnmower Deth, Hirax, Xentrix and Savage Messiah.

They have released two EP’s, “Dawn Of War” in 2011 and “Nothing Left” in 2013 and there debut album “Dead, Bound and Buried”, which was produced by the legendary Chris Tsangarides, was released in 2013.

2018 saw the start of the writing for their sophomore album and the result “Hollow Earth Theory” was released on 30th October 2020.

Mixed and recorded by Chris Kenny, the band’s guitarist, with the drums recorded and produced by Sam Bloor of Lower Lane Studios and the album mixed and mastered by Peter Dowsett (lecturer at the Abbey Road Institute), the band have taken inspiration from a bleak mix of occultism, conspiracy theories and science fiction to produce a “whiplash nightmare tour of the titular hollow earth.”

As Metal Hammer describes it, its “like front row seats to a cage fight between Pantera and Testament!”

For fans of the aforementioned Pantera and Testament as well as Lamb of God and a whole host of other thrash bands, you can hear the influences that these bands have had on Incinery. With meaty sounds, crunching riffs and a modern, aggressive take on traditional thrash metal, they have sealed their place as one of the UK’s most fierce thrash metal bands. And rightly deserved too.

Described as having “the speed and ferocity of 80’s thrash but injecting a relentless, modern edge and brutality with influences from the metal spectrum” I wish I had discovered this band a lot earlier than I have done and at just under an hour in length, this album is unrelenting and takes you on a thrash metal journey that is full of energy and aggression from start to finish….and that is by no means a bad thing!

2020 may have been a crazy, messed up year for us all but, at least, we had awesome new albums like this to listen to. I am very much looking forward to what these guys offer us in the coming years, and I am already a big fan!

Keep up the great work, Incinery and will see you at a gig real soon

Track Listing

Hollow Earth

Savage Lands

The Less Dead

Forgotten One

Carrion King

Ellison

Falling Into The Sky

As Above, So Below

The Sorrow Of The Last

Beyond The Dawn

Terminal Singularity

Social Media

www.incinery.com

www.facebook.com/incinery

/www.incinery.bandcamp.com