by BBG, Touche Amore pics by Brain Reilly

Converge at Hammerstein Ballroom (more by Ryan Muir)

Thursday (the day) can't get here soon enough. That's when the great Converge (currently on tour with Thursday the band) will headline a bill of killer young hardcore/influenced upstarts at Santos Party House (presented by BV, 1000Knives & AEG Live). Tickets for the May 6th show are still on sale.

Opening the NYC show are Black Breath, Lewd Acts and Touche Amore. We're fans and think you should get there early to catch the whole show, but we asked Converge's Jacob Bannon what he thought of these young'ns. His answers along with the chance to win one of THREE pairs of tickets to the Santos show, below....

Continue reading "Jacob Bannon discusses the bands opening for Converge in NYC (win tix) ++ Touche Amore pics from Austin"

by Black Bubblegum

Scion Rock Fest in Atlanta is just a few days away (Feb 28th) and until the opening tones of Kylesa's guitars, we'll present a series of discussions with some of the key artists taking one of the four stages at the Masquerade. Monday we spoke to Scott Hull of Pig Destroyer and Agoraphobic Nosebleed and yesterday it was CT of Rwake. Today, we speak to none other than Jacob Bannon of Converge.

Jacob Bannon has a tattoo of a heart that covers his throat. Heart in your throat... I'd say that it's appropriate. As vocalist and lyricist for Converge, Bannon is one of a handful of the hardcore elite that crafts poignant, thought provoking lyrics that can comfortably sit side by side with the challenging hardcore mindbenders that the rest of his band spews forth. Converge has delivered blistering hardcore for more than seventeen years, and along the way Bannon has been involved in multiple side projects (Irons, Supermachiner, etc) and solo efforts, all while also steering the hardcore superlabel Deathwish Records.

Converge is set to close out Scion Rock Fest at The Masquerade in Atlanta, just a few short weeks before the band goes on a short tour that will include Europa on March 27th (tix here, full tour sched below). We sat down to talk to Bannon about the new Converge LP, Deathwish, his collaboration with Dwid of Integrity, and his forthcoming solo record.

===

You and the guys are working on the new Converge... Does it have a title? Any song titles yet? A theme?

The record does have a title as well as song titles, however we are not ready to release them just yet.

continued below...

Continue reading "an interview w/ Jacob Bannon of Converge"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: The Sword - "Fire Lances Of The Ancient Hyperzephyrians" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Soilent Green - "Antioxidant" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Iron Maiden - "Intro", "Aces High", & "Two Minutes To Midnight", Live in Tokyo Feb 16th, 2008 (VIDEO, WMV)

Neurot Recordings have announced details for THREE Neurosis-related releases in the next two months! First up, a new solo album from the mighty Scott Kelly, who will release The Wake on May 5th, his first release in the seven years since his debut Spirit Bound Flesh. Two weeks later, the world's most intense elementary school teacher Steve Von Till drops A Grave is a Grim Horse, his first non-Harvestman release in six years (Harvestman recently collabo'd with Fear Falls Burning). More details on A Grave Is A Grim Horse can be found here. The third we knew about, but has now gone official: A Storm Of Light's debut And We Wept the Black Ocean Within will be released on June 2nd. Read our recent interview with Josh Graham here.

Tickets for the previously mentioned second At The Gates show go on sale Thursday April 3rd at 10 AM here. Tomas Lindberg's other band, the mighty Disfear, have announced a few more dates, including another show in Brooklyn at Europa on May 22nd with Trap Them and Bloodhorse! Ticket info for Disfear at Europa isn't available, but there are still tickets for their show at the Knitting Factory. New tour dates are down below.

MUCH MORE..............

Continue reading "This Week In METAL (04/02/08)"