by Fred Pessaro // BBG

Carcass in NYC in 2008 (more by Ryan Muir)

Maryland Deathfest have announced their first batch of bands for their 2013 edition, including a veritable buttload of exclusive appearances. Among those scheduled to appear exclusively at the eleventh edition of the fest are Venom, Carcass, a Righteous Pigs reunion, Antaeus (who played Rites of Darkness), Convulse, Aosoth, !Tooh!, Ahumado Granujo, and Ingrowing.

Also on board will be Manilla Road, Pentagram (who play Power of The Riff next month), Integrity (who played A389), Pelican, Midnight (who played Acheron this year and Rites of Darkness), Morgion, and Kommandant (who played Martyrdoom). Now that the details on the "who" are starting to emerge, we just need some details on the "where" now that Sonar is officially kaput. More details forthwith.

In related news, MDF 2011 alums and over-the-top death metal purists Gravehill give fuck-zero about current trends, they just want to rip, drink frothy cold ones and scare the ever-living shit out of you. The California-based band will head to the East Coast this fall to play Saint Vitus on October 26th with Hour of 13, Master's Eve and Mutant Supremacy. Tickets are on sale. So far, no details on an actual tour yet, but we'll keep our eyes peeled (pardon the pun).

words and photos by Ilya Blokh

Ingrowing at The Charleston

Friday marked the beginning of pre-MDF madness in NYC, with 15+ metal shows in the next week. Picking my battles carefully, I figured the grindcore massacre at the Charleston was a good place to start: Buckshot Facelift, Backslider, The Communion, Ingrowing and Flourishing.

Buckshot started off strong with their porn-grind blast and songs like "Giving Acid to a Gorilla That Knows Sign Language". Backslider quickly replaced them for an equally short set of guitar and drum powerviolence, with each song around 30 seconds at best.

This was my first time seeing The Communion (who are changing their name to Kanalbrigade), but count me converted - their filthy grind/crust/sludge mix should go over well at MDF, although it's a shame they're playing so early on Friday (3:30). This has obviously been a hard month for the band, so it's good to see them soldier on. They'll be back in Brooklyn for two shows with Bastard Noise (6/26 @ Cake Shop, 6/28 @ Death by Audio), where they'll collaborate with Blood of a Zombie: "to create a grind/noise big band befitting such an event. This will be a more experimental chaotic performance, bridging the gap between THE COMMUNION and KANALBRIGADE, our next phase."

Czech deathgrind bastards Ingrowing played a furious, but groovy set, proving that music (and not English) is the universal language; I have absolutely no idea what the singer said between songs. Catch them again on Wednesday, 5/26 at Fontana's (with the almighty Gorod! + Demilitia, Jesus Crost and Rompeprop) and hopefully the crowd will be a bit more lively. They play MDF on Saturday.

Flourishing closed things out with their trademark disharmonic intensity, the sonic equivalent of grinding your teeth til your gums bleed. The manic guitar and and drums obliterate any possible groove every few seconds, leaving no room to breathe, let alone mosh or headbang. Unforgiving. They'll be at Lit on June 7th with Castevet, Woe and Batillus.

Some more pictures from the show below...

Continue reading "Ingrowing, The Communion, Flourishing, Backslider & Buckshot Facelift played the Charleston (pics) "

by BBG

Magrudergrind at Scion Rock Fest (more by Christopher Mumma)

This weekend begins the onslaught of pre-Maryland Death Fest and Chaos in Tejas madness, in addition to ongoing general NYC metal-insanity. And for those of you who are looking to take it the hard way (i.e. go to 10 shows instead of one looong one) there are tons of chances to check out some interesting young bands in heavy music. We talked about quite a few shows on the way already, including the FREE and ALL AGES Trash Talk show TONIGHT (5/21) at Acheron.

Czech death-grinders Ingrowing (their second NYC show in a week) will play The Charleston TONIGHT (5/21), and it's a rager. Featuring Buckshot Facelift, Flourishing, Backslider, the show also marks the return of The Communion, who will soldier on in the wake of the loss of guitarist Lee Altomare:

...after all this, we will be hunkering down and working on new material. we will also be operating under a different name. Lee and I always said that if the Communion ever did a full length, we would call it Kanalbrigade. so as a tribute to Lee, we will be known as KANALBRIGADE. add us on Myspace. also Facebook

Orphan, Dope Body, Child Abuse will terrorize Union Pool TONIGHT (5/21) as well, with the latter playing a show shortly after the release of their new LP.

Zona will host Beau Finley, DBCR, Something About Death or Dying (which includes members of Chambers, The Gaslight Anthem and Spiro Agnew) and Paranoid Critical Revolution for it's monthly shindig at Zona. The Public Assembly show kicks off on Sunday (5/23) at 8PM.

That same night at the Charleston, Tyrhombus Rex will team up with Richmond's Balaclava (who have a killer new release on Forcefield), Elks (who are playing with Cough at Cake Shop) and Mortals for a show at the Charleston.

In other news, Sodom has cancelled their US tour, which affects all US dates including 5/26 in Hollywood, MDF on 5/29, and NYC on 5/28:

"Due to solid problems with our local tour promoter and getting our Visa in time, we are forced to cancel the upcoming shows.... We are deeply disappointed by this situation, but in the end there's the awareness, that not everything is done to our entire satisfaction... We owe this to our fans, even more because we made ourselves scarce in the US since the foundation of this band, of course through no fault of our own... We surely will catch up on these shows as soon as possible, which we especially owe to our fans."

As previously mentioned, Europa will host not only the Inquisition show on Sunday (5/23) but also the whopper of a show in Verbal Abuse, Capitalist Casualties, Fang, and Magrudergrind on Saturday (5/22). Want to go to Verbal Abuse? I have THREE pairs of tickets available to giveaway. Details on how to win are at the bottom of this post. The VA show will take place at the same time that Municipal Waste is packing out Fontana's across town.

Some videos and details on the upcoming MADNESS (AKA a list of shows) are below...

Continue reading "the Communion change name to Kanalbrigade, upcoming metal shows, Sodom cancels, free Capitalist Casualties tix & more"