Hail Spirit Noir Sign with Agonia Records, New Album Coming Soon!

 

Here’s some news that just popped into the Valley of Steel inbox: Greek psychoexperimental black-ish-metal sextet (more on that later) Hail Spirit Noir have a new deal with Poland’s Agonia Records, with a new album planned in just a few months!

This is especially exciting considering that each of the band’s first three albums (Pneuma, Oi Magoi, and Mayhem in Blue) all found their way onto our best-of lists for 2012, 2014, and 2016 respectively. So needless to say, our expectations will be high for this new one…

 

Continue reading

Advertisement

New Ghost LP Takes Inspiration from Mötorhead’s Lemmy

 

New Ghost LP Takes Inspiration from Mötorhead‘s Lemmy

 

a guest article contributed by Oliver Hughes

 
As we recently announced right here on Valley of Steel, Ghost did come back to Pittsburgh. And as they did 5 years ago, the band again put on a show to remember. For those who didn’t see the show, and for those who saw the show but were left wanting more, the Swedish heavy metal band will be offering something very special soon: a new studio album.

Lead singer Tobias Forge confirmed the album to Metal Hammer in an exclusive interview where he unveiled details of Ghost‘s upcoming LP, including its title — Prequelle — and its June 1 release date.

“There were a few things that I wanted to get in Prequelle that I don’t think had been fleshed out yet, and had very little to do with what came before,” he told the iconic magazine. He then revealed that the album was inspired by the deaths of the band members’ idols, including Ronnie James Dio, David Bowie, and Prince. The band, according to Forge, was particularly affected by the death of former Motörhead frontman Lemmy, who died in 2015 after battling prostate cancer.
Continue reading

Live Music Alert! GHOST and MELVINS in Pittsburgh this Weekend


 


 

 

That’s right, these two titans of (the music) industry will be making an appearance in Pittsburgh: Ghost (who were here exactly five years ago today and gave one of the more memorable performances I’ve ever witnessed) TONIGHT, Friday the 18th; and (the) Melvins (who also came through town five years ago this month, with what was quite possibly THE best show I’ve seen) TOMORROW night, Saturday the 19th!

Stick around for more details on this weekend’s shows, as well as a bit of a walk down memory lane…
 
Continue reading

Year of the Goat – The Key and the Gate (2014), The Unspeakable (2015)

21821

Year of the GoatThe Key and the Gate (Napalm Records, 28 November 2014)

 

1000x1000

Year of the GoatThe Unspeakable (Napalm Records, 31 July 2015)

 

The year of the goat has ended: this past February, the year of the monkey was ushered in.  But the previous twelve lunar months had been dominated by this horned beast — the third such year since the one in which I was born — and around this time period, Sweden’s Year of the Goat had been fairly active.  Exactly twelve weeks before the commencement of the (Chinese) new year, their second EP The Key and the Gate saw the light of day via Napalm Records, who then went on to release Year of the Goat‘s second full-length album The Unspeakable once the year of the goat was actually in full-swing — in fact, right in the middle of the month of the goat.

And I’ll stop there, because that pretty much exhausts the extent of my research into Chinese astrology in preparation for writing about this band from Norrköping and their latest two releases — the latter and longer of which found its way onto my list of the best of 2015

 

Continue reading

Ruby the Hatchet – Ouroboros, Mars Red Sky – Apex III (Praise for the Burning Soul) (2016)

cover

Ruby the HatchetOuroboros (RUR Records, 29 April 2016)

 

cover_l

Mars Red SkyApex III (Praise for the Burning Soul) (Listenable Records, 20 May 2016)

 

Good afternoon. Today I’d like to talk to you about two different bands who each fall under the general umbrella of “psychedelic/stoner rock.” Both have new releases out (recently, or within the next two days), and both will be hitting the road (separately) playing various shows and festivals across the USA over the next few months. First I’ll introduce you to those recent releases, and then head down a little further to the comments section where I’ll share the scheduled tour dates!

 

Continue reading

The List of 2013 Year-End Lists

Photo Collage - 2013 Shows - by Mrs. Valley of Steel

Click for full-sized image

 

Hey folks — a very Happy (Belated) New Year to all of you! 2013 definitely turned out to be an interesting year for me, with lots of big changes, new projects, new responsibilities, etc., but an unfortunate side-effect of some of that was (as you’ve surely noticed) that the amount of time I’d been spending writing really tapered off as the year went on, to the point where I didn’t post
anything here for the last few months! Well, as you may have seen, I’ve started writing reviews of some new 2014 releases — and as time allows I promise I will also be sharing plenty of older stuff I’ve missed writing about, because believe me there has been a TON worth sharing!

But more on that later. As I started doing last year, I’ve once again put together a collection of various people’s “best of” lists from 2013. Admittedly I sort of got a late start on this (I didn’t even put out the open invitation until after most websites had already finished with publishing all their year-end stuff), but several people have answered the call and contributed some really interesting lists that you’ll want to check out…

 

Continue reading

VOS Videography 2013: A Mid-Year Retrospective (Part 17)

VOStube

 

Mr. Smalls Theatre (Millvale, PA), 18 May 2013

 
Ghost!

 
“Infestissumam” & “Per Aspera ad Inferi”

 
“Prime Mover”

 
“Elizabeth”

 
“Stand By Him”

 
“Year Zero”

 
“Ritual”

 

Mr. Smalls Theatre (Millvale, PA), 27 May 2013

 
Melvins!

 
I got a few videos of their amazing double-set performance on Memorial Day in Pittsburgh. I just haven’t had a chance yet to get them edited and uploaded! (There are a few that are well over 20 minutes in length!) So keep an eye on this space; they will be coming soon!

 
NAVIGATION
 
Part 1 (28 December – 18 January)
Part 2 (01 – 09 February)
Part 3 (16 February)
Part 4 (22 February)
Part 5 (23 February)
Part 6 (02 – 09 March)
Part 7 (10 March)
Part 8 (14 March)
Part 9 (16 March)
Part 10 (22 – 24 March)
Part 11 (28 – 29 March)
Part 12 (02 – 11 April)
Part 13 (12 – 19 April)
Part 14 (20 – 26 April)
Part 15 (04 – 05 May)
Part 16 (11 – 17 May)
 
Part 18 (31 May – 20 June)
Part 19 (23 – 30 June)

The Huge List of 2012 Year-End Lists!

Well, friends, here we find ourselves in the waning moments of 2012. It’s been an interesting, eventful year that’s had lots of high and low points — a ton of excellent new music has been released and quite a few brand-new bands have emerged that I’d fully expect to be making some serious waves in the near future.

One of the best things about 2012, for me personally, was that I found myself (and my wife) going to lots more shows than in recent years, and as a result I’ve been fortunate to meet a lot of new people — as well as starting to take a way more active role in the local music scene.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I had a suggestion from one of those people I’ve gotten to know in the past year (I won’t say who — he said he preferred not to be given credit for the idea, although I will say that it’s somebody who contributed to this). The idea was to collect top-ten lists from various folks in the Pittsburgh metal community.

So I put out an open invitation for any musicians or other people who are involved in the scene in some way — I was looking for anything, whether it was the traditional “Top Ten Albums” or something totally off-the-wall like someone’s ten favorite sandwiches they ate during the year. Really, the only rules were that it had to be a list, and involve something from 2012.

 
Continue reading

Upcoming Shows: What To Do In Pittsburgh This Weekend (12-15 April 2012)

Hello, readers! How are you? I think I’ve officially recovered from the holiday weekend and am ready to get back into the swing of posting updates. Did you have a nice Easter? I’ve been spending a lot of time listening to Ghost, since I finally got around to picking up Opus Eponymous on CD almost two weeks ago. I like it a lot, but I’ve kind of got a funny feeling about it. I haven’t tried slowing it down or playing it backwards or anything, but I get the impression that there might be some kind of hidden evil messages or something. Oh well. Hey, speaking of which, they’ll be coming to town in just a few more days! In fact, they’re just one of a whole slew of awesome bands playing in Pittsburgh over the coming weekend. Just keep on reading for all the details on this show and tons more.

 
Continue reading

Upcoming Shows: GHOST, Mastodon, Opeth

This news update is brought to you today by the department of IT’S ABOUT DAMN TIME!

So you might remember a while back when I was whining about the fact that Ghost, having recently cancelled a U.S. tour, announced that they’d be returning to this country, and hitting several major cities but none that are near me.

Then I proceeded to whine some more, at every opportunity I could.  Mostly on Facebook.  Especially when some jerk a highly-esteemed fellow blogger bragged about seeing the show up in his corner of the country.  Well, obviously the band have been paying attention and they got sick and tired of my nonstop whining.  Because lo and behold, yesterday they put out an official announcement:

Children of America,

As whispered about these last weeks, we are in fact returning to haunt your vast lands again in April and May, together with Mastodon and Opeth.
Go to http://ghost-official.com/ to see the dates

Malicious wishes

/Papa Emeritus 1 and his Nameless Ghouls

The news gets better, because this tour is making a stop in Pittsburgh — on 15 April at Stage AE.  It appears that Mastodon and Opeth are alternating dates for headlining, and on this particular date it seems that Mastodon will be the one on top.  Not that it matters, because I wouldn’t mind seeing either one of them.  Hit the link above to see the full list, or just check it out right here, beyond the jump.

Continue reading