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Once you get to about the third track, entitled “It’s Your Omen, you should be starting to realize we are living in a new golden age of traditional heavy metal. Now I don’t mean this is some naive sense, it couldn’t be farther from commercially viability. The perplexed looks I get at the Metal Church patch on my back when attending black, death or slam metal gigs would have a guy thinking he has a giant tarantula crawling up the his spine a la Indiana Jones. Part of the difficulty is that playing traditional heavy metal in today’s age, bands will inevitably have their chops compared to the virtuoso and prog movements that have truthfully come a long long way since the 70s and 80s. Albums from todays NWOTHM heavy hitters would have been instant classics in metal’s glory day. Bands like Skull Fist, Enforcer and Crystal Viper could hang with the best of them. On their fourth full-length Poland’s Crystal Viper have sliced off a bitingly sweet piece of the heavy metal pie and equaled the work of their critically acclaimed debut. Continue reading “Crystal Viper: Crimen Excepta” »

So remember that time congress held a hearing about birth-control and just invited a bunch of fat, middle-aged dudes, most of whom were out of breath from the sheer effort needed to hold their gut into their suit? Well congratulations to Metal Injection for doing almost that exact same thing, inserting metal and being hilariously oblivious. Make no mistake, this is well done, insightful and pretty entertaining, if for nothing else than for the orgies of ignorance it has catalyzed across message boards the web over. Don’t worry this rant of mine is not long. Just a couple for very acute points. First, nothing demeans women more that pretending that In This Moment is a legitimate roll model. I also love how they completely ignore bands like Huntress, Christian Mistress and Crytsal Viper.…hell, even Kat Katz from Agoraphobic Nosebled. I don’t say this just because these bands are sweet but because they come closest to showing empowered women that are still dressing feminine enough to throw some discomfort towards feminists of the combat boot variety. Admittedly, the Huntress thing is getting a little ridiculous with the sex baiting. There’s also a small legion of female driven bands in the underground. More on that later.

Being a newb to the Cancer Bats train, it would be difficult to give you an insight about the band’s progression on their fourth full-length Dead Set On Living. Like many of you however, I’m really taken by the energy of hardcore and am looking for groovecore and Entombedcore bands to be my gateway. Sure, I can throw on some NAILS sometimes or even some Deviate for some old school Euro hardcore (is this band way uncool? Why do I have a feeling I will get ragged on for liking them?) but the whole scene is still foreign to me. Case in point: I love Converge but don’t like catching spinning back fists from 16 year olds to the face. As far as I’m concerned the pit is not where you pretend to be Zangief from Street Fighter. This is where Cancer Bats provide a nice medium; solid mosh worthy breakdowns, thick grooves, a tiny bit of melody and a fun-loving attitude are some of the band’s broadly appealing strengths and are pretty prevalent on Dead Set On Living. Continue reading “Cancer Bats: Dead Set On Living” »

If you tell most people that a classic rock band in their 50′s could be this good at tapping into the disenfranchisement of today’s 20-something generation, you’d be laughed at. Now I’m not about to regurgitate some sob story but I can’t even count how many times I’ve wandered through the city, taking care of random errands that are shuffled without any real rhyme or reason, deflected the buzzkill vibes of people’s unsolicited opinions and veiled jabs, only to plop down in front of my TV to kill some braincells at the end of the day. Is this part of a wider struggle? Certainly seems so sometimes. It looks like it would fit with what The Cult are trying to convey in their new music video. As Ian Astubury explains the song title itself reflects notions of people living outside of prevailing social conventions and struggling against predetermination, figuring out what to do with their lives, as it were.

“‘For The Animals’ is a metaphor for people existing in a realm outside of structured society and what cultural editors deem to be relevant,” explains THE CULT‘s lead singer Ian Astbury. “It could be the feral punk rock kids squatting in abandoned homes or the spirited individual who has little regard for social conventions. It’s for people who choose not to tow the party line or try to fit in. It’s for the free-thinkers who are creative and dynamic.”

And this isn’t some attention-grabbing rehash of a Papa Roach video either. There’s a clear intention of including the socioeconomic circumstances that effect young people’s lives and, more importantly, exploring what it takes to overcome those. What could be more relevant for so many people in their 20s now boiling in the sulfuric pits of today’s “job market”?

“She realizes that the only solution for change is actually within her. It’s about her self-awareness, inner strength, and waking her internal life, realizing she has to take command of the situation and has the power to break through. In the end, she finds others who feel the same way. The message being, ‘if you feel you don’t fit it, it’s okay. There are others out there. The tribe is there.’”

On how these concepts relate to the title of the record:

“Your Choice of Weapon can be anything you use to deal with your world. It could be self-knowledge. I think we’re at a crossroads, as individuals and as a society, to define our intentions in life. What do you choose to do with your life? What do you need to really flourish? How do I not get stuck being a slave to convention? And as the character in the film clip writes on the wall, ‘How many more ways will they find to reinvent boredom?’”

This might be a longwinded way for The Cult to tell people that climbing the corporate ladder, getting that 401k, and securing the house with white picket fences is not the ONLY option but maybe it’s necessary. Pretty well thought out for a bunch of old guys.

I’ve been holding off on drooling over this. The song has been leaked to youtube and been swirling around message boards a couple of days now. I’ve listened and listened again, coming to the conclusion that I am in fact, as they say in the biz, fucking razzed out of my skull. Between Hordes of Chaos and Violent Revolution, Kreator have managed to stay aggressive, relevant and memorable while slightly modernizing their Teutonic sound to avoid sounding like rethrash. The single shows that same songwriting talent that has given us thrash anthems new and old, tied together by their plague-worthy infectiousness. These German legends have also managed to unleash some of the best artwork this side of Cannibal Corpse. The above is the most metal thing I’ve seen in many, many moons. Other bands can try but what could beat a zombie antichrist riding a hydra of undead spider-horses? Nuttzing. That’s whut. This album isn’t out til June unfortunately. Bah! Listen below. Continue reading “Kreator Is Possibly The Only Reason To Ever Be Stoked On A Lyric Video” »

Nothing is better than the combination of black metal’s full-on assault on modernism and poking fun at the absurdities that surround us over a cold beer. I wasn’t in line even 5 mins and already had a bag full of ammunition. “Oh no look at the guy in the Ghost hat, this has already become less cool for me”, “oh I know, I’m like so ready for Ghost to go away, those posers”, “Can you believe that person was wearing corpsepaint with an Opeth shirt?”. My, how profound and edgy. It’s true, 9/10 of ten middle schoolers agree; hating on people who like bands you don’t DOES in fact elevate you above them in the coolness food chain. This is especially true when said band is exercising a level of fun-loving self-awareness that soars miles over your head and STILL succeeds in sideswiping hipsters with the level of genuine commitment needed to enjoy it. No matter. That which you lack the tact to enjoy should be destroyed. That much is clear. Oh and nevermind the absurdity of ANYONE outside of a performing black metal band wearing corpsepaint in public. Opeth is like totes lamez now so like screws those guys; they were never tr00 goat sodomizers in the first place. Best part? These quotes came from women. Don’t let anyone tell you we’re not a progressive scene. We’re obviously forward thinking enough to have let women into the inner circle of the council of elders. I mean how else would they possess such Yoda-like knowledge? Get to the concert, you say? Musically, it was a murderous line-up front to back and the majority of people were actually engaging and in a jovial mood for seeing such a diabolical line-up. In Solitude, The Devil’s Blood, Watain and the prodigal sons Behemoth all ripped El Corazon a new one. Continue reading “The Decibel Tour Has Many Decibels” »

I was always one of those that really appreciated how Mercyful Fate found a more thrashy, modern sound on their last record together. Perhaps there is some nostalgia here since this was when I really began discovering extreme metal and a variety of underground cult acts. Nonetheless, this record is insanely catchy and every bit as evil as one could hope for. After watching In Solitude tear up the stage the other night, I just had to dig this record up to revisit that gut feeling I had at 15 when discovering it. In retrospect, 9 may not be Don’t Break The Oath or Melissa but it’s a crisp and heavy album where King Diamond’s signature falsettos are pleasantly toned down and the riffs, leads and licks are allowed to shine. Some Fate diehards will never be convinced but you can take a read and a listen after the jump to see why the weather report calls for a 0% chance of fucks being given anytime soon. This album is awesome. Continue reading “Tuesday Time Machine: Mercyful Fate – 9 (1999)” »

I wish “Cascadian” black metal was this dynamic. Memorable melodic hooks, precise and varied drum patterns, and that certain diabolical aura that reminds us we ARE in fact listening to black metal and not some pseudo-transcendental granola noise rock. At the same time, Wodensthrone (and even slightly more jangly bands like countrymen Fen) bear some of those same hallmarks of Cascadian BM. The overall sounds aren’t all that different, there is an earthy quality to their themes and much of the lyrical content focuses on ancient myths and histories. After these Sunderland natives released their 2009 full-length debut Loss, the bar was certainly set high. Curse was released yesterday via Candlelight Records. How this one passed me by I’m not sure, might have something to do with being an ADD-stricken cubicle drone, but I’m ever more stoked to delve into this record after streaming “The Storm”.