It's happening! Praise the lord! These two amazing artists have been working for awhile but now their collaboration has become a solid reality. Plini and Sythu Aye will release their first split EP “I” very soon, on November 28th precisely. They also revealed the artwork and a beautiful teaser to announce their plan.
The tracklist is composed of 4 tracks: “Orm”, “Rupture”, “Solstice” and “Moonrise” and will feature guest appearances from David Maxim Micic (Destiny Potato) and Jakub Zytecki (Disperse).
The cherry on top? This EP will be available for a "name your price" download! It looks like this EP already wins...
Ghost Atlas is the name of the side project of Erra's guitarist and vocalist Jesse Cash. And if you watch the music video below, you might just see a few more members.
This project brings a catchy alternative hard rock sound with stunning clean vocals revealed with the release of their first music video "Elixir Of Life". This is the first single to be taken from a double EPentitled “Gold Soul Coma”, the first volume of which was just released today! Go take a look at the video because it's something you might reeeeeally enjoy!
In preparation for the release of Fit For A King’s revisited version of their 2011 album “Decendants”, the band released a sneak-peak into the recreation by premiering a music video for the track “Keep Me Alive” via Alternative Press. Working in collaboration with the production talent of Andreas Magnusson (OH, SLEEPER, HASTE THE DAY, BLACK DAHLIA MURDER) and Solid State Records, Fit For A King’s remastered album will be available on November 25th.
Vist here to pick up your copy of the recreation of “Decendants” today \m/
“Are You Kidding Me?” is the proper reaction you should have after you hear this trailer. “NO” is the proper reply Destrage will give you. This is all real. Destrage will release their sophomore album “Are You Kidding Me? No.” in March 2014 through Metal Blade records and it already sounds like one of the freakiest albums to come out next year. The full-length will feature 10 absurd, new tracks and a guest solo appearence by no less than Ron “Bublefoot” Thal from Guns n' fucking Roses! There's not much more I should say about this, just...listen to that trailer, dammit! It's insane!
An Autumn For Crippled Children is a devastating Dutch band. They deliver some intense atmospheric black metal, melted with heavy post-metal and doom influences, putting itself in the wake of the depressive wave of black metal. But they also deliver an incredibly touching melodic effort, pushed beyond by classical violin, piano hints, and splendid guitar passages.
“Try Not To Destroy Everything You Love” is their forth album in four years, following their debut “Lost” (2010), “Everything” (2011) and “Only The Ocean Knows” (2012). The album is an intense and devastating musical experience, filled with strong emotion and despair. It can entirely be streamed on the group's bandcamp for free, where you can also purchase it for just 5 euros.
Beaten To Death is a curious extreme metal act coming out of Norway, one of the cradles for the genre. In October this band released their second album "Dødsfest!" following up their debut "Xes And Strokes".
The reason for our interest in this band is their unusual proposal. This is basically a new and experimental approach to grind, straying from it's tradition of violence for the sake of violence. This album manages to be extremely rude, bringing melodic guitar riffage at the same time, with grind rhythms, but with a remarkable melodic hardcore effort. This makes it extreme but touching at the same time.
On the top of that the album comes from an in-studio, live recording with all the musicians recording the full songs together. The guitars only being partially distorted matched with various other elements on record contribute to making the album even more intriguing, as if it already wasn't. The album is very good and so unusual to modern listeners who are usually assaulted with bombastic productions.
Final result is a “bittersweet grind” reversed in this "Dødsfest!". In it's short running time, it manages to be full of surprises and tremendously interesting. You can stream both albums on the band's Bandcamp page, where you can also purchase them for only four USD. Discover it!
Plastic Mind Frequencies is a Metal / Electronic project coming to you from Italy. More specifically, it's coming to you from Rocco "Spacca" Pezzin, the one man band. He does a great job of combining a number of sounds into one coherent package.
Case and point, the Plastic Mind Frequencies debut just dropped late last month. Currently it's available for a "name your price" download on Spacca's offical Bandcamp page! It's highly recommended you check the tunes and support if you enjoy. This is an underground release you don't want to miss.
Sometimes you just need a good laugh. Sometimes all you want is an album
you play ten times in an hour and still have some time left. Sometimes
all you want to listen is a band whose entire existence is dedicated to a
rookie baseball player from Cuba and whose name is a play on words
involving legendary grind band Pig Destroyer. Okay well maybe not. But
if by chance you do, I have the band for you.
Puig Destroyer is exactly that: a band whose entire existence is
dedicated to a rookie baseball player from Cuba and whose name is a play
on words involving legendary grind band Pig Destroyer. It’s
pretty clear that this is light hearted music. But that doesn’t stop it
from being ferocious, heavy, and grindy.
The band's second release, "Wait For Spring" is now available for your listening pleasure. On top of this, it's available for a "name your price" download on Bandcamp! Grab it while you can.
Despite what you think of this band, whether you enjoy their style of
vocals or not, etc... this is a cause worth being supported. Byron Bay,
Australia's leading post-hardcore band just released a brand new single
entitled “Skydancer” with lyrics about deforestation and the way humans
around the world are destroying the Earth around them. People have been
leaving their roots and culture behind to embrace a sterile and
repetitive life in these “steel towers of death”.
In Hearts Wake decided to release it with a "name your price" download on Bandcamp
and give all the profits to three non-profit organizations devoted to
help indigenous communities around the world. The music is free, but it's encouraged to show support if you believe in the cause. Read their statement
below, check out the new lyric video, and support the cause!
We are incredibly excited to unveil the Skydancer Project today.
'Skydancer' is our new single and we are happy to announce that not only
will we be giving it away on a 'pay what you wish' platform.. but also
that all funds raised in donations for the single will be split between
three non-profit organisations that each deal with supporting indigenous
communities across the globe. We've chosen three grassroots groups to
work with on this amazing campaign, Red Dust, Seventh Generation Fund
for Indigenous Peoples & Hardcore Help Foundation. We couldn't be
happier to release new music to you guys as well as spreading awareness
about these important issues on a global scale. Please check out the
Skydancer website for all the information.
__________________________________________________________________________________
Mist is a five-piece, fully female Doom / Heavy Metal band hailing from Ljubljana, Slovenia. They bring a raw, slow-churning chunk of metal with a classic feel. Their sound harkens to that of Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus.
They just released their first demo this month. It packs two tracks and is available for a "name your price" download on Bandcamp!
Destiny Potato's ultra-talented guitarist and mastermind David Maxim Micic just released his long awaited, third solo release “Bilo 3.0”. As we wait for his band's debut album to be released, this is something worth being loved.
Expectations were huge after the amazing, previous episodes of the “Bilo” series but this time David pushed himself beyond with an unforgettable and inspirational musical journey. The album, lasting over 40 minutes (!!), features 6 tracks and a load of guest appearances bringing different vocals, big instrumental variety, beautiful guitar solos, and contributing to the realization of an overall supreme artwork: Jeff Loomis, Per Nilsson, Jakub Zytecki, Dunja Markovic, Aleksandra Radosavljevic, Vladimir Lalic, Aleksandra Djelmas, Larissa Terescenko, Vasil Hadzimanov, Mina Mladenovic, and the Bilo Choir (Aleksandra Djelmas, Tanja Knezevic, Vladimir Lalic, Marko Pantelic, Ivan Propadovic, Marko Zivkovic).
As David stated, this is music for the sake of music, just the most striking, simple, and amazing form of art. You need to experience this. The full album can be streamed on YouTube, Bandcamp, and Spotify and can be downloaded basically everywhere. Enjoy it!
Baltimore Death Metal / Grind band Misery Index has a new album underway! After releasing the steamrolling "Heirs to Thievery" in 2010, they've been busy touring their way to conquest / arranging new music. That new music is finally coming to fruition!
Drummer Adam Jarvis just finished tracking drums with the assistance of Pig Destroyer's guitarist Scott Hull. The rest of the album will be recorded next month.
Go ahead and read the band's official statement below for more details.
"We have started the recording sessions for our Season of Mist debut. Adam started tracking drums last weekend with Scott Hull at Visceral Sound, outside Washington DC. The rest of the album will be recorded next month at Wrightway Studios in Baltimore. We expect things to wrap up in early January and we are aiming for a spring 2014 release. It is shaping up to be our longest and most diverse effort to date. In the meantime, we will be posting studio updates and videos, as things unfold…"
The Safety Fire are a force to be reckoned with. Their brand of
Progressive Metal is both incredibly unique and consistent in itself (I
mean that in the best way possible). The level of talent and forward
thinking here is damn hard to match.
This year they released their sophomore album "Mouth of Swords" (read our review here). In support of this they've released a slew of music videos. Most recently they dropped a live video for the title track "Mouth of Swords". A hodge podge of footage from their 2013 US Fall Tour was assembled to make this happen.
If you haven't listened to The Safety Fire yet,
indulge your ears with the music below.
The legends at Metal Hammer recently spoke with Opeth's Mikael Åkerfeldt and Anathema's Daniel Cavanagh about a number of topics relating to music and metal. The conversation turned to musical evolution and angry metal elitism when Åkerfeldt offered the following insight.
"Every band I’ve loved has moved forward. All the world-class songwriters, whether it be Black Sabbath or Pink Floyd, have evolved. Maybe not AC/DC because they’re perfect as they are! Bands like Porcupine Tree have continued that tradition. It’s a mark of intelligence in music and genuine creativity.
In metal, evolution doesn’t seem to be that important. I think most metal fans just want their Happy Meals served to them. They don’t really want to know about what they’re getting. For a while, I thought metal was a more open-minded thing but I was wrong. Maybe it’s different from country-to-country. Don’t get me wrong, I love metal, but I’m also open-minded. I admire some bands that do the same record over and over again – I wonder how they don’t get bored! For us, and Anathema, it seems impossible for us to stay still."
Interesting to say the least. Not all of metal sees things in the "happy meal" light, but I know for a fact some individuals do. Kudos to Mr. Åkerfeldt for calling this out.
Epic is the only word that does it justice. Behemoth is on the verge of
releasing a music video for the first single off their
highly-anticipated, upcoming album "The Satanist". "Blow Your Trumpets
Gabriel" will strike the world on December 4th through both the music
video and a 12" supported by two b-side tracks. Pre-orders are available
here.
So
far, the band has been releasing teasers in support of this. And they just unveiled the third and final preview for the video. Take a look
below. And definitely keep an eye out for "The Satanist", which is due
to hit stores next Spring!
Previous Behemoth updates are available here and here. They include insights from the band on the upcoming album.
In an unexpected turn of events, ex-Periphery vocalist Chris Barretto (Ever Forthright / Monuments) took the stage with his old band in NYC. He joined them for a rendition of the fan favorite "Icarus Lives!" from the band's debut album / demos from days of old.
Fan shot footage is available for your viewing pleasure below. We've also included recent songs from Periphery and Ever Forthright respectively.
Progressive Thrash/Experimental Metallers from India, Undying Inc, have earned the title of Artist of the Week on The Circle Pit! This is a dangerous musical unit literally oozing out talent, metal, and potential. Read up on the interview and be sure to enjoy the heavy music below \m/
UI = Undying Inc (answered collectively)
AD = Arkadeep Deb
AD - Greetings from your new fans at The Circle Pit. How’s everything in camp UI?
UI - Hails and thanks for having us on The Circle Pit, we are honoured. We are good and busy, there is a lot going on at the moment, things are in constant evolution and mutation. You know the drill.
AD - How would you describe Undying Inc. for the uninitiated, rather your fans across the border who have just tuned into your music?
UI - Probably as simply as, the heaviest band you had never heard of, until now.
AD - The “I R O N C L A D EP” comes out later this month, if we are not mistaken; when and where can we get it from?
UI - Yes, our plan is to try and release it at NH7 Weekender this December, where we play with our buddies in Textures and Demonic Resurrection. IRONCLAD E.P will be an online platform release where fans can access and download it easily. There will be no physical copies of the EP at the moment.
AD - Give us a little background story to the themes you have explored on “I R O N C L A D”. What made you zero in on this title, what does it represent and in what ways does it vary from your last effort “Aggressive World Dynasty”?
UI - It represents the current state of mind we are in, ready to take on the world. The need to have an iron will and the strength of purpose needed to survive the pit-falls of our nation and society in today’s scenario, is the major theme. IRONCLAD is definitely a step forward from AWD in every sense, be it song writing, musicianship or production. It’s also a prelude to the shape of things to come in the next album.
AD - Undying Inc. was on a hiatus of sorts with only half the previous line-up surviving till your vocalist Shashank re-joined your ranks. What made you seek separate ways and what had been the primary ingredient behind the reunion? Would you say that this is the strongest the Undying Inc line-up could have gotten keeping in mind the musical dexterity “I R O N C L A D” demands?
UI - It’s just one of those unfortunate things that get in the way of every band you know, since there are different personalities, egos and opinions involved. What was important for us was to move past that and let go of all the old baggage and move forward stronger. One good thing that's come from this hiatus whatsoever is that we've reprioritized things. The band has been touring, playing gigs relentlessly for the past few years and it was finally good in a way to take the time out and just write new songs, hone new ideas. Yes, correctly put, this pretty much is the strongest line-up we have had until now and it shows in the new material.
AD - Walk us through the procedure you followed for composing “I R O N C L A D”. Were the vocal parts laid down after Shashank re-joined the band, or otherwise? What gear have you used for the EP?
UI - We have a very organic way of composing; it’s always through rehearsals with the entire band jamming together on song ideas. These ideas evolve from the initial riff or groove pattern or time signature structure into full songs as we keep building and layering, or adding to and subtracting from it, until it sounds just ‘right’ to our ears. Yes, vocal parts were laid down after Shashank re-joined, though lyrics and a basic template were already in place for him to work with.
We have used our endorsed gear, Ibanez Prestige 1527 M/GW - Limited Edition guitar, Ibanez Soundgear SR 506 bass, Bare Knuckle & Bartolini Pick Ups, Line 6 POD Amplification as well as Axe Fx II and some more additional gear from Keshav (Skyharbor). All vocals were done in-booth on SM series Mics. Though drums on the single are DFH Superior, drums on the EP are live with a customised Pearl Kit, Joey Jordinson custom snare, Paiste Cymbals and Demon Drive Pedals.
AD - “Aggressive World Dynasty” was mastered by Anupam Roy at Grey and Saurian studios, and “I R O N C L A D” is being handled by none other than Keshav Dhar from Skyharbor at Illusion Audio. What was the primary reason behind this shift? Keeping in mind the pros and cons of both producers, in hindsight would you consider re-mastering “Aggressive World Dynasty” with Keshav at the helm?
UI - Well, we have been asked that quite a lot since the release of the IRONCLAD single. “Aggressive World Dynasty” actually had both Anupam Roy and Keshav Dhar on it, as producer and engineer respectively, a fact we are quite proud of that it combined two of India's best studio talents. There is no primary reason for the shift as such, it's just that we wanted to push the template of our sound forward from the last album, have new dynamics added and work with someone who understood us. Keshav was both available and comfortable with that. We have not considered a re-master yet, but who knows, maybe in the future if we ever decide to re-release the album, it could become a possibility.
AD - “Aggressive World Dynasty” portrayed a Sci-Fi rendition of post-apocalyptic Earth where the machines are commanding the whip. How does “I R O N C L A D” deviate from this? Is there any relation between the concepts on either record?
UI - The new material is a lot more 'organic' in nature, for lack of a better word, some of it will still represents our obsession with war machines, but a lot of it also looks inwards at who we are today. At the more gruesome 'human' aspects like, hatred, anger, lethargy, oppression, torture, enslavement, strength and fighting the odds. Sci-Fi unfortunately has become such a 'trendy' thing now, every hipster band out there is suddenly inspired by the universe, so we are going back to the primitive. The roots of metal are dark and gritty you know.
AD - The artwork for “I R O N C L A D” bears a striking resemblance to the Game of Thrones spiked-throne motif. Does this mean that “I R O N C L A D” mirrors the gruesome, brute reality of our times? Who’s responsible for such a magnificent design?
UI - Well, that is a co-incidence that some pointed out and something we really hadn't noticed until then as we hadn't really seen Game Of Thrones. But unlike the soap opera, where everything is a lot more drama-archaic, this is a very modern representation of a 'bullet-robot', though gruesome, brutal and all-destroying, but yet man-made out of a platoon's arsenal of machine guns, bullets, tanks and war weapons. Thank you, it was designed by our bassist Reuben, he does all our artwork as well as designs for a few other bands. You can check out more of his design and art at http://www.behance.net/visualamnesia
AD - What is next on Undying Inc.’s schedule post-“I R O N C L A D” release?
UI - We are currently on a tour in support of the release and will continue that for the next few coming months, adding more and more shows as and when they happen. We are also currently working on releasing two videos, an official video for IRONCLAD and a lyric video, which you surely should definitely watch out for. New material is also being written for our next album which is aimed at a mid-2014 release.
AD - Undying Inc. has travelled to Europe on two occasions including a stint at the revered John Dee at Inferno Metal Festival 2012 in Oslo. Is this the most memorable of your shows? If not then do share some of your war-stories with us.
UI - Both those stints were extremely memorable for us, Inferno for being such a huge experience. But especially playing Roros (northern Norway) with our brothers in post-hardcore act Torch. It's a UNESCO world heritage site, a beautiful little town. Refreshingly new experience. It was sub-zero temperatures, yet the energy of the kids was so amazing, for a non alcoholic under 18 venue, they were getting high just on black coffee and metal. Also the drive back to Trondheim at 2am, stopping to let these big Reindeer cross and freezing piss breaks / pit stops on the highway, unloading back line with frozen fingers, great memories. You can watch some of it here http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ti0CMhLBYOc
AD - We hear that Undying Inc has a strong stand against being pigeonholed or being lumped into specific genres and sub-genres and that you stick to the label of being a Heavy Metal band. What is your prime reason behind this? What is your stance against all the genre-biasing and other such objectionable opinions that the community feels they are entitled to?
UI - Yes, we are very clear from the onset that we are quite simply a 'Metal' band and our only purpose is to create crushing heavy music. All these sub-genre labels are quite pointless, good music is defined by its purpose and the kick you get out of it, not what label it falls under. Genre pigeon holing is the work of hacks who need to define a band within a bracket to justify their critique. The regular metal head will love a band for their music, no one has ever said "Dude, I love Pantera because they are post-thrash-hardcore-jizz-groove-metal", you could just say "I Love Pantera" and that explains it.
AD - Give us a little update on the Indian Metal militia. What is the state of the present scenario? Is it progressing at a favourable rate or are there glaring nuances plaguing it?
UI - Though it looks like Metal is on an upsurge in India, it's only a placebo, there are more bands, fans and critics due to social media; as opposed to real necessary facilities like having enough live venues, proper band management, metal specific professional gigs or equal opportunities. We do not see it becoming a very profitable thing for bands, most organizers still do not want to pay a 'metal' band what they deserve, most fans do not want to pay to buy tickets to see an Indian metal band, most of the audience wants discounted or free merch. Nothing will change really. Metal will be always be the underground, always has been, always will be, that's what it was truly built for.
AD - At The Circle Pit we are always on the lookout for new music. What Metal or otherwise artists are you listening to at the moment? Are there any specific artists/music that you would like to share with us?
UI - We all listen to a LOT of Metal both new and old and some varied music in between as well. At this point our current playlists have artists like Paco Di Lucia, Joe Satriani, Jason Becker, Kiko Lourerio, Meshuggah , Ion Dissonance, Periphery, Textures, Tesseract, The Contortionist, Between The Buried And Me, Psycroptic, Spawn Of Possession, Beneath The Massacre, White Chapel, Born Of Osiris, Devin Townsend, Shining, Dillinger Escape Plan, Soilwork, At The Gates, Gorguts, Cypher 16, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Skyharbor, Korn, Limp Bizkit, J Sigsworth, Atari Teenage Riot, NIN...as well as going back to bands like Biohazard, Hatebreed, White Zombie, Madball, Pantera, Carcass, Napalm Death, Brutal Truth, Exodus, Anthrax, Whitesnake, Queensryche, Steve Stevens, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and a whole lot more...
AD - This is your space. Your international fans await your destructive stage presence and your recent ritual of spraying everyone with bottled water. Is there anything else you would like to convey to them?
UI - For the bands; Keep your day job, keep band affairs in-house, keep it DIY, don't depend on corporations and labels, take every opportunity as it comes but don't drown in debt to follow your dreams. Gig long and prosper!
For fans and metal heads; keep the spirit alive, defend the faith , support your metal and the hard working bands however you can, they need it. Fight the good fight! We hope to come play for you and see you all as soon as we get the opportunity.
Rolling Stone recently spoke with Mastodon's drummer Brann Dailor in regards to the band's new album. They're currently preparing to enter the studio and have found a producer in Nick Raskulinecz (who has worked with Deftones, Alice In Chains, and Queens Of The Stone Age). You can read the full story here or just look over the quotes below.
“It’s gonna be massive and insane, lots of epic greatness. There will be lots of huge riffs and new directions. It’s real weird, real math-y, real straightforward. It’s up, down and all around.” He laughs. “It’s a culmination of everything for the band. The snowball keeps rolling and collecting snow.”
“There’s very few things that anybody can do to stop a Mastodon record from being born. And this thing’s gonna get born, OK? And there’s nothing anybody can do about it. We’re ready to lay them shits down. We’re ready to rock.”
In regards to working with Nick Raskulinecz he said:
“He’s a rock guy. He’s a rocker. He likes to rock. He’s done a bunch of our friends’ records that sound great. I’m a fan of all the Deftones records he’s done, all the Alice In Chains stuff, and he worked with Queens Of The Stone Age on Songs For The Deaf.”
Apparently the band has written approximately 19 songs in preparation of the new album. The number will be cut down through the recording process until the cream of the crop remains. Stay tuned for more from Mastodon.
It's happening! Praise the lord! These two amazing artists have been working for awhile but now their collaboration has become a solid reality. Plini and Sythu Aye will release their first split EP “I” very soon, on November 28th precisely. They also revealed the artwork and a beautiful teaser to announce their plan.
Links: Plini Facebook // Bandcamp // Sithu Aye Facebook // Bandcamp
