by BBG

Church of Misery at Inferno Festival (more by BBG)

Scion Rock Fest have announced their first round of 2012 bands, including some very interesting and out-of-the-box choices. Among the announced so far include the impressive Repulsion, All Pigs Must Die, Merzbow, Sleep (who just played Roadburn), Church of Misery (them too, and they play NYC soon), and Oxbow, but the lineup also includes names like Terror, Psychic TV, and Cerebral Ballzy and more... bands that seem a bit out of the ordinary for a traditionally all-metal festival entering its fourth year. The show goes down on June 2nd across four venues in Tampa FL. As always, the show is free (with RSVP that opens on 4/20 at noon).

UPDATE: Full lineup has been released, check out the flyer and lineup below.

Continue reading "Scion Rock Fest moves to Florida; UPDATE full lineup announced"

by BBG

Black Breath at BV-Power of The Riff SXSW (more by Greg Cristman)

BrooklynVegan is proud to announce the NYC date of the MASSIVE Southern Lord Tour! The tour features appearances from the mighty Black Breath & Martyrdod on all dates, with rotating appearances from Poison Idea, The Secret, Burning Love, Enabler, Noothgrush, Pelican, Powertrip, Wild/Tribe, Dead in The Dirt, and All Pigs Must Die.

All dates are still TBA now announced and listed below. NYC's lineup will feature Black Breath & Martyrdod, along with The Secret, Burning Love, Enabler and one more band still TBA. It goes down on July 6th at Acheron and tickets are on sale.

Black Breath, who played the BV/Power of The Riff/Southern Lord SXSW showcase (along with Enabler), haven't played NYC since their headlining show at The Studio at Webster Hall. The band recently released Sentenced To Life via Southern Lord.

Martyrdod have never played the East Coast and are touring on the strength of their 2010 release Sekt. The band will release their next LP Paranoia with Southern Lord.

The Secret last played NYC at Union Pool after SXSW 2011, where they also played a BV day party at Emo's.

Burning Love a bunch other dates and an NYC show in the near future. They're headlining Acheron on 4/29. The band have the new Black Widow 7" on the way via No Idea.

All dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "Southern Lord planning tour; NYC show announced (Black Breath, Martyrdod, The Secret, Burning Love, Enabler & more)"

photos by Greg Cristman, additional photos by BBG

Directly after the mayhem that was our Deathmatch event at Scoot Inn on 3/16 (first set of pictures HERE; more on the way) BrooklynVegan & Power of The Riff/Thrasher took over the Austin venue for an official SXSW showcase. The night portion was headlined by Black Breath (an exclusive SXSW appearance) and featured appearances from Ringworm, All Pigs Must Die, Narrows (who also played the bridge show), KEN Mode, Enabler and Young and In The Way. The overall brutal vibe of the day continued into the night with ripping performances from top to bottom, circle-pitting, and hardcore scream-a-longs.

Young and In The Way's "American Blackened Crust" opened the showcase a bit past 8PM, drawing from black metal in both tendency to blast as well as in symbolism, ferocity and costuming (see the inverted cross of bones). Young and In The Way may be a relatively young band, but they are wise beyond their years in creating dark atmosphere to accompany their taut and razor sharp odes to negativity.

Following YAITW was Enabler, a Milwaukee band that contains members of Harlots and Fall Out Boy (no shit). They draw from the melodic d-beat of bands like Tragedy in their take on crusty hardcore. The band are preparing a new LP All Hail the Void for release in May, so look out for that and make sure to catch them on the road soon.

KEN Mode played only two shows in Austin this year, and thankfully our showcase was one of those. The band's noise-rock meets hardcore aesthetic has always been great, but now with a more stable bass player (Andrew LaCour) it seems that the band has hit its stride on the live stage. LaCour's animated stage antics work well for the band too, adding to the wide-eyed maniacal glances that guitarist/vocalist Jesse Matthewson throws to the audience over his microphone.

On paper, Narrows is a fantastic sounding band; members of Botch, Unbroken, and more collide to form a hardcore supergroup. Thankfully, the reality is as indelible as the concept.... in fact better. Since I saw them kill it at Cake Shop close to two years ago, Narrows have gelled into an entity all its own, a thought cemented with their latest and highly-reccomended release on Deathwish, Painted (out now). As a live band they are similarly amazing; is there anything as pleasing to a hardcore kid as screaming into a microphone along with Dave Verellen?

All Pigs Must Die is similar in concept to Narrows, a "supergroup" comprised of the jaw-dropping sticksman Ben Koller (Converge), the raspy throat of the energetic Kevin Baker (The Hope Conspiracy), guitarist Adam Wentworth (The Red Chord, Bloodhorse) and bassist Matt Woods (American Nightmare, Bloodhorse). While any band with Ben Koller is worth a look just for his jaw-dropping skills behind the kit, APMD rise above that with songwriting and a live show that is similarly impressive in its intensity. Scoot Inn was no exception; these guys rule.

Ringworm has been around almost as long as their fellow Clevo-core natives Integrity (21 vs 24 years!), and its clear that their live show has been honed over time to a fine point. The band's thrash-y hardcore crossover incited circle pits and mosh mayhem during their set, reminding us why the band are veterans of their scene. Amazing live band, and now with Aaron of Keelhaul back in their ranks, they've never sounded better.

Batting clean-up was Black Breath, the Seattle band that fused groovy Swedish death metal with hardcore vocals and aesthetic. They opened their set with personal favorite "Black Sin", and the band's live show is as potent as their LPs. If you've never seen Black Breath then please do so right away.... word is they may be on the road in the near future. One of my major highlights of the weekend.

I'd like to thank all of the bands that killed it at Scoot Inn on 3/16, the staff at Scoot Inn for being so helpful/accomodating, my partners for this show in Power of The Riff and Thrasher, and most importantly everyone who showed up to support the show and the bands and to have a good time.

More pictures from the Friday night show at Scoot Inn is below.

Continue reading "BV-BBG/POTR/Thrasher SXSW showcase in pics & review (Black Breath, Ringworm, All Pigs Must Die, KEN Mode, more)"

words by Klaus Kinski, photos by Sarah Coulter and Maclyn Bean

All Pigs Must Die (by Sarah Coulter)

On Friday March 9th, I toddled over to the Knitting Factory to see the triple bill featuring Clean Teeth, All Pigs Must Die, and Narrows. To be honest, All Pigs Must Die was literally the only reason for my being at that show, but the acts that book-ended them made me glad I got there early and left late.

Cleanteeth blasted off pretty much at 9pm on the nose. This particular show marked the first for their new drummer, who absolutely dominated the kit with incredible skill and aggression. The band was really great; they were heavy as hell and lacked a lot of the slow plodding monotony a lot of metal bands suffer from nowadays. It drives me absolutely fucking crazy that metal bands feel the need to drop their guitars down to some low ass note such as B; as though that somehow makes them heavier. Weren't the guitars on Obituary's Slowly We Rot, one of the heaviest albums to come out of the late 80s/early 90s metal scene, tuned to a standard E tuning? Yes. They were. Write heavy songs and stop leaning on the cliche low tuning crutch people. Anywho, Clean Teeth were great! They had my massive bald skull banging, that's for sure.

Next up was the centerpiece of the evening (for me), All Pigs Must Die. As a person very much into the whole late 80s, early 90s death metal stuff, newer metal is a lot harder for me to get into. There's is a lot of horseshit bands out there, bands who are covered in ink copping nice vintage gear and huge stacks and essentially just looking the part and producing nothing worth anyone's time. APMD, on the other hand, are the real article, creating some of the heaviest music to hit my ear drums in a loooong time. Sonically, they encompass a lot of elements that your man Klaus can't get enough of; speed and vocals bordering on Sick of it All, a guitar tone that reminds of me Entombed's monumental debut record Left Hand Path, and a dash of good old fashioned hardcore, grindcore, thrash, and death metal. I have missed every single NYC-area APMD since I saw their debut show at Union Pool in January 2011, so this was a show I had been looking forward to big time. Few front men have the power and presence of Kevin Baker. I've met him twice off stage and he couldn't have been nicer, but onstage he is the epitome of fury. If there was ever to be a systematic destruction of earth, whoever is in charge of the project should hire Kevin as project foreman. As he screams his way through the songs, his body language gives off the impression that he is about 1 second away from snapping and destroying everyone in the room. This was the first part of the evening where the crowd sort of woke up and started shoving which was good on two scores; first, it's great to see a typically flaccid NYC crowd actually get cranked about something. Second, someone dropped 10 bucks which I promptly ganked and used to buy an APMD shirt. Thanks, whoever you are!

Last up was Narrows who really shut things down with a big sweaty bang. Holy. I've been a huge fan of Botch forever, so for a Dave Verellen project to be happening in my backyard (with APMD no less) was double dope. What a phenomenal band to follow up APMD. I don't want to trivialize what they do by comparing them to other acts or bringing up their related projects, but Narrows is absolutely crushing. Do yourself a favor and seek them out any way you can; buy their shit, look at their vids on youtube... I cannot think of a better pairing than APMD and Narrows.

--

APMD and Narrows play together again at the BV-BBG/Thrasher/Power of The Riff Official Showcase at Scoot Inn on 3/16, part of an all day BV/POTR event at the venue. Narrows will ALSO play the BV/Chaos in Tejas bridge show scheduled for the night of 3/15 at 2AM with Regents, Darkest Hour, and a special "Nighttime" guest. Make sure and see that bridge show... don't sleep!

More pictures from Knitting Factory below...

Continue reading "Narrows & All Pigs Must Die played Knitting Factory w/ Cleanteeth (pics, video), playing BV-SXSW"

by BBG

Drew of Regents/Sleepytime Trio (more by BBG)

Minneapolis hardcore band Threadbare have announced their return to the stage with an NYC date at Saint Vitus on May 12th (tickets). The show, their first since 2009, will also mark the record release party for All About Friends Forever, a compilation of tracks from various hardcore-and-related bands including Botch, Coalesce, CR, Steve Brodsky, Regents/Ladder Devils with J.Robbins, Helms Alee, and many others.

Double LP limited vinyl release of 1000 (333 on colored vinyl) on silkscreened, hand-made covers (art shown is not final) with a 12 page full color booklet.

Regents (mems Frodus, Sleepytime Trio, Thursday) is currently recording their debut LP for Lovitt Records and will play Austin as part of a string of SXSW dates that will include an appearance at the Lovitt/Slip show at Club 1808 on March 15th with the reunited Sleepytime Trio. Full details on the show are below.

Regents will also play the Shirts for a Cure 10th anniversary show at Red 7 (flyer below) with Hot Water Music, Braid, DYS, Darkest Hour, Comeback Kid, Coliseum, Tim Barry on Friday (3/16) and an official SXSW showcase with Braid, Forever The Sickest Kids, Dan Andriano In The Emergency Room, Zookeeper, and The Life and Times at Dirty Dog on Saturday (3/17).

Another band on the Lovitt/Slip/Artist Growth show is Narrows, the supergroup featuring members of Unbroken, Botch, and many others. As discussed, Narrows will play the BrooklynVegan/POTR/Thrasher/Southern Lord Official Showcase on 3/16 at Scoot Inn as well as Knitting Factory on March 9th with All Pigs Must Die (who is also on board at Scoot Inn). Narrows is also preparing to release their new LP Painted via Deathwish, and you can stream a track alongside all tour dates and details on the Slip/Lovitt/Artist Growth show below.

Continue reading "Threadbare reuniting for NYC show; All About Friends Forever comp in the works; Regents headed to SXSW"

by BBG

Black Breath at Santos (more by BBG)

Just to be clear, in addition to many day parties (some at Hotel Vegas), BrooklynVegan is presenting THREE official SXSW showcases in Austin this year. Two are still unannounced (Tuesday and Wednesday night). Here is info on the third...

After the sun goes down on the BrooklynVegan/Power of The Riff day party at Converse/Thrasher Deathmatch (literally and figuratively), BV, POTR, Thrasher and Southern Lord will begin preparations for our OFFICIAL SXSW showcase that Friday night at the same venue! Starting at 7PM, look for appearances from:

Scoot Inn on Friday night (3/16)
Black Breath (their only SXSW appearance!)
Ringworm
All Pigs Must Die
Narrows
KEN Mode
Young and In The Way
Enabler

Black Breath are currently gearing up to release their new LP Sentenced To Life via Southern Lord on 3/27. Stream a new track, "Mother Abyss" alongside a bunch of video from some of the other bands at the official showcase, and the flyer, below...

Continue reading "Announcing the BrooklynVegan/Power of The Riff/Southern Lord/Thrasher Official Showcase at SXSW 2012"

DOWNLOAD: Narrows - "Absolute Betrayer" (MP3)

photos by Stephanie Crumley, additional SSoS photos by Suren Karapetyan

All Pigs Must Die @ Acheron

At Acheron in Brooklyn on Friday night [Kevin Baker of All Pigs Must Die's] singing and stage presence were roughly the same: self-possessed but bristling, an act of containing endless rage more than distributing a measurable amount. He barked short lines at maximum bellow, and the phrases and images ran together from song to song: "the soil soaked with blood," "merchant of death," "erase from existence," "no graves, no coffins" -- you get it. His ire slowly expanded, and what would happen when he popped? At one point he whipped a drumstick over the heads of the crowd in the tiny space; at another, during a problem with the sound system, he crashed the microphone stand against an overhead speaker. But he was careful, even graceful.

All of that can make a band imposing. What makes this one special -- its first full album, "God Is War" (Southern Lord), was one of the better rock records of any kind last year -- is that it strikes a weird place between aggression and virtuosic joy. You don't have to know anything about Ben Koller, the drummer, to recognize how good he is; he's been a member of the metalcore band Converge since the late '90s, and his loud playing is full of momentum, swing and flourish. (He performed the entire set with a wide, hungry smile.) Likewise what came from the guitar of Adam Wentworth and the bass of Matt Woods: big, rugged, articulated and stylized sound, suggesting different sources every 30 seconds or so.
[NY Times]

If you missed All Pigs Must Die, catch them with Narrows on March 9th at Knitting Factory. Narrows is readying the release of their new LP Painted via Deathwish on 2/28. Stream a new track, "Absolute Betrayer", below (or download it above) alongside pictures from Acheron....

Continue reading "All Pigs Must Die, Seven Sisters of Sleep & Low Places played Acheron with Grudges (pics)"

photos by Stephanie Crumley, words by BBG

Weekend Nachos @ ABC No Rio

Weekend Nachos teamed with Homewrecker for a string of dates that included a show last night at ABC No Rio (1/19), a stop on their way to the A389 Anniversary show with Integrity/Eyehategod/Gehenna and much more. The show also featured an appearance from Emetic. Pictures from the show are below.

A389 Anniversary will also feature appearances from Seven Sisters of Sleep and Low Places, both of which will team with All Pigs Must Die and Grudges at Acheron TONIGHT (1/20).

We recently interviewed A389 honcho Dom Romeo. Check it out.

All tour dates and more pictures from ABC No Rio are below.

Continue reading "Weekend Nachos & Homewrecker played ABC No Rio (pics); Seven Sisters of Sleep play Acheron tonight"

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Narrows - "Absolute Betrayer" (MP3)

All Pigs Must Die in MA on 12/29 (more by Stephanie Crumley)

Speaking of All Pigs Must Die... In addition to the previously discussed show they're playing at Acheron on 1/20 with Seven Sisters of Sleep, Low Places, and Grudges, they're also playing a NYC date as part of a tour toward SXSW with Narrows on March 9th at Knitting Factory, Tickets for the new Brooklyn show are on sale. All dates are listed below.

The shows are in celebration of Narrows' forthcoming LP Painted, due via Deathwish on February 28th. Download a new track above/stream it below...

Continue reading "Narrows going on tour w/ All Pigs Must Die, releasing 'Painted' (MP3 & dates)"

photos by Stephanie Crumley, words by BBG

American Nightmare in MA

American Nightmare (aka Give Up The Ghost) reunited for two shows: Club Lido in Revere, MA on December 29th and one in Los Angeles on 12/31. The shows, their first in close to eight years, featured the lineup of Wesley Eisold (of Cold Cave), Timothy Cossar, Joshua Holden, Brian Masek, and Alex Garcia-Rivera, and featured notable support with the East Coast getting appearances from All Pigs Must Die, Colin of Arabia, and Salvation while the West Coast got Trash Talk, Touche Amore, and Weekend. Pictures, videos and the partial setlist from the MA show are in this post.

Jacob Bannon recently interviewed Wes & Tim for the Deathwish podcast, discussing the details behind the reunion. Stream that in full on the Deathwish player or download a copy via iTunes. Deathwish recently reissued We're Down Til We're Underground and Background Music on vinyl. Order yours at their eStore.

Pictures/video/setlist, below...

Continue reading "American Nightmare aka GUTG reunited (pics, video, setlist)"

by BBG

Kevin Baker of All Pigs Must Die @ Power of The Riff (more by Taylor Keahey)

Here is our third and final installment in a series where we asked our favorite artists about their highlights of 2011. This batach includes contributions from members of All Pigs Must Die, Altar of Plagues, Hull, "Grim" Kim Kelly, J.Bennett, Chris Bruni (Profound Lore) and many others. Part 1 is HERE. Part 2 is HERE. Part 3 is below...

Continue reading "The Year in Heavy 2011 according to artists & friends (part 3)"

by BBG

Seven Sisters of Sleep at A389 2011 (more by BBG)

Seven Sisters of Sleep (mems Tafkata) are two for two with releases in 2011, dropping both their excellent debut and their similarly crushing split with Children of God this year. Get both at A389. Though no full East Coast trek has been planned, Seven Sisters of Sleep will join the great All Pigs Must Die, labelmates Low Places, and NYC's Grudges for an NYC date at Acheron on 1/20, just a few days after the always awesome A389 Anniversary show at Sonar in Baltimore with Eyehategod, Gehenna, and many others.

All Pigs Must Die was recently given an "honorable mention" in Pitchfork's top metal of 2011 list (though no shout out for Seven Sisters of Sleep). Check out the full list, along with some streaming APMD material and a few videos below...

Continue reading "Pitchfork lists the best metal of 2011, All Pigs Must Die & Seven Sisters of Sleep schedule a Brooklyn show"

photos by Greg Cristman and Stephanie Crumley

Municipal Waste @ Metal Suckfest

After a pre-party on 11/3 with Mayhem, the inaugural Metal SuckFest kicked off on Friday (11/4) at Gramercy Theater with a headlining appearance from Richmond's own Municipal Waste, who were joined by Today is The Day, God Forbid, All Pigs Must Die, Magrudergrind, Black Tusk, Howl, This is Hell, Ramming Speed and Prime Evil. Pictures of all bands except Prime Evil (who we missed) adorn this post.

Hardcore supercrew All Pigs Must Die also played a last minute surprise show at Saint Vitus later that night. A video from that show, and more pictures from night one at Gramercy (night two is on the way), below...

Continue reading "Metal Suckfest @ Gramercy Theater (night one pics)"

Touche Amore at Santos Party House (more by Paul Birman)

Cold Cave regret to announce that due to an unforeseen illness they are unable to travel and thus not able to play their dates in the UK and Europe in August and September.
We hope they will be able to reschedule the shows in 2012.

House of Vans hosted an eclectic lineup last night with Tokyo Police Club, Against Me, Japanther, Big Freedia, and Team Robespierre. Pictures are on the way.

Converge play Richmond TONIGHT (8/19) as part of Best Friends Day with the reuniting pg.99. pg.99 will ALSO play a DC show at Black Cat next weekend (8/27) with Circle Takes The Square and Thou.

photos by Taylor Keahey, words by BBG

Noothgrush

"The Power of The Riff" has completed three days of their five date West Coast tour, logging shows at Echo/Echoplex in Los Angeles on 8/13 (pics HERE), Elbo Room in San Francisco on 8/15, and last night (8/16) at Mezzanine in San Francisco. The madness continues in Seattle at Nuemo's on 8/18 and at The Highline on 8/20. Tickets are still available.

Bands that played over the course of the three days include Pentagram, Winter, Noothgrush, Trap Them, Acephalix, Black Breath, Eyehategod, Pelican, All Pigs Must Die, Early Graves (with new vocalist John of The Funeral Pyre!), Seven Sisters of Sleep, Masakari and many more.

Pictures from Elbo Room adorn this post. More of them, with Noothgrush's setlist, below.

Continue reading "Power of the Riff in San Francisco in pics (Noothgrush, Winter, Trap Them, All Pigs Must Die, Black Breath & more)"

photos by Adam Murray, words by BBG

"The Power of The Riff" has completed three days of their five date West Coast tour, logging shows at Echo/Echoplex in Los Angeles on 8/13 (pics HERE), Elbo Room in San Francisco on 8/15, and last night (8/16) at Mezzanine in San Francisco.

Bands that played over the course of the three days include Pentagram, Winter, Noothgrush, Trap Them, Acephalix, Black Breath, Eyehategod, Pelican, All Pigs Must Die, Early Graves (with new vocalist John of The Funeral Pyre!), Seven Sisters of Sleep, Masakari and many more.

Pictures from Echo/Echoplex adorn this post. More of them below.

And for the curious, yes, you read right. The show was one of the first to feature the return of Early Graves after the untimely passing of vocalist Makh Daniels. Glad to see that they are back in action!

Pentagram with Jeff The Brotherhood, Valient Thorr are about to head out on tour. Get your tickets for the NYC show at Le Poisson Rouge with ELKS.
Win a pair at our Facebook.

More pics below...

Continue reading "Power of the Riff in LA in pics (Pentragram, Early Graves, Eyehategod, All Pigs Must Die, Winter, Pelican & more)"

"Brooklyn, due to scheduling errors we will no longer be playing the House of Vans show that was originally announced for Thurs August 25th and is now changed to a day earlier on Weds August 24th. We promise to make it up in the near future. See you soon." -[All Pigs Must Die]

All Pigs Must Die are welcoming their new LP God Is War via Southern Lord on August 16th. The band is playing Power of The Riff next week and was recently featured on the POTR mixtape.

APMD added a new show on Oct 1st in New London, Connecticut supporting Integrity with Salvation, Incendiary, Shoot to Kill & Revenge. All dates below...

Continue reading "All Pigs Must Die cancel House of Vans show, but are opening for Integrity in CT (dates)"

photos by Dominick Mastrangelo

Cold Cave @ Bowery Ballroom

After much speculation about who the "xxxx xxxx" was in the previously announced Converge/All Pigs Must Die House of Vans lineup, Converge has confirmed that the two word, eight letter mystery band is in fact Cold Cave (and strangely not Trap Them). What's more, according to Converge, the August 25th show has been moved to August 24th. The RSVP for the new date, unconfirmed by the Vans website at the moment, is still open.

Oh, and if you do RSVP, you might notice that the confirmation email spits out the following lineup: "Converge, **** **** (SPECIAL GUEST), ***** (SPECIAL GUEST) and All Pigs Must Die". Is there one more five letter band still to be announced? .

RSVP is also still open for the previously discussed Tokyo Police Club / Against Me! / Big Freedia / Japanther / Team Robespierre show happening at House of Vans on 8/18.

Cold Cave played Bowery Ballroom over the weekend with Austra and Cult of Youth...

Before Cold Cave was ready to melt faces, Canadian new wavers Austra opened the show, pleasing the crowd with their stellar chops. Led by singer songwriter Katie Stelmanis, the band's sound could be described as beautifully haunting and catchy. We stood in awe as Stelmanis began to belt out the lyrics to "Lose It," the song that will end up being their break out hit....

When the clock struck the witching hour, Cold Cave took the stage to a massive roar of applause. The show started with Eisold tossing sunflowers into the crowd to the pleasure of fans of both sexes...

The capacity crowd hung on each note and each hardcore synth beat. The front of the house was literally shaking, as concert goers jumped in unison. The tight three piece, all dressed in black, flawlessly recreated songs like "Love Comes Close" and "Confetti" for a live audience, while at the same time extending them into danceable jams. Our only complaint about the show, was the duration of the set as it only clocked in at a touch over an hour. The next time the band returns, we need a two plus hour blistering set. -[Local Bozo]

The Bowery show, the end of a month-long tour for Cold Cave, was also Austra's second NYC show in a month after their appearance at Pier 54.

Cult of Youth plays NYC again on August 17th at Saint Vitus along with the NYC debut of Chelsea Wolfe, and Planning for Burial. Tickets are on sale.

More pictures from Bowery Ballroom and the Cold Cave set list, below...

Continue reading "Cold Cave played Bowery w/ Austra & Cult of Youth (pics), playing House of Vans w/ Converge (on a new date)"

photos by Chris La Putt

The lineups have been (almost) completely revealed for the three remaining free House of Vans House Parties. The series continues this Thursday (8/4) with the previously revealed lineup of Man Man, Glass Candy, and Crystal Antlers.

As mentioned Tokyo Police Club are playing August 18 and Big Freedia is in fact on the bill along with Against Me!, Japanther, and Team Robespierre.

As predicted, Converge and All Pigs Must Die are the bands that play August 25, though there's also a secret guest on that show too ("xxxx xxxx").

RSVP is open for all of them.

Though Crystal Antlers and Team Robsepierre play separate House Parties, they'll share a bill at Glasslands on August 6 with Balkans. Tickets are still available for that.

Cro-Mags, Fucked Up, Screaming Females & Pissed Jeans played the last show. A second set of Fucked Up pics from that show continue below...

Continue reading "House of Vans announce more bands --- almost-final lineup (and more Fucked Up pics from last time)"

by BBG

Tokyo Police Club (more by Andrew St Clair)

Get ready floorpunchers, Cro-Mags, Fucked Up, Screaming Females and Pissed Jeans are about to rough up House of Vans TONIGHT (7/29) starting at 7PM. RSVP for this jam while you still can (all our VIP tickets have been awarded, congrats to the winners). The show makes two NYC Cro-Mags dates this summer (they played Bowery Ballroom in early June) and three in the past two months for Fucked Up (285 Kent and Terminal 5).

For those of you counting at home, that leaves THREE House of Vans parties on the schedule... August 4th with Man Man, Glass Candy, and Crystal Antlers, as well as an August 18th and August 25th show which have no official lineups announced, but...

Tokyo Police Club has just confirmed their involvement in August 18th and we hypothesize that Converge and All Pigs Must Die will play the August 25th date. Word is that Big Freedia will play House of Vans too, so my money is that she won't be sandwiched in between two hardcore bands (aka on August 18th) but stranger things have happened. (meanwhile get your dose of Bounce this Saturday at PS1 courtesy of Vockah Redu.)

Tokyo Police Club last played NYC at Terminal 5 with Two Door Cinema Club. Since that visit, TPC's keyboard player Graham Wright has released his own LP, Shirts & Skins. Pick that up on iTunes.

by BBG

All Pigs Must Die at Union Pool (more by Meghan McInnis)

"Vocalist Kevin Baker, noted during the show that this Union Pool gig was their first gig ever which I couldn't believe. I still can't. I even drunkenly asked Kevin after the show if he was serious about that being their first show and he said it most definitely was. First gig or not, the pedigree of these players combined made for a supremely tight, aggressive, and flawless set. The drummer was superior and drove the music at a relentless breakneck pace. Add to that their super heavy bass, guitars, and vocals, and it was a sonic experience that made you want to punch someone." -[Klaus's review of their debut show in January]

Though their EP is still fresh in our nightmares, All Pigs Must Die is now preparing to unleash God is War, the band's debut long-player and first release with the venerable Southern Lord on 8/16. The eight-track LP is another batch of negative and crusty hardcore punctuated with elements of grind and black metal, including "Pulverization" which makes its debut in this post! Stream that Kurt-Ballou-blessed beatdown for the first time below.

All Pigs Must Die are doing a batch of West Coast dates as part of the traveling festival The Power Of The Riff, which includes names like Noothgrush, Eyehategod, Winter, Pentagram, Trap Them, Masakari (who have a new split LP with...), Alpinist, Seven Sisters of Sleep and many notable others. APMD also has an upcoming and still to be revealed date with Converge on 8/25 in Brooklyn.

All tour dates and that song stream is below.

Continue reading "Listen to a new All Pigs Must Die song (premiere)"

by BBG

Masakari at Union Pool (more by BBG)

Masakari's fiery live show has a new clip of ammunition. The Cleveland band have teamed with Germany's Alpinist to release a new split LP due via Halo of Flies and in the EU via Alerta Antifascista. The fifteen track effort features seven from Alpinist and eight from Masakari including "Hexenhammer", "Subjection", "Steps" and "XXI. Progress". You can listen to all four in this post. The latter two make their premiere here, and one is via Crustcake. The song, all tour dates and the album art are below.

Masakari and Alpinist are heading out on tour will play multiple Power of The Riff shows as part of their tour together. Since we last spoke, The Power of The Riff has expanded significantly, as the festival will now descend on San Francisco and Seattle in addition to Los Angeles. The traveling festival will play two days in San Francisco with the first night boasting an unreal lineup of Winter, Noothgrush, Trap Them, Black Breath, All Pigs Must Die & Acephalix. Tickets for that show, which goes down on August 15th at the Elbo Room, are on sale. The second night is equally impressive, as Pentagram, Pelican, Alpinist, Masakari, Early Graves, Baptists, and Aeges will hit The Mezzanine on 8/16 (tickets). August 18th at Neumo's in Seattle, will bring the festival to a conclusion, and will feature Winter, Pelican, Noothgrush, All Pigs Must Die, Alpinist, Masakari, and Aeges (tickets). August 20th at The Highline in Seattle has From Ashes Rise, Black Breath, Trap Them, Baptists and Special Guests.

Noothgrush

In case you missed it, yes you read right, a Noothgrush reunion!

Noothgrush is a sludge/doom band formed in early 1994 around San Jose, California, USA. Lyrically, they are heavily focused on self-hatred, general misanthropy and Star Wars.

The band name is a reference to the Dr. Seuss book "There's A Wocket In My Pocket", where a "noothgrush" appears annoyingly on the main character's toothbrush.

Noothgrush went on a hiatus in 2001. They briefly resurfaced in 2006. -[last.fm]

Matt Harvey, who played in Noothgrush, recently played Maryland Deathfest as a member of Exhumed, a member of Gravehill, and of Cretin. Check out a full set by Noothgrush in 1996 at Killthatcat.

As previously discussed, Power of the Riff LA happens on 8/13, and with Pentagram, Winter, Pelican, Trap Them, Masakari, All Pigs Must Die, Masakari, Alipinist, Acephalix, and the recently added Black Breath, Harrassor and Plagues. Tickets are on sale.

In addition to Power of the Riff shows, All Pigs Must Die are scheduled to play a TBA Brooklyn show with Converge on August 25th (thanks Hiro). Details are forthcoming.

In the meantime, pick up a repress of APMD's debut EP and look for details on All Pigs Must Die's new LP God Is War below. The LP is due on Southern Lord on August 16th, but we'll have a stream of a new song on BrooklynVegan this week!

All details on the upcoming Power of The Riff shows, tour dates and song streams are below.

Continue reading "new Masakari songs, a split & tour w/ Alpinist, Power of the Riff dates, All Pigs Must Die & Converge too"

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: JEFF The Brotherhood - "Shredder" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: JEFF The Brotherhood - "Diamond Way" (MP3)

Pentagram at Europa (more by Keith Marlowe)

As discussed, Pentagram will play a string of shows with JEFF The Brotherhood & Valient Thorr. That tour has now been announced and will include a NYC show at Le Poisson Rouge on August 21st. Ticketing info is forthcoming. All dates are listed below.

Another date on the Pentagram schedule goes down on August 13th at Echo Park in LA aka the 2011 Power Of The Riff festival. The current lineup also includes Winter, Pelican, Trap Them, Masakari, Alpinist, Acephalix, All Pigs Must Die, and more TBA. Unlike last year, the fest costs money this time. Tickets are on sale. Poster below.

In related news, the previously discussed Bobby Liebling documentary is hitting NYC on June 22nd, as Last Days Here will play BAM Rose Cinemas as part of BAMcinemaFest.

Discover the best in recent independent cinema with BAMcinématek's annual festival, collecting the most dynamic and innovative new work from festivals in the US and around the world and bringing them to New York City audiences. Now in its third year, BAMcinemaFest 2011 is our biggest festival yet, screening 26 feature films, including 20 New York premieres and one world premiere, as well as 24 short films, an outdoor screening, parties, live music, a photo exhibition, and more.

As previously mentioned, Gruff Rhys (Super Furry Animals) will be the focus of a film as well, as a screening of Seperado! on June 18th will chronicle his journey "from his native Cymru all the way to Patagonia to look for his long-lost Argentine uncle, the poncho-clad Welsh-Latin singer René Griffiths". Gruff Rhys returns to play NYC a few days before that, on June 15th at Mercury Lounge with Y Niwl and Brakes (Solo Acoustic). Tickets are still available.

In other news, JEFF The Brotherhood released a new video for "Hey Friend" from their forthcoming We Are The Champions. View that, and all tour dates below.

Continue reading "Pentagram, JEFF the Brotherhood, Valient Thorr dates announced, Power of the Riff 2011 & new JEFF video too"

by BBG

All Pigs Must Die at Full Metal Texas (more by Samantha Marble)

A bit of bad news... Burning Love has cancelled their scheduled appearance at Union Pool Friday with Nails, All Pigs Must Die & New Lows, and their show with Unbroken at Santos Party House on 4/9. Fortunately for both shows though, excellent bands have stepped in to fill their shoes. The slot at Union Pool will be filled by Psychic Limb and the Santos show will be replaced by special guests... Damnation AD! Santos will be Damnation AD's first NYC appearance since their reunion dates in 2007. Tickets are available at the door for Nails, but unfortunately Santos is sold out.

In related news, All Pigs Must Die have signed to Southern Lord for their new/forthcoming LP and recently dropped some details on that forthcoming LP:

The final master is approved for the GOD IS WAR lp and the artwork is currently being drawn by FLORIAN BERTMER. Just a matter of time before everything is ready to go to the pressing plant. More to come.

Continue reading "Burning Love cancels dates, Damnation AD replace them on Unbroken show, All Pigs Must Die sign to Southern Lord"

photos by Samantha Marble & Jonathan McPhail, words by BBG

Yob @ Emo's

After a monster show at Emo's featuring Kylesa, Trash Talk, and many esteemed others, the second of four BV-BBG Austin shows took place in the same venue on the next day (3/17) as part of Full Metal Texas. The BrooklynVegan/1000Knives (Emo's Inside) stage featured a rare appearance from YOB (their first in five+ years), and appearances from current hardcore greats Trap Them, alongside faves Hull, Kvelertak, The Funeral Pyre, All Pigs Must Die, and Goes Cube.

Meanwhile, the main stage at Full Metal Texas featured an appearance from Massachusetts faves The Red Chord, with last minute addition Motionless in White, Upon A Burning Body, Letlive, Elysion Fields, Better Left Unsaid, and the contest winner from Roadrunner Records SignMeTo, (congrats guys!) Head Crusher.

Killer and packed show from start to finish.

Despite having the least enviable of time slots, Goes Cube gave it their all and by the time they were half way through their set were playing to a 2/3s full room. The focus of their early day set was In Tides and Drifts, the band's new/forthcoming LP due on The End. Excellent set from this trio as usual, who also killed it at The Studio at Webster Hall at the start of their tour.

New Southern Lord signees/crusty d-beat supergroup All Pigs Must Die was a freight train of down-tuned riffs. The band conjured thoughts of Feral Ward bands while destroying the now mostly full room. Kevin of HopeCon's vocals are delivered with a furious energy that matches the intensity of APMD's killer riffage, and Ben Koller (Converge) behind the kit takes this already awesome band from impressive to explosive.

And speaking of combustibles, holy shit..... Kvelertak! The Norwegian triple-guitar attack is just plain jaw-dropping live, matching their party riffs/atmosphere with maniacal intensity. Tons of swinging guitars, and gang-style choruses to get the crowd pumped. And pumped they were, I heard quite a few singalongs, despite the language barrier (the band sings in Norwegian!).

Due to a family emergency, Rwake was forced to drop out a day before the show, but we quickly replaced them with The Funeral Pyre. It's hard to follow Kvelertak, but the LA black-metal band (sporting Early Graves guitarist Chris Brock) brought the party-vibe down and the bum-out to 11 with their blasting power. Catch them on tour now with The Secret (they play Union Pool on 3/27).

Triple guitar doomers Hull followed with a set that spoke to the old fans ("Viking Funeral") but leaned on newer material as well. The band's doomy thunder sounded amazing on the Emo's system and in speaking with members of the Emo's staff later in the week, I was told that Hull was their "favorite new discovery". Hull ruled, as usual. Catch them in NYC with Batillus, Horseback, and Caltrop on 3/26 at The Studio at Webster Hall (tickets).

After a bit of a lull, Trap Them's van rolled up just as their set time was supposed to start. After getting their gear on stage, the band played close to a full set opening with "Dead Digs with Digital Collars" (viewable below) and hitting points from the new LP Darker Handcraft like their lead single "The Facts". Killer set. My only regret is that I didn't get to see them twice.

And finally, the main event, YOB headlining the indoor stage while The Red Chord headlined the out. Kicking off with a new song (!), the mostly rhythmic, mostly open string track was short by YOB standards (7ish minutes?) but decimated the crowd on the fantastic Emo's system. By the time the band were a minute into their second track, "Burning The Altar", I knew that this was easily one of my highlights at SXSW. So. Fucking. Amazing.

I'd like to thank everyone at Full Metal Texas, Yeah Management, 1000 Knives, Branch Marketing Collective, Fireball Whisky, SignMeTo, Wacken Open Air, Bands On A Budget, Harpoon Brewery, March Is Metal Month, Evil Bong 3D, Sin Cal Industries, Metal Injection, Metal Insider, MetalSucks, Record Store Day and Put In Mouth. But most importantly, I'd like to thank the incredible bands, and everyone who took time out on a Thursday afternoon to RAGE at Emo's.

More pictures from the BV/1000K Stage at Full Metal Texas below...

Continue reading "Full Metal Texas 2011 (BV stage pics - Yob, Trap Them, Hull, Kvelertak, The Funeral Pyre, All Pigs Must Die, Goes Cube)"