Archive for March, 2013

HOWL Reveals Sick New Album Art

Providence riff lords Howl have just unveiled the new album artwork for their upcoming Bloodlines album that comes out April 30 in North America. The band recently wrapped up recording with Chris “Zuess” Harris at the infamous Planet Z Studios, which has produced some amazing records from Crowbar, Soulfly, and Municipal Waste, among a ton of … The post HOWL Reveals Sick New Album Art appeared first on Metal Injection .

Stream The New Old Wounds Record and Preorder The Vinyl!

Old Wounds are a hardcore band out of New Jersey whose new record,  From Where We Came Is Where We’ll Rest is simply mind-numbingly awesome. It’s a combination of everything they’ve done since their beginnings a few years back, and it’s one of the best releases of the year thus far. Hopefully we will have a review of it going up soon, but for now we have something else for you! The band is streaming their new album at Brooklyn Vegan for your listening pleasure so you can see what all the fuss is about. Also, the band is set to release some vinyl of their new record, which is really sweet, especially for underground bands and collectors like myself. It will come in three different versions, so be sure to pick one up!   You can preorder them here for your future playings on your record player . In the meantime, sit back, relax, and enjoy some NJ hardcore. And be on the lookout in the coming weeks, because they have a huge nationwide tour! Dates below! OLD WOUNDS – 2013 TOUR DATES Saturday, March 2, 2013 Upton VFW Upton, MA Sunday, March 3, 2013 MATINEE SHOW @ The Firehouse Providence, RI Sunday, March 3, 2013 Funky Jungle Providence, RI Monday, March 4, 2013 The Handsome Women Willimantic, CT Tuesday, March 5, 2013 Squid Amps Providence, RI Wednesday, March 6, 2013 Rad Skatepark 45 Uxbrudge Rd., Mendon, MA Thursday, March 7, 2013 Siren Records Doylestown, PA Friday, March 8, 2013 Cafe 611 Restaurant Frederick, MD Saturday, March 9, 2013 HELLBENT FEST 2013 @ Lansing Community Center Lansing, OH Sunday, March 10, 2013 The Hoosier Dome, Indianapolis, IN Monday, March 11, 2013 Alderaan, Chicago, IL Tuesday, March 12, 2013 Fubar, Saint Louis, MO Wednesday, March 13, 2013 The Outland Ballroom, Springfield, MO Thursday, March 14, 2013 The Venue, Oklahoma City, OK Friday, March 15, 2013 SXSW @ 1808 Annex, Austin, TX Saturday, March 16, 2013 The Howard House, San Antonio, TX Sunday, March 17, 2013 The Venue Dallas, TX Monday, March 18, 2013 The Pinebox Midland, TX Tuesday, March 19, 2013 The War Room, El Paso, TX Wednesday, March 20, 2013 The Nile Theatre, Mesa, AZ Thursday, March 21, 2013 Tucson Youth Collective Skrappy’s, Tucson, AZ Friday, March 22, 2013 The Dial, Murrieta, CA Saturday, March 23, 2013 Aladdin Jr, Pomona, CA Sunday, March 24, 2013 The Venue Nipomo, CA Monday, March 25, 2013 Oakland Metro, Oakland, CA Tuesday, March 26, 2013 The Venue Sacramento, CA Wednesday, March 27, 2013 Fort Ryland Reno, NV Thursday, March 28, 2013 Salt Haus, Salt Lake City, UT Friday, March 29, 2013 7th Circle Music Collective Denver, CO Saturday, March 30, 2013 The New Direction Fargo, Fargo, ND Sunday, March 31, 2013 The Venue Minneapolis, MN Monday, April 1, 2013 West Wing House Omaha, NE Tuesday, April 2, 2013 The Lemondrop, Springfield, MO Wednesday, April 3, 2013 Fubar, Saint Louis, MO Thursday, April 4, 2013 Green Hill Zone East Peoria, IL Friday, April 5, 2013 The Owl Farm Nashville, TN Saturday, April 6, 2013 Macrock, Harrisonburg, VA ? -SS

GOJIRA’s Mario Duplantier Likes To Draw On His Drumheads

Gojira drummer Mario Duplantier might be located all the way in the back of the stage when his band is performing, but for me, he is the star of the show. When seeing Gojira on their recent tour, I couldn't take my eyes off of him. He. does. not. fuck. up. He is constantly headbanging, … The post GOJIRA's Mario Duplantier Likes To Draw On His Drumheads appeared first on Metal Injection .

Killswitch Engage Post Video For ‘In Due Time’

I think just about everyone who got into metal through the New Wave of American Heavy Metal movement of the 00′s is excited for the new Killswitch Engage album Disarm the Descent. The album sees the return of original vocalist Jesse Leach, who sang on their breakout record Alive or Just Breathing. The album’s leading single ‘ In Due Time ‘ seemed to bring excitement to its peak, confirming that the band seemed to be reaching a new peak that the band hasn’t seen in a few years. It’s a damn catchy track, and it’s good to hear Jesse back in the ranks. The video for the song was posted online this week, and it’s actually not all that special on the surface. There’s some standard performance footage and some meta-shots that makes the music video about how they filmed the music video you’re currently watching. Yeah. But the important thing is that everyone seems like they’re having a good time jamming on a new song with an old friend, and after some possible doubt and worry about the band’s future following previous vocalist Howard Jones’ exit from the band, it’s a good sign. Maybe I’m reading too far into subtext that might not be there, but at any rate, it’s good to see that things are looking up for Killswitch. Disarm the Descent will be available April 2nd on Roadrunner Records. – JR

Intronaut Unveil Another New track In ‘The Way Down’

By now, you’ll probably understand that we are all extremely excited for the new Intronaut record. Ever since I saw them perform the majority of their new album live a few weeks back, I’ve been wanting the record to finally just come out so I can listen to it all of the time. Now we’re hearing a third track from their upcoming record, and it’s another great one. The song, titled ‘The Way Down’ , is a perfect example of how good this record is truly going to be, retaining the Intronaut “sound” but still managing to evolve into a better whole. You can listen to the track over at the incredibly Dutch site, visions.de . Be sure to preorder and pick up the new record  Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones) out March 19th via Century Media records. – SS

IHSAHN Is Recording A New Album

Ihsahn is recording a new album! With the last three records being damn near perfect, it's hard not to get ecstatic about this one. Last year we saw Ihsahn's Eremita, which wasn't so much announced by either himself or the label as it was a bunch of people finding the record being listed on Amazon … The post IHSAHN Is Recording A New Album appeared first on Metal Injection .

Vice or Virtue – Enlightenment

Vice or Virtue Enlightenment 01. The Movement 02. Pariah State 03. Book Of Lies 04. Resource 05. Immokalee [2013] [Self Released] Vice or Virtue , hailing from Richmond, VA, are debuting their sound with the EP Enlightenment . Actually, that’s not quite right. A more accurate statement would be that they’re re-debuting other bands’ sounds with this first release. There’s a ton of influence involved with this EP, obvious nods to contemporary progressive metal behemoths like TesseracT , Periphery , and the all-too-often-imitated Meshuggah , combining thick picking patterns segmented by rests with obviously heavy palm mutes and dissonant interjections accompanied by unvarying drums in never-deviating rhythm, clever tom fills excluded. Lying underneath, you can hear the uninspired melodies of keyboards used simply as a an atmospheric device rather than a full instrument as is the norm, basically wasting an opportunity to do something different in a genre that’s become incestuous in sound. “Uninspired” and “generic” would be two words one could use to classify this EP, as it mostly draws from tropes found in other, already established bands with analogous overtones providing little more than a copycat listening experience. Further still, we find the needlessly enigmatically named “ Mr. Person ” on vocals singing uncomfortably out of his range and finding flat notes all too often. Similarly problematic, vocal sections with the intention of harmonizing sound terribly off-key, producing little more than a cringing effect instead of eliciting chills of well-constructed voicings. The genre staple screams aren’t anything special, simply being a stark contrast to the provided cleans and not necessarily noteworthy one way or another; throwaway at best. The music itself can simply be described as less than derivative, never going out of its way to construct a new listening experience in a world full of “me too” bands. If you’re in search of heavy palm mutes and dissonant notations to break the repetition, you will definitely not be left wanting, with David Yerly providing the rhythm guitars and Corey Williams taking the lead in this ordinary adventure. On drums, we have the resourceful Dan Gibbes , who seems a more than competent drummer, but is heavily underutilized. The real gem in all this, however, is bassist John Miklosovic , going out of his way to perform above and beyond a lot of others in the genre and actually being heard instead of readily being mixed out in favor of having the guitars and vocals be the stars of the show. There are moments of brilliance, however. For example, at about the 3-minute mark in ‘Resource’ , there’s a bit where everything comes together in a sort of symphonic homage with a beautiful wall of sound, quickly ruined by a misplaced “djent” section which feels shoehorned in for the sake of a transition, which is then quickly succeeded by pick scrape leading into a straight shot of chugs where everything comes together—the keyboards come to the forefront in a pleasing melody accompanying the vocals, the guitar drops out to offer a straight rhythm alongside the bass and drums, simply offering elegant straight sixteenths. This next part is the kicker, though, because the song forgoes its metal intention with a bluesy progressive solo to take us to the end of the track, allowing both the guitar and bass talents to shine. This bit is reminiscent of Opeth ‘s lead sections, but forgoes the surrounding twelve minutes of redundant riffs. Furthermore, at about the halfway mark of ‘Immokalee’ , the band takes a more subtle approach, dropping the entire idea of being a ridiculous “djent” band and defying the repetitive sound, allowing the bass to shine before the guitars swell in to tastefully take the proverbial stage. Rhythm guitar is nothing out of the ordinary with crunchy fifths as a groundwork, but the lead guitar takes an out-of-genre approach with a heavily-delayed, high voicing evocative of many tried-and-true post-rock techniques before fading into an unnecessarily long ending of over-produced keyboard wankery. This EP isn’t bad , but it’s just another example of over-saturation of a sound—progressive metal with heavy palm mutes, clean and harsh vocals singing about God-knows-what (feelings or space or something), both consistently trading traditionally in peaks and valleys of sonic aggression. And despite the oscillation, it’s simply too identical to other bands already doing the same thing. It’s perfect for fans of the type, though, so don’t be turned off to these fine djentlemen. Vice or Virtue succeeds when they’re exploring areas outside of their intended purpose. There’s a lot of material to work with and a great deal of talent involved, and none of it should be wasted trying to be another TesseracT or Periphery. 3/5 – KG