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Archives for February 2013

Bring Me The Horizon ‘Sempiternal’ Release Date Brought Forward

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bmth-sempiternal

After Bring Me The Horizon’s ‘Sempiternal‘ studio album was leaked recently, the band has now taken steps to bring the release date forward, and the album will now be released on April 2nd instead of the originally planned release date of April 30th.

Bring Me The Horizon frontman Oli Sykes had the following to say about the decision:

Due to overwhelming and phenomenal demand, Sempiternal will be with you sooner than you thought, we are glad you have heard and & love it and all we can ask is if you enjoy this album you’ll help the band continue to make records and buy it when it’s released officially.

The album can now be streamed in full here.

‘Headbangers Balls’ Tour to Help Raise Funds and Awareness for Teenage Cancer Trust

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Reign of Fury

UK metal band Reign Of Fury, in collaboration with Intune PR, is putting the finishing touches to a new national fundraising metal/rock tour to take place in July/August 2013. The ‘Headbangers Balls’ tour has been created to help raise funds and awareness for Teenage Cancer Trust.

The ambitious event is being organised by Andy Pilkington, Reign of Fury’s manager, and Steve Shaw their PR partner:

We are putting together shows in the UK’s major cities at the best rock & metal venues, ending the tour with an all-day finalé event in Birmingham, the home of heavy metal. The tour and its associated buzz is designed to raise awareness for testicular cancer, with every penny of profit going to Teenage Cancer Trust, a charity that is very close to our hearts.

WHY?

In early 2008 Reign Of Fury vocalist Matt ‘Bison’ Steed was diagnosed with testicular cancer.

He was treated at Warwick Hospital, where he had surgery to remove the tumour (and the testicle), which was replaced with a prosthetic one. Bison was told that the surgery had been a success, but that he would need to undergo a course of intensive chemotherapy as a preventative measure, given that the type of cancer (seminoma) had a fairly high chance of spreading and reoccurring.

Driven by this life changing experience, Bison and his band mates are going to do something they wouldn’t have felt possible before – something that will help others who’ve been touched by it.

By combining an event for both established and unsigned rock bands, with every penny going to the Teenage Cancer Trust, Bison can turn his brush with cancer into something very, very positive. And hopefully encourage others to do so along the way.

Andy Pilkington, Reign of Fury’s manager, had the following to say:

There are few communities more male orientated than the Heavy Metal music scene, and even fewer with such an ‘infallible’ and testosterone driven image. Very little has been done to tackle awareness amongst this group and we believe that approaching this from the inside is the best way to get under the skin of what can be a very impenetrable genre. I’m hoping what we’re doing can help bring back the the sense of community in a music scene that’s lost some of its brotherhood over the years as the grass roots bands struggle to break out from their local areas through lack of support.

We are planning to play 10 Cities in the UK throughout July/Aug, hosted by only the most loved and respected rock and metal venues. Reign Of Fury will invite local unsigned metal bands to each show, with an aim to attract figurehead bands from each area to head up the shows. It’s early days, but we’ve already had some fantastic interest from key venues, as well as some very exciting sponsors.

With Reign Of Fury being a Midlands band, there are special plans for the Birmingham date of the tour, with Steve Shaw having the following to say about the plans for Birmingham:

Our plans for the Birmingham event are to look at a higher capacity venue than the ones played on the tour and hold an all day festival with a bigger band line up. We already have the commitment of a full filming crew for this event

We are looking at several established bands to headline the line-up as well as offering them the chance to come along, be interviewed and get involved to show their support for the TCT. The outlook for getting some well-known acts down to the event looks very good, judging from the early response.

Dates for the tour will follow soon but the cities we will be visiting include London, Manchester, Glasgow, Cardiff, Exeter, Newcastle, Liverpool, Leeds and Birmingham

The plan is to turn the Headbangers Balls tour into an annual event, showcasing the solidarity of the metal community and its power to provide positive change.

For further information and updates on the tour, please head to the Official Headbangers Balls Website.

Your Demise – Cold Chillin’ EP

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Your Demise - Cold Chillin' EP

Your Demise are a band that, despite not having been around that long, have a few major career talking points. They’ve also developed a fairly large and loyal fan base too. With their original vocalist, George Noble, Your Demise produced some simple, yet effective hardcore. Noble left the band after their first album however, and was replaced with former Centurion frontman Ed McRae. This saw a slight change of direction for the band, in which they now began to focus a little more on melody. They then released ‘The Kids We Used To Be‘ studio album through Visible Noise in 2010, which comprises some of Your Demise’s best material to date. This led to much excitement about their last release ‘The Golden Age‘ which came in 2012, however, they took the melody aspect too far and ultimately released a dreadful album by their standards.

‘The Golden Age‘ saw somewhat of a backlash against Your Demise. Despite this, Your Demise still stuck up for ‘The Golden Age’, however I think the release of this new EP ‘Cold Chillin‘ proves otherwise. Right from the first minute of opening track ‘Karma‘, the lead single of the EP, you can just tell that this is well above the standard of ‘The Golden Age‘. The four tracks on this EP are on a par with some of the best material Your Demise’s have ever written.

‘Cold Chillin‘ has raised the standard, and therefore the anticipation for Your Demise’s next full length album, and it’s definitely very exciting to hear what comes next from the band.

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The Wonder Years – Sleeping on Trash: A Collection of Songs Recorded 2005-2010

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The Wonder Years - Sleeping on Trash: A Collection of Songs Recorded 2005-2010

‘Sleeping on Trash‘ is, as you can probably tell from the title, a collection of The Wonder Years’ tracks from 2005-2010, taken from various different EP’s and split releases that The Wonder Years have been involved in throughout these years. This is a purely digital release that the band has decided to put out there so as to provide fans with a means of getting their hands on these tracks without having to spend out a whole heap of cash in obtaining all the individual CD’s from eBay.

If you’re at all a fan of pop punk music then the chances are that you’ll be a fan of, or at the very least familiar with the music of The Wonder Years. As far as I’m concerned, The Wonder Years is one of the very best pop punk bands to have formed in the last decade, and ‘Sleeping on Trash‘ is a great collection of rarities from the band that’s well worth investing in. There are some absolutely beautiful tracks contained within this release; tracks like ‘Through Two Hearts‘ that just really make you appreciate this band all the more, and tracks like ‘You’re Not Salinger. Get Over It‘ and their Kid Dynamite cover ‘Cheap Shots, Youth Anthems‘ that just really hit you with their biting edge and synthy brilliance. ‘You’re Not Salinger. Get Over It‘ is probably actually my favourite track from this collection, right from its swirling intro you know that the track is going to be something special, and the band definitely don’t let you down here as they launch through an incredibly catchy piece of pop punk. As always, the keyboards really add something incredible to the sound, the vocals are absolutely top notch, and the guitar work always has a huge amount to offer also. There’s an absolutely fantastic bass sound on display here, a beautiful precision bass tone that really fits the music perfectly. Everything about the track just really works, and if there’s any track here that’s not to be missed then it’s this one (although I’d personally highly recommend listening to each and every track in the collection, multiple times over, every day).

There’s not a single bad track present in this collection, there’s a Christmas song which catches you a little unawares, the quality is still high even with this track though, it just might seem a little strange listening to the collection in the summer and suddenly finding yourself listening to ‘Christmas at 22‘.

As well as the aforementioned Kid Dynamite cover, there are also covers of Lit’s ‘Zip Lock‘ and Fountains of Wayne’s ‘Hey Julie‘ included in this collection, with the band demonstrating a fine ear not only for penning their own perfect pop punk, but also for recording a quality cover too. The Fountains of Wayne cover provides something a little different to the rest of the collection, it’s great to hear the band showcasing a little diversity and for me this cover is a real success. Dan Campbell’s vocals sound absolutely incredible throughout the entirety of this collection, and this I feel is The Wonder Years’ greatest strength. Instrumentally this is a band that really knows how to hit the spot, but it’s Campbell’s vocals that really help separate the band from the pack and make sure that The Wonder Years stand strong as one of the finest pop punk band’s around.

‘Sleeping on Trash‘ really is an incredibly impressive collection of material from The Wonder Years, and there are plenty of tracks here that are insanely catchy and will certainly make you smile. If you’ve ever been a fan of The Wonder Years then ‘Sleeping on Trash: A Collection of Songs Recorded 2005-2010‘ is, without question, a collection that you’re going to want to have on your iPod.

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Triggerfinger UK Tour March 2013

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triggerfinger-uk-tour

Belgian rock band Triggerfinger will be hitting the UK at the beginning of March in a short tour that will see them take in London, Manchester, and Glasgow.

Triggerfinger will release a brand new studio album in April, so the tour will provide a great opportunity to hear the band’s new music on the live circuit prior to its official UK release on April 15th.

Full details about the band’s UK tour can be found in the poster above and also in the information below:

7th March – London, The Garage
8th March – Manchester, The Deaf Institute
9th March – Glasgow, King Tut’s

Upcoming Reign Of Fury Tour Dates

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Reign of Fury

Midlands metal band Reign Of Fury released their debut studio album ‘World Detonation‘ in 2012, and have now released a number of tour dates for 2013.

Whilst the band has more tour dates to be announced, they’ve already confirmed that they’ll be appearing at a number of festivals in the UK this Summer, as well as a sold out festival in Belgium this March.

The following is a full list of the confirmed Reign Of Fury tour dates for 2013, including gigs and festivals that they’re currently scheduled to be playing:

22nd Feb – Marr’s Bar, Worcester with FURY, 44 FIRES and PARALUS

22nd March – De Verlichte Geest, Belgium with POWERSTONE in support

23rd March, WIZZFEST, Belgium (sold out)

23rd June, HARD & HEAVY FEST 5, Pontypool, Wales

7th September, CRADLE WILL ROCK FESTIVAL, Shildon (day)
7th September, NUKE FEST, Hull (evening)

Alan Bonner UK Tour March 2013

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Alan Bonner

Alan Bonner, who is currently offering his single ‘Talia‘ away as a free download, will be touring the UK in March, and you’ll be able to catch him at the following venues:

MARCH 2013
7th West St Live, Sheffield
12th The Shed, Leicester
18th Mr Wolf’s, Bristol
21st The Brunswick, Hove
27th The Underbelly, Hoxton, London 8.30pm

Alan Bonner is to release his debut album ‘Balladeer‘ on March 4th, and is an absolutely fantastic up and coming UK singer songwriter.

Alan Bonner’s ‘Talia’ Available for Free Download

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Alan Bonner

With a UK tour coming up in March, Alan Bonner has made his beautiful ballad ‘Talia‘ available for free download.

‘Talia‘ is a track that holds significant importance and meaning to Alan Bonner, and he had the following to say about it:

‘Talia’ is an ode to my best friend of the same name. We met at on the first day of University and have been thick as thieves ever since The Lyric written in panic on her birthday one year when I was on the dole and too skint to buy her a birthday present. It was only ever meant to be a silly gift for her and I never intended to release it originally but when I played the demo to my old band members they convinced me to start playing it live when we were touring with my first album.

It’s funny because it’s one of the songs that people seem to respond to the most, and now I think it’s one of my best songs. I like to imagine that she is out there in the crowd each night when I play it at the end of the show cheering me on, even on the nights when I know that she’s not there. If there was ever anyone worthy of being immortalised in song it’s her.