WHAT YEAR IS IT?! NEW STUFF FROM INTO ETERNITY, UNEARTH, BLEEDING THROUGH, JOURNAL, JACK KETCH, SILENT CIVILIAN (ON THE WAY), AND MUNICIPAL WASTE

 

This is a SEEN AND HEARD round-up that’s going under a different name today. If the reason for that isn’t already obvious from the title of this post, let me explain:

Below you will find new songs and one new video, plus a news item, from seven bands. One of them is by a band whose last release was 10 years ago. Three are from bands whose last albums came out eight years ago. Two more are by bands whose last albums were released six and four years ago, respectively. And the video for the last one is set in a time when if you wanted to watch a movie at home, you went to the VHS store.

I can’t take credit for the Robin Williams–Jumanji meme or the post title. That was suggested by DGR, and actually it was he (with an assist from Andy Synn) who foisted all these new songs and videos on me. Basically, today I’m just a marionette whose strings are being pulled by others. Let’s get this over with so I can go back to listening to really disgusting death and black metal.

 

 

 

INTO ETERNITY

“Fringes of Psychosis” is the first release off Into Eternity’s upcoming album, The Sirens, due out on Aug 3, 2018. Their last album, The Incurable Tragedy, was released in August 2008, 15 months before this site began, and a decade before this new one’s slated to hit the streets.

I must have listened to something off this band’s previous albums at some point, but if so, the memories have turned to dust. I must confess, however, that although I was very skeptical about this song as it began (given my usual tastes), it grew on me more and more as it went along, to the point where I felt like giving it a standing ovation by the time it ended.

Pre-order:
https://intoeternitysk.bandcamp.com/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/intoeternityweb

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

UNEARTH

Once upon a time, in a galaxy far, far away, I was an Unearth geek. Went to see them every time they played Seattle, had at least one of their CDs loaded into the player in my car just about all the time, etc., etc. Four years have passed since they released their last album, Watchers of the Rule, and I haven’t though much about them since then (or really, since before then). But they have a new one named Extinction(s) (with the drums recorded by Killswitch Engage’s Adam Dutkiewicz) that will be released by Century Media at some point this fall, and they’ve just released a single from it called “Incinerate“.

If you’re going to name a song “Incinerate“, it’s incumbent upon you to lay down some scorching music. I’m not sure I would call this song “scorching”, though it does inflict its fair share of bludgeoning and battering, and my guess is it will do a fine job stirring up the pit when played live, and not just in the breakdown.

To Buy the Single:
https://centurymedia.lnk.to/Extinctions

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/unearthofficial/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BLEEDING THROUGH

Staying in the metalcore vein, the next official video in this collection is for a song called “No Friends“, off the new album by SoCal’s Bleeding Through, the name of which is Love Will Kill All. It was released by SharpTone Records on the 25th of May, a long six years and change after the band’s last album, The Great Fire.

The video was filmed at the band‘s sold-out return show at The Observatory in Santa Ana, CA, this past June 8th. I headbanged (not doing that is probably an impossibility). And I had some fleeting nostalgic feelings.

Order:
https://fanlink.to/LWKA

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/BleedingThrough/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JOURNAL

Now we’re getting really close to DGR country, with this band and the next one hailing from the glories of Sacramento in the northern reaches of California’s expansive Central Valley (current temperature at 6:40am of 56°F but headed toward a high of 90). The band is Journal, whose last album Unlorja was released eight years ago.

DGR wrote about them a lot at our site back in the day, reviewing their sets at four different shows between 2012 and 2015. His last write-up included these words:

“Long story short, trying to headbang to these guys is liable to leave you in a neckbrace, with jarring transitions, sudden switches at the drop of a hat, and an overall performance that sounds like a hornets’ nest being tossed around in a closed trashcan.”

I’ve seen their music described as “progressive mathgrind”, back when they had grabbed a lot of people’s attention… about eight years ago. Not sure what genre label to use now, but we’ll have to figure that out because their new album Chrysalis Ordalias is due for release on July 17th. If you let the player below continue to run, you’ll be able to hear four tracks from the total of 22 (!) that the album will include. It’s a whole lot of craziness.

Pre-order:
https://journalmusic.bandcamp.com/album/chrysalis-ordalias

Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/journalofficial

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

JACK KETCH

Staying within the city limits of Sacramento, the next recently released track comes from Jack Ketch, whose last album Bringers of the Dawn was released nearly eight years ago in October 2010. That track, “Reconstructing The Paradigm“, is from a new EP named The Ashes Of Vesuvius, set for release on July 13th.

In addition to “Reconstructing The Paradigm”, the EP’s title track is also up for streaming, on the Bandcamp page for the EP, where it can be pre-ordered. Not being familiar with heir previous releases, I can’t talk about how this new music compares to what came before; perhaps DGR will enlighten us in the Comments. What I’m hearing from the new stuff is a blender of death metal, tech-death, math-core, and progressive metal, the end result of which is brain-twisting, muscle-spasming, unpredictable, and pretty damned interesting.

Pre-order:
https://jackketch.bandcamp.com/

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/jackketchkills/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SILENT CIVILIAN

Now we come to the news item that isn’t accompanied by new music. It concerns the California metalcore band Silent Civilian, which was founded by Jonny Santos, the former frontman of the nu-metal group Spineshank. Their last album, Ghost Stories, was released on May 18, 2010. The news is that Silent Civilian has launched a GoFundMe crowdfunding campaign for a new album and tour. They’re after $20,000 for that purpose:

https://www.gofundme.com/silent-civilian-new-albumtour

I’m just reporting this because I think DGR believed it would make a fitting companion to everything else in this post. I’ll throw in a video of “Rebirth of the Temple” from their debut album, just to stick with the Wayback Machine theme of this post.

According to The Font of All Human Knowledge, it was filmed at Santos‘ childhood home: “Santos invited 50 friends over for a party and posted a bulletin that read ‘If you’re in the L.A. area, if you’re a Silent Civilian fan, show up at this address’ two hours before filming. This resulted in another 30 people turning up. Static-X front-man Wayne Static, Stone Sour drummer Roy Mayorga and [former Machine Head and Soulfly guitarist] Logan [Mader] make appearances in the video”.

Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/silentcivilianofficial/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

MUNICIPAL WASTE

Municipal Waste obviously haven’t let as much time pass as all the other bands above between their last album and something new. Slime and Punishment came out last year, and they’ve been on a couple of splits since then. But I’m including this next video, for the title track of Slime and Punishment, because it’s a throwback in its own right.

The video is also one hell of a lot of fun to watch. It was directed by Norman Cabrera, produced by Mike Mendez, with cinematography by Jan-Michael Losada, an intro score by Slasher Dave, and an outro score by Joel Grind. And with that, I’ll just shut up and let you revel in the sights and sounds.

Album orders:
http://nblast.de/MWSlimeAndPunishment

Municipal Waste:
https://www.municipalwaste.net
https://www.facebook.com/municipalwaste