Metalreview.com Reviews Nights Like These "The Faithless"

This band is new to me, and I’ve tried to get to know something more about their music after I read an advertisement about Nights Like These in Decibel Magazine. The review at Metalreview.com that’s just been posted gives a lot more insight into what kind of extreme music they play.

People who know me know how much I like bizarre, creative, weird, artsy music. Nights Like These have gained some comparisons to bands like Between The Buried And Me, Botch, The Power And The Glory, Deadguy, The Blinding Light, Botch and Coalesce. The unfortunate part about name dropping all these bands is that the more people playing bizarre, creative, weird, artsy music there is, the less bizarre, creative, weird and artsy it becomes.

After hearing the two songs on Purevolume.com, I’m going to make a slight recommendation to give Nights Like These a try to those who happen to like their metalcore bizarre, creative, weird, artsy, and generally jagged with a hint of melody every now and then. The songs I’ve heard so far are decent, but I’m not quite to the level of saying “This is a must have!” just yet.

Metalreview.com
Nights Like These
Nights Like These Review of “The Faithless” at Metalreview.com
Nights Like These at Purevolume.com
Nights Like These at MySpace.com
Victory Records
Nights Like These at Victory Records
Decibel Magazine

Fewer, But Better Posts Here At Nile River

I hate to say this, but I think I need to slow down...

I didn’t know a blog would take up so much time! So for the time being I’m going to try and slow things down to probably one news item a day, and the odd review saved for important CDs. Hopefully this will be able to give me some more time to actually make a real article as well instead of these small things.

Trying to get so much stuff out there is starting to become a little taxing, and the quality of the posts is certainly going down. It’s become very hard to do proper editing to make sure everything is spelled properly and that everything typed actually makes sense! From now on, I’ll try to choose a lot less to write about and gather a lot more information about those few items of interest.

Nevermore DVD Filming Planed At German Show

As always, I love sending people to Blabbermouth.net because they provide loads and loads of info whenever they report on something. Take a link to their website to learn more about the above mentioned Nevermore news.

I own “This Godless Endeavour” and “Enemies Of Reality” and I recommend both albums, even “Enemies Of Reality” despite some people’s production complaints.

While most people classify Nevermore as “Power Metal” the band themselves dislikes the tag. The most likely reason why people call Nevermore a “Power Metal” band is because Warrel Dane is a great singer, and there are no rough vocals or “screaming” on their albums. The music is very heavy, and everything by them has a quality which we all know I love: creativity.

Anyways, the September 12 2006 concert in Bochum Germany will take place at the Zeche club and be filmed for the DVD.

Blabbermouth.net
Nevermore
Century Media

All Shall Perish Video Teaser For "Eradication"

Blabbermouth.net and a few other places have links to a video teaser for some new stuff from All Shall Perish.

All Shall Perish released a great Deathcore album in 2003 titled “Hate.Malice.Revenge” which gained new life in 2005 when it was re-released by Nuclear Blast. I’ll see if I can get a review up of that album sometime soon. When their new album comes out, I’ll do my best to get my hands on it, as the songs I’ve heard so far have been great.

Blabbermouth
All Shall Perish
All Shall Perish At MySpace
Nuclear Blast Records

Cultivating The Masses Tour Myspace Page

SMNNews.com is reporting that Year Of Desolation, Ceberus and Forever In Terror will embark on a tour together soon dubbed “Cultivating the Masses Tour”. Visit the MySpace page for more info.

SMNNews.com

DevilDriver Vocalist Posts Comments About Europe

Blabbermouth.net has Devildrvier frontman Dez Fafara’s report from Europe.

The DevilDriver albums have put out some unexpectedly good and creative material. My personal hope is that DevilDriver continues some of the same songwiritng concepts and writes longer, more involving songs. Many of the songs on their last album,“The Fury Of Our Makers Hand” came off like micro-epics.

Blabbermouth.net
DevilDriver
Roadrunner Records

Hak III and Assjack Tour

SMNNews.com is reporting a tour which is worded in such a way to suggest that both Hank Williams III and his band Assjack will be touring together.

Here are the dates:
August 22 - Colorado Springs, CO @ Black Sheep
August 25 - Tucson, AZ @ Club Congress
August 28 - Ventura, CA @ Ventura Theatre
August 29 - San Luis Obispo, CA @ Downtown Brewing Company
September 3 - Vancouver, BC @ Richards On Richards
September 12 - Houston, TX @ Meridian
September 14 - Tallahassee, FL @ The Beta Bar
October 2 - Pittsburgh, PA @ Rex Theatre
October 4 - Brooklyn, NY @ North Six
October 6 - Boston, MA @ Paradise Rock Club
October 7 - Washington, DC @ Black Cat
October 21 - Jacksonville, FL @ Jack Rabbits
October 22 - St. Petersburg, FL @ State Theatre
October 23 - Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Culture Room

SMNNews.com

God Forbid to Take Some Time Off

Theprp.com is reporting that God Forbid will be taking time off after this next run of tours their doing. Some info on their extensive touring can be found here.

My personal feeling was that their last album "IV: Constituion Treason" sounded like "Gone Forever" part 2, yet not sounding as good. A few sources have suggested "selling out" as there's a bit of a difference between their first two albums, and the last two albums released, those last twobeing "Gone Forever" and "IV: Constitution Treason".

Theprp.com
God Forbid
Century Media

Ozzy Osbourne Bassist Blasko Interviews MetalXcore.com

Blabbermouth.net is porting portions of an interview from MetalXcore.com with bassist Blasko from Ozzy Osbourne.

Blabbermouth.net

Dragonforce hit #103 On Billboard Charts

SMNNews.com is reporting that really REALLY fast power metal band Dragonforce has sold 10 000 untis "Inhuman Rampage" to gain #103 on the Billboard music charts.

SMNNews.com
Dragonforce
Roadrunner Records

From First To Last Drop Off Warped Tour

Theprp.com is reporting that the singer of the band From First To Last is getting surgery on his throat, and thus have dropped off the “Warped Tour”. More information can be found here.

Some might compare their sound to emo or screamo.

Theprp.com
From First To Last

Soulfly Guitarist Marc Rizzo Interview Posted Online

Blabbermouth.net is, as always giving lots of information out about Marc Rizzo and Soulfly. The said interview video can be found at YouTube.com.

Blabbermouth.net
Soulfly
Roadrunner Records

Shadows Fall Enter Billboard Charts At #83

SMNNews.com is reporting that Shadows Fall have sold 12 700 copies of "Fallout From The War" in the first week of its release, putting them at #83.

If I'm not mistaken, I think that "The War Within" made it past #30 on the Billboard charts. My predictions are that the next album should sell substantially better.

SMNNews.com
Shadows Fall
Century Media

Life In your Way Sign To Solid State Records

Theprp.com is reporting the above mentioned news. More info can be gained here.

Theprp.com
Solid State Records

Orphaned Land Scheduled Shows

Blabbermouth.net has some information on scheduled dates for the band Orphaned Land.

If I were to describe Orphaned Lands sound, I would say it’s a culmination of extreme elements such as those from black and death metal with heavy middle eastern influences. The songs I’ve heard from them I thought were great.

Scheduled Shows:
Jul. 29 - Tel Aviv, ISR @ Theatre Club
Sep. 14 - Istanbul, TUR @ Yeni Melek
Sep. 16 - Ankara, TUR @ Saklikent

Blabbermouth.net
Orphaned Land
Century Media

Added Unique Leader Records to Label Links

Unique Leader records gets made fun of by some people for putting out what some have called “generic” death metal. Nerconomicon is a Quebec band with some Egyptian influences, and Trauma, a death metal band from Poland are both on that label, and are both bands I would suggest.

Unique Leader

Pyrexia Sign To Unique Leader Records

SMNNews.com and a few other places are reporting the above mentioned news.

You can hear some tracks from the death metal band Pyrexia at their MySpace page.

SMNNews.com
Unique Leader Records

"Hell On Earth Tour" With God Forbid, Full Blown Chaos, Heaven Shall Burn, Cataract, Maroon, Purified in Blood

Theprp.com has some dates for the above mentioned tour. Enough metalcore for ya? Full Blown Chaos is my personal favourite out of all of them.

Here are the dates:
September 15th Haarlem, NET - Patronat
September 16th London, UK - Mean Fiddler
September 17th Bournemouth, UK - Opera House
September 18th Manchester, UK - Rockworld
September 20th Milton Keynes, UK - Pitts
September 21st Trier, GER - Es Haus
September 23rd Berlin, GER - SO 36
September 24th Frankfurt, GER - Batschkapp
September 25th Salzburg, AUT - Rockhaus
September 26th Pnarella Di Cervia, ITA - Rockplanet Club
September 27th Solotuhrn, SWI - Kofmehl
September 28th Stuttgart, GER - TBA
October 01st Hasselt, BEL - Music O Drom
October 02nd Dresden, GER - Reithalle
October 04th Hamburg, GER - Markthalle
October 05th Hannover, GER - TBA
October 06th Aalborg, DEN - Studebterhus
October 07th Essen, GER - Fun Box Amilie

Theprp.com

Marduk Release Date For New DVD

Blabbermouth.net, as usual, is quite informative. They’re giving out lots of info about Marduk’s release date for their new DVD titled “Blood Puke Salvation” (yummy!). September 4th is the current set release date. Marduk likes to be known as playing black metal.

Blabbermouth.net
Marduk
Regain Records

Mastodon, Converge, the Bronx Tour

SMNnews.com is reporting a tour with the above mentioned bands. Mastodon and Converge are define recommendations, although I’ve yet to hear The Bronx.

Mastodon are one of the more creative rising stars. Personally, I would say try and get “Remission” if you can out of all their releases so far.

Converge are one of my favourite bands. They released what many consider to be a modern classic with “Jane Doe” being released in 2001.”You Fail Me” is also another good album, and their other albums are incredibly good as well. They’re making a new album due soon.

The only date so far is this one:
September 22 - Portland, OR @ Roseland Theater

SMNnews.com

Between The Buried And Me Album "The Silent Circus" To Be Reissued

Theprp.com is reporting that Victory Records will be re-releasing “The Silent Circus” from Between The Buried And Me. It’s a very good album which I would describe as avant-garde metalcore.

Theprp.com
Between The Buried And Me
Victory Records

Added Galy Records To Label Links

Galy Records is a Canadian record label with such artists as Bloodshoteye, Augury, Horifixion, and Camilla Rhodes. They released the first EP from Beneath The Massacre, who are now signed with Prosthetic Records to do a new full length.

Galy Records

Shades Of Dusk Canadian tour

Lambgoat.com is reporting about a Canadian tour from Shades Of Dusk, a melodic metalcore band from Canada. I believe they’re from Quebec.

In case you like melodic metalcore, you might want to give these guys a listen.

7/2 Ste-Madelaine, QC @ Salle Le Louvre (Underground Attack Fest)
7/3 Sherbrooke. QC @ Bar Le Magog w/ Covenance
7/4 Rimouski, QC @ Pavillon Polyvalent w/ Covenance, Ion Dissonance
7/5 Halifax, NS @ Duffy's SpeakEasy w/ Covenance
7/6 St-John, NB @ Nep-Tunes w/ Covenance
7/7 Trois-Rivières, QC @ Rock Café Le Stage w/ Covenance
7/9 Quebec, QC @ L’Arlequin w/ Covenance
7/14 Toronto, ON @ TerrorFest

Lambgoat.com
Shades Of Dusk
Galy Records

Necrophobic's New Album To Get US Release

Blabbermouth.net is giving a lot of info on how Necrophobic is releasing their new album “Hrimthursum” will be released on August 22nd. I've heard them described as black metal by some. and death metal by others.

I keep getting the name of this band mixed up with Necrophagist and Necrophagia. I’ve yet to hear Necrophobic, although I do recommend Necrophagist, a very technical death metal band from Germany. I wanted to see them on tour with Alarum, Arsis, Ion Dissonance, Animosity and Job For A Cowboy, but they couldn’t cross the Canadian border because their passports were stolen!

Blabbermouth.net
Necrophobic
Candlelight Records

Bury your Dead Filming Video

theprp.com is reporting that Bury Your Dead will be filming a video for one of the tracks off their upcoming album “Beauty And The breakdown”.

To my ears, Bury Your Dead play some entertaining modern hardcore.

As a trivia note, I believe I read that the vocalist for Bury Your Dead was a cheerleader when he was in high school!

theprp.com
Bury your Dead
Victory Records

Album Graveyard: Winter Solstice - The Fall Of Rome

I promised to have the “Album Graveyard” articles going soon, and I thought that since I don’t usually like to post stuff that mean or nasty (because I’m polite), I thought I’d kill two birds with one stone.

During the mass melodic metalcore signing of 2004, one Winter Solstice managed to get hooked in with Metal Blade Records. By looking at the art and the layout of the sleeve, you can see that Metal Blade didn’t put too much money behind this band, and for good reason. They’re a cheap resource. From the simple picture for the cover, to the bare bones insert that contains only the most basic information and not much else, it just screams “high profit margin!” for Metal Blade.

I’d like to name drop bands that these guys have ripped off, but they haven’t even come close to ripping off anyone of note. The screams are typically one dimensional metalcore. There’s chugga chugga breakdowns galore. There’s sea of simplistic melodies and harmonies to sandwich those breakdowns into. The only song that comes close to bing memorable is “Malice In Wonderland”, which seems to be the only one where they decided to place all their catchy hooks into. Unfortunately, why that song wasn’t chosen for free download we won’t know, perhaps the record label choose one at random.

The low production quality and overall loose feel could actually be an endearing quality if this was a debut album of genre forging greatness.

Strangely, this album is actually an improvement over the split they did previously. It was very simplistic by comparison, and every other quality was worse. Considering the jump in quality between the two releases, one could theorize that seven albums later Winter Solstice could’ve reached the status of being mentioned in a best of for an the end of a year list.

If you can manage to download “Malice In Wonderland”, that song will provide averages moments of listening pleasure. If you get the song they posted online, then you can use it for inoffensive background music when you’re with you’re melodic metalcore buddies.

With their breakup announced, their legacy will soon be forgotten. The effect of bands like these, however, is extremely devastating. The more generic melodic metalcore bands there are, the shorter the lifespan of the genre will be.

4/10

Metal Blade Records

Blackmarket Activities Added To Label Links

Blackmarket Activities offers a wide range of brutal and bizarre bands. Mmmm! Two of my favourites! On the label are two dead bands who only released one EP each - Deadwater Drowing and Found Dead Hanging. I did hear a rumor though that Deadwater Drowning is still playing.

Other bands include Animosity, Backstabber Inc., Paria, Psyopus, Premonitions Of War, She Said Destroy, Born From Pain, Ed Gein, Beyond The Sixth Seal, The Red Chord and Lamb Of God.

Blackmarket Activities

Cd Review: Premonitions Of War - Left In Kowloon

Since I mentioned “What the hell has been happening to Premonitions Of War?!” the other day, I figured I’d make take a look back at Left In Kowloon.

While a lot of people weren’t quite sure what to make of it, they got a lot of artist merit for “Left In Kowloon” which might be considered metalcore. Premonitions Of War sounds like they looked themselves in a studio for a week and beat the crap out of their instruments until they came out with songs. Most of the songs are short (under 2 minutes typically), and kinda grindy. Every now and then they show off some southern influence. The vocals sound like the vocalist gargled with broken glass. To break up the action, there’s a five minute industrial/ambient deal placed right beside another five minute song. The length of the whole album totals up 25 minutes.

They managed one year to play 300 shows! Now that’s a hard working band. The constant touring would probably be the reason for all the lineup changes. One of the newer mebers is Nate Johnson Of Deadwater Drowning. If you hear his guest vocals on The Acacia Strains album “The Dead Walk” you’ll hear how powerful his low bark is.

The general feeling is a different kind of brutality than most people are familiar with. It’s kind of a grating sound, like having you’re face run across pavement. Unfortunately, the nature of the music so odd and different that a lot of people don’t really get it, and simply dismiss it as noise.

8/10

Premonitions Of War
Victory Records
Blackmarket Activies

Added Metalsites.net To news Links

Metalsites.net procides news, reviews, and has a collection of bands similar to what the BNR metal pages and Encyclopaedia Metallum do. They also don't pull any punches, so you don't have to worry you ass off all day as to whether the heavy band you like is "troo", or "trve cvlt" enough to land on those pages.

Metalsites.net

Scar Symmetry Video To Premiere On Headbangers Ball

Blabbermouth.net talks about Scar Symmetry and having a new video come out. The reviews I’ve read about this band say they play some might decent melodic death metal. Could this be the first time a melodic death metal band has used the word “Scar” in their name?

Blabbermouth.net
Nuclear Blast Records

All That Remains Video

Blabbermouth.net has some info on All That Remains and their new video, which can be found here.

All That Remains released a great album of melodic metalcore in 2004 titled “This Darkened Heart”. The two songs I’ve heard from their upcoming album seem to add faster drums and more vocal diversity such as more higher high creams, lower low growls, and more singing. Which means more sing along style choruses more than likely...

Blabbermouth.net
All That Remains
Prosthetic Records

Added Spinefarm Records Added To Label Links

Spinefarm Records is a record label that specializes in bands mostly from Finland of course! Children Of Bodom got their start here. Also on the label is Ensiferim and Rotten Sound.

Spinefarm Records

Finntroll To Enter Studio

Blabbermouth.net is reporting that one of our favourite Finnish polka metal bands will be entering the studio in September. The songs I got to hear from "Nattfödd" were great, and I want to get my hands on that CD...

Polka is slightly misleading. they have a large amount of Finnish "Humppa" mixed in as a heavy influence, which is Finnish Polka. As funny as that sounds, it actually sounds great.

Blabbermouth.net
Finntroll
Spinfarm

Hypocrisy Comments On Upcoming Tour With Fear Factory, Suffocation And Decapitated

Blabbermouth.net is giving detailed information on what the Hypocrisy guys think of Fear Factory.

There were some previous reports that Hypocrisy wouldn't do this tour, but I'm guessing this means that they'll be taking part in it.

I think it's commendable that Fear Factory is doing a tour like this, hopefully exposing more fans interested in each others bands.

I can’t say I was too pleased with the last Fear Factory album “Transgression”. I’m kinda wondering if they’re trying to sell out again...

What I would love to see is Fear Factory experiment with their Death Metal roots. That would be a left turn no one would see coming.

Blabbermouth.net
Hypocrisy
Fear Factory

Added Metal-Rules.com To News Links

Metal-Rules.com is news site and metal webzine. Check 'em out, I know I'll be looking at them for some of my news in the future!

Metal-Rules.com

1x1 Music Added To Label Links

1x1 Music carries One Dead Three Wounded, and A Hero From A Thousand Paces. Most importanly they have that DVD with Melissa Cross called "The Zen Of Screaming" which teaches people how to scream properly!

1x1 Music

One Dead Three Wounded Seeking Drummer

Lambgoat.com is giving lots of info abot one Dead Three Wounded looking for a new drummer.

The material I heard from One Dead Three wounded sounded like some alright metalcore.

Lambgoat.com
One Dead Three Wounded
1x1 Records

Lambgoat Reviews Parallax - Mediums & Messages

Lambgoat.com has a review of some highly rated metalcore. I haven't heard it yet, so I'm taking their word for it...

Lambgoat.com

Shot Injection - New Band Has Evergrey And Ex-Mnemic Members As Guests

Blabbermouth.net has some info about this new band titled "Shot Injection". The mp3s sound like properly executed melodic death metal to my ears. Do we need more melodic death metal? Apparently some people think we do.

Blabbermouth.net
Shot Injection

Righteous Jams Signs With Abacus Records

Abacus Records has signed hardcore influenced Righteous Jams. Abacus has some good stuff on their label, so I'm looking forward to hearing thse guys. I've seen thier name in the thank you notes of a few bands.

Blabbermouth.net
Abacus Records

Voivod Singer Interviewed By Metal-Rules.com

Blabbermouth.net has some bits and pieces of an interview at Metal-Rules.com with singer Dennis Belanger also known as Snake.

Voivod has been around since the 80's. Originating from Quebec, they started off playing some thrashy stuff, but then progressed into an more avant-garde direction. Former Metallica bass player Jason Newsted was playing bass for them, and sources would indicate he still is, but I’m unsure if he’s till playing with them right now.

Blabbermouth.net
Metal-Rules.com
Voivod
The End Records

Shadows Fall To be A Guest on "Headbangers Ball"

Blabbermouth.net is giving lots of detailed information about Shadows Fall being on Headbangers Ball. Since I reviewed "The War Within" not too long ago, I'll take a look at "The Art Of Balance" sometime soon. These guys and a few others got me back into metal, so they hold a special place in my heart. Or at least their music does anyway.

Blabbermouth.net
Shadows Fall
Century Media

System Of A Down Interview Portion

Blabbermouth.net has a portion of an interview with System Of A Downs drummer in which John Dolmayan talks to the Calgary Sun.

The last two efforts "Hypnotize" and "Mesmerize" showed System Of A Down experimenting with their sound, so don't be afriad to give those albums a try.

Blabbermouth.net

Trustkill Records Added To Label Links

Truskill Records who has a roster of Bleeding Through, Nora, Walls Of Jericho, Bleeding Through, First Blood, Terror, It Dies Today and Throwdown to name a few has been added to the list of label links.

Truskill Records

Walls Of Jericho Set Release Date For "With Devils Amongst Us All"

August 22nd is the release date.

If you've ever seen a live show, then you know how much energy they have onstage. Blabbermouth.net has a more detailed report. The pits in Ozzfest might get rough this year with Walls Of Jericho playing!

Blabbermouth.net
Walls Of Jericho
Trustkill Records

Added Regain Records To Label Links

Regain Records has dealt with such artists as Gorgoroth, Marduk, Dimension Zero and my personal favourite, Behemoth. Take a look.

Regain Records

Gorgoroth Split With Bassist King Ov Hell

Blabbermouth is giving a more detailed report about the situation with the black metal band Gorgoroth. I read an interview in Decibel magazine recently that stated that "King Ov Hell" is the only member current not serving time in prison.

Blabbermouth.net
Gorgoroth
Regain Records

Moonspell, Katatonia, Daylight Dies Tour Dates

I've heard a lot of good things about the new Moonspell album "Nocturnal Mourning". I have "The Antidote" and it was great. Some of their earlier albums are said to be very good as well, with their debut "Wolfheart" being often mentioned. A simplistic description would be to say that they fit with goth metal with some other metallic touches. I also suggest giving Katatonia and Daylight Dies a listen as well.
Here are the dates to the "Nocturnal Mourning Tour" with above mentioned bands:

Oct. 20 - The Loft - Poughkeepsie, NY
Oct. 21 - Mark's Showplace - Bedford, NH
Oct. 22 - B.B. King's Blues Club - New York, NY
Oct. 23 - Le Medley - Montreal, QC
Oct. 24 - L'Imperial - Quebec City, QC
Oct. 25 - Opera House - Toronto, ON
Oct. 26 - Peabody's Down Under - Cleveland, OH
Oct. 27 - I-Rock - Detroit, MI
Oct. 28 - Pearl Room - Mokena, IL
Oct. 29 - Star Central - Columbia Heights, MN
Oct. 31 - Iliff Park Saloon - Aurora, CO
Nov. 02 - Studio Seven - Seattle, WA
Nov. 03 - Rock N Roll Pizza - Portland, OR (w/ AGALLOCH)
Nov. 04 - The Pound SF @ Pier 96 - San Francisco, CA
Nov. 05 - Whiskey a Go Go - Los Angeles, CA
Nov. 06 - House of Blues - Anaheim, CA
Nov. 09 - The Clubhouse - Tempe, AZ
Nov. 10 - The Launch Pad - Albuquerque, NM
Nov. 11 - White Rabbit, San Antonio, TX
Nov. 12 - Warehouse Live - Houston, TX
Nov. 13 - Ridglea Theater - Ft. Worth, TX
Nov. 15 - State Theater - St. Petersburg, FL
Nov. 17 - Jaxx - Springfield, VA
Nov. 18 - Saratoga Winners - Latham, NY
Nov. 19 - Webster Theatre/Underground - Hartford, CT

Blabbermouth.net

Vision Of Disorder DVD Shoot

These two shows are being filmed for an upcoming live DVD release.
August 11th Levittown, NY - Club Ritual (Feat. Gospel, Agents Of Man, God Forbid)
August 13th Levittown, NY - Club Ritual (Feat. Gospel, Candiria)

theprp.com

Metalreview.com Reviews Metal Church - A Light In The Dark

The Classic Metal Church is having their new album reviewed by Metalreview.com. If you go to Metalreview, make sure to check out all the other stuff they've reviewed. They have TONS of suff. I think they’ve done 2000 reviews by now. Anyways, great site.

Metalreview.com

CD Review: Between The Buried And Me - Alaska

The intention of Between The Buried And Me seems to take a whole bunch of different stuff, and throw it into a metalcore melting pot. Things from progressive scale runs, to death metal, to a very slight hinting of melody every now and then to light ballads strung together with breakdowns are all a part of Between The Buried And Me. The previous album “Silent Circus” was a little disjointed, some songs not fitting together, but “Alaska” pulls everything together in a much more coherent package. Bands this odd usually get accolades for the creations they make, but often fail to gain much success, but Between The Buried And Me seem to be gaining both. Under the backing of Victory Records they’re off to Ozzfest this year.

9/10

Between The Buried And Me
Victory Records

CD Review: Suffocation - Despise The Sun

“Despise The Sun” was released at a point in time where there didn’t seem to be much activity from Suffocation. It would be their last release before breaking up, then reforming to create “Souls To Deny”. “Souls To Deny” had perfect timing when it came out. All those underground metalcore and hardcore fans who were becoming increasingly angry with the rising popularity of melodic death metal inspired metalcore, the glut of generic, mediocre bands, and the highjacking of their prized genre by the former nu-metal crowd. “Souls To Deny” came out at exactly the right time.

The last thing done before “Souls To Deny” was this EP, “Despise The Sun”. It sees the band making song’s that sound like Suffocation, and re-recording an old song from their very first EP, “Human Waste”. The re-recorded song is great, but the rest of the material comes off as being whipped up quickly to keep the interest of Suffocation moving along, and as a result it doesn’t have as much depth as their previous groundbreaking albums.

6/10

Suffocation
Relepase Records

CD Review: ni Flames - Come Clarity

With all the complains of selling out on “Reroute To Remain” and “Soundtrack To Your Escape”, In Flames has felt the need to do things to push themselves away from the pack. I’ll admit that I think the more mainstream albums had a slight bit more of a unique sound in comparison to all the bands ripping their sound off. I have to add that there certainly didn’t seem to be much song writing depth to those previous albums.

“Come Clarity” see the Gothenburg band return to some of their melodic death metal roots which they helped forge over a decade ago. I was quite surprised at how much material is akin to “The Jester Race”. Especially the rougher vocal stylings.

“Come Clarity” isn’t a total return to form, there’s still the industrial hold overs from the two previous albums, a piano balled, added female vocals, and some more emo inspired clean singing. It does feel like the experimentation is genuine and true this time, and not used as an excuse to gain more mainstream audiences.

8/10

In Flames
Ferret Records

CD Review: Skinless - From Sacrifice To Survival

Skinless play a brand of death metal with a tinge if grind and hardcore influences. They’ve managed to spice things up slightly with the very rare clean vocal, and scarce inclusions of extra percussion. The songs are crafted in a decent manner to place them above the generic mess of death metal bands waiting in the annals of the underground. This does not however, place them with the big boys of the death metal genre who have done some truly remarkable things. Nonetheless,. Skinless has created an album with some entertaining moments.

7/10

Skinless
Relapse Records

CD Review: The Dillinger Escape Plan - Miss Machine

At first glance, most Dillinger Escape Plans music comes off as a chaotic mess to hose unfamiliar with them. A closer look reveals that they in fact play a lot of other musical genres typically not related to anything metal or hardcore in an extreme setting. Lots of jazzy runs, to 60's soundtrack, to Nine Inch Nails and Faith No More make their way here. All that and so much more is wrapped up in a package of dissonant tones, strange runs, well hidden breakdowns, and vocals that sound like a train wreck.

Some people didn’t like the clean singing going on during this album, as there was none of that on “Calculating Infinity”. I see it as an expansion of ideas that were already there on their previous albums

9/10

Dillinger Escape Plan
Relapse Records

CD Review: Shadows Fall - The War Within

Shadows Fall continue to grow in popularity. “The War Within” is, and was poised to take them even further.

What you’ll hear when you get this album is a mixture of 80's thrash and the Gothenburg sound with a mixture of vocals, including hardcore shouts, death growls, and more than ever, lots of singing. In fact there’s more singing on this album than any of their previous album, keeping a main focal point of screamed verses and sung choruses.

With all the people ripping off Gothenburg, Shadows Fall do their melodies and harmonies better than many of the other melodic death metal and melodic metalcore bands. That being said, it’s a rather safe and pedestrian affair, which feels like Shadows Fall went to the studio and did things the right way, to just make another Shadows Fall album with even more sing along choruses. Essentially they’ve made the same album over again with more hit singles.

7/10

Shadows Fall
Century Media

The Future Of Nile River

Considering the amount of news I’m bringing back from other websites to my own, and the new articles and sections I’d like to do, this is becoming more of a webzine than a blog. The links portion is set up just the way I like. I’d love to add actual sections and a search engine to what I’m doing as well.

I bring up CD reviews for bands who’s news gets mentioned, to remind us of the releases they’ve done. I can’t do it for all of them, but I’ll try and do it for some of them.

I also review albums for CDs that are new to me. If it gets into my hands recently, it should get reviewed here. Suffocation is mentioned as a “Modern Classic”, which I’d like to someday expand into it’s own section, covering what I, and many consider classic albums from the underground from the 90's and up. The 80's bands and mainstream bands get covered enough.

Something else I hope to someday expand into a section is “Album Graveyard”, dedicated to bands who made very few releases before breaking up.

The post I did earlier “Lamb Of God: A Prelude To Selling Out” is a beginning of articles I’d like to post. Essentially an expansion of my own personal opinion on something.

Sometime soon I’m hoping that albums will get sent in for review, and that news will be e-mailed directly to me. At This point in time, I’m not set up for that.

Slayer Makes Three New Tracks Available In Streaming Audio

Wow, there’s tons of stuff going on here... read the Blabbermouth post to learn more about all the stuff that’s going on with Slayer.

The audio can be heard at Rafabasa.com (Real Audio)

Slayer

Satyricon Drummer Frost Interview Posted Online

A video of Frost being interviewed can be found YouTube.com, and a text portion at Blabbermouth.net.

Satyricon
Century Media

Added Nuclear Blast Records To Record Label List

Nuclear Blast has been famous for having In Flames on their roster. right now they have Hypocrisy, All Shall Perish, Dimmu Borgir, Meshuggah and Soilwork to name a few.

Nuclear Blast Records

Mnemic Studio Report

Mnemic could be described as having a lot of industrial influences. I didn’t think they were as band as some music reviewers made them out to be.

A studio report was reported by Blabbermouth.net.

Mnemic
Nuclear Blast Records

Krisiun Comment On Us Tour

Technical brutal Krisiun have an interview on touring the US with other death metal bands. As a trivia note, they’ve also had some association with Sepultura, being that they’re both from Brazil.

Read about it at Blabbermouth.net.

Krisiun
Century Media

Video Interviews Of Hatebreed, Cradle Of Filth, Opeth And Others Posted Online

Here’s a link to some interviews done at the Download Festival presented by 4qRadio.com. Here are the bands:

DRAGONFORCE
THROWDOWN
OPETH
HATEBREED
CRADLE OF FILTH
STRAPPING YOUNG LAD
DEVILDRIVER
BLEEDING THROUGH
SATYRICON
36 CRAZYFISTS

Watch them here

Blabbermouth

Celtic Frost European Chart Positions

When it was announced that Celtic Frost were making a new album, it seemed like there were a lot of people determined to hate it long before it came out. To be honest, I highly recommend Monothiest, as it gives a really good insight to the influence that Celtic Frost has had on Black Metal, Death Metal, Doom and a few other forms of metal, and even some stuff not so metal. I heard that Kurt Cobain named Celtic Frost as an influence as well as Creed. No confirmation on that though

Germany:
Week No. 1: #67

Switzerland:
Week No. 1: #41
Week No. 2: #56

Finland:
Week No. 1: #57

Greece:
Week No. 1: #16
Week No. 2: #15
Week No. 3: #12

Blabbermouth
Celtic Frost
Century Media

Morbid Angel To Do European Tour Rejoined With Erik Rutan!

Morbid Angel is my favouite death metal band because I grew up with them. Domination was one of the few CDs I had gotten when I was younger. At that time my CD collection wasn't that big. This was one of the few pictures I could find with the whole Domination era lineup.

I had the chance to speak with Erik Rutan at the Chimaria concert I saw not too long ago, and it was great to meet one of my heroes growing up.

On the same note, at the same concert I also met yet another hero growing up, Mike Amott playing in Arch Enemy on the same tour. He had previously been Carcass, who I’d say is my second favourite band.

European tour dates for Morbid Angel:

Aug. 05 - Wacken Open Air - Wacken, GER
Aug. 07 - Monsters Of Rock Festival - Kavarna, BUL
Aug. 11 - Traun – Spinnerei, AUT
Aug. 12 - Brutal Assault Festival - Svojsice, CZR
Aug. 14 - Planet Music - Vienna, AUT
Aug. 15 - Sziget Festival - Budapest, HUN
Aug. 16 - Skc - Belgrade, SER
Aug. 18 - Summer Breeze Festival - Dinkelsbuehl-Sinbronn, GER
Aug. 19 - CC De Fabriek - Sint-Lievens Houtem, BEL
Aug. 20 - 013 - Tilburg, NETH
Aug. 22 - Mean Fiddler - London, UK
Aug. 24 - Hole In The Sky Festival - Bergen, NOR
Aug. 26 - Up From The Ground Open Air - Gemunden Am Main, GER

Blabbermouth
Morbid Angel

Chimaira Writing Songs For New Album

After their recent split with Roadrunner records, I can understand that Chimaira would want to keep the interest going by talking about writing for their new album. I can kind of see an early Metallica influence on them in certain ways, like the song length, as their last album (self titled) boasted only one song under five minutes. I also heard a lot more guitar solos and longer breaks on their self titled album.

I also saw them at the Detroit show they did with Arch Enemy, God Forbid and Hate Eternal where Mark Hunter couldn't make the show, which was an interesting experience. It's good to see that as big as they've gotten, they're willing to take bands like Hate Eternal on tour with them.

Blabbermouth
Chimaira

Suffocation's Track Listing For "Live In Quebec"

Blabbermouth and a few other places told me about this one.

"Live in Quebec" track listing:

01. Infecting the Crypts
02. Thrones of Blood
03. Surgery of Impalement
04. Catatonia
05. Liege of Inveracity
06. Despise the Sun
07. Subconsciously Enslaved
08. Immortally Condemned
09. Effigy of the Forgotten
10. Tomes of Acrimony
11. Breeding the Spawn
12. Pierced from Within
13. Funeral Inception

A lot of people hate live albums, unless they're from the 70's of course. Anyways, live albums have a reputation for being terrible, usually hard to hear, and they often overdub the mistakes. Of course, there’s mistakes in the first place, so it’s tough to please everyone. Where most live albums have a reputation for being terrible, death metal live albums are usually even worse. Lets hope this one works out, I might even get it when it comes out...

Blabbermouth
Suffocation
Relapse records

Video Of In flames Playing "Pinball Map"

The PRP is reporting that live video of In Flames playing the track "Pinball Map" can be seen here. I’ve been trying hard for a long time to get my hands on Jester Race, considered by many to be their best album.

The way that they’ve been changing their sound has kind of been a double edged sword. I can understand that they need to move forward, especially now with a whole bunch of new melodic death metal, and melodic metalcore bands ripping them off. Some even doing good rip offs.

The link to Ferret Music doesn’t seem to be working right now...

The PRP
In Flames
Ferret Music

"Rockstar International Taste Of Chaos Tour" With Taking Back Sunday, Thursday, Anti-Flag, Underoath, Senses Fail, Saosin and Alexisonfire

The PRP has some dates for the tour:

October 08th Auckland, NZ - St. James
October 10th Perth, AUS - Burswood Dome
October 12th Adelaide, AUS - Entertainment Centre
October 13th Melbourne, AUS - Vodaphone Arena
October 14th Sydney, AUS - Entertainment Centre
October 15th Brisbane, AUS - Entertainment Centre
October 19th Osaka, JAP - Hatch
October 20th Nagoya, JAP - ZEPP
October 22nd Tokyo, JAP - Coast
October 25th Barcelona, SPA - Sala Apolo
October 27th Bologna, ITA - Estragon
October 28th Winterhur, SWI - Cityhalle
October 29th Brussels, BEL - Ancienne Belgique
October 30th Paris, FRA - Bataclan
October 31st Tilburg, NET - O13
November 03rd Bremen, GER - Pier 2
November 04th Berlin, GER - Columbiahalle
November 05th Munich, GER - Zenith
November 06th Neu-Isenburg, GER - Hugenottenhalle
November 07th Bielefeld, GER - Ringlokschuppen
November 08th Cologne, GER - Palladium
November 10th Birmingham, UK - TBA
November 11th Glasgow, UK - SECC 3
November 12th Manchester, UK - Apollo
November 13th Brighton, UK - Centre
November 15th Dublin, IRE - Shelbourne Hall
November 17th Newcastle, UK - Arena
November 18th London, UK - Brixton Academy 1
November 20th Doncaster, UK - Dome
November 21st Cardiff, UK - Arena

The PRP

Dissection Setlist And Pictures

SMN News has some link to some pictures and a setlist from Dissection’s last show in Europe. They’re saying the setlist is (awful). There seems to be a lot of people who hate the new material. I have yet to hear anything from the new album or EP, but I do have Storm Of The Lights Bane, which is definitely a great album.

The setlist can be found here and featured pictures here.

Here's what the setlist looks like:

01. Nexion 218
02. Beyond The Horizon
03. Black Dragon
04. Unhallowed
05. Where Dead Angels Lie
06. Xeper-I-Set
07. God of Forbidden Light
08. Reinkaos
09. Night's Blood
10. Soulreaper
11. Dark Mother Divine
12. The Somberlain
13. Starless Aeon
14. Thorns of Crimson Death
------------------
15. In the Cold Winds of Nowhere
16. Elizabeth Bathory
17. Frozen
18. Maha Kali

SMN News
Dissection
The End Records

The Dillinger Escape Plan - Stories From The AFI Tour

SMN News has a report here that Greg the singer from Dillinger Escape Plan had a bit of a rough time with security and some of the AFI fans. I'll admit I never had any interest in AFI until I heard they were taking Dillinger on tour with them. I hope AFI takes a death metal band on tour sometime soon... hehehe...

Read about it here and MTV.com.

SMN News
Dillinger Escape Plan
Relapse Records

"The Unholy Alliance Tour - Preaching To The Perverted" European Tour

The PRP is reporting these dates for the European Unholy Alliance tour with Slayer, In Flames, Lamb Of God, Children Of Bodom and Thine Eyes Bleed.

October 20th Den, NET - Bosch Baroniehal
October 22nd Milan, ITA - Mazda Palace
October 23rd Winterthur, SWI - Eulachhalle
October 25th Dusseldorf, GER - Philipshalle
October 26th Erfurt, GER - Thuringenhalle
October 27th Munich, GER - Zenith
October 28th Stuttgart, GER - Boblingen Sporthalle
October 30th Cardiff, UK - Arena
November 01st Birmingham, UK - NEC
November 02nd Glasgow, UK - SECC
November 03rd Manchester, UK - Arena
November 05th Dublin, IRE - The Point
November 07th Paris, FRA - Palais Omnisport de Bercy
November 08th Trier, GER - Messe Park
November 09th Leuven, BEL - Brabanthal
November 12th Helsinki, FIN - Jahalli
November 13th Tampere, FIN - Jahalli
November 15th Oslo, NOR - Spektrum
November 16th Stockholm, SWE - Hovet
November 19th London, UK - Brixton Academy
November 20th London, UK - Brixton Academy

The PRP

Release Date For A Love Ends Suicide's Newest Album

The PRP is reporting that the new album from A Love Ends Suicide will be released on September 5th through Metal Blade/High Impact. Their myspace page has two downloadable tracks here. Will they suffer the same fate as LOSA, The Red Death or Winter Solstice? Will Metal Blade stop signing generic melodic metalcore bands? Will I ever stop asking questions no one will answer?!

The PRP
Metal Blade

Otep Album Teaser

The PRP is reporting about a teaser for Otep’s new album can be found here. Will they continue on their heavier nu-metal path akin to Mudvayne and Slipknot, become metalcore, or bridge the gap and become nu-metalcore? Or will they tighten up their guitar strings, stop rapping and do something creative?

The PRP
Otep

Haste The Day, Scary Kids Scaring Kids, August Burns Red, Inhale Exhale Tour

The PRP is reporting that Haste The Day will be headlining the “Purevolume Silver Bullet Tour". I saw Haste The Day at the New England Metal and Hardcore Fest, and I thought they did a good job playing.

The August 26th - September 03rd feature Ligeia. Here are the dates:
August 15th Des Moines, IA - House of Bricks
August 16th St. Louis, MO - Creepy Crawl
August 17th Chicago, IL - Metro
August 18th Minneapolis, MN - Ascot Room
August 19th Lawrence, KS - Bottleneck
August 20th Denver, CO - Marquis Theatre
August 22nd Salt Lake City, UT - Avalon Theater
August 23rd Boise, ID - The Venue
August 24th Seattle, WA - El Corazon
August 25th Portland, OR - Hawthorne Theatre
August 26th Orangevale, CA Boardwalk
August 27th Los Angeles, CA - Key Club
August 28th San Jose, CA - The Cave
August 29th Fresno, CA - The Belmont
August 30th Bakersfield, CA - The Dome
August 31st Anaheim, CA - Chain Reaction
September 01st Anaheim, CA - Chain Reaction
September 02nd San Diego, CA - Soma
September 03rd Phoenix, AZ - Clubhouse
September 05th Lubbock, TX - Winchester Pavilion
September 06th San Antonio, TX - White Rabbit
September 07th Spring, TX - Javajazz
September 08th Dallas, TX - The Door
September 09th Cordova, TN - Skatepark of Memphis
September 10th Lexington, KY - Arts Place
September 11th Atlanta, GA - Masquerade
September 12th St. Pete, FL - State Theatre
September 13th Jacksonville, FL - Jack Rabbits
September 14th Charlotte, NC - Casbah at Tremont
September 15th TBA - TBA
September 16th South Hackensack, NJ - School of Rock
September 17th Buffalo, NY - Icon
September 18th TBA - TBA
September 19th TBA - TBA
September 20th TBA - TBA
September 21st Detroit, MI - St. Andrew's Hall
September 22nd Grand Rapids, MI - Skelletones
September 23rd Indianapolis, IN - Emerson Theater
September 24th Indianapolis, IN - Emerson Theater

The PRP
Haste The Day
Solid State Records

Added Victory Records To Label Links List

Victory Records has such artists as Between The Buried And Me, Darkest Hour, Dead To Fall and Premonitions Of War to name a few. Has anyone heard about Premonitions Of War lately? Are they still signed to Victory Records? Did their drummer Cory Grady leave? I’ll have to dig up “Left In Kowloon” for review sometime, it was a great album.

Victory Records

Blabbermouth Reviews Between The Buried And Me's "The Anatomy Of"

It’s good to see a band like between The Buried And Me make it as far as Ozzfest playing the strange concoction of metalcore they play. I have to admit, I personally hate covers. If a cover is done exactly as the original, there’s usually a mistake, and of course, the original is usually better. Putting a different spin on a cover song can be a tough thing to do as well...

Blabbermouth
Between The buried And Me
Victory Records