by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: 16 - "Skin & Bones" (MP3)

Downtrodden miscreants 16 have dropped off a new track, "Skin & Bones" from their upcoming Bridges To Burn due on Jan 20th via Relapse. Made of the Drop Out era lineup, 16 will tour their native west coast in the new year and ready reissues of Blaze Of Incompetence, Drop Out, Curves That Kick, and The Early Years, a collection of rare 7's and B-Sides. In other news, Ex-16 guitarist Phil Vera is scheduled to kick out the jams with powerviolence badasses Despise You at Maryland Deathfest.

The Dillinger Escape Plan have "loosely set aside" June and July 2009 to record their new album. In a myspace entry entitled "Blogzilla" (they ain't kiddin') the band also had this to say:

We're writing, ...recording with Steve Evetts, ...we've got Australia booked for late Feb/early March, and we'll more than likely be doing some stateside stuff as well around that time, maybe some US shows before we go down under, we'll see.

Tombs recently dropped off of the bill for the Don Cab show at Europa, but they are still on for Maxwell's AND have added a matinee at ABC No Rio on Feb 21, 2009 with Black Anvil and Woe. Meanwhile, Batillus will also be on hand to open Withered when they damn the stages of Europa on Dec 19th with Inswarm. Tickets are on sale. Withered was captured on video by Metalkult when they opened for the black metal horde Watain.

Genghis Tron, Knife Hyts, and Kayo Dot will triple-team Death By Audio on Dec 20th.

Napalm Death have revealed more details about their upcoming follow-up to the triumphant Smear Campaign. Time Waits For No Slave spans fourteen tracks, including the currently streaming "Diktat", look for it to drop on Century Media on Feb 10th with a cover that looks sorta like this. In the meantime, dig on the tracklisting way below and video of the band grinding their way through "Diktat" and "On The Brink Of Extinction" in the video below, shot on 11/22/08 in Leeds, UK. Barney from ND was recently interviewed by Rock Sound, and the band are scheduled to play the new record during a hometown show in Birmingham, UK on January 31st.

That video, Pelican, Integrity, A Storm Of Light, Coalesce, Demiricous and so much more, below...

Continue reading "This Week In METAL (12/05/08)"

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: Sigh - "Black Metal" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Salome - "Black Tides" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Salome - "White Tides" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Crom - "The Black Ring" (M4A)
DOWNLOAD: Light Yourself On Fire - "Love And Death" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Monarch! - "Mer Morte" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Tweak Bird - "Whorses" (MP3)

War is beautiful...... Torche (more by Jason Bergman)

Torche have teamed up with labelmates (and former tourmates) Clouds, for a string of freshly minted US tour dates with Coliseum and Black Cobra providing support. Torche is also currently gearing up for a European tour with another set of labelmates, Pelican, which concludes on October 11th. The first date on the Torche / Clouds tour is October 24th with Coliseum. CMJ is October 21st - 25th. Will we see Torche, Clouds or Coliseum at CMJ? No word yet (natch), but when we know, so will you. Full tour dates below.

Speaking of Pelican, the boys have issued a rather thorough update in which they detail their loooong awaited split with These Arms Are Snakes (due on Hydrahead, limited quantities), a split 7" with Young Widows (due in 2009), a collaborative split 7" with Suicide Note, and a Fire In Their Throats.... 2LP release in Viva Hate Records. But the band also dropped more interesting news..... including the fact that the band will tour the east coast in the fall, have a video for "Lost in the Headlights" in the works, and are working on their follow up to City Of Echoes. More details to come. Speaking of These Arms Are Snakes, the band recently posted "Red Line Season" to their myspace for streaming.

Coffins have contributed two songs, one new and another a cover of "The Day Man Lost" by swedish death metallers Carnage, to a split 7" with sludgy-grind enthusiasts Skullhog. Pick it up NOW at No Escape, it's limited to 500 copies (200 on red wax). Coffins also have the following releases lined up: the Warhead 7" EP (on Torture Garden); Split 7" EPs with Womb (on Necroharmonic), Lobotomized (on Plague Island), and Spun In Darkness (Battle Kommand); Split 12" LPs with The Arm And Sword Of A Bastard God (the vinyl release on Enucleation, originally on CD via 20 Buck Spin), Anatomia & Grudge (the three-way split vinyl release on Enucleation, originally dropped on Grindmind), and XXX Maniak (the vinyl release on Haunted Hotel, originally released on CD via Creeping Vine); a Singles collection from 2004-2008 (on Living Dead Society); a mini album (on Bones Brigade); a track on the Death Metal Power Compilation Vol.1 (on Final Punishment).
Engineer is currently working on their follow up to The Dregs, and have "close to five songs completed". Look for the band to line up a few new shows in the coming months.

Sigh drops their new record, A Tribute to Venom, on limited edition etched vinyl with CD via The End Records on Sept 2nd. A Tribute To Venom is just that, a set of Venom covers reimagined in way that only Sigh could. Check out the artwork below, download their cover of the Venom classic (and namesake for an entire genre) "Black Metal" above. Want a copy of A Tribute To Venom on vinyl/CD? Email BVCONTESTS@HOTMAIL.COM (subject: Sigh). Include your first and last name. One winner will be picked at random and contacted. Sigh will hit the road in September with Zimmer's Hole & Unexpect, hitting BB Kings in NYC on Sept 16th. Tickets are still available, full tour dates are below.

Salome, Lair Of The Minotaur, Behemoth, Napalm Death, Municipal Waste, and much more below.........

Continue reading "This Week In METAL (08/28/08)"

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)"

by Black Bubblegum

Torche burnin' a hole their way through SXSW - Mar 14, 2008 (EAR FARM)

Now that Torche have completed their trip down to Texas, for whatever reason, they can get down to bidness and play some shows up north right? They haven't been up to the five boroughs since sharing the stage with the admirable Justin K Broadrick (Jesu, Godflesh, ex-Napalm Death, etc) last year and they have that new record coming out on April 8th on Hydrahead....

Good news! We don't have word on a full tour, but they will play a show with The Sword (who have their mostest bestest album ever coming out April 1) and "doom-jazz" band Stinking Lizaveta at Music Hall Of Williamsburg on May 17th! Tickets are on sale.

Zombie Eaters AKA The Sword @ Red 7 (BV SXSW) - Mar 12, 2008 (The Syndicate)

Big news from the aforementioned Justin K Broadrick.... his FINAL project has released a 4CDR set of his Infinite Guitar 1 & 2 / Guitar & Bass Improvisations Vol 1 & 2, limited to a measly 150 copies. Um, get this now while you still can.....

Justin's old band Napalm Death also played SXSW.

DOWNLOAD: Enslaved - RUUN (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Tera Melos - When Worms Learn To Fly (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Weedeater - Potbelly (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Avatar - Schlacht (MP3)

Motorhead's Lemmy

You need the heavy? Austin is bringing it this year! To recap, we have
already
discussed
quite
a few
amazing
bands
and
showcases
so
far, so lets get to some of the other ones that are must see!

Continue reading "Black Bubblegum's guide to METAL @ SXSW 2008"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Unearthly Trance - Permanent Ice (MP3)

That's it. I'm calling Mayor "Doomberg" (as El-P calls him)! We need to get one of those keys-to-the-city and have the week of the 21st designated as official Neurosis & pals week.

First, you have the two killer Neurosis shows back to back at a Masonic temple (Jan 24th & 25th... and possibly with Mastodon in tow). Then on the 26th Scott Kelly (of Neurosis & now Shrinebuilder fame) and Jarboe (Swans) play a solo show at the Pussycat Lounge! Make sure to stay and check out NYC mainstays Unearthly Trance lay waste (flyer).

Speaking of the guys from Unearthly Trance..... check for them as they embark on a tour with the always great Pelican and Black Cobra (mems Acid King, and recently off tour with The Sword). Dates at the end of this post.

More below......

Continue reading "this week in METAL (01-04-07)"

The last (and first) time Jesu came to the US, the group was plagued with visa issues that resulted in the cancellation of several US dates. Luckily, they got their visa situation sorted out and that March/April 2007 tour kicked off at Irving Plaza with Isis (who'll be there again on 11/1/07 to kick off their tenth anniversary tour).

That premiere show wasn't without its problems; front-man Justin was sick and jet-lagged, their set was short, and the sound wasn't all that great. I've been anxiously awaiting a follow-up headlining tour and I'm happy to say my prayers have been answered. Jesu will headline a CMJ show at the Grammercy on 10/20 with the mighty Torche (tix).

In other Jesu/Justin K. Broadrick/Final related news, Justin has re-opened his web label Avalanche Recordings and with it will be unleashing a TON of amazing Jesu and Final records including:

• JESU - PALE SKETCHES: 8 tracks of unreleased Jesu material recorded between 2000 and 2007. Available on CD now, and will start accepting pre-orders for the 2xLP edition in January 2008.
• FINAL - GUITAR & BASS IMPROVISATIONS VOL 1: Only 60 of these suckers will be made. Some will be available online, others will be available at select Final shows. Features 4 songs comprised of bass, guitar, and fx and totals almost 55 minutes.
• FINAL - GUITAR & BASS IMPROVISATIONS VOL 2: Like volume 1, only 60 of these suckers will be made. Also like volume 1, some will be available online, others will be available at select Final shows. Features 3 songs comprised of bass, guitar, and fx and totals just over 45minutes.
• JESU - HEART ACHE: The highly anticpated vinyl version of the classic and rare 2004 release. 1500 copies will be made, 300 of which will be red. They'll start taking pre-orders in January 2008.

So, yeah, tons of tour dates, tons of upcoming releases.... now if Final would just do some US gigs I could die a happy man - Klaus

All Jesu & Isis tour dates below.....

Continue reading "Jesu (& Isis) - 2007 Tour Dates ---- (by Klaus)"