by BBG

Martin Van Druuen of Asphyx w/ Hail of Bullets at Maryland Deathfest (more by BBG)

Now with a second album with Martin Van Drunen on lead throat (the first was Death... the Brutal Way), Asphyx have launched a new video for "Deathhammer". The song, the band's new single, is the title track from their forthcoming death metal steamroller due on February 28th via Century Media. Check out "Deathhammer" for the first time, along with the LP tracklist and some EU dates (no US right now), below...

Continue reading "new Asphyx video from new LP ('Deathhammer' debut)"

by BBG

Dave Verellen of Narrows (more by Samantha Marble)

Another year gone, but not without lasting memories! Eyehategod (x2). Akitsa. Rorschach (x2). BV-BBG @ CMJ. Ludicra. BV @ Northside. Keelhaul... Not to mention the tons of memories jogged by my turntable and iPod. Estimates place the number of albums released in 2008 at 115,000, and while similar data for 2009 is scarce, I think that number seems on the low side. With so many to choose from, you can imagine that it was tough to sift through 20 (22 actually) that represented my year...

Continue reading "The Year in Metal (BBG's best of 2009)"

by BBG

Godflesh (1988-2002) - Mission is Terminated

"On April 10th 2002, I disbanded Godflesh. This was something I had painfully been pondering since GC Greens' departure from the band in Oct 2001. Regrettably it took until the day of leaving for a lengthy U.S tour for the realization to finally take its toll on me.

"Unfortunately the finality of the decision and the responsibilities of making the decision proved too much for me to bare, and I collapsed under the weight. I found that without GC Green, Godflesh is not Godflesh, and him leaving proved to be an omen for me. I also feel that everything we originally intended or even imagined with Godflesh we have done....

"JUSTIN K BROADRICK / MAY 2002"

Before Greymachine, J2 or Jesu, there was Godflesh, the highly influential industrial metal juggernaut featuring Justin Broadrick in one of his first post-Napalm Death roles (check out our interview with Justin HERE). Godflesh has announced that they will reform for a single European performance at Hellfest in France on June 18-20, 2010.

Godflesh joins the recently confirmed 16, Asphyx, Crowbar, Katatonia, Omega Massif, Sick Of It All, and the mighty Ulver as well as quite a few others who have recently been confirmed and Agnostic Front, Suffocation, 7 Seconds, Black Cobra, Weedeater, Rwake, and many more who were previously confirmed. Full (current) lineup below...

Continue reading "Godflesh reuniting, playing Hellfest in France (lineup) "

Baroness @ Bowery Ballroom - 11/20/2009 (more by Tim Griffin)

BBG will publish his own list of the best metal albums of 2009, but in the meantime here's what Decibel Magazine had to say:

Continue reading "Decibel's Top 40 Metal Albums of 2009 "

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Doomriders - "Lions" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Portal - "Omenknow" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Javelina - "Step Child" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Karma To Burn - Live at Lit Lounge 4/20/09 (Zipped MP3)
DOWNLOAD: 20 Buck Spin Label Sampler (Mediafire, Zipped MP3 via)
DOWNLOAD: Kowloon Walled City - Gambling On The Richter Scale (Zipped MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Converge - "Axe To Fall" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Power Pellut - "Black Molly" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Black Skies - "Smoke and Mirrors" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Yoga - "Seventh Wind" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sleep - Live at ATP 5/9/09 (MP3)

Javelina @ the Northside BV-BBG Showcase (more by Jason Walker)

Alright! I get it. Doomriders rules. Revocation is up there. There's a new Converge and Baroness on the way. But even with all of those great releases, it suprises me that Javelina isn't near some of the top of those lists. The band's filthy debut was a monster and their new one, Beasts Among Sheep, only adds to their considerable reputation. If you are a fan of the last LP, this one is a must have. Dig on "Stepchild" above and preorder the limited edition LP version of Javelina's Beasts Among Sheep via Brutal Panda Records and the CD version via Translation Loss.

Speaking of that Doomriders album, Darkness Come Alive is out NOW via Deathwish Records. Though the party vibe that permeated through Black Thunder is mostly gone, it has been replaced by a propulsive punk rock fury and, at times, a Misfits-era Danzig croon (see "Come Alive")! There are quite a few killer moments on this long-player, but we present to you the most "fuck you" of them all, the galloping "Lions" downloadable above!

In our last round up, we shined a light on into the deepest fathoms of Australia and the truly frightening Portal. The band's claustrophobic and positively frightening new death metal LP, Swarth, relies as much on freak-out atmosphere as it does killer discordant riffery. Swarth is due out on 10/20 via Profound Lore and we have a second taste in the form of "Omenknow" above.
Misery Index have completed four new songs and are looking to enter the studio in early 2010 to record their follow up to Traitors! Stoked.

Iron Age @ Cake Shop (more by Jason Walker)

I still remember that kick ass Cake Shop show with Iron Age, Mind Eraser, and Sex Vid, and walking out of that show wanting more. Thankfully, I can add to those great memories with a PAIR of Iron Age shows in the coming weeks! First up, the rowdy Texans will team up with the great Mother of Mercy (profiled here) for a show at Cake Shop (10/16). The next day (10/17), look for the band to pull a double header with a day show at Generation Records and a night show at The Charleston with Brain Killer, Naam & Descender. Speaking of Mind Eraser, the band will team up with the kick ass Iron Lung for a string of east coast dates which will include Cake Shop on 11/8! Full Iron Age and Iron Lung dates are below.

Black Skies will release the limited edition vinyl from their 2008 EP Hexagon on I'm Better Than Everyone Else Records. The Chapel Hill doom trio is currently on the hunt for drummer #5, but not before blessing us with some seriously killer riffage in the form of "Smoke & Mirrors" above. Preorder Hexagon here.

Power Pellut is also releasing their debut LP via I'm Better than Everyone Else Records. Preorder that here and dig on "Black Betty" from that LP above!

Church of Misery will release a live record culled from their recent set at Roadburn 2009! More details are to come, but look for Burning World to do the honors in November/December of this year. In the meantime, dig on this killer live video from Roadburn 2009!

That video, news on Kowloon Walled City, Boris, Asphyx, Struck By Lightning, Ringworm, Repulsion and more!

Continue reading "This Week In METAL (09/30/09)"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Asphyx - "Scorbutics" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Gods & Queens - "Head To Wall" (Quicksand cover, MP3)
DOWNLOAD: The Catalyst - "I Hate The Future" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Planks - S/T (Rapidshare, Zipped MP3)
DOWNLOAD: They Are Cowards - Demo (Mediafire, Zipped MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Overmars - "Born Again" (MP3 Snippet)

Asphyx

Thanks all who came out Sunday night to Public Assembly. Full recap and pics coming soon HERE. In the meantime, pics from Friday's Repulsion show are HERE.

Asphyx's Death... The Brutal Way is due out in the US on August 18th, but it's shipping NOW at the Ibex Moon site. It's a sickening death/doom trip that's part down-tuned riff fest, part beastly conjuring, but 100% heavy heavy heavy. Recommended for fans of old school death metal, Entombed, Dismember, Autopsy, and the like. Check out one of the tracks, "Scorbutics", available for download above.

Gods & Queens currently have a new split 7" on the way via Hawthorne Street with the mighty Medusa, and have taken the time to drop off a killer cover of the Quicksand classic, "Head To Wall"! Download that above.

Weedeater have announced that Steve Albini will record their new album, which will be available in Spring 2010.

Swallow Your Teeth is the end of a long road for Richmond's The Catalyst, as the band has dropped multiple releases over their seven year history but THIS is their first LP! The noise-core merchants are currently streaming their Swallow Your Teeth at Scene Point Blank, but you can download the sick opening track, "I Hate The Future", above! The Catalyst have a few shows in the very near future, including The Glass Door on August 14th and a TBA show lined up for Aug 15th in Manhattan. Full tour dates are below. Pick up a copy of Swallow Your Teeth here.

Attention hardcore fans! Lambgoat is reporting that the legendary Disembodied will release Psalms of Sheol on Prime Directive in August, comprised of thirteen tracks of rare and unreleased material that includes the Existence In Suicide MCD and the Confession 7". Disembodied has reunited and sporadically played shows recently.

Baroness has a new album on the way, which we knew, but we now can attach a name to that effort Blue Record! The LP was recorded in Dallas, Texas with producer/engineer John Congleton (Explosions In The Sky, Black Mountain) and will hit the racks in October. Meanwhile, dig on the cover art (to the left) and the tracklisting below!

First of all, The Endless Blockade would like it be known that they "have not broken up". As a matter of fact, they finally released their split with Agoraphobic Nosebleed and have a split with The Bastard Noise out soon (stream the new BN track here). The boys in TEB "just figured another band would give us even less time in our lives to do anything else". That new band? Slaughter Strike.

Candlelight records has signed the mighty midwestern band The Atlas Moth, whose new album A Glorified Piece of Blue Sky will be released on Oct 6th. The band dropped their massive EP, Pray for Tide, on Witch Trial last year.

Planks have reissued their 2008 split with Tombs as the "European edition" featuring artwork by Mike Wohlberg. If you never got a hold of the Black Box Recordings version, it is highly recommended. Pick that up through the either of the bands on tour. Meanwhile, Planks recently made their massive S/T LP (where these two songs came from) available for free download! Pick that up above. Mike Hill of Tombs has posted all of the lyrics from the massive Winter Hours via his blog.

Crucial Blast is set to release Overmars's 2008 LP Born Again. The LP combines electronics, ambient soundscapes, Swans industrial dirge, and the thunder of Neurosis to create a different and powerful take on post-metal. The band is scheduled to hit the US with the mighty Battlefields, logging a pair of dates in NYC: Europa on August 16th and September 3rd at The Charleston. This will destroy.

Mastodon, High On Fire, Converge, and Dethklok announced dates (and a presale).

The premiere of the NEW Goes Cube video for "Saab Sonnet", more news on Black Sun, Absu, Trap Them, Kylesa, Anaal Nathrakh, and Darkthrone as This Week In Metal continues.....

Continue reading "this week in Metal (8/5/09) (includes new Goes Cube video)"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Saviours - "Acid Hand" (MP3)

Battlefields

Battlefields are hitting the road (again) this time with Overmars and TWO dates in NYC. Europa gets the bands on August 16th and The Charleston gets them on Septemeber 3rd. Full tour dates are below. Battlefields' massive Thresholds of Imbalance was released earlier this year while Overmars' Büccolision EP dropped in the tail end of last year.

Marduk, who are coming to the US and playing Gramercy with Tombs and Black Anvil, have announced the title for their new album. Behold Wormwood.

Black Anvil are playing a free show at Duff's TONIGHT (6/27).

Asphyx's Death... The Brutal Way is out now overseas, but the LP will drop on Ibex Moon in the US on September 1. Look for the LP honors to be handled by War Anthem Records and the limited edition CD to come with a DVD of their 2007 reunion show in Germany. Until then, dig on the music video for the title track below. In related news, Martin Van Drunen's other band, Hail of Bullets, will release a limited MCD (2000 copies) entitled Warsaw Rising on July 17th.

That video, plus news on Dark Castle, Suffocation, Saviours, Gaza, sunn 0))) and more as This Week In Metal continues...

Continue reading "This Week In METAL (06/27/09)"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Celeste - Misanthrope(s) LP (Zipped MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ulcerate - "Caecus" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ulcerate - "Tyranny" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Black September - "Purification" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Bloody Panda - "Miserere" (Excerpt) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Oak & Bone - "Build Walls" (MP3)

Ulcerate

Back to bludgeon.... it's This Week in Metal! This week, we kick things off with a death metal record that is currently in high rotation, Ulcerate's searing new LP Everything is Fire. Out NOW via Willowtip, check out a pair of MP3s from that LP available above. This New Zealand band are able to hit that seemingly impossible sweet-spot where brutality meets technicality and melody meets dissonance. Highly recco'd!

Bloody Panda is back a new LP due on Profound Lore, Summon. Due August 11, the band will release a CD/DVD for Summon which will include seven tracks, one of which ("Miserere", an excerpt above) is interpreted visually on DVD. Yoshiko Ohara, their signature vocalist and a known visual artist, is responsible for the cover art. The DVD was shot, in Brooklyn and Indonesia, and edited by band members Bryan Camphire, Blake McDowell, and Josh Rothenberger. Josh also told us that...

the whole DVD project came about through our collaboration with Cave dance studio on Grand St. in Williamsburg. It was there that we met Berlin-based Butoh dancer Yuko Kaseki a few years ago. We Asked her to dance to one of our tunes last year, and then shot most of the DVD at Cave with her last August/Septemeber.

More details to come. Bloody Panda hits the road on July 21st, full tour dates are forthcoming!

Fresh off of a triumphant set at Maryland Deathfest, Asphyx is back and will domestically release their new album, Death...The Brutal Way via Ibex Moon. Due September 1st, the record will also be released in a limited edition version with a live DVD, Live at Party.San Open Air Festival 2007. Asphyx recently welcomed Martin van Drunen (Pestilence, Hail of Bullets, Bolt Thrower) back into the fold after his departure 17 years ago.

Black September, who first came onto my radar via their work with Thou and Winters In Osaka, has a new 7" out NOW, The Sermon of Vengeance. Mastered at The Boiler Room by Collin Jordan (Nachtmystium, Minsk), check out "Purification", one of two new tracks by the black metal punks from The Sermon of Vengeance above and order that 7", as well as other releases here.

Pelican's new EP, the tour only CD Ephemeral, is out on 12" at Southern Lord packaged with a Seldon Hunt designed tee. In addition, Earth's previously rare Radio/Live LP is available via Southern Lord as well.

Filth-ridden hardcore is the order of business for Syracuse's Oak & Bone, a badge the band wears with pride on their debut 7" out NOW via Hex Records (one time home to Ed Gein, Engineer, Playing Enemy, and Cursed). Check out "Build Walls" from that 7" above. The crew recently played NYC with another fave of mine, crusty black-metal punks Infernal Stronghold, and are prepping to release a split 7" with Like Wolves on Barbarossa Records. Pick up their debut 7" and look for that split!

Anaal Nathrakh's Mick Kenney is back with his former bandmates in Mistress to resurrect Fukpig, who released their last LP Nuclear Apocalypse in 2003. Pick up Spewings From A Selfish Nation before it's gone (100 copies total!). Anaal Nathrakh's In The Constellation Of The Black Widow is out June 26th via Candellight. Preorder the vinyl at Mick/Shane Embury's FETO records.

A preview of that Fukpig, as well as news on Down touring with Melvins(!!!) Jucifer, Celeste, Mastodon, Clutch, and much more below...

Continue reading "This Week In METAL (06/16/09)"