News : First Fragment kicks off European Tour with Obscura in Munchen, Germany

Montreal based neoclassical technical death meta; group FIRST FRAGMENT will continue supporting their acclaimed debut full length Dasein with a European alongside genre legends Obscura. The “Diluvium Europa” tour will begin on February 1st in Munchen, Germany and will cover much of mainland Europe and the UK, ending in Salzburg, Austria on February 23rd. Additional support on the tour will come from Fallujah and Allegaeon.

Dates below –

2/01 Munchen, DE @ Backstage 2/02 Nuremburg, DE @ Z-Bau 2/03 Haarlem, NL @ Patronaat 2/04 Bristol, UK @ The Fleece 2/05 Dublin, IE @ Voodoo Lounge 2/06 Glasgow, UK @ Cathouse 2/07 Manchester, UK @ Rebellion 2/08 London, UK @ o2 Academy 2/09 Paris, FR @ Trabendo 2/10 Toulouse, FR @ Mentronum 2/11 Bilbao, ES @ Santana 27 2/12 Porto, PT @ Hard Club 2/13 Madria, ES @ Caracol 2/14 Barcelona, ES @ Boveda 2/15 Lyon, FR @ CCO 2/16 Milan, IT @ Legend 2/17 Aarau, CH @ Kiff 2/18 Wien, AT @ Arena 2/19 Leipzig, DE @ Conne Island 2/20 Berlin, DE @ Lido 2/21 Hamburg, DE @ Logo 2/22 Oberhausen, DE @ Kulttempel 2/23 Salzburg, AT @ Rockhouse

News : First Fragment announce partnership with Loudtrax ; releases new music video

Montreal-based technical/neoclassical death metal group First Fragment have made the announcement that loudtrax, a Longueuil-based merch distro, will be handling distribution and sales of the band's merch, as IFmerch have announced the closing of their online shops. Thus ends a 7 year old relationship between First Fragment and IFmerch. In addition, the band has released a new video of their 2010 hit song "Paradoxal Subjugation", originally filmed at "Le National" in Montreal in December 2018. Here is a statement from the band regarding the video : "The followup to Dasein is still in progress. There are no change of plans whatsoever. It will be a 2021 release so there is nothing due this year. We just felt like releasing a video of an old song because we couldn't, nine years ago! Nick Miller, Forest and Nicholas Wells are in this video but not in the audio itself because the song was recorded in 2009 when the band was a trio. Phil Tougas recorded solos/rhythm guitar/bass and original member Gabriel Brault-Pilon (whom is not seen but heard) did rhythm guitar/bass. David did vocals. Just to clarify : Yes, Nick Miller, Nicholas Wells and Forest will be on our 3rd release. Yes, they are involved in the songwriting, and so is former guitarist and co-founder Gabriel Brault-Pilon! Yes, they are permanent members. No, we will not rerecord anything from the EP and the audio from the cameras was not clear enough! Many also requested a gula music video but we will not do that. There's already two playthrough videos out for this song, plus some of the guitar parts are partially improvised when played live - we have never played that song identically from one show to another. Paradoxal is the only song we play identical (or almost) to the recording because we like to change things up."

https://youtu.be/hs8MBn_szUA

Review : Serocs - The Phobos/Deimos Suite by Insanity Remains Webzine

Via Insanity Remains Webzine : "Serocs has been grown beyond any expectation from being a mere solo project born in Guadalajara, Mexico to become in one of the most successful international partnership acts of Brutal Technical Death Metal that underground scene has seen in a long time, their style is very influenced by bands like Cryptopsy who's unfortunately are no longer in that musical line, Spawn of Possession who were split two years ago and the extinct and deeply missed Necrophagist, only to mention a few of them. Serocs current formation consists of Antonio Freyre on guitars, Phil Tougas (Chthe'ilist) on guitars, Antoine Daigneault (Chthe'ilist) on bass, Kévin Paradis (Benighted) on drums and Laurent Bellemare (Basalte) on vocals "The Phobos / Deimos Suite" is an album composed by songs written during the last ten years. So, these tracks will be like a walk through their entire career and maybe this could be the secret that makes this album exciting. "Being" opens this album despite being short is exuberant with a layered riff well-executed proving their technical skills the storming drum work stands out, "Thanatophobia" is the third track in the album and believe me, from the very first moment it sounds explosive and set the listeners into a whirlwind of endless aggression with a ruthless roaring, at a certain point is impossible not to hear their influences and all the sudden feel that refreshing wave taking over and "Oneirology" comes to be a truly delightful piece with pummeling drums and a deeper bass that offers an overwhelming  dynamism, the guitars deliver a slaughter well reinforced by the guttural vocals, "Lethe" create a unique atmosphere only to welcoming the next track "SCP-106" provides a great technical performance but the vocals are crushing then is followed by "Nonbeing" is brilliant and insane at the same time the gorgeous signature riff are eloquent and help to keep things spiced up towards the end, "Deimos" is an odyssey extremely well-conceived, the arrangements are fierce and again their technical skills are put to the test and the result is exceptional as brutal, riff that shatters and re-shape masterfully into a pragmatic chaos.

To sum up, Serocs has accomplished their best record so far, "The Phobos / Deimos Suite" holds a solid concept, the songwriting is faultless, the production is clean but stands out every instrument, everything here sounds neat, it turns hard to point out any flaws when these guys unchain the most extreme brutality and they pack it with the most refined technique, if you are a real follower of the style then this is an album you shouldn't miss." Stay True… Stay Metal… Stay Brutal…™

4.7/5

Originally written by InsanityRemainsWebzine.com