We are stoked to present “The Witch of Ridley Creek”, straight off SPELLBOOK’s upcoming album “Deadly Charms”. The trial involving the alleged “witch” of Ridley Creek Margaret Mattson took place in the late XVII century almost a decade before Salem’s infamous witch hunt. Margaret was accused by her neighbors of practicing witchcraft, casting a curse over their animals and drying their land. The truth was that Margaret occupied first the best part of the land which was much more fertile. At the end of the trial no evidence was found of Margaret practicing witchery and she was condemned to a light sentence. Shot by Brian Magar, “The Witch of Ridley Creek” features Brandy Collier as the Witch herself.
“Deadly Charms” will be released by Cruz Del Sur Music on Sept 30 (CD/DIGITAL) and October 7 (LP).
“Their second effort sees them shed the fantasy and fiction approach of their debut, instead leaning into horror and reality more heavily.” – Zero Tolerance
“‘Deadly Charms’ shows the band evolving with their sound and continuing to develop their own identity whilst delivering an excellent album in the process.” – Powerplay Magazine (UK), 9/10
“The darker shades of 70s hard rock combined with mystical heaviness.” – Fligh Of Pegasus (GR)
York, Pennsylvania vintage proto-metal purveyors SPELLBOOK will release their sophomore full-length, “Deadly Charms”, this September via Cruz Del Sur Music.
The follow-up to 2020’s “Magick & Mischief” was recorded in February at Developing Nations in Baltimore, Maryland, with producer/engineer Kevin Bernsten. The album also marks the SPELLBOOK recording debut of their two new guitarists, Les Yarde and Patrick “Patty” Benton.
“The material has new life injected into it while still maintaining the adventurous ’70s hard rock sound we strive for,” says drummer Nick Zinn. “It certainly helped Les and Patty love ‘Magick & Mischief’ and its no-rules approach. Yet, at the same time, ‘Deadly Charms’ does seem a bit more focused. We love how the overall vibe has a more anthemic feel.”
According to Zinn, the lyrical themes on “Deadly Charms” lean much heavier on horror and reality than the fantasy and fiction approach found in “Magick & Mischief”. The David Thiérrée (BEHEMOTH, MORTIIS, IHSAHN)-created artwork capably showcases these topics.
“The cover depicts an open spell book spewing forth witches, devils and other ghastly things,” notes Zinn. “These are all subject matters within ‘Deadly Charms’ songs. We’ve been fortunate to work with so many great artists over the years on different albums dating back to our WITCH HAZEL days and enjoy the excitement of a new artist on each project we do.”
“Magick & Mischief” was released in the thick of the global pandemic. While it put a premature end to the band’s touring plans, it immediately cultivated a feverish critical following. Teeth Of The Divine called it “one of the best and most original heavy metal albums that seems like it was recorded in the ’70s and just received an updated remastering.” At the same time, Toilet Ov Hell noted, “This record is stuffed to bursting with hooky, moody riffs, stuffed like a filing cabinet full of promising leads.”
The run-up to the release of “Deadly Charms” will find SPELLBOOK busy with a myriad of projects — including some much-desired plans to hit the road.
“We are working on shooting videos for a few songs off the record,” says Zinn. “Once the album is released, we really want to tour this time around. This new lineup has been gigging for a little while now and is eager to play these new songs anywhere and everywhere we can.”
We’re extremely stoked to present you today “Precious One”, the first single of The Neptune Power Federation upcoming album “Le Demon De L’Amour”.
“Le Demon The L’Amour” was originally scheduled for a late 2021 release. but as it happened to many other bands, the release suffered a delay due to the awful worldwide COVID situation.
These fantastic Austrialian rockers once again delivered an extremely solid album, this time focusing on the theme of “Love”. But as TNPF is not your average next-door rock band, they do their own way. So expect 8-Love-songs done their own way!
THE NEPTUNE POWER FEDERATION “Le Demon De L’Amour”, RELEASE DATE FEB 14, 2022
The Neptune Power Federation brings back the love song and rocks as furiously as ever on their fifth studio album, Le Demon De L’Amour!
Heading into the creation of their fifth studio album, Le Demon De L’Amour, Australian psychedelic rock and roll brigade The Neptune Power Federation couldn’t let go of the fact that love songs had been commandeered, in their words, by “soft rockers, bedwetters and the introvert crowd.” Whereas rock had its glory period during the 1970s and 80s, the art of the love song is now lost within heavier music. Few bands are now willing to venture into such territory — metal and rock have settled comfortably into typical, predictable lyrical tropes that fail to pull at the heartstrings the way they used to. On Le Demon De L’Amour, The Neptune Power Federation reclaims the art of the love song as their own.
Off the heels of their acclaimed 2019 Memoirs of a Rat Queen studio album, the members of The Neptune Power Federation utilized the unexpected downtime afforded from the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic to craft an album that takes more chances than its predecessor. While the band’s trademark rock swagger and prog tendencies still come into play, Le Demon ups the voltage and energy. True, there is a multitude of genre-blurring taking place, but the album’s infectious choruses and leaden riffs easily re-imagine metal and rock’s glory eras without blatant thievery.
Of course, all roads to The Neptune Power Federation run through lead vocalist Screamin’ Loz Sutch and her stage persona, “The Imperial Priestess.” Le Demon’s eight cuts find the indomitable frontwoman in top form, belting out tales of love from a female’s perspective, weaving in stories of cult worship, murder and hypnotism. The album’s artwork (created by guitarist Inverted CruciFox) also introduces her new nemesis — The Wizzard Princess.
Recorded at bass player JayTanic Ritual’s The Ped Food Factory in Marrickville, Sydney, with mixing duties provided by Clem Bennett, Le Demon De L’Amour leads The Neptune Power Federation into their tenth anniversary next year. Their journey has taken them from the sweaty clubs of Sydney to a global audience. Now armed with eight love songs sure to melt and captivate the most hardened metal hearts, The Neptune Power Federation boldly goes where few bands dare to go.
