Evergreen Terrace – Everlong Cover

Saturday, January 30, 2010 No Comments

I’m such a sucker when it comes to covers, I’m not afraid to admit that I enjoyed the Punk Goes Series. But Evergreen Terrace have posted a new cover of Foo Fighters Everlong on MySpace (are band really still using MySpace?), I say go check it out, it’s good. But this also has me wondering, is there another Punk Goes 90’s on the way? I hope so.

via MetalInsider

“hold tight, I just might, fast women are slowing me down…”

Monday, January 25, 2010 No Comments

I think I’m in love.

I can’t say I’ve enjoyed an album more in 2010 than Bangers, the Metal Blade debut from Montreal’s Barn Burner.  Since it’s only the end of January, that statement may sound like a backhanded compliment – make no mistake: Barn Burner is the shit.

I foresee these dudes quickly rising to the very tippy top of the “stoner rock” genre, putting a couple notches in their belts in other musical categories as they climb.  I find them to be way more palatable than The Sword and Fu Manchu, while still nestling in that kind of sound.  Bangers has some of the best rock tracks I’ve heard in years, ripe with biting lyrics, badass grooves and familiar riffage.  They don’t disappoint in touching on the typical topics of smoking drugs (“Holy Smokes,” “Beer Today, Bong Tomorrow”) and there’s that damn Wizard (thanks Sabbath) to whom so many of these groups feel the need to pay homage, but I adore the foray into redneck territory with “Fast Women.”

The musicianship is strong, the writing is solid, the melodies and lyrics are catchy – I can picture people across America driving in their cars, busting guts singing along with “Brohemoth.”  Vocalist/guitarist Kevin Keegan, with nods in the direction of Page Hamilton–style vocals in dismissively spitting out what he really thinks, is already a pro; Marc Doucette and Nick Ball would have no problem engaging the QOTSA guys in a session and Taylor Freund’s timing makes me so comfy I want to sit in his lap.

These dudes can fuckin’ rock it out. I am desperate to see Barn Burner play live.  So far no planned tours have been announced, but the boys will be doing a set at SXSW on March 18th at East End Tattoo, so if you’re in the Austin area, and can, GO.  For the rest of us, this will have to suffice for now: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Sv33mDo7kIA

It could be appropriate to see them hit the road with an Eyehategod or maybe Crowbar in my metal circles, and granted, they’ve warmed up Priestess crowds already… but I can most certainly envision Barn Burner opening for Mastodon by the end of the year.  Who do I have to call to make that happen?

Check them out here and plan to pick up a copy of Bangers on February 16:

http://www.myspace.com/theinfamousbarnburner

Scion Rock Festival Part Deux – COLUMBUS, OHIO

Saturday, January 23, 2010 No Comments

Holy shit, is Columbus, Ohio, my hometown getting back on the metal map? I fucking hope so. But this is big news, so I feel I should share it with everyone.

Mark your calendars, March 13,  for the Second Annual Scion Rock Festival. Just check out the lineup, you’re not going to be disappointed.

CANNIBAL CORPSE

SHRINEBUILDER

VOIVOD

D.R.I.

BRUTAL TRUTH

HATE ETERNAL

YOB

PELICAN

3 INCHES OF BLOOD

ABSU

LUDICRA

ACCRASSICAUIDA

TRAP THEM

MAGRUDERGRIND

LANDMINE MARATHON

THOU

SAVIOURS

LITURGY

STRUCK BY LIGHTING

BLACK TUSK

DEADSEA

LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH

LULLABYE ARKESTRA

From what I’ve been reading, this is going on in several small venues through out Columbus.

Check out Metal Insider for the Complete Detail. And hopefully we can all get some beers together.

Conducting From The Grave – When Legends Become Dust [Review]

Monday, January 18, 2010 No Comments

So I’ve been in the metal slump over the past month or 2. Not reviewing, not doing a lot actually. But I’m excited about this next band, Conducting From The Grave. I needed to hear a band like this. It’s been too damn long since I’ve heard something truly amazing, and Conducting From The Grave as done so.

Hit the jump for more!

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Andyman’s Top 9 Metal Albums of 2009

Saturday, January 2, 2010 No Comments

As I began putting together my Top Ten, coming up with an ordered list initially looked unrealistic; I was just going to regurgitate “in no particular order”. Honestly, I thought I’d have a hard time picking ten in the first place. Well…the editor in me meticulously sifted and re-ordered, the Virgo in me created a playlist with the 4 contested albums and listened to it on random taking detailed notes, and the brilliant writer in me came up with a catchy way to write the headline that would disguise my indecisiveness as a catchy play on words (er…play on numbers). So, without further adieu… (more…)

My top 10

Thursday, December 31, 2009 No Comments

If I don’t do this now I’ll hate doing it hung over and tired in the morning, so here you bastards go, in no particular order:

• Skeletonwitch: Breathing the Fire
• The Black Dahlia Murder: Deflorate
• Job for a Cowboy: Ruination
• Austrian Death Machine: Double Brutal
• Slayer: World Painted Blood
• August Burns Red: Constellations
• Lamb of God: Wrath
• Dethklok: Dethalbum II
• Darkest Hour: The Eternal Return
• Revocation: Existence is Futile

Most of these were awesome, though to be honest 2009 wasn’t the best year for metal in my opinion so it wasn’t exactly hard to shine. Job for a Cowboy seems to have matured to the point of a reputable death band with Ruination, The Black Dahlia Murder stepped it up even harder (which was hard to imagine) with Deflorate, and Skeletonwitch…they just continue to amaze me with their excellence. With these exceptions, better luck next year folks. Stay classy metalheads.

The Top 10 Albums that made me fuzzy inside.

Thursday, December 31, 2009 No Comments

What a hell of a year! So many great albums, so many horrid albums. But I’m going to keep this short and sweet. So here we go, Butters top 10 metal albums of 2009. YES!

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Best Metal Records of 2009… just according to me.

Thursday, December 31, 2009 3 Comments

So it’s pretty sweet when you can listen to shitloads of new metal and then decide what’s great and what’s not so great… and then tell everybody. I love this gig.

You don’t have to agree with me on this. Or really on anything ever. But feel free to comment below if you’d like.  And in no particular order (because honestly, it’s too hard to decide) my top 10 metal records of 2009 are:

Tombs – Winter Hours

The Black Dahlia Murder – Deflorate

Behemoth – Evangelion

Gaza – He Is Never Coming Back

The Red Chord – Fed Through The Teeth Machine

Revocation – Existence Is Futile

Job For A Cowboy – Ruination

Cannibal Corpse – Evisceration Plague

Goatwhore – Carving Out The Eyes of God

Cattle Decapitation - The Harvest Floor

What I CAN tell you is that of those top 10, the ones I listen to the most are the new Gaza and the new Red Chord. But those are more recent releases… so that may be why.  I also fucking adore Mastodon’s Crack The Skye but am starting to feel like I can’t call them a metal band anymore.  Tombs had the most interesting record and Cattle had the most brutal record in my top 10… and the rest are listed because they didn’t disappoint me.  Or were actually pretty good.

Happy New Year to all, be safe in your revelry and thank the lord (whichever one you worship) that 2009 is fucking over.  2010 will give us a new Misery Index record and a new Whitechapel record… so we have something to which we can look forward.

Slayer, Megadeth and Testament to tour January 2010

Monday, December 28, 2009 3 Comments

American Carnage Tour

’nuff said.

Fed Through The Teeth Machine digests just fine

Friday, December 4, 2009 No Comments

Why I’ve been sleeping on the new Red Chord album is beyond me. Fed Through The Teeth Machine is, simply put – great. The subject matter seems to be a bit random as the album plays on. From “Hymns And Crippled Anthems – “Just be forever faithful to the family that you love.” …interesting. (This is assuming I’m hearing any of the lyrics correctly, and quite honestly even if I’m not, Guy has upped the ante on his masterful vocal prowess regardless.) The musical writing, the performance, the overall intensity is all pure, good, old-fashioned Red Chord brilliance.

The sweet, dying sigh of the guitar line in “Ingest The Ash” is refreshing, while I don’t understand the use of Vari-Fi in the middle (aren’t we done with that plug-in yet?) I adore the screaming that tears out of it. “Embarrassment Legacy” is really smooth (the beginning tones somehow remind me of “11th Hour-”ish Lamb Of God.) That track is topped off by a very precisely played blast section towards the end, mostly due to the punishing assault of drums – this may be Brad Fickeisen’s best recorded-performance to date.

I like that their tracks average a little over 2 minutes, that they’re in and out, point made, no need to rehash… other than the repeated lyrical lines which have their individual impact on your soul… some of them angst-fueling.

“While I was counting hours, you were counting fists.”

“My life’s work, forgotten.”

The longest musical journey on the album is the final track, “Sleepless Nights In The Compound.” Feel free to get lost in it and let it drag you around. Once you finish, you could just kick it back to the second track “Hour of Rats” and unleash.

The new effort from The Red Chord, out on Metal Blade Records now, will sit strongly in their own album repertoire and is better than their oft-coupled tourmates’ “Deflorate.” If I had my way, I’d say next time Black Dahlia Murder and The Red Chord go out together, The Red Chord headlines.