NEWZ ROUND-UP: ALL SHALL PERISH, OBLIVION, CYNIC, MISERY INDEX, AND CONVULSE

 Metal News  2 Responses »
Dec 122012
 

This has proven to be an interesting morning for news. Here’s what I saw that made an impression. There’s some music at the end, too.

ALL SHALL PERISH –> OBLIVION

All Shall Perish were one of the originators of the deathcore genre, and in this writer’s humble opinion they remain one of the best bands to be found in that now-thoroughly-saturated space. This morning, All Shall Perish guitarist Ben Orum announced that he is leaving the band. As he explained in a statement I saw on Facebook, his responsibilities to his family have made it too difficult for him to continue touring.

But although he is withdrawing from All Shall Perish, Orum further announced that he is joining a band of whom we at NCS have become quite fond: Oblivion. The connection that led to this new partnership is an interesting one. As Ben Orum explained in his statement:

While I am done with touring, I will never stop writing music. I am joining the extreme metal band OBLIVION as a bassist and contributing songwriter. OBLIVION’s debut album will be released on January 1st, 2013. We are beyond excited to unleash it onto the metal world. I’ve always been into death metal and extreme music, this is my return to TRUE Death Metal. What makes OBLIVION unique and sets us apart from the pack is the fact that our primary songwriter is a world-renown classical composer and professor of music, Dr. Nick Vasallo. His voice gives the music a subtle refinement with the craftsmanship of the compositions. Continue reading »

“THE U.S. TORTURE TOUR” CONTINUES THIS FALL: CANNIBAL CORPSE, MISERY INDEX, HOUR OF PENANCE, DEEDS OF FLESH

 Metal News  7 Responses »
Sep 112012
 

The PRP and Lambgoat have reported this morning that Cannibal Corpse, Misery Index, Hour of Penance, and Deeds of Flesh will be embarking on a continuation of THE U.S. TORTURE TOUR this fall. There has not yet been an official announcement, though one is expected soon. UPDATE: There has now been an official announcement by Cannibal Corpse, and here is a complete schedule:

11/16 Huntsville, AL Crossroads Music Hall
11/17 Little Rock, AR Juanitas
11/18 Springfield, MO Outland Ballroom
11/19 Bloomington, IL The Castle Theater
11/20 Eau Claire, WI House Of Rock
11/21 Madison, WI High Noon Saloon
11/23 Flint, MI The Machine Shop
11/24 Pittsburgh, PA Mr. Smalls
11/25 Poughkeepsie, NY The Chance
11/27 Providence, RI The Met
11/28 New York, NY Rocks Off Concert Cruise aboard The Harbor Lights*
11/29 Allentown, PA Crocodile Rock
11/30 Asbury Park, NJ Stone Pony
12/01 Washington, DC Rock N Roll Hotel
12/03 Louisville, KY Headliners
12/04 Spartanburg, SC Ground Zero
12/06 Miami, FL Grand Central
12/07 Tampa, FL Brass Mug

*Show will not feature Hour of Penance

There will be maiming and killing and the consumption of human flesh and the picking of teeth with bone splinters. It’s nice to see that whoever organized this tour chose not to dilute the brutality by mixing and matching the genre styles. It’s just going to be 100% death metal hell.

We’ll fill in more details when we learn them.

Oh, and one more piece of titillating Hour of Penance news has surfaced. Continue reading »

MISERY INDEX FOR FREE

 Metal News  2 Responses »
Feb 022012
 

(DemiGodRaven wants to spread the word about a free show on the other side of the continent . . .)

I’m going to be completely honest with you guys: I have never been to Baltimore. The closest I have ever gotten to the state of Maryland was when I flew to Georgia to watch my younger brother graduate from basic training. Maybe they’re on the same longitude lines, but that would literally be the only connection I have for travels on the East Coast.

So, I think it’s clear that I am not by any means a leading authority on anything having to do with Baltimore, MD. Outside of The Wire and the recent Ace Ventura-esque events with the local NFL football team (granted, it’s not like the team close to Hayward, CA, where I grew up, did any better), I have zero exposure to how the city is laid out. Thus, if this show actually is taking place in a Baltimore suburb (as when shows are announced for The Boardwalk in Sacramento, when the Boardwalk is actually in Orangevale), please do not jump my shit for it.

Misery Index announced via Facebook a few days back that they would be performing a free show with a group called Bet The Devil over at The Ottobar. The show happens on February 6, 2012, so…next Monday. If you need details there is an event page on Facebook to check out. I’m just trying to spread the word about a free show. Especially a free show where you get to see Misery Index, who put on a fucking great live show. I saw them in October 2010 and rocked out incredibly fucking hard during the whole set and in general had a blast. I have not heard Bet The Devil, so if anybody has and can put forth some impressions about them in the comments, that would be great. Really, help out any fellow East Coast folk who may make the journey to see the show.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2010’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 14

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010  9 Responses »
Jan 102011
 

We’re down to the next-to-last installment in our list of last year’s most infectious metal songs. (Read this for our definition of “most infectious” and click the Category link called MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010 to see the other listed songs to date). Two more songs today and two more tomorrow, and we’re done.

MISERY INDEX

Heirs To Thievery is another one of 2010’s best albums that we never got around to reviewing, though it appeared on several of our guest contributors’ lists of last year’s noteworthy releases. Johan Huldtgren gave it the No. 6 spot on his list and wrote: “More polished (good), less grindy (bad) than before this, it is still an amazing album.” Andy Synn included it on his list of the year’s “good” albums, explaining: “[A]t times [it] comes across as a good, but slightly less balanced, cousin to the career defining Traitors. Heirs To Thievery is not as strongly tied together as Traitors and lacks some of the gusto that was such a shock to many ears, perhaps exactly because we’d all been effectively spoiled by the superior goods offered up by Traitors.”

Although we agreed with Johan that the album is less grindy and more thrashy death than some of the band’s earlier works, it’s still a mauling dose of aggression with blazing, intricate riffage and over-the-top drum-pummeling. At the same time, despite the turbo-charged rage that screams through every song, the music triggers the need to move (as well as the desire to punch the shit out of something). The best song on the album — “You Lose” — is also one of the most infectious extreme metal songs we heard last year.  (more after the jump, including the music . . .) Continue reading »

NEW TOURZZZZ!

 Metal News  3 Responses »
Aug 062010
 

Man, have we got some breaking news for those of you who occasionally enjoy the sensation of leaving the caves where you live and spending a night in a different kind of cave — one that’s filled with really loud, skull-splattering metal and other cave-dwellers like yourselves.

We’ve just gotten confirmed dates for two new tours that make us gleeful with anticipation. Bet you can’t guess which ones.

Oh, wait. I guess you can guess which ones.

Well, bet you can’t guess the dates and places where these two tours will descend in order to lay waste to paying cave-dwellers. S’okay, you don’t have to guess, because both tour schedules are laid out in all their glory after the jump.

In our humble opinion, these will be two of the fall’s best tours. Not that it matters to you, but we’re particularly stoked because they’re both coming to a cave near us — way the fuck up here in the Northwest corner of the U.S. And there are Canadian dates on one of them, too.

(check it out after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

MORE 2010 SICKNESS (Part 4)

 Forthcoming Albums, Listmania, Metal News  No Responses »
May 012010
 

We’re now a full four months into 2010, and it’s time for our fourth update to the list of forthcoming new albums we posted on January 1. (See the original list here, the first update here, the second update here, and the third update here.) Below is a list of still more projected new releases that we didn’t know about on January 1 or at the time of our last three updates (or that we’ve found updated information about) — and the new sickness is still spreading in epidemic proportions.

Once again, we’ve cobbled together news blurbs about bands whose past work we’ve liked, or who look interesting for other reasons. Needless to say (but we’ll say it anyway), these are bands that mostly fit the profile of music we cover on this site.

So, in alphabetical order, here’s our list of cut-and-pasted blurbs from various sources since our last update about forthcoming new releases. Look for the bands you like and put reminders on your calendar. Or if you’re old school like us, just get em tattooed someplace you can see without a mirror (because reading stuff backwards is hard).

ABIGAIL WILLIAMS: “Abigail Williams have completed recording of individual performances for their still untitled second full-length. Captured at Conquistador Studios in Cleveland, Ohio, eight new songs were laid down with vocalist/guitarist Ken Sorceron and engineer Cole Martinez controlling the audio takes. The songs are currently being mixed by Peter Tagtgren (Dimmu Borgir, Immortal, Celtic Frost) and are expected to be completed later this month.”

ABYSMAL DAWN: “Los Angeles-based metallers ABYSMAL DAWN will enter Trench Studio in Corona, California in May with producer John Haddad (PHOBIA, INTRONAUT, HIRAX) to begin recording their new album for a tentative fall release via Relapse Records. The follow-up to Programmed To Consume will be mixed by Erik Rutan (HATE ETERNAL, VITAL REMAINS, CANNIBAL CORPSE) at his Mana Recording Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida.”  (the list continues after the jump .  .) Continue reading »

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