Extol, one of those awesome bands that everyone should listen to, are set to release their new album next week (and if you live in their native Norway, you can get it today!). In anticipation of that, the band have released a few tracks from the album and the one of them has a video. Amazing huh? And in 2013! Wow!
Saracasm aside, the song is killer and the video isn’t too shabby. It definitely straddles that line between too much self-promotion and boring “band playing in an empty venue” thing, but it’s cut well and the song doesn’t sound pretentious at all. So, it works. Check it out and go buy yourself a copy of Extol’s self-titled new one when you can (June 25th for those of us in North America and June 25th for the EU).
In 2011, I was alerted to the musical stylings of Blue Stahli via a friend. His 2011 album was one of my favorites that year and while I wouldn’t exactly call it metal, it is some pretty great electronic infused rock. Or vice versa. So, I’m happy to alert you the first music video from that album, for the lead off track “UltraNUMB.” It’s a pretty rocking song, super infectious, and the video has a equal doses of nice visuals, humor and blood. How can that combination not be good?! If you like the track, go pick up the album here. Now, without further b.s., here’s the video which debuted yesterday at Bloody Disgusting!
You’ll have to forgive me, because I really don’t remember where I heard about Oathbreaker. That said, this band is awesome! I love the punk vibe, the metal intensity and the just sheer love of being aggressive in the music. I don’t think they are breaking any new ground, but this young band of Belgians has the chops to pull off some seriously fine, crunchy, dirty punk-metal. And yes, I would call it punk-metal and not metalcore/hardcore/herpaderpaderp. So, watch the video for the track “Origin” off their 2011 Deathwish released album Malestrom and bang your head.
I’ve been asked before, when I was playing in bands, why I listened to/played the kind of music I did. I always just had the answer of it being what I’m passionate about and what I love. It’s why I run this blog. It’s why I spent an hour watching the documentary Why You Do This, by Car Bomb vocalist Michael Dafferner. This doc has been getting around on the metal blogosphere for awhile, but I’ll just add my voice to the throng of ones proclaiming this as a great look into the life of most touring bands. Check it out!
So, we come up to the final month of 2011. This time of year is usually hectic for everyone, but for the past two years I’ve felt slightly more pressured this time of year. Last year, not only was I finishing up my first semester of graduate school, but I was getting ready to get married. On top of that, I started a new job and felt the need to add a year-end list for this here blog and I know that myself and Chris both felt the stress and pressure. In light of that and the not really decreased pressure that the “holiday season” is bringing this year, we’ve decided to do our year end lists slightly differently. In the past, we’ve both spread our list of ten over the course of a week, posting two to three choices each day. This proved last year to be pretty difficult and wasn’t much fun, so we are changing it up. We’ll be posting them separately, instead of together, a move that is mostly meant to maintain my sanity in the midst of finals. The format will be different too, but I’ll leave that for all of you to discover.
One thought I did have as I was heading home from Chris’ the other night, was the types of albums that we are choosing this year. While I think they are representative of our individual tastes, maybe even more so this year than in the past, I do think they reflect a certain move into some styles of metal that I don’t think our young selves would have ever seen coming. I know for me at least, I never would have thought I’d enjoy something along the lines of Anaal Nathrakh as a 16 year old metal fan. I also wouldn’t have enjoyed Miles Davis back then either. I’m not sure if that says I’ve matured in my tastes or not, but I definitely think about art, music and what is “quality” differently this year than I have in the past. I think my list will be reflective of that. What I think it says about metal in general, especially in 2011, is just how different the scene is. It blows my mind that Cormorant can ask the press to not talk about their album until after pre-orders have shipped because they’ve gotten too many. An unsigned band pushing those kind of numbers without any national touring? Especially one that eschews easy categorization? That can only happen now, and we all benefit from that.
Speaking of Cormorant, the internet has been their best friend, and I would argue it has been metal’s as well. Just not the labels. Services like Spotify, Rdio, and Grooveshark are all the future of the music we love. Hell, they are the future of music in general. Midsized, non-corporate owned labels are freaking (for the most part) and I think this will prove to ultimately be a detriment. While the “big” metal labels haven’t pulled out of all the streaming services (you can still find Century Media and Prosthetic artists on Rdio, just not Spotify), I think that eventually the market forces will take their toll and we’ll see them again on all the streaming services. It’s an industry in flux, for sure, but as listeners we pretty much only benefit. Personally, I welcome the streaming services, and hope that this new way of listening to music is refined and expanded. I’ll still go to shows, still buy merch and for the bands I care about, will still buy physical albums. Or digital downloads.
So, in all this nonsensical ranting, I guess my point is that 2011 felt like a big year of change for metal. While there may not have been a ton of new “genres” founded, I think the external forces have caused the scene to change, and will push even further changes into 2012 and beyond. It’s an exciting time to be a metal fan, to be a music fan, and I think we should all embrace that. Change happens, and it’s only in our response that necessitates if that is good or bad.
Metalsucks already posted this and while I am unashamedly stealing it, I think it’s far too good to leave to one site. I think I’ve watched this video at least three times now. Not because I enjoy the song. No, it’s because, much like a train wreck (or Lulu) I just can’t help myself. This may be the singularly strangest thing I’ll see all year and when all is said and done, it makes perfect sense that this came from Japan. My Western eyes have no idea what I’m seeing. I have no idea what is going on here. No. Fucking. Clue. Enjoy.
An article posted on the Guardian’s website Friday states that Metal Hammer and one of the old dudes from Saxon are campaigning to have metal recognized as an official religion in the UK. Now, this all sounds utterly ridiculous to me, but hey it’s not the first time something like this has come up. I’m all for practical jokes and I really do think claiming Jedi is pretty damn hilarious. No sane person could ever actually believe Jediism is real right? I mean, it’s not like we have a bunch of people claiming to be reincarnated alien souls. Oh wait. Shit. Is there really a fuss to be made over metal being classified as a religion? maybe not in any serious way, but it does seem rather odd.
I live and breath metal. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have started up this blog with my hetero life mate. Claiming something as a religion, even if a joke, is taking it a bit too far this time, in my opinion. First off, metal and religion have had a very tumultuous past. Let’s face it, Slayer wouldn’t be nearly as cool if they didn’t hate on the Omniscient one all the time and black metal wouldn’t actually be scary if it weren’t for it’s past. When a bunch of teenagers burn churches in the name of Satan while also starting a new subgenre of metal, it’s easy to connect the dots. Metal and religion don’t mix well. This coming from someone who states Living Sacrifice as one his favorite bands. Living sacrifice are pretty damn cool, but would be incredibly lame if not for their anti religious cousins. I could go on about this, but what I really want to say is that religion is a lot about conformity and metal has always had a bit of the non-conformist in it. Despite an “accepted” dress code, the genre’s mentality has always valued individuality. Even then, it’s not the genre itself, but more then sound of the genre and the feel and themes that it evokes. Most people wouldn’t be able to listen to Behemoth without some serious ear training. Metal is a loner sport in many respects and religion is a collective entity. More so than that, religion, regardless of what it may say, demands uniformity of thought. This is antithetical to reason and much of what metal stands for. This is why the whole “death to false metal” argument makes me laugh. You are putting restrictions on something that was never meant to be restricted. Making metal a religion will do that.
Lastly, making metal a religion will pretty much kill it as a genre. Apart from the conformity aspect, metal becoming an organized religion will take away all the weight from the genre being against organized religion and promoting free thought. Becoming the thing you rally against only makes your point moot and thus makes any point you try and make after that moot. The relevancy of the music will begin to fade and as the lyrical content it demeaned, so will the musical content. After all, who wants to listen to a bunch of music about a religion that spoke out against religion?
Of course, I could just be reading too much into this and as far as me posting a blog about this I am in effect siding with the conservative “let’s keep metal the same!” voices. I also am defending metal as if it were religion to me, thus potentially making my argument obsolete. So let that dude from Saxon and Metal Hammer have their joke. Laugh a bit. When it comes down to it, metal will always survive as that music we love. Iron Maiden are still touring the world after all.
Yea, you read that right. Yes, I am also stealing this article/post from metalsucks. Deal with it. A few years ago I got kind of tired of endless blast beats and tremolo picking, so I started to explore some other forms of music, and jazz was right there to satisfy my craving for new tunes. Maybe it was the virtuosity, the feel, or the constant exposure I got due to the highly respected jazz program at my University, but whatever it may be it stuck. Coltrane, Davis, Reid… my holy trinity of jazz when I first became enlightened of the genre’s merits. So, I couldn’t help but re-post this article the New York Times did on the connection to jazz and metal. I’ll leave the link so you all can read, but I have little to add except that this still probably won’t change many people’s opinions of metal as a “low-brow” form of entertainment. Hey, with Hellyeah and Five Finger Death Punch still out there, it’s gonna be a hard notion to break. Here’s the article.
Devildriver have never slouched on their three previous releases, delivering a more technical, heavier, and diverse album each time. Pray for Villains is no exception as it goes above and beyond earlier albums, making you wonder at times if you’re actually listening to the same band that released its self-titled album in 2003.
This band has proven they can play; what stands out on this album is the overall songwriting ability they bring to the table. The epic, “I’ve Been Sober” begins with a mellow intro which slowly builds into a barrage of huge drum fills and head-spinning double guitar attack. The verse makes way for a hook-driven chorus by front man Dez Fafara. The song later moves into a 45 second barrage of beautiful guitar work before slowly fading out. By far the biggest endeavor the band has conquered.
Every song on the album has an exceptional groove. Songs “Pure Sincerity,” “Back with a Vengeance,” and “It’s In the Cards” all have a Pantera-esque groove to them. Dez Fafara even expands his vocals on some tracks similar to what Randy Blythe did on Lamb of God’s last album. The acoustic interlude in “Fate Stepped In” offers a fast paced build-up before exploding into a killer riff that would make any prog-metal band smile. The sixth track “Resurrection Blvd.” sounds massive. The sweeps throughout the verse unleash a monstrous drum fill before opening into a slow chunky chorus, filled with unrelenting double-bass and all the guitar squeals you can handle.
Almost every song on this album stands out in one way or another. Subtract fillers like “Teach me to Whisper” and “I See Belief” and you have an album packed full of amazing songs. Coming from a band known for its live show, this album will provide more than enough fire power to keep the machine that is Devildriver rolling down the road.
Hails everyone! To get started, we would like to say hello to you all out there and let you know who we are and what we are about. We are a two out of college guys with metal on our minds and English degrees in our hands. We decided that we wanted to write about metal and we were tired of waiting for someone else to tell us that we can do it. So, we created a brand spanking new blog devoted to our love of metal.
It will be a work in progress but you can expect thorough, insightful album/concert reviews, band spotlights, and a few editorial pieces here and there. So, in short welcome and we hope you come to enjoy our insights and share our love for the metal.
DC Metal Review 