by Black Bubblegum

Ocean

My favorite of the two Oceans, the one missing a definite article in front of their name (Ocean of Maine), will be the next heavy band to headline Show No Mercy at Public Assembly (Feb 15th). As part of some sort of bizarre doom-off, Ocean will try to out rumble and underpace the mighty Salome, Riff Cannon, and Batillus who are also on board for the (anti-) festivities. Both Ocean (profiled here) and Salome (who we profiled in August) released full-length LPs last year... Pantheon of The Lesser and S/T respectively. Riff Cannon will drop their debut LP in 2009 and Batillus recently made their new self-titled EP available for free download here.

Speaking of Salome, lead vocalist Kat will make her first Agoraphobic Nosebleedappearance on Agorapocalypse, the latest LP from Scott Hull's pummeling grindcore project. Due April 14th, Agorapocalypse won't be the lone AnB in 2009; the band plans a series of splits for this year with a wide array of bands including Despise You, ANS, Agents of Satan and Thrones!

Mayhem, Marduk, Cattle Decapitation, and Cephalic Carnage have added a date together in Seattle Washington @ Studio Seven on June 5th. Pleasegodletitbeafulltour... Pleasegodletitbeafulltour... Cattle Decapitation's The Harvest Floor dropped on Jan 20th.

Brutal Truth recently announced their involvement in the Auditory Assault Festival (with Gadget, Kill The Client, Jig-ai and others), and now comes word that the band will have released their new record before then! Enter Evolution Through Revolution, recorded at Watchman Studios by Doug White (Psyopus) and due on April 14th via Relapse. Stokeage. Brutal Truth drummer Richard Hoak will do double duty at the Auditory Assault festival, also playing with his Total Fucking Destruction project.

Isis announced their new album, Wavering Radiant, due on May 5th via Ipecac Records! Produced by Joe Baressi (Tool, Queens of The Stone Age), look for the wax to hit the streets on Apr. 21. Tool's Adam Jones contributed guitar tracks to a pair of songs on Wavering Radiant.

Sweet do, Jared Big Business!

Big Business have announced their new album, Mind The Drift due in April via Hydra Head Records. Produced by Phil Ek (The Shins, Earth, Fleet Foxes, Built To Spill), the record is the first to feature new guitarist Toshi Kasai. Stream the new track "Gold and Final" at their myspace.

Ahhh... NOW I know why 1349 are heading out on tour.... Revelations Of The Black Flame is the name of the recently announced new album by the black metallers! Recorded at StudioStudio Nyhagen in Bøverbru, Norway, 1349 have enlisted Tom Gabriel Fischer to help man the boards! Look for it sometime this spring. Meanwhile, Tom Gabriel Fischer's new venture post-Celtic Frost, Triptykon, is currently in the demo phase. 1349 will be at BB Kings on March 2nd, tickets are available here.

The sickos in Sourvein have scheduled a few new dates, including an NYC date that looks to be part of an upcoming US tour. No details just yet, but set aside April 19th until then. Tour dates below.

The previously announced Converge show at Europa on March 27th (tickets here) just got a little bit nuttier with the addition of Genghis Tron, Ceremony, Rise and Fall, and Pulling Teeth.

Lair Of The Minotaur's new DVD, WAR METAL BATTLE MASTER is out NOW at Southern Lord. Meanwhile, bassist Nate Olp (Demiricous) has been sent in to replace the departed DJ Barraca for live gigs. DJ recently left LOTM to joined Harpoon, who's new record, Double Gnarly / Triple Suicide is due on Feb 10th via Interloper Records.

News on Sublime Cadaveric Decomposition, Weekend Nachos, Carcass, Blut Aus Nord, Lamb Of God, Javelina, and more below...

Continue reading "This Week In METAL (01/23/09)"

by Black Bubblebgum

sunn o))) @ Knitting Factory (more by Damien Neva)


Ya hear that rumble? Thats the sound of great records perched in the distance waiting to descend on 2009 (more on that later). While this year will bring about great music and another set of "next big things", let's take the time to be thankful for 2008 and all of it's memorable records and shows. Here are my favorite records of 2008:

Continue reading "the year in Metal (Best of 2008, what's coming in 2009)"

by Black Bubblegum

Cult Of Luna @ Roadburn 2008 (gorgogol)

Roadburn (April 23-26th, 2009 in Tilburg, Holland) announced more bands to an already impressive festival... one that sold out in 45 minutes when tickets went on sale Saturday! Walter Hoeijmakers / Roadburn comments:

"We still can't believe that the 2009 festival sold out so quickly. It was utter mayhem when the tickets went on sale last Saturday. Many of the tickets were gone before the regular Roadburn attendees realized that sales had even started. Unfortunately, about 150 to 200 tickets are currently being sold through secondary ticket outlets for prices up to $350. We feel very badly that Roadburn can't prevent this from happening. Please be very aware that some of these scalpers may sell fake tickets."

We already knew of Neurosis and their Beyond The Pale Festival with Young Gods & A Storm Of Light, the maaajor addition of the reuniting Saint Vitus and Amon Duul II, followed by Baroness & Minsk, and then Om... but now the entire line-up has been revealed including the additions of Wolves In The Throne Room (who also played 2008 - stream that here), Ufomammut, Church Of Misery (who have a new EP and also played 2008), Burial Hex, Gnaw Their Tongues, Alexander Tucker, and many many many others. Check out the full listing below....

Continue reading "Roadburn 2009 - full lineup & no more tickets "

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Crowpath - "The Deed" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Crowpath - "One With Filth" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Crowpath - "Plague Bearer" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Graf Orlock - "Run Over By A Truck" (M4A)
DOWNLOAD: Cripple Bastards - "Sangue Chiama" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ocean - "The Beacon" (Excerpt) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ocean - "Of The Lesser" (Excerpt) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Kylesa - "Set Controls for The Heart Of The Sun" (MP3, Pink Floyd cover)
DOWNLOAD: Kylesa - "Between Silence & Sound" (Remix) (MP3)

Crowpath

Let us all give thanks to Crowpath. For it is on November 25th, that the Swedes will brutalize us at the highly chaotic crossroads of brutal grind, death, doom, and hardcore with their new album One with Filth. The eleven-track LP One With Filth is currently up for preorder with a shirt at Willowtip Records, but you can download THREE of those tracks above, including "The Deed" available only here!

How can it get any better? Maryland Deathfest have added Napalm Death, Venomous Concept, and Misery Index to the already STELLAR lineup which includes the mighty Bolt Thrower. Tickets for Maryland Deathfest are on sale.

As we discussed last week, the mighty Graf Orlock have a new record on the way, Destination Time Today. The third installment in their cinemagrind trilogy, da Graf have been (un)kind enough to hook us BV'ers up with the new jam "Run Over By A Truck", downloadable above!

Ocean (of Maine) drops their new record, the two-track Pantheon Of The Lesser on Important Records on 11/11... check out the pair of MP3 excerpts available for download above. Likey? Pick it up right cheah...

Trap Them's massive new album Seizures In Barren Praise and the domestic issue of Carpathian's Isolation is out NOW via Deathwish Records. Broke/cheap & want 'em both? Email BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM (subject: Trap Them) and win BOTH CDs or BOTH LPs! Include your first and last name, your preference in format (CD or LP)... winners will be selected at random and contacted. Meanwhile, get your listen on at Hardcore Night's Trap Them Listening Party "and Beer Chugging Contest" (awesome) at The Charleston on 11/13.. flyer is below. Trap Them also was interviewed by Crustcake and sat in at WNYU! Download it here (forward to the 27 min mark).

Italian me(n)tal pantients Cripple Bastards dropped their new grinder Variante Alla Morte on FETO Records (owned by Shane Embury and Mick Kenney). Check out "Sangue Chiama", one of the few tracks over 30 seconds long (hell, over 10 seconds long), available for download above!

Neurosis have announced a few new new bands for the Beyond The Pale event at Roadburn 2009 including Om, Six Organs Of Admitttance, Skullflower, and A Storm Of Light! Hmmm, Wino is at Roadburn with Saint Vitus, Scott Kelly of Neurosis is obviously there, and now Al Cisneros from Om is on board.... thats 3/4 of Shrinebuilder... we'll keep you posted for new additions as come up! As originally discussed in February, Scott "Wino" Weinrich has a new solo album in the works... but now it has a name and a date! Look for the new album, Punctuated Equilibrium on Jan 20th 2009, and check out the album art!

That album art plus details on the Amenra US tour, news on Mastodon, Jesu, Metallica, Giant Squid, Agoraphobic Nosebleed and so much more below...

Continue reading "This Week In METAL (11/12/08) "

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Made Out Of Babies - "Cooker" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Meshuggah - "Bleed" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Krallice - "Wretched Wisdom" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Coffins - "Under The Stench" (MP3)

Made Out of Babies

Word of the day:
Pantagruelian
pan-tuh-groo-eh-lee-uhn; adj
1. huge, gigantic, enormous.
EX: Despite her relatively lilliputian stature, Julie Christmas's pantagruelian voice sails above an otherwise intimidating blast of Jesus Lizard-meets-Isis thunder on "Cooker" (above).

"Cooker" comes from Made Out Of Babies's aforementioned new record The Ruiner which comes out on June 24th, the same day as their record release party at Union Pool with Dianogah and The Austerity Program (who are also playing the After The Jump Fest).

Japanese sickos Coffins have released their latest Buried Death on 20 Buck Spin and even though it wasn't SUPPOSED to be available until June 24th, it's available now at the label website and at their upcoming shows. Check out the track "Under The Stench" above.

Set times and details have arrived for the 2008 Maryland Death Fest (May 23-25). Check 'em out below. Tickets are still available.

Iron Maiden kick off their North American tour next week. Single tickets are still available for the show at MSG, and you should have no problems getting lawn seats for PNC.

continued......

Continue reading "This Week In METAL (05/16/08)"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Minsk - White Wings from The Ritual Fires Of Abandonment (mp3)
DOWNLOAD: The Ocean - Eoarchaean from Precambrian (Link to mp3)

The Ocean live in Milan, Nov 4, 2007 (nerochiaro)

Deutchlanders The Ocean have announced a date (May 26) at the Knitting Factory in NYC with Kylesa, AND Lair Of The Minotaur! New Prostethic signees Withered will also be on hand to start off the night. Tickets are on sale. No word on a full tour, but there is one in the works. The Ocean is currently in Europe with Trap Them. Lair Of The Minotaur have a new album out March 25th.

Illinois' Nachtmystium have released details on their new LP... and EP! Yepper, thats a double whammy from the Chicago dudes with the killer "Instinct". Check out the new song "Your True Enemy" from full-length Assassins and "Depravity" from their Worldfall e.p. at their myspace.

One group heavily influenced by the newly reformed Amebix (along with Hellhammer/early Celtic Frost) is Gallhammer, who have released the limited edition gatefold 2LP of last year's triumphant Ill Innocence. Pick that up at Peaceville and look for the recently announced DVD for "Ruin Of A Church", documenting their 2007 tour with production/audio mix by Justin Broadrick.

Don't miss the pre-sale for the recently-announced At The Gates reunion tour dates.

Much more below.....

Continue reading "This Week In METAL (03/10/08)"