…ot released until December 15th, 2013. It was a long process of negotiating, writing, recording, and releasing, and it was a huge learning experience for me which kicked off a serious interest in developing more bands. Dead Rhetoric: What type of criteria do you have when signing a new band? Obviously, your roster is rather varied… J: This gets asked a lot, and it’s more basic than you think. The size of the fanbase is not the first criteria I loo…
…e with Metallica meets Pantera. The closing “Killing Machine” has a vicious, venomous attack, a charging guitar line with the vocals snarling against the arrangement in a classic back and forth groove/thrash arrangement that again harkens back to the 1980’s with a lot of Anvil/ Exciter textures. Admittedly the appeal to most may rest on the voice of Tyler Knapp. He has one of those barking deliveries that can be a little throaty at times or monoto…
…can name our own price for albums. We try to give a lot of music away for free, and price digital albums at half of what a physical album costs (which to us, only makes sense, you don’t get all the artwork and lyrics and more!). Dead Rhetoric: Were you ever surprised by how far you were able to come, just on your own merits and word of mouth? Benson: We were extremely surprised that within the first few months after our release of Restoration tha…
…ving in a constant instant communication world between cell phones, tablets, computers, and the internet with social media, how important is the balance between building Graviton through these mediums while also maintaining a personal touch with in person, face to face interaction? Medaglia: Maintaining that balance is extremely important at our level. You can have the most professional looking Facebook and Instagram with a million followers but i…
…things up in terms of studios, producer, and tones while not sounding so ‘sample/ computer’ driven gives us more of a launching post when taking in Destruction live. Four years between studio albums allows Destruction to come creatively firing on all cylinders – Under Attack unleashes another addictive album that should have legs for long-term sustainability. A great follow up to Spiritual Genocide – the butcher strikes again. http://www.youtube….
…in an audience and watching a band and you can tell they are having a blast, communicating with each other and the audience- that’s where the magic happens. Social media is really cool- I actually run the social media for the band. I didn’t have as much experience doing it before I started doing it for the band, I had Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram accounts, but it’s really cool. We have gained a fair amount of followers, people have found us wh…
…roverbial mixed bag, thus insinuating the style is in need of a new up-and-comer, like Sweden’s The Moth Gatherer. The band’s 2013 album A Brief Celestial Light had its moments, but felt more a tad more derivative than it should have been. Reversing the course, The Moth Gatherer’s sophomore The Earth is the Sky is explosive, riddled with dynamics, and fits the bill for post-metal going forward. Compositionally, the Swedes clearly are at ease with…
…nt when feel the tracks overstay their welcome – a testament to some solid writing chops, particularly in the very traveled waters that the band is catering to. Those looking to sample a few tracks should check out the melodic leanings of “Lethal District” or ominous riffs of “Reaper.” Some people may have had their fill of melodic death metal, but understandably a band like [Evertrapped] is not for them. For the rest of us, be ready to pump some…
…Grief beyond the Warhorse connections. Three tracks may seem like a small sample size, but at 21:36 this is a thorough look into their heavy, take no prisoners bludgeoning the band unfurl on record. Elements of Black Sabbath, The Obsessed, and even 90’s era Corrosion of Conformity seep into “Lifetime”, while “Footprints in Blood” levels you through the Kibort riff choices and the equally swinging rhythm section jam aspects from Orne and drummer D…
…y 1: Aether Realm/Wilderun/Under a Serpent Sun/The Green Invaders – June 30, 2015, Cherry Street Station, Wallingford, CT The first time I’ve checked out a tour in the state of Connecticut, the small but intimate venue of Cherry Street Station was certainly an enjoyable one. An interesting set-up inside the place, a former train depot, the stage is built in below the bar. For the size of the place, the sound was fantastic and will definitely be a…
…inside the of the lid, a custom shredder card, a custom packet of rolling papers, and a custom engraved dugout. High Country track listing: 1. Unicorn Farm 2. Empty Temples 3. High Country 4. Tears Like Diamonds 5. Mist And Shadow 6. Agartha 7. Seriously Mysterious 8. Suffer No Fools 9. Early Snow 10. The Dreamthieves 11. Buzzards 12. Silver Petals 13. Ghost Eye 14. Turned To Dust 15. The Bees Of Spring The “High Country” title track can be strea…
…m on New Year’s Eve. We were invited there by one restaurant, and they said, “Come by New Year’s Eve. Try our food and have a great time!” And I did. There was a jazz rock band playing there with Hammond organs. They were jazz! There was that guy who wanted to sell some stuff who got thrown out by another guy and there was this discussion, “Brother, how can you do this to me? I’m just trying to sell some stuff. I’m going to see my buddies and tell…
…t to merely re-purpose classic licks and grooves from the goblet of Sabbath, Purple, or Zeppelin, songs such as “Monolith” and “Crazy Horses” pulsate because of this thick, bass-oriented riff drive that Alexander Örn Númason lays down as the foundation for guitarist Óskar Logi Ágústsson to build and layer together. His soloing instincts hammer home a blues meets southern soul impetus pouring through pure power amplification, leaving your ears abuz…
…breaks where the band decides to go on a groovy bender. The breaks are welcome, with sections like those in “Immortal Mutilation” really going the extra mile to reinforce some heaviness by slowing things down before taking off with a burst of speed and frantic riffing. The album does avoid one pitfall of the genre by really keeping things heavy. The production doesn’t come off as sterile (as these things tend to sometimes do), and helps give thin…
…n Autumn for Crippled Children (the unquestioned best band of this variety), Germ, and TotalSelfHatred well. Dynfari’s guitar melodies are simply magnetic, as found on opener “Ljósi╨,” and album standout “Hafsjór,” which bobs and weaves with sinewy precision, if you will. There’s a surplus of calm restrained moments that cut away from the hearty riffing, though, and they’re the high points of the three-part “Vegfer,” which close the album in – as…
…lace in tandem with SKAP’s annual spring party which is organized with the composers in mind and creativity as the main focus. In 2014, Swedish progressive metallers MESHUGGAH were awarded an exclusive scholarship for their services to the Swedish and international music scene. The musicians were presented with the scholarship and diploma by SKAP president Alfons Karabuda at an intimate event in the south side of Stockholm in December. Said MESHUG…
…boat”. The quartet are progressive in the sense of thinking outside the box, combining sub-genres and time changes when you least expect it – but never going overboard as to lose listeners in a technical frantic free for all. Dealing with all four seasons and being in the woods naturally influences their multi-pronged outlook on music. Drummer Dylan Blake tackles simpler, repetitive passages like the opening of “Snakeboat” with as much passion as…
…feel right at home. I am very connected to the melodic side of the project, writing the melodies are as personal and meaningful to me as writing words. I am very country in my writing and this is my favorite style, country melodies with the fierceness of metal.” Come first quarter of 2015, Shiran plans on shopping Warm Winter Day to prospective labels, and, arranging live shows. Avayou is joined on the live front by fellow Israeli metallers Feriu…
…h of recording, mixing and mastering, Dutch pagan/folk metallers, HEIDEVOLK, has completed their fifth full-length album. The band describes their experiences in the following statement: “This week we have finished the production of our fifth full length album. We look back at an intense yet satisfying studio session with a killer product as a result. Although we booked the studio for plenty of days it proved to be a tight schedule to record, mix…
…n the street, watching TV, reading a book, or seeing a painting. In general, it’s commenting or reacting to the human condition in general and the way societies work and that can come at you in a million different ways. Dead Rhetoric: I read in an interview that you had done that you get “visual images” in your head, not like visions or hallucinations, but just a visual image. Does that happen spontaneously? Hunt: Yes, usually. I suppose a psychol…
…make their mark not only on the New England scene, but beyond. Dynamic songwriting, attention to detail, and the professional, versatile voice of Adrienne Cowan will turn many heads based on their debut EP as well as their impressive live performances. Firing off these questions to Adrienne, you will sense that the buzz about the quartet is brewing – much like their penchant for coffee (view some of her video blogs for more insights on You Tube. T…
…it, all the songs, it’s all kind of the same stuff. Whether it’s pop, metal, rock, blues; it’s just one big giant thing and everyone is getting their little piece of it out there. We have our own sound and no one does it really. We can come up with some good songs, and that’s part of the reason we haven’t tried to put out an album every year. We did put out three in a six-year period when we came back, which is still longer than most bands. Most b…
…The band’s sound – a hitched version of As I Lay Dying, Underoath, Unearth, combined with every staccato breakdown, and combined with whiney clean vocals and tough-dude vocals essentially vault Written in Blood all the way back to 2004, where it belongs. However, being a Christian metalcore band has a funny way of expanding one’s audience exponentially, so these guys will be huge in five years. – David E. Gehlke (Darkness Divided on Facebook) Die…
…ese guys are trying to out-brutal one another.) Working around the animated, sometimes comedic vocals of Bruce Corbitt isn’t too much of an issue, although one could certainly balk at the shallow, cliché subject matter found within. But, small gripes these are. Rigor Mortis, as the story goes, never got their just due, and couldn’t even get a label to bite on the release of Slaves to the Grave (the album was crowd-funded), so consider these guys o…
…f pure evil. Today, the band has released the first sample of the new album, “Idol,” which can be streamed below. ANAAL NATHRAKH — Kenney alongside vocalist David Hunt AKA V.I.T.R.I.O.L. — exists for one purpose: to be the soundtrack to the apocalypse; the audial essence of evil, hatred and violence, the true spirit of necro taken to its musical extremes. Since forming in 1999, the devious duo has gained a reputation for expressing precisely these…
…held together better than most. They’ve quickly come up with a follow-up EP, entitled Ravenous, which attempts to further their stake in the crowded old school death metal crowd. Comprised of only 4 songs, Ravenous is quite a tease. Sonically, the three original tracks (the fourth is a cover of Acheron’s “Ave Satanas”) have done what many bands in this genre decide not to do: start formulating their own sound. Granted, this is firmly in the middle…
…most part implies the rest of what’s to come. Pissed off and frantic as it comes, Rage Nucleaire’s sophomore effort is certainly full of the rage namesake. Notably featuring the infamous vocalist Lord Worm (ex-Cryptopsy) and Fred Widigs (Marduk), this is a band that knows all about fury. The best way to describe Black Storm of Violence is unrelenting. This is black metal with a grind mentality, in the sense that it is a beginning to end all-out as…
…in and out of the ring. Pissed Jeans, a Sub Pop signed band from Allentown, PA, are the real muscle behind this release, unleashing brief and explosive tracks of jagged, heavy, urgent and riffing hardcore. Tinged with an anti-corporate message, as with the sample used during the intro of “Earth War”, a message to hold the CEOs accountable for the ills they’ve perceivably caused in society, ULTRAMANTIS BLACK is very much in line with the Leftist e…
…ed with conviction. You only need to see live footage to know this band are, well, awesome. 2. Noctum, a band I plain out avoided, because they were Swedish. Not that I despise, or are allergic to Swedes, it’s just the total overload of bands sweating out of that country, with marketing in full force, I don’t even bother Fortunately I did bother after some film clips I saw of these chaps tantalizing me with feelings of “I have heard something like…
