Well, it’s been a busy week here at Sentinel Daily‘s Texan HQ but here we are again with some shiny new Shrapnel for y’all! Have a great week, enjoy some of the tunes we’ve lined up for you here and tell the artistes where you heard about ’em! Cheers!

ESPERFALL

Hungarian melodic metallers Esperfall are all set to release their debut album, Origins In Darkness on 1st April 2022. The album presents as it’s theme the initial phase of the human soul’s journey as it forces itself to face its inner demons. As every dark phase in our lives, this state is the starting point of a deep, spiritual journey and self-discovery. Every song is an echo of a major emotional issue vocalized with self-criticism, doubt and fear, fueled with anger and disbelief, oftentimes directed towards our society. These are the battles we have to face in our everyday lives.

This journey and process comes with the inevitable act of turning inward, diving deeper and deeper into our own souls, rediscovering ourselves and coping with part of ourselves we don’t want to pay attention to, or want to deny. The album is the invocation of every listener’s hidden emotional or mental answers to every question they never were brave enough to ask and everything they don’t want to think about.

To the person who undertakes this spiritual journey it feels like the dissection of their own soul. Some diseases and disorders — physical or mental — are created, manifested by ourselves. This statement is the core message of the myriad of emotions the album is pondering upon.

The band’s music is infused with the melodic and versatile, yet dark and tight elements of the Northern metal genre. This musical composition is made even more exciting with the combination of clean and harsh female vocals, complemented by male growls. The themes of their songs revolve mainly around various emotional and mental struggles, and how overcoming these challenges through great effort can make us grow and prosper in the long run.

Esperfall’s activity dates back to 2018, when their debut EP A Leap Of Faith was released. This was followed by their second EP The Leaf Legacy in 2019.

THY KINGDOM WILL BURN

Staying in a vaguely similar musical vein, Finnish natives Thy Kingdom Will Burn have released a new video, for the song Disbelief, which you can see below!

It’s first single taken from the upcoming new album The Void and the Vengeance, set to be released through Italian label Scarlet Records on May 20th.

Big, crunchy gloomy guitars depicting moving emotional landscapes, with a banshee-like voice screaming’n’growling on top of them and an all-around relentless rhythmic backbone: call it melodic death metal or simply dark metal… This is superb, intense and soulful music blessed by a top-notch songwriting.

Thy Kingdom Will Burn started to build a name for themselves with the 2021 namesake debut album; less than a year later, they are now ready to deliver another collection of catchy killer tunes. The guys from Kouvola master the secrets of powerful, atmospheric and melancholic music just as any proper Finnish band does.

The Void and the Vengeance – featuring new guitarist Esa Virén, formerly plying his trade in To/Die/For – will reinforce their status in the highly competitive world metal scene. Time to embrace that cold and poignant northern light!

SKID ROW

Legendary New Jersey rockers Skid Row and label earMUSIC have joined forces to announce the release of the mightily anticipated new studio album The Gang’s All Here on October 14!

This announcement coincides with the launch of the iconic hard rock band’s Las Vegas Residency (as the Scorpions’ special guests) this Saturday just passed, as well as the debut of their brand-new single, the title track The Gang’s All Here, the video for which you can see below…

The Gang’s All Here is an oath of triumph, exploding with powerful energy that makes us hunger for more. It is the logical next-generation leap of the band’s trademark sound that stomps out new ground – with singer Erik Grönwall (formerly of H.E.A.T., one of the best frontmen of this or any hard rock era) joining the family.

Produced by Grammy Award Winning producer Nick Raskulinecz (Foo Fighters, Rush, Alice In Chains, Halestorm, Evanescence) and long-time fan, Skid Row are ablaze. They are re-energised, kicking their sound way up to that of modern Hard Rock Royalty.

“We are beyond excited to release this record. It has been a long time in the making and a lot of hard work has been put into it by the band and our producer Nick Raskulinecz. And the addition of Erik has lifted the songs to new heights. Add all this to the fact that we start our world tour in Las Vegas with the Scorpions residency this Saturday at Zappos Theater makes it easy to say that Skid Row is going to have a great year.” – Rachel Bolan and Snake Sabo

GRAVESHADOW

Finally for this week we have American metallers Graveshadow, who have recently announced the imminent release of their third full-length album, The Uncertain Hour, through M-Theory Audio in July!

The Sacramento-based quintet, who deftly mix symphonic/gothic metal with elements of doom, thrash and epic progressive power metal – have unveiled the music video for Soldier of 34, the new single from that forthcoming album! Watch the video for the song below!

“Soldier of 34 was the first song completed for the record, and the first that Aaron [Robitsch – guitars] and I truly collaborated on,” explains guitarist William Lloyd Walker. “We wanted to create something that we felt was reflective of the band’s journey up until this point. The mournful melodies cast on top of these raw, aggressive rhythms we felt was the perfect backdrop for a story centered around losing those closest to you. We couldn’t be prouder of the way it turned out, and we feel it really represents all facets of what we want to accomplish this record. This is just the beginning; we can’t wait for the record to come out and share all that we’ve been working on with fans new and old alike.”

Soldier of 34 is the follow-up to the band’s 2020 single Gwynnbleidd, inspired by the Witcher series, that showcased the return of the band with several new members, including vocalist Rachl Raxx Quinn and bassist Luci Rae. Joining the band officially is drummer Bones Padilla, formerly of Bay Area labelmates Cultural Warfare. The Uncertain Hour was produced by Miss May I guitarist Justin Aufdemkampe (Clutch, War of Ages), and mastered by Roman Ismaylov (Crobot, Zoe’s Extraordinary Playlist) who also supplied artwork.

The Uncertain Hour sees the new lineup for Graveshadow continue to refine the enticing mix of symphonic, gothic, doom, and epic progressive-metal elements, now augmented by the newfound energy that has been brought into the band by the soaring melodic vocals of Quinn and the rumbling rhythm section of Rae and Bones. The duo of Walker and Robitsch once again deliver a beautiful display of guitar histrionics that tastefully mix searing shred with warm melody. Graveshadow are back on the scene with a story to tell. Intertwining melodic highs and crushing lows to sweep listeners away on a journey of self-discovery, loss and the will to carry on.