What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger. Perhaps one of the big clichés, but unusually evident when it comes to In Flames and their new album ’Siren Charms’.

To lose one of the musical engines of a band usually means a ticket to the graveyard of bands for an eternal rest among abandoned careers and reasonably forgotten last albums. Sure, history has proven the opposite once or twice - but one could question if anyone has risen from the ashes with such strength and power as In Flames? When guitarist Jesper Strömblad left the band following 2008’s A Sense of Purpose, the harbingers of doom were very vocal on the imminent collapse of the Gothenburg band.

That never happened. In what must be described as a pure backlash, the band delivered its strongest album to date - Sounds of a Playground Fading - which was both awarded for gold-level sales and topped charts in both Sweden and Germany. Siren Charms, the first album with Niclas Engelin as permanent guitarist in the band, cements the greatness hinted at with the previous album; this is a band taking it’s game several steps forward, leaving both imitators and nay-sayers far behind.

The first sign that the band have taken a different route is the choice of studio. Where they previously have recorded at home in Gothenburg, the whole operation was now moved to Berlin and the legendary Hansa Ton Studios. At the Köthener Strasse-location, artists like Iggy Pop, David Bowie, U2 and Killing Joke have all recorded some of rock history’s most spoken of classics, and it is no exaggeration to say that history can be felt in the walls. Here, the band settled in with producer Roberto Laghi and vocal producer Daniel Bergstrand. Based at Hansa since a few years is also swedish mix-engineer Michael Ilbert, who was appointed to mix the album after keyboard-wizard Örjan Örnkloo once again contributed with his characteristic programming and synthesizers. Both guitars Björn Gelotte and vocalist Anders Fridén are convinced that the choice of environment has had an influence on the final results. All details, big and small, interconnect and have given the eleven new songs a darker sound and tone. A darkness and sadness in the music’s atmosphere that anyone who has wandered home drunk through a rainy Kreuzberg at four in the morning can recognize.

If ’Sounds of a Playground fading’ took more than three months to complete, the band gave themselves six weeks to record ’Siren Charms’. They brought ”a bag of riffs” and a hand full of song structures to start off. The method meant a self-inflicted pressure to feed creativity and was a daring move. It also meant that Anders Fridén and Björn Gelotte got to collaborate in a new way as song-writers. Previously, Björns love of classic rock and Fridéns wish to experiment resulted in clashes with both parties claiming ”You ought to think like this… No, YOU ought to think like THIS!”. With the limited time in the studio, they instead had to embrace each other’s different approaches and turn them to strengths.

Daniel Svensson, drummer of In Flames, got demos of the songs with simple programmed drums, and could then add his personal touch to the sessions. Given the intricate and highly intense drumming on the album, one would easily guess that he’d been playing the songs for months, but it is often first-take recordings delivered with laser-sharp precision. Fridén and Gelotte can’t give him enough praise, claiming him to be one of the world’s best drummers who doesn’t make too much fuss around his drumming (”He doesn’t go around doing drum-glove endorsements really”), but always delivers flawless takes in the studio and on stage. Together with bass player Peter Iwers, they create a foundation for the music so solid you could build Burj Khalifa on it.

One of the biggest differences from previous albums comes from Fridén as well. Where he used to mix his vocals with both screaming and growls, Siren Charms is more or less completely fragile and delicate when it comes to the vocal delivery. It is the result of a vocalist with no holds barred, bearing his throat and letting the listener come closer than ever before. It’s intimate, emotional and powerful. The album title refers to the female creatures from the Greek mythology who lured sailors with their singing, only to watch their ships crush against the cliffs and sink. A story that is told in different ways over the albums lyrics and is applicable to the many aspects of the human need to intoxicate ourselves, and submit to seduction. They are fascinating tales of what we are prepared to sacrifice to achieve those states of mind.

Siren Charms secures In Flames position as a metal band that never stands still, and it is doubtlessly a band that continues to take risks, push boundaries and challenge themselves as much as their audience. That the adversities haven’t killed the band is quite obvious - but the question is if In Flames have ever been this strong?

Countless bands have been inspired by the abundance of radio-friendly hooks and choruses surfacing in today's popular metalcore. Unearth are the exception. While other groups have been motivated to make their songs more commercial, Unearth have gone the opposite direction. III: In the Eyes of Fire isn't just heavy, it's downright brutal - a menacing combination of speed, precision and intensity that grips and shakes like a shark tearing apart its prey. Taking its cue from the most destructive offerings of Slayer, Pantera, Earth Crisis and Iron Maiden, the music is structurally complex, and emotionally furious. Album opener "This Glorious Nightmare" hits the ground running, stomping its vapid peers with razor-sharp cleats as unforgettable riffs meld with tumbling beats and voracious howls. After opening with a classical-style guitar harmony, "March of the mutes" plows into a series of menacing guitar rhythms and "Sanctity in Brothers" slays with angular licks and galloping drums that coalesce in a vortex of aggression and contempt. One reason the record sounds so brutal is because it was recorded in an organic style without a click track. To help Unearth achieve the kind of raw ferocity they create in concert the band worked closely with producer Terry Date, who has previously worked with Pantera, Deftones and Soundgarden. "He was a fan of the band already, so it just worked and was a very happy marriage," Phipps says. "We flew to Seattle to record at Studio X, which was a different experience for us. We were used to recording with Adam D (Killswitch Engage) in Massachusetts, where we're from. This time, we were out of our home element and thrown into this whole new life, and I think that contributed to the feel of the record." Unearth titled the album III: In The Eyes of Fire because they thought the name best reflected the challenges and obstacles that human beings confront on a daily basis. As with The Oncoming Storm, some of the tracks discuss global and domestic politics, but this time Phipps wanted to delve more deeply into the battles that rage in the mind and soul. "We all have problems as we walk through life, and I'm no exception," he explains. "So, this is more a personal reflection of myself and people in general that I think more listeners will be able to relate to."

The year is 2014, and the album is ‘BROKEN CROWN HALO’ – it marks the latest chapter in the ongoing LACUNA COIL legacy, a dark and sultry ride that started in Italy and has resonated in an opaque wake of sonic splendor throughout the world.

Time has been good to LACUNA COIL, who are a flagship band on Century Media Records and a proven commodity worldwide, in the past two years alone having toured the globe as headliners, as well as in support of Megadeth, Motorhead, Volbeat, Sevendust and Paradise Lost. ‘BROKEN CROWN HALO’ is the band’s seventh studio album, and the highly-anticipated follow-up to ‘Dark Adrenaline’, which was released in January 2012 and debuted at No. 15 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart, helping the band eclipse one million cumulative sales in North America alone.

But as the title suggests, ‘BROKEN CROWN HALO’ isn’t about everything that’s good – it’s about everything that is real. In particular, the world as it exists in 2014. “We’ve always been fascinated by the differences and comparisons between real life and fairy tales, and on this album we decided to mix the two worlds when writing our lyrics,” says frontman Andrea Ferro, who along with frontwoman Cristina Scabbia form the most effervescent one-two vocal punch in hard rock and metal. “We’ve fused dark and horror elements with real life situations and have created a metaphor – we are fighting for a kingdom and a crown that is not what it seems, it represents the moment of confusion we’re living in and the very fragile situations we face every day.

“In the past year we’ve been dealing with a lot of pain that has brought us down as a band and left us broken and shattered. But it also made us realize how much time has made us stronger,” continues Ferro. “There have been times that we’ve been trapped in our past, only to discover that no one but ourselves can free us. When darkness holds you close, you need to open the wound and let it bleed out…”

And bleed it does, from the resounding drive of opening track “Nothing Stands In Our Way” and the resolute march of “Zombies”, into the thundering anthem “Die & Rise” and the soaring rhapsody that is “I Forgive (But I Won’t Forget Your Name).” ‘BROKEN CROWN HALO’ looks at life through blood red glasses and casts a beautifully melancholic hue over the world we wander. It is unapologetically brute with a vindictive air, and simultaneously supple and warm, beckoning you in and challenging you to join the movement. If you notice a flair for the cinematic in the eleven tracks, your perception is spot on, as LACUNA COIL wear the influence of their rich Italian culture and heritage on their sleeves.

“We’ve always been fascinated by soundtracks and Italian horror movies,” says Scabbia of the band’s influence on ‘BROKEN CROWN HALO’ – “Dario Argento is not only a favorite of ours, he’s also a cult favorite around the world, and bands like The Goblin wrote the soundtracks for a lot of those movies. Growing up with these movies and music, we really absorbed those influences.” Expands Ferro: “Movies like ‘Deep Red’, ‘Suspiria’, ‘Cannibal Holocaust’ and ‘Once Upon A Time In The West’, and musicians like Ennio Morricone, Stelvio Cipriani continue to leave their mark on us… Marco [‘Maki’ Coti-Zelati, bass] often likes to write songs while watching those old movies and war documentaries without the sound and playing over the visuals.”

Joined in their Milan, Italy hometown by producer Jay Baumgardner [P.O.D., Sevendust, Evanescence, Papa Roach] and engineer Kyle Hoffman [P.O.D., Bush, Zebrahead], LACUNA COIL recorded in the storied “Officine Meccaniche” studio, owned by famed songwriter and musician Mauro Pagani of the Italian prog band Masters P.F.M. The vintage gear and classic influence collided with the rough and tumble modern world with unique and invigorating results.

“We set the bar pretty high with ‘Dark Adrenaline’ and it hasn’t been easy bringing our sound to the next level, but we have lived, learned and grown through a year of personal issues and change,” says the band in a unified voice. “We learned to be strong and get stronger, and we felt an inner vibe in this band that we haven’t felt before. ‘BROKEN CROWN HALO’ is Lacuna Coil introducing a new order, and letting nothing stand in our way…”

Metal is the music of the outcast, the rebel and the steely-eyed foot soldier. Its principles, values and atavistic power have made life worth living for millions over the last four decades and its inherent artistry continues to ensure that declaring oneself a metalhead is an act of intense, unerring pride. But every worthwhile musical subculture needs its heroes; its standard bearers and pugilistic defenders. For the last 20 years, MACHINE HEAD have flown the flag for truth, integrity and creative desire in metal, starting with the earth-shattering prescience of 1994’s classic Burn My Eyes and continuing through a series of albums that consistently redefined the very notion of heaviness and music while upholding an invigorating lyrical narrative that has turned the band into one of the few in modern times that can boast an unbreakable connection with the hearts and minds of the metal faithful.
Led by singer and guitarist Robb Flynn, MACHINE HEAD haven’t just pioneered their own unmistakable take on the metal blueprint – they have towered above the competition with a ruthless determination and dedication to the cause, via some of the most life-affirming music ever committed to tape. And since the band’s glorious rebirth for 2003’s Through The Ashes Of Empires, they have repeatedly upped the ante, both for their own artistic urges and for the entire metal world. Both 2007’s universally worshipped The Blackening, which saw the band doggedly pursue a superhuman touring schedule for more than four years, and its fiendishly intricate follow-up, 2011’s Unto The Locust, have emboldened the notion that MACHINE HEAD are simply a force of nature and the living, screaming embodiment of everything that heavy music deigns to represent.
For a band with less integrity and fire than MACHINE HEAD, the success and acclaim afforded to both The Blackening and Unto The Locust could easily have led to complacency and the decision to repeat proven triumphant formulae, but Robb Flynn and his comrades have never rested on their laurels or been satisfied with repeating themselves. Instead, the band’s eighth studio album once again demonstrates how powerful, creative and unstoppable MACHINE HEAD have become during the 20 years since the release of their debut album Burn My Eyes. A fearless, ferocious and endlessly inventive masterpiece that delivers everything that diehard fans of the band will demand, while taking its creators into fascinating and explosive new territory, Bloodstone & Diamonds exudes a confidence that comes from the knowledge that MACHINE HEAD are now operating at the absolute peak of their collective powers.
Once again recorded at Jingletown Studios and Trident Studios in California, and produced by Robb Flynn in collaboration with engineer Juan Urteaga, and masterfully mixed by long-time partners-in-crime Colin Richardson and Andy Sneap Bloodstone & Diamonds is a sprawling monument to state-of-the-art heaviness and the fearsome, idiosyncratic vision of its protagonists. Erupting into vivid life with the towering riff barrage of unanimously praised opener “Now We Die” and the crushing turbo-thrash of established MACHINE HEAD live favourite “Killers And Kings”, this is the perfect and indisputable antidote to the modern metal scene’s hordes of identikit journeymen. Songs like the lithe, subtly complex “Ghosts Will Haunt My Bones” and the impassioned sociological tirade of “In Comes The Flood” represent a sublime refinement of the MACHINE HEAD sound, replete with all the down-tuned, harmonic-filled, flesh-flaying riffs and moments of intense dynamic potency that have long been a hallmark of the band’s sound. From the ten ton groove attack of the ominous “Beneath The Silt” and the swivel-eyed fury of the Manson-inspired “Night Of The Long Knives” through to the insanely epic funeral march of “Sail Into The Black” and “Game Over’s” rampaging tsunami of lyrical vitriol and hardcore punk hostility, Bloodstone & Diamonds obliterates any notion that veteran bands can’t sustain their passion and intensity while also setting a new standard for sonic destruction and virility along the way.
These songs are destined to be roared to the rafters by the MACHINE HEAD faithful as the band tirelessly traverse the globe over the next couple of years, strengthening the unique connection they have with their army of fervent admirers. This is MACHINE HEAD in 2014: bigger, better, stronger, heavier and utterly unassailable.