photos by Phil Maier, words by BBG

King Dude @ Home Sweet Home

King Dude played his first NYC show with a full band in tow at Home Sweet Home on April 11th as part of "Wierd Wednesdays" at Home Sweet Home. The show was a rare one-off on the East Coast for the Seattle-based goth artist, and one of a very small number of shows for TJ Cowgill (also Book of Black Earth) overall, though you can catch him in Austin at Chaos in Tejas this year as part of a bill that includes Iceage (who play NYC twice in the coming months), Xeno & Oaklander, Pop. 1280, Kindest Lines, Dangerous Boys Club, Anasazi (who play Acheron next week), RØSENKØPF (them too), and YOU.

Pop 1280, who will embark on a US tour in May, play a NYC show at Death By Audio on Saturday (4/14) as part of a record release celebration for White Suns's new LP Sinews. Stream that release in its entirety at Spin now. Pop 1280 also play a Brooklyn show with O'Death in May.

King Dude pictures from Home Sweet Home are below.

Continue reading "King Dude played Home Sweet Home (pics); White Suns celebrate new LP in Brooklyn Saturday"

by BBG

DOWNLOAD: Book of Black Earth - "Cross Contamination" (MP3)

After two-plus years away from the studio (and one BV SXSW day party) Book of Black Earth is back with another crusty blackened thrash LP in The Cold Testament, the follow-up to 2008's Horoskopus. The Seattle band's latest effort, due on May 24th via Prosthetic Records and on vinyl via Inimical Records, features eight tracks of unrelenting, crust-ridden blackened pummel accentuated with buzzsaw guitars courtesy of producer Chris Common (Pelican, The Sword). Feel the arctic blast of the deceptively melodic burner "Cross Contamination", which is making its premiere in this post. Download it above. Stream it below, and preorder The Cold Testament on CD via Prosthetic.

Outside of his time as a member of Book of Black Earth, vocalist/guitarist TJ Cowgill has a few different balls in the air. Currently, Cowgill is serving as founder/head conjurer for clothing label Actual Pain, who recently released their Spring line. The ex-Teen Chtulu madman also has a solo project in King Dude, who released the Tonight's Special Death LP in August of last year. The King Dude project mirrors apocalyptic folk like Current 93 or Death In June, and contains less of the blasting distorted guitars that serve as the basis for BOBE. Stream King Dude's latest LP below and check out his bandcamp for more details.

Cowgill also runs Wall of Dogs, a cassette label that released the Cross tape (Cowgill is a member of the blackened band) as well as a forthcoming release from Tit Pig. Stream "Acid Bath" by Tit Pig below, a track that effectively straddles the line between stoner-blues and hardcore fury, and look for the new cassette when it drops via the label.

So far no tour dates for BOBE, but that will undoubtedly change and soon. Until then, check out the tracklisting for the new LP, the song stream, and some live video of the band performing the new tracks "I See Demons" and "Research and Destroy" below...

Continue reading "Book of Black Earth releasing 'The Cold Testament' (MP3 premiere) ++ listen to King Dude, Tit Pig & more too"

words by BBG, photos by Diana Zadlo, Samantha Marble, BBG

Grace of Landmine Marathon (by Samantha Marble)

A hearty thanks go out to everyone who showed up to the BrooklynVegan/1000 Knives/Crustcake show at Hoeks Death Metal Pizza on 3/18! Though the hot sun was blaring down, the bands in the shade somehow made it hotter with their scorched earth policy and unbridled energy.

Trash Talk was beyond violent, The Atlas Moth was soaring/epic as usual, The Funeral Pyre was furious and powerful (as I found out the previous night), Book of Black Earth's crusty metal was ferocious, and Kill The Client was just as punishing as they were at Emo's. Due to some scheduling issues, we bumped Speedwolf to the last slot after Trash Talk and I missed them entirely, though reviews from the trustworthy point toward badass. Zoroaster played mostly newer material from their promising new doom-crust-leaning LP, and managed to hold back their massive firepower on stage to just "loud as fuck" as opposed to "bleeding ears". Landmine Marathon were fun and elblematic of what is great about metal today. And Coffinworm? Just plain sick blackened doom.

More pics and and a bunch of videos are below...

Continue reading "pics & video from the Hoeks pizza party (Coffinworm, Trash Talk, Landmine Marathon, Zoroaster, Atlas Moth, more) "

words & photos by BBG

Matt Pike of High on Fire @ the Mohawk

Want to make my life simple? Put two killer showcases in the same venue. Well, unfortunately it wasn't three showcases in the same venue (Relapse was going on over at Red 7 - pics coming soon). Following the big bang of the BrooklynVegan day party at Emo's, I hightailed it over to the Mohawk on 3/17 (right next door to our quieter official BrooklynVegan showcase going on at Club DeVille...) (editor's note: ...that was often drowned out by the metal sounds blaring over the wall while bands like the The Middle East were playing soft sets...) for a double bill of mayhem with the Action PR Showcase on the outdoor stage and the Prosthetic Records showcase on the indoor. The night at the Mohawk show was marked by competing headlining sets: the great Landmine Marathon (who played the BV day party that day) and none other than High On Fire (one of their only appearances at the fest).

Also along for the ride were such notable greats as The Gates of Slumber, Withered (who also played Emo's), Zoroaster, Naam, Priestess, The Funeral Pyre, and many others. Not a single bad apple in the bunch. Of those, I had never seen The Funeral Pyre or Clinging To The Trees of A Forest Fire - both were impressive. TFP did blackened death with such intensity, it was hard to not be compelled to head nod. Clinging did abstract and atonal grindcore in the best way.

Although I missed Landmine Marathon (who would probably be in the running), best performance of the night goes to High On Fire who blazed through new material and old including the epic "Baghdad" (!) from their debut The Art of Self Defense. As their set progressed, it seemed that the band got looser on their instruments, and as a result, much tighter and more cohesive.

In related news, High On Fire recently dropped the new video for "Frost Hammer". View it, as well as other vids and some pics from the epic show, below...

Continue reading "new High on Fire video, pics from the Action PR & Prosthetic Records SXSW showcases, more "

by BBG

So a few weeks ago,I sat down with Crustcake.com and Rich Hall (1000 Knives) to decide the greatest Austin venue for a metal show. BrooklynVegan metal is already going HUGE this year between a show on 3/17 at Emo's (with Torche, Fucked Up, Salome, Dark Castle, The Atlas Moth, Javelina and more TBA), and another day party at Red 7 on 3/20 (lineup TBA), so we figured why not go small. REALLY small.

BrooklynVegan/Crustcake/1000 Knives Present a Pizza Party at Hoeks Death Metal Pizza! The day show happening on Thursday, March 18th will be headlined by a special guest we can't announce yet and feature nine of our favorite destroyers. This show promises to be one of the biggest- um, I mean SMALLEST metal shows during SXSW. Who's on board?

lineup:
* Special guest
* Zoroaster
* Coffinworm
* Kill The Client
* Landmine Marathon
* Book of Black Earth
* The Atlas Moth
* The Funeral Pyre
* Speedwolf

Anyone from or who's been to Austin knows Hoeks. Even if you've never eaten there you can't miss their appropriately themed locale, conveniently located right on 6th Street between Red River and Neches. It's practically spitting distance from Emo's. The show itself will take place in the new venue that is actually the backyard of the restaurant.

The party kicks off at noon. More details are on the way. Check out the flyer and some videos of other recent shows at Hoeks below...

Continue reading "come to a metal show @ Hoeks Death Metal Pizza in Austin"