There's awesome free music aplenty today! Century Media and InsideOut Music just released the "Carnival of Sounds III" sampler. This includes free songs from Queensrÿche, TesseracT, Devin Townsend, The Safety Fire, Intronaut, Dark Tranquillity, Turisas, James LaBrie (Dream Theater), and many more! Click here and take advantage of the offer while you can.
TesseracT have just released the second music video in support of their sophomore album "Altered State" (read our review here). They did this with no less than the hit single "Nocturne" which was released awhile back as a free single. You can go ahead and grab it here. But if you want the full version of the song, you gotta buy the album (;
The song is obviously full of kick assery. The video itself does a good job of complimenting the nature of the track. Some great visuals and camerawork are included with a side story to boot. Go ahead and watch it below along with more goods from "Altered State".
I'll be out of town until Wednesday but I didn't want to leave
The Circle Pit hanging. So here's something I set up last week to kill
all the memory left on your iPod.
THIS IS THE FREE MUSIC MARATHON!
We've
helped promote a lot of free music over time. This is the cream of the
crop. And it ranges from big bands to the deep underground. Click a
link, any link. You may just find a new favorite. No matter what, you'll
find free music and tunes available for the price of your choosing. All
of these artists deserve support, so don't be afraid to throw some
dollars if something really makes you happy.
This is the third lap of four. 25 links a day.
We'll officially be back in full operation on Wednesday.
For once... Europe gets one of the best tours! Protest The Hero will be hitting the continent in January with the best support possible - Two European heavyweights, Tesseract and The Safety Fire along with Canada's very own Intervals hitting Europe for the first time! This is probably going to be the best tour of 2014 and it's taking place in January! You better not miss this unbelievable combo and I personally guarantee you're not dreaming... this is really happening!
There's no doubt that Tesseract released a fine album earlier this year (read our review right here). Through all the struggles that went into creating their sophomore album, they came out on top. Now there's a new video on the loose... WATCH DAT SAX! hehehe...
On a more serious note, we've provided their first "Altered State" music video "Singularity" and the full album stream. Enjoy!
It's real! TesseracT are finally heading over to the US and Canada! And they're doing so with very special support. After a bunch of shows in Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, the band will officially bring The Altered State Tour to North America.
They'll start up by supporting Katatonia for 12 shows across September and October. Then they'll kick off their own headlining tour with support from nothing less than the instrumental prog masters Scale The Summit and impressive newcomers Anciients for the whole month of October! This looks tremendously amazing! You cannot miss the chance to see all these amazing bands together, presenting to the audience three of the best albums of 2013. Are you still here reading this post? Go grab your ticket!
Video and final report coming soon! Read up on Report 1 HERE, Report 2 HERE, and Report 3 HERE.
After the hard work of Saturday we were happy to have a relaxing and enjoyable day Sunday, even though we strongly started to feel the need to take a shower.
But as soon as the concerts started we immediately attended the Mask Of Judas performance. We also had an interview scheduled with them in the afternoon. They played songs from their latest mini album “Axis” and I must say I liked their live performance more than their studio material, which I definitely appreciate. After them it was the time for Chronograph's heavy performance on the main stage, followed by Basick Record's and Peterborough's very own Visions, and Monolith Music's Nexilva.
Later on the main stage, one of the funniest moments of the festival took place. Sadly Aliases performance had been cancelled, so the Tech-Fest team decided to replace them with a party. Stiff Bizkit, a Limp Bizkit cover band got on the stage to entertain the attenders for a half hour bouncing set! I was at the press area for my interview at that time so I couldn't attend most of the set, but it featured guests appearances from No Consequence, Linked, and other acts. In any case I recognized songs like “Nookie”, “My Generation”, “Break Stuff”, “Livin It Up” and more. As soon as I realized what was going on, I immediately ran from the press area to the stage to spend my last 15 minutes before the interview there as my friend was preparing the camera... Yes, I must confess I liked Limp Bizkit. They're one of the first "metal" bands I ever got into. And believe it or not, a lot of tech-heads loved that set. There were a lot of people moving, singing and jumping to those songs. It was a good way to slow down and take a funny break from the complicated proggy stuff played at the fest, and in the end everybody knows the lyrics of at least one Limp Bizkit song. You cannot escape.
After that we went back to some fast and furious technical death metal with the UK-based Dyscarnate, delivering one of the most virulent sets of the weekend (we got this on tape too...wait for it, it's coming soon!). After that we moved again to the main stage where we filmed what will be remembered as the most extreme mosh pit of this year's Tech-Fest during Heart Of A Coward's set. The band delivered a massive and devastating performance, confirming they're one of the most interesting hardcore bands to come out of the UK in recent times. They also recently signed a contract with nothing less than Century Media Records!
Shortly after, some quality instrumental music owned Tech-Fest's main stage. First, Basick Record's Chimp Spanner played a heavy and largely attended set, with a big crowd to appreciate the quality of their exhibition.
Immediately after, we saw the “only band not playing 8 strings guitars” as they defined themselves on stage. I'm talking about dutch fusion metal champions Exivious which did a virtuous and flawless exhibition with original and beautiful sounds. Unfortunately, there was just a small crowd to attend their set... The audience was probably tired from the long weekend and decided to take a break and come back for TesseracT performance, but I must say that this was probably the most clean set from a technical and instrumental point of view.
A few minutes before TesseracT's performance, Simon Garrod (Tech-Fest organizer / owner) and James Monteith (TesseracT and HoldTight PR) picked the winners of the contests to win an 8 string Ibanez RG8 and a coustom Double Slit guitar. After that, Simon delivered a small speech asking the crowd to celebrate the success of the festival with a big group hug that was one of the most moving and unforgettable moments of the weekend. Lovely. And TesseracT with the final performance? Well that was an amazing show with an exhausted but enthusiastic crowd enjoying one memorable set from the perfect band to end this festival. It was an intense, moving, and passionate performance to end Tech-Fest in the best way possible.
Yeah, because Tech-Fest, despite the timing troubles, the absence of showers and wi-fi connection, trouble finding power, and all the bands delayed or cancelled, was still the best Festival I have ever been to. And if I had to choose between finally sleeping in a bed and taking a shower the following night or sleeping for 3 more days on the grass, smelling like dirt, I would have definitely chose another Tech-Fest! If you missed this epic event, you better not make the same mistake next year. Be there!
It’s the start of July already. We’re already over halfway through 2013. Jeez time really does fly. The amount of metal of the highest quality that has hit the stores already is astounding. We've been doing our best to keep up with all the notable releases of the year and I think we've been doing a pretty decent job. Not too much has flown under the radar and I’ve personally had time to digest mostly everything I was excited for at the beginning of the year. I’ve been surprised by a lot of the music I’ve really been enjoying, some of which is a lot lighter than I ever would have predicted. Without further ado, here are the Best Of lists and some song highlights from our four main writers starting with my own (albums in no particular order). If you’ve missed any of these, definitely check em out.
Trisolino's List
Albums
Intronaut - “Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones)” [LISTEN HERE]
Coheed and Cambria - “The Afterman: Descension” [LISTEN HERE]
Wormed - “Exodromos” [LISTEN HERE]
Anciients - “Heart of Oak” [LISTEN HERE]
Leprous - “Coal” [LISTEN HERE]
Arsis - “Unwelcome” [LISTEN HERE]
Heaven Shall Burn - “VETO” [LISTEN HERE]
The Ocean - “Pelagial” [LISTEN HERE]
The Monolith Deathcult - “Tetragrammaton” [LISTEN HERE]
A Pale Horse Named Death - “Lay My Soul to Waste” [LISTEN HERE]
Tesseract - “Altered State” [LISTEN HERE]
The Black Dahlia Murder - “Everblack” [LISTEN HERE]
Scale the Summit - “The Migration” [LISTEN HERE]
August Burns Red - “Rescue & Restore” [LISTEN HERE]
Palms - “Palms” [LISTEN HERE]
Here's somewhat of an assuming story. The singing machine Daniel Tompkins (Skyharbor, In Colour, ex-Tesseract) was recently scouted by American TV talent show The Voice. He turned them down.
__________________________________________________________________________________
"Was recently scouted by The Voice to audition for the next series...I've had a bizarre few days! Unfortunately I don't feel it's for me right now but great to have been asked nonetheless!" - Daniel Tompkins
__________________________________________________________________________________
I must say American TV "talent shows" are a joke. But I do have some respect for The Voice over say... the gag-worthy American Idol or X-Factor. From my recollection, they have a generally talented panel (No Nick Minaj) and seek out at least some real talent. Whoda thunk?
I'm sure a good number of you have witnessed or at least heard about the new Tesseract video by this point. For those of you who haven't, here's some tentacle porn. Okay, there's a little more to it than that... Symbolism is present.
The video covers the incredible "Singularity" from Tesseract's sophomore effort "Altered State". You can read our review of that album right here. Unfortunately, a good chunk of the song is missing from the video. But in all fairness, it is an eight minute song. And you can only fit so much tentacle porn in eight minutes. Also, rumor has it the band will be releasing a video for the entire album so there's much more content to look forward to.
In the mean time, you can give "Singularity" a look / listen below along with more recent goods from Tesseract. This includes a full stream of the incredible "Altered State"! Enjoy.
Another week, more quality music. This week features the return of Tesseract, another release by veteran metallers Dark Tranquility and another album from Alice in Chains among many other releases.
Tesseract’s “Altered State” has been covered pretty well already I’d say. The band released plenty of teasers and a lot of anticipation has been built for this one, culminating in an early release of the album via a youtube stream. But today is finally the day the album hits stores. The progressive metallers are back with their sophomore release after a tumultuous couple of years. If you want more information on this album check out our album review here.
Veteran melodic death metallers Dark Tranquility are back with their tenth studio album. Dark Tranquility is one of the remaining bands from the earliest wave of bands to appear out of the Gothenburg melodic death metal scene and its encouraging to see them still going strong. Their new album, titled “Construct” sounds stylistically similar to a lot of Dark Tranquility’s work. The band is staying true to the Gothenburg melodic death melodic sound and proving the style is still definitely relevant. The album comes out today on Century Media records.
Grunge/metal band Alice in Chains is back with their fifth, and second post Layne Staley, album titled “The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here” today. The album has been described by the band as the logical progression of the Alice in Chains sound. Guitarist Jerry Cantrell has said that the band is easily recognizable as Alice in Chains work, but is a new twist and evolution of the sound. The album title, and lyrics of the title track, seem to indicate that this album will feature some criticism of religion, a pretty mainstay topic in metal music. If you are a fan of the group’s previous album “Black Gives Way to Blue,” it’s probably a pretty safe bet to pick this one up as well.
In case you missed it, the new TesseracT album "Altered State" is now live and streaming in its entirety on the interwebs. After teasing the ears of fans over the past few months with snippets of the final product, it has arrived. Give "Altered State" a good listen or three down below. There's a possibility it will make your head implode backwards.
There's no doubt that TesseracT have had an interesting couple of years
since the release of their full-length debut "One", and even before that. Met with huge success in the
metal underground and conflicted with the difficulty of finding and
keeping a vocalist, they have pushed through, solidifying their place as
a Progressive Metal juggernaut.
What if I told you TesseracT made ten tracks out of four songs out of one song, but it's still one song. Sort of like a fourth dimensional tracklisting. Or so they claim. There are definitely pauses between some of the tracks. Either way, "Altered State" is a massive, 51-minute experience best taken in entirely during one sitting instead of skipping tracks. The music bends and folds, but similar to the debut "One" there is a consistency to the musical presentation. Surprised they didn't call this album "Two" (bad joke).
The overall approach is similar to the song "Concealing Fate" from "One" which was made up of six different segments. "Altered State" just does it on a much larger scale. These segments all come from a particular source - "Of Matter", "Of Mind", "Of Reality", and "Of Energy". They all deliver on various fronts, bringing their own differences along with many similarities in between.
When it comes to the music itself, it's no secret that TesseracT grooves. So you best believe this is a grooooovin' record. Beyond that, there are several of the elements you've come to expect from this musical unit such as total atmospheric control and supreme melodic structure. This time around there's a further emphasis on those last two parts with some entirely new elements and surprises to boot. Example, wait for when the saxophone comes in.
It honestly took me several listens to form a firm opinion of "Altered State". Obviously this is a brilliant record, but it's such an involved musical effort. This is not the kind of record where you can merely glaze over the details and understand them. The band is called TesseracT for a reason. Talking four dimensions here bro.
The instrumental corps of this band is rock solid. Like brothers bound in a multidimensional pulse, they deliver a true "Altered State" experience. You know you can count on the minds of Acle Kahney, Amos Williams, Jay Postones, and James Monteith. Those minds were most definitely thinking outside of the box while constructing the music this time around.
One of the questions that did come to mind while listening was WWDTD? (What would Daniel Tompkins do?) His fan favorite inclusion in "One" was a large leap towards the brilliance of that debut with his varied vocal style. He could sing, scream, belt out yells brilliantly and even cross elements of the three. Elliot Coleman was also capable of pulling off similar techniques but in a much different manner. With Ashe's golden pipes you know exactly what you're going to get... Ashe's golden pipes. This is an exclusively clean vocal effort. Objectively, this may let some down. But DAMN Ashe can sing. And speak of the devil, sometimes he even sounds like Daniel Tompkins. Kind of uncanny really. I personally dig what he's brought to the band and look forward to seeing him grow as a musical artist as well as a performer in due time.
For the most part, this record is damn near flawless. It blends together high level talent from all members, musical maturity, a good helping of groove, intelligence, and sheer complexity into a monster of a record that it guaranteed to grow the more you listen to it. Not bad TesseracT, not bad.
The official release isn't until the 28th of May. If you want to grab a pre-order in the mean time, look no further. Click right here. There's still more on the way from TesseracT. Most bands merely release music videos. Rumor has it TesseracT has a 51-minute ALBUM VIDEO on the way. Not saying they're the first to do such an ambitious thing, but it's still really damn awesome. Stay tuned.
Here is a collection of hyper talented drummers from behind
the kit. Enjoy the
insanity!
There's awesome free music aplenty today! Century Media and InsideOut Music just released the "Carnival of Sounds III" sampler. This includes free songs from Queensrÿche, TesseracT, Devin Townsend, The Safety Fire, Intronaut, Dark Tranquillity, Turisas, James LaBrie (Dream Theater), and many more! Click here and take advantage of the offer while you can.
Feast your eyes on skill as these talented musicians bring the rumble from down under.
I'll be out of town until Wednesday but I didn't want to leave
The Circle Pit hanging. So here's something I set up last week to kill
all the memory left on your iPod.
There's no doubt that Tesseract released a fine album earlier this year (read our review right here). Through all the struggles that went into creating their sophomore album, they came out on top. Now there's a new video on the loose... WATCH DAT SAX! hehehe...
Grunge/metal band Alice in Chains is back with their fifth, and second post Layne Staley, album titled “The Devil Put Dinosaurs Here” today. The album has been described by the band as the logical progression of the Alice in Chains sound. Guitarist Jerry Cantrell has said that the band is easily recognizable as Alice in Chains work, but is a new twist and evolution of the sound. The album title, and lyrics of the title track, seem to indicate that this album will feature some criticism of religion, a pretty mainstay topic in metal music. If you are a fan of the group’s previous album “Black Gives Way to Blue,” it’s probably a pretty safe bet to pick this one up as well.
