If you're into bands like Omnium Gatherum, Dark Tranquility or Insomnium, you should check out this single by U.K. based metalheads Countless Skies.  This great mix of dark metal and melodic death metal takes its inspiration from the Scandinavian wave heroes and sounds so pretty damn heavy that I almost can't get enough.  'Solace', as the single is called, is the forerunner for the upcoming album.  It makes me curious about what is to come...  Download on bandcamp

Larz has never ceased to amaze me.  I know this guy since I was roaming around in the Limburg metal underground decades ago.  From brushing his teeth with beer over desperately trying to get into the army and amazing stage performances with Death's Bride to selling Leech 54 demos at Graspop, 'Larz' has always been synonymous with 'fun'.

At the age of fifteen, Larz lost his hand in a meatgrinder accident at work which crushed his dreams of becoming a drummer.  So he moved to vocals, which he did quite well.  In fact, both in Death's Bride and Leech 54 Larz was one of the best vocalists in town.  But he never gave up and decided to move from vocals to drums in his newest thrash metal band Downward.

Recently, Larz got the attention of Tesa, the duct tape producing company.  To play the drums, he tapes the drumstick to his arm, something the people at Tesa probably never imagined someone would use their product for.  So they decided to send him a year supply of duct tape.  This is what that looks like.

Our friends at Belgian Metal Underground have landed a deal withInTune Guitar Picks.  Bands can now order their picks at cheaper prices.

When there are enough people interested, BMU can provide a plectrumdeal via intune GP.
You pay according to your order and save on the delivery charges and import taxes which easily saves you about 60 euros. The plecs are of a very high quality!
We need at least 10 buyers or 10 bags to be ordered before we can go ahead.

here are the prices
35 € for 100 pieces single sided 1 color
55€ for 100 pieces double sided 1 color

they now offer full color too!
60€ for 100 pieces single sided full color
80€ for 100 pieces double sided full color

Go here to make your choice:
InTune GP

send a mail to belgianmetalunderground@gmail.com if you want in!
at 10 bags or buyers we strike the deal!

cheerz
Larz

Belgian experimental drone/ambient project Ashtoreth has released a first effort in a series of remixes, or 'channelings' for a number of different artists, bands and projects from allover the world.  Below you can listen to interesting reinterpretations of tracks by Grimmsons, Grown Below and The Hare and The Moon

This is the first in a series of remixes created by shamanic drone/ambient artist Ashtoreth. Re-imagining the music of befriended bands and fellow musicians from around the world, he carefully crafts the pieces presented here to take the listener on a journey through sound, feeling and atmosphere. Both keeping in line with the original intend of the song, yet shaping it into something entirely new and nearer to Ashtoreth`s own musical universe. Different essences of similar realities, the sounds of the original recordings are altered to manifest their underlying meanings and sonic possibilities. Delight in this one man exploration through mental and intuitive alchemical sound practise.

I've been waiting for this for quite some time now and it's finally here: new stuff from Uncle Acid (and the Deadbeats).  The new album, 'Night Creeper' will be released on 4 September but until then, enjoy 'Waiting For Blood'...

French heavy rockers The Prestige have released a video for the track 'Voir dire' from their latest album 'Amer'.  The entire album is also streaming on the band's bandcamp page

Georgia swamp metallers Black Tusk have announced a run of European tour dates / festival appearances this summer including select shows with The Dillinger Escape Plan, Crowbar and Soulfly. A complete listing of dates is available below.

Black Tusk suffered a heavy loss last year with the tragic passing of their brother and bandmate Athon. The trio had recently completed their fifth full-length record with producer Joel Grind of Toxic Holocaust at AUDIOSIEGE Studios in Portland, OR this past September. The album, featuring the band's final recordings with Athon, will see it's release next year via Relapse Records. 

Jul 31 Koln, DE Underground Cologne
Aug 01 Waarschoot, BE Roadkill Festival
Aug 02 Tilburg, NL Little Devil
Aug 04 Berlin, DE SO36 w/ Soulfly
Aug 05 Münster, DE Sputnikhalle Münster
Aug 06 Augsberg, DE Kantine Augsburg w/ Soulfly
Aug 07 Döbriach, AU Sauzipf Rocks Festival
Aug 08 Varazze, IT Riviera Summerfest 2015
Aug 09 Paris, France GLAZART w/ Crowbar
Aug 10 Pratteln, CH Z7 w/ Trivium
Aug 11 Milan, IT Circolo Magnolia w/ Dillinger Escape Plan
Aug 12 Le Locle, CH Rock Altitude Festival
Aug 13 Wiesbaden, DE Kesselhaus w/ Dillinger Escape Plan
Aug 14 Ieper, BE Ieperfest
Aug 15 Hythe, UK Hevy Fest

You Know Who is a fierce and brutal hardcore punk trio from the low desert area of Southern California.  They combine technical highspeed riffs with a twisted sense of homour. On October 13th, Self Destructo Records will release the debut album.

Their latest single 'Marshall Stacks and Alcohol' can now be listened on their YouTube page.

The Great Adventure is a young Russian gothic/symphonic metal band, formed in 2014.  Today, the released their latest sinlge 'Pretty Lies', which is quite a stunning piece of work, combining gothic metal with metalcore.  Check it our on their bandcamp page

No, these are not pictures from a disaster area and refugees. These are pictures from the clean-up after the most recent Glastonbury festival.  As a volunteer litter cleaner it makes me sick to see how filthy these festivals get and it makes me wonder about the value of our own little efforts to 'save the planet' or at least to try and stop polluting even more.
 You can see  more photos on Buzzfeed 

The Desertfest organisation made two announcements today.  The first one was bad news about The Melvins, who were forced to cancel their appearance because of an exclusivity contract with Incubate.  Read the complete announcement below.  

However, there was also good news.  New bands confirmed include Italian psych-sludgers UFOMAMMUT, outerspace rockers VALIENT THORR, instrumental brainfryers CARLTON MELTON & CAUSA SUI, CHILD from Australia and WHEEL OF SMOKE from Belgium

Brooklyn based noise trio Pigs are set to release a brand new album.  'Wronger' is the highly acclaimed follow-up for their debut 'You Ruin Everything'.  The band, featuring Dave Curran from Unsane, Jim Paradise from Player’s Club and Freshkills and renowned producer Andrew Schneider (Cave In, Converge, Unsane, etc…) have released a new track in cooperation with Noisey.  You can listen to it below.

Belgian black metal trio Wiegedood, featuring members of Amenra, Hessian, Oathbreakerand Rise And Fall, have recently posted online a professionally-filmed video of their entire release show, which was held on May 29th at De Broelkapel in Kortrijk, Belgium.

Filmed by Spookstad (http://spookstad.be), while the audio was captured by Hein Devos, the video shows Wiegedood performing their debut album “De Doden Hebben Het Goed” in full.  You can read our review for this stunning album here

There's a chance that several Merchants Of Air writers are going to Incubate this year.  We're going to need it because this bill is out of its mind.  The organisation added another heap of names to already packed line-up.  


The following artists have been added to our line-up today:

Badly Drawn Boy
Willard Grant Conspiracy
Gang Green
The Holydrug Couple
Meg Baird
Weird Owl
TAU
Sean Noonan A Gambler's Hand
Corrina Repp
Jennie Abrahamson
Veronique Vincent & Aksak Maboul
11Paranoias
Advance Base
Kada?
Bast
Cartographer
Burn The Iris
All For Nothing
Angstgegner
Hidden Guns
Skeletons of Society


Tickets are available here.

Japan has always been the birthplace of some of the weirdest acts in the history of music.  The originality of this country is unmatched and continuously takes on new forms.  Some time ago we were suddenly thrown into the bizarre world of BabyMetal, a kawai (cute) metal band featuring girls in school outfits, happily dancing to brutal guitars and pounding drums.

LadyBaby is the latest surprising band from the East, featuring two beautiful girls and an Australian cross-dressing wrestler/comedian, named Ladybeard.  In that way, this might indeed be seen as a parody for BabyMetal, along with a parody for Conchita Wurst.  However, fact remains that this is one solid piece of modern death metal.

Enjoy