If you know, have interacted with me through social media, or have seen my list of top albums of 2019, you would already know that I’m an Opeth fanboy. I love, basically, everything that the band has released. You would also probably know that I’m a bass player and (yes, you guessed it!) Martin Méndez is my favorite bass player and one of my top inspirations to play the four-stringed instrument. So, when I heard that he was releasing a new Death Metal project, called White Stones, I was equally excited and confused. When talking about the release of the infamous Heritage (Roadrunner Records), Mikael Åkerfeldt, singer, songwriter, and guitar player from Opeth, stated that they wrote a Death Metal record as a follow up for Watershed (Roadrunner Records), which is their last heavy record, but Méndez talked him out of it stating that was not the music that he should be writing for Opeth. Can you understand my confusion now?Continue reading
Tag Archives: Opeth
Beyond The Gates Books Candlemass, 1349, Whoredom Rife, Hexvessel and Year Of The Goat
Long-running Metal Festival experience Beyond The Gates has booked its final bands for 2020 to complete their lineup! Joining the bill are Candlemass, 1349, Whoredom Rife, Hexvessel and Year Of The Goat. Already announced bands include Mercyful Fate, Opeth, Enslaved, Heilung, Sodom and more! A limited number of 3 Day Festival passes and club tickets on sale at the links below. Beyond The Gates Festival Takes Place August 19 – 22 in Bergen, Norway.Continue reading
Opeth Teams Up with PUCK HCKY on Hockey Themed Merch
Opeth has collaborated on an amazing new line of Hockey-themed merch with great lifestyle wear brand Puck HCKY. Other bands that have merch made through the brand include Anthrax, Cannibal Corpse, Devin Townsend, Meshiggah, Overkill, Snoop Dogg, Less Than Jake, Exodus, Testament, Darkest Hour, 36 Crazyfists, Doyle, All Hail The Yeti and more! Continue reading
Arctangent Festival Adds Chelsea Wolfe, Caspian, Emma Ruth Rundle, Intronaut, Bell Witch and More!
Arctangent Festival has made a major announcement, their third of many for the 2020 event! Chelsea Wolfe has been named as the mainstage headliner for the Thursday night kickoff. Also added to the bill are Caspian, Emma Ruth Rundle, Bell Witch & Aerial Ruin, Intronaut, Talons, Arabrot, Wheel, The Guru Guru, Latitudes and many more. Opeth, Tesseract (UK festival exclusive), Swans, Metz, Oathbreaker (exclusive), The Locust (exclusive), This Will Destroy You, Amenra (UK 2020 exclusive), Ihsahn, Perturbator, maybeshewill (exclusive), Rolo Tomassi (performing two full albums sets – ‘Grievances’ and ‘Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It’), Earthtone9, Giraffes? Giraffes!, Fronterier and many more to be announced still. The fest takes place on August 20th/21st/22nd 2020 at Fernhill Farm, Compton Martin near Bristol, and tickets are on sale now at the link below. Continue reading
White Stones (Opeth) Share New Lyric Video for “Drowned In Time”
White Stones, the new death metal project which counts Opeth bassist Martin Mendez in its ranks, has shared a second single. Their forthcoming debut album Kuarahy, which releases on March 13 via Nuclear Blast Records. Watch the lyric video for “Drowned In Time’ right now!
The band kicked off the pre-order for “Kuarahy”. The album will be available on CD, LP and digitally.
Pre-order your copy here: https://nblast.de/WhiteStonesKuarahy
The tracklist of “Kuarahy” reads as follows:
1.Kuarahy (1:24)
2.Rusty Shell (4:25)
3.Worms (3:57)
4.Drowned In Time (5:17)
5.The One (4:34)
6.Guyra (4:45)
7.Ashes (4:04)
8.Infected Soul (5:59)
9.Taste Of Blood (4:10)
10.Jasy (2:48)
The creative process for White Stones’ debut album “Kuarahy” began during a year-long break Opeth took after the Sorceress tour, as a means of unwinding by exploring new avenues of creativity. Initially that’s all it was ever meant to be. “I’ve always written music at home but never had the confidence to do anything like this” says Mendez, “I never wrote a song, never presented something I wrote for Mikael (Åkerfeldt, Opeth singer/songwriter)” he continues. “I didn’t have any direction, I came up with the first song for fun. White Stones has nothing to do with OPETH, I see no relation between the two. I played “Kuarahy” to Mikael a few months ago, he really liked it and was happy for me. Everyone in the band has side projects, it’s important. We tour so much you can become consumed by it; it has been really nice to do something different. White Stones has renewed my strength and energy.”
Named after his birthplace in Uruguay, the record represents a return to his roots, both familial and musically. By exploring the forgotten paths of his ancestors via the style of music that remains his one true love – death metal. “I feel strongly connected to Uruguay still,” he reflects. “I wanted to write music related to that – the sun on the Uruguayan flag I transformed into the White Stones logo; there are a lot of small things that connect the record to that place. “Kuarahy” is the native Uruguayan people’s word for ‘Sun’”, Mendez comments.
“Kuarahy” was recorded at the Farm Of Sounds studios in Barcelona and produced by Martin Mendez himself , while Jamie Gomez at the Orgone Studios in the UK was responsible for mixing and mastering.
White Stones Live:
March 20th, Eindhoven, The Netherlands – Prognosis Festival
Opeth Cancels Shows Due to Mikael Åkerfeldt’s Case of Laryngitis
Opeth is now on a North American Tour supporting last year’s stellar album In Cauda Venenum, released last year via Moderbolaget / Nuclear Blast Records, with Graveyard as direct support. Frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt and is being forced to cancel tonight’s performance in Worcester Massachusetts, followed by the next two shows. The band will hopefully resume this Friday in New York for their two landmark shows at The famed Apollo Theater in Harlem. Åkerfeldt broke the news of the cancellation earlier today in a social media post. He wrote: “I regret to inform you that we have to cancel the following shows on the North American run: Worcester, Toronto and Montreal. The reason being ‘acute laryngitis,’ according to the doc.Continue reading
Arctangent Festival Books Swans, Metz, The Locust, Maybeshewill, Wear Your Wounds, Car Bomb, Jo Quail, and Oathbreaker!
The amazing proggy and heavy Arctangent Festival 2020 have added a few more amazing bands, including some long-awaited returns! Swans, Metz, The Locust, Maybeshewill, Wear Your Wounds, Car Bomb, Jo Quail, Oathbreaker, Leprous, Agent Fresco, The World Is A Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die, A.A.Williams, Tides From Nebula, and many more. They join the bill with the already announced headliners Opeth, Tesseract (UK festival exclusive), This Will Destroy You, Amenra (UK 2020 exclusive), Ihsahn, Perturbator, Rolo Tomassi (performing two full albums sets – ‘Grievances’ and ‘Time Will Die And Love Will Bury It’), Earthtone9, Giraffes? Giraffes!, Fronterier and many more. The festival will take place on August 20th/21st/22nd 2020 at Fernhill Farm, Compton Martin near Bristol, and tickets are on sale now at the links below. Continue reading
ALBUM OF THE YEAR STAFF POST: Weslie Negron Top 20 Albums of 2019
2019, the year that closes the decade and with it a lot of interesting releases in the Heavy Metal world. In this article, you’ll get to see my top 20 favorite albums of the year. It was no easy task to choose just 20, a lot of talented bands released quality stuff this year, but I believe these are the ones that close the decade on a high note and gives us hope for more in the future.
Domination Fest Books Def Leppard, Misfits, Nightwish, Rancid, Opeth and More for 2020
Mexico’s premier springtime Metal and Punk festival, Domination Festival has announced its 2020 lineup. Def Leppard, Misfits, Nightwish, Rancid, Opeth, BOC, UFO, Testament, Lacuna Coil, Dropkick Murphys and more are set for the festivals that takes place May 1-2 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, Mexico. More bands are expected to be announced soon. Tickets are on sale from https://www.ticketmaster.mxContinue reading
GHOST CULT’S ALBUM OF THE YEAR: Steve Tovey: Top 20 of 2019
2019 seems an odd year for me to be writing a post about my albums of year, and to have so many albums I want to name-check or mention. See, early in the year I stepped down from my role within Ghost Cult – nothing the Cult did wrong, just a question of life and balance. Stepping back from direct exposure to every rock, metal or alternative release should have meant I had fewer albums to care about, but, actually, it’s afforded me more time with each of the albums that I have connected with.Continue reading