Noriega is a band I have been waiting to appear on the scene. Combining metalcore and doom metal, Noriega are finally that bridge between the stoner/doom sensation of the last year or two, and the recent past’s indelible presence of metalcore. Ironically though, despite having a very modern image and a metalcore highlight (due in [...]
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Review: Noriega – Desolo (2009)
Dark Castle Tour Dates
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The Dark Castle van never idles for very long… they’re back out on the road now for another long stretch up the East Coast, Midwest and Southern US. The duo is storming through towns alongside The Atlas Moth for the majority of the tour, and also joined by Black Cobra, Darsombra, Struck By Lightning and [...]
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La Fin Du Monde, More Instrumental Metal?
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Well, not out and out metal like some of their counterparts, by La Fin Du Monde play off the success of Isis and the new release from A Storm of Light to bring us Californian styled instrumental rock, and it’s damn good! I do have to wonder though, does the band take their name from [...]
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Neurotic Deathfest 2010 Line Up Added to Festival Page!
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Here are the announced bands thus far for next year’s festival taking place in Tilburg, Netherlands form April 30th through May 1st, 2010. Further details can be accessed here.BeheadedBeneath The MassacreBolt ThrowerCarcassDefeated SanityDying FetusDr DoomEnemy ReignInsidious DecrepancyInsisionHuman MincerKickbackLock UpNapalm DeathNoxOriginRevocationSix Feet UnderViral Load
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Chaos Avatar: Venezualan for “Kick Ass”
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Hailing from Venezuela, Chaos Avatar is a band you probably haven’t heard of. I know that before getting a press release from the band’s management, I had never heard of them either. However, that quickly changed after listening to a couple of the band’s albums. I was immediately hooked, and then began wondering why a [...]
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Review: Between the Buried and Me – The Great Misdirect (2009)
The great thing about Between the Buried and Me, is that they are unstoppable when it comes to making good music. I could literally go on a 5 paragraph tirade about how shitty this new album is and everyone would just laugh whilst reading it knowing I was full of shit and probably accidentally listened [...]
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Overplayed Band of the Week: We Butter the Bread With Butter
Calling these guys overplayed is a bit of an exaggeration at this point since they are still very underground, even in their home nation of Germany. Nonetheless, We Butter the Bread With Butter is bound and determined to become the next pop culture metal sensation, and all I can do is lower my head in [...]
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Review: We, The Undersigned – Bleed the Constants (2009)
We, the Undersigned, yet another band hailing from the greater North East of Canada ( in this case, New Brunswick), bring us their latest release, We the Constants, which brings to the table a lot of energy and quality musicianship, but as we have seen with past acts, combining good intentions with musicianship doesn’t always [...]
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Check it Out! Odyssey – Odyssey EP (1999)
One of the many projects of the legendary Dan Swanö, Odyssey took the concept of progressive metal to the next level. By melding heavy death metal-like riffs with whimsical sound effects and the haunting clean vocals of Dan Swanö, the Odyssey EP, which would end up being the only thing released with this project, was [...]
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Katatonia to Be Interviewed by Fans – Send Questions
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Katatonia’s new album Night Is The New Day is released on Monday. The album has been attracting rave reviews and is eagerly awaited by the band’s legions of fans around the globe.In the lead up to the album’s release the band’s MySpace, facebook and twitter accounts have been overwhelmed by questions and queries from fans. [...]
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Review: DŸSE – Lieder sind Brüder der Revolution (2009)
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Artist:DŸSE
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Album:Lieder sind Brüder der Revolution
Oddity? Genre unclassifiable? Energetic? Spontaneous? Yup. DŸSE from Germany don’t know which way is up with their new release Lieder sind Brüder der Revolution, and I like it! Taking one part Sikth, one part Mr. Bungle and lastly a happy helping of modern noise rock ala Nihilitia, DŸSE are pleasantly bizarre leaving me with a [...]
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Katatonia Discusses Their Influences +Album and Tour Updates
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‘Night is the New Day’ is Katatonia’s eighth studio album. It was recorded throughout July 2009 and was co-produced, engineered and mixed by David Castillo. Recording was divided between Studio Mega (for drums) and Ghost Ward Studios, where most recording took place and which provided a dose of inspiration from the darker corners of life [...]
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Cole’s grab bag of album reviews from 2009. Mostly. I think. We’ll see.
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So I’m back after a brief hiatus and I return with some short reviews of albums from this year and some other odds and ends I’ve come across.Revocation – Existence Is Futile (2009)I heard about this band via another metal blog reporting about ANOTHER metal blog calling these guys “the next big thing” essentially. Saw [...]
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Review: Rammstein – Liebe Ist Fur Alle Da (2009)
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When I first heard the song “Pussy” off of Rammstein’s latest offering, I was pleasantly surprised even in the face of a widespread backlash against it. People have been criticizing the band for being too poppy, to which my response would be, why not? Rammstein have never proclaimed themselves to be metal despite using heavy [...]
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A Storm of Light European Tour Dates
A Storm of Light Record Release ShowWednesday – November 18, 2009Ace Of Clubs9 Great Jones StNew York, NY 10012-1128Doors 7:30 – Free Admissionhttp://www.aceofclubsnyc.comA STORM OF LIGHT/MINSK10/24/2009 Damnation Festival at Leeds University – Leeds10/25/2009 Ivory Blacks – Glasgow, Scotland10/26/2009 Trillians – FREE SHOW – New Castle10/27/2009 Corporation – Sheffield10/28/2009 B
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Marduk North American Tour Dates
Following three very special US appearances this summer in Baltimore, Philadelphia and New York (effectively breaking their streak of visa issues), Swedish black metal battalion Marduk will return for a full headlining North American tour this November. The band will be joined by Nachtmystium, Mantic Ritual, Merrimack and Black Anv il (on select dates). An [...]
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Uber Classics: Helloween – Walls of Jericho (1985)
This is it. The origins of power metal. The origins of some sub-genres of metal can be debated endlessly until your blue in the face, but there is no debate about the origins of power metal. Melding high melodies, soaring vocals with speed metal (note: as always, speed metal is NOT synonymous with thrash metal, [...]
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Review: The Devil Wears Prada – With Roots Above and Branches Below (2009)
I’ll tell you, I honestly don’t know where all the hate for The Devil Wears Prada comes from. For some reason, based solely on their popularity, The Devil Wears Prada is often cited along with Saosin, Atreyu and Underoath amongst others based on their label participation or maybe whom they have toured with in the [...]
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Pelican Streaming Full Album Now!
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In advance of its October 27th release, all eight tracks of Pelican’s upcoming Southern Lord debut album What We All Come To Need is now streaming on the band’s Myspace page! Stop by and check it out today: http://www.myspace.com/pelican.Pelican is out on a full US tour with label mates Black Cobra now through mid-December. Please [...]
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Review: Sinking Soul – Sinking Soul (2009)
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Artist:Sinking Soul
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Album:Sinking Soul
While Italy’s Sinking Soul can be considered a progressive metal band, there’s actually very little that’s “progressive” about their self released self titled debut. While progressive rock based music doesn’t need to be avant garde or whatever, there is still a necessary level of technicality that should bring a certain “wow” factor to listeners; [...]
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