Enabler's All Hail The Void LP made a dent with a metallic and thrashy take on d-beat hardcore, but now comes word that the band have followed said effort up with a new EP. Due on Tuesday (April 9), the Milwaukee band have returned with the new Shift of Redemption 7" available tomorrow (4/9) via Think Fast! Records. Featuring four new songs and limited to 1000 copies (350 in gold, 650 in clear), stream it below in full before you decide to order yours via the label.

Enabler have added drummer Dave Mann to their ranks, and will play dates in the Midwest and Australia in the coming months. Meanwhile Mann's other project Mouth of the Architect will play a string of dates with Intronaut.

Tour dates are EP stream below...

Continue reading "stream Enabler's new EP in full and catch them on tour"

photos by Nate "Igor" Smith; words by Fred Pessaro // BBG

Yakuza / Royal Thunder @ Saint Vitus, 10/20/2012

Fueled by Sailor Jerry's spiced rum and PBR (both were free for a limited time), the BrooklynVegan - BBG CMJ showcase at Saint Vitus on 10/20 (a measly $5 door fee at the door if you didn't have a CMJ badge), sold-out the venue with an eclectic mix of bands that exemplified "heavy music" in many different ways: the searing post-rock/post-hardcore/black metal of Sannhet, brooding cello loops by Helen Money, crusty metallic-hardcore from Enabler, Am-Rep-y hardcore by Fight Amp, searing bluesy hard rock from Royal Thunder and experi-metal from Chicago's Yakuza (check out our recent interview with Bruce Lamont). It was all six bands' only CMJ show.

If you missed Royal Thunder (shame on you), you can still catch them on tour with COC.

Special thanks goes out to Saint Vitus, Sailor Jerry, PBR, Raw Rev and Mercy for help making the show a reality. More pictures and video from Saint Vitus, though unfortunately no pictures of the amazing Sannhet, below...

Continue reading "BV-BBG CMJ showcase in pics/video (Yakuza, Royal Thunder, Fight Amp, Enabler, Helen Money and Sannhet)"

Bruce Lamont of Yakuza, with Bloodiest, Aug 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

Chicago experi-metal-ists Yakuza are welcoming their new monster, Beyul, via the venerable Profound Lore Records next week (specifically, 10/16). The record is currently available for preorder and "The Last Day" from the record can be found at Pitchfork, but now you can stream the entire Beyul record in full below!

Yakuza have two dates scheduled in celebration of the LP, a record release show in Chicago with Dysrhythmia on 10/16 at Empty Bottle and the official BV-BBG CMJ showcase at Saint Vitus on 10/20 with Royal Thunder, Enabler, Fight Amp, Helen Money and Sannhet. Tickets are still available and $5 (or use your CMJ badge), plus complementary PBR/Sailor Jerry/Mercy drink while supplies last.

Continue reading "Yakuza releasing 'Beyul' (stream it in full)"

by Fred Pessaro // BBG

Yakuza at Gramercy, October 2010 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

I am proud to announce the official BV-BBG CMJ showcase, going down in Brooklyn at Saint Vitus on October 20th! The show will feature six bands, all of which will be exclusive to this show:

Saint Vitus, Brooklyn, NY October 20, 2012:
Yakuza (only East Coast appearance)
Royal Thunder
Fight Amp
Enabler
Helen Money
Sannhet

Headlined by avant-garde metal favorites Yakuza featuring frontman Bruce Lamont, the show marks the band's first appearance in NYC in two years, this time to celebrate the release of their new LP Beyul, due on 10/16 via Profound Lore. Royal Thunder's return engagement is their first since a jaw-dropping appearance at Knitting Factory last month, and the noise-punk stylings of Fight Amp, the vicious crusty hardcore of Enabler, cello-explorations from Helen Money and Brooklyn post-rock/hardcore favorites Sannhet round out the night. Tickets are on sale and a paltry $5 or you can use your CMJ badge (a limited amount of badges will be let in, first come, first served).

While you're at the show, make sure and take advantage of the complimentary Pabst Blue Ribbon and Sailor Jerry rum, while supplies last, And take advantage of drink specials for both on through the night! Oh, and to save you afterwards, we'll also be serving free Mercy hangover prevention.

Listen to all the bands below...

Continue reading "announcing the BV-BBG Official CMJ Showcase @ Saint Vitus (Sat. night show w/ Yakuza, Royal Thunder, Fight Amp, more)"

by Fred Pesarro // BBG

Enabler at Acheron in July (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

Much like their Milwaukee compatriots Protestant (who have a new 12" and are on the road this fall), BV-SXSW alums Enabler will also take it to the streets for a US tour in October that will include a stop at The Fest, Fun Fun Fun Nites and NYC during CMJ on 10/19. Details on their NYC stop are on the way, but until then, catch them at a city near you at the tour dates are listed below.

Also below is video from their Acheron appearance with Black Breath/Martyrdod/etc.

Continue reading "Enabler touring, playing NYC for CMJ (dates)"

by Fred Pessaro // BBG

Milkwaukee's Protestant practice a brand of dark hardcore that is evident on their new 12" due Friday (9/21) via Halo of Flies. Reclamation isn't too far removed from the spirit of fellow Milwaukee rippers Enabler, both going for the jugular with crust-influenced hardcore that flirts heavily with melody but never quite loses its muscle. Stream all of Reclamation below for the first time, and you can buy a copy here.

Protestant are celebrating the release with a string of shows that include a stop on October 1 at Acheron with Gang Signs, Grudges and Brickeater. All other tour dates are listed below.

Continue reading "Protestant ready 'Reclamation' and are touring (dates & stream)"

words by Kim Kelly, additional words and photos by Fred Pessaro // BBG

Black Breath leads a singalong

Southern Lord's been keeping plenty busy on the live front with their various Power of the Riff showcases, but have only recently ventured into the wonderful world of curating tour packages. Pleasantly enough, the lineup on this inaugural run is pretty damn unassailable, featuring as it does up and coming SL acts like Enabler and Burning Love (featuring ex-members of BBG favorite Cursed) as well as Swedish crusties Martyrdod and the Entombedcore stomp of Black Breath. The tour tacked on a handful of SL affiliates and friends at various locations (if only Noothgrush could have been magically whisked out to Bushwick), and the NYC date at The Acheron on 7/6 saw Italy's The Secret perform.

The G train is bullshit and I showed up to the gig far later than desired, squeaking my way into the sold-out venue just in time for Martyrdod. Longtime fans in the audience may have grumbled over the band's decision to focus mainly on newer material (including cuts from their latest record, Paranoia, which was recently unleashed courtesy of the 'Lord) but their overall performance was totally on point. Brutal, blackened kängpunk destruction - here's hoping they make it back soon!

Black Breath's reputation as a formidable live act has been cemented a dozen times over by now, but they still saw fit to drive that shit home with a frenetic, captivating onslaught of d-beaten hardcore and shades of vintage Stockholm death. The Acheron's newly-expanded innards were packed tight well before the band even went onstage, and as soon as those first notes were struck, it was chaos. Sweat and blood flowed, hair flew, heads banged, and Black Breath kept on raging 'til the bitter end. -Kim Kelly

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It was a pretty incredible night at Acheron on July 6th. NYC's Grudges opened the show, mixing up elements of grind, slam, and crust to a respectably large crowd at 8PM. Enabler's Tragedy-influenced hardcore followed, winning over many new fans according to the chatter on the street following. Chris Colohan of Burning Love spent good portion of the show pushing his way through the crowd. The Secret's Converge-y, black metal-tinged hardcore was definitely well received by the raging, headbanging room. And nobody got stabbed. - BBG

More pictures from the show of all the bands, plus video, are below.

Continue reading "Black Breath played Acheron w/ Martyrdod, The Secret, Burning Love, Enabler and Grudges (pics, video, review)"

by BBG

Burning Love at Europa (more by Meghan McInnis)

Burning Love, who played a matinee show over the weekend, will have quite the selection of wares when they hit the road this summer as part of the Southern Lord tour. For starters, Chris Colohan and co will release the previously discussed Black Widow EP, a 7" featuring two tracks including new jam "Karla" and a cover of the Laughing Hyenas "Love's My Only Crime". Stream the latter here for the very first time and look for the record on High Anxiety / No Idea Records on 5/8.

The Black Widow EP is the precursor to the band's new LP and Southern Lord debut, Rotten Thing To Say. Due on June 19th, the LP features the recently released "Hateful Comforts" which is streamable at Alternative Press.

As previously discussed, that Southern Lord tour will hit NYC with an unreal lineup of Black Breath, Martyrdod, The Secret and Enabler at Acheron on July 6th. Tickets are on sale for this BrooklynVegan event.

All tour dates and that song stream is below.

Continue reading "Burning Love welcoming new EP & LP; stream a Laughing Hyenas cover (premiere)"

by BBG

DNF

Despite the awesome performance by Code Orange Kids (who rule, and just played Acheron), I'm still a bit bummed that DNF had to cancel our Thrasher Deathmatch show (which happened in Austin during SXSW).

The quartet, which features members of Trash Talk & Touche Amore, weave feedback-laced venom into sludge, hardcore and grind on their debut EP Hurt, out TOMORROW (4/17) via High Anxiety / No Idea. Stream all of that release below. Recommended for fans of Trash Talk and negative, uber-pissed off hardcore/grind. The EP is just a teaser for upcoming material according to the band, so we'll let you know when more material starts to surface.

If you're in the Los Angeles area, do not miss DNF when the band plays Self Help Graphics on April 27th with an embarrassingly impressive lineup of Lack of Interest, Weekend Nachos, and ACxDC.

DNF's label High Anxiety is run by Chris Colohan of Burning Love/Cursed/etc, in conjunction with Var Thelin of No Idea. Chris's band Burning Love will be touring in the coming months and hitting NYC twice. First at Acheron on April 29th with the mighty Salvation (who have an amazing new EP on Youth Attack), Shoxx (members of Pollution & Nomos) and Old Wounds and then again as part of the Southern Lord mega-tour with Black Breath (who played the BV-Power of The Riff SXSW showcase), Enabler (them too), Martyrdod (!), and more TBA. The band will release the Black Widow 7" via No Idea at the end of April.

All Burning Love tour dates and that DNF EP stream is below.

Continue reading "DNF (mems Trash Talk, Touche Amore) ready the Hurt EP; Burning Love touring, playing 2 NYC shows (dates)"

by BBG

Black Breath at BV-Power of The Riff SXSW (more by Greg Cristman)

BrooklynVegan is proud to announce the NYC date of the MASSIVE Southern Lord Tour! The tour features appearances from the mighty Black Breath & Martyrdod on all dates, with rotating appearances from Poison Idea, The Secret, Burning Love, Enabler, Noothgrush, Pelican, Powertrip, Wild/Tribe, Dead in The Dirt, and All Pigs Must Die.

All dates are still TBA now announced and listed below. NYC's lineup will feature Black Breath & Martyrdod, along with The Secret, Burning Love, Enabler and one more band still TBA. It goes down on July 6th at Acheron and tickets are on sale.

Black Breath, who played the BV/Power of The Riff/Southern Lord SXSW showcase (along with Enabler), haven't played NYC since their headlining show at The Studio at Webster Hall. The band recently released Sentenced To Life via Southern Lord.

Martyrdod have never played the East Coast and are touring on the strength of their 2010 release Sekt. The band will release their next LP Paranoia with Southern Lord.

The Secret last played NYC at Union Pool after SXSW 2011, where they also played a BV day party at Emo's.

Burning Love a bunch other dates and an NYC show in the near future. They're headlining Acheron on 4/29. The band have the new Black Widow 7" on the way via No Idea.

All dates and some videos below...

Continue reading "Southern Lord planning tour; NYC show announced (Black Breath, Martyrdod, The Secret, Burning Love, Enabler & more)"

photos by Greg Cristman, additional photos by BBG

Directly after the mayhem that was our Deathmatch event at Scoot Inn on 3/16 (first set of pictures HERE; more on the way) BrooklynVegan & Power of The Riff/Thrasher took over the Austin venue for an official SXSW showcase. The night portion was headlined by Black Breath (an exclusive SXSW appearance) and featured appearances from Ringworm, All Pigs Must Die, Narrows (who also played the bridge show), KEN Mode, Enabler and Young and In The Way. The overall brutal vibe of the day continued into the night with ripping performances from top to bottom, circle-pitting, and hardcore scream-a-longs.

Young and In The Way's "American Blackened Crust" opened the showcase a bit past 8PM, drawing from black metal in both tendency to blast as well as in symbolism, ferocity and costuming (see the inverted cross of bones). Young and In The Way may be a relatively young band, but they are wise beyond their years in creating dark atmosphere to accompany their taut and razor sharp odes to negativity.

Following YAITW was Enabler, a Milwaukee band that contains members of Harlots and Fall Out Boy (no shit). They draw from the melodic d-beat of bands like Tragedy in their take on crusty hardcore. The band are preparing a new LP All Hail the Void for release in May, so look out for that and make sure to catch them on the road soon.

KEN Mode played only two shows in Austin this year, and thankfully our showcase was one of those. The band's noise-rock meets hardcore aesthetic has always been great, but now with a more stable bass player (Andrew LaCour) it seems that the band has hit its stride on the live stage. LaCour's animated stage antics work well for the band too, adding to the wide-eyed maniacal glances that guitarist/vocalist Jesse Matthewson throws to the audience over his microphone.

On paper, Narrows is a fantastic sounding band; members of Botch, Unbroken, and more collide to form a hardcore supergroup. Thankfully, the reality is as indelible as the concept.... in fact better. Since I saw them kill it at Cake Shop close to two years ago, Narrows have gelled into an entity all its own, a thought cemented with their latest and highly-reccomended release on Deathwish, Painted (out now). As a live band they are similarly amazing; is there anything as pleasing to a hardcore kid as screaming into a microphone along with Dave Verellen?

All Pigs Must Die is similar in concept to Narrows, a "supergroup" comprised of the jaw-dropping sticksman Ben Koller (Converge), the raspy throat of the energetic Kevin Baker (The Hope Conspiracy), guitarist Adam Wentworth (The Red Chord, Bloodhorse) and bassist Matt Woods (American Nightmare, Bloodhorse). While any band with Ben Koller is worth a look just for his jaw-dropping skills behind the kit, APMD rise above that with songwriting and a live show that is similarly impressive in its intensity. Scoot Inn was no exception; these guys rule.

Ringworm has been around almost as long as their fellow Clevo-core natives Integrity (21 vs 24 years!), and its clear that their live show has been honed over time to a fine point. The band's thrash-y hardcore crossover incited circle pits and mosh mayhem during their set, reminding us why the band are veterans of their scene. Amazing live band, and now with Aaron of Keelhaul back in their ranks, they've never sounded better.

Batting clean-up was Black Breath, the Seattle band that fused groovy Swedish death metal with hardcore vocals and aesthetic. They opened their set with personal favorite "Black Sin", and the band's live show is as potent as their LPs. If you've never seen Black Breath then please do so right away.... word is they may be on the road in the near future. One of my major highlights of the weekend.

I'd like to thank all of the bands that killed it at Scoot Inn on 3/16, the staff at Scoot Inn for being so helpful/accomodating, my partners for this show in Power of The Riff and Thrasher, and most importantly everyone who showed up to support the show and the bands and to have a good time.

More pictures from the Friday night show at Scoot Inn is below.

Continue reading "BV-BBG/POTR/Thrasher SXSW showcase in pics & review (Black Breath, Ringworm, All Pigs Must Die, KEN Mode, more)"

by BBG

Black Breath at Santos (more by BBG)

Just to be clear, in addition to many day parties (some at Hotel Vegas), BrooklynVegan is presenting THREE official SXSW showcases in Austin this year. Two are still unannounced (Tuesday and Wednesday night). Here is info on the third...

After the sun goes down on the BrooklynVegan/Power of The Riff day party at Converse/Thrasher Deathmatch (literally and figuratively), BV, POTR, Thrasher and Southern Lord will begin preparations for our OFFICIAL SXSW showcase that Friday night at the same venue! Starting at 7PM, look for appearances from:

Scoot Inn on Friday night (3/16)
Black Breath (their only SXSW appearance!)
Ringworm
All Pigs Must Die
Narrows
KEN Mode
Young and In The Way
Enabler

That's right, the ONLY time you can catch Black Breath during SXSW is at Scoot Inn on Friday night (3/16)! So get to Scoot Inn early and stay all day and into the night for the party! Set times are forthcoming.

Black Breath are currently gearing up to release their new LP Sentenced To Life via Southern Lord on 3/27. Stream a new track, "Mother Abyss" alongside a bunch of video from some of the other bands at the official showcase, and the flyer, below...

Continue reading "Announcing the BrooklynVegan/Power of The Riff/Southern Lord/Thrasher Official Showcase at SXSW 2012"

by BBG

Let's be honest, the prospect of a band featuring a member of Fall Out Boy isn't the most enticing. But if you read deeper, you might recall that Andy Hurley of said band was always the one to sport shirts by Disfear, At The Gtes, Coliseum, Black Breath, Trap Them and more. Andy Hurley recently joined Milwaukee's Enabler (alongside members of Trap Them, Today is The Day, Harlots and others), and is currently on the road, making their way toward the studio to record a new LP, All Hail the Void. Look for that LP on April 24th through Creator-Destructor/Halo of Flies, but meanwhile catch their live show TONIGHT at Lit Lounge (1/9) with, as previously mentioned, Tiger Flowers and Brickeater. The show is part of the Precious Metal series.

Tiger Flowers played ABC No Rio with All Else Failed/A Life Once Lost over the weekend, and Saint Vitus with Whores/Javelina/Psychic Teens on Wednesday (pictures from that show HERE).

All Enabler tour dates and a bunch of streams are below.

Continue reading "Enabler on tour, play Precious Metal tonight with Tiger Flowers & Brickeater (dates)"