Saturday, 16 April 2011

UNDERGRIND: CEREBRAL BORE

When you take your own bands affairs into your own hands, then things seem to happen. Leave it to a manager, label, booking agency, sure things will be done but only you will have that drive and passion behind the music you're making. Well this could be easily applied to Cerebral Bore. Just like last weeks UNDERGROUND band (you might have noticed this is called UNDERGRIND, awesome I know but save the laughs for later) The Soulless, they too are on Earache records which is a great position to be in but CB are booking their own tours, making contacts and making their own decisions and they are rapidly building up a fan-base due to pure determination.





The brutal death/grindcore band's popularity has excelled at a ridiculous rate. Countless magazine articles, touring constantly, releasing top quality videos and creating an amazing debut album have only contributed to the recent success of the band and this has been largely due to the hard work of guitarist/manager Paul McGuire. If you haven't heard this band then check out the first video from their new album Maniacal Miscreation.



The Scottish (via Holland) four-piece are a fantastic export of what British metal has to offer. I could be blatant to say the band is fronted by female Som Pluijmers, but with no offence to Som, she doesn't sound like a female when she is singing, for that matter she doesn't even sound like a male, her vocals are seriously incredible and she is only fucking 18. As a 22 year only male, who cannot even come close to her type of vocals, i respect her as a talented vocalist irrespective of her sex, so please leave any of the derogatory fem-vox shit at the door, because she is a better vocalist than you.

The band have tour dates planned right up until June, that will see them play with Putrid Pile in the UK and Ireland, Scotland with Desecration, headline shows in America and Mexico and plans for Eastern Europe and India in Autumn. I will be checking them out with Putrid Pile in May, so expect a live review very soon.

If Cerebral Bore aren't your type of thing, don’t worry, just familiarise yourself with their name, because without doubt, expect to see it a lot more in the future.



Cerebral Bore @ Facebook
Cerebral Bore @ Myspace

JFAC GO GLOOM

It would be fair to say that Job For A Cowboy have gotten progressively poorer. Ruination wasn't bad and Genesis was very promising but they have not released anything that would surpass the quality of the material on Doom.

Well they might just do that on their new EP; Gloom due for release this year. I'm doubting its going to be a Pokemon concept album but early vibes we're getting from it are sounding awesome, the music has got a groove and rhythm to it again and Davy has reintroduced his wretch like vocals. The only thing i have no love for is the solo that comes after the two minute mark because it sounds like something Trivium would write. With that aside, it’s the best thing I’ve heard since Entombment of a Machine.



There's also a video of John Rice performing Signature Of Starving Power, another song i presume bound for the EP, and despite being vocal-less, it is sounding pretty awesome as well. Watch this space for more updates.

Wednesday, 13 April 2011

WHAT BECAME OF: ANIMOSITY?

Animosity was that band back in the day that got signed before they hit puberty. There's always a band every five years or so that get major recognition when half the members haven’t even hit their teens yet. Often it’s due to a fad, a certain look or a member being ridiculously skilled but in Animosity’s case, they were just a good band.

SHUT IT DOWN
Animosity's debut Shut It Down was recorded when the majority of the band was in their early teens, fair enough it wasn't groundbreaking but I think any judgement can be left at the door considering the context. With that said the ten tracks on that album sound a hell of a lot better than the releases of many established bands today.

EMPIRE
On Empire, the band found their distinctive sound. It was a mix of pure speed, aggression and discordance. Bearing in mind this was released in 2005, many bands like Killswitch Engage were still riding around on the metalcore horse, where as Animosity were making music that sounds much more familiar in this day and age and although it may never have been recognised, they were trend setters. The band bumped into Guy Kozowyk of The Red Chord, who signed them to his Metal Blade sub label Black Market Activities. Off the back of Empire, the band was touring America with Malevolent Creation, Origin, All Shall Perish, Psyopus and this was before any of them had hit 20.

ANIMAL
Animosity’s final studio album Animal, seen a band at their peak. The rawness of Shut It Down and the technicality of Empire were toned to perfection and its clear from the opener of Terrorstorm that Animal is an awesome album. Produced by Kurt Ballou, the band now had an added groove to their music which rang reminiscent of more hardcore tendencies. This addition to their sound saw them touring Europe with Converge.



Then suddenly it was all over.
Here’s what Leo Miller had to say:

You have never seen us rest this long. For those of you wondering about Animosity, you are correct to have assumed that we disbanded. It has been nearly a year since all five of us were in a room (or the same state) together. In this time, we have written zero songs and played zero shows. In short, nothing happened which I mean to say plainly and clearly. We are all still alive and friends, but following our last tour we just did nothing band related. Many of us grew up in this band, and for me personally, Animosity was somehow prioritized over everything including my very own life. This band formed our communities, relationships, experiences and the lens through which we view the world. Eight years later, I look back to being 14 years old playing Animosity shows in garages and backyards and I can honestly say that our musical and experiential goals have been exceeded in ways that once seemed impossible to me. If you haven’t gotten enough of Animosity, please rest assured that we have.

So that explains it, at least there was no Animosity between the members though. (you get it?! trolololol) (no? ok then.....)

So what happened next?

LEO MILLER (Vocals)
Leo worked with Aaron Spectre aka Drumcorps, on remixed tracks from Animal, titled Altered Beast. The pair got along so well that Miller also recorded some vocals for upcoming Drumcorps music and did a short European tour with Spectre taking care of vocals and electronics.




CHASE FRASER (Guitar)
Chase currently plays guitar in The Taste of Blood and the better known Son of Aurelius. Son of Aurelius play modern Tech-Death very similar to a lot of other bands in that genre at the minute, notably Wretched, who the band are currently on tour with along side Last Chance to Reason. SOA have also embarked on tours with Cattle Decapitation, Knights of the Abyss and Whitechapel. Chase also plays guitar for Decrepit Birth but purely in a live capacity.




EVAN BREWER (Bass)
Brewer spent his time after Animosity as a touring bassist for A Life Once Lost and Terror. He also became involved in a project called Climaxes who are a big departure from the scene you would expect him to be in. Evan was recently named the new bassist of The Faceless, and was announced to have a solo album in the works as well which is due for release on Sumerian.




NAVENE KOPERWEIS (Drummer)
Does this man need an introduction?! After a short stint in Sleep Terror, Navene lifted the sticks for instrumental act Animals As Leaders. He also formed his own project titled Fleshwrought with Jonny Davy from Job For A Cowboy. The drummer preformed all music on the album, as well as taking care of the tracking, mixing and editing.

Tuesday, 12 April 2011

BTBAM/ANIMALS AS LEADERS - UK TOUR

Due to unprecedented nationwide demand BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME have added six UK dates to their full-scale European headlining tour. Support comes from ANIMALS AS LEADERS.

September 2011

20th    LONDON - Underworld
21st    LONDON – Underworld
22nd   MANCHESTER – Moho Live
23rd    GLASGOW – King Tuts
24th    LEEDS – Cockpit
25th    BIRMINGHAM – Academy 3
26th    BRISTOL – Academy 2
27th    CARDIFF – Clwb Ifor Bach
I must admit, I’m not a BTBAM fan; I really don’t get the hype. Yes, I have listened to Colours, yes, I have listened to Alaska but they really bore the tits off me. Usually i can appreciate a band for their musical talent or vocal diversity but I really have no liking for the American quintet.
However when the London dates got announced with Animals as Leaders as support, I was there. Now, you will probably see a lot of AAL ass kissing on here, but that band is epic beyond belief, and regardless who they are playing with, I will see them live.

So imagine how delighted I was to see a Glasgow date added to the tour, and especially in the very intimate King Tuts Wah Wah Hut. Tickets are only £12, and for that giveaway price, I will happily enjoy 30 minutes of Animals as Leaders and walk right out of there. Yeah, seriously. I have left mid-set of Between the Buried and Me before but this time I won’t even stick around to hear the first song.

Sorry if you don’t like what you are hearing but, you enjoy BTBAM, while I walk out the door, with my newly bought Animals As Leaders tee in hand, rambling on to my girlfriend about just how awesome Navene, Tosin and Javier are in the flesh. If you are a fan of either band, I urge you to get to a date; it will be an experience to say the least.


Sunday, 10 April 2011

BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE VIDEO

I know very little about this band apart from the fact that they are Christian.

Regardless though, this is a pretty good song and the video concept is excellent.

Saturday, 9 April 2011

UNDERGROUND: THE SOULLESS

What was wrong with Ignominious Incarceration? I had only learned how to spell the Bath bands name and then they changed it to The Soulless last October. Well regardless what they are called now, the Earache five piece are ready to unveil their new name, new line up and new album to the world this May.



The name alone, Ignominious Incarceration suggests technical, brutal and relentless, and to be honest that would sum them up pretty well. II were not afraid to be heavy, their debut Of Winter Born was pummelling from start to finish. Typical death vocals layered with intricate guitars and complexed drumming made them popular among the UK underground scene but the band largely went unnoticed. Now, whether the band/label felt their name had something to do with that or not, is another issue but still signed to Earache, the band have reinvented themselves as The Soulless, the big question is, what else has changed?

Musically, they sound like a different band. Now very influenced by the likes of Bleed From Within and While She Sleeps, there is a clear melodic edge to the bands music, thankfully however, Andy Wardle has not decided to include any clean singing and actually sounds much much better vocally. The band has also included two new members to the fold, guitarist Kristen Dawson and Dan Wilding (Trigger The Bloodshed, Aborted).

Listen to a demo of new track EARTHBOUND here.

Their new album titled Isolated is due for release on May 16th and be rest assured there will be a review.

The Soulless @ Facebook
The Soulless @ Myspace

GHOSTFEST FINALISED

Not sure what UK festival to hit this summer? Well if you can’t afford to spend hundreds for the luxury of a few days in a field, you really should consider Ghostfest.

Dating since 2005, the two day fest has always demonstrated the best in British metal and hardcore along side huge international acts. Such bands to grace the Ghostfest stage have been Johnny Truant, Sikth, Bring Me the Horizon, Devil Sold His Soul, Eternal Lord, Trigger the Bloodshed, Job for a Cowboy and countless others. The festivals 2009 line up seen the headline combo of Despised Icon and Whitechapel which gathered huge interest upon metal fans beyond the British mainland.

This year’s line up was finalised and confirmed today with the Saturday headliner finally being announced. Check out the line up below.

There are 32 bands over the whole weekend; here are 6 of the best from each day.
SATURDAY - Viatrophy, Ingested, Martyr Defiled, Bleed From Within, Annotations of an Autopsy, Heart of a Coward.
SUNDAY - Suicide Silence, After the Burial, Heights, All Shall Perish, Silent Screams, Against the Flood.

Who would I have liked to have seen?
The Soulless, While She Sleeps, Ted Maul, The Eyes Of A Traitor, Dyscarnate and Monuments.


Ghostfest is held in Leeds University on the 25th/26th June.
Weekend tickets are £30. Day tickets are £20. 
Its probably going to sell out soon, so if you want to go, buy now.

Friday, 8 April 2011

FINAL BOSS MUSIC

There's always a problem when a band change their vocalist. When you find out that a band has a new singer, you will go and listen to one of the earlier tracks and then listen to a new track and judge immediately.

Sadly Arsonists Get All The Girls are one of these bands. For me their best release was The Game of Life, that was a noisy, frantic and at times a schizophrenic album but it was original. Even Hits from the Bow was an unreal debut. However in the two years it took the band to release Portals, four members had been replaced including the main vocalist. For me, this means the band may as well rename themselves. The vocal combination of Cameron Reed and Remi Rodberg is not easy to mimic, the music that band made was similar to Sikth, Protest The Hero in the sense that, basically there’s no point trying to cover it.

Enter 'Portals', not literally, rather the album. So there’s still a heavy influence in the keyboard department, the vocalist is very similar to that on The Game of Life, the music is a little bit more contained and less sporadic. Does it still sound good? Yes it fucking does, listen to this...



Regardless though there is still the overwhelming feeling that this isn't the band you got into and to be honest they aren't but they are as close to AGATG as any band are going to get. So a further two years after Portals we have Motherland due for release on May 17th.


What should we expect? Something very similar to Portals. Two new tracks are up on their facebook page titled Dr Teeth and Avdotya.

It was clear on the last album that AGATG had matured, a lot, it was more epic futuristic score and less cartoons, ice cream and Nintendo but on Motherland, maybe we are getting more of a balance. In any case this is Arsonists Get All The Girls, we are not going to get another Game of Life but does it matter when they are writing stuff as good as this?!

Thursday, 7 April 2011

THE FACELESS ANNOUNCE NEW BASSIST

The Faceless announced via their Facebook page that:
The sickest bass player in the game, Evan Brewer (Animosity/Reflux) has officially joined The Faceless. See his videos on YouTube if you havent already.
Rumor has it his solo album will be coming out on Sumerian Records too.
They also posted this song titled 'Alone' that will be released on the bassist's solo album.



It looks like he is gonna be right at home with The Faceless then!

UK and European fans will get the chance to see him in action when The Faceless tour with Born of Osiris and Veil Of Maya next month. Hopefully I will have a live review from that tour as well.

SOCIALPSYCHO

It’s been the third time in as many months that I’ve seen Slipknot being destroyed through the mediums of covers and mash ups.

Psychosocial seemed to be the song of choice as we were subjected to a truly grim cover of the song by a victim of the Chernobyl disaster and then the single got mashed up with the Justin Bieber song; Baby.

Now we see Wait and Bleed getting completely fucked over by Hanson.



I question if Hanson are still actually writing music or even more, still getting royalties for that song they released about 15 years ago but rather where on earth they see the potential in covering Slipknot is beyond me.

What next? A rendition of People = Shit by Michael Buble?
Actually yeah, that would be pretty sweet.

Wednesday, 6 April 2011

THE END OF CHIMAIRA?

Let’s put this into perspective.

Chimaira cancelled a lengthy UK tour they were due to play last October.
Jim LaMarca left Chimaira last Novemeber.
Rob Arnold joined Six Feet Under in February.
Matt DeVries joined Six Feet Under for touring duties earlier this month.
Today, Chris Spicuzza announced his departure from Chimaira.



Regardless how Mark Hunter and Co intends to dress this up, this looks like a band in ruins.

Spicuzza's explanation went like this:

As of early January I decided to leave Chimaira. The choice was extremely tough and stewed around in my mind for quite awhile. Many things led to this decision. The situation in Chimaira had ultimately become a negative environment that I had to get out of. Secondly, the music industry is completely fucked and honestly, I became concerned for my future. The amount of work and stress I took on got the best of me. I guess if you’re not happy or having fun, what’s the point?

 As far as the new Chimaira album, I have not contributed to it. There is no doubt in my mind that Chimaira’s sound will not suffer minus my presence. The demos I heard showed great potential and I’m sure the album will melt faces. I’m proud to say I was on five Chimaira albums and wish those guys the best.

I’ve decided to shift gears from music to gaming. A group of friends and I started up a mobile gaming company. We’re about to launch our first iPhone game. It’s a location based RPG. Think of it as foursquare meets Mafia Wars but full of zombies. If you’re interested you can follow us on twitter, @irlgaming, or visit www.irlgaming.com.

I will always cherish the amazing worldwide journey Chimaira gave me. I took many things for granted that I now regret. Watching our last DVD helped me realize how fucking amazing our fans are. Thank you for being so passionate. I have a lifetime of memories thanks to you.

The dude who made noise and headbanged, Spicuzza.”

Although he didn’t see himself as an integral part of the Chimaira process, his electronics and samples added another dimension to the Chimaira sound and lets not forget those backing screams.

So lets be honest here, I’m a massive Chimaira fan, even when Andols left the band and they brought Kevin Talley in, I had an irrational dislike for the band, it was as if the family had split up. When Andols came back things looked rosy again and although many will say Resurrection and The Infection were merely shadows of their past successes, as long as this band was making music, they were still together and they were still playing live.



This sudden departure only seems to weaken the foundations of the Ohio band even more, which can only lead me to think that there will be nothing for Arnold and DeVries to come back to but if Mark Hunter wants this band to survive, there is no doubt that he WILL persuade the SFU recruits back to the Chimaira camp.

Here's what the vocalist had to say:
“all hail spicuzza good to see the love you guys express for him.
the feelings are mutual. as we know this news sucks… hopefully this cheers you up a little

there are definitely samples, keys, electronics, and all sorts of other wizardry on this record. we’ve spent the past 12 years creating the atmospheric side of chimaira, and we can’t imagine listening to us without those cool bits either. each album brought new noises and a vibe to accompany that particular record. nothing has changed in that regard. this has always been an evolution. while it may seem like the end of days, we see this as another chapter. chimairachris, and although he is gone, his spirit, class, and the foundation he helped lay, will always remain. developed our sound together with you know us. we don’t drive our cars looking through the rearview mirror. never have, never will. keep the glasses half full, amigos. it makes for a much more interesting ride….and we’re just getting started.

btw…yes, rob is still in chimaira.
six feet under
is a side project. maynard james keenan sings for 3 bands. rob plays guitar for 3.
it’s all gravy.


thanks for your continuous support”

What lies in store for the band? Well i do believe things will pick up again, after all four of the core members are still writing and making music together.

Sure, we'll miss Chris but I don’t think the band is going to breakdown without him. There is the question of a new bassist coming to the fold, but right now, i dont care who is taken on board, I just want to see this band active again. Rob Arnold has a serious amount of passion for Chimaira, you only have to watch The Dehumanizing Process or Coming Alive for an example of this. Matt DeVries is only playing with SFU for touring purposes, he will not be fit to extend his creative edge to the band, so Chimaira is still his own personal musical output and of course you have Hunter and Herrick as Chimaira devotees, with the band being their main form of expression on the music world.

Chimaira recently signed a new distribution deal through eOne music; the new album has been recorded and will be released in August this year. So fear not, Chimaira will be back, it might take a while but this is merely another bump on the poorly tarmaced road that is Chimaira's existence.

Check out some new music from the band below.

INTERVIEW - CRAIG REYNOLDS (VIATROPHY/HAARP/DEAD SWANS)

Craig Reynolds is the current drummer of British hardcore band Dead Swans and experimental/progressive metal band HAARP. His former band Viatrophy have announced an exclusive appearance at Ghostfest in June and I decided to drop in with him to hear the full story as well as to find out how music, drumming and touring has shaped his life.


So what does your general day consist of at the moment?
I get up around 10am, eat some breakfast, lately I'm into porridge with loads of different stuff in it... I like to surprise myself. Then I'll do some 'work' work, usually planning lessons, editing some drums, mixing, or learning some session stuff. Then I'll either practice or go to the gym, have lunch and finish off that work before teaching from the afternoon into the evening. Then I'll carry on the work if I didn’t finish it, and if I did I'll just play more drums. I like to keep busy. That sounds super boring... I like to party too.

So basically at the minute your life is pretty much drums and producing/mixing etc?
Pretty much. I'd say teaching more than producing- as the studios just started up, but I'm working on it.

So let’s start from the start. How did you first get into music?
I got into punk music when I was in year 8 so like 12 or 13, Dead Kennedys and NOFX and stuff like that. Then me and some mates started a band called The Suck Ups and sort of started gigging straight away. Then I got into thrash bands like Metallica and Sepultura and that's when I started to really fall in love with metal, although it wasn't until I got 'Lateralus' by Tool that I noticed how complex drumming could actually be. Before that I thought it was always just 'be the fastest'. Which most people still think…

When did you first feel that being a drummer was your calling?
In primary school we had an option to go over once a week to the high school and learn drums or guitar and I picked drums. No idea why really. I think I knew it was cooler even back then. Then it got to the time to pick a college time and I didn’t really like anything else so I went and properly 'studied' it.

So who would you say were your biggest influences growing up and who do you think are great modern day drummers?
Growing up there was definitely Lars Ulrich obviously from Metallica, Dave Grohl (particularly on Songs for the Deaf by Queens of the Stone Age), Danny Carey (Tool) and Tomas Haake (Meshuggah).
Nowadays my tastes have broadened; I'm a firm believer that Benny Greb is the best drummer in the world. As for metal guys, Derek Roddy sets the bar above everyone else, George Kollias (Nile), and slightly less metal but still in the realm, Steve Judd (Karnivool). That guy has INSANE groove.

Why do you think Viatrophy made such an impression on the UK metal scene?
Without sounding cliché, it was really down to hard work. When Chronicles was released we were a party band, we didn't really care how we sounded live and the emphasis was on having fun. It was great for a while but we writing anything new or really getting anywhere, so we stepped our game up and put our heads down. Once we'd written the album we all quit our jobs and said yes to every gig we got offered.

The band split up quite abruptly, why was the reason for this?
Gurneet wanted to pursue a different path at that moment in time, and as he and I did the bulk of the writing we saw it unfit to carry on.

So how are things with Viatrophy at the minute and is Ghostfest your only plans for the future?
We just played in India and it was the first time we'd all been in the same place for a year or so, so that was cool. It was my birthday and we partied. Ghostfest is the only thing we have booked at the moment.

Would you like things to pick up again or are you happy just to make this a one off?
I'm so busy with other stuff that sadly convenience means I can take it or leave it. I miss the music and I miss the shows, but I'm not gonna play the pub down the road for a tenner. If we had the support a band needs these days to succeed then I guess we'd do it again, but it's kind of hard to get that without being a fad band. People are very quick to slate you if you don't fit in. The internet is now full of people who hate more bands than they like, and it pisses me off. They actively talk about it with a passion. If you don't like a band, don't listen to it...its music, not fashion.

If I genuinely believed that if we came back all the kids that 'like' us on facebook would come to the shows, then I'd do it in a heartbeat. But from what I see these days about a quarter of them would come, a quarter of them would 'attend' on the internet and then not come, and half of them would slate us on the internet, saying we aren't as good as we used to be.

And this is in no way a dig at our fans, our real fans are the best and I fully believe they'd come, show their support, and party with us...it's just a dig at what the internet has done to music. Not even in a downloading sense, in fact it’s what the internet has done to people these days. Everyone now has a platform to say what they really think, and all they can use it for is slating bands or talking about the latest cool thing. I fucking hate it. In 2050 we're all just gonna be born, plugged into the internet, moan for 200 years, then die.

You also drum for Dead Swans and HAARP, what’s going on with those bands right now?
Dead Swans is writing so that's pretty quiet gig wise but HAARP is taking up a great deal of my time, we've finished preliminary writing for the album, have a deal and management ready, and we're just finalizing members. It's been so hard to find the right people for such a progressive project. We needed to find great players of course, but also people with the same vision who are easy to get along with and most of those people are already in bands!

Are HAARP’s intentions to become a gigging outfit or a purely musical output?
Oh definitely gigging. My number one passion is touring. It's literally the most fun a human being can possibly have. It's different from Viatrophy though, I'm sure the other guys in the band won't mind me saying but they're kinda naive to all this, which is refreshing. They haven't met the rubbish promoters, rubbish clothing labels, rubbish other bands doing better because they have 'the x factor', rubbish scene girls etc. In fact I'm pretty sure we've all seen the rubbish scene girls, Front magazine's got that one covered.

Every time I do an interview I end up sounding super cynical. I don't mean to be. I'm actually a very happy person and I do very much enjoy music, just not the completely irrelevant rubbish that goes with it.


Do you feel that music has been far too diluted with things such as clothing lines and tours sponsored by energy drinks?
No no no! Although I can see how that looks, it's not at all a reference to Drop Dead clothing or energy drink tours. They are at the top of the line in terms of music sponsorship really. Real companies like that actually support bands. Sponsors of tours will often supply backline, merch or even transport in return for some advertising. All of these things are the biggest holes in a bands pocket, and to have some of that taken care of really helps the band stay on the road. Drop Dead has done incredibly well, and fair play. They are also at a level where they can actually support bands.

My gripe is that now everyone thinks they can do it, and THAT'S the problem. 50 billion clothing labels with one shitty design on fruit of the loom shirts that look like they're drawn on in pen, followed by thousands of facebook updates 'like this a million times and you might win our one shitty design on fruit of the loom shirts that look like they're drawn on in pen'. Everyone's just trying to make a quick buck. It's not cool enough to wear the clothes anymore, it's only cool if you own the clothing line.
AND they have it as their 'employer' on facebook oh just fuck off and get a real job.

In fact while we're on the subject of Drop Dead, Olly and Bring Me The Horizon worked their arse off and in my opinion deserves everything they get. I don't particularly dig the music, but you can't deny they've made it and are riding it so fair play.

So, as you have said, one of your main passions is touring, what has been the best tour that you’ve been on?
Best tour was definitely the Dominatour we did with Annotations of an Autopsy and Trigger the Bloodshed. It was thirty days on a bus. Just full on partying. Because the bus had beds we could play the show, party til around 7am then sleep til load in at 5pm the next day. The downfall of that was when the last date was Ieperfest and we were on at 7am and my body clock was destroyed, so I tried to stay up all night to reverse it. It didn’t work.

As for worst experience, the 'final' Viatrophy tour we did we all got some insane resident evil style virus. Somebody started puking and then within an hour all 11 of the touring party were puking and the-opposite-of-puking simultaneously. It was so bad 2 of us had to go to hospital and we had to pull the tour!

Top 3 bands right now, best 3 films you’ve seen in the past few years and 3 things you are looking forward to?

Bands
1) Xerath - amazing progressive/symphonic metal band from the UK. Awesome guys, don't take themselves seriously but their music is stunning. Their new album is out pretty soon too.

2) Decapitated - Always a massive fan and recently getting excited about their new album, it was a tragedy that Vitek died, and no one could take his place but the new guy they have is incredible in his own way.

3) Radiohead - Been spinning the new album and pretty much their entire back catalogue gets a spin weekly.

Films
1) Inception - it's a masterpiece and I think the soundtrack and its relation to the film is truly a piece of art.

2) Inglourious Basterds  - Tarantino at his finest. It's funny, it's violent, it's completely mental AND it has quite possibly the tensest opening scene of any film, ever.

3) Drag Me To Hell - I loved this movie. I think loads of people didn't get it. It's not supposed to be believable or creepy. It's Sam Raimi, it's supposed to be over the top, jumpy and ridiculous. I love it, or just anything with over the top occult references and comedy gross-outs 80s style.

Events
1) Ghostfest 2011
2) The HAARP album's release
3) December 21st 2012


Many thanks to Craig for the interview.

You can check out his bands at the links below.
Viatrophy 
Dead Swans 
HAARP

SUFFER WELL

Suffer Well, formally Sorrows, is a metal supergroup featuring members of Anaal Nathrakh, Bleeding Through and Combichrist.


To be honest I don't know how Mick Kennedy and Brandan Schieppati got talking but this is looking like a pretty decent project.

The current line up is :

Brandan Schieppati (Bleeding Through) 
Mick Kenney (Anaal Nathrakh) 
Trevor Friedrich (18Visions, Combichrist)
Bobby Schubenski
Adam Vex (Imperative Reaction)

Check out a video from their youtube channel below.



A full track is available here.

Tuesday, 5 April 2011

NEW PARKWAY DRIVE VIDEO - KARMA

Playing on the beach, nothings plugged in, even the microphone has a lead, makes sense doesn't it!
Its been done before and i'm sure it will be a concept for many other bands but at least this time round Parkway Drive aren't taking it (too) seriously.

Shame there was no kangaroos/koalas/boomerangs though...

Bodacious.

Monday, 4 April 2011

VIATROPHY REUNITE

British technical metal band, Viatrophy have reunited to play Ghostfest 2011.

They released an EP, Chronicles and a self titled album over their five year existance.

They are excellent, listen to them.


HEIGHTS MERCH SALE

Heights are an awesome British band who recently signed to Mediaskare records.

They are having a merch sale at the minute with 3 of their designs being sold for £5 each.


Buy a tee here.
Listen to them here.

PROTEST THE HERO VIDEO - C'EST LA VIE

So, Protest The Hero. Great band, groundbreaking at one stage but now things are sounding a little bit similar. Their latest release Scurrilous is good, but it certainly doesnt have the technical genius of Kezia or Fortress. With that said, its still very enjoyable music from an excellent band, i just think we were spoiled with their earlier releases.

Anyway here's the first video from their new album Scurrilious on Vagrant Records.

SUMMER SLAUGHTER 2011 LINEUP + CHOOSE WHO OPENS


Summer Slaughter have finally announced the 2011 line up with an incentive for the gig goers and metal fans alike to get involved.

The line-up is pretty amazing to be perfectly honest however i can see the die hard death metallers, rubbing their heads in question to some of the names on there. On previous tours, bands like Necrophagist, Decapitated, Vader, Cryptopsy and Suffocation have all featured highly on the bill, but of late the fest seems to be taking a much more modern deathcore direction.

Co-headlining are Whitechapel and The Black Dahlia Murder with the support of Darkest Hour, Six Feet Under, Dying Fetus, As Blood Runs Black, Oceano and Fleshgod Apocalypse.
Playing a half time show are Powerglove, who play classic kids theme tunes in a classic metal fashion. Classic.

However this year, the fans choose who opens the bill.


You can see the names above but for me theres only 3 bands that you should consider voting for and my vote went like this:

1) The Contorionist
2) Within The Ruins
3) Volumes

I have to acknowledge Structures as well but regarding suitability for this tour the 3 above are the ideal candidates. Cast your vote here.

INTRO-DUCTION

This is a new music blog which will comment on the heavier side of music.
There will be reviews, interviews, rumours and editorials on the goings on in the world of metal.
The next few weeks should see the site begin to take shape and depending on popularity we may take this to a more developed level.
This site will be cutting, brutally honest and very sarcastic, so if you want more than just a metal website, you should be right at home.