SEEN AND HEARD: WOLFHEART, ENSLAVED, DEVATHORN, COLISEUM, MINSK, BINARY CODE, CRETIN

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Feb 272015
 

Tuomas Saukkonen (Wolfheart)

It’s the same old story. Metal is such an over-boiling cauldron of creativity that if you have to wait a few days to go exploring for new things, you find yourself up to your neck in hot water. Or at least that’s what happened to me yesterday.

Having failed to compile a round-up of new music since last Sunday, I felt overwhelmed when confronting how much I wanted to write about today. I had to make some hard choices about what to recommend, and even then I had to stifle my usual verbosity — time is a harsh mistress, and not in a good way. So, with a regrettable (to me) minimum of introductory comments, here’s a selection of what lit me up over the last 24 hours, presented in the order in which I saw and heard them. I’ll have a few more new items to share with you on Saturday.

WOLFHEART

Earlier this month Spinefarm Records re-released Winterborn, the fantastic album by Wolfheart that we praised to the skies (repeatedly) when it was first self-released by the band in 2013. The re-issue comes with two bonus tracks (“Isolation” and “Into the Wild”). Two days ago Wolfheart premiered a music video for the album’s first track, “The Hunt”, which shows scenes from the recording of the track. It’s a wonderful song (it was on our list of 2013’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs), and any excuse to hear it again is welcome. Continue reading »

VIDEOGRAPHY: FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, WOLFHEART

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Dec 092014
 

 

I thought that once I got back to Seattle on Sunday from my two-week sojourn to the East Coast, things would return to normal. That hasn’t happened. The old fuckin’ day job has continued to have its way with me like a lonely shepherd on a tethered goat. Between that kind of raw treatment and getting other people’s year-end lists ready for posting, I’ve had precious little time to write about new music and videos. I do have a very long list of new things to check out, but I’m afraid all I can do at the moment is toss these two excellent videos your way.

FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE

These Italian maestros of blistering symphonic death metal have just released an official video for the song “Epilogue”, which appears on their latest album, Labyrinyth. The video was directed by Francesco Paoli and Salvatore Perrone and features special guests soprano vocalist Veronica Bordacchini (who was a fine addition to the band’s live show when she accompanied them on their NorthAm tour earlier this year), guitarist Marco Sensi, and cellist Shamatiyenko Kostyantyn. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (Part 1): WOLFHEART, TAAKE, SKÀLMÖLD, BRANT BJORK

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Oct 232014
 

 

Yesterday brought a flood of new music and announcements that peaked my interest. I didn’t have time to post about any of them yesterday, so I’ve got a lot to cover this morning. Which is why this round-up is divided into two parts, with the second one coming later on.

WOLFHEART

Wolfheart’s self-released 2013 debut album Winterborn was fantastic. It was exactly the balm needed to salve the wounds that Tuomas Saukkonen temporarily inflicted on fans when he folded all of his other projects (including Before the Dawn and Black Sun Aeon) to start fresh. Yesterday brought the announcement that Spinefarm Records has now signed Wolfheart and will be re-releasing Winterborn on February 3, 2015, with two additional bonus tracks — “Isolation” and “Into the Wild”. This will be the first physical edition of the album to be made available worldwide.

But even more exciting than that was the news that next year Spinefarm will also be releasing Wolfheart’s second album Shadow World, which the band is now in the process of completing. And here’s one more titillating tidbit of Wolfheart news from the same announcement: Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2013’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 9

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2013  9 Responses »
Jan 232014
 

Welcome to Part 9 of our list of the year’s most infectious extreme metal songs. For more details about what this list is all about and how it was compiled, read the introductory post via this link. To see the selections that preceded the two I’m announcing today, click here.

Both of today’s songs are folk-influenced examples of epic melodic death metal — albeit from widely separated corners of the world. They’re both highly infectious, too.

WOLFHEART

When Finland’s Tuomas Saukkonen announced about a year ago that he was shutting down all of his many musical projects — Before the Dawn, Black Sun Aeon, Dawn of Solace, Routasielu, and Final Harvest — it rocked me and many of his other fans, and not in a good way. But what Saukkonen put in their place turned out to be something quite excellent — a new solo project named Wolfheart. In the band’s debut album, Winterborn (reviewed here), he took the best elements from what he had done before and interwove them in this new work, while also finding ways to stretch his talents in new directions.

With lyrics full of imagery of ice and snow, deep woods and frozen lakes, wolves and warriors, darkness and frost — and with dramatic, sweeping, intense music that captures the magnificent purity of loss and longing, struggle, and sacrifice — the album is a collection of highly memorable anthems. Saukkonen has always had a talent for writing powerful, often folk-influenced melodies, and Winterborn has them in spades. Sometimes languid, sometimes erupting with compelling urgency, they are woven into the fabric of the music. The album is an epic achievement, and one of the best releases of 2013. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: TUOMAS SAUKKONEN (WOLFHEART)

 Interviews  11 Responses »
Oct 082013
 

(NCS guest writer Kevin Page interviews Tuomas Saukkonen of Wolfheart and formerly of Before the Dawn, Black Sun Aeon, Dawn of Solace, and Routasielu. Wolfheart’s new album Winterborn will be released October 11.   This is Kevin’s second NCS interview of Tuomas; the first one can be found here.)

K:  The last time we spoke in March 2012 was when Rise of the Phoenix came out.  You seemed energized over the new direction of Before the Dawn and were ready to move forward.  Now, here we are 1.5 years later, Before the Dawn, Black Sun Aeon, Dawn of Solace, and Routasielu have been stopped, and your sole project is now Wolfheart.  What happened ?

T:  Well I kept on moving forward . There are a few songs on the last BTD album like “Throne Of Ice” and “Eclipse” which opened the door for Wolfheart musically and I didn’t feel like to follow that path with Before the Dawn anymore. Also Before the Dawn started to feel more and more as a job during the years and I needed to regain the passion toward music even if it meant taking a few steps backwards career wise.

 

K:  Was there a sudden realization one day that “I’m bored, I need to stop this” or was it a gradual thing?

T:  A gradual thing.  Already while working on Deathstar Rising I felt like this might be the last album for Before the Dawn. Then came big changes and a lot of energy came with that album.  But that energy went to music and song writing instead of leading the band.

 

K:  Was there ever a time over the years where it felt mentally draining juggling numerous bands at the same time?

T:  Nope.  There were times when I felt mentally drained by one band.  Sometimes crazy schedules, just simply a lot of work, problems with labels etc.   And during those times it  was a big relief to have other projects to pour my creativity into. Continue reading »

STREAM WOLFHEART’S “WINTERBORN” NOW

 Metal News  11 Responses »
Oct 062013
 

I’ve already reviewed Winterborn, the debut album by Wolfheart, which is the new solo project of Finland’s Tuomas Saukkonen (ex-Before the Dawn, ex-Black Sun Aeon). In a nutshell, I think it’s one of the year’s best albums. In case you want to read the review, I’ll refer you here. But now you can hear the album for yourself.

Beginning today, the German Legacy magazine began streaming Winterborn in full. Go HERE (or here) to listen.

One more recent piece of Wolfheart news: The band has announced that the album will become available for digital download via iTunes, Amazon, and other online platforms on October 11. Physical copies can be pre-ordered here.

That’s it.  Go give this a spin.

 

NEW WOLFHEART SONG AND VIDEO: “ROUTA PT. 2”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Sep 242013
 

I’ll make this short: Wolfheart — the new solo project of Tuomas Saukkonen (ex-Before the Dawn, ex-Black Sun Aeon) — has just released a new official video for “Routa Pt. 2”, a song that will appear on Wolfheart’s debut album Winterborn.

The video, which was beautifully filmed and produced by OneManArmy, is full of fire and ice, just like the song. The video also includes an excerpt of a certain review of Winterborn that I’m quite fond of. In case you want to read all of it, I’ll refer you here. In a nutshell, it says that Winterborn is one of the year’s standout albums.

The album and related Wolfheart merch can now be pre-ordered at the following location, and pre-orders will get two bonus tracks — “Frey” and “4:19 A.M.”; eventually, we understand that the album will also become available digitally, but the details on that haven’t yet been announced.

http://www.madsupply.com/en/shop/band+merchandise/wolfheart

Now, watch and listen to the video for “Routa Pt. 2”: Continue reading »

WOLFHEART: “WINTERBORN”

 Album Reviews  13 Responses »
Sep 202013
 

Fans who have followed the musical career of Tuomas Saukkonen have realized by now that it doesn’t matter much which band name he chooses for his banner or which musicians join with him from project to project. Whether the name is Before the Dawn, Black Sun Aeon, or Dawn of Solace, the music has been recognizably and dependably his own.

In January of this year Saukkonen announced that he was shutting down all of those projects, as well as Routasielu and Final Harvest. In their place, he created Wolfheart, and with the exception of a wonderfully talented guest who contributes guitar solos, it is Saukkonen who has written and performed all the music on Wolfheart’s debut album Winterborn. It is, therefore, very close to a completely solo project, and the album is once again completely dependable. It contains not one weak song. In fact, all of them are magnificent.

Fans of Saukkonen’s most popular project, Before the Dawn, can rejoice, because much of what was familiar and welcome in that band’s music are still present in Wolfheart. The same can be said to the fans of Black Sun Aeon, because the signatures of that band’s songs are present here as well. Which is to say that Saukkonen hasn’t broken the mold and sat down at the pottery wheel to shape something radically new with his hands. He has instead taken the best elements from what he has done before and interwoven them in this new work, while also finding ways to stretch his talents in new directions. Continue reading »

NEW MUSIC FROM WOLFHEART, CASTEVET, VULTURE INDUSTRIES, AND VATTNET VISKAR

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  16 Responses »
Aug 202013
 

As you may have surmised if you read today’s first post, I was immersed in live metal from about 3 p.m. yesterday afternoon until late last night. But before the immersion began, I found some new things while stumbling through the interhole yesterday that I thought were worth some attention, and here they be:

WOLFHEART

Way back in January, we reported the bombshell news that Tuomas Saukkonen had decided to shut down all of his previous musical projects — Before The Dawn, Black Sun Aeon, Routasielu, Dawn Of Solace, and Final Harvest — and start a completely new one under the name Wolfheart. At the same time, he released a teaser of new Wolfheart music. And yesterday he released another one, along with info about the new Wolfheart album, including the ethereal cover art by Heino Brandt (above).

The album’s name is Winterborn and it includes 9 tracks, except that if you pre-order the album now you’ll get a download code for two bonus tracks that will accompany the CD when it ships. The release date is October 11.  Continue reading »

WOLFHEART RISES: TUOMAS SAUKKONEN SHUTS DOWN BEFORE THE DAWN AND ALL HIS OTHER PROJECTS AND MAKES A NEW START

 Uncategorized  12 Responses »
Jan 112013
 

(all photos by Janica Lönn / STORM Photography 2012)

 
As bombshell news goes, this is a pretty big detonation: Tuomas Saukkonen announced yesterday that he is shutting down all of his current musical projects — Before The Dawn, Black Sun Aeon, Routasielu, Dawn Of Solace, and Final Harvest — and starting a completely new one under the name Wolfheart. At the same time, he released a teaser of new Wolfheart music.

Saukkonen disclosed his decision and his future plans in an extensive interview published late yesterday by the Finnish Kaaoszine site. Fortunately for non-Finnish speakers, the article includes an English translation. In a nutshell, Saukkonen explained that he had been growing disenchanted with his most popular vehicle, Before the Dawn, for several years, and that even after the release of BTD’s well-received 2012 album Rise of the Phoenix, BTD no longer gave him the artistic freedom to make the kind of music he wanted to make.

Perhaps ironically, the success of Rise of the Phoenix gave him the freedom to finally leave it behind without regrets. Once that decision was made, he explained, “it was logical for me to clean the table at once and start building something from scratch again.” And that led to the demise of his other bands and the birth of Wolfheart.

Saukkonen says that he began writing new music for Wolfheart in the fall of 2012 and at this point he has already finished recording and mixing half of the songs for the band’s as-yet untitled debut album, with plans to complete it in March and then explore label opportunities. His goal is to release the album before the winter of 2013. Continue reading »

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