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Our top 5 albums for 2009 and the start of 2010

admin — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 10:38:04 +0000

Back from the tour last month and we’re back to our normal everyday lives. We met some great people along, played with some amazing musicians and most importantly, we had a great time. Check out some of our pics from the tour on our Facebook page to have a taste of what it was like. We also got a new t-shirt design printed just in time for the tour, which is now added to our Merchandise page, where you can buy it using your PayPal account. If you are thinking of buying one, think no more and buy it now cause there are only a few prints left!

Meanwhile Medusa has been reviewed on another German webzine and again received a very positive rating, 8/10. Read the full review here.

Just a week after the tour we also played a show at Rookie’s in Bugibba to end 2009 for Knockturn Alley. Now, a very short break before we start another busy year.

So as we end 2009 here’s a round up of our personal top 5 albums for the year:

Thomas

Architects – Hollow Crown
Paradise Lost – Faith Divide us – Death Unite Us
It Dies Today – Lividity
Raised Fist – Veil of ignorance
Mastodon – Crack The Skye

Daniel

Mastodon – Crack the Skye
Darkest Hour – The Eternal Return
Between the Buried and Me – The Great Misdirect
The Black Dahlia Murder – Deflorate
Despised Icon – Day of Mourning

James

The Mars Volta – Octahedron
Bat For Lashes – Two Suns
Biffy Clyro – Only Revolutions
Everytime I Die – New Junk Aesthetic
Dream Theater – Black Clouds & Silver Linings

Clint

Architects – Hollow Crown
Mastodon – Crack The Skye
Every Time I Die – New Junk Aesthetic
Raised Fist – Veil of Ignorance
Killswitch Engage – Killswitch Engage

John

Dream Theater – Black Clouds & Silver Linings
Mastodon – Crack The Skye
Paradise Lost – Faith Divide us – Death Unite Us
Killswitch Engage – Killswitch Engage
Katatonia – Night is The New Day

2010
We’re planning on writing new music as soon as we’re back in the rehearsal room and lay our hands on the instruments again. Hopefully we’ll play some of the new stuff in the next show, which, of course is on the 9th of February. For the sixth time running, Pre-Valentine’s Massacre is back! Together with Loathe and Seismic we shall bring you a night of metal frenzy on this yearly event, and those who have been to a Pre-Valentine’s Massacre before know what they’re after. See you very soon at Remedy.

Gig in Gozo, Medusa Tour and updates

admin — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 19:43:11 +0000

If you have been following our Facebook profile lately you could notice that it’s been kept quite active and busy. We have posted dates and info about our upcoming gig in Gozo and tour which should start later this month. So this should explain why we haven’t been writing anything on our blog. Practicing our set list and planning shows is enough to keep our minds busy somewhere else. Due to this absence from our blog, here’s a long list of happenings for Knockturn Alley.

Gig in Gozo with ItEM – 14th November

In exactly 10 days we will be playing a show in Gozo, at Oli’s Wine Bar in Xewkija to be exact. We’re looking forward to this event, not only ’cause it’s a first for us in Gozo but but ’cause for the second time in 5 months we will be sharing the stage with ItEM. Last July’s gig with the guys could easily be described as one of our best this year and those who were present… know we’re not lying. We should be attending Loathe’s gig at Rookie’s the night before our gig, after that, hang around at a bar where James will be playing, and head to the ferry in some early hours on Saturday morning together with our mates from ItEM. Sounds like a good warm up for the gig. Check out flyer below and if you happen to be in Gozo make sure you don’t miss this.

Medusa Tour

Exactly a week after Gozo’s gig we will start our tour, visiting 5 countries in all. Following our debut album release last May, which has been positively reviewed a couple of times, we decided that a tour is best to promote our album, hence the name Medusa Tour 2009.

The tour dates can be found in the poster below.

Of course without the help of friends and other people this tour wouldn’t have been possible and we would like to show our appreciation towards the following: Tomáš from Calidad, Denis from SleighMSN, Sergejs from Melna Piektdiena and Ruta Mik. Thanks to all of you, we will be meeting very soon!

Merchandise

In preparation for the coming shows, we have also been working on a new t-shirt design which should be coming your way very soon!

That’s all we had to say for now, we should be back with something new after the gig in Gozo with hopefully some images from the night.

New track online, gig date announced

admin — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 11:14:36 +0000

It’s been a while but finally we’re back with some news and updates. We haven’t been playing shows for the last 2 months but that doesn’t mean that we haven’t been kept busy. We have been writing some new music and planning shows for the coming months. And if everything goes according to plans, it’s gonna be a busy schedule for the next few weeks. Starting from October 3rd, together with Oblique Visions, we will be hitting the stage at Rookies for the first time. See flyer below.

Medusa uploaded

Today September 19th marks the 5th year from Knockturn Alley’s first live performance. The date goes back to a supporting slot we played together with Loathe and UK band Scurge at Signals bar. A good debut one must say, and since then, some more shows, a couple of line up changes and this is where we are. So to mark this day we decided to upload a new track for you to listen to, judge, comment and hopefully tell all your friends about it too. The title track Medusa is now online on our MySpace page, Facebook profile, the Media section on this blog as well as below.

Medusa’s latest review, new band photoshoot

admin — Sat, 04 Jul 2009 13:35:53 +0000

Once again our recently released album Medusa was reviewed online, and this time it was rated 75/100. The album was reviewed by Jasper at www.lordsofmetal.nl, a dutch e-zine specialising in Metal releases. Below is an extract from the full review which can be viewed here.

“These brute Maltese have peaked with American bigshots like Darkest Hour, and Lamb Of God, and they like to turn up both volume and speed …the riff in opening song ‘Under A God-like Sun’ gives a fresh Southern-rock view on Swedish melodic death metal that I had not heard before. On top of that ‘Medusa’ is beautifully packaged and the whole record breathes professionalism. It seems weird that no label has picked this up yet, In the case of Knockturn Alley, this should only be a matter of time.” – www.lordsofmetal.nl

New band photoshoot scheduled.
Since our new member John has joined, a new band photoshoot is scheduled for tomorrow afternoon. The location is not confirmed yet as we will be trying different shots and backgrounds this time, so this might actually end up taking longer than planned. We will keep you posted on this one and expect some new shots, hopefully mid-week.

Meanwhile you can check out Loathe’s latest album update here. They’ve just finished recording their debut full-length Despondent by Design and they are set to cause some earache anytime soon. For all those who didn’t make any plans yet for tonight, make sure you don’t miss the Abysmal Torment, Coalition to the Sun and In The Name Of gig… I’ll see you there!

ItEM vs Knockturn Alley

admin — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 20:58:12 +0000

We promised a different gig so we pushed ourselves to attempt something we never did before. Last Sunday we met up with the guys from ItEM and their photographer Bernice Vella for a photoshoot in-line with the upcoming gig’s theme. As promised, we are aiming to organise something never tried before. For now we want to keep the information short, but we can assure you that we will be revealing more and more news about the gig in the coming weeks. All we can say for now is that we are looking forward to this gig more than you are! We will also upload some photos from last Sunday onto our myspace, Facebook and the Media section. Flyer can be found below.

Loathe’s new blog
In anticipation of their debut album Despondent by Design, our good old mates from Loathe have recently launched a blog. Take a couple of minutes to see what these guys have to say as they are just a few days away from commencing the recording sessions.

More gig updates.

admin — Sun, 26 Apr 2009 14:08:45 +0000

As I start writing this we are 13 days, 5 hours, and 12 mins away from the release of Medusa… or at least that’s what the countdown on our myspace page says . Anyway, we’ve been kept busy preparing whatever is needed to make this gig a successful one. We’ve been giving out fliers for the past few days and should be putting up posters in the days to come. We have also confirmed another guest for the night, this time it’s not a band, but Beast from Loathe will keep everyone entertained with metal music while the bands are not occupying the stage.

Newsletter
Just a few hours ago we sent out our first Knockturn Alley newsletter ever, and the plan is to keep sending this whenever we have something new to share with you. The first issue can be viewed here.

The Source
Our friends and special guests for the Medusa launch, The Source have recently posted a video clip for their track “On the Coreshot” on their myspace page. The video can also be viewed below.

Knockturn Alley competition
In the coming days we shall be adding a new post to this blog which consists of a competition. We will be giving away Knockturn Alley t-shirts, CD’s as well as FREE entrance to the Medusa official release gig. So make sure you keep an eye on this blog and if you haven’t subscribed to the RSS feed, do so now, cause only the first 3 correct entries will win prizes! (What is RSS?)

After the Massacre

admin — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 20:28:28 +0000

Once again, our yearly gig Pre-Valentine Massacre, which was organised together with Loathe, proved to be a successful one. Knockturn Alley would like to thank Cypher, Loathe, Remedy Club and Steve (the soundman) for making this possible but most of all, we would like to thank everyone who attended the show and made it a great one. Anyone who was at the show and has any photos from the night should feel free to forward them to us on the band’s email or via our myspace page.

As mentioned in a previous post we played Epilogue (Cities Burn) for the first time and as promised here are the lyrics for this song. The song, whose lyrics were written by Dimitris, talks about the riots recently occuring in major cities in Greece. Again we posted the video clip from the riots, for you to enjoy while reading the lyrics.

The Album
In the meantime we are preparing ourselves for our debut album launch which should be happening somewhere between the end of April and beginning of May. We cannot be sure of dates yet as the album is still in the process of mixing and mastering, and of course then comes the cd replication, artwork printing etc. The launch gig is already in the planning stages though, and talks for a supporting band have already started; we should be able to confirm the supporting band in the coming weeks.

Epilogue (Cities Burn)
Wake up in absolute blindness
In this hour of rage
Unleash your hate
Nothing is left to fear
Nothing is left to…
Rage flowing under our skins
Murderers of a new world order
Destroyers of our dreams
Modernised societies
Breeding apathy
For values long forgotten
We are drawn into decay
Burn them down
So we can rebuild from the ashes
Bring them down
Chaos in their well protected control
Free from fear
Free from the horror
Is this freedom an elusive dream?
The hopelessly enslaved are the ones who falsely believe that they are free

Recording Complete

admin — Sun, 08 Feb 2009 20:26:13 +0000

It’s been a while since we have updated this blog, but of course, the past few weeks have been quite busy and we were spending more and more time at the studio. Well, if we didn’t, we wouldn’t have anything to put up here no?

After finishing the recording of the drums about 2 weeks ago, Daniel started recording his bass on all the tracks. Thomas and James followed with the guitar work (thanks Peavey amps) before Clint did the vocals for all the tracks to our upcoming album. Doing the vocals was a fun thing; we all took part as we did some backings and came up with some really cool stuff. Having all the music in place gave us an idea of what it’s all gonna sound like even prior to mixing and mastering. We’re very glad and excited with the results and we can’t wait to have everything done and upload our first track on myspace. David Vella and Cedric Vella from Temple Studios did a great job in producing the album, and the results are excellent. Take a look at some clips from the recording in the video below. Mixing should start on the 23rd of February, and again, David Vella will be in charge of this. This should take a couple of days, and the tracks are then sent to Hangar 18 Studios in Sweden, to get the mastering done. We will keep you posted with any updates, until the mastering is complete.

Gig Coming up

On Monday the 9th February we are hitting the stage together with Loathe and Cypher at Remedy club in Paceville to take part in Pre-Valentine Massacre 5. Together with some older songs, we will be performing 5 songs from our upcoming CD including Epilogue (Cities Burn), a brand new track, so make sure not to miss out on this one!

Drums recording complete. Flyer for PVM5.

admin — Sat, 17 Jan 2009 11:10:05 +0000

First part is complete. The first 3 days of the past week, Dimitris has been recording the drums for all the tracks. We can say that we’re very satisfied with the way it all sounds. This puts us a step forward in the recording phase and we can’t wait till the whole thing is ready. On Monday Daniel will be starting the bass, and by the end of the week we should have all the music recorded, when Clint will start recording the vocals the following week. Below are some pics from the studio, just before Dimitris started recording the tracks.

Pre-Valentine Massacre V
As promised…here is the flyer for the Pre-Valentine Massacre V.

Knockturn Alley hits the studio in one day.

admin — Thu, 08 Jan 2009 18:31:43 +0000

Only one day to hit Temple Studios. On Friday we will be setting up our equipment and making sure that everything is ready for Saturday, when Dimitris will start doing the drums for all the songs. We would like to thank Ben from Wave Music for providing us with the extra equipment needed.

Temple Studios

This week we have been trying to figure out the order of the tracks on the album. We already have an idea of how this is gonna be but of course this will be confirmed once the recording is complete. Those who have been attending our latest gigs might be familiar with some of the songs to be included on the album, these are:

Deadly Twist of Fate
The Sinner, The Martyr
This Silence Is A Threat
Under A Godlike Sun

Of course we will be playing these tracks in the coming shows. Together with the tracks mentioned above, the album will also feature 4 brand new songs, plus 2 instrumentals. The title of the album and the track listing will be announced in the coming weeks so stay alert for the coming posts. We will also be uploading images and video clips from our recording sessions at Temple Studios.

On a different note… Pre-Valentine Massacre 5 is confirmed and Knockturn Alley together with Loathe and a supporting band will be playing at Remedy in this annual, much awaited gig. More information together with a flyer will follow soon . So remember to mark your calendars and keep the night of 9th February free and hope to see you there!