BAST announce European tour with Pallbearer

BAST will join Pallbearer on a lengthy tour across Europe starting in Berlin on May 20, 2015. It’ll be the bands first full tour of the continent and guitarist/vocalist Craig Bryant is looking forward to it:

"Following performances at Roadburn, Incineration and Red Sun festivals, and a year after supporting them together with YOB on our home-turf, it’s with great pride that we will be playing 18 dates alongside Pallbearer on their European tour this Summer – marking our first extensive excursion across the mainland!"

PALLBEARER + BAST

0/05/2015 DE Berlin – Kantine am Berghain 21/05/2015 CZ Prague – Klub 007 22/05/2015 DE Koln – MTC 24/05/2015 BE Brussels – AB Club 25/05/2015 FR Paris – Social Club 26/05/2015 DE Schorndorf – Club Manufaktur 27/05/2015 CH Zurich – Rote Fabrik 01/06/2015 UK Glasgow – Broadcast 02/06/2015 UK Birmingham – The Oobleck 03/06/2015 UK London – 100 Club 30/06/2015 NO Oslo – Blä 01/07/2015 SE Gothenburg – Truckstop Alaska 03/07/2015 NL Nijmegen – Doornroosje 04/07/2015 DE Wiesbaden Schlachthof 06/07/2015 IT Milan – Lo-Fi Club 07/07/2015 IT Bologna – Freakout Club 08/07/2015 IT Rome – Traffic Live Club 09/07/2015 IT Padova – Radar festival

BAST is a trio specialising in an unhealthy blend of Black Metal and Doom, with a flair for experimentation and emphasis on storytelling.

Their debut full-length ‘Spectres’ – originally released on Black Bow (Slomatics / Conan / Fister and others) and Burning World records in early 2014 – weaves together a hatful of heavy and a pinch of psychedelia to take you on a journey of Godless riffs and crippling atmosphere. Following its initial release, Bast embarked on two tours across the UK and Ireland with Conan and Ageless Oblivion, made festival appearances at Damnation, Into The Void (NL), Doomed Gatherings (FR) and FOAD, as well as one-off performances with Indian, Oranssi Pazuzu, Oathbreaker, Wodensthrone and Horse Latitudes, among many others.

This repress of ‘Spectres’ (on both black and gold vinyl) signals Bast as true auteurs of their vision, spreading it without compromise and proving that there’s still life aplenty in the UK heavy music scene.

GUITAR / VOCALS: Craig Bryant DRUMS / VOCALS: Jon Lee BASS: Gavin Thomas

HARD LEFT - "WE ARE HARD LEFT" Released 11th May via Future Perfect Records

HARD LEFT - "WE ARE HARD LEFT" Released 11th May via Future Perfect Records
FFO The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, Sex Pistols and The Dils


Ft. members of Black Tambourine, Lunchbox, Whorl and Boyracer

We Are Hard Left is the debut album from Hard Left. Brought together by the music, held together by the outrage -- Hard Left are a hard-mod/punk band borne out of a desire to explore leftist political ideas and marry them to rabble-rousing music worthy of the worldwide struggle against capital. Far from a dry exercise in doctrinaire thought, Hard Left's songs are great punk first and foremost, and ripping good fun.

The band members have been involved with punk and DIY music for nearly a century combined, including time in bands like Boyracer, Jüke, Whorl, Lunchbox and Black Tambourine, and operating the respected labels 555, Emotional Response and Slumberland Records. Initial Hard Left recording sessions in Spring 2014 led to the release of two limited edition lathe-cut singles, the Situationist-inspired "What's That Sound?" and the tough-as-nails "Safety." The band set to writing and in August 2014 gathered in the desert of Flagstaff, AZ to record. The results were two more singles ("Skinheads Home For Christmas" and a split 7" with Bad Daddies, both released in December 2014), and now this album.

We Are Hard Left is a concise and explosive punk record, packed with anthems of resistance and calls to action. These are crucial times that we live in, and Hard Left seek to inspire and invigorate. The opener "New Year" sets out the band's stall in fine fashion, urging listeners to "give up false needs" and embrace new beginnings. They follow with the blasting "Hard Left Rules OK," a call to arms if ever there was one. The album is tightly edited, each song on the heels of the previous one, exemplifying the group's eagerness to broadcast their message and energize their fans.

To that end, rousing chants and noisy interludes are interspersed throughout, cheeky but pointed references to their mod forebears and street-level terrace "politics." The message is always positive, the underlying mood is of hopefulness. "Hand In Hand" is an exhilarating call for solidarity and collective action, while "Future Perfect" imagines a world where the people were the true beneficiaries of the surplus created by progress, the perfect future we were all promised during the golden age of capitalism. Previous singles "Safety" and "Stay True" appear in re-recorded form, hard as nails and fitting in perfectly.

From the super-tough "Kicking If Off" to the Occupy-inspired "Red Flag" and the supremely uplifting (and also Situationist-inspired) closer "Imagination," this is a record that hits hard, crammed with guitars that soar and rage, group chants and raw-throated vocals. It's anthemic in the best way -- inspiring but never heavy-handed, a worthy successor to records by bands like The Clash, Stiff Little Fingers, Sex Pistols and The Dils. Call it "utopian Oi" if you will, or "hard mod" or just plain punk, but don't miss out on this passionate, thrilling record.

Hard Left are:

Mike: exhortations Donna: bass, vocals Tim: guitar, vocals Stewart: drums, vocals

Preorder HERE

Ireland Rockers RADIO ROOM Releasing Debut LP '92/93' On April 14; LP Recorded with Steve Albini (Nirvana, Pixies); "Better Now" Premiering on Huffington Post

Dublin, Ireland rockers Radio Room will release their debut LP '92/93' on May 19 via Gold Coast Recordings. The LP was recorded and mixed with legendary producer Steve Albini (Nirvana, Pixies) at his Electrical Audio Studios in Chicago, and mastered by Fergal Davis (Muse, Ben Folds).

A track titled "Better Now" is premiering on the Huffington Post: www.huffingtonpost.com.

Front man Robbie Murphy tells HuffPost, "Steve Albini was a gent to work with. We got on with him really well and learned a lot from the experience. He made the sound golden and gave us plenty of creative control, letting the album unravel naturally over the course of the recording sessions."

'92/93' was recorded completely live - no click tracks, no computer editing, no plug-ins. Pre-orders are available here.

Since forming in 2011, Radio Room has played shows with La Dispute, Kids In Glass Houses and has been steadily building a legion of dedicated fans all over Europe.

**Track Listing:**

01 What You Heard 02 Skin Touch 03 Just Like This 04 Better Now 05 About You 06 Maybe Her Too 07 Shrug 08 Who We Owe 09 Interlude 10 Curtain Call

Lich King Singer Departs Band, New Track Released & Audition Process For Replacement Vocalist Begins Immediately

On 1st April 2015 Massachusetts Thrashers Lich King published a new track entitled 'I Quit'. It was naturally received as an April Fools joke by their fans and media alike. However on the 2nd April Lich King singer Tom Martin made an announcement that he would in fact be relieving himself of vocal duties for the band from that point onward. Please find Tom's entire statement regarding his departure from Lich King below. Lich King are currently scouring the globe for a replacement singer and are pushing forward with plans to release a new full length album in 2015.

Auditions for a new vocalist are currently underway and the band have released the following campaign welcoming applicants to take five shared instrumental Lich King songs complete with lyric sheets from tiny.cc/lkvocals. Applicants should then record their vocals over the tracks and email their audition directly to Andy@evileyeindustries.com.

Tom Martin's Statement

So yesterday we put up an announcement in the form of a song, in which I declared I was quitting Lich King, and... April Fools! It was the truth.

These are my reasons for leaving. My reasons are my own, and don’t at all reflect on the attitudes or opinions of the other guys.

Reason #1: Live shows were never my thing. I have bad hearing so at a metal show when you hear the music, almost all I hear is deafening jangled noise.

Reason #2: Bars are the worst. On tour, you’re hanging around in a venue for seven to eight hours every night, and usually it’s a bar. I have no idea how someone sits in a bar for that long and doesn’t want to open their wrist with a blender.

Reason #3: I’m a homebody. I like sitting at home, surrounded by my comfort zone, making stuff. This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy touring with Lich King, because largely, I did. I love those guys and discovered I love traveling... but I stopped having a good time when we pulled into the venue every night. I’d dread shows, and during them I’d sit on the bus and fantasize about being home with my stuff.

Reason #4: [redacted]

Reason #5: This is the big one: Money. There’s not much. Thrash bands have day jobs, and I’m not just talking about the small guys. I’d be willing to bet that just about everyone outside of the big four aren’t living off their music alone. In the song, when I mentioned “now a good show means some pizza and 9 bucks,” I wasn’t exaggerating. $9 and food are what I get for devoting my evening to what is considered a good show by our standards.

Some people tell me to be happy to have even that, because most bands don’t, and to suck it up and be professional about it. All I can say is that those people must enjoy the gig more than I do, and good for them, I’m glad... but “professional” is a poor choice of words for metal bands. If you’re in a band but it’s not your primary source of income, it’s not your profession, it’s your hobby... and your hobby shouldn’t eat up two months of your life when you could be hammering at your profession.

Lich King is a hobby that got away from me and started lumbering under its own will, demanding more and more of my time for minimal rewards outside of seeing people enjoy what we made. That’s fine, I’m going to let that beast stomp off and maybe in the future there’ll be lucrative tours or big shows I can jump onto. Maybe it’ll all be worthwhile in the future. Till then, I’m going back to just doing art and giving Lich King the amount of time a hobby deserves.

When Ol Drake left EVILE, he said “I've reached a point where I want... a house, a steady and definite income and everything in between, and in regard to my personal preferences, a touring band's income and uncertainties, in the state that I feel they would continue to be in, has become incompatible with how I feel and what I want/need.” That's pretty much it.

So... thanks to anyone that ever came out to a show, bought some merch and said they had a good time, because you helped me when I needed it.

If you liked I QUIT, you can get it here

As for now, I solemnly pronounce thrash metal dead.

Your pal
-Tom

VENOM TO RELEASE NEW ALBUM ‘FROM THE VERY DEPTHS’ ON RED VINYL IN CELEBRATION OF RECORD STORE DAY

VENOM have issued a first run of vinyl for current album ‘From The Very Depths’. The album was released to much critical acclaim in January of this year on compact disc and digital formats only.

The LP version will be available on Record Store Day, and in the spirit of the cause, this isn’t just any run of vinyl but a 2-disc gatefold limited run of just 300 copies for the UK, stained a bloody red.

Go and get your copy from one of the hundreds of independent record stores taking part in RSD up and down the country on April 18th. Check out the list of participating stores on the official website here: www.recordstoreday.co.uk

In addition to this, a new lyric video for the track ‘Smoke’ - taken from ‘From The Very Depths’ - is viewable here: