A couple of pretty big announcements today…
Black Stone Cherry
Black Stone Cherry are set to release their sixth studio album, Family Tree, via Mascot Records/Mascot Label Group on 20th April 2018. “Burnin’”, the first musical taste of the new collection is available today (video below, digital versions available), along with the ability to pre-order the album in various physical and digital formats. Physical album formats, including a UK exclusive clear vinyl option limited to just 1500 copies are available through the band’s online store.
Family Tree is the much-anticipated follow up to 2016’s Kentucky, which debuted at #5 on the Official UK Album Chart. Like with Kentucky, Black Stone Cherry opted to self-produce and track Family Tree at David Barrick’s Barrick Recording in Glasgow, KY, the same studio where the four-piece recorded their eponymous debut. BSC also opted to not over-rehearse upfront of the album sessions, instead preferring the immediacy and spontaneity of in-the-moment takes. The band also entrusted frontman Chris Robertson to mix the songs, which perfectly fit the loose, creative process that birthed Family Tree.
Family Tree boasts BSC’s tried-and-true lucky number with its 13 songs, and like all BSC releases, features songwriting contributions from each member. Drummer John Fred tells us:
Family Tree showcases all of our collective musical influences and how we have taken those to create something that is truly our own unique Southern American rock ‘n roll sound.
Two special guests appear, one bringing the concept of family full circle. Chris’s 5 year old son contributes backup vocals on the swaggering “You Got The Blues”, while the other, revered jam-band musician Warren Haynes (Allman Bros/Gov’t Mule) offers a guitar cameo and vocals on the delta stomp of “Dancing In The Rain”. The band first met Warren 17 years ago as freshly-signed youngsters on their first visit to New York City.
TesseracT
TesseracT, a band that sit outside the bounds of any genre specificity, pioneers of the ever-evolving metal scene and unstoppable force of off-kilter riffs, soaring melodies and disorientating atmospherics release their fourth studio album Sonder on April 20th 2018 through Kscope.
Sonder adds significant firepower to the band’s arsenal, blending the harsh abrasiveness of One (2011) and progressive ethereal elements of Altered State (2013) with the accessibility of Polaris (2015). Sonder is streamlined, honest and direct with all the trademark TesseracT dreamy atmospherics and bending grooves. Sonder was recorded in the UK at 4D Sounds, Celestial Sounds and Project Studios, engineered by the band and Aiden O’Brien with mastering by Acle Kahney, and cover artwork designed by Amos Williams.
Vocalist Daniel Tompkins described Sonder as “Conceptually exploring a deep and devouring sense of insignificance, which ties into the overall theme and meaning behind ‘Sonder’”. Also featured is an extended and re-worked version of last summer’s single “Smile”.
Sonder will be released on CD / 2CD – featuring binaural album bonus disc / black LP / Crystal Clear vinyl LP / picture disc (exclusive to the band’s webstores) and digitally (with digital album pre-order receiving “Luminary” as an instant download) and is available to pre-order through many online locations.
For audiophiles, TesseracT have produced a binaural version which will be available exclusively as part of the 2CD version, this version is a 360-listening experience designed by Klang: Fabrik for headphones. Amos Williams explains more:
The concept is to push past the restrictions of a stereo headphone mix and create an accurate ‘3D’ space in which positioning outside of the normal Left Right axis can occur. This is something that every artist that uses in ear monitors on stage wishes to recreate; the real and accurate positioning of instruments. We immediately felt that this technology could be applicable to us in the studio. TesseracT loves to bring what it does in the studio to the stage, but this time it’s experimenting with bringing a live element to the studio.
Arch Enemy
Due to delays in production, the release of Arch Enemy’s deluxe vinyl box set 1996 – 2017 will be postponed. The new release date will be March 9, 2018.
The hand-numbered box set includes all ten studio albums and a bonus Gatefold 2LP featuring covers and bonus tracks recorded between 1996 and 2017 and comes with a 36 page booklet with liner notes. All albums are mastered for vinyl.
It will be available as a picture LP box set and also in the following vinyl colours:
- Black vinyl – limited to 1.500 copies
- Clear vinyl – limited to 100 copies, only available at CMDistro
- Transparent red vinyl – limited to 200 copies, only available at EMP
- Silver vinyl – limited to 100 copies, only available at Nuclear Blast
- Dark green vinyl – limited to 100 copies, only available at ST Records
- Picture vinyl – limited to 500 copies
One link will direct you to all preorders and save your copy now.
Arch Enemy “Will To Power Tour 2018” w/ Wintersun, Tribulation
- 09.02.2018 Glasgow (UK) – ABC
- 10.02.2018 Nottingham (UK) – Rock City
- 11.02.2018 London (UK) – Koko
- 13.02.2018 Manchester (UK) – Ritz
- 14.02.2018 Bristol (UK) – Academy
Monsternaut
Finland’s stoner rock newcomers Monsternaut invite you into a world of fuzz, with their sophomore album Enter The Storm to be unleashed on April 27th via Heavy Psych Sounds.
Monsternaut’s Enter the Storm is a 12-track getaway in the Finnish tundra. The band’s second album follows in the footsteps of its predecessor, this time heavier than before. The album is filled with familiar Fu Manchu influences blended in trash and sludge grooves. If you like straightforward groovy stoner rock, you will like this. The album was recorded, mixed and mastered in a coastal town of southern Finland by Teemu Aalto.
Enter The Storm will be issued as limited Solid Yellow vinyl, Black vinyl, CD and digital. Presales will start from February 15th on Heavy Psych Sounds’ web store.
Tommy Stewart’s Dyerwulf
Tommy Stewart’s Dyerwulf is a two-piece doom metal group hailing from the United States, consisting of drums, bass, and vocals only, and featuring Tommy Stewart from classic thrashers Hallows Eve and Eric Vogt from Armed Chaos.
Currently the band is writing and recording their sophomore album set to be released in November 2018 but in the meantime the US doomsters have released the single “Shadow in the Well”, which is an early release single from that upcoming second release.
The band comments:
“Shadow in the Well” captures the atmosphere of a place we’re not sure is there and elements that define Tommy Stewart’s Dyerwulf. The single is lyrically based on an old legend that if you lean head back and peer into the images of the water in the well, one may see one’s destiny or fate.
