Antwerp-based progressive hardcore band BEAR herald their triumphant return with their highly-anticipated new album, „VANTA“, out September 29. Emerging from the crucible of personal trials - cancer, a global pandemic, broken relationships, and profound loss - BEAR has crafted an album that resonates with the pain, anguish, and fear that defines our human experience.

„VANTA“, named after the darkest known substance, represents the band’s voyage through their most challenging times. It is a testament to their resilience, an unapologetic and unrelenting auditory journey that fearlessly navigates through the storm of adversity. But beneath its ferocious exterior, the album also uncovers the beauty nestled within suffering, underscoring the profound truth of no light existing without darkness.

„VANTA“ is not just an album. It’s the embodiment of BEAR’s journey through personal and global upheaval, their transformation from victims of circumstance to harbingers of hope. It is a clarion call to all who hear it: In the face of the bleakest darkness, there can still be light.

As BEAR continues to evolve and forge their path, one thing remains certain: fear the BEAR

‘Upon the crooked cobblestones between the belfry and the St. Bavo’s Cathedral in Ghent lies one cobblestone that rises higher than others of its kind. Many civilians have been struck and stumbled when they encountered the stone and have cursed it and the earth from wich it came, to damnation and the earths from which it came. The brick makes no distinction between those that he curses and those who he spares of the inevitable misery he inflicts when they meet him on their way. And when an inattentive soul wanders his way meeting his doom, the cobblestones feels more like a boulder than just a mere cobblestone.

Arson is that Ghentian boulder.’ The origin of Arson took place in the spring of 2016 when members of various Ghentian metal and screamo bands came together and wanted to tear away from the subcultures where they had been in for years. Time for a something new. Time for good old fashioned screaming guitars, tight drums and intense vocals.

Ghent 5-piece band Arson bring a hard mix of rock ‘n roll, punk, hardcore and southern rock.