Job for a Cowboy 'Sun Eater' debuts at #91 on the Billboard Top 200

"Sun Eater" is the fourth full-length album from Job for a Cowboy, and was released last week via Metal Blade Records worldwide. The response has been overwhelmingly positive, with Decibel Magazine conceding and saying "Fuck it, I can admit when I'm wrong… Turns out that, while I was busy pointedly not paying attention to them, these deathcore progenitors actually became a pretty damn good band." Alternative Press Magazine also declared in their 4.5/5 star review that "they've become a full-on progressive death metal band…the songs have progressive sweep and epic power, at times recalling Opeth's heavier work…Sun Eater is one of 2014's best metal albums, period." Praise for "Sun Eater" burned through blogosphere and resonated with fans.

This response has led to a #91 debut on the Billboard Top 200, and a #5 debut on the Billboard Hard Music albums chart! On the day of release, the album was #2 on the iTunes metal charts. In Canada, "Sun Eater" debuted at #125 on the Top 200 chart, #15 on the Hard Chart, and #129 o the Digital Music Chart. On iTunes Canada, the album peaked at #4 on the metal albums chart, #17 on the rock chart, and #88 on the overall Top 200 albums chart. Listen to "Sun of Nihility" and order your copy of Job for a Cowboy's "Sun Eater" now at metalblade.com/jobforacowboy.

Producer Jason Suecof, vocalist Jonny Davy, guitarists Al Glassman and Tony Sannicandro, bassist Nick Schendzielos, and session drummer Danny Walker have crafted a cerebral and accomplished piece of technical death metal. Job for a Cowboy wrapped up touring in 2013 as part of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival that summer. Following that performance, the band collectively decided to sharpen their focus and set an intent on cooking up a record that encompassed their full dynamic range of talent. The group had all agreed on the main course being a desire for futuristic tones, a wider spectrum of textures and tempos, and an emphasis on slightly more ancestral song construction. The result, "Sun Eater," does not just sound like a new record, it sounds like an entirely new band.

The disc was also recently reviewed by Focus on Metal's own Wayne Simmons right here on this site.

"Sun Eater" track listing:

1. Eating the Visions of God

2. Sun of Nihility

3. The Stone Cross

4. The Synthetic Sea

5. A Global Shift

6. The Celestial Antidote

7. Encircled by Mirrors

8. Buried Monuments

9. Worming Nightfall

Follow Job for a Cowboy online:

http://www.facebook.com/jobforacowboy

https://twitter.com/jfacmetal 

Cruz Del Sur Music Releasing Debut Album from Hammer King in 2015

CRUZ DEL SUR MUSIC will release the debut album from new German epic power metal sensation HAMMER KING! Even though Kingdom of the Hammer King is their debut album, HAMMER KING's members are no novices.  Singer Patrick Fuchs (Titan Fox)  is known for being the lead vocalist of ROSS THE BOSS' solo project (and also IVORY NIGHTS), and drummer Herr Schmitt  is the former drummer of Germany's Top-Ten Rock outfit SALTATIO MORTIS. What emerges from the gathering of these stalwart metal musicians is a slab of traditional, epic power-metal in the best Teutonic tradition! 

Expect an album with plenty of melodies, epic choruses and galloping guitars produced with a clean, brilliant sound  by the excellent Charles Greywolf (of POWERWOLF fame) in his own studio. Kingdom of the Hammer King will see the light in the first half of 2015 in compact disc, vinyl (with one bonus track) and digital editions.  You can get a taste of HAMMER KING by listening to the album's title track here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3a0Q7xKoj0

  

"I like to think there is a little bit of Metal in everything Wishbone Ash does. If I were to recommend one Heavy Metal band to listen to, it would be HAMMER KING" - 

Andy Powell (Wishbone Ash)

"Hammer King is the real deal. Power Metal at its best!" - Ross the Boss

http://www.hammer-king.com/

https://www.facebook.com/thehammerking 

www.cruzdelsurmusic.com

King Diamond "Dreams of Horror" debuts on Billboard charts

King Diamond's "Dreams of Horror" was released last week and has debuted at #28 on the Billboard Hard Music charts! This is the ONLY "best of" album covering the band's entire career. King Diamond and Andy LaRocque meticulously mastered and enhanced these 23 songs into the ultimate editions, chosen by the band from both the Roadrunner and Metal Blade catalogs. Listen to "The Puppet Master" from disc 2 of "Dreams of Horror" and order a copy now at metalblade.com/kingdiamond.

King Diamond's massively successful headlining tour wrapped up on November 8th at Fun Fun Fun Fest in Austin, TX. Photo galleries have sprung up across the web, including one from the Los Angeles gig on Halloween night at the Wiltern on revolvermag.com HERE.

http://www.kingdiamondcoven.com

http://www.metalblade.com/kingdiamond

https://twitter.com/realkingdiamond

https://www.facebook.com/kingdiamondofficial

https://www.facebook.com/kingdiamondmercyfulfateofficial 

Just posted FoM episode 209 featuring Chris Tsangarides

Episode 209 - Tsangarides Pt 1

This week is part one of a two parter featuring longtime hard rock and metal producer Chris Tsangarides. The guy has been involved in the industry since 1975 and has had a huge part in forging the sound of modern metal and classic metal.

That being said you know that this guy has some great stories to share, and share he does right here on Focus on Metal.

Track of the week "The Irish Brigade" is from Pure Legends artist Wolfen from their latest release "Evilution". Get more info at: http://www.wolfen-metal.de/

Visit http://focusonmetal.net/ for information on all the past episodes and to find the links to all our other social media sites.

Grab it now from the Focus on Metal Site, The Focus on Metal RSS feed, or on iTunes

And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

MAXXXWELL CARLISLE unleashes Kickstarter campaign for new "Thunder Dragon 2155" cd

Solo artist and Hellion lead guitarist Maxxxwell Carlisle has just announced the launch of a Kickstarter campaign for "Thunder Dragon 2155", what he describes as, "an ambitious new power metal concept album...an epic tale of sci-fi triumph and tragedy woven across 10 tracks of pure metal!"

The album is set to feature his established live band lineup consisting of Melody Schoenfeld (Vocals), Dave Chedrick (Drums) and Gene Migaki (Bass).

His Kickstarter rewards include everything from the standard CDs and t-shirts, to more "Maxxxwell style" motivational speaking, Mohawk lessons, guitar lessons, custom diet plans, personal phone calls, private concerts (including fog and lasers) and more! The predictably over-the-top Kickstarter video provides full details.

Thunder Dragon 2155 Kickstarter link

Thunder Dragon 2155 Kickstarter You Tube Video

For the latest Maxxxwell Carlisle news, visit his official Facebook page:

Official Maxxxwell Carlisle Facebook page

Ensiferum announce album title and release date for 2015

Ensiferum has completed work on their upcoming new album, "One Man Army." The band spent the last few weeks at Astia Studio (astiastudio.fi) in Lappeenranta in Finland with producer Anssi Kippo. The album is scheduled for release on February 24 in North America, and February 23/20 in UK/Europe. New music, art, track listing, and video clips from the studio will be online within the next few weeks. Next week, Ensiferum will be filming a brand new music video with Grupa #13 in Poland. Grupa #13 is the production house behind some of the most spectacular music videos in metal, including videos from Behemoth, Amon Amarth, and more.

Vocalist/guitarist Petri Lindroos comments, "We worked hard and long days one after another while Kippo kicked our asses to make us do the very best, and you can hear that in this album. It's a killer album with killer sound. I'm very proud to a part of this masterpiece!" Bassist Sami Hinkka adds: "Hi folks! We are extremely proud to announce that the album is 100% done! The recording session was incredible experience for us. We can't express our gratitude enough for Mr. Anssi Kippo, who never lost his nerves, was full of crazy ideas and worked like a madman for weeks! The shortest working day was 12 hours and the average was around 16 hours! After all "blood, sweat and tears" it feels great to tell you that the result for years of hard composing and weeks of intense recordings is without a doubt the best Ensiferum album song- and soundwise. Material is pretty diverse and each song tells a tale of it's own instead of being a crappy copy of previous song so no fillers included. Next week we go record the new music video, but that's another story… Stay tuned!"

Ensiferum will be on tour this autumn and already has shows and festival appearances confirmed for next year. The band plans to return to North America in May 2015.

ENSIFERUM

+ special guests

11/03/15 DE - Bochum - Zeche

12/03/15 DE - Ludwigsburg - Rockfabrik

13/03/15 DE - München - Backstage

14/03/15 CZ - Zlin - Masters of Rock Café

15/03/15 HU - Budapest - Club 202

16/03/15 AT - Wien - Szene

18/03/15 IT - Milan - Live Club

19/03/15 CH - Lausanne - Les Docks

20/03/15 FR - Strasbourg - La Laiterie

21/03/15 CH - Pratteln - Z7

22/03/15 FR - Lyon - Ninkasi Kao

23/03/15 FR - Paris - Le Bataclan

24/03/15 UK - London - O2 Academy Islington

25/03/15 NL - Haarlem - Patronaat

26/03/15 NL - Zwolle - Hedon

27/03/15 BE - Vosselaar - Biebob

28/03/15 DE - Bremen - Tivoli

29/03/15 DE - Hamburg - Grünspan

30/03/15 DK - Copenhagen - Vega

31/03/15 SE - Stockholm - Göta Källare

01/04/15 SE - Gothenburg - Sticky Fingers

02/04/15 NO - Oslo - Inferno Metal Festival

ENSIFERUM

w/ Orphaned Land

26/11/14 JP - Tokyo - Club Duo Exchange

27/11/14 JP - Osaka - Mamba Rocket

29/11/14 CN - Shanghai - Mao Livehouse

30/11/14 CN - Bejing - Yu Gong Yi Shan

2015 Festival Appearances

13/12/14 NL - Eindhoven - Metal Meeting

22/01-26/01/15 US - Miami - 70,000 Tons Of Metal

13/08/15 RO - Rasnov - Rockstadt Extremefest

13/08-15/08/15 DE - Dinkelsbühl - Summer Breeze Festival

ENSIFERUM is:

Petri Lindroos - Vocals/Guitar

Markus Toivonen - Guitar/Vocals

Sami Hinkka - Bass/Vocals

Janne Parviainen - Drums

Emmi Silvennoinen - Keyboards/Backing vocals

http://www.ensiferum.com

http://twitter.com/EnsiferumMetal

http://www.facebook.com/Ensiferum 

Review - Job For A Cowboy "Sun Eater" (Metal Blade 2014)

Job For a Cowboy is a band known for their itchy feet. Originally a deathcore outfit, these good ol’ boys from Arizona had dropped the ‘core’ by the release of their debut album, Genesis, in 2007, going for straight out death. And with fourth album, SUN EATER, just out this November 2014 from Metal Blade, the boys are on the move again. 

Opening track, Eating the Visions of God, sets the tone well, a plaintive, mid-paced number with brooding guitar and witchy vocals. It’s a dark sound, almost doomy in places, and dangerously bordering on prog with a lengthy 6 minutes running time. Second track, Sun of Nihility, is more of the same, almost a continuation of the opener, while on third track, The Stone Cross, we get our first taste of blast beats. The pace remains frenetic with The Synthetic Sea, Nick Schendzielos’ bass, pounding through the mix from the outset of this album, reaching something of a crescendo here. The guitar here feels Norwegian; a ferocious wall of sound mirroring Davy’s ravenous vocals. This blackened tone seeps through to sixth track, The Celestial Antidote, while Buried Monuments brings something of a NWOBHM flavour in with some melodic lead playing. Closing track, Worming Nightfall, compliments the doomy, mid-paced vibe of the album’s opener to bring us full circle.

It’s plain to see that JFAC have taken a leaf out of Opeth’s book here. Sure, they may not have gone just as far as Mikael & co, ditching the death metal roots altogether, but SUN EATER is definitely a melting pot. This is a band groping around for a new sound; reluctant to settle on anything in particular but seemingly more than happy to have their audience along for the ride while they experiment. And while still death metal at heart, there is certainly more evidence here of a growing trend within contemporary extreme metal to seek out fresh musical pastures.   

Reviewed by Wayne Simmons

www.waynesimmons.org

Manilla Road's classic 'Out of the Abyss' to be reissued via Shadow Kingdom Records

Shadow Kingdom Records will reissue Out of the Abyss, the seventh full-length release from Wichita, KS’ MANILLA ROAD on January 13, 2015. Originally released in 1988, Out of the Abyss is an under-appreciated gem, one that guitarist/founder Mark “The Shark” Shelton describes in the reissue’s liner notes as containing “some of the most brutal material that MR has ever done. Shelton goes on to say that “it was the last album in an epic quest by Randy, Scott and I to be as fast and furious as possible with some of the songs…and most of the topics were quite dark and based on Cthulhun mythos or other horror and mystery directions.”

Shadow Kingdom Records’ Tim McGrogan had this to say about Out of the Abyss:

“Most fans think the golden era is Crystal Logic through Mystification, but we encourage fans to spend more time with this album. The first thing that’s interesting about this album is that it originally contained one of MANILLA ROAD greatest Epic songs ever, “The Book of Skelos.” The song was dropped off of the album for some unknown reason (that would be a good interview question for Mark Shelton), and later appeared on a different pressing of The Courts of Chaosand we’re not entirely sure that song even made it to the first pressing of that album either. Strangely enough if you’re familiar with that song and can imagine that song being a part of this album, Out of the Abysswould arguably be one of the best MANILLA ROAD albums and would have expanded and been part of what’s now considered their classic era. The album is dark, evil, thrash-y heavy metal with some killer KING DIAMOND-esque vocal screams. Without a doubt Out of the Abysshas some of the fastest, most intense Thrash Metal not only on any MANILLA ROAD album, but of any 80’s Thrash Metal album.”

Out of the Abyss will appeal to fans SLAYER, METALLICA, IRON MAIDEN, and MERCYFUL FATE.

1. Whitechapel

2. Rites of Blood

3. Out of the Abyss

4. Return of the Old Ones

5. Black Cauldron

6. Midnight Meat Train

7. War in Heaven

8. Slaughterhouse

9. Helicon

www.shadowkindomrecords.com

Just posted - John Gallagher from RAVEN guests on this weeks Focus on Metal.

Episode 208 - Raven Nation

We celebrate week two of metal month by having a chat with the one and only John Gallagher of Newcastle metal pioneers Raven. The band is currently on tour in the states while concurrently running a Kickstarter campaign for their new album "ExtermiNation". We were lucky enough to snag a rare on the road interview with John as they were heading from Vancouver to their gig in Seattle. Enjoy the words of metal wisdom from John and be sure to head to up to Kickstarter and support these metal legends.

Check out the ExtermiNation campaign at: https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1085707767/extermination?ref=nav_search

Check out all the tour dates and Raven news at: http://ravenlunatics.com/

Track of the week is "Queen of The Galaxy" which is the title track from the latest release from Dire Peril. Get more info at: https://www.facebook.com/direperil

Visit http://focusonmetal.net/ for information on all the past episodes and to find the links to all our other social media sites.

Grab it now from the Focus on Metal Site, The Focus on Metal RSS feed, or on iTunes

And as always Focus On Metal…Everything Else is Insignificant.

German Thrashers First Aid to release "Nursed" via Pure Steel/Iron Shield Records

First Aid was founded in 1999 by five guys who spent their time paying tribute to Thrash Metal. Because of various influences this band from Berlin is going the way of melodic and uncompromising aggressive music, which nevertheless depends on the old Thrash Metal feeling. After some line-up changes, finally a fixed lineup was found and the first record “Prisoner Of Hell” was recorded 2003. After a lot of gigs in Germany, the guys knew that the chemistry was right. As a result more faster, melodic and aggressive songs were written by the band. Finally the second record “Infection” was recorded 2007. New musicians and inspirations made this line-up to a real fuckin' metal inferno. Since november 2010 the split 10"vinyl "Boozing Maniacs" (with Explorer) was available in two different versions. The limited 'Die-hard' Edition with patches and green coloured vinyl was quickly Sold-Out! After 6 years of rehearsals and many FIRST AID concerts (opening Act for Metal Church), the new full length album "Nursed" is ready. 10 powerful titles, pure energy, packed in timeless technical Speed 'n Thrash Metal. Include a great tribute to Chuck Norris (Missing In Action)! Beware, the Nurse will hurt you!

TRACKLIST:

1. Horror Of War

2. Chained To Die

3. Lifetime Torment

4. Fill The Void

5. Hit By Shit

6. Suicide Moshpit

7. Dead Again

8. Grimace Of Lies

9. Missing In Action

10. Rise Of The Dead

Releasedate: November 21st 2014
Label: Iron Shield Records