Epitaph Records Stop what you’re doing immediately and check out this awesome news. Extreme hardcore heroes Converge have released a full stream of their insanely anticipated eighth studio album, ‘All We Love We Leave Behind.’ For those of you who are still reading this, we’re assuming that you’re already listening to the album and somehow remembered that you were reading words a short time ago, so for everyone still with us, lets go a little bit in-depth about the new Converge record. Produced by Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou, ‘All We Love We Leave Behind’ is a perfect continuation of Converge’s constant evolution while still sticking to their roots. The album holds the same intensity and nuances found on previous Converge albums, but the overall product doesn’t at all begin to play off of their prior material. It’s still Converge, but it remains incredibly fresh and surprising even to the more devoted followers of the band. In a recent interview with JohnLongbottom.co.uk , Converge vocalist Jacob Bannon explains the process in creating ‘All We Love We Leave Behind.’ “We put a lot of emotional investment in writing our material,” begins Bannon. “It takes a lot of time, emotionally and psychologically to actually write the music and write the lyrics, so when you’re recording you just try and record the best piece of music to fit your vision. We’re definitely perfectionists, this is our craft. Some people don’t understand that and just hear our music as a lot of noise, they don’t necessarily understand what’s going on, apart from perhaps the loud volume, but there’s a lot of method to what we do.” Listen to Converge’s ‘All We Love We Leave Behind’ in full below. Converge, ‘All We Love We Leave Behind’ Full Album Stream [button href=”http://loudwire.com/converge-fault-and-fracture-top-21st-century-metal-songs/” title=”Converge: Top 21st Century Metal Songs” align=”center”]
Kevin Winter, Getty Images Guitarist Daron Malakian ( System of a Down , Scars on Broadway ) sat down for an interview with KROQ recently, with the conversation turning towards politics and religion. After a slight dejection from Malakian, the guitarist found himself diving into the topic, sharing his views on President Obama’s first term, how organized religion can destroy the personal experience, global terrorism + much more. Malakian spoke about President Obama’s first term and compared the ‘cult of personality’ honed by Obama to that of Bill Clinton. “Anybody who thinks that Obama was gonna come and fix that mess in three or four years is nuts,” says Malakian. “I mean, that by itself… You’ve gotta give him a little bit more time. I think he’s doing an alright job. I ain’t got no beef with Obama. But I’ll tell you this much: he is a politician, like everybody else, and he’s a damn good one. Because he can really make you like him. [It’s the job of politicians] to bulls–t people and to make them like you, and he is king at it. He might be a little better than [Bill] Clinton, actually.” Later in the interview, Malakian continued with the political discussion, bringing religion into the mix. “I’ll be honest with you: politically, I have no issue with people, but my beef sometimes is with religion at the end of the day,” Malakian explains. “And that offends people, I guess, more than telling people what to do. But I just think a lot of people… Politicians use religion and they get their troops riled up with religion. And it’s not just here with Christianity, it’s… Those dudes, like [Osama] Bin Laden, these dudes are all politicians themselves.” He continues, “They use the simple-minded and the poor and they promise them things and that’s how they rile up their troops using religion. And we don’t see that as the same as our politicians, but they play the same games with their people over there as the politicians play with the people over here to get them riled up, to go to war… ‘You’re fighting for freedom.’ I just think religion is something… It could be a beautiful thing for the individual, but when it becomes organized, that’s when religion starts taking a kind of ugly turn to me.” Scars on Broadway are set to embark on a North American tour with Deftones . The trek kicks off Oct. 9 in Ventura, Calif. [button href=”http://loudwire.com/system-of-a-down-drummer-john-dolmayan-exits-scars-on-broadway/” title=”Next: Drummer John Dolmayan Leaves Scars on Broadway” align=”center”]
Epochal Artist Records Look for the re-emergence of Trapt this fall, as the band has announced the release details of their new album, ‘Reborn,’ and booked a string of dates to support the effort. ‘Reborn’ is due Nov. 20 from Epochal Artist Records in association with EMI, and the disc will be available in both standard and deluxe edition packages. The deluxe edition will come bolstered with five acoustic recordings of songs from the new album, plus the never-before-released fan favorite, ‘Avelyn.’ Singer Chris Taylor Brown, who co-produced the disc with Matt Thorne, states, “This record is really a new sound for Trapt. With ‘Reborn’ we really wanted to use new sounds and textures as well as experiment with delays, reverbs, synths and many other techniques we have learned over the years or have heard in our influences. Lyrically, this album is as deep and thoughtful as any album that Trapt has done in the past.” The group has chosen album opener ‘Bring It’ as the lead single, and the song has been packaged as a double single with ‘Love Hate Relationship’ at iTunes . Trapt also shot a video for ‘Bring It’ in Las Vegas recently, and the clip will arrive in the coming weeks. Speaking of Las Vegas, Trapt will head to Sin City for the start of their North American tour in support of the ‘Reborn’ album. The trek launches Oct. 24 at Vinyl in Las Vegas, with dates booked through the end of November. Trapt’s ‘Reborn’ Track Listing: 1. ‘Bring It’ 2. ‘Love Hate Relationship’ 3. ‘Experience’ 4. ‘Eye of the Storm’ 5. ‘Livewire’ 6. ‘Going Under’ 7. ‘Too Close’ 8. ‘Strength in Numbers’ 9. ‘Get Out of Your Own Way’ 10. ‘When It Rains’ 11. ‘You’re No Angel’ Trapt’s Fall 2012 Tour Dates 10/24 — Las Vegas, Nev. — Vinyl 10/26 — Riverton, Wyo. — The Armory 10/27 — Wheat Ridge, Colo. — Copperfield 10/29 — Colorado Springs, Colo. — The Black Shield 10/31 — Fargo, N.D. — House of Rock at the Hub 11/1 — Rochester, Minn. — Wicked Moose 11/3 — Flint, Mich. — Machine Shop 11/4 — Detroit, Mich. — Sound Board at Motor City Casino 11/7 — Joliet, Ill. — Mojoes 11/8 — Libertyville, Ill. — Austin’s Saloon 11/9 — Fort Wayne, Ind. — Piere’s 11/10 — Columbus, Ohio — Al Rosa Villa 11/20 — West Hollywood, Calif. — The Roxy 11/21 — Scottsdale, Ariz. — Pub Rock Live 11/23 — San Jose, Calif. — Musik Ink 11/24 — Sacramento, Calif. — Ace of Spades 11/27 — Santa Rosa, Calif. — Last Day Saloon 11/28 — Modesto, Calif. — Fat Cat 11/29 — Chico, Calif. — Senator Theatre 11/30 — Reno, Nev. — Knitting Factory
Season of Mist Apart from being a great street punk band, the Casualties are extremely cool dudes. Entering our midtown Manhattan office building in punk rock garb and curious about where they could grab a beer, guitarist Jake Kolatis and bassist Rick Lopez came in for what turned out to be a fascinating conversation. The band members spoke to us about their latest album, ‘Resistance,’ tour exploits in countries all over the world including Thailand and how punk and metal fans should unite to form a single, strong bond of powerful subcultures. Check out our exclusive talk with Jake and Rick of the Casualties. The Casualties Talk to Loudwire
Williams Street Dethklok are back and they’re coming to kill you … but they’ll probably wait until after their third full length album, ‘Dethalbum III,’ comes out. Before you go out and buy ‘Dethalbum III,’ do yourself a pre-demise favor and check out the band’s new video for ‘The Galaxy.’ Dethklok told the story of an Egyptian pharaoh with a flaming ding-a-ling in their ‘ I Ejaculate Fire ‘ video, but in the new clip for ‘The Galaxy,’ vocalist Nathan Explosion has been taken capture by evil space robots and chained inside their death metal-hating space ship. Determined to save their singer, Toki Wartooth, William Murderface, Pickles and Skwisgaar Skwigelf fly their own ship through the stars, ready to intercept Nathan Explosion from the menacing androids. Suddenly, the band’s spaceship is attacked by hoards of enemy drones! To fight off the impending ambush by doing what they do best; playing some brain-melting metal. Dethklok plug their instruments into the ship’s defense systems and battle their enemies by shredding and blasting them away. But what happens to the captured Nathan Explosion? You’ll have to watch the video to find out. Dethklok are set to blast off on a headlining fall North American tour with Machine Head , All Shall Perish and the Black Dahlia Murder . Dethklok, ‘The Galaxy’ [button href=”http://loudwire.com/brendon-small-talks-dethkloks-cancelled-tour-new-album-metalocalypse-more/” title=”Dethklok Mastermind Brendon Small Talks ‘Metalocalypse'” align=”center”]
Jo Hale / Ethan Miller / Frederick M. Brown, Getty Images The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has officially announced the nominees for its class of 2013. As always, a vast array of artists from not only the rock world, but from the realms of blues, rap, pop and various other genres, have been nominated, with potential frontrunners including Deep Purple , Rush , Heart and Joan Jett & the Blackhearts. Rock music had an extremely strong year at the 2012 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame induction ceremony, with Guns N’ Roses and the Red Hot Chili Peppers clinching hall of fame immortality, along with crossover hip hop legends Beastie Boys. The ceremony hit its high point with an unlikely and highly sought after live performance by many former members of Guns N’ Roses, including Slash , Steven Adler , Duff McKagan and more. How will 2013 shape up? Lets check out the nominees. When it comes to legendary and influential rock bands, Deep Purple sit on top of the mountain. Many music lovers will undoubtedly be pulling for the group, as they will for prog masters Rush. Meanwhile, Joan Jett is certainly a female rock icon, while Heart make a strong case for induction, as well. And let’s not forget the highly influential electronic act Kraftwerk and hip-hop revolutionaries Public Enemy. Check out the full list of 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame nominees below. 2013 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Nominees: The Paul Butterfield Blues Band Chic Deep Purple Heart Joan Jett and the Blackhearts Albert King Kraftwerk The Marvelettes The Meters Randy Newman N.W.A Procol Harum Public Enemy Rush Donna Summer
The End Records With their debut album ‘ Vultures ‘ out now, Axewound have unveiled the video for the song ‘Exorchrist.’ In addition, the band also announced a short North American tour beginning in late November in Baltimore. Axewound are a supergroup of sorts, made up of Cancer Bats vocalist Liam Cormier and Bullet for My Valentine singer-guitarist Matt Tuck along with drummer Jason Bowld of Pitchshifter, ex-Rise to Remain bassist Joe Coput and Glamour of the Kill guitarist Mike Kingswood. More than just an extension of their other bands, the members of Axewound say they were inspired by groups like Pantera and Slipknot. “Those were the bands that I adored growing up,” explains Matt Tuck. “They each had that ‘don’t give a f—’ attitude. Axewound is about us taking the same opportunity to do exactly what we want. Musically, lyrically, it is what it is – no boundaries or limits.” ‘Vultures’ combines heaviness and brutality with an ample dose of melody. “Doing what I do in Bullet, I know what people want in every sense from a band like this,” Tuck says. “Whether they are fans of hardcore metal or of classic melodic metal. We’ve tried to encompass all of that into one brutal, nasty machine.” Check out our review of AxeWound’s ‘Vultures’ here . Axewound Tour Dates 11/27/12 — Baltimore, Md. — Baltimore Sound Stage 11/28/12 — New York, N.Y. — The Studio @ Webster Hall 11/29/12 — Montreal, Quebec — Katacombes 11/30/12 — Toronto, Ontario — The Annex Wreck Room 12/1/12 — Chicago, Ill. – Reggie’s Rock Club 12/3/12 — San Francisco, Calif. — Bottom Of The Hill 12/4/12 — Anaheim, Calif. — Chain Reaction Watch Axewound – ‘Exorchrist’ Video