Led by visionary musician Trond Engum, composer and guitarist for Norwegian experimental band The 3rd and The Mortal, The Soundbyte is a solo venture intended to pierce the dark heart of avant-garde and experimental metal.

Since their formation in 1998 in Trondheim, Norway, The Soundbyte has become an unstoppable vehicle for creative exploration and one that has found Engum drawing on a myriad of outsider influences ranging from Norwegian folk, electro-acoustic and ambient forms of progressive and post-rock. In collaboration with fellow The 3rd and The Mortal member and accomplished drummer Rune Hoemsnes, in addition to the central line up for Solitary IV – their fourth full-length album and first for new label Temple of Torturous Records – the album also consists of contributions from several excellent guest musicians, including amongst others the expressive vocal styling of singers Tone Åse and Kirsti Huke.

Built almost entirely around Engum’s unique guitar and electronic sound, Hoemsnes’ signature rhythms and haunting and ethereal vocal work The Soundbyte has created what is undoubtedly their finest work to date and 2017’s most progressively breathtaking record. Solidifying the duo’s off-kilter vision for sonic expression and paying painstaking attention to every detail, it is a multifaceted endeavor designed for constant re-visitation and one that will reward listeners time and time again.

Recorded by Engum himself, co-mixed with Michael Tibes (Helloween, Kamelot) and mastered by Neil Pickles (Piano Interrupted, Fernandez 4), Solitary IV by The Soundbyte will be released on 30th June via ToT Records as a deluxe digipack with a limited LP release to follow this Autumn.

Check out the trailer for new song ‘Descending’ here:

Obey The Riff… As far as aphorisms go few hit harder than Beastwars’ heavy metal mantra.

Returning in 2016 with what will undoubtedly become one of this year’s most revelatory releases, Beastwars are a band so heavy, and heavily admired by fans in the Southern Hemisphere, they practically weigh the world in place and stop it spinning wildly off its axis.

The Death Of All Things was produced by the band and James Goldsmith in their hometown of Wellington, New Zealand, mixed by Andrew Schneider (Unsane, Big Business) and mastered by Brad Boatright (Sleep, Windhand) and is the third and final full-length in a post-apocalyptic trilogy. An album that signals the arrival of one of metal’s best-kept secrets out from under; primed to take on the world full tilt.

In 2011, Beastwars released their self-titled debut to critical acclaim and in doing so transformed New Zealand’s metal landscape. Reviewers celebrated the album’s, “slow- burning furnace of bass-trawling riffage,” (The Sleeping Shaman) as well as its distinctive blend of lysergic and premonitory metal that compared the band to Kyuss, Neurosis and Godflesh, while hinting at influences as distinctive as The Jesus Lizard, Black Sabbath, and in Hyde’s ‘avant-grunt’, Celtic Frost. Music that at its very core channels a colossal mood filtered to a point where, “every wail, every riff, every bass thump and every cymbal crash serves to remind you that this is enigmatic and darkened metal, straight from the murky heart of the Antipodes.” (Sixnoises)

Two years on from their internationally acclaimed debut, Beastwars returned in 2013 with Blood Becomes Fire which landed at #2 in the nations music charts. The album delivered ten songs retaining all the strength and psychedelic fire of their first while presenting a powerful evolution in vision.

The Death Of All Things is released worldwide through Destroy Records on 22nd April 2016. On 11th March a pre-order for limited edition vinyl will be available from http://www.obeytheriff.com but in the meantime, you can stream and share their brand new video for ‘Call To The Mountain’ below:

Ripple Music is thrilled to announce the signing of Michigan quartet Bonehawk, and with it the worldwide CD release of their debut album, Albino Rhino.

The story of BoneHawk is one that started as early as third grade, in an unassuming Kalamazoo school, where guitarist/vocalist Matt Helt and guitarist Chad Houts first met and bonded instantly over a shared appreciation of video games, pizza, poster girls and rock and roll. At the age of fourteen, Helt, already an accomplished drummer would jam along with Houts in the family’s basement to songs handpicked from the pair’s ever growing record collections. As the years passed by with each feeding the other on a steady diet of thrash metal and classic rock, when Helt eventually succumbed to the bug and traded in his drum set for a guitar, the duo quickly discovered that being in a band meant everything.

After toiling in various local outfits for years, around 2006 Helt and Houts formed Mesa with close friend Joel Wick (Quixote, Jihad), with the three deciding to put together something that paid homage to the heavy riffs they discovered as teens growing up in the mid 90s. Specifically, that beguiling breed of heavy rock directly influenced by the mighty Black Sabbath. The band would only release one record during this period, a 7” on Michigan’s UFO Dictator Records before breaking up to clear a path for the official formation of BoneHawk in 2011.

Helt and Houts envisioned combining Iron Maiden and Thin Lizzy-esque harmonies with the straight-up grooves of Sabbath, Led Zeppelin and the twin guitar assault of Judas Priest and Kiss. Enlisting old band mate Chris Voss on bass, after the departure of Wick the trio set about recording their debut album Albino Rhino, with Helt taking on vocal duties and returning to the drum stool.

Recorded and mixed by Jim Diamond at Ghetto Recorders in Detroit and initially released as a limited run of ‘Albino vinyl’ through Hornacious Wax Records in 2014, with newly appointed personnel in the form of drummer Jay Rylander and bassist Taylor Wallace (formerly of Wilson) the band played packed out local shows in support of the record. In less than two months all double LP copies of Albino Rhino had sold out, calling for a second ‘Ultraviolet Purple’ pressing and leaving Ripple Music boss Todd Severin in no doubt about the band’s true potential.

“We’re thrilled to be working with Bonehawk,” explains Severin. “From the moment I heard their two guitar blitz I was hooked on their sound. Albino Rhino is a masterwork of modern harmony guitar and post NWOBHM heaviness, with real stoner grit. A true gem of an album and we’re excited to be involved in the worldwide release of this CD.”

BoneHawk’s Albino Rhino is officially released on CD through Ripple Music on 22nd April 2016 and is preceded by the release of ‘Los Vientos’ as part of the label’s Second Coming Of Heavy series which will be released later in the year. In the meantime, you can stream and share the brand new video for the track below: