New Year, New Music

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Ode delamba's we get ourselves into without intelligence ... a downer ... absolute mine 'd less ness ... dark supposedly!
 
Charles Baudelaire is almost a no-brainer for metal. His poetry is dark and beautiful. In fact, he is ideally suited for the goth-industrial metal of German band Lord of the Lost. So here we are, a Lord of the Lost song inspired by Baudelaire. Joining the band on vocals and writing is German singer-songwriter-musician Hannes Braun, who recently left his band Kissin' Dynamite to pursue his own path.

 
Okay, this was a pleasant, somewhat weird, surprise. Danish musician Mortemia (Morten Veland is the real name, I think) does all the instrumentals on his recordings, then pulls various names from his address book to cover vocals. Many of the great female metal vocalists have turned up on his recordings at times. And he sometimes picks ... interesting choices. Like this one. "Gangsta's Paradise" was originally a dark, dramatic hip-hop song by Coolio for a movie soundtrack (forget the movie offhand). Here, Mortemia pulls together three singers and basically turns the song into melodic death metal, with the verses that were originally rapped being growled by Diva Satanica, who has been in a number of bands over the past several years, and two other female singers doing lovely harmonies for the chorus. And, of course, he adds heavy guitar riffs into the backing track.

 
Scotland is not as well known for metal as it's Nordic and English neighbours, but there is some interesting metal coming out of the land of pipes and whisky. Hand of Kalliach is a husband and wife duo who put out what they describe (accurately) as atmospheric melodic death metal. I might slip "blackened" in there, too, at times. Scottish music is an obvious influence, too. Vocals are spectacular, combining bright, ethereal cleans from wife Sophie and deep, guttural growls from husband and guitarist John. Band name is from a witch from Celtic mythology.

From their album Corryvreckan (which was called to mind by this post by @Luce NDs)

 
Festival season is still a few months away here, but South of the Equator, it's happenin'. Here's Mexican power trio The Warning with the live debut of the first single from their upcoming fifth studio album at Lollapalooze Chile. The Villareal sisters just seem to keep rocking harder and heavier with each release and this track is a real thing of beauty. A standout in this performance is the bass of youngest sister Ale (Alejandra). Ale was only 9 when their famed viral video of a Metallica cover went out. She's 21 now and has grown into a stellar presence on her instrument, as have her older sisters on guitar and drums.

 
Another Gen Z talent I follow is Philippine-English artist beebadoobee. She dropped a lovely new single featuring the band The Marias this week. No indication if this is the start of a run-up to a new album, but she's coming up on two years since her last so probably. New pop artists like her tend to release fairly rapidly compared to old, established artists and bands.

 
Wow, this is turning into quite a week for new music. Here's a sampling.

Blackbriar is a Dutch metal band various described as "gothic", "alternative", "dark symphonic" and, IMHO, just plain great metal. Lead singer Zora Cock has a light, ethereal voice that works perfectly with the dark themes they often explore. Here, the subject is the Victorian practice of postmortem photography, which comes across as weird and creepy today, making it perfect subject matter for Zora and her crew.


Swinging heavier, we have Moldovan metalheads Infected Rain with their powerful vocalist Lena Scissorhands, who gets good mileage out of both her growls and her belts here. They can make Blackbriar look positively cheery by comparison.


Moving from metal to one of the best hard rock acts going right now, we have a new track from The Pretty Reckless, fronted by former actor and child star Taylor Momsen, who has turned into one of the best voices in modern rock since quitting acting. Warning: This video would probably get at least a PG-13, probably an R rating if it was a movie. Sex, drugs, and rock and roll, 2026 edition.


And to finish (for now, there's some more interesting stuff coming tomorrow), Pennsylvania cover band First to Eleven with a gorgeous acoustic cover of The Cranberries' classic "Zombie". Written about an event in The Troubles in Northern Ireland, it has become a broader anthem in subsequent years. Sadly, it seems as relevant as ever in 2026.

 
There's one that says it is age restricted ... unmatured enough to show it's head? There that was shoved down ... grounded ... they say that in church about any dirt to be learned as knowledge is evil and corrupting of clear space ... as if nobody knew! I yam a nobody ... nothing to becoming one of those ... just shed all the emotional baggage ... and just like that your intelligent and don't care ... resolution? Toe the line be on the fringe ... like BPD!

The emotional will eliminate you to somewhere alien ...
 
What a year this is turning into for Canadian singer Alissa White-Gluz. She parted ways with Swedish melodic death metal band Arch Enemy late last year and released her debut solo single along with a collaboration with Canadian musician Cole Rolland. Now she's unveiled a new band as well, formed by her with guitarists Alyssa Day and Dani Sophia. Band name is Blue Medusa (one look at her hair should probably clue you into where that came from) and first release is "Checkmate". Heavy melodic metal with some great guitar work by the two guitarists and Alissa in top form with both growls and cleans. Looking forward to where this project goes from here.

 
Yesterday marked three years since Floor Jansen launched her debut solo album, Paragon. While she been in bands for 25 years at that point as both a singer and lyricist, this marked her first studio album (she had done a solo live album already) under her own name. We are now awaiting the second. In a livestream for fans over New Year's, she said it was 80% finished but there's no date yet. She does have concerts booked for summer and fall so hopefully we'll at least hear some of the new music by then.

A live TV performance of "Daydream" my personal favourite song off Paragon.

 
Dutch singer-songwriter Anneke van Giersbergen dropped a new EP today, only four songs but all gems. This is the leadoff track, clearly showing her metal roots at points, but not really metal itself. She's a friend of Floor Jansen above and has toured with her on a number of occasions in recent years.

 
Stumbled over this quarter tonight. Wonderful popera versions of classic 20th century popular music. Sadly, the most recent video on their channel is 7 years old so I assume they are now defunct or moved on to other platforms or something.

First up, a Beatles classic


And then the Simon & Garfunkel hit that lives in my top five songs of all time. If the mark of a classic is that it can sound stunning in any arrangement or genre, "The Sound of Silence" is easily a classic. From the folk original to the popular metal cover by Disturbed to this arrangement, it remains gorgeous and powerful.

 
Those are both late sixties. Here's something more contemporary, "Skyfall" by Adele from the Bond film of the same name.

 
Why is it people say they fear the darkness ... where wisdom resides ... mostly because of hatred for info, intel, knowledge and all that crap?

Who buried this intangible silence?

I once hear a conflict medium declare that ... if something bothers you write it down ... and thus it is minimized ... yet may pop-up latently!

A Juel of the forthcoming times???? In the dark a Gem's tone ... real OHM'r ... few grasp when living for the instance ... instants? The word arranged it for us to figure the way out ... and thus some recive a song ... and a large group hate the Wahl and whine ... but it doth take flight as fer ... simulating Ephraim! That's a ancient word for the dark side to the west ... can be construed from the 4 Pts of Com Pass 'n ... lodestones? They be underfoot ... as earth-water-wind-etc.

It is about to burn because of the flame throwers ... mad businesses ... CEO's of all type; nations, peoples, financial operations ... ungoverned ... wild eh?

Then the great club was formed in the great out there ... where people go to look back! Imagine back flashes as things of psyche ... dissonance ... Eris? So much in the great unknown ... 6 footer? What if it is with us ... spooking ... such is an alien essence!
 
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