(Andy Synn delivers another installment of his irregular series of album reviews in haiku. Two more reviews come after the jump. With music, of course.)
EARTH CRISIS – SALVATION OF INNOCENTS
Still angry, still raw
Still destroying the machines
With big riffs and rage
http://candlelightrecordsusa.bandcamp.com/album/salvation-of-innocents
https://www.facebook.com/earthcrisisofficial
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(NCS writer Andy Synn reviews the new album by venerable metallic hardcore act Earth Crisis.)
A confession – though my tastes these days run more towards black metal and melodic death metal, when I originally “found” the alternative scene it was through hardcore. Introduced by an older, wiser friend via a series of bootlegged tapes of various hardcore acts (Snapcase, Earth Crisis, Sick Of it All, Vision of Disorder, etc), it was music with a primal grasp of aggression that was totally different from anything else I’d heard. I was familiar with rock and metal, there were bands I really liked in both genres, but the passion of hardcore really hit me hard. I was hooked. And although following my induction into hardcore I got deeper into much heavier styles of metal, ending up discovering the speedy melodic attack of melodic death metal and the oblique darkness of black metal, I still retain a love for the sound and am anxiously awaiting the next V.O.D. record in particular.
But this is about Earth Crisis, once a relentless hardcore force of straight-edge aggression, who after several years in the wilderness returned to the fray with 2009’s To The Death, kicking and screaming with renewed energy and vitality which carried them all the way to the front of the hardcore pack once more. Now Neutralize The Threat doesn’t make many massive changes from the formula that brought Earth Crisis back to prominence, but it does serve to further cement their position as an unstoppable and fundamental force in heavy music. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »
What the hell is that big yellow thing up in the sky? It looks vaguely familiar, but it’s appeared so rarely here in The Emerald City over the last six months that we’re having trouble placing the name. Well, maybe the name will come to us. The great wheel of the seasons surely must continue to turn someplace, but in Seattle it seems to have been stuck on Winter since, like, forever. In some parts of the world, April showers bring May flowers, but here, April showers will probably bring . . . May showers.
Okay, enough whining. At least we don’t get tornados dropping from the sky like atom bombs and wiping whole towns off the map. And even though the weather hasn’t been our friend, we have metal to make up for the cold shoulder — and there’s a bunch of new metal headed our way.
What we do with these installments of METAL IN THE FORGE is collect news blurbs and press releases we’ve seen over the last month about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like (including updates about releases we’ve included in previous installments of this series), or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know them yet. And in this post, we cut and paste the announcements and compile them in alphabetical order.
This isn’t a cumulative list, so be sure to check the Category link called “Forthcoming Albums” on the right side of this page to see forecasted releases we reported in previous installments. This month’s list begins right after the jump. Look for your favorite bands, or get intrigued about some new ones. Continue reading »