Fugazi

Many theories floating around on the Internet... One being that there will be some sort of announcement on April 30, 2024 because the latest social posts have featured 30 cogwheels ⚙️, 4 roses 🌹 and 24 butterflies 🦋. Also, on TikTok (!) Nightwish have posted "Which album are you, based on your birth month?" https://www.tiktok.com/@nightwish.official/photo/7361467999439637792 ...with a different album cover picture for each month of the year, except for May where it says 'Our next album' and a big question mark. Are they suggesting an album release as soon as May? Unlikely, but perhaps an album name or even a single in May would be possible.

Kai: This album will be hEaVY!! 🤘💀 Nightwish:

Butterflies, roses and gears? 🦋🌹⚙️ https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Ad5-sRPqKKQ https://twitter.com/NightwishBand/status/1783406996143710703 https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6LWOoqNLy0/

Troy confirmed to return as guest musician on EoM's second album. https://www.facebook.com/eyeofmelian/posts/pfbid0KRK1a4zTWZi7g3AuHiee65f5iyk4aB2Sp8MWq7Jnrb9GdGKC8UeHtscbEwYdk1Ebl

Omega Alive, the 2021 virtual show, is now freely available on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mrppEWGl_ss It's definitely worth a watch. As mentioned at the time, it's not a true live performance but a concert-length staged "live" movie, but is nonetheless a good show.

An interview with Anette about the new album on Chaoszine. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ys4LVOjnNQg

Interesting! A butterfly? Ancient script? I wonder if the light color theme is representative of the actual album -- would be a nice change from the dark theme of basically every album after Once.

When official band socials are useless, Kai is still our best ally... https://www.facebook.com/kai.hahto.96/posts/pfbid0L1i9yjXxkSvnGbFqD2MVgkxtkpiyjRawYPo1EQ3WnGxx42fRCbZjgRtAbH3gTsFwl Now, how soon is soon? 👀

I do hope they come back for their next album with a longer set! 8 songs go by so quickly. 😮

Yes, former Delain's singer and lyricist, but the music has always been mainly Martijn's and Guus Eikens' work. I would qualify Charlotte's solo work more introspective and experimental, and certainly less metal for the most part but this third album promises to have heavier arrangements so I'm eager to hear more. But speaking about new music... this sounds exciting: https://www.instagram.com/p/C58riB8iC8g/

Lacuna Coil – In The Mean Time (feat. Ash Costello) “In The Mean Time is a reflection on how much our society has generally ‘lost the plot’. We are living in really mean times filled with unhappy people: lonely, anxious, depressed, destructive. The pressure that crushes from the outside doesn't allow to see things with the right clarity. This song is like group therapy: not a lamentation but acceptance that once broken, it’s hard to put oneself back together again. We need to take our mind off all the inescapable toxicity and find that there’s so much more to this life… and know that in the meantime, everything cannot be aligned. We invited Ash Costello to feature on the track and we're thrilled she came on board adding exactly what we needed for this song with her warm voice and charisma.” Lacuna Coil , March 2024 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=63z4mNFXJGY -- My 2 cents: I love Lacuna Coil but I'm starting to think that they're treading water. Ever since they traded gothic, moody, quirky metal to more mid-stream, in-your-face heavier metal I think they lost some of their uniqueness and perhaps also freedom to be creative. Maybe I'm just reacting to this new single being a rehash of any of their recent work, but their only saving grace right now is Cristina Scabbia's unique voice that I can never get enough of.

"Within Temptation are this year's Dutch ambassador for Record Store Day. And for this occasion, the exclusive 12-inch EP 'The Artone Sessions' will be made available for free for the first 6000 Record Store Day customers in The Netherlands on April 20, 2024. 'The Artone Sessions' contains of four acoustic tracks that were recorded in the presence of over fifty RSD stores from across The Netherlands on January 29, 2024. This unique performance took place at Artone Studio in Haarlem, located inside of one of the largest vinyl pressing plants in Europe - Record Industry, and have been recorded direct to disc. Please see the live-registration of 'Ritual' - live at Artone Studios in Haarlem. Record Store Day is celebrated on Saturday, April 20, and takes place in 116 independent record stores in the Netherlands." Ritual (acoustic) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dul6cSpcHos We Go To War (acoustic) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a2JOoRb1IvM Edit (adding the rest of the tracks): Faster (acoustic) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=if7krn5xIxA Bleed Out (acoustic) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bOI1nGaJz-s

Anette has released the title track of her new album, Rapture. A full video will follow shortly. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zAyp7H9cmAs Edit: Video

Universal is out, very catchy song, no wonder it's already a crowd favourite.

A quick word about the Xandria show (supporting Wind Rose)... It was brilliant! Despite missing their official drummer and bass player (still waiting for work visas 😖) and playing with a replacement drummer (Cooper Dustman), they gave a strong performance. First time seeing Ambre live, she interacts a lot with the crowd and she sounds as good live as on the studio tracks. The crowd -- rather young, because this was a Wind Rose show after all -- did seem to enjoy the opening band, reacting strongly to Ambre's growls and the fact that she spoke perfect French. Interestingly, as far as I could tell the songs that drew the most cheers were Reborn and Universal, the new song. And there was plenty of Xandria merchandise, many styles of T-shirts and CDs and badges and other stuff that I may have missed. The setlist: You Will Never Be Our God Death to the Holy Reborn Forevermore Universal Your Stories I’ll Remember Two Worlds Nightfall