SEEN AND HEARD: AMORPHIS, ÆTHER REALM, KRISIUN

 

Still in Texas, still working my ass off (but not on NCS), still not able to listen to much metal — but I did have time for a quick swim through the effluent of the interhole, and these things caught my eye (and ears).

AMORPHIS

Thanks to my NCS comrade Andy Synn, I saw the striking cover art above, by Valnoir Mortasonge, which Finland’s Amorphis posted on their Facebook wall, along with this announcement:

 

 

Amorphis are pleased to announce the release of their new upcoming album Under The Red Cloud The worldwide release is scheduled for September, 04th. Pre-order your copy of Amorphis’ new masterpiece here:

The tracklist of Under The Red Cloud is as follows:
01. Under The Red Cloud
02. The Four Wise Ones
03. Bad Blood
04. The Skull
05. Death Of A King
06. Sacrifice
07. Dark Path
08. Enemy At The Gates
09. Tree Of Ages
10. White Night
Bonus tracks (digipak & 2LP):
11. Come The Spring
12. Winter’s Sleep

The album was produced by Jens Bogren, and the Nuclear Blast web shop provided this further information:

“The lyrics are written by AMORPHIS’s spiritual mentor Pekka Kainulainen. ”Like Kalevala, they are descriptions of natural phenomena, seasons and the human mind. Reoccuring situations where hope and uncertainty alternate. Attempting to gain advice from higher powers. The poems do not form a complete story per se, but they are drawn together by a certain theme. We live under a red cloud and once again, time weighs us,” describes Pekka Kainulainen.”

I must say I’m eager for this album because I so enjoyed Amorphis’ set at Maryland Deathfest this year. I realize that the new record may not be (probably won’t be) as crushingly heavy as that set, which drew from the band’s older albums, but I’m still eager.

 

 

ÆTHER REALM

Last March, North Carolina’s Æther Realm released a new single named “The Chariot” that DGR reviewed and praised in this feature. Here’s an excerpt:

The group pull the reins in a little bit on the folk element of their sound, and in its stead go heavier on the guitars and keyboards, a little bit more Children Of Bodom than Wintersun this time around. The shocking thing, though, is that the band still take in all of their influences and manage to make them their own, creating music that easily stands alongside the better-known acts who are out there.

Late yesterday the band unveiled an official music video for “The Chariot”, and you can check it out below. Any excuse to listen to “The Chariot” is a good excuse, and the video is fun to watch — so do it! (The song is available on Bandcamp.)

https://aether-realm.bandcamp.com/track/the-chariot
https://www.facebook.com/AetherRealm

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

KRISIUN

I’m a few days late posting this news, but I’m such an admirer of Krisiun’s music that I feel compelled to do this, even though it may not be “news” for many of you. Here’s an excerpt from the official announcement by Century Media about the band’s new album:

Death metal maniacs KRISIUN just finished the recording of their new album, Forged In Fury, which is set to be released worldwide via Century Media Records on August 7th, 2015. Featuring cover artwork by renowned artist Joe Petagno (MOTORHEAD, MARDUK, VADER, etc.), Forged In Fury was produced by Erik Rutan….

KRISIUN is extremely proud of their new opus and had this to say about the album and their work with producer Erik Rutan:

“Forged in Fury marks our return to the studio after 3 years of constantly touring all over the globe. Things were working well as we were always satisfied with the results of the previous records, but we thought that it was time for a change.
Erik Rutan was the chosen one to be the producer, at Mana Recording Studios in Florida.

This album could be described as a ‘more natural’ sounding album; the songs came out with more ambience and more low-end, making it sound even more brutal and straight-forward. It took us a lot of hard work and dedication, no fashions or tendencies were followed, this is a true relentless metal album to the bone, with a huge, natural sound.

The song writing captures all the experience and feelings we gathered thru all the years of touring and recording, it has more variation and dynamics, but is still 100% KRISIUN.

Erik has a huge participation within the whole process, especially with regards to the band’s performance. He was able to get the best out of each one of us, as we have been friends for a long time, so it was a pleasure working with him.

This album was made with a lot of heart and passion for metal music.

Hopefully you metal maniacs enjoy it as much as we did working it out.

See you on the road.

—Alex and KRISIUN.”

All I’ve got to say is Fuck Yeah.