KEN Mode at the Invisible Oranges SXSW 2013 Showcase (more by Greg Cristman)

KEN Mode have released a new video for "Counter Culture Complex," culled from the recently released Entrench LP. The clip features snow, fire, pagan-type rituals and a bit of mystery. Check it out below.

As mentioned, the Canadians are still on the road and will be hitting NYC to support Orange Goblin at Saint Vitus on April 22 (tickets), Pitchfork and more upcoming dates. All known KEN Mode appearances are listed below.

Continue reading "KEN Mode release new video ++ updated tour dates"

by Fred Pessaro // BBG

Orange Goblin at MDF 2011 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

After Orange Goblin completes a round of dates with Clutch (who have a new record coming), look for the UK doom band to play a few select headlining dates on the East Coast including April 22 at Saint Vitus with Kings Destroy and Roadsaw. Tickets are on sale. All OG dates are below.

This just in: Hot Graves will hit the road for a string of East Coast dates in early March, including a stop at Saint Vitus on March 8th with Pagan Girls. Full tour schedule and a stream of the new Hot Graves EP is below.

Listen to an exclusive stream of Altaar over at Invisible Oranges where you'll also find new Batillus.

All EVILLIVE-approved shows for the next two weeks are listed below.

Continue reading "Evillive (Orange Goblin, Hot Graves + more)"

Frightened Rabbit @ T5, Nov. 2010 (more by Lionel Bergeron)

SXSW has just announced another round of bands for the 2013 edition of the annual music festival that will happen March 12 - 17. This brings the total current number of acts to around 1300. Someome of the highlights include Vampire Weekend, Frightened Rabbit, The Thermals, Black Lips, Camera Obscura, Merchandise, Bleached, Mr. Muthafuckin' eXquire, Eagles of Death Metal, Parenthetical Girls, Indians, Night Beds, IO Echo, KEN Mode, Prince Paul, Pure Bathing Culture, Sepalcure, UK motorik post-punks TOY, Finnish instrumentalists K-X-P, Toronto's Moon King, UK indie rockers Splashh (not Brooklyn Splash with one "h") and loads more. Head to BV Austin for the whole Round 3 list.

words & photo by BBG

Citizens Arrest

After a three days of mayhem (pictures from day 1 HERE, day 2 HERE, and day 3 HERE) featuring sets from Neurosis, Doom, Lack of Interest, Voivod, Extortion, Aura Noir, and tons of notable others, Maryland Deathfest came to a close on Sunday with another full of performances capped by a headlining outdoor set from the reactivated Coroner, their first US appearance in 20 years.

Later that night, the true close to MDF was led by Ghost, whose set was tight and fun visually, but did not impress me as much as the hype suggests (decide for yourself on June 1st at the Studio). The remainder of my day was filled with pretty much every other band on the bill, except for Visceral Disgorge and Doubled Over who I missed in favor of much needed meals. My favorites of the day go to the foul death metallers Dead Congregation and Repugnant, the always awesome Citizens Arrest (who play Europa with another MDF alum, Tragedy, tonight), the energetic Skinless and the over the top goregrind of Last Days of Humanity.

Coroner

Coroner's setlist and more pictures from the final day of Maryland Deathfest 2011, which includes pictures of Oak, Night Bringer, Bad Acid Trip, Gravehill, Malignant Tumour, Dead Congregation, Nokturnel, Repugnant, Orange Goblin, Citizens Arrest, Skinless, Bastard Noise, Nuclear Assault, Wormed, and Last Days of Humanity, are below...

Continue reading "Maryland Deathfest 2011 - Day 4 pics & recap (Coroner, Ghost, Citizens Arrest, Dead Congregation, Doubled Over, more)"

by BBG

Orange Goblin

UK doomers Orange Goblin will hit the road for a string of US dates surrounding their 5/29 Maryland DeathFest appearance (tickets still on sale), tagging NYC's Santos Party House on 5/28 (tickets are on sale). The Gates of Slumber and Naam will join the band on the trek (skipping MDF) which terminates on the West Coast and is followed by an Orange Goblin solo show in Chicago.

After cancelling last year due to the volcano, The Gates of Slumber are scheduled to tour Europe on their way to Roadburn. No word on when we'll see their forthcoming LP, The Scourge ov Drunkenness, though. The Gates of Slumber last played NYC at Union Pool with Hour of 13 and Disma. As previously mentioned, Hour of 13 return to NYC to play Cake Shop with Natur & Pilgrim on March 5. Tickets are on sale.

Naam recently went into the studio to record some Nirvana covers for a forthcoming 7". The band will be heading to SXSW this year, but so far tour dates to/fro are still not announced.

All tour dates and some video are below...

Continue reading "Orange Goblin touring w/ Gates of Slumber & Naam (dates)"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Celeste - Misanthrope(s) LP (Zipped MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ulcerate - "Caecus" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Ulcerate - "Tyranny" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Black September - "Purification" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Bloody Panda - "Miserere" (Excerpt) (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Oak & Bone - "Build Walls" (MP3)

Ulcerate

Back to bludgeon.... it's This Week in Metal! This week, we kick things off with a death metal record that is currently in high rotation, Ulcerate's searing new LP Everything is Fire. Out NOW via Willowtip, check out a pair of MP3s from that LP available above. This New Zealand band are able to hit that seemingly impossible sweet-spot where brutality meets technicality and melody meets dissonance. Highly recco'd!

Bloody Panda is back a new LP due on Profound Lore, Summon. Due August 11, the band will release a CD/DVD for Summon which will include seven tracks, one of which ("Miserere", an excerpt above) is interpreted visually on DVD. Yoshiko Ohara, their signature vocalist and a known visual artist, is responsible for the cover art. The DVD was shot, in Brooklyn and Indonesia, and edited by band members Bryan Camphire, Blake McDowell, and Josh Rothenberger. Josh also told us that...

the whole DVD project came about through our collaboration with Cave dance studio on Grand St. in Williamsburg. It was there that we met Berlin-based Butoh dancer Yuko Kaseki a few years ago. We Asked her to dance to one of our tunes last year, and then shot most of the DVD at Cave with her last August/Septemeber.

Fresh off of a triumphant set at Maryland Deathfest, Asphyx is back and will domestically release their new album, Death...The Brutal Way via Ibex Moon. Due September 1st, the record will also be released in a limited edition version with a live DVD, Live at Party.San Open Air Festival 2007. Asphyx recently welcomed Martin van Drunen (Pestilence, Hail of Bullets, Bolt Thrower) back into the fold after his departure 17 years ago.

Black September, who first came onto my radar via their work with Thou and Winters In Osaka, has a new 7" out NOW, The Sermon of Vengeance. Mastered at The Boiler Room by Collin Jordan (Nachtmystium, Minsk), check out "Purification", one of two new tracks by the black metal punks from The Sermon of Vengeance above and order that 7", as well as other releases here.

Pelican's new EP, the tour only CD Ephemeral, is out on 12" at Southern Lord packaged with a Seldon Hunt designed tee. In addition, Earth's previously rare Radio/Live LP is available via Southern Lord as well.

Filth-ridden hardcore is the order of business for Syracuse's Oak & Bone, a badge the band wears with pride on their debut 7" out NOW via Hex Records (one time home to Ed Gein, Engineer, Playing Enemy, and Cursed). Check out "Build Walls" from that 7" above. The crew recently played NYC with another fave of mine, crusty black-metal punks Infernal Stronghold, and are prepping to release a split 7" with Like Wolves on Barbarossa Records. Pick up their debut 7" and look for that split!

Anaal Nathrakh's Mick Kenney is back with his former bandmates in Mistress to resurrect Fukpig, who released their last LP Nuclear Apocalypse in 2003. Pick up Spewings From A Selfish Nation before it's gone (100 copies total!). Anaal Nathrakh's In The Constellation Of The Black Widow is out June 26th via Candellight. Preorder the vinyl at Mick/Shane Embury's FETO records.

A preview of that Fukpig, as well as news on Down touring with Melvins(!!!) Jucifer, Celeste, Mastodon, Clutch, and much more below...

Continue reading "This Week In METAL (06/16/09)"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Nebula - "The Dagger" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Dark Castle - "Awake In Sleep" (MP3)

Dark Castle

DIY is the name of the game for Florida's Dark Castle, as the duo has garnered a ton of buzz on the southern metal scene as of late due to their self-released EP and incessant touring. The northeastern touring love is on the way (this summer?), but in the meantime, Dark Castle's new LP, Spirited Migration is out NOW in digital formats (iTunes, amazon) with one of those amazing tracks, "Awake In Sleep" available for download above! Spirited Migration is due on May 26th in hard formats (CD, Vinyl) via the mighty At A Loss Records, so y'all wax lovers betta recognize!

Nebula will illustrate truth in advertising on July 7th when the trio drops their new album, Heavy Psych. Tee Pee Records will plead guilty to releasing the follow-up to 2006's Apollo, which includes "The Dagger" downloadable above. For the unaware, Nebula features former members of Fu Manchu, Mondo Generator, and Karma To Burn (who recently played Lit).

Australia's dark kings of blackened thrash, Destroyer 666, will release their NEW album on July 14th via Season of Mist! Defiance will be D666's first release in six years and first LP in seven, and will have artwork that'll look a little somethin' like this:

Another set of Aussies, black metallers Nazxul, will release their first new material in more than ten years via Moribund! Look for more details on the new album, Iconoclast, in the months ahead as well as some US dates.

Show No Mercy on June 7th at Public Assembly is SET with the recent additions of the the ungodly Woe, Black Anvil, and Snake Sustaine (mems-ALOL) to the previously announced Salome. While we wait for the show, you can check out some recent interviews that the guys in Woe did here, here and here. Flyer is below.

Obscura has pulled out of the previously mentioned Relapse Contamination tour due to sickness, rendering all dates after May 11th cancelled. That includes NYC's date at Fontana's.

News and videos from Clutch, Ocean, Swarm Of The Lotus, Torche, Cripple Bastards, Orange Goblin and More, as This Week In Metal continues!

Continue reading "This Week In METAL (05/08/09)"

by JJ Koczan

We continue with JJ's report from the Roadburn Festival in Tilburg, Holland. If you missed it, check out Day One, Day Two, and Day Three. The fourth and final day was Sunday, April 26, 2009, and that's what we have here...

Saint Vitus at Roadburn (gilles etasse)

The vibrating of an incoming call on my cell phone woke me up at 06:30 this morning. It was an old friend of mine -- probably the oldest, come to think of it -- whom I've known since third grade or so. He's a veteran now and got out of the Marines this past New Year's Eve, having done a combat tour in Iraq that provided him with nightmares and memories I can't even imagine and don't want to try and physical ailments which the military is now trying to screw him out of his health benefits to cover.

He was crying into the phone because one of his fellow Marines, with whom he was apparently quite close, died yesterday from complications resulting from terminal cancer. As I understand it, the complication in that circumstance is that you have cancer. It took two strokes to kill him, and aside from his wife and parents, he hadn't told anyone he was sick. My friend, who's already had far too much of the reality of human nature shoved into his eyeballs, was blindsided, and he'd spent that entire day making phone calls to say that another one of his buddies was dead.

I'll stop short of falling into some kind of "death as impetus for reflection on one's life" thing, but I think about that experience and I think about the last four days I've had, which as far as music goes have been some of the best of my life, and all I can chalk it up to at this point is privilege. I'm not rich, I can't afford this trip and knew I couldn't when I decided to undertake it after it was announced that Saint Vitus, whose logo t-shirt I'm now wearing, was playing. But I am a white American from an upper middle class background, and apparently that's enough to do whatever you want to in life. Like write about music for a living, or take the time out of the day to reflect on one's own cultural privilege -- or, more likely, not.

continued below...

Continue reading "Surviving Roadburn, Day Four: In Which My Liquified Brain Drains Out Through The Various Holes In My Head"

by JJ Koczan

You may know JJ Koczan from his writing at The Aquarian, the now dormant Metal Maniacs, Theobelisk.net, or as frontman of his band Maegashira. This weekend, JJ will serve as our man-on-the-scene at Roadburn in Tilburg, Holland! Look for daily reports through the weekend as he prepares for the return of Saint Vitus, as well as performances from a veritable who's who of the underground heavy metal glitterati. We kick things off with his report from Day One, Thursday April 23, 2009...

The bleach blond party boy at the surreal tropical Scottish bar -- who may or may not have been wearing white pants at the time -- warned me against Tilburg. "Why would you want to go there?" Indeed, why would I or anyone else allegedly in their right mind want to expose themselves to four days of nonstop beer, doom, shitty hamburgers and sweltering Eurosweat?

This is my first Roadburn. I booked my hotel room once Saint Vitus was announced, and the Hotel Ibis, the uncomfortable bed of which I'm sitting on now, is a chain like a Comfort Inn with a really nice bar. A big part of me wishes I could have slept down there, and not just because they had candy.

If there could have been a more appropriate beginning for Roadburn 2009 than Italian psyche-droners Ufomammut, I'm at a loss for what it might have been. Their Green-amped, thick-riffed, mostly instrumental jams pushed so much air you could feel it from in front of the stage, and as they sloshed their way through most of last year's Idolum, the main space crowd had no choice but to approve heartily. This is why we're here, dudes. Hold those cups up high.

continued below...

Continue reading "Surviving Roadburn, Day One: To The Center Of The Universe"

by Black Bubblegum

DOWNLOAD: Vitamin X - "Deal With It" w/ John Brannon of Negative Approach (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Vitamin X - "You Suck" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Hooded Menace - "Grasp Of The Beastwoman" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Mammoth Grinder - "God is Stuck in a Black Hole" (MP3)
DOWNLOAD: Saros - "Reversion" (MP3)

Cattle Decapitation live @ Gilman, photo by Taija Lynn

Cattle Decapitation have announced dates in support of their new record, The Harvest Floor due on 1/20/09. Supported by Psyopus, Book Of Black Earth, and Gigan, full tour dates are below, but no NYC just yet.

Adding insult on top of insult to injury, Maryland Death Fest have added powerviolence bad-asses Despise You (with Phil Vera of Crom), as well as grinders Pigsty. This is on top of Mayhem, Bolt Thrower, Enslaved and soooo many others... Unfortunately, Repulsion have cancelled their appearance.

Need a fix of fun, skull-splitting hardcore? Vitamin X have dropped their new record, Full Scale Assault on Tankcrimes and it is one awe-inspiring slab of lightning riffery and old-school hardcore punk produced by none other than Steve Albini at Electrical Audio Studios. Sporting ultra-suh-weeeet artwork by John Baizley of Baroness, the band has been kind enough to drop off a pair of MP3s from the record... check out "Deal With it" featuring John Brannon of Negative Approach and "You Suck" downloadable above and pick up the album here.

How many times has a headliner you dug dropped off a bill, and you were actually pleased with the results? In a bit of shuffling, Doomriders have dropped off their bill with Tombs at Union Pool on 12/20 (frown), BUT Bloodhorse (who are working on a new record), Keelhaul(!), and Acid Tiger (Ben from Cave-in, Converge) have been added! So Keelhaul in NYC, huh? Exciting, and it sounds like they have more than just the show on their agenda...

We are going to Brooklyn to record another cd with Andrew Schneider in December. Yee haw.-[Keelhaul myspace]

Doomers My Dying Bride have revealed details of their new album, For Lies I Sire due in 2009 via Peaceville! Spanning nine tracks and recorded with producer Mags, vocalist Aaron Stainhorpe recently discussed the new record with Beyond The Dark Horizon.

Saros, the Bay Area blackened prog metal band contructed from members of the almighty Weakling and Amber Asylum, will drop their new album Acrid Plains on Profound Lore 2/17/09. Album art is below and check out the new MP3, "Reversion" available for download above.

Mammoth Grinder are scheduled to rage through the tri-state in the new year. The trio will be in town on Jan 3rd to double up.. playing shows at ABC No Rio (matinee) AND The Charleston (night) in support of their long-player Rage & Ruin and No Results 7" due together on Assassinated Records. Alternating between thundering doom and crusty hardcore, check out heavily doom-oriented "God is Stuck in a Black Hole " from Rage & Ruin, downloadable above.

Gracial death-doomers Hooded Menace are responsible for the massive Fulfill The Curse on Razorback Records. It's out NOW and it's absolutely frightening.. highly reccomended for fans of Coffins and death-doom in particular. Check out the track "Grasp Of The Beastwoman" from Fulfill The Curse and pray for your own safety that these Finns never make it to the US... it'll be a massacre.

More news on Intronaut, Pelican, The Sword, Krallice, Saint Vitus, Total Fucking Destruction and more as The Week In Metal continues...

Continue reading "This Week In METAL (11/20/08) "