Mad About Rock

"Every year since the very first 70000TONS OF METAL, The Original, The World’s Biggest Heavy Metal Cruise, set sail in the Caribbean Sea, we from CMM and our label service SAOL have been part of the crew. And every year, we are proud of taking artists from the SAOL roster with us to play the stages on board as one of the 60 bands to set sail with 3000 metalheads that annually represent more than 70 nations from all over the globe," the team of metalheads from Hanover, Germany lifts the curtain, and – along with three of the participating bands – grants a peek behind the scenes for the first time: "We’ve very recently returned home from the 2023 edition of 70000TONS, as did US symphonic metal outfit Empress, Canadian prog moshers Osyron and Slovenian post progressive metal spearheads Hei’An, after rocking the ship. For us, 70000TONS OF METAL is a new adventure every year: extensively laborious preparations, full work schedules on board, coordinating all our friendly medi...

  The wait is over: Hei’An are finally releasing their monumental post-progressive album imago, and the trailing piece in the band’s pentalogy of carefully crafted video singles, titled noises. Contradicting said title in an unexpected way, noises starts off slow and in a dignified manner, adding layers piece by piece until it all erupts in a festive crescendo with a positive message hidden deep inside: “Probably our favorite song off the record, it’s our most 'modern-sounding' song, with a lot of synths and pads, beautiful orchestrations and catchy melodies, with some progressive elements hidden in there, but really elegantly, so if you are not paying attention, it comes off as rather ‘simple’. It sounds huge, though – the whole song is a big buildup towards a majestic resolution for the end of the song. We are really looking forward to this one, it’s essentially about finding peace within yourself.” The official animated video for noises creates the perfect atmosphere for thi...

  After the two successful and well received singles inferno and in the cold it’s time to hear more tunes from the progressive, Slovenian metal quartet Hei’An – their third single can’t get out of my skin is a dreamy combination of gracefully captured clean vocals and solidly put-together-screams. The simplicity in the cinematically melodic sound is mesmerizing as the band is delivering their flawless instrumentals. The video for "can’t get out of my skin" is full of beautiful misty effects and the well established display of despair in the execution of the vocals gives you the chills: The song’s important message is represented with vigorous screams and huge-sounding choruses, which the band describes as their heaviest segment on the album with metalcore-esque breakdowns. Lead singer Matic Blagonič explains the story behind can’t get out of my skin more closely: “(It’s) a very emotional song about battling with addiction – addiction to being around the wrong kinds of people,...