RITUAL ROADMAP – Death’n’Roll
RITUAL ROADMAP is a death’n’roll band hailing from Brasov, Romania. The group was formed in March 2020 by a group of old friends and members of the Brasov metal scene, including Silviu on vocals (The Killing Moon, ex. We Are Numbers, Ordinul Negru, Deliver the God), Vic on guitar (ex. Nomad, Black Swan, Lotul Național de Hardcore), Cristi on bass (ex. We Are Numbers, Deliver the God), and Cipanu on drums (Ktera, ex. Lotul Național de Hardcore, Michelangelo).
As self-proclaimed old-school fellows, RITUAL ROADMAP is all about raw energy and the intense, gritty sound of death’n’roll. Their music is a fusion of old-school death metal and classic rock’n’roll, with infectious riffs and grooves that are sure to get you headbanging and tapping your foot. The band’s debut album is a testament to their love of the genre, with each track showcasing their unique take on the death’n’roll sound.
This year, RITUAL ROADMAP will be performing at Rockstadt Extreme Festival in Transylvania, near Râșnov Fortress, from 2-6 August. Fans of the genre are sure to be excited for their set, which promises to be a high-energy, headbanging good time. If you’re a fan of death metal or classic rock’n’roll, be sure to check out RITUAL ROADMAP’s performance at the festival.
SACRED REICH – Thrash Metal
CO-HEADLINER
Sacred Reich este o trupă de trash metal din Phoenix, Arizona care s-a înființat în anul 1985. Alături de Testament, Death Angel și Destruction, aceasta a făcut parte din al doilea val de trash. Trupa a trecut testul timpului.
Sacred Reich a fost o parte integrală din mișcarea trash a anilor ‘80 și ’90, aceștia lansând nu mai puțin de 4 albume până la despărțirea din 2000.
23 de ani după ce au lansat primul lor disc, Sacred Reich se întorc pentru a demonstra că ei sunt o forță a genului metal. Aceștia sunt cunoscuți pentru solourile incredibile și pentru mesajele sociale care arată cât de ancorați sunt la lumea înconjurătoare.
În anul 2018, aceștia au început să lucreze la un nou material, numit Awakening. ” Toboșarul nostru, Dave (McClain, ex-Machine Head) se afla încă în turneu cu fosta lui trupă, așa că Tim Radziwill a cântat la tobe și la demo-urile alături de fiul său Joey, înregistrările având loc în propriul lor studio. Nu am fi ajuns aici fără ajutorul lor, iar colaboarea cu ei a fost foarte pozitivă, cool și distractivă. „- declară trupa. „Toată implicarea, felul în care contribui la procesul creativ, atitudinea; totul se reflectă în produsul final. De aceea am încercat să facem totul ca la carte- și când spun asta, mă refer că am fost foarte deschiși la colaborări.”
Reîntoarcerea lui Dave McClain, care a cântat la tobe între 1991 până în 1997 și aducerea chitaristului Joey Radzivill, alături de vechiul chitarist Wiley Arnett sunt părți fundamentale ale acestui material.
Cât despre Joey Radiwill, deși are 22 de ani, are niște aptitudini ieșite din comun. Înainte de Sacred Reich, acesta a fost în 3 turnee americane cu alte trupe. Acest album, Awakening, este primul lansat după 20 de ani.
„Albumul comprimă ceea ce simt eu în legătură cu procesul creativ: cu toții ne putem descurca excelent atât timp cât ne concentrăm. ” Dacă ne raportăm la versuri, desigur că avem multă agresivitate, contrabalansată de foarte mult pozitivism și speranță- exemple în acest sens sunt „Manifest Reality” și „Revolution”- declară Rind.
Pentru înregistrarea acestui album, trupa a colaborat cu Arthur Rizk (Power Trip, Cavalera Conspiracy) și John Aquilino, iar Rind a insistat ca amândoi să lucreze la sunetul definitoriu al materialului Awakening.
„Prima zi de înregistrare s-a simțit ca un vis. Ne tot ziceam: Chiar facem asta! „- zice vocalistul. A fost o perioadă specială atât pentru vocalist cât și pentru Arnett să se afle împreună în același studio.
Sperăm să vă placă acest album pe care-l vom auzi live la Rockstadt Extreme Fest.
SLEEP TOKEN – Alternative / Indie · Progressive Rock
Enigmatic British band Sleep Token combines post-rock, post-classical, and post-metal tropes with soulful indie pop vocals into a blend that sounds like nothing else. They released their innovative debut album, Sundowning, in 2019 and found mainstream success two years later with the U.K.-charting This Place Will Become Your Tomb. The anonymous, masked collective unveiled their wildly diverse third full-length effort, Take Me Back to Eden, in 2023.
The group first appeared in 2016 with the self-released single „One.” Their schtick was unique, to say the least: Fronted by a mysterious masked figure known only as Vessel and professing to worship an ancient deity called Sleep, they framed themselves as a kind of cult whose songs were all acts of worship to the deity. Sleep Token’s music was equally original, blending tranquil post-rock instrumentation and soulful falsetto vocals with sudden eruptions of tech-metal brutality. Frenzied online speculation ensued as to the identity of the members, with the likes of Sam Smith, Hozier, and Bastille’s Dan Smith being put forward as candidates. The influence of artists like Deftones, Meshuggah, Explosions in the Sky, Bon Iver, and Ólafur Arnalds was apparent, but the whole was greater than the sum of its parts.
Sleep Token signed to Basick for their 2017 single, „Two,” then self-released a few more singles in 2018 before making the move to the Universal-distributed Spinefarm for their 2019 debut album, Sundowning. In an unusual move, every track off the LP was issued as a digital single prior to its release, over a period of six months. With a bigger budget than before, the album presented a widescreen version of the band’s sound, with more electronic elements, a pronounced R&B edge to the vocals, and a sludgier post-metal feel to the heavier parts. A deluxe version of Sundowning featuring four extra tracks appeared in 2020. 2021’s This Place Will Become Your Tomb provided the band with their first chart positions, debuting at number 39 on the U.K. Albums Chart and 13 on the Scottish Albums Chart. A string of wide-ranging singles, including the slow-burning „Chokehold” and propulsive „The Summoning,” heralded the arrival of their third long-player, 2023’s Take Me Back to Eden.
SOULFLY – Thrash Metal
Max Cavalera has been delivering punishing, neck-snapping riffs since the 1980s, first as a founding member of influential Brazilian thrash legends Sepultura, and later as the ringleader for the more cerebral, yet similarly punitive Soulfly. Emerging in the late ’90s, Soulfly’s sonic attack is built on a foundation of multiple subgenres of metal and worldbeat, drawing heavily from groove, thrash, nu-metal, and Brazilian tribal music. The band’s eponymous 1998 debut was certified gold, and paved the way for efforts like Conquer (2008), Archangel (2015), Ritual (2018), and Totem (2022), all of which garnered both critical and commercial acclaim. Throughout the group’s two-decade run, there have been multiple personnel shifts, with Cavalera being the only constant
member.
Upon his exit from Sepultura in late 1996, Cavalera almost automatically set out to form his next musical endeavor. Besides leaving one of the most popular heavy metal bands in the world, which he’d co-founded in the early ’80s, he also had to deal with the death of his best friend and stepson Dana Wells. Using music as therapy to overcome his depression, Cavalera put together a band that included Roy „Rata” Mayorga on drums (ex-Thorn) and Jackson Bandeira on second guitar (ex-Chico Science), while former Sepultura roadie Marcello D. Rapp rounded out the quartet on bass. Their Roadrunner-issued self-titled debut album was released in the spring of 1998, and eventually went gold. Soulfly’s second album, 2000’s Primitive, was their highest-charting LP to date, and featured guest spots from Corey Taylor of Slipknot and Stone Sour, Sean Lennon, Chino Moreno of Deftones, and Tom Araya of Slayer, among others. Cavalera handled the production for 2002’s III, which marked the studio debut of guitarist Marc Rizzo and featured the ballad „Tree of Pain,” a heartfelt tribute to Dana Wells. 2004’s Prophecy featured a completely re-tooled lineup and adopted a more spiritual tone. 2005’s Dark Ages took a more brooding and savage approach, fueled in large part by the deaths of Cavalera’s eight-year-old grandson and close friend Dimebag Darrell.
In 2007 Cavalera began collaborating with brother and former Sepultura drummer Igor on a project called Cavalera Conspiracy. The duo made its live debut that August as the opening act for Soulfly, and went on to release an album, Inflikted, for Roadrunner in 2008. Soulfly’s sixth full-length offering, the punitive Conquer, arrived in July 2008, and included guest appearances by Morbid Angel’s David Vincent and Throwdown’s Dave Peters. Omen, the band’s seventh studio long-player, arrived in 2010, followed by Enslaved in 2012, the latter of which saw the group leaning into their death metal influences with the help of special guests Dez Fafara of Coal Chamber and Travis Ryan of Cattle Decapitation. Throughout that year, the band toured their own „Maximum Cavalera” package, featuring three bands all fronted by members of the Cavalera family: Soulfly, Incite, and Lody Kong. For the next album, the band moved from their longtime home of Roadrunner Records to Nuclear Blast, and Cavalera’s youngest son Zyon took over on drums. The effort, entitled Savages, was produced by Terry Date and released in October 2013. The band began recording a follow-up almost immediately with producer Matt Hyde. The finished product, Archangel, was issued in 2015. Their shortest record at just over 36 minutes, it was also their last with longtime bassist Tony Campos, who left to join Fear Factory shortly after the album’s completion. The band returned to the heavy, groove-laden sonic punch of past efforts like Primitive and III on their 11th full-length effort, 2018’s hard-hitting Ritual. Max and Zyon spent two years writing the band’s 12fth groove-metal opus, the sonically brutal yet vibrant and life-affirming Totem. The first Soulfly effort since 2002 to not feature longtime guitarist Marc Rizzo, who left the fold in 2021, Totem appeared in 2022.
