The Red Baron studio update 3

The final video update from The Red Baron surrounding their upcoming full-length debut on Blood & Ink Records in early 2009.

The Red Baron on MySpace

Best Shows of 2008 - Converge, The Red Chord, Baroness

My next candidate for best shows of 2008 is probably something that is on every person lists this year if they attended it. The Converge/The Red Chord/Baroness/Genghis Tron tour was probably one of the biggest tours announced this year and I was as excited about it as anyone could possibly be.


This tour hit Iowa City April 10th this year, taking place at the always awesome Picador. This tour played Chicago 2 nights in a row earlier that week which would've been amazing, but alas, this was the best I could do. The Picador is an awesome venue though with a great mix between small personal space and some great sound equipment.

We unfortunately missed most of Genghis Tron on this night, but I am not too familiar with them anyway, but from what heard, they were playing an awesome set that tour. I spent most of my time early that evening shoveling cash at Converge while my friend played Galaga in the back by the bar.

The first band that I would watch that evening was Baroness. Baroness is a band that I've long appreciated as being an awesome group, and have very much enjoyed listening to, but I just do not listen to them that much if that makes sense. Anyway, I was eager to see them, and so were a lot of other people.

They played a well paced set, that a lot of people were into. I came out very pleased, they craft very eloquent tunes, and they play them perfectly live. I was surprised to see a large chunk of people clear out after they played though. I guess it was their new found success on the MTV2 circuit, but I figured that most people were there for Converge (which was still largely true), but it was a surprise.

The Red Chord followed Baroness. I used to be really into the Red Chord, but up to this point I hadn't been listening to them much lately. They put on an awesome show though, it was really high energy, and they seem really comfortable playing their tunes which get very technical at times, they were just having fun. It was great. They played a little long I thought, but it was still entertaining to watch. Many stage dives and ridiculousness, including a bunch of people just getting on stage for no reason at the end which brought the singer into a fit of laughter in which he just embraced and stopped trying to sing.

After The Red Chord, Converge came on.

I had seen Converge before this in the same building actually, but this night would easily eclipse that in my mind's eye. Converge started with Kurt (guitar) standing on stage by himself playing 'Plagues' off of their album 'No Heroes' which is just about the best way any band could ever open a set in my eyes. Slowly the rest of the band joined him and the set began.

They played for about an hour playing every song I could have wanted minus one or two (I do not recall hearing The Saddest Day or Heaven In Her Arms), songs I can recall: 'No Heroes', 'Concubine/Fault and Fracture', 'Last Light', 'Locust Reign', 'My Great Devastator' along with a mess of others and finishing with an epic 12 minute finale of 'Jane Doe'. It was just fantastic, I couldn't have asked for a much better Converge experience.

This was easily one of my favorite shows of the year, and with such a varied lineup, it was a perfect night.

Shai Hulud - Misanthropy Pure

Shai Hulud is easily one of the most influential bands to exist in the realm of hardcore and metal since their inception in the mid-90's. A name that is unfortunately ignored by a large portion of newer kids getting into these styles of music considering, that the landscape of this music might look significantly different had Shai Hulud never come into existence. Of course, Shai Hulud hadn't released a record in over 5 years prior to this earlier in the year, so it's somewhat understandable.

Shai Hulud plays an almost unreproducable brand of metal influenced hardcore that has been blowing minds for years. The way this music is crafted fights every norm that one expects when listening to metalcore, or any other band of metallic hardcore. It's easy to pick up on some familiar time signatures and riff structures, but as soon as you feel like you know where it's going, you absolutely don't. That, coupled with Shai Hulud's unrelentingly angry, perfectly structured lyrics have made them into a group that has outlasted all trends within this scene, and something that few bands can touch.

'Misanthropy Pure' is their first proper released since 2003's 'That Within Blood Ill-Tempered', in which time a lot has happened to the band, their revolving door lineup situation claimed their long time vocalist Geert ven der Velde which was almost to the death blow to the band, but they were able to recover and write one of the best metal/hardcore records of 2008.

'Misanthropy Pure' is a constantly evolving, powerful beast. From the first notes of 'Venomspreader', the album's opener, to the the gradual fading out of 'Cold Lord Quietus', the album is unrelentingly fierce, brilliantly progressive and heavy all at the same time. New vocalist, Matt Mazzali, fits Shai Hulud perfectly I think, apart from Chad Gilbert, original vocalist of the group, I think he is probably the best vocalist for the group. The guitar riffs are wide ranging and varied, the drums are as intricate and detailed as ever and they really have come together to produce the best Shai Hulud album that could have been produced I think. The title track on the album is fantastic, 'Chorus of the Dissimilar', 'To Bear The Brunt of Many Blades' and the re-recording of Shai Hulud classic 'Set Your Body Ablaze' are my favorites on the album, but again, this album is fantastic, there isn't a bad track here.

The recording has been a hit or miss with many people. It is very high production, and I've heard arguments either way with it. I love it. I don't know if this is just because of the high production values, or if these have always been in Shai Hulud records, there are a bunch of subtle quick nuances that I can pick out on this record that going back into their catalog just aren't apparent. I think that with the range and dynamics that they have displayed with this record, the high production and clean recording fits very well.

Hands down, this is probably the best release in the metalcore genre this year, and in hardcore in general. It's brilliantly written in all aspects, and if you haven't checked it out, or if you've never listened to the band at all, check it out. This band is uncompromising of their vision, and this record is one of the best of this year.

Shai Hulud on MySpace
Metalblade Records

Black Dahlia Murder interview

From HARDTIMES.CA, during their recent Canadian tour.



The Black Dahlia Murder on MySpace

Best shows of 2008, Killing The Dream, Pulling Teeth

Our last trip into the best shows of 2008 covered the January 2nd show at the Muse in Nashville, TN. A show featuring a heavyweight line up of Have Heart, Down To Nothing, I Rise and many others. This will cover the night that would follow, and the real reason that we drove 9 hours to Nashville in the first place.

This next show was the crown jewel of the trip, it was to take place at The Anchor, a church not far from The Muse the night before. It's a venue run by a cool church group who's not so authoritarian on the bands that they let play their venue as evident by the nights lineup, Pulling Teeth, Ruiner and Killing The Dream. Playing alongside these titans were again a wide array of smaller bands to fill it out, including the ever fantastic hometown heroes, Hollywood.

Still 'hungover' from the trip and subsequent lack of proper rest and way too long spent at a local mall (fuck that story), the beginning of the show is again something of a blur. Pulling Teeth would be closing the night out, Killing The Dream playing third to last and Ruiner playing second to last. Oddly enough, the first awesome moments of this show as I can recall was Hollywood. I had seen the band before as they had toured up through the Midwest into Illinois, but seeing them in their hometown, in their element was something special. Kids just went nuts, it felt like the floor was going to cave in at times. Completely ridiculous.

Initially, I felt bad for Killing The Dream to have to come on after that, but they were the reason we were there, and they did not disappoint. They ripped through a set of the best tracks of their two albums at the time and played a new song. Not a lot of kids really seemed to know much of their words or anything it seemed like, until they played their epic finale, 'We're All Dead Ends', then all of a sudden it seemed like every single person in the building knew every word. It was an awesome set, totally worth the trip. Unfortunately, I was outside cooling off while Ruiner played, so I don't have anything to say about that set.

Pulling Teeth closed the show, and having known little about them at the time, I was merely a bystander, but I was made a fan that night. Pulling Teeth had played Nashville a few times before that I gathered, and a lot of kids there were familiar with their music, so it was another intense set as to be expected at this point. Kids reacted to what they were saying, and moshed hard. Pulling Teeth is now one of my favorite bands thanks to that night.

That brought an end to night 2 of 'Nashville Fest'. The next night would be the closer featuring another batch of high intensity sets from Kids Like Us, Know The Score, The Mongoloids, Barricade and a bunch more, and that would conclude the trip to Nashville.

Considerably more broke than before we arrived, we made the 9 hour drive home and were pleased with the results of our quest to see Killing The Dream.

Best shows of 2008 - Have Heart, Down To Nothing, I Rise

As 2008 draws to a close I thought it would be nice to recap some of my favorite shows of 2008. After all, the big draw to underground music, apart from hearing styles of music that you can't hear anywhere else, is the live setting in my eyes.

I can't picture going to a large arena 'concert' (I really hate that word) and feeling any sort of connection with a band, I'd rather listen to an album than be stuck half a mile away from a stage staring at tiny people wandering around a large stage. There is no personal connection there. At hardcore shows, and any underground music styles really, there is no division between the band at those people there to watch them. Everyone is the same, everyone is there for the same reason. I love that.
___________________

My year started off fast and set the bar pretty high for the rest of the year, which is the best way to start a year to be filled with many shows. To begin this tale, you must understand that my friend and I had become addicted to Killing The Dream in the end months of 2007, like really bad. To our dismay, and to anyone else who follows the band, Killing The Dream tends to tour Japan and Europe more often than the Midwest. The closet pass the band would be making in the near future was Nashville, TN, January 3rd of the next year.

We were sad and disappointed and often joked about making the 9-ish hour drive down there just to see them, however, the more we talked about it, the more possible it seemed. So we decided to give it a shot. Getting the trip organized was not easy at first, nobody wanted to drive 9 hours for one show. Luckily for us (upon further investigation), there were 3 awesome shows in a row in Nashville that week. After that, everything fell into place pretty quickly. 3 awesome shows was surely worth the 9 hour trip.

The first show of this trip would be January 2nd, the day that we would leave to go down to Nashville. It was an impeccable show to start the 3 day 'Nashville Fest'. Have Heart, Down To Nothing, I Rise and many more names that have become somewhat notable in the recent days (Wake Up Call, Lie and Wait, Maintain and Foundation) at 'The Muse', an awesome venue tucked away in a darker corner of Nashville.

Despite being pretty wiped out after the 9 hour drive and a brief rest at our trashy hotel, the show was intense. It's a little bit of a blur trying to recall now, but I first learned of I Rise that night which is what I mainly remember it for, but also, it was the first time I saw how big Have Heart had/has got. The first time I saw Have Heart was in Iowa early in the summer of 2007, and probably a handful of people there knew who they were. In Nashville that night, there were a couple hundred of kids screaming every word.


The show was incredibly high energy, tons of kids packed into a relatively small space all going nuts, non-stop stage dives, a perpetual pile on, no fights, no negativity, just an awesome time.

Have Heart closed the show, but that energy was there through every band. It makes me jealous how every time I go several hours outside of where I am from, the scene's seem to much better than ours. Nashville is/was? full of a bunch of awesome kids who support bands and are there to have a good time, no drama, no bullshit, no attitudes. It was really an awesome show.

We then retired to our hotel room, totally pumped that we had driven 9 hours for this, psyched for the next night, when we would finally satisfy the goal of the trip, seeing Killing The Dream...

Weekly update

NoiseBlog Reviews







News Bits
- Dominic Mallary passes away [link]
- The Red Baron Studio updates [1] [2]
- Irons/Pulling Teeth split details [link]
- The Banner side project, Wolve [link]
- Dillinger Escape Plan set to record [link]
- Between The Buried and Me interview on Lambgoat [link]
- Narrows updates [link]
- Victims album release details [link]
- Defeater tour dates [link]