Vinegar Hill is an Austrian melodic death metal band, and their new album "Darkness Echoes" will be released on March 28, 2025.
On January 24, 2025, the title track of the album was released.
The video can be seen here: https://youtu.be/_Co1KWhuvGo
Often we search for answers in the darkness. In the shadows, where no one recognizes our face. We feel secure in the impenetrable blackness of the night, to which we entrust our darkest thoughts. And sometimes the darkness responds... Since 2007, Vinegar Hill has been considered Austria's best-kept secret in melodic death metal. After the quintet from the idyllic Styria has earned the status of one of the most discoverable must-watch formations in the country over the past few years, the Austrians are now taking the next step to deliver their most mature and uncompromising album yet with "Darkness Echoes"!
Already with their self-released debut EP "From Deathbeds We'll Rise" in 2009, Vinegar Hill made a name for themselves with a consistent in-your-face mix of brutal intensity and atmospheric melodies. A pulverizing signature sound that the five-member band has expanded and refined over the following years on the albums "The Road To Grace" (2012), "Monophobia" (2015), "Ghost Flowers" (2017), and "Earthbound" (2022), as well as various singles. Through over 140 live shows across Austria, Germany, and Eastern Europe, Vinegar Hill has built a small but fine fanbase, toured twice as a support act for Dark Tranquility, and shared countless stages, including that of the prestigious Nova Rock Festival, with international giants like Hammerfall, Grave Digger, Dragonforce, Destruction, Unleashed, Sodom, and many others. Their clips on YouTube currently boast well over 100k views.
After four studio albums, Vinegar Hill returns with a brand new long player in a completely new lineup. A quasi-fresh start for the only remaining founding member Michael Dreschnig (guitar, vocals, songwriting), who has assembled a skilled expert team with Thomas Kaluza (vocals), Oliver Seebacher (guitar), Hannes Aigner (bass), and Christoph Schoberl (drums) to usher in the next creative phase of the formation. Vinegar Hill enjoys playing with contrasts, where metallic hardness alternates with catchy hook lines, guttural growls meet clean vocal parts, and pounding blast beats mix with technically demanding riffing and epic strings to create a bombastically produced widescreen sound. A balancing act between light and darkness that runs through all the songs of "Darkness Echoes," allowing Vinegar Hill to easily position themselves alongside relevant bands like Soilwork, In Flames, or At The Gates in the record shelf with their atmospheric melodic death metal.
"I think we are making a huge step forward with the new lineup," says VH mastermind Michael Dreschnig enthusiastically. "With Thomas, we have found a singer as our new vocal figurehead who perfectly complements my clean singing with his distinctive growls. The band has evolved enormously on all levels. Compared to the last album, the tracks are more compact, impactful, and get to the point faster." Just like the first single, the title track of "Darkness Echoes," with which Vinegar Hill paints a dark-dystopian picture right at the beginning of the album - while the formation feels noticeably at home in the darkness. "This piece is a kind of karma song," Michael continues. "The world is currently on the brink. Whether it's about wars, the consequences of global warming, societal division, or other crises. 'Darkness Echoes' tells that you are treated the way you treat your fellow human beings. Those who constantly sow hate, fear, and aggression will only reap hate, fear, and aggression.
Despite all the dark apocalyptic fantasies, Vinegar Hill also conveys hope and positive energy on "Darkness Echoes," as the band demonstrates with the powerful "On Fire": a gripping anthem of survival that co-frontman Michael Dreschnig dedicates to all those who pursue their dreams and let nothing deter them from their path. "'On Fire' was created as the very first song after the old lineup dissolved," Michael reflects. "I was sitting alone in the studio, thinking about what I love about this band. And that I still burn for the music. That will never change. With this album, Vinegar Hill is returning with new strength, and I am incredibly proud of what we have accomplished together!"
"Darkness Echoes" will be released on March 28, 2025, as a standard CD, limited vinyl, and digital download on all major platforms.
Release concert:
April 5, 2025 AT-Trofaiach, Mad Mountain Meeting
