Shrapnel: Little Shards of Metal

Here we are again after a short break for Easter – I hope you enjoy what we’ve got lined up for you this week!

SPHERIC UNIVERSE EXPERIENCE

Soaring riffs, stunning solos, pounding rhythms and vocals that reign supreme. This is the approach taken by French progressive metal stalwarts Spheric Universe Experience, as they get to the release of their fifth studio album, entitled Back Home. With a superb production from the talented producer Damien Rainaud, the Symphony X, Dream Theater and Queen-inspired music from the Code d’Azur quartet is a statement, carved in stone!

Back Home does not only mean back home to Earth for the space-travellers in the story of the album’s concept, but it also means back home for the band, as they have returned to their original roots: to compose and create true, progressive masterpieces, for every album they make. In space, no one hears you scream, but S.U.E. are definitely set to make themselves heard here on Earth with Back Home.

The early beginning of S.U.E. dates back to 1999, when guitarist Vince Benaim decided to create a progressive metal band. After a couple of years of composing own material, the band recorded their first official album demo in April 2003, entitled The Burning Box. The debut album, Mental Torments, mixed by Tommy Hansen (Helloween, TNT, Pretty Maids), was released by Replica Records in Europe and Nightmare Records in the US.

Having toured extensively over the last few years; from France to Denmark, from Holland to Poland and from Italy to the USA, S.U.E. has explored the boundaries of the musical life within their genre, and have now spent the last five years composing what is to be the absolute pinnacle of their career so far, namely the space-concept album Back Home – listen to a track from the new record below!

Back Home will be released in digital and CD by UPRISING! Records on May 20th, 2022.

PETH

Central Texas is well known for its underground heavy rock ‘n’ roll from the late sixties, seventies and eighties: — a series of sounds different than any other place on earth have been originated and evolved from here time and time again. Fast forward to some fifty years later and there are still the same hell-raisin, beer-drinking, guitar-slinging rocking cowboys makin’ some noise in the Lone Star State! Hence, it’s no surprise that in the twenty first century, a band like Peth can come along and start making some big seventie-inspired Texas noise!

Born in the middle of the 2020 pandemic, these four native Texans have been doin all the maniacal and lawless exploits with a wild mix of early seventies proto-metal and heavy psych/occult rock soundscapes matched to that of early Black Sabbath, Scorpions, Medusa, Venom, Blue Cheer, Pentagram, ZZ Top, and the likes. Conjuring evil guitarmonies, explosive, trucking bass and drum section, and two knock-out vocalists, Peth truly help preserve the spirit of Texas’s old way of life while helping usher in this new era of rock n’roll for generations to follow.

Peth’s debut LP, Merchant of Death, is a hidden gem of the seventies/eighties metal invasion, but got discovered in the twenty first century. The album in parts brings menacing aggressions, in others brings breathtaking rhythms, but steers clear of the modern, lustrous sonic aesthetics. Roll out the red carpet for Merchant of Death and revel in the wilderness.

OUTSHINE

The Rockshots Records label has announced their signing of Swedish goth rock/metal band Outshine for the release of the duo’s new album The Awakening next month. The band has released four previous studio albums since beginning in 2007 along with multiple US tours between 2005-2014, touring with Paradise Lost twice in Europe in 2013 and 2018 plus performing over three hundred shows worldwide.

Outshine has always had a vision of darkness and melancholy in a visual landscape with dark tunes accompanying them ever since the very start when founder, guitarist, and vocalist Jimmy Boman started the band.

The new songs on The Awakening are produced by Boman and Kenny Boufadene at Studio Meltdown, Sweden, and were recorded and re-recorded numerous times at Grand Recordings, Gothenburg, Sweden between 2015-2019. Final recordings were done in 2020 at Studio Meltdown, Kungsbacka, Sweden.

The band had this to say about the upcoming release: “Well, The Awakening is about what has happened in the world during the pandemic. Covid-19 times have taken a toll on the music world and showed that in troubling times the ones in power, the elites, don’t care about the common person.

The lies, corruption, hidden agendas, and the rise of fascist behaviour from both unknown and known “leaders” that expands anything we’ve seen in decades are influencing and misleading people around the world making them turn on each other.

A depraved glorification of the elite that hasn’t the common human being in mind has risen. Identity politics that put people in boxes to divide us, modern segregation in the making. Our “heroes” are lecturing us on how to think and behave despite that they are totally disconnected from the reality common people live in. This is in company with parts of the mainstream media, pushing society to silence, submission, and during the pandemic, financial disaster.

The pandemic has clearly shown who gains and who doesn’t. The poor and middle-class are getting poorer, the rich insanely rich and the politicians folding to comply to not be targeted.”

“The Awakening” will feature eight dark, melancholy, film noir-ish, heavy, and gloomy tracks with more of a Sisters Of Mercy, Paradise Lost and Type O Negative feel to it with influences from eighties horror movies soundscapes. The album will be supported with a few music videos that will have storytelling and show how everything is connected.

Boman adds:”The album’s first songs are about the dark side of the pandemic and then the other songs turn more to fighting back, realizing that you yourself need to wake up and open your eyes. The final songs are about we, the common people, need to unite and fight back. Should you trust everything that is said and shown in mainstream media and TV? The idea of this record is to get the listener deep into darkness and soul-searching to awake and open their eyes. I really hope they hear, see, and feel that now, finally, all pieces are in place for what Outshine should be all about. The videos we plan to present, the sound, the lyrics, are all in sync. And that they take the lyrics to heart since they are as important as a reflection on what has happened in society the last few years during the pandemic.”

ALL THINGS FALLEN

The Swedish progressive metal band All Things Fallen, featuring members of Pain of Salvation and Darkwater, have notified Shrapnel that they will release their new album Shadow Way on CD and digital on June 3rd via Blackoak Records.

The band was started in 2017 by Markus Sigfridsson (Darkwater, Harmony, Lance King et cetera). On the first album, Leo Margarit (Pain of Salvation) joined on drums with Erik Tordsson on lead vocals. Their first self-titled album was released in 2019 via Blackoak Records.

Old fans will certainly not be disappointed by the new album Shadow Way and any fan of melodic atmospheric metal will enjoy this album. The album is even more melancholic and melodic and has a darker vibe to it than the first album. It also flirts with the seventies Rainbow style but with modern production.

Joining Markus, Leo and Erik on Shadow Way is Raphael Dafras (Edu Falschi, Almah) on bass. As on the first album, you will also on the new album find an amazing guest appearance by Maria Grigoryeva on violin. The album was mixed and mastered by Dennis Koehne (Orden Ogan, Sodom).

Don’t miss Shadow Way, a perfect album for fans of atmospheric and progressive metal and bands like Evergrey, Soen, and, of course, Pain of Salvation and Darkwater.