I SPILL YOUR GUTS: SOUNDTRACK POSSIBLY BETTER THAN THE MOVIE

 Metal News  5 Responses »
Jun 142012
 

Of course you’ve heard of the forthcoming summer blockbuster movie I Spill Your Guts, directed by James Balsamo and headed your way from Acid Bath Productions, though not to a theater near you.

No?  You haven’t?  Seriously?

Huh.  Well, it includes appearances by Frank Mullen (Suffocation), Oderus Urungus (GWAR), Skeletonwitch, and Andrew W.K.

Still not ringing any bells?  Okay.  Well, the soundtrack will include music from 40 bands, including Suffocation, Ghoul, Cannibis Corpse, and Immersed.

Still clueless?  Well, don’t worry.  The movie looks clueless, too.  But the soundtrack might be cool.  Check out a recently released (revised) official trailer for the movie after the jump, which includes some nice metal, along with a few more tasteful posters. Continue reading »

ANDY SYNN’S CRITICAL TOP 10 OF 2011

 Listmania  18 Responses »
Dec 152011
 

(This is the fourth in Andy Synn’s week-long series of posts looking back at albums released this year. Andy previously provided his lists of the year’s Great albums, the Good ones, and the most Disappointing ones, and tomorrow we’ll have his Personal Top 10. Today, we have his list of “The Critical Top 10”. For more explanation of what all this means, plus Andy’s picks for the year’s best EPs, visit this location.)

So here’s the penultimate list of the week, the first of two ranked top-tens. This list will include the albums that I think are the very best of the best, the ones that best combine creativity, artistic ambition, song-writing, and performance. Regardless of my personal feelings and preferences, these are the albums that I think are critically superior to others. Though the ranking of them was difficult (as it always is when trying to compare artists and albums across metallic sub-genres), I’ve tried my best to give a sense about the critical and objective factors that led to each record earning its respective position on this list.

Although the potential candidates for the list were unavoidably influenced by my own listening tastes — I do, after all, only really tend to select the albums that I feel best qualified and most inspired to review – I have done my best to keep personal preference as far away from these judgements as possible, something that I hope will become clear when you see tomorrow how different the list of my top ten “favourite” albums of the year is from today’s list.

So here are the ten releases I think best represent the year critically. The ten that, ultimately, would be my choices to represent the year in metal music for posterity. Some of them have appeared quite commonly on other lists, albeit perhaps weighted differently, while others have largely been ignored by other sources thus far. Enjoy . . . Continue reading »

KVELERTAK, SKELETONWITCH, TOMBS, AND PSYCHIC LIMB: LIVE ON A BOAT

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Oct 252011
 

At approximately 7 p.m. on October 22, 2011, a small cruise boat called the Jewel left the Skyport Marina in New York City. On board were a gaggle of metalheads and four very good metal bands — Kvelertak, Skeletonwitch, Tombs, and Psychic Limb. Also on board was a dude named (((unartig))), armed with A/V recording equipment. He vividly caught portions of all four performances on film. And by “vivid”, I mean that he caught the look, the feel, and the rampant energy of these performances. You feel like you’re right in the middle of the mayhem. Shit, I can almost smell the sweat and the beer just from watching these clips.

I’ve put all the clips after the jump. These are definitely worth the time. Continue reading »

SKELETONWITCH: “FOREVER ABOMINATION”

 Album Reviews  18 Responses »
Sep 282011
 

(NCS writer Andy Synn reviews the new album by Skeletonwitch.)

If you’ve followed any of my writings so far, you’ll know that I have a huge love for the riff-fuelled blackened majesty that makes up the work of bands such as Iskald, Elite and Vreid. You’ll also know that I consider those three bands to be amongst the best working today, with songs that are equal parts triumph and despair.

Skeletonwitch have long been upon a path similar to that of these bands, albeit one entirely of their own making, steadily growing and transfiguring themselves, fusing the best of Europe’s scintillating majesty with the best of America’s unlimited ambition, resulting in a singular take on the sound which is equal parts Immortal and Metallica, as much enslaved to Emperor’s eldritch power as it is to Slayer’s berserker fury.

Concision and precision have always been the watchwords of Skeletonwitch’s style, and they remain key elements of each song on Forever Abomination. However, despite their continued short and sharp delivery, each song somehow feels more fleshed out and atmospheric, and indeed longer, than ever before. There’s more meat on the bone, more muscle and sinew exerted with every writhing riff and twisting drum fill; the skeleton now bears a more fully realised body, all pulsing musculature devoid of fat or waste.

With the release of Forever Abomination, I can say that Skeletonwitch can now confidently count themselves amongst the bands whose songs of fire and ice transcend the limitations of any one genre, instead rising to the challenge of embracing the best of multiple styles to create a newly formed monstrosity of unknown, and perhaps unlimited, potential.(more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

BLISTERING: NEW SONGS FROM NIGHTRAGE, DAGON, AND SKELETONWITCH

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Sep 072011
 

Last night I came across three new songs — from Nightrage, Dagon, and Skeletonwitch. Each of them individually is blistering. Listening to them all together runs the risk of leaving you like this:

So, y’know, maybe it’s better to listen to one now and then another one tomorrow and then the third one sometime next week. Unless that picture up above would be an improvement in your looks, in which case just GO FOR IT!

NIGHTRAGE

Right after the jump, we’ve got the second song to premiere from Insidious, the new album coming on September 27 (a day earlier internationally) from Sweden’s Nightrage. Based on this track (“Hate Turns To Black”) and the one we featured last month (here), this album sounds like it’s going to be the strongest Nightrage release since Sweet Vengeance (2003) and Descent Into Chaos (2005). Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: CHANCE GARNETTE OF SKELETONWITCH

 Interviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Aug 182011
 

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Last Sunday, our favorite NCS writer from the UK (okay, yes, he’s the only NCS writer from the UK) killed three birds with one stone. Actually, he didn’t kill anything (at least so far as he can remember), so let me change that: Andy Synn did a lot of multi-tasking last Sunday night, to whit:

He and his band Bloodguard opened a show in Nottingham headlined by the almighty Skeletonwitch; he interviewed Chance Garnette, the frontman for Skeletonwitch — on video no less; and he filmed Skeletonwitch playing a new song (“Reduced To the Failure of Prayer”) when they took the stage. And he probably did some other things that night, which are better left private. Not too fucking shabby for one night, huh? So, here we have both the interview video, a transcript of the interview (which Andy did, too), that live video, and one more Skeletonwitch video just for good measure. UPDATE: We’ve now also got the song that will appear on a flexi-disc in the next issue of DECIBEL mag.]

Sunday evening I had the chance to interview Skeletonwitch singer Chance Garnette just prior to their show at Nottingham Rock City. It was also the first time I’ve attempted to video an interview… and I think it turned out ok!

I edited the original footage down from 25+ minutes, simply to remove some of the more conversational and rambling stuff that Chance and I got into, so don’t worry, there’s been no editing trickery to alter the content of the interview as presented – just some to make me look better as an interviewer!

After the jump there’s a transcript for those of you who, like me, don’t always want to watch/listen to an interview and prefer to read it at their own pace! Continue reading »

MORE 2011 SICKNESS (PART 8)

 Forthcoming Albums  10 Responses »
Aug 032011
 


July is behind us, and the last month of the summer has begun. Drifting along even more stupidly than usual, I let the first day of the month come and go without posting our usual monthly  installment of METAL IN THE FORGE. So, we’re late with this, but I have a feeling no one was holding their breath waiting for it anyway.

You know the drill:  In these posts, we collect news blurbs and press releases we’ve seen over the last month about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like (including occasional updates about releases we’ve included in previous installments of this series), or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know their music yet. In this series, we cut and paste those announcements and compile them in alphabetical order.

Remember — this isn’t a cumulative list. If we found out about a new album before July, we wrote about it in previous installments of this series. So, be sure to check the Category link called “Forthcoming Albums” on the right side of this page to see forecasted releases we reported earlier. This month’s list begins right after the jump. Look for your favorite bands, or get intrigued about some new ones. And feel free to tell us about how we fucked up by omitting releases that you’re stoked about. Continue reading »

NEW SONGS AND ART FROM SKELETONWITCH AND ACHREN

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Aug 022011
 

Is that a fucking awesome album cover or what? It’s by Andrei Bouzikov (Municipal Waste, Holy Grail, Cannabis Corpse) and it appears on the forthcoming release by Ohio’s Skeletonwitch, who are themselves awesome. Mr. Bouzikov also contributed the cover art for the band’s 2009 release, Breathing The Fire.

The new Witch album, Forever Abomination, won’t be out until October, but the teasing and the tempting have already begun with the unveiling of a song from the album called “The Infernal Resurrection”, which you can hear after the jump. As for how long you have to wait, here’s the release schedule for the album:

Mainland Europe: October 7
United Kingdom: October 10
North America: October 11
Japan: October 19

Pre-orders for the album are being accepted now, and there are some mighty sweet bundles being offered, which apparently will be limited to the pre-orders and will cease being available once the official release has occurred. More about that after the jump . . . plus we also have a killer new song and album art from a Scottish band we’ve featured at NCS before — Achren. Continue reading »

MORE 2011 SICKNESS (PART 7)

 Forthcoming Albums, Interviews  19 Responses »
Jul 012011
 


June is behind us, July lies ahead. Here in the U.S., we’re about to start the long weekend leading up to Independence Day, when Americans celebrate the birth of the nation by buying explosive ordinance wherever fine explosive ordinance is sold and lighting up the night sky (in addition to blowing the shit out of objects and sometimes themselves). People will also be exposing unsightly parts of their bodies wherever sun can be found and eating large quantities of health food prepared on outdoor grills. Our Founding Fathers would be proud of what they wrought!

Because the last month has ended, that means it’s time for another installment of METAL IN THE FORGE, in which we collect news blurbs and press releases we’ve seen over the last month about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like (including occasional updates about releases we’ve included in previous installments of this series), or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know their music yet. In this series, we cut and paste those announcements and compile them in alphabetical order.

Remember — this isn’t a cumulative list. If we found out about a new album during May or preceding months, we wrote about them in previous installments of this series. So, be sure to check the Category link called “Forthcoming Albums” on the right side of this page to see forecasted releases we reported earlier. This month’s list begins right after the jump. Look for your favorite bands, or get intrigued about some new ones. And feel free to tell us about how we fucked up by omitting releases that we overlooked. Continue reading »

NCS INTERVIEW: SKELETONWITCH

 Interviews  7 Responses »
Dec 132010
 

[EDITOR’S NOTE: In addition to our latest Finland Tribute Week post (below this one), today we also have another contribution from our Midwestern correspondent BadWolf — this time, a most entertaining interview with guitarist Scott Hedrick from a most awesome band, Skeletonwitch.]

The following interview with Ohio thrashers Skeletonwitch was conducted on November 20, 2010 at Frankie’s Inner City in Toledo, Ohio by BadWolf.

S-My name is Scott Hedrick; I play guitar in Skeletonwitch.

BW-Rhythm or lead?

S-Both. We trade off and on.

BW-I love twin lead guitars.

S-I don’t think there’s any reason to have one lead or one rhythm player. We [Nate Garnette and I] have different styles of rhythm and of soloing, so I think it makes it more diverse—and we can do harmonized leads too.

BW-The old-school thing, the Iron Maiden thing.

S-I love it. Some of my favorite guitarists are Tipton and Downing from Judas Priest, the Iron Maiden players, Sharmann and Denner from Mercyful Fate. My favorite players are teams of players, so it makes sense that we would do the same thing.

Continue reading »

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