We had one helluva time at Warped Tour this year. It was absolute madness from beginning to end with experiences a plenty. We did everything from covering insane live sets in front of thousands of people to meeting the man Kevin Lyman himself (owner and mastermind behind Warped Tour, Mayhem Festival, etc.). And that's barely even scratching the surface... We sincerely thank Warped Tour for the opportunity. They don't call it the best day ever for nothing.
Of course, being a metal site, we covered the heavy side of the show. We saw (in order) While She Sleeps, Letlive, The Amity Affliction, The Black Dahlia Murder, Volumes, Stick To Your Guns, Like Moths To Flames, Architects, and August Burns Red. We also had an interview with Jake Luhrs from August Burns Red for the sake of supporting his good cause Heartsupport. You can check out all the footage below.
Stay tuned for next year when the madness happens all over again! Also be sure to keep an eye out for additional concert / festival coverage from us (including Kevin's Mayhem Festival). Let's just say we've been busy these past few weeks...
The Black Dahlia Murder are in full swing during the album cycle for “Everblack” and the guys are cranking out lots of cool shit for the fans. With the push provided by the release of their fantastic new album “Everblack”, reviewed here by The Circle Pit, The Black Dahlia Murder are further cementing themselves as titans of Melodic Death Metal. The dudes are really steamrolling all who oppose them recently. They’ve just released a hilariously awesome new video for ‘Goat of Departure’, and are continuing their assault with this newest playthrough video for ‘Into the Everblack.’
The video is actually five videos. One for bass, drums, rhythm guitar, and lead guitar. And one more that compiles them all into one video. This video is awesome if you want to learn how to play the sick riffs in this track, see if you can even touch Ryan Knight’s soloing ability, or maybe even if you want to critique newcomers’, Alan Cassidy on drums and bassist Max Levelle, performances. Overall it’s really cool of the band to do this for the fans. In the death metal genre, it’s not always possible to figure out exactly what the musicians are doing. Fans and aspiring Black Dahlia Murder wannabes want to get a more in depth look at the guys’ parts and this video gives it to em.
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]
With the release of "Everblack," it seems as though the Detroit modern melodeath masters had something to prove to anybody that thought they had grown stagnant. For most of us, "Nocturnal" was that pinnacle moment when we said "Well fuck, this is awesome." While "Deflorate" and "Ritual" were excellent albums, there was always something about "Nocturnal" that could not be topped. Upon inserting "Everblack" into my CD player it was clear that it was going to be momentous.
The album starts out with a slow, very nontraditional intro for BDM that eventually explodes with Trevor Strnads's unmistakeable vocals and you know you're listening to The Black Dahlia Murder. Throughout the album, guitarists Brian Eschbach and Ryan Knight team up for a masterpiece as they fly through lightening speed riffs, brutal verse breakdown sections, and the ridiculous solos that we've come to expect from BDM.
As most fans know, the band has recently lost their drummer Shannon Lucas who was a mammoth behind the kit and idolized all over the metal world for being a top-rank drummer. I wasn't sure what to expect with Lucas gone (let's face it, Lucas' drumwork on his three albums with BDM was frightening), but Alan Cassidy steps in to take the sticks and he does not disappoint. While they each have different styles, Cassidy seems like a good fit. Beloved bassist Bart Williams also has departed from the band, but Max Lavelle holds his own on the album and lays down the thick, grimy tone Williams had provided for nearly a decade.
Basically everything you've come to expect from a Black Dahlia Murder album is here: it's crushing, melodic, fast paced, and unrelenting. Strnad certainly has a poetic way of writing lyrics and on "Everblack" they are as eloquently dark as ever. Undoubtedly the most pleasant surprise about this album is the soloing. It seemed like ex-Arsis guitarist Ryan Knight was still trying to find his place in the band on the past two albums, but he definitely shines here. Knight will shred your ears off on nearly every track with solos that are elaborate, beautiful, and often neo-classical.
My only real criticism of "Everblack" is that some of the tracks (particularly the opener "In Hell Is Where She Waits For Me" and "Raped in Hatred by Vines of Thorn") are rather repetitive, but the excellent soloing breaks up the monotony. Not to mention this is The Black Dahlia Murder we are talking about: even their lackluster songs crush most of their contemporaries. I'm also slightly disappointed that Strnad tends to focus more on his low, growled vocals on this album. Strnad has always been one of my favorite vocalists in metal, but I could have done with a little more of his ear piercing highs.
Personal favorites off the album include "Map of Scars," "Blood Mine," "Phantom Limb Masturbation," and "Goat of Departure." All in all, "Everblack" is an excellent release by death metal legends who, album upon album, fail to disappoint. You can catch them on Warped Tour all summer long.
Concert season has officially arrived! You know what that means North America... It's time for Vans Warped Tour! The events officially kick off TODAY. First stop is Seattle, Washington. Grab your tickets here!
This will be the tour's 19th year running and there's no sign of them slowing down. Warped Tour 2013 is moving full speed ahead, packing in well over 100 bands for the tour's duration and all kinds of ways to have fun. Warped Tour is more than a concert. It's a moving city of pure entertainment.
This year we'll be covering the heaviest bands they have. August Burns Red, The Black Dahlia Murder, Volumes, Upon A Burning Body, Texas In July, Architects, and more will be in our sights.
While you're waiting for the best day ever, kill some time with our live video recap of Warped Tour 2012 here. Then realize our coverage this year will be ten times stronger! See you in the pit.
Today is a one ridiculously solid Tuesday in the metal world. Three extremely notable releases drop today and there’s plenty more including the first Black Sabbath album featuring Ozzy in like a million years. Today is a day for buying metal.
The Black Dahlia Murder are death metal legends at this point in their career. 2011 album “Ritual” was a fantastic work of modern death metal, influenced both by the American death metal scenes of Florida and New York and the Swedish melodic death metal scene. The Black Dahlia Murder have 100 percent forged a completely unique and awesome signature sound. Metalblade records released a temporary stream of the bands newest album released today, titled “Everblack”, and I can assure you this album will not disappoint. The signature sound is further honed and expanded on. This album is worth your money. Buy it.
Instrumental, progressive, “adventure metal” band Scale the Summit is back again with their newest album “The Migration” out today! This album features some of the most beautiful music I’ve heard in a long time. Single “Atlas Novus” is just ridiculous. These guys are immensely talented players ad songwriters. “The Migration” clearly is a very large step above all of Scale the Summit’s previous work. The production on what I’ve heard so far is also fantastic and a new high point for the band. Overall “The Migration” looks to be a fantastic album. Fans of instrumental music, melodic playing, and progressive metal should get in their cars, begin moving to a record store by whatever mode of transportation you favor, immediately and purchase this new album.
Children of Bodom are back, and this time with a higher content of your daily requirement of metal. The melodic death metal veterans return with “Halo of Blood” today. Much controversy has surrounded CoB and their recent releases. The previous albums certainly haven’t had the same drive and fury that the original CoB had that made melodic death metal classics. This time, Alexi Laiho and cohorts have released a record that looks to have a little more oomph. The black metal influence on lead single “Transference” gives a pretty solid indication that Children of Bodom has delivered with this one. This is another album worth buying.
The Black Dahlia Murder have dropped the second single off of upcoming album “Everblack,” due out June 11th on Metal Blade Records. This song, titled "Raped in Hatred By Vines of Thorn" is more standard Black Dahlia Murder material when compared to the first single and title track "Into the Everblack" which admittedly has grown on me since it was first released onto us.
The lyrics of this song deal with a scene from the horror movie “Evil Dead” where a girl is raped by a possessed animated tree. Or something... I haven’t seen the classic movie or the very recent reboot myself. Either way, Trevor Strnad, vocalist and lyricist of The Black Dahlia Murder, explains that watching this scene as a young kid left quite an impression on him. So much so that he was moved to write the lyrics for this song so many years later. Check out the Revolver song premiere for the lyrics to the new song and a link to the interview with Strnad that explains the impact of “Evil Dead” here.
Musically this song is straight up Black Dahlia Murder and is quite good. The At The Gates influenced riffing is very present on this track along with the rest of the mainstays of the Black Dahlia Murder sound. The drumming is pretty solid, however not very inventive. The production of the album, the riffs, and the song arrangement are solid. The melodic intro and chorus are nice and catchy as well. Trevor Strnad sounds brutal as ever and delivers another very impressive performance. This song picks right up where the previous release “Ritual” left off. The most impressive aspect of both singles from “Into the Everblack” so far is lead guitarist Ryan Knight’s soloing. The solo off of "Raped in Hatred By Vines of Thorn" is fantastic and beautifully melodic, just like the solo on "Into the Everblack". Knight seems to have really found his voice since departing Arsis for The Black Dahlia Murder. I’m finding myself very stoked for this album. Pre-Orders are available. Check it out.
The Black Dahlia Murder are releasing a new album, titled "Everblack", June 11th of the two thousand and thirteenth year of our lord... just kidding about that last bit. Anyways, along with the album art and pre-order packages, the band has released the first the single off the album. This song, titled "Into the Everblack", is essentially the title track of the album and is probably a decent representation of what this album will ultimately sound like. This song’s lyrical concept deals with the black dahlia murder, the first time the band is covering the topic of their namesake.
I am quick to praise the group’s previous offering "Ritual", but also quick to admit that I’m a little underwhelmed by this track. Yeah Trevor’s vocals are brutal and spot on as ever, and yeah lead guitarist Ryan Knight’s solo absolutely rips, but the intro/chorus is a little lackluster, the first riff is just uninspired chugging, the second riff is quirky and not much of a head banger and the post solo section is pretty bland as well. Luckily a sexy, sound effect filled black metal-ish bridge before the solo, a solid BDM trademark riff at about 3:30, and some sweet production salvage this track for me.
I’m pumped to get my hands on this album this June but hopefully the rest of the album is a tad more impressive. Click here to grab your pre-order and check the Metal Blade Records preview!
I believe we've had multiple play through buffets for just about every key metal instrument... so let's do one will full bands!
It's a damn party
The Black Dahlia Murder are in full swing during the album cycle for “Everblack” and the guys are cranking out lots of cool shit for the fans. With the push provided by the release of their fantastic new album “Everblack”, reviewed here by The Circle Pit, The Black Dahlia Murder are further cementing themselves as titans of Melodic Death Metal. The dudes are really steamrolling all who oppose them recently. They’ve just released a hilariously awesome new video for ‘Goat of Departure’, and are continuing their assault with this newest playthrough video for ‘Into the Everblack.’
With the release of "Everblack," it seems as though the Detroit modern melodeath masters had something to prove to anybody that thought they had grown stagnant. For most of us, "Nocturnal" was that pinnacle moment when we said "Well fuck, this is awesome." While "Deflorate" and "Ritual" were excellent albums, there was always something about "Nocturnal" that could not be topped. Upon inserting "Everblack" into my CD player it was clear that it was going to be momentous.
