Today, multi-crossover industrialists SPANKRAGHT release their first single ‘Nitro’; a blend of pounding dance rhythms with heavy guitars and lots of electronics. For this release they teamed up with Norway’s Jørgen Munkeby, frontman of blackjazz masters SHINING. Dance, metal and jazz coming together in one song.

Because of the ongoing loudness wars, ‘Nitro’ was mastered to obtain a DR9. Less loud but with more dynamics. SPANKRAGHT supports loudness awareness initiatives as Dynamic Range Day. You want it louder? Use the volume knob. DR9 still too loud but we need to take small steps in the war against loudness.

‘Nitro’ is also available on different download and streaming platforms such as ITunes, Spotify, Amazon Mp3 and many more.

‘Nitro’’s guitars were recorded in Spankraght’s HQ in Antwerp, Belgium. Bass was recorded at The Rhythm Cage in Kruibeke, Belgium.

Saxophone by Jørgen Munkeby, recorded at Shining Studios. Munkeby appears courtesy of Spinefarm Records

‘Nitro’ was mixed at Spankraght’s HQ and mastered at the Rhythm Cage.

SPANKRAGHT:

Founded in 2015. SPANKRAGHT (Dutch for clamping power / tension) is the result of two longtime partners in music that wanted to step away from the traditional rock / metalband line-up and create something totally different without restraints. SPANKRAGHT became a project that draws influences from metal, drum and bass, industrial, synthwave, pop and much more. 2016 will mark the release of their first single ‘Nitro’ and a full look reveal somewhere in July or August. Because it’s more than just music.

www.facebook.com/spankraght

The Birthday Massacre has dug into the band's past and presents a collection of songs recorded under the original moniker of "Imagica". Lovingly remastered from the original 4 track recordings, Imagica stands as a historical document of the early days of the bands career, and as a thanks to the loyal fans who have been asking for the release of this material.

01. Over

02. Remember Me

03. Under The Stairs

04. The Birthday Massacre

05. Nothing And Nowhere

06. Queen Of Hearts

07. Night Time

08. Play Dead

09. Open Your Heart

10. From Out Of Nowhere

11. Dead

Major news from the Belgian electronica act Metroland, known for their updated Kraftwerk sound. The band’s 2012 song “The Passenger” has been selected to appear as main song for the official Swedish Stockholm underground promo video.

The song accompanies the video which was made by the Swedish visual art company Familjenpangea for the official Swedish Stockholm underground. They won a gold award at this years Golden Egg Awards for the new Visual Identity for SL (Stockholm Public Transport). This can be compared to winning a Red Dot award internationally or a Grammy (speaking in music terms).

“The Passenger” is taken from the “Mind the gap” album which was released 4 years ago. You can order the normal CD version here (the 2CD boxset is since long completely sold out).

In further news, Metroland recently released the single “Synthetic Sound” (in 2 versions), and now they launch a full blown remix contest for a brand new single: “Brothers”. The single will be last single to be taken of the “Things will never sound the same” album.

The bands who want to pay their own personal final homage to Louis Zachert can now remix the “Brother” song. The best remixes will be chosen for the official remix single. Interested? Then download the stemms, midi-file and conditions right here. Make sure to send your files back and this before June 30, 2016.

Castle Party - the biggest dark and alternative Festival in the Middle-Eastern Europe! The Polish answer to The Whitby Gothic Weekend!

Based in a small town in South-West Poland, with gigs taking place in a beautiful, medieval Castle and... in a former church, The Castle Party is your new destination on a must-visit festivals' map this summer!
Have you ever thought of being part of a Gothic Pool Party? Stayed in a town full of people dressed like you and thinking like you - a town that never sleeps? Does a pint of beer for less than a pound appeal to you? Are you a fan of the darker sounds? Then the Castle Party is definitely a place for you to visit this summer!
The Festival has been going for over 20 years. In the past, we had headliners such as Moonspell, Lacrimosa, Paradise Lost, New Model Army. This year we have Fields of The Nephilim!!

But it's not just Fields. The full line-up is

•Fields of the Nephilim

•Closterkeller

•Clan of Xymox

•Xandria

•De/Vision

•Garden of Delight

•Moonlight

•Deathcamp Project

•Leæther Strip

•Absolute Body Control

•Skeletal Family

•XIII. století

•Blindead

•Two Witches

•Furia

•In Mourning

•Das Moon

•The Cuts

•Alien Vampires

•Radogost

•Desiderii Marginis

•In Slaughter Natives

•The Spiritual Bat

•Near Earth Orbit

•The Devil & The Universe

•Nordvargr

•Reactor7x

•PHURPA

•Obszön Geschöpf

•Larva

•Cemetery of Scream

•Outre

•Sacrilegium

•Mordor

•Sexy Suicide

•This Cold

•Nonamen

•Evidence Based Medicine

•Dogs in Trees

•Tranquilizer

•Bisclaveret

•Moanaa

•Antiflesh

•Dead Factory

•Madmancircus

Bolkow Castle is based about 80km from Wrocław Airport and not far from Berlin, Prague, Poznan. Ryanair, easyJet, Wizzair all fly there - if you book now, it will cost pennies!! There are regular buses from all the major airports to Bolkow or nearby! The regular festival-goers often offer lifts - just look at the Castle Party forum! Accommodation-wise - there is a campsite for less than two pints of beer in your local pub a night (with showers, electricity plug, a swimming pool and a 24/7 pub with goth DJs), there are also private flats/rooms going really cheap, private campsites - so you will be spoilt for choice!!

Castle Party is not just gigs at the Castle or in the church. For those four days, the usually sleepy town of Bolkow never sleeps - there are afterparties until dawn, pool parties, drinking, partying at the town square, dressing up to impress, 24/7 Party at the campsite.

For all information visit www.castleparty.com or contact castleparty@castleparty.com

Great things are in store when you straighten out and recollect after a crisis, a fact that also goes for the field of music, as Pride And Fall's fifth album "Red For The Dead - Black For The Mourning" shows. The three Norwegians - Sigve Monsen (vocals), Per Waagen (keyboards, programming) and Svein-Joar Johnsen (guitar) - not only took some time off due to personal upheavals, but even switched production equipment several times to finally realize the album they had on their minds after many trials and tribulations.

This may be the reason for the dark and heavy sound of "Red For The Dead - Black For The Mourning", an album as rife with electronic pathos as "In My Time Of Dying", which has been the group's masterpiece so far. Their new record might well be their strongest, since they manage to enhance their forceful music with a sadness otherwise atypical for the electro scene. As the title suggests, there's a certain sentimentality to the songs, which range from restrained dance hits with contrastingly weighty sequences (‚Broken Men', ‚Angel At The Pillar', ‚Pale') across the melancholic title track to the nine-minute epic ‚The Sentiment Was False'. All compositions impress with captivating choruses thanks to the fabulous performance of front man Monsen, whose vocal lines are urgently catchy. In this way, the trio proves that it has only improved on its strengths throughout the years - and true class not least shows in refraining from cheap sadsack clichés.

With respect to the title, the band explains: "According to Chinese burial tradition, you would protect yourself from a dead person's spirit by wearing black. It is the colour of mourning. The dead can be dressed in any colour except for red. To dress the dead in red will leave them restless in their grave. Pride And Fall's new album is just that: the black hole in your subconscious that you never want to seek, the freezing shivers you feel as you see the sun go down for the last time when endless night is about to begin."

Let's not withhold another detail: Two masters have co-produced the album - Krischan Wesenberg (Rotersand) and Christer Cedergren (Anathema) -, a feat that was really worth it: powerful record, powerful sound.

Release date: 26.08.2016

Available editions:

- CD

- 2LP/2CD "complete edition" in gatefold cover incl. large-sized booklet and bonus CD "Broken Men"; limited to 500 copies