Attack Attack! look to have called it a day. The retooled outfit has been beset with lineup changes in recent months. Earlier today (April 22nd) band drummer Andrew Wetzel posted the following message on the bands Facebook:
Behold! The band that has taken over rock n roll has returned with a powerful and successful sophomore album called “Infestissumam”! Ghost B.C. (Formerly known as Ghost) didn’t truly capture my attention with the release of their first album. However, this time around I get it. Infestissumam is a trip down stoner rock lane with heavy Satanic lyrics and themes. There is no beating around the bush here, this band loves them some Satan. There is nothing else being brought up on these songs except for the worship of their dear under lord. While this band preaches all things unholy, it doesn’t feel overwhelming or cheesy. The way it’s approached and the musical artistry behind it all makes it so enchanting.
Oh fucks yeah! Come get your sludge and noise on with Torche and KEN mode coming to a venue near YOU! The tour begins May 10th in Atlanta, GA and lasts until mid June when they finish off their onslaught on the nation at Washington D.C. What a random, delightful announcement this is! Will you be going?
New Chimaira footage has surfaced. The guys are now currently on tour with Asking Alexandria, Motionless In White and Whitechapel. What do you think of the new song? Also, have you seen the new IndieGoGo campaign for Chimaira’s new album?
“Futurama” has been cancelled … again.
According to EW, Comedy Central has decided not to renew the cartoon. The second half of Season 7 begin Wednesday, June 19 at 10 p.m. ET and the final of the 13 episode, which will now be the series finale, will air on September 4.
Robert Todd Harrell, bassist of 3 Doors Down, has been charged with vehicular homicide after they said his speeding car clipped a pickup truck, sending it down an embankment and killing the driver. The accident happened Friday night.
Man, Woods of Ypres has won a JUNO Award for Best Hard Rock/Metal album of the year for Woods V: Grey Skies and Electric Light!!! Beating out many good albums as well as the album “Epicloud” from Devin Townsend Band. What a monumental achievement for the band and a wonderful addition to their final album. The legend continues and the story shall never die: Woods V is a wonderful album and they definitely deserve this win! Joel Violette accepted the award and I’m incredibly happy for him and the late David Gold. Congratulations!!!!!
The next chapter is a good one though as Thrawsunblat, Joel’s latest musical focus, is out and it’s incredible. Go listen to it now!
Many sites have posted about this strong tour rumor featuring a fall tour with Avenged Sevenfold, Ghost and Deftones. Three random bands whom really have no purpose sharing a stage, could possibly be doing so later this year! How do you feel about this? If Avenged is headlining I’ll be dipping out early. I love me some Deftones and the new Ghost has me pumped up but other than that….it’s truly one weird lineup.
Growing up in the area that I’m from, we never really had a great music scene. There were talented bands scattered around, but most of them never lasted very long. There isnt really a surplus of musicians. When I was about 15 or 16, I started finding out about some bands from an area about 40min south of the town I live. The musicians in some of these bands were(and still are) some of the best musicians I’ve ever had the chance to know. One in particular is a guitarist by the name of Aaron Carey. At that time he was in a melodic death metal band called Angelrust. I had never heard anything like them yet, and didn’t know how to take their sound at first. But I do remember seeing Aaron play for the first time at my first Tombfest(a local summer metal show that sadly is no more), and to this day he is one of the most impressive guitar players I’ve ever seen.
So fast forward to 2013. Angelrust has been disbanded for quite some time now after writing an INCREDIBLE final album(The Nightmare Unfolds, Link will be at the end of the review). Aaron has moved on and started a project called “Nechochwen”. Blending his infleunces of early 90′s death, thrash and black metal with his Native American heritage, Nechochwen is truley uniqiue and amazing. A sound which I can only describe as Native American Folk Metal. While being a very extremely talented metal guitar player, Aarons acoustic and classical playing is where he really shines. The first album “Algonkian Mythos” is mostly acoustic music, but the metal influence hasnt come into play just yet. Still, Incredible guitar playing. Mythos is followed up by “Azimuths to the Otherworld” which is where metal starts to make its stand. This album is truely incredible and bounces back and forth, while staying closer to the darker metal sound. “OtO” is a natural progression for Nechochwen. Adding into the mix on “Azimuths” is former Angelrust bandmate and engineer Andrew D’Cagna on Drums and Bass, with some vocals as well.
OtO is a hard album to describe using only words. Imagine some metal dudes took a weekend trip to some forests in The Appalachian area. Both guys very talented musicians taking natural influences from culture and heritage of this area. Listening to Nechochwen is like taking a spiritual journey. Not following the pattern of Azimuths, OtO starts off pretty calm and melodic. Focused primariy on the classical guitar parts for the earlier part of the record, the rythym section does a good job of playing tastfully and dynamically giving some of these passages the exact skilled backing they deserve. Electric guitar work is also scattered throughout tastefully and skillfully. As Im writing this, Im about halfway through OtO. Its starting pick up, and is really foreshadowing the epic and powerful music thats on its way. While skillful guitar playing is thing that draws me most into this music, there are also other native wind instruments that I sadly do not know the names of, but rest assured Aaron is also skilled at these as well. Track 5, “Hey Ya Ho Na”, is one of my favorites off the album. Bringing back the extreme metal sound that was all over Azimuths, this track starts off heavy and melodic. All you can do is headbang. Tribal style drums and harmonized vocals chanting along similar to the title of the track make a nice little break in the action and then back to melodic headbanging metal. Continuing you through the musical journey that is OtO. \m/ . The album is closed with the track “Pekikalooletiiwe (instructions; an exhoration)” (dont worry, i dont know how to say that either). Excellent thrashy death metal riffs accompanied again by skilled and tasteful drumming, this album is coming to an extreme and climactic ending. The masterful riffs in this song really carry it. Getting very complex while still sounding intelligent, this is a good song to wrap up the album.
The arrangement of OtO is very important. This is not an album that you just pop one song on and are done with it. The flow is everything. Starting off calm and smooth, while branching into heavier parts towards the end, and bringing it back to the calm native folk sound that you will grow to love. It’s also important to note that this album was written and recorded for vinyl and intended to be heard that way. While the prodcution of the digital version youll more than likely hear is still good, this album can only improve when hearing it as intended. Aarons skilled and disciplined guitar playing deserves to be heard. Please do yourself a favor and add Nechochwen into your personal music collection.
Available now on bindrune recordings. Here are a few links to check out.
I give OtO a 4.5 out of 5. Listen to it TODAY!
http://nechochwen.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nechochwen-Official/110325015754751
http://www.bindrunerecordings.com/
http://bindrunerecordings.bandcamp.com/
and Angelrust
http://nechochwen.com/album/the-nightmare-unfolds
Inter Arma is a metal band from Richmond VA. Combining elements of Doom, Post Rock, and Black Metal, the guys in Inter Arma have created a very cool sound. Given the inlfluencing styles, this is something that is right up my alley. Even when theyre playing sludgy riifs, the tempo is kept fairly upbeat making it never really drag on. The black metal elements are performed with skill and used well thoroughout the almost 70 min long album titled “Sky Burial”. Add in some spacy hynotic post rock riffs and you are in for one well performed and written album. With each of the main songs clocking in at over 10 min each, there are a few “interlude”(For lack of a better word) tracks places on the CD which break up the songs nicely.
thats a well placed birdhouse…
The Survival Fires starts off the album. Crashing right into some blackened stlye doom, it grabs your attention right away. The riffs tend to be repetative, but they are interesting. So it doesnt really get boring, which is great. Inter Arma blends the influencing stlyes with ease and its never a drastic change when they do. The songs flow very well. There arent a ton of guitar solos on this album, but there are a few, and when the guitarist breaks off, his lead work is very bluesy and well thought out while not doing too much. At points throughout the album, some sections border on an almost uplifting sound, which I really enjoy. Anytime you think its going to stay in that direction however, they take it back to the black metal influence that Im really growing fond of with this band. One of the “interlude” tracks titled ” ‘sblood” does a really good job at building a very tense feeling of anticipation. Add in some howling satanic style black metal vocals pushed into the background and this track does its job well! Inter Arma are a truley heavy and aggressive band with an awesome punishing sound. They also do a really good job of bouncing back and forth between high shreiking black metal vocals, to low howling doom yells which put me in mind of bands like Mastodon. This album is a MUST HAVE for any fan of black metal, doom, post rock, and anything in between.
On tour now
Inter Arma are signed to relapse records and “Sky Burial” was release in March 2013. Do yourself a favor and grab a copy of this. also check out their facebook page and their bandcamp for upcoming tour dates. I have a feeling this is a band you will hear a lot about in the future.
http://interarma.bandcamp.com/
https://www.facebook.com/INTERARMA
I give “Sky Burial” a 4 out of 5. go check it out today!!!
A few days ago the Chimaira’s Facebook page posted a word finder challenging their fans to figure out what their 3 part name of their new album is going to be. No one was able to figure it out, so today Chimaira dropped the ball and announced the album name, date release as well as their Indie-GoGo campaign!
Chimaira’s new album “Crown of Phantoms” will be released on July 30th via eOne Records!!!! Definitely head on over to their Indie-GoGo page now and support them! You’re basically pre-ordering the new album.
Hate Eternal jumped on the Fear Factory tour and Kansas City, MO was their first night of the tour. J.J. explained “If I fuck up, don’t hold it against me.” Joking aside, this was their first stop of the tour for them and they absolutely destroyed The Riot Room. The maximum occupancy of 240 was at maximum tonight and Hate Eternal fed them all the only dose of death metal we would hear for the night. A weird combo having Hate Eternal open for Fear Factory, yet this went really well as the crowd moshed and thrashed about.
We’re in April now and usually every year I post a 3/6/9 month update on my top albums of 2013. I’ve listened to a ton of great music so far this year but these are the bands that have just put out a solid release and I still can’t get enough of them. Love it, hate it, argue about it. Here are my top 10 albums of the year (so far), in no particular order:
I was literally just thinking to myself this morning, man it’s been awhile since I’ve played through Zelda III: A Link To The Past. I better get on that. Well behold what Nintendo has in store for you all this year! The Legend of Zelda: A Link To the Past II!!!!
I haven’t owned a handheld system since the redesigned GameBoy Advance. However this single game makes me want to save my Rupees for a new Zelda game. Expect it this holiday season, so start writing those Christmas lists kids.
A random message on Ozzy’s Official Facebook page was left 12 hours ago:
For the last year and a half I have been drinking and taking drugs. I was in a very dark place and was an asshole to the people I love most, my family. However, I am happy to say that I am now 44 days sober.
Just to set the record straight, Sharon and I are not divorcing. I’m just trying to be a better person.
I would like to apologize to Sharon, my family, my friends and my band mates for my insane behavior during this period………and my fans.
God Bless,
Ozzy
While it’s a shame the old timer rock n roll dork has hit the drugs and alcohol yet again, does this mean the new Black Sabbath album is going to sound better than I expected? I mean the band was created and driven to hell and back on drugs and booze….so that must mean this new album will be an official journey back to the Golden era. Right?
Ah, well…at least he’s 44 days sober now. Time to tour!!!!!
After a weekend of bad news and the bullshit that happened in Boston yesterday, I’ve been feeling shitty. Ignorance comes out of people in times like this and the faith in humanity dwindles down closer and closer to absolute zero. However, Scale the Summit come in this morning and blast this new song called “Odyssey” and it’s absolute breathtaking, inspiring and uplifting. It’s exactly what my soul needed and might I suggest listening to it several times this morning. Yes, it’s that good.
Pre-order “The Migration”, out June 11th through Prosthetic Records.
NY Times reporting bombs exploding and CNN is live covering the tragedy as well. Fox News reporting multiple deaths and 10 people missing limbs.
CNN seems to have the more accurate reporting going on with this current mess. Tune in to them and keep your thoughts/prayers/wishes for the innocent people hurt in this unfortunate and unnecessary attack.
Tweet from Boston Police: 23 injured. 2 Dead.
Today is the last day to vote for the Golden Gods 2013!!!! I’m not going to tell you who to vote for, you can make your own decisions. I’m just gonna leave some videos here to help calm your nerves while you’re in the voting booth. Just make sure Halestorm doesn’t win shit. Album of the Year nominees are a fucking joke.
BATTLECROSS has completed work on their sophomore album, which will be due out this summer during their tour as part of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival. Recording has been completed and the finishing touches are being applied to the tracks and art. During tracking, one of metal’s most acclaimed drummers, Shannon Lucas, stepped in as the session drummer for the album.
Lucas comments: “Being a fan of Battlecross, it is an honor to be a part of their new record. I can’t wait for the world to hear this album.”
Producer Eyal Levi adds, “I am so beyond excited for the chance to produce Shannon Lucas on the new Battlecross record. He’s one of the true BEASTS of metal drumming. The man’s skills are literally untouchable. Combine that with a badass rising star of a band and I think we’ve got the makings of a crushing record!”
As previously announced, Kevin Talley will be stepping in to play drums for the band on their two upcoming live performances, the New England Metal & Hardcore Fest (4/19) and the Orion Music & More Festival (6/08-6/09). Drummer Mike Kreger has parted ways with the band to focus on some new opportunities and attend to personal business. BATTLECROSS will announce their new permanent member once a final decision has been made.
The album, scheduled to be released in early summer, also features a guest guitar solo by Producer Jason Suecof, and will be mastered by Joey Vera of Armored Saint. Vera also mastered the band’s cover of Pantera’s ‘Hostile’, which was released as a single last summer.
BATTLECROSS
04/19 Worcester, MA Palladium – New England Metal & Hardcore Festival
06/08-09 Detroit, MI Belle Isle Park – Orion Music + More Festival w/ Metallica
06/27 Las Vegas, NV Cheyenne Saloon
w/ Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Fest 2013
06/29 San Bernardino, CA San Manuel Amphitheater
06/30 Mountain View, CA Shoreline Amphitheatre
07/02 Nampa, ID Idaho Center Amphitheatre
07/03 Auburn, WA White River Amphitheatre
07/05 Phoenix, AZ Desert Sky Pavilion
07/06 Albuquerque, NM Isleta Amphitheatre
07/07 Englewood, CO Fiddler’s Green Ampitheatre
07/09 Grand Rapids, MI The Intersection w/ Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, Behemoth, Job for a Cowboy, Huntress
07/10 Toronto, ON Molson Canadian Amphitheatre
07/12 Burgettstown, PA First Niagara Pavilion
07/13 Scranton, PA Toyota Pavilion
07/14 Darien Center, NY Darien Lake Performing Arts Center
07/16 Mansfield, MA Comcast Center
07/17 Bangor, ME Bangor Waterfront
07/19 Camden, NJ Susquehanna Bank Center
07/20 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga Performing Arts Center
07/21 Hartford, CT The Comcast Theatre
07/22 New York, NY Saint Vitus w/ Huntress
07/23 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center
07/24 Bristow, VA Jiffy Lube Live
07/26 Noblesville, IN Klipsch Music Center
07/27 Tinley Park, IL First Midwest Bank Ampitheatre
07/28 Clarkston, MI DTE Energy Music Theatre
07/29 Louisville, KY Expo Five w/ Children of Bodom, Amon Amarth, Emmure, Motionless In White, Born of Osiris, Job for a Cowboy, Huntress
07/30 Atlanta, GA Lakewood Amphitheatre
07/31 Tampa, FL Live Nation Amphitheatre
08/02 Austin, TX TBA
08/03 The Woodlands, TX Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion
08/04 Dallas, TX Gexa Energy Pavilion
End Tour
08/07 Sauget, IL Pop’s w/ Amon Amarth, Children of Bodom, Huntress
08/08 Nashville, TN Marathon Music Works w/ Amon Amarth, Children of Bodom, Huntress
08/09 Cleveland, OH Peabody’s w/ Amon Amarth, Children of Bodom, Huntress
http://battlecrossmetal.com/
https://www.facebook.com/battlecrossmetal
https://twitter.com/battlecross
http://www.metalblade.com/battlecross/
