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]

Defeater tour dates

Defeater will hit the road in the new year for a quick east coast tour.

1/8 Wallingford, CT @ The Wallingford American Legion
1/9 Long Island, NY @ TBA
1/10 Washington, DC @ St. Stephen's Church
1/11 Baltimore, MD @ The Charm City Artspace
1/12 Richmond, VA @ Rumors
1/13 Philadelphia, PA @ TBA
1/14 Brooklyn, NY @ Stolen Sleeves
1/15 Albany, NY @ The Landing Zone
1/16 Wappinger's Falls, NY @ The Montrose Basement

Defeater on MySpace

Doomriders/Disfear split 7"

Doomriders and Disfear are two not-unknown names in the world of aggressive music. The two bands have been around for quite awhile, Disfear since the late 80's and Doomriders for at least 3 years. Doomriders being a project headed by Converge bassist Nate Newton, Disfear being an influential hardcore punk/rock group from Sweden featuring underground music celebrity Thomas Linberg (At The Gates, Skitsystem, etc) on vocals.

This split is a quick showcase for both bands, and I think a pretty decent point to dive in for either band if you haven't listened to either. Each band gives us one track (both around 5 minutes), and both songs are really great.

The first side of the split is Disfear. I have never listened to Disfear before this unfortunately, but that is one of the appeals of a split record, listening to something you wouldn't normally. I wasn't sure what to expect when I first listened to them, but it's clear that this split with Doomriders makes a lot of sense. Disfear is a kind of dark, rock, droning metal hardcore blend capped off by Linberg's famous rough vocals. It's really awesome if you're into that kind of stuff.

Doomriders half of this split is fucking great. 'Crooked Path' is probably their best song to date and listening to just this one song on this split is so frustrating because I want to hear more new Doomriders materal. Doomriders is easily one of my favorite bands right now, and their 'death n' roll' blend of rock, metal and hardcore is such an easy addiction to slip in to. They really aren't a band to ignore, beause this stuff is just brilliant. 'Crooked Path' is a brooding, building, epic track that is just punishing right from the start, it really is the bands best piece in my opinion.

If you haven't listened to either of these bands, you're doing it wrong, and if you want to check out either of these bands, this split is a great place to do it.

Doomriders on MySpace
Disfear on MySpace
Deathwish inc.

US release announced for newest Victim's release

Deathwish Inc has announced that they will be issuing Victims latest album 'Killer' in North America on February 17th of next year and have launched an audio player with 3 tracks from the album on the site now, which can be found here.


Victims on MySpace
Deathwish Inc.

The Red Baron studio update 2

The second of 3 video updates documenting the recording of their debut album, 'My First Love' out on Blood and Ink Records next year.

The Red Baron on MySpace

Alarmed - S/T 7"

Alarmed is a 5 person hardcore band from Baltimore that has been around for over 5 years now pumping out rock infused hardcore in a DIY style that is rather enviable. Having released a handful of EP's in the past, Alarmed released a self-titled EP earlier this year on Dead Truth Recordings.

I had never heard any of Alarmed's material before heading into this EP. I actually had been interested by them after seeing that Dead Truth Recordings was putting out their record, but they must have fallen off my radar. I am glad however that I've gotten the chance to listen to this record, it's pretty good.

Alarmed plays a style of hardcore that blends traditional hardcore with some rock elements in a way that reminds me of bands like Hollywood without taking it as far as Hollywood did. It's not to say that this a less than heavy style of hardcore, it's pretty heavy in parts, but it's clear that this is not the bands focus. The vocals are raspy and remind me again of Hollywood, but even Shipwreck and Baltimore contemporaries, Trapped Under Ice. The band gets into a groove that never really speeds up to too much, and never really slows down much either, but it's not a negative, it works.

On this EP, Alarmed have put together four very solid tracks that I have a hard time getting tired of. Anytime I put these songs on, I have no problem with letting them go and go without getting sick of it. It all just runs together really well, and it just feels right. If I had a problem with the record, I would just say that it's not long enough. I feel like I'm just getting a taste of something that is bigger, so I hope that this level of quality holds up with their future releases.

With this release, Alarmed really shows that they are a band capable of writing some great tracks, and that they're not concerned with meeting the status quo of hardcore. It's a different breed of hardcore, and it's really great. If you haven't listened to them yet, I suggest you pick this up.

Alarmed on MySpace
Dead Truth Recordings

Dominic Mallary passes away

Several days ago after a performance in Boston, Dominic Mallary, the singer for the band Last Lights, passed away due to a random blood clot in his brain.

Known for his energy filled live performances, Dominic has helped Last Lights gain quite a lot of notoriety recently, making this whole situation the more sadder. Those who knew him speak very highly of him and the music that he created. It is clearly a horrible lost to those who knew him and to the hardcore punk community as a whole.


Heart In Hand Records quickly announced the release of a compilation dedicated in Dominic's memory with all proceeds going to Dominic's family. The compilation sold out very quickly after being put up on their estore.

Further information surrounding Dominic's passing can be found at the following links.
[link]
[link]

Links to many of the musical acts Dominic was a part of.
Last Lights
Apparitions
Haunted Like A House
God & Country
The Mount Doom

Narrows updates

Narrows' new album has been named with a status of 'Coming Soon'. The album will be released through Deathwish Inc.A new song from the upcoming album, entitled 'New Distances', can be heard here on Deathwish's site.

Along with the album update, a west coast tour has been announced with Trap Them and These Arms Are Snakes.

12/11: Seattle, WA @ Chop Suey
12/12: Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theatre
12/13: Santa Rosa, CA @ The Casbar
12/14: San Francisco, CA @ Bottom Of The Hill
12/15: Anaheim, CA @ Chain Reaction
12/16: Los Angeles, CA @ Knitting Factory
12/17: San Diego, CA @ Che Cafe

Those lucky enough to see them should, as extensive touring is not planned by Narrows.

Narrows on MySpace

Between The Buried and Me Interview on Lambgoat

Lambgoat just put up a great interview with Between The Buried and Me, it's well worth the read. Discusses the DVD show, various tours of the past, some label chat and clearing up the mysticism with the Cover album.

You can read it here.

Between The Buried and Me on MySpace

The Red Baron studio update 1

The first video blog of 'The Red Baron' recording their debut Full Length album entitled 'My First Love' to be released March 2009 on Blood & Ink Records.

The Red Baron on MySpace

Dillinger Escape Plan to record in June

The Dillinger Escape Plan has stated that they will enter the studio in June to record the follow up to 2007's 'Ire Works'. You can also read about 'Chinese Democracy', Metallica's new record and Ben's hillarious music apparel for dogs (it's real... Garmutt), as well as a bunch of other random things that made it into this ridiculous blog post.

Dillinger Escape Plan on MySpace

Wolve (The Banner side project) announced

Joey of The Banner has announced that he has formed a new band. The band is called Wolve and will be a continuation of the experimentation that took place on the last record The Banner put out, 'Frailty'. The group is a response to not wanting to continue that route with The Banner, with which they want to return to the basics. He also confirmed that The Banner has ceased touring, but to expect a new EP from the group next year.

Wolve has posted a demo track (with no vocals) to show off the kind of sound that Wolve will take. You can listen to that song here.

You can read The Banner's blog on the issue here.

Wolve on MySpace
The Banner on MySpace

Irons/Pulling Teeth - Grey Saviour, for 2008

The split album 'Grey Saviour', featuring Irons and Pulling Teeth will be seeing a 2008 release through Deathwish Inc. While specific dates haven't been announced, they surely will be shortly.

Irons is a collabrative project consisting of Jake Bannon of Converge, Dwid Hellion of Integrity and Stephen Kasner. This split will be this supergroups first material to be released and is highly anticipated by many.

"Irons:
J. Bannon (Converge, etc), Dwid Hellion (Integrity, etc), and Stephen Kasner (Blood Fountains) are "Irons". A collective effort to create apocalyptic, non-linear music from a primal fine art based mindset. With this release, Irons have forged a pensive sonic reflection ripe with melancholy and despair. Electronic textures, haunting vocals, and unorthodox guitar work all dance together to create an unforgettable melodic portrait that is unlike anything out there today.

Pulling Teeth:
A stylistic departure for Pulling Teeth, here they utilize this release to tread into deeper, more experimental, musical waters. The featured opus "General Of Dark Hymns I & II" shows a new kind of dynamic emerging from their dark well of creative character. Slowing the pace only to crash down with a force merely hinted at in previous Pulling Teeth recordings. The release also features a J. Bannon (Converge, etc) remix of "Dismissed In Time", the epic closing track from their heralded "Martyr Immortal" album."
[link]

Pulling Teeth on MySpace
Irons on MySpace
Deathwish Inc.