photos by Greg Cristman, words by BBG

Bone Awl @ Saint Vitus

Bone Awl celebrated their tenth anniversary with a sold out show at Saint Vitus on Friday (4/6), one of two area shows for the primitive black metal trio (who played Red Light District the next night). Bone Awl was joined by Negative Plane and Villains (who performed as a trio for the weekend) at Saint Vitus, with the latter then going on to play another whopper of a show at Acheron the next night with Midnight, Parasytic & Trenchgrinder (pictures on the way).

Check out pictures and some live video of Bone Awl, Negative Plane & Villains at Saint Vitus, below...

Continue reading "Bone Awl celebrated their 10th anniversary at Saint Vitus with Negative Plane & Villains (pics/video)"

by BBG

Midnight at Rites of Darkness (more by BBG)

Greetings from Oslo where I'm currently experiencing the third day of this year's Interforn Festival. Read about my past two days HERE and HERE.

I am sure that I don't need to remind some of you metal fans that tonight and tomorrow are two killer shows... both featuring Villains! Tonight (4/6) features Bone Awl and Negative Plane at Saint Vitus while tomorrow's jump-off will be Midnight/Trenchgrinder/Parasytic at the newly renovated Acheron. Onslaught, who also rules and is in the US for the first time, plays on Saturday at Saint Vitus (sans Villains), so that's a bummer/tough choice.

Horna are scheduling a tour around their MDF appearance, including a show with Kommandant, Abazagorath and Woe on June 2 at Saint Vitus (tickets).

More uggested shows and some full live sets by Born Against, Neurosis and Thou are below... what did I miss?

Continue reading "Evillive (Horna, Bone Awl, more) "

by BBG

EMM of Occultation on stage with Negative Plane at Union Pool (more by BBG)

Negative Plane's Stained Glass Revelations was a triumph of darkness, utilizing unnerving and reverb drenched guitars to create a vision that was unique to black metal. Negative Plane isn't the singular vision of darkness for its members though; members of the band also serve time in bands like Agrath and the harrowing Occultation.

Unlike Agrath, Occultation shies away from black metal in technique for the most part, instead co-opting the genre's sense of dread to their gothic rock laced with psychedelia. Much like contemporaries in Jex Thoth and Sabbath Assembly, female vocals are the focus of Occultation, with bells, eerie organs and guitars playing second fiddle to overall atmosphere. The band is preparing to release Three & Seven via Profound Lore in North America and Invictus Productions overseas on April 17th and you can stream the new songs "Living Portrait" and "Dreamland In Flames" below, the latter of which makes its debut here today.

Reminder: Negative Plane will join Bone Awl for their 10th anniversary at Saint Vitus on Friday (4/6, tickets). The show is one of two for Bone Awl, who will also play a show at Red Light District on 4/7 in the Rockaways with FFH and Pharmakon.

Stream those tracks below.

Continue reading "Occultation prepares "Three & Seven" (stream new songs); Bone Awl adds show"

by BBG

Art for Bone Awl's Meaningless Meaning Less

I'm proud to announce that BV & Order of the Serpent will present a rare show celebrating the tenth anniversary (!) of primitive black metal fiends Bone Awl at Saint Vitus on April 6th. The band will team with NYC sleazoids Villains and reverb-y gods of black metal Negative Plane. Tickets are on sale for this event.

Bone Awl's last release was a split with Ashdautas (of the Black Twilight Circle, who recently played NYC) which hit via Crepusculo Negro late last year. The show is their only current show scheduled so far.

The Saint Vitus show is the day before Villains play Acheron with Midnight, Parasytic and Trenchgrinder (on April 7th).

by BBG

Rorschach at The Charleston (more by Ryan Muir)

Last year's jaw-dropping lineup at Chaos In Tejas was sick, and 2010 is proving to be no different. For four days across four different Austin venues, May 27th to the 30th at Emo's, Mohawk, Red 7 and Beerland, the festival will offer some of the most impressive names in the independent/underground scene including the indestructible Rorschach, the first ever US appearance from Australian punk greats X, a one-time reunion of Japanese crust-core band Bastard, the quirky cutesy indie pop-punk of Grass Widow, Gehenna (who just played A389), Subhumans, Bastard Noise (who have a new record), Bone Awl, BV faves Jeff The Brotherhood, The Spits, Psychedelic Horseshit, Ty Segall, The Ponys, Iron Lung (who recently played Cake Shop), Poison Idea, Inquisition, and many many many others.

In addition to the obvious mayhem that will ensue over the four days, Chaos in Tejas will also showcase art from some of the scene's most interesting names including Tim Kerr (of Big Boys), Winston Smith (responsible for tons of collage work, including the Dead Kennedys best album art), and Bryan Ray Turcotte (best known for his book Fucked Up and Photocopied).

The full (and intimidating) list is below...

Continue reading "Chaos in Tejas 2010 (May 27-30) - intial lineup (Rorschach, Bastard reunion, Spits, Bone Awl, Ty Segall, much more)"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Minsk - "Three Moons" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Magrudergrind - "Excommunicated" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Magrudergrind - "Lyrical Ammunition For Scene Warfare" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Afgrund - "Klinisk Digital Kyla" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Afgrund - "Borja Fran Noll" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Thou - "Into The Void" (Black Sabbath cover, MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Thou - "Sweet Leaf" (Black Sabbath cover, MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Thou - "Lord Of This World" (Black Sabbath cover, MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Thou - "Black Sabbath" (Black Sabbath cover, MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Black Pyramid - "Visions of Gehenna" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Gnaw Their Tongues - "Rife with Deep Teeth Marks" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Complete Failure - Heal No Evil (ZIPPED MP3 Album)

Lots of ground to cover, since we missed ya last week, so lets get right to it with the mighty Minsk! The Chicagoan's new album With Echoes In The Movement Of Stone is out now, and it definitely delivers on the promises of The Ritual Fires of Abandonment. Highly recommended, as evidenced by the monstrosity "Three Moons" available for download above!

At The Charleston on 5/29, I managed to catch the pummeling Magrudergrind along with the equally awesome powerviolence of The Endless Blockade. The pair are touring surrounding their MDF appearance, and while TEB doesn't have a new album out, Magrudergrind DOES; a self-titled LP available now via Willowtip! Cop that here, and cop a pair of songs from the record above!

Also up at Willowtip, the new LPs by Defeatist and Afgrund! The new Defeatist LP, Sharp Blade Sinks Deep Into Dull Minds, is actually a compilation of previous EPs and other releases, but definitely provides a good preview as to what these grinders are about before their new LP drops (soon). Meanwhile Afgrund's new LP, Vid Helvetets Grindar, is also on preorder. Check out the band's deathgrind-y groove on tracks like "Klinisk Digital Kyla", "Borja Fran Noll", both downloadable above.

Check out two noteworthy streams... Khanate's Clean Hands Go Foul and Xasthur's All Reflections Drained. Both albums are out NOW via Hydra Head Records. In the meantime, check out an awesome interview with James Plotkin of Khanate and make sure and buy that Khanate hunting knife too!

Goes Cube are finally home from their tour promoting the massive Another Day Has Passed. Their "homecoming show" is scheduled for tonight (6/5) at Union Hall with The Detachment Kit amd The Thin Man. Tickets are still available.

Ancestors have completed recording their follow-up to last year's Neptune With Fire. Featuring four songs, and three interludes, I had a chance to preview a few tracks which are definitely as epic as their previous material, and just as compelling. Look for Sera Timms from Black Math Horseman and David Scott Stone to make an apperance on the as-yet untitled LP, and look for more news very soon!

A member of Pelican and a member of Tombs have agreed to a "bro tat" commemorating their current tour together. So what you say? YOU can decide what it is! Pictures from their recent show together at Irving Plaza are HERE in case you missed them.

Iron Age and Sex Vid are in town this weekend. More info, dates, and an MP3 from Iron Age's Tee Pee Records debut, HERE.

Liturgy have been added to our Northside Festival showcase. Howl have been added to the roster of Relapse Records, and we just got word that so were Black Anvil!

Black Pyramid has released their new self-titled LP on the doom stable Meteor City Records. While vocalist Andy Beresky comes off sounding like J.D. Cronise at times (NOT a bad thing), these Massachusetts boys definitely are in a whole different category than The Sword. With an ability to balance their bombastic blues riffs with stylistic touches of the greats (ie Electric Wizard, Sleep, Pentagram, etc) without sounding derivative, check out a video for Black Pyramid's "And The Gods Made War/Visions of Gehenna" below and download "Visions of Gehenna" above! Full BP tour dates are below, including their appearance at the Stoner Hands Of Doom Festival.

That video and Thou, Indian, Ulver, Brutal Truth, Wolves In The Throne Room, Municipal Waste, and Narrows as This Week In Metal Continues...

Continue reading "This Week In METAL (06/05/09)"