by BBG

Ghoul at California Discord Fest (more by BBG)

Ghoul, who are now on board for Chaos in Tejas 2012 and scheduled to play Saint Vitus in May (tickets), will hit the road for a string of dates with Gwar, Municipal Waste, and Legacy of Disorder that will include a stop at Starland Ballroom on 3/18. All dates are listed below. Municipal Waste is readying their new LP The Fatal Feast via Nuclear Blast on 4/10.

In related news, Cannabis Corpse will now feature Landphil of Municipal Waste on vocal duties, and you can cath them on the road for a string of dates with Revocation and Ramming Speed. The dates include a stop at Saint Vitus on April 28th. All tour dates are below.

Sathanas will headline the first ever live appearance from Vrolok, along with NY's Hubris & NJ's Mortum at Cake Shop on Saturday (tonight, 2/11). $12 gets you in the door for this night of local black metal. Show flyer is below and Facebook event page is here.

Some great artists that are definitely metal friendly: Paul Romano, Mike Wohlberg, Kat Gun, Buddy Nestor, and Caitlin Hackett, will band together for an art show at Gristle Tattoo (178 N8th St) on 2/25. More details can be found at this link.

Black Breath has a new track, "Mother Abyss", currently streaming below. The track, which debuted via Revolver Friday, is from the band's forthcoming LP Sentenced to Life. Look for the LP on March 27th via Southern Lord.

More suggested NYC shows, some live Coffins video, tour dates and that Black Breath stream, below...

Continue reading "Evillive (Coffins, Black Breath, Ghoul, Municipal Waste, Gwar, Cannabis Corpse & more)"

by BBG

Voivod at Maryland Death Fest (more by BBG)

We already knew that Voivod was in charge of curating part of the program, but the ante has been upped with the announcement that the influential Canadian band will play all of their seminal Dimension Hatross LP and that they've invited Yob to play the fest! What's more, Yob will play two complete albums in two different sets at Roadburn 2012, including all of Catharsis and all of The Unreal Never Lived.

The announcement comes with a new round of additions to the lineup including Black Breath, Celeste, Red Fang, Black Cobra, Pelican, Tombs (who just played CMJ), Saviours (who play Saint Vitus on 11/30), Necros Christos, Bongripper, Jesu, La Otracina (who just played Union Pool), Virus, Ulver, Final,Church of Misery, Ancestors, Horisont, Dragged Into Sunlight and Christian Mistress among many others. Current lineup is below alongside some vide, and tickets go on sale 11/26 at 4AM EST.

Continue reading "Voivod & Yob playing full albums at Roadburn 2012 (updated lineup & ticket info)"

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)"

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]

Noothgush 2011 is Gary Niederhoff, Russ Kent, and Chiyo Nukaga. Stay tuned for a forthcoming Noothgrush release on Southern Lord called: Live For Nothing. It contains 2 college radio broadcasts from the 90s.

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"

photos by Adam Murray and Genie Sanchez, words by BBG

Morbid Angel

Two outdoor tents, a club, and a theater hosted 26 bands. Perhaps by design, the premises lacked alcohol (except for the theater). So bad behavior was scarce. Fans happily bounced from venue to venue, queuing for some bands (Wormrot, Floor, Atheist, Obituary, Morbid Angel), and eating burgers from the Grill 'Em All trucks. To order the Witte Burger (beef, bun, cream cheese, deep-fried bacon, beer-and-Sriracha-soaked onions, malt vinegar aioli), my friend Robert merely pointed several feet away, where Dave Witte himself was standing.
-[Invisible Oranges]

Saturday (3/5) was the left coast's turn for Scion Rock Fest 2011. The one day, multiple venue festival relocated to Pomona, CA this year, and housed legendary names like Morbid Angel, Obituary, Integrity, Agalloch, and many more alongside names of tomorrow and underground favorites like Bastard Noise, Anaal Nathrakh, Floor, Wormrot, and many more.

Kvelertak were supposed to play too. but their passports and visas were stolen at the airport moments before they boarded the plane to the US. As a result, they'll also miss some days of the Weedeater/Zoroaster tour, but should "be in the states by Friday" (3/11). That means they should have no trouble making it to SXSW where they're on board to play Full Metal Texas. The band was replaced in Pomona by Black Cobra.

More pictures and some videos from Scion Rock Fest 2011, below...

Continue reading "Scion Rock Fest 2011 in pics & video (Morbid Angel, Obituary, Integrity, Agalloch & more) (but not Kvelertak)"

by BBG

Yob at Scion Rock Fest 2010 (more)

Scion has confirmed exclusively to LA Weekly that they will be bringing their metaltastic Rock Fest this year to Southern California.

"Scion's major event of the year," confirms their publicist, "is a huge metal festival with four stages and 30 bands. We did the first in Atlanta and the second in Columbus [check out part one and and two of our pics & review]. It's always a mix of legendary bands, important bands and up-and-coming bands, representing all the areas of underground metal. And like all the stuff we do it's all ages and free."

"What no one knows yet," he continues "is the next one will be on March 5, 2011 in Pomona. We're taking over the Fox Theater and the Glass House and building two more stages nearby."

Headlining the Scion Rock Fest in the LA area will be death metal royalty Morbid Angel with their first US show in six years (and as of now, the only scheduled US date in 2011)

...Founding member guitarist Trey Azagthoth, regarded by many as the greatest death metal guitarist of all time, will be at the helm along with bassist David Vincent (member 1986-1996 & 2004 - present) and Destructhor (member since 2008).

The Scion Rock Fest will include 26 bands on four stages (including The Fox Theater, The Glass House and two outdoor stages). -[LA Weekly]

Rumors circulated right around the announcement of Scion Rock Fest 2010 that Morbid Angel would play that year's show. Glad to hear that those were (somewhat) true. Hopefully Morbid Angel schedule some shows outside of California too.

One of the bigger names at Scion Rock Fest in 2010 was Shrinebuilder. Don't forget that half of Shrinebuilder, Scott Kelly and Wino, are going on a solo tour in February. Tickets are still on sale for the February 12th Mercury Lounge show which now looks like this:

Scott Kelly (of Neurosis) 11:30
Wino (of Saint Vitus) 10:30
Man's Gin (of Cobalt) 9:30
Hunter Hunt-Henrix (of Liturgy) 8:30

You can also catch all of Liturgy (who played Scion Rock Fest 2010) on January 14th At Silent Barn with Controlled Bleeding, Cellular Chaos, PAK, and Diablo, January 27th at Union Pool with Naam, Yr Youth, and Arms, February 10th at Glasslands with Extra Life, Lichens, and Chaos Majik, and February 25th At Monster Island Basement with Talk Normal and Nat Baldwin. More local metal shows are listed in the latest edition of Evillive.

The PRP is also reporting a rumored list of other artists playing Scion Rock Fest 2011. I can confirm that at least half of a dozen of those are true. That list is reprinted below...

Continue reading "Scion Rock Fest 2011 will be in California, Morbid Angel confirmed (and more artists rumored) ++ more Liturgy dates"

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Thou - "By Endurance We Conquer" (MP3)

Sleep at Brooklyn Masonic Temple (more)

Lists are very subjective. A "best of" list is always an amalgam of personal experiences - that fateful moment when you press "Play" for the first time, in addition to a grade of excellent songwriting. The records I've listed below had a profound impact on me this year, as did many of the shows that I attended and put on in the past twelve months. I'd like to thank all the artists who made this list as well as the ones who didn't, in addition to people like 1000 Knives, Osiris, Bill Dozer, Ian Dickson and venues like Union Pool, The Studio at Webster Hall, Acheron, Santos Party House and a slew of others for keeping heavy music alive in NYC. But mostly, thank YOU, the reader and the listener!

Alright, enough with the sappy bulshit, let's RAGE...

Continue reading "the year 2010 in Metal (BBG's favorite records & live shows) "

photos by Taylor Keahey, words by BBG

Corrosion of Conformity in San Francisco in August

Though their Starland Ballroom date was cancelled, the NYC return of the Animosity lineup of Corrosion of Conformity with killer support from Keelhaul and Today is The Day is happening tonight/Sunday (10/10) at Highline Ballroom. Tickets are still available for you procrastinators.

Corrosion of Conformity played the West Coast in August, teaming up with a jawdropping lineup of Goatsnake, Eagle Twin, Black Breath, and COC side project Righteous Fool. One stop on that tour was the previously-mentioned Power of the Riff Fest...

"And for the grand finale Headliners Corrosion of Conformity took the stage a bit after 11 PM as true fans in the exhausted crowd had waited hours in anticipation. The minute this line-up (from the Animosity days: bassist/vocalist Mike Dean, guitarist Woody Weatherman and drummer Reed Mullin) kicked into opening instrumental, you can't help but recall how important CoC was to metal - culling together punk and thrash with a love for Black Sabbath, Black Flag and the Bad Brains. Playing an hour long set of pre-Blind era favorites with a couple of new ones thrown in to prove the Raleigh trio ain't exactly a revival act. Still, you couldn't help but feel more than a few twinges of nostalgia for the days when they defined the term "Crossover" - especially when former vocalist Simon Bob (now an L.A. resident) hit the stage to sing "Holier" Over two decades later, Corrosion of Conformity remain a ferocious sound still out of step with everybody." - Mike Gitter

Another stop on that very short tour was two days later at DNA Lounge in San Francisco. A set of pictures from that show continue below...

Continue reading "Corrosion of Conformity's 'Animosity' lineup is finally in NYC (here's some pics from California) "

photos by Adam L. Murray, words by BBG

Goatsnake: Greg Anderson raises his axe in praise of the riff

Think of Sunday's (8/6) all-day Power of the Riff Festival at the Echo and the Echoplex as less of a celebration of heavy metal and more of a mission statement. The objective: Raise respectability for the perennially underground hard rock genre.

"I've been a fan of heavy music for as long as I can remember," said Night Horse singer Sam James Velde, who organized Riff Fest with Southern Lord head Greg Anderson. "I hope this will increase awareness and opportunity for bands of this nature to be able to play. You look at bigger festivals like Coachella, and you have a token heavy band. There's Dillinger Escape Plan, or there's Mastodon. But there's no tent dedicated to that music. Yet metal, hardcore and true rock 'n' roll has an incredible fan base. This is something to try and make a strong impact." -[LA Times blog]

I couldn't agree more, and a gang of people showed up to the 2010 Power of The Riff Festival in Los Angeles last week. With sets from Goatsnake, Corrosion of Conformity III (who are coming to NYC), Repulsion, Trap Them, Black Breath, Nails (who will support Venomous Concept), and many more, the Converse-presented show was free to the public with RSVP.

More pics from the show are below...

Continue reading "Power of the Riff in pics "

by BBG

Speaking of LA, they have another noteworthy festival happening in August, though that show focuses more on the heavier side of things. August 8th will mark The Power of The Riff Fest at The Echo and Echoplex in LA with the return of Corrosion Of Conformity III (aka Animosity era!), Goatsnake, From Ashes Rise, Trap Them, Repulsion, Nails, Coliseum, Black Breath, Eagle Twin, Early Graves, and many others. The Converse-presented show is FREE (wow), but requires an RSVP. Poster and full lineup below.

The original 3-piece Corrosion of Conformity also have a handful of other dates scheduled around that time. Unfortunately none on the east side of the coast (for now), but they are listed below. Three of the dates, including The Power of the Riff, are being called the "Southern Lord West Coast Tour" which all include the lineup of Goatsnake, Eagle Twin, and Black Breath (poster below).

Nails will be in Brooklyn on September 23rd alongside Strong Intention and Venomous Concept at Europa. Tickets are still on sale. Nails are also on the lineup of Philly's 3-day This is Hardcore Fest.

Unfortunately most of this stuff does not include NYC action, though we have two sunn o))) & Boris shows to look forward to, not to mention Boris/Russian Circles/Torche, and SLEEP. Coliseum was just here last week.

Dates and stuff below...

Continue reading "Corrosion of Conformity touring as original 3-piece (dates), playing LA's Power of the Riff Fest (lineup)"

photos by Paul Birman, words & additional shots by BBG

Packed to the gills, Converge played a sold-out Santos Party House Thursday night, 5/6, with support from a slate of killer whippersnappers, Touche Amore, Lewd Acts, and Black Breath. Converge, as usual, were stellar, pulling from all of their recent output and opening with the Jane Doe classic "Concubine".

All of the support impressed as well. Heavily favored (by me) rookies Black Breath where crusty and powerful, seemingly winning over the mostly unfamiliar audience. With a guitar tone that recalled Uffe Cederlund and a bassist that looked like a younger Dave Chandler the band opened their hardcore informed SDM attack with "Black Sin (Spit On the Cross)". I was stoked.

It was my second experience with Lewd Acts with the last taking place in the infinitely smaller Charleston (with Graf Orlock), and the band definitely benefited from a large stage and a tight crowd. Vocalist Tylure jumped into the audience a number of times, sang from the pit, bowled over audience members, swung mics at the front row and, on two occasions, lept 10 - 15 feet into the unsuspecting crowd. The set ended with Tylure collapsing at a fire door after crawling across the room (he was fine). Stage antics aside, the instrumental postion of the band has the material to back up their singer's misanthropy.

Touche Amore spent a good portion of their set thanking the crowd and Converge for the show that they were clearly excited to play. Their enthusiasm showed, as the Cali band delivered a killer set that was as energetic as their Red 7 apperance, though without the crazy stage dives. Look out for these guys.

Tons of pics from the show, including Converge's set list, below...

Continue reading "Converge, Black Breath, Lewd Acts & Touche Amore played Santos Party House - pics & setlist"

by BBG, Touche Amore pics by Brain Reilly

Converge at Hammerstein Ballroom (more by Ryan Muir)

Thursday (the day) can't get here soon enough. That's when the great Converge (currently on tour with Thursday the band) will headline a bill of killer young hardcore/influenced upstarts at Santos Party House (presented by BV, 1000Knives & AEG Live). Tickets for the May 6th show are still on sale.

Opening the NYC show are Black Breath, Lewd Acts and Touche Amore. We're fans and think you should get there early to catch the whole show, but we asked Converge's Jacob Bannon what he thought of these young'ns. His answers along with the chance to win one of THREE pairs of tickets to the Santos show, below....

Continue reading "Jacob Bannon discusses the bands opening for Converge in NYC (win tix) ++ Touche Amore pics from Austin"

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Acid Tiger "Feel It" (MP3)

Acid Tiger (photo by Chloe Rice)


Ben Koller is a busy dude. Besides drumming for one of the most innovative hardcore bands in the land, Converge, the man is also working on a number of projects including Acid Tiger, his band with Lukas Previn (Thursday, The AKAs), Adam Wentworth (Bloodhorse), and J Rattlesnake. The foursome will release their self-titled debut on Deathwish with the first downloadable track, "Feel It", available above. Stream two more tracks at Deathwish. The LP hits stores on 4/27 (order it).

The Brooklyn-based punk band will celebrate the LP this weekend (their only current date) with a performance at the BV/1000 Knives presentation of Narrows along with I Hate Our Freedom (mem Texas Is The Reason) and Psychic Limb. Pre-sale ticketing is kaput, but tickets are still available at the door. It's one of two shows that BV/1000 Knives will present over the weekend, with The Red Chord, the NYC return of Premonitions of War, Tiger Flowers, and Descender rounding out the Sunday (4/25) lineup at Public Assembly. $10 gets you in at the door.

Adam Wentworth and Ben Koller have also announced their involvement in All Pigs Must Die, a new project featuring Adam's Bloodhorse comrade Matt Woods and Kevin Baker of The Hope Conspiracy (that recently played Cake Shop). The band recently recorded new material with Kurt Ballou for a forthcoming release.

Lukas, Ben, and Kevin Baker also serve time in United Nations, with Geoff Rickly (Thursday) and Jonah Bayer rounding out the lineup. UN will release their new EP Nevermind The Bombings, Here's Your Six Figures via Deathwish soon.

BV/1000 Knives/AEG Live are also happy to present Converge at Santos Party House on 5/6 with support from Touche Amore, Lewd Acts, and the phenom Black Breath. Tickets are going fast, but are still available.

Some vids and all tour dates are below...

Continue reading "new Acid Tiger MP3, show Saturday & other tour dates "

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Altar of Plagues - "Atlantic Lights" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Black Breath - "Children Of The Horn" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Celeste - Morte Nee(s) (Zipped LP)
DOWNLOAD: Get Rad - "Life Without A Plan" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Get Rad - "Honest Man/Wild Man" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Inter Arma - "Epicenter" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ufomammut - Eve Snippets (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Nachtmystium - "No Funeral" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Yakuza - "Stones And Bones" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Sayyadina - "Razor Discipline" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Culted - "Spirituosa" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Year of No Light - "Hierophant" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Castevet - "Grey Matter" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Deathwish MMX Spring Sampler (Zipped MP3 files)

Twilight

Surprise! After a few CDs made their way into record stores accidentally (I am told) Twilight, the Blake Judd/Wrest project that now features N. Imperial (Kreig), Aaron Turner (Isis), Stavros Giannopoulos (The Atlas Moth) and Sanford Parker (Minsk) is out NOW on CD via Southern Lord! The record was engineered by Sanford Parker, who also contributed synths, and features eight tracks with Robert Lowe (Lichens) contributing vocals to three of them. No official word on a release date for the LP, but get out and order a copy... I think I may enjoy it more than the new Nachtmystium. Speaking of the new Nachtmystium, Stereogum recently premiered the keyboard heavy "No Funeral" from the forthcoming Addicts: Black Meddle Pt. II. Dig on that above.

Call me obsessed, but the new Black Breath, Heavy Breathing, is on serious rotation lately- much like their previous EP Razors To Oblivion was last year. The new LP has Kurt Ballou's dirty little fingers all over it, bringing their rich early Swedish death metal meets hardcore sound to life, as exhibited in "Children of The Horn" available above. Get Heavy Breathing now via Southern Lord. Black Breath will open the BV/1000 Knives/AEG Live Converge extravaganza at Santos Party House on 5/6 along with Touche Amore and Lewd Acts. Make sure and get their early (their live show is worth it), and get your tickets in advance (it WILL sell out). Seriously brutal and fun stuff... you gotta love a band that screams "reject Christ, spit on the cross" at the top of their lungs. Or am I alone on that one?

Though it only lasts two tracks (but conversely- 35 minutes), the new EP from Altar of Plagues, Tides, is every bit as powerful as White Tomb, one of my favorite LPs of last year. AoP's new Tides EP is currently up for pre-order via Burning World Records (cop it), but until that package arrives, make sure and dig on "Atlantic Lights" from the EP (50% of the record!) , which makes it's world premiere here!

An LP from last year that was just too good to be free was Celeste's Misanthrope(s). With a potent mix of black metal, furious hardcore, and even melody, it was a seriously underrated record that deserved much more attention than it got. Even though Misanthrope(s) is barely in the rear view, the band has released their new LP, Morte Nee(s) for FREE download (get it above). Make sure and order a copy of the LP for yourself via Denovali as well though, it's one to keep for posterity.

Richmond's Inter Arma totally floored me at The Charleston with their furious mix of black metal, southern stoner style and Neurosis-style imperial riffage. Besides being a jawdropping live band, Inter Arma has also put together a pretty memorable record as well in the form of Sundown, out soon on Forcefield Records. Featuring members of another great Richmond band, Bastard Sapling, check out the band when they hit the road in July, but until then, check out Sundown!

A darkness has settled over the land... details on Watain's new album have been revealed! Entitled Lawless Darkness, the effort was recorded at Necromorbus Studio (Deathspell Omega, Funeral Mist, Ondskapt, Nominon, Unanimated et al) in Alvik, Sweden, and is due on June 7 with the below cover art and the tracklisting as listed down below. The release follows their picture disc EP Reaping Death which quickly disappeared, though the CD single is currently available.

That Watain cover, plus news on Blood Revolt (Primordial + Revenge), Loss, Man Is The Bastard, Hail of Bullets, Woe, a new Inquisition LP, and more as Short Wave Warfare continues....

Continue reading "Short Wave Warfare (04/20/10)"

by BBG

Converge at Hammerstein (more by Ryan Muir)

Its with the utmost pride that Brooklyn Vegan and 1000 Knives and AEG Live present the return of Converge with Touche Amore, Lewd Acts and Black Breath on May 6 at Santos Party House. Tickets go on sale on 2/17 for $16 adv/ $18 dos. CAN'T WAIT!

The show is part of an ongoing headlining tour for the hardcore titans that leads up to their appearance at Maryland Deathfest. Flyer below...

Continue reading "Converge add NYC show! (BV/1000 Knives/AEG Presents) "

by BBG

Converge @ Hammerstein (more by Ryan Muir)

The rumors are true. Converge WILL hit the road with a rotating assortment of unsavory characters like Coalesce, Harvey Milk, Gaza, Black Breath, and Lewd Acts. So far no NYC dates to speak of, but there are rumblings that the NYC date will take place at the start of the tour (late April/early May).

Converge's last US tour was with Mastodon (pics of day 1 and day 2 at Hammerstein), who are also hitting the road in April. Atlanta's finest will hit the road with Baroness, Between The Buried and Me and Valient Thorr for a string of US dates, tagging Starland Ballroom on 4/21 along the way. No tickets for that show yet, but presales are running already for some of the shows (password = OBLIVION). All dates below.

Converge's Nate Newton is scheduled to play NYC on 4/13 and 4/14 with his other project Doomriders. They're at Mercury Lounge on 4/13 (tix) and 4/14 (tix).

Full Mastodon and Converge dates are below, as well as a few vids of each...

Continue reading "Mastodon touring w/ Baroness, others + Converge dates too "

photos by Paul Birman, words by Black Bubblegum

Trap Them

"Much like label brethren Trap Them (oft believed to be of Swedish origin), Victim's power lays in their earthy roar and their direct, fat free apocalyptic barrage that is built on the simplest of elements, i.e. rattling beats, pounding bass, stabbing riffs and, most importantly, raw, raw vox, frantically bellowed without respite. Unlike Trap Them, there appears to be no urge to push their sound forward into the 21st century, no, no, no, Victims seem content on raging as if it was 1989 against everything and everyone." [Teeth of the Divine]

Victims, Trap Them, and Black Breath teamed up with Black Anvil to play Lit Lounge last night (5/25) as part of the previously discussed Precious Metal 3rd Anniversary Party. If you missed out, then save June 11th on your calendar, because all three (sans Black Anvil) will be in Brooklyn at The Charleston on that date. Tons of pics from last night's assault are below...

Continue reading "Trap Them, Victims, Black Anvil & Black Breath @ Lit Lounge (Precious Metal) in NYC - pics "

by Black Bubblegum

Trap Them @ Knitting Factory (more by Zach Dilgard)

Three years of any kind of party in NYC is a milestone. TONIGHT (5/25), Swedish crusties Victims, BV faves Trap Them, upstart badasses Black Breath, and the recently added Black Anvil will be at Lit Lounge to help celebrate the third anniversary of Precious Metal. The show is part of a larger tour for Victims, Trap Them, and BB, that will conclude in Philadelphia on 6/12 and includes another date at The Charleston on 6/11.

Trap Them are coming off of a triumphant tour with Napalm Death (photos from NYC here) including one stop at Maryland Death Fest with the mighty Bolt Thrower.

Decibel Magazine recently ran a piece on Precious Metal's three year anniversary, and the man behind it, Curran Reynolds (who we interviewed last year).

All dates below...

Continue reading "Precious Metal turns 3 Monday night + other Trap Them dates "

photos by Justina Villanueva, Words by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Victims - "Breaking Out" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Trap Them - "Flesh & Below" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Black Breath - "Razor To Oblivion" (MP3)

Trap Them @ America in New Brunswick, NJ

Trap Them played two area shows in the past few days, April 8th at a New Brunswick, NJ basement show, and April 11th at the much bigger Gramercy Theater supporting the mighty Napalm Death. Justina caught the quartet in NJ (pics in this post), and though she missed their set at Gramercy, she did catch them outside the venue (the other pics in this post). I caught their Gramercy set.

Coming on at 7:30 as the first of a five band lineup is no easy task, but Trap Them played a tight set of hardcore and grind influenced Swedish Death Metal to the half-full Gramercy Theater. Fantastic as always, but now with new drummer Jeff Lohrber (Harlots, Dead To Fall, Today Is The Day). He replaced Mike Justain. Admittedly, Lohrber was off putting at first; he is so smooth and relaxed behind the kit, playing blast beats like he's in a jazz band. It took me a few songs to realize that this smiling drummer was actually pulling it off, and well. I will miss the showy intensity of Mike Justian, but Lohrber got skills.

You'll have more chances to check out Lohrber and Trap Them in the coming months, as the band lined up more tour dates with Swedish d-beat monsters Victims and promising newcomers Black Breath including May 25th at Lit Lounge as part of the Precious Metal 3rd Anniversary and June 11th at The Charleston. All dates below.

Seattle's Black Breath recently dropped their self-released EP Razor To Oblivion, and are streaming the whole thing at their myspace. The band has also made the title track available for download, check out "Razor To Oblivion" above.

More pics, and all dates, below....

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