As some of you know, a while back Killswitch Engage split with their second vocalist, Howard Jones. The split was fairly amicable, by all accounts, and the band moved on to recruit their first singer, Jesse Leach (Times of Grace), back into the fold of KSE. Now, after hearing nothing from Mr. Jones, we have a brand new band with a familiar face throwing some aggression at our listening holes: Devil You Know.
Another great drop this week, in the vein of traditional metal or even New Wave of British Heavy Metal (NWOBHM), The Cult of the Vestal Claret, by the titular Vestal Claret, is repping the old school styles pretty hard. You have great base to build off, and they have that old rocking metal sound, with a doom and gloom message about that old tyme religion, devil worship. Fuzzy, dirty, and easy to remember. What’s not to love?!
The era of Rock N’ Roll has been dead for a long time. In fact, ever since they found out that hairspray has been a deciding factor in the removal of ozone, its been just slowly sliding into a golden memory. Until now. The days of actually knowing how to do more than play a simple power chord pattern has given way to a true Rock band: MACH 22. These guys are as fast as their name, with sweet, sweet crunch, fried chicken-tasty licks, and some energy to spare! Their new album, Sweet Talk Intervention, is a glorious throwback to bands like King’s X, Living Colour, Extreme, and just a little bit of GNR. Starting from just the packaging, you know you’re in for a wild ride: the artwork is a gorgeous palette...
Sometimes you just can’t catch a break. SMBH has one of the most pain in the ass names to have to repeatedly type, and I’ll probably say it several times. The new album, “shortly” titled Calculations of the Ancients, was just released this past April 29th, and has started to decimate ear tubes across the world.
Another great evening of music was put on display this last friday (03/21), with the tour featuring Protest the Hero and Battlecross, featuring The Safety Fire (UK), Intervals, Night Verses, and locals Violent Vendetta. An insanely solid lineup and show, this was a lineup that really any metal fan could just walk into and enjoy. Compared to the Friday before that, with the current tour of Between the Buried and Me, one didn’t have to be solely a prog metal guy to have fun.
In the mid to late Nineties, a young, brash director was approached by a major studio to direct a re imagined version of an uber popular character that was recently maligned and exhausted as a movie franchise. This new version was going to be a radical departure of what anyone had ever seen and the director was on board with the changes. The Director?
Some people are very familiar with bands like T.O.M.B. (Total Occultic Mechanical Blasphemy), SUNN 0)))))) and GULAGGH/STALAGGH come immediately to mind, within the Doom/Drone/Black Noise genre(s), and others are not so much. I fall into the first category, more through SUNN 0)))))) than any other band, including the one I am about to tell you about (Hint: It’s the acronym).
I have professed my love for stoner/fuzz/doom/acid rock and metal before, with bands such as Dead Earth Politics, The Sword, Baroness, and the recent releases from Orchid, naming but a few of my picks. Falling in line with the absolute heavy, fuzzed out tones of these spectacular bands is the group called Truckfighters. Just the name alone made me want to give them a listen, and no disappointment was to be found. Beginning to end, these boys know exactly how a fuzz pedal works, and make theirs work overtime on Universe.
A new slab of metallic goodness is about to drop on Tuesday March 4th! This one is made of chugging goodness, chainsaws, spiked hammers masquerading as drum pedals, and barbed wire liberally sown into a man’s throat to scrape all that is human from his guttural voice! I am, of course, talking about the new Metallica/My Little Pony collab! Of course I’m not! I kid… if only though… Just imagine Hetfield and Ulrich prancing in neon colored horse outfits!
As with the review of Exmortus last week, another great band who plays something really kind of different. Grand Magus plays what would traditionally be done by a power, viking, or melodic metal band, not something accompanying a fuzzy guitar doing what could be honestly called stoner riffs. But it fits very well, and with some awesome trad metal touches, is a very catchy and enjoyable record.
