by Fred Pessaro

Bolt Thrower at MDF 2013

Maryland Deathfest 2013 kicked off yesterday (5/23) with a rare appearance from the legendary death metal band Bolt Thrower (on tour), along with Cobalt (also on tour, recently interviewed on IO on EVR), Japan's Abigail (part of a string of dates), Pallbearer, and local thrash favorites Noisem. The single stage event expands to four today, keep up with it all on the InvisibleOranges Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

Pictures from the first day of Maryland Deathfest are also at InvisibleOranges.

Inter Arma at Invisible Oranges SXSW 2013 day party (more by Greg Cristman)

After part of the docket was revealed last week, Scion Rock Fest have announced the entirety of their 2013 lineup which happens in Memphis Tennessee on June 1. Testament and Melvins claim the top slots, while additional bands announced for the fest are Municipal Waste, Whitechapel, The Obsessed (!), Corrosion of Conformity, The Casualties, Negative Approach, Pallbearer, Six Feet Under, Impaled, Vision of Disorder, Royal Thunder, Vektor, Arsis, A Life Once Lost, Touché Amoré, Code Orange Kids, The Gates of Slumber, Hot Lunch, Rotting Out, The Shrine, Ice Dragon, Call of the Void (who recently played NYC), Subrosa, Gigan, Anciients, Dirty Streets, Inter Arma, Complete Failure, Indian Handcrafts and Noisem.

SRF is free but RSVP (which opens on April 10) is required.

In related news, Inter Arma, who recently played the Invisible Oranges Day Party at The Jr (pictures HERE), have been announced, along with Sannhet, as support for the NYC date of the Intronaut tour, set for Saint Vitus on June 15. Tickets are on sale.

If you missed it, pictures from the official Invisible Oranges SXSW night showcase are available HERE, featuring shots of Pallbearer, John Baizley with Mel from Royal Thunder and Bruce Lamont, Mutilation Rites, Full of Hell, KEN Mode and Homewrecker.

Check out a video from Inter Arma's daytime set below...

Continue reading "full lineup for Scion Rock Fest announced; Inter Arma and Sannhet added to Intronaut's NYC show"

Scion Rock Fest has released a partial lineup of their 2013 edition, set to happen in Memphis, Tennessee on June 1. As with previous years, the festival will go down in a single day across multiple venues. Look for appearances from Melvins, Municipal Waste, The Casualties, Pallbearer, Six Feet Under, Impaled, Vision of Disorder, Arsis, A Life Once Lost, Code Orange Kids, The Shrine, Ice Dragon, Subrosa, Anciients, Indian Handcrafts and Noisem. More bands and details are on the way.

In related news, The Casulaties, who just played Acheron, will also play Tammanny Hall on May 18 with Violent Affair. Tickets are on sale.

KEN Mode at Saint Vitus in NYC earlier this month (more by Caroline Harrison)

Bad news: Pinkish Black has been forced to cancel tonight's appearance (March 16) at the BV / Invisible Oranges showcase at The North Door. A bummer for sure but valiant Canadian metallic-noise-rock crew KEN Mode (who played our SXSW day party on Friday) have stepped in in their stead, and a hearty thanks goes out to the trio for filling in at the last minute!

Here's tonight's full, updated line-up:

7PM doors open
8PM Homewrecker
9PM KEN Mode
10PM Full of Hell
11PM Mutilation Rites
12PM John Baizley
1AM Pallbearer

by Bill Pearis, Fred Pessaro and Andrew Sacher

Savages @ CMJ 2012 (more by Dominick Mastrangelo)

SXSW gets underway today (3/13) in earnest, with 83,207 bands* playing SXSW this year. Trying to figure out who to see can be an overwhelming feeling. (Actually, just standing on 6th St. on Friday night is an overwhelming feeling.) Hopefully this post will give you some inspiration if you're among the throngs of people. Or maybe just some new stuff to listen to if you're not there.

Of course you could just hang out at all our day parties (our first starts at noon today!) and evening showcases, as we're really proud of our line-ups. But there are bands who we are pumped to see who aren't playing too. So here are 40 bands we're genuinely pumped to see in Austin this week. We made a Spotify playlist of all the bands (at least the ones on the service) you can stream below.

Check out our list below...

*not the actually number of showcasing bands. But it feels accurate.

Continue reading "40 artists we're excited to see at SXSW"

As you know, BrooklynVegan is returning to Austin for SXSW this year and throwing four days of day parties at The Main & The Jr aka 603 Red River Street at the corner of 6th aka the old Emo's location. Those happen Wed (3/13), Thurs, Fri and Saturday (3/16). All shows are 100% FREE with RSVP.

We announced Saturday and Thursday, and now HERE IS FRIDAY...

Continue reading "BrooklynVegan free SXSW 2013 Friday day party lineup (Polyphonic Spree, Thermals, Akron/Family, Shout Out Louds, Diamond Rings, TOY, Half Moon Run & more)"

by Fred Pessaro

Today is the Day at Maryland Deathfest 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

Invisible Oranges, in association with BrooklynVegan and my forthcoming Noisey video show Heavy Dicks, are proud to present the first annual Invisible Oranges day party during SXSW 2013! IO & HD take over the indoor stage at the old Emo's at 6th & Red River aka The Jr on March 15, as part of the four days of two-stage BV parties at the venue. The free show, running from noon until 6PM, will feature the following bands:

March 15, 2013 @ The Jr, Austin, TX
Today is the Day
Pallbearer (also playing the official IO/BV showcase)
KEN Mode
Royal Thunder
Inter Arma
Batillus
Baptists

We also want to thank M for Montreal, mophie, Onkyo, Vox, Blackstar, Korg, Redigi, Zico, ASCAP, Mirrored Media, and Mail Chimp for assistance in making this a FREE event. RSVP for the show HERE. SXSW Badges are also welcome.

Today is the Day, Black Tusk and KEN Mode are currently on a North American tour, and will play Saint Vitus tonight (3/6) and 3/8 at The Studio at Webster Hall. The package tour also puts Fight Amp on both NYC dates.

"Heavy Dicks" is a new show premiering on Noisey in the coming months that is centered around metal. (Full disclosure: I'm one of the hosts.) Check out the trailer for the show alongside a new Today is the Day video for "Sick of Your Mouth," below....

Continue reading "Invisible Oranges Presents a SXSW Day Party (at BV venue) w/ Today is the Day, Pallbearer & more PLUS: Heavy Dicks!"

Pallbearer at Knitting Factory, Sept 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

Invisible Oranges and BrooklynVegan are proud to announce an official SXSW showcase! The show will be the first ever Invisible Oranges showcase and looks like this

Saturday, March 16th at North Door in Austin:
Pallbearer
John Baizley (Baroness)
Mutilation Rites
Full of Hell
Pinkish Black
Homewrecker

The official showcase is one of TWO BrooklynVegan Official nighttime SXSW showcases in 2013. The other is one night earlier, and not metal. The show is also one of TWO Invisible Oranges related events going down during SXSW. The second IO event will be a day party on March 15th as part of our residency at the old Emo's location. Details on that party are on the way, but save the date! You won't want to miss it.

Check out video of the bands playing the inaugural IO/BV showcase below!

Continue reading "Pallbearer, John Baizley & more playing Invisible Oranges / BrooklynVegan SXSW Showcase (which will also stream live)"

by Fred Pessaro // BBG

Royal Thunder at MHoW, Dec 2012 (more by Dana (distortion) Yavin)

Royal Thunder has released a new video for "Blue" from the band's CVI (one of my favorites of 2012). Check out said video below.

Royal Thunder have been added to all dates of the Enslaved / Pallbearer tour(!) including the NYC stop at Bowery Ballroom on Feb 22. Tickets are still available.

All tour dates are listed below along with the "Blue" video.

Continue reading "Royal Thunder added to Enslaved/Pallbearer tour, release new video (dates, stream)"

by Fred Pessaro // BBG

One Tail One Head at Inferno Festival, April 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

2012 was a year of considerable personal growth for me, as a person, a photographer and a music fan. As I recounted in my favorite photos of 2012, I got to shoot some of my favorite bands of all time and travel the globe in search of new ones. The beginning of the year was spent dealing with personal drama, and if it werent for key records in my life I shudder to think at where I would be right now. To every band on this list and many who aren't, I cant thank you enough.

First order of business, my musical pallette is much much larger than just a series of metal records. This is NOT a list of my favorite records of the year, because that would surely include other entries from across many different genres. This is, however, a list of some of my favorite heavier records.

To me, the term "heavy" can be defined in many ways, from the elongated riff on a doom record to a noise squall to a particularly punishing punk-rock beatdown. While most of the following records are "heavy" in the traditional "distortion and loud guitars" sense, a few are not. You'll see metal, you'll see deathrock, you'll see raw punk, you'll see hardcore, and many spots in between in the numbered list below. And to answer your question, yes you'll see Swans... right beside D-Clone and Asphyx.

My favorite records of 2012 are below. Hopefully you'll see a connection in favorites or maybe discover something new. Regardless, I hope you found your own favorites of the year whether in this list or outside of it.

Continue reading "The Year in Heavy (Fred Pessaro // BBG's favorite metal, punk & other records of 2012)"

Today Pitchfork posted the first half (well, first 30 albums) of their Top 50 Albums of 2012 list. There are some surprises on it, like Peaking Lights and Sharon Van Etten, who seemed more likely to end up on their Honorable Mentions list due to their relatively lower scores and the fact that most of the albums on this list were awarded Best New Music throughout the year. Cat Power and Hot Chip also make it, both of whose new albums seemed to have received less love from Pitchfork than previous releases by those artists. A Rustie Essential Mix also makes the list even though his actual album which came out last year didn't make their 2011 list. And of course the expected ones end up there too like Purity Ring, Julia Holter, Schoolboy Q, Miguel, and more. The remaining 20 will be revealed tomorrow (Friday, 12/21).

Check out their 50-30 picks below...

Continue reading "30 of Pitchfork's Top 50 Albums of 2012"

Japandroids at Pitchfork, July 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

NPR Music have announced their "50 favorite" albums of 2012, which includes names like Pallbearer, Andy Stott, Cat Power, Fiona Apple, Death Grips, and Swans. (No Grimes, though.) The list is also deep with hip hop, with shouts to Homeboy Sandman, Kendrick Lamar, Killer Mike and many others. Much like Q magazine did, NPR opted to list them alphabetically instead of one better than the next. Check out the full list below.

Japandroids also made the list, and the band played the first of two shows at Webster Hall last night (12/4). The band continues their stay at the venue tonight and tickets are still available.

Continue reading "NPR Music's Top 50 LPs of 2012"

Pallbearer at Acheron, May 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

Bassist Joseph Rowland stopped in to drop off his Top 10 musical experiences of the year, on and off of the road as a member of Pallbearer. You can read his annotated list below.

If you missed Pallbearer at any of their recent NYC shows (Saint Vitus & Acheron, Knitting Factory), make sure and catch them in 2013 when they hit the road with Enslaved. The tour hits Bowery Ballroom on Feb 22 and tickets are still available.

Continue reading "Joe Rowland of Pallbearer's Top 10 2012 Musical Experiences"

by Andrew Sacher

SPIN have revealed their list of the top 50 albums of 2012. It continues SPIN's trend of giving love to crossover punk and metal (which they've been pretty consistent with since naming Fucked Up's David Comes to Life their top album of 2011) with the inclusion of Baroness, Torche, Pallbearer, Cloud Nothings, and Japandroids, but rather surprisingly excludes the SPIN Essential'd Ceremony - Zoo and The Men - Open Your Heart, in favor of popular blowouts by Taylor Swift, fun., and Nicki Minaj. The list also shares its #1 and #2 with the two highest Pitchfork-rated albums of the year. And no Grimes.

The list begins with the Kanye-cribbed disclaimer, "Most critics' taste levels ain't at our waist level. Ain't nobody fucking with our clique." Check out SPIN's Top 50 LPs of 2012 list below.

Continue reading "SPIN names their Top 50 Albums of 2012 (Frank Ocean is #1)"

Pallbearer at Knitting Factory, September 2012 (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)

Decibel Magazine has compiled their annual list of top 40 albums of the year. As usual, there are some surprises but the 2012 top ten is basically a list of nine veterans with only a single newcomer to the bunch. The full list of top records of the year according to Decibel Magazine is below, along with a tweet from the winning band. Buy your copy HERE.

Continue reading "Decibel Magazine's top 40 LPs of 2012"

by Fred Pessaro // BBG

Enslaved at Gramercy Theater, Sept 2011 (more by Greg Cristman)

Norwegians Enslaved have a single show scheduled in the US for 2012, a free (with RSVP) Scion A/V Roadburn Records showcase in Los Angeles with White Hills, Earthless and Astra this weekend (11/10 at The Roxy). After that undoubtedly epic show goes down, look for the progressive black metal crew to plot their next attack on North American shores in the new year. Enslaved will join the great Pallbearer and Ancient VVisdom for a three-week whirlwind tour of North America that kicks off in late January and terminates on February 22 at Bowery Ballroom. Tickets go on sale Friday (11/9) at noon.

Pallbearer is confirmed to play Roadburn 2013 in the months following the tour, where they'll join names like Electric Wizard (who is curating part of the fest), Amenra (who have a new album on the way), Moss, Die Kreuzen, Godflesh, Uncle Acid & The Dead Beats, Royal Thunder (who play Saint Vitus this weekend), Maserati (who play Union Pool TONIGHT), Castle (who recently played Saint Vitus) and many more to come. Roadburn is sold out, but you can drool at the lineup below and try your hand at the secondary market.

All tour dates are listed below, along with the tour flyer and the Roadburn 2013 lineup.

Continue reading "Enslaved touring w/ Pallbearer & Ancient VVisdom (dates)"

words and photos by Fred Pessaro // BBG

Brett of Pallbearer at Knitting Factory, 9/11/2012

The Pallbearer/Royal Thunder steamroller came into town on Tuesday (9/11), hitting Knitting Factory as part of their set of BrooklynVegan-sponsored dates together. Joining the pair were Richmond favorites, sludgy-black metal crew Inter Arma and NYC's Kings Destroy, the former of which used the NYC date as a tour kick-off. Pictures and video of all bands from Knitting Factory are below.

As before, Pallbearer's set focused on their lone LP Sorrow & Extinction, and included a final jam to close out the evening. Royal Thunder was similarly, and some ways more, impressive in their showing, with frontwoman Mel alternating between belting out blues vocals and ripping a primal scream. The CVI songs, which I love in the first place, sound much more regal and powerful live.

The remainder of the bill was similarly great. Inter Arma, as usual, played a taut set of entirely new material that will appear on their forthcoming Relapse debut. Look for that. And Kings Destroy, who have just returned from a tour in the EU, set the standard for the evening by playing their ozzy-influenced doom jams to open things up.

All pictures and video is below.

Continue reading "Pallbearer and Royal Thunder played Knitting Factory with Inter Arma and Kings Destroy (pics/video)"

by Fred Pessaro // BBG

FALSE

As mentioned before, Minnesota black metal team False will hit Acheron on Saturday (9/8), flanked by Brooklyn's own Mortals, False's tourmates Bellow and the great Yellow Eyes. The show is False's only area date and a rare, one, so make it out if you can. Audio streams are below.

Brooklyn's Kings Destroy have replaced Samothrace at the Pallbearer show at Knitting Factory on 9/11. Tickets are still available. Also on board is the great Royal Thunder and Inter Arma.

A list of all suggested shows for the next two weeks, as well as a few audio streams, are below. What did I miss?

Continue reading "Evillive (FALSE, Pallbearer, Kings Destroy, Yellow Eyes, more )"

"Samothrace is very sorry to announce that we will have to cancel our part on the upcoming tour with Pallbearer and Royal Thunder due to an immediate illness in the family of a band member. The most important thing right now is family. We are stoked to have had the opportunity to do the tour and will be planning to make our way out east in the near future. We appreciate the understanding."

Stream all of Samothrace's Reverence to Stone below courtesy of Pitchfork.

Continue reading "Samothrace cancels appearances on Pallbearer tour"

Pallbearer at Acheron (more by Fred Pessaro // BBG)


BrooklynVegan is the proud sponsor of a string of East Coast dates for southern doom gods Pallbearer, who will join forces with the amazing Royal Thunder (who have a new LP and recently played Mercury Lounge) and Samothrace (who have a new LP too). The dates, also sponsored by Scion A/V, include a stop at Hopscotch and a September 11th stop in Brooklyn at Knitting Factory with Richmond black metal/southern groove favorites Inter Arma. Sure to be a night to remember. Tickets for that show are on sale.

Pallbearer's last visit to NYC was back in May at a sold-out Saint Vitus with Loss, which was quickly followed by a boozy late night appearance at Acheron (as we tweeted). Pictures from that epic night are HERE. You may remember we interviewed the band in January.

Tour flyer and a list of all tour dates are below.

Continue reading "Pallbearer touring with Royal Thunder & Samothrace (dates), add Knitting Factory show with Inter Arma"

After teasing folks with a few names here and there -- like Run DMC most recently -- Austin's annual Fun Fun Fun Fest (Nov 2 - 4) has revealed it's full line-up, including Public Image Ltd, De La Soul, Superchunk, Santigold, Refused, X peforming Los Angeles, and lots, lots more. 3-day passes go on sale at 10AM CST.

Full FFF Fest lineup is below.

Continue reading "Fun Fun Fun Fest full lineup (De La Soul, Refused, Fucked Up, Public Image Ltd, Santigold, Sharon Van Etten, Rakim, X, Converge, Japandroids & more)"

by BBG

Pallbearer at St. Vitus

I had a transcendent experience hearing Pallbearer live last night at Saint Vitus... Their singer, Brett Campbell, is all about pinched, pained, soaring melody, in the vein of early Ozzy. To hear his bright, clear voice leaping out across the vast, doomy expanse he and his band lay down is downright startling, like witnessing a splendidly colored bird flying across a grey, postapocalyptic sky. -[DarkForcesSwing]

After a sold-out show at Saint Vitus, the band headed on over to Acheron (as announced on twitter) to keep the party rolling, cranking out an hour-plus set to an enthusiastic late night crowd. Pictures from the late-night Pallbearer performance are also below.

Continue reading "Pallbearer played with Loss at Saint Vitus and an after-show at Acheron (pics, setlist)"

Ulcerate at Public Assembly last night

We had our van broken into in New York last night at our accom. We've lost all our guitar gear (preamps, effects units), some drum equipment, stage banner and all of Svart Crown's merch was also ripped off. We're going to keep going but this is a fucking terrible start. We had phenomenal shows in Philadelphia and NYC last night so this is an absolute kick in the fucking teeth. -[Ulcerate]

The show was the same night as the sold-out Loss, Pallbearer, Sewer Goddess show at Saint Vitus. Pallbearer also played a boozy aftershow at Acheron later that night.

Built to Spill at BV SXSW 2012 (more by Ryan Barkan)

The Hopscotch festival in Raleigh, North Carolina will celebrate its third year from Sept. 6-8, 2012 in downtown Raleigh, with 175 bands in 15 venues. The initial lineup, released today, runs the gamut from traditional indie favorites to punk to noise music to hip hop to noisy black metal and all stops in between, featuring performances from Built to Spill, sunn 0))), The Roots, The Jesus & Mary Chain (who played SXSW), Liars (who have a show coming up at Webster Hall), Baroness, Deerhoof, Death Grips (who play NYC soon and have new material on the way), Danny Brown (who was at Coachella and plays Prospect Park soon), Pallbearer (who play an exclusive East Coast Show soon), Screaming Females (who recently played NYC and are on tour now), Thee Oh Sees, The Spits (who just played NYC twice), Tenement, The Mountain Goats (two sets, one of which will be an all metal-covers set!) and so many more.

(and now we know the Jesus & Mary Chain are coming back soon)

Tickets are on sale. The full lineup and flyer (update: and a few more announced J&MC dates) are below...

Continue reading "Hopscotch lineup announced; Jesus & Mary Chain will be in NC in September; John Darnielle to do metal covers set "

by BBG

A Storm of Light at the Tone Deaf showcase (more by Greg Cristman)

A Storm of Light plays NYC TONIGHT as part of a round of dates with Mustard Gas & Roses (mem Isis) and Magic Circle. Tickets are still available for the Saint Vitus show. The band recently played a round of dates surrounding SXSW including the Tone Deaf showcase (pictures). Tonight's show is in direct competition with Hull, Mutilation Rites, Batillus and Trenchgrinder at Acheron, the latter two of which played Lovejoy's as part of the BV Day Party. Hull also played Red 7 with Fear on 3/15, which was down the street from Pallbearer, Screaming Females, Ringworm & Power Trip (pictures).

Punk rock crew Kim Phuc will team with Family Curse and Herzog Rising to play Death By Audio on April 7th. The show is one of a few notable and recently added shows at the space, including April 14th with White Suns (who have a new LP on Load, stream a song below), Pop 1280, and Richard, April 28th with Dysrhythmia, Kayo Dot & Vaura, and 4/29 with a mystery guest, Child Abuse, Behold...The Arctopus and PAK.

Check out the recent Decibel Flexi of In Solitude covering Samhain's "Mother of Mercy".

Youth Attack have updated their site with orders for the new Salvation House of the Beating Hell EP, new second Hoax EP, a new ARTS LP Thousand Wounds of War, and so much more. Head to their site for more details (I recommend the Hoax, ARTS and Salvation records).

If you missed it, we posted two sets of pictures from Deatmatch during SXSW (SET 1, SET 2), a set of pictures from Lovejoy's during SXSW, my official showcase during SXSW, and pictures from our bridge show. We welcomed a new EP from Cop Problem, interviews with Black God, new shows from Ilsa, Rorschach, Old Man Gloom, D-Clone, Young Widows, Autopsy and more. Got stoked and then immediately diappointed with the Kiss it Goodbye reunion and scratched our heads in disbelief at the "Death to All" reunion and Wolvhammer cover of The Cure (the latter in a positive way).

More suggested shows, a stream of a new Horseback song, the Split Cranium LP (with Aaron of Isis and members of Circle) a 16 song, an Author & Punisher song, a White Suns song and more is below. What did I miss?

Continue reading "Evillive (Kim Phuc, Horseback, Salvation, Split Cranium, 16, more)"