Symphonic Metal
Heavy Song of the Week: Burning Witches Bring Metal Escapism on “The Spell of the Skull”
The Swiss band delivered an anthemic and transportive one-off single. Heavy Song of the Week: Burning Witches Bring Metal Escapism on “The Spell of the Skull” Jon Hadusek
Beyond the Boys’ Club: Anette Olzon
Beyond the Boys’ Club is a monthly column from journalist and radio host Anne Erickson, focusing on women in the heavy music genres, as they offer their perspectives on the music industry and discuss their personal experiences. Erickson is also a music artist herself, recently releasing the song “Eternal Way” with Upon Wings. This month’s piece features an interview with Anette Olzon, formerly of Nightwish. Anette Olzon previously fronted one of the biggest symphonic metal bands in the world, Nightwish, but has since embarked on a solo career. This year, she returned with her sophomore solo album, Strong. The new set is nothing like her debut solo release, Shine. While the latter was a much more stripped-down, intimate collection of songs, Strong takes the listener in a much heavier and da...
Nightwish Announce 2022 North American Tour
Celebrated symphonic metal act Nightwish have announced a 2022 North America tour in support of their latest album, Human :||: Nature. The Finnish band will kick off the 10-date run May 4th in Toronto, and wrap up with a two-night stint May 20th and 21st at The Wiltern in Los Angeles. Beast in Black will support the full run, with tickets available here. The dates are part of Nightwish’s Human :||: Nature world tour, so expect to hear plenty of fresh material off the new album, as well as some classics. Human :||: Nature marked the band’s ninth studio album and arrived in April 2020. Advertisement Related Video In related news, former Nightwish vocalist Anette Olzon released a new solo album, Strong, last month, and will be featured in Heavy Consequence‘s “Beyond the Boys’ Club” column lat...
Cradle of Filth Announce 2021 North American Tour
Cradle of Filth have announced a fall 2021 North American outing, dubbed the “Lustmord and Tourgasm” tour. During the run, the UK extreme metal band will perform the 1998 concept album Cruelty and the Beast in its entirety, as well as a “lengthy encore of hits.” 3Teeth and Once Human will provide support for the 20-show tour. It kicks off on October 1st in Dallas and runs through an October 26th date in San Francisco. Cradle of Filth then heads to the Monterey Metal Festival in Monterey, Mexico, for a performance on October 29th. “It’s been far too long America, but soon we will return to haunt your shores again,” frontman Dani Filth said in a press release. “We, as a band, are very much looking forward to coming back to the States and performing Cruelty and the Beast in its entirety (plus...
Heavy Culture: Chthonic’s Freddy Lim Talks Politics and Metal, Premieres “Oceanquake” Live Video
<span class="localtime" data-ltformat="F j, Y | g:ia" data-lttime="2021-05-14T18:06:27+00:00“>May 14, 2021 | 2:06pm ET Heavy Culture is a monthly column from journalist Liz Ramanand, focusing on artists of different cultural backgrounds in heavy music as they offer their perspectives on race, society, and more as it intersects with and affects their music. The latest installment of this column features an interview with Chthonic frontman Freddy Lim. Freddy Lim has intertwined his life as both a politician and musician. In 2020, Lim was re-elected to Taiwan’s parliament, where he first won a seat in 2016. He’s also been going strong as frontman of the Taiwanese metal band Chthonic for more than 25 years. As countries around the world continue to have COV...
Bassist Marko Hietala Quits Nightwish, Condemns Music Industry on the Way Out
Former Nightwish bassist Marko Hietala, second from right, courtesy of Nuclear Blast Longtime Nightwish bassist Marko Hietala has quit the symphonic metal band after joining the Finnish group in 2001. Hietala issued a highly personal statement regarding his departure, condemning the music industry in the process. Among his grievances, Hietala cited “streaming company big guns demanding 9-to-5 work from artists of inspiration while unfairly sharing the profits.” Nightwish have long been a leading artist in the world of symphonic metal, and their 2004 opus, Once, remains one of Nuclear Blast Records’ most successful releases after topping the charts in multiple countries. The bassist didn’t expressly call out his record label, specific promoters, or any of his bandmates, but said that a pers...
Within Temptation Unleash New Song “Entertain You”: Stream
Within Temptation have released the new song “Entertain You”, a stand-alone single that was intended to coincide with the Dutch symphonic metal band’s now-postponed European tour with Evanescence. The song crashes in with heavy, towering riffs, before pulling back for Sharon den Adel’s emotive vocals. According to a press release “Entertain You” is about “the urge for self-gratification at the expense of others.” A statement from the band further explained, “Offenses, victimization, and exploitation. That happens every day and is mainly justified under the name of economic necessity, politics, religion, culture, sex, and race.” Sharon den Adel also issued her own statement, remarking, “We often cannot and do not want to see the consequences of our urge to satisfy our personal needs. T...
