With VNV Nations highly anticipated “Of Faith, Power, and Glory” album released tomorrow, Amazon.com now have previews of each track up on the product page. This is not just the vnvnation.de preview (see below) re-hashed – oh no – these are bits we haven’t heard before.

My verdict:

1. Pro Victoria: It’s coming, the drums say so…
2. Sentinel: Hmm, this bit sounds weak – seems as if the clip in the vnvnation.de leak was the best bit… Lets hope it works as a full song
3. Tomorrow Never Comes: We know this one.
4. The Great Divide: Liking this, liking this quite a bit
5. Ghost: I guess this’ll have to be heard in full to decide.
6. Art Of Conflict: Ohhhh yes
7. Defiant: Upbeat – in MY VNV? …I like the sound of this one, and isn’t it in tribute to Sophie Lancaster or something?
8. Verum Aeternus: Ooh, so there are more words than “one day” then?
9. From My Hands: Again, I guess this’ll have to be heard in full to decide.
10. Where There Is Light: There’s an air of Perpetual in this for me. Sort of a “look to the future” attitude.

Listen here.

So, 5 days until “Of Faith, Power, and Glory” is released in Europe. What are your thoughts on what you’ve heard so far? Any expectations? I, for one, connot wait to hear it in it’s entirety

Share your views!

Hot off the press

13/10 - Belgium – Antwerp – Hof Ter Lo
15/10 - Holland - Hengelo – Metropol
16/10 - Holland - Eindhoven – Effenaar
17/10 - UK - London – Academy
18/10 - UK - Sheffield – Corporation

Thanks to vnvnation.de (page translated) for breaking this!

Here, my friends, is an exclusive 9-track sampler from the forthcoming VNV album. Enjoy!

Tracklist:

1. Sentinel
2. Tomorrow Never Comes
3. The Great Divide
4. Ghost
5. Art Of Conflict
6. In Defiance
7. Verum Æternus
8. From My Hands
9. Where There Is Light

VNV Nation have posted “Tomorrow Never Comes” – a track from their forthcoming album Of Faith Power And Glory – on their MySpace profile.

Busy day today!

Looks like we’re becoming quite the VNV hub of late …

Look away now if you want to be kept in suspense

(thanks to 4cov4um for uploading this)

(thanks to poupeeXmecanique for uploading this)

I’m really looking forward to this release, and seeing them live

Keep checking back for more! And of course, if you want to share anything – contact me…

More VNV-related news: their 2009 world tour (which incidently, I will go to this year) starts on June 27th in North America, with special guests War Tapes:

27/06 – USA – Los Angeles, CA – Club Nokia LA
29/06 – USA – San Francisco, CA – Grand Ballroom
30/06 – USA – Portland, OR – Berbati’s Pan
01/07 – USA – Seattle, WA – The Showbox
03/07 – USA – Salt Lake City, UT     Murray Theatre
05/07 – USA – Denver, CO – Gothic Theatre
07/07 – USA – Milwaukee, WI – Turner Hall
08/07 – USA – Minneapolis, MN     Station Four
10/07 – USA – Chicago, IL – House of Blues
11/07 – USA – Detroit, MI – St. Andrews Hall
12/07 – USA – Cleveland, OH – Peabody’s Down Under
14/07 – CAN – Toronto, ON – Phoenix
15/07 – CAN – Montreal, QC – Le National
17/07 – USA – Boston, MA – Paradise
18/07 – USA – New York, NY – Nokia Theatre
19/07 – USA – Philadelphia, PA – TLA
21/07 – USA – Washington, DC – 9:30 Club
23/07 – USA – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
24/07 – USA – Tampa (Ybor city) , FL – The Ritz
25/07 – USA – Ft. Lauderdale, FL     Culture Room
27/07 – USA – Dallas, TX – Granada Theater
28/07 – USA – San Antonio, TX – White Rabbit
30/07 – USA – Phoenix, AZ – Marquee Theater

…and the shenanigans continue in EuropeLand with special guests Rotersand:

02/09 – Germany – Rostock – Mau Club
03/09 – Denmark – Copenhagen – Forbraendingen
06/09 – Czech Rep. – Prague – Lucerna
07/09 – Serbia – Belgrade – TBA
08/09 – Croatia – Zagreb – Boogaloo Club
09/09 – Austria – Vienna – Szene
11/09 – Italy – Rome – Blackout
12/09 – Italy – Torino – Fabrik
15/09 – Germany – Stuttgart – LKA Longhorn
17/09 – France – Paris – La Locomotive
18/09 – Germany – Krefeld – KuFa
19/09 – Germany – Erfurt – Gewerkschaftshaus
20/09 – Germany – Munich – Backstage Werk
23/09 – Germany – Frankfurt – Batschkapp
25/09 – Germany – Berlin – Postbahnhof
26/09 – Germany – Magdeburg – Factory
27/09 – Germany – Dortmund – FZW
29/09 – Germany – Hannover – Capitol
30/09 – Germany – Dresden – Strasse E
01/10 – Germany – Hamburg – Docks
03/10 – Switzerland – Haberbach/Flums – Bergwerk 4

UK/Ireland dates are unconfirmed at present. But when I know – you will too

Aha. Interesting musical happenings have, erm, happened. I recieved a newsletter from an online store this afternoon, detailing information on the new VNV Nation album “Of Faith, Power and Glory”.

“The album features a cover designed by Polish graphic artist Michal Karcz, who also created the artwork for “Judgement”. It is undoubtedly one of his finest works, featuring an image of a monument in the middle of a wasteland, a metaphor for all our greatest hopes and solemn intentions, as well as the brutal extremes that we are capable of, the schizophrenic nature of human beings and the eternal struggle to move forward.

In keeping with the band’s environmental principles, the new CD will come in extremely environmentally friendly packaging, using only recycled paper, vegetable ink and water based glue. Even the print on the CD uses vegetable ink. The packaging weighs 40-50% less than normal packaging which means it uses less fuel when it’s transported, which reduces the carbon footprint of the CD production. The best part is that it looks great too!

Format: Limited CD Digipak
Tracklisting:
01. Pro Victoria
02. Sentinal
03. Tomorrow Never Comes
04. The Great Divide
05. Ghost
06. Art of Conflict
07. In Defiance
08. Verum Aeturnus
09. From My Hands
10. Where Is the Light

Record Label: Anachron Sounds

The album itself is released in Europe on June 19th, with North America catching up on the 23rd

So, last night was a little awesome.

I went to see Combichrist perform at The Robin 2, in Wolverhampton. Supporting acts were Deviant UK (hmm…), Uberbyte (suprisingly good…) and Aesthetic Perfection (also, suprisingly good).

I arrived as Deviant UK were half-way through their set. After one or two of their songs, I decided to find out where the bar was – which turned out to be situated conveniently next to the Merchandise stand. In a rather awesome stroke of luck, I ended up standing next to a Mr Joe Letz – drummer for Combichrist, past live drummer for Wednesday 13, Amen, and Burn Halo. I, rather nervously/haphazardly, asked for a photo. Regardéz:

On reflection, I should have really tried talking to him and asked if we could re-take the photo as it didn’t turn out well. But, I was acting in true taken-aback-with-awe fashion, and did neither of these.

Combichrist were pant-wettingly awesome. No amount of badly-recorded videos and equally-as-bad snapped photos can reflect this – but, nevertheless…

Photo set @ Flickr
Video playlist @ YouTube

They started off with their usual Live intro – Cornbugs’ “Dust and Bones” / answerphone message found as the hidden track on “Today We Are All Demons” / Charlie The Unicorn ‘Candy Cave’ song (which, in itself, is bizarre…) – which ends abruptly with Andy screaming into the the first track of the night – “All Pain Is Gone”. The night itself was a blur, a fantasticly immense blur, and was further perpetuated by an encore – “This Shit Will Fuck You Up’”, and “What The Fuck Is Wrong With You?”.

Stage trashed. Venue sound engineer looking worried. Merchandise bought. Night to remember.

Verdict: uncontrollable amounts of WIN.