Friday, September 29, 2006

Scars Of Tomorrow Post New Track Online


The track titled “The Unwinding” can be found on their MySpace page.

Scars Of Tomorrow certainly has a decent work ethic. They’ve put out an album every year since 2002, and they do tons of touring. Since they don’t yet have an album out for 2006, we’re getting one from them soon.

The sound for Scars Of Tomorrow could be described as taking typically high-energy generally metallic riffs into a mix of spoken word emo style choruses (now more singing on this new streaming song) and chugga style breakdowns with raspy sort of metalcore vocals throughout.

Reviews for the bands albums have generally said the same things, which I tend to agree with. Most reviews say that the Scars Of Tomorrow albums lack a bit in song writing depth, song diversity and originality. If Scars Of Tomorrow could throw a few more creative curve-balls out there, they might be able to move up on those constant support slots on the tours they’ve always done.

Scars Of Tomorrow

Scars Of Tomorrow At Victory Records

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

The End Completes New Album


One of the extreme music acts from originating from Canada, but outside of Quebec is The End. When most people describe what they sound like, many people often start with Dillinger Escape Plan, but after a few listens, one will discover they’re actually their own strange beast.

Anyways, everything with the album is finished, and they’re expecting a release date in February 2007. Feels like a long time between albums, as their only full length “Within Dividia” was released in 2004.

The End
The End At Relapse Records

Monday, September 25, 2006

Cynic Reunion

The rumours from Atheist were true, Cynic is going to re-form for some festivals, and possible touring. Considered by many to be pioneers in the world of progressive/experimental death metal, Cynic released only one album all the way back in 1993 titled “Focus”. Cynic has become an influential band in the world of progressive and experimental extreme music, right along with Atheist and Death.

Some reunions have done very well in recent years, such as Suffocation getting back together, Morbid Angel getting some former members back into the fold, and Celtic Frost making (at least in my opinion) a great comeback album. Overcast is re-recording some old songs as well. Although Venom hasn't fared so well...

With reunions like this going on, can we expect At The Gates and Carcass to get back together?

You can find more information about the reunion here.

Sunday, September 24, 2006

Khanate Confirms Breakup


Their newest album is currently being mixed, and is looking like getting a release this winter.

I’m at a bit of a loss for words. I’m actually all for bands breaking up sometimes, but I felt that Khanate was too much of a creative force to simply leave behind. Really too bad...

Checkout Counter: Iscariot

This band seems to come along like a cross between melodic metalcore, Lamb Of God and some death metal elements and a quite a few melodic runs in their riffs. It could use some growth, but Iscariot does provide some decent entertaining moments.

Iscariot
Iscariot at 567 Records

Khanate Breaking Up?


I was just cruising through Encylopeadia Metallum looking at Khanate info, and they’ve got a report that Khanate has announced their breakup on 24 09 2006 (That’s today!), and that they’ll be making a fourth studio album.

Now, I haven’t heard any other info from any other websites, and I’m currently searching very hard for more info about this, so I’m unsure whether or not the info is correct. I personally would hope that Khanate is not breaking up, being one of my favourite modern bands, with a truly unique sound.

In case you’re wondering about the sound of Khanate, most people describe them as an extreme version of doom. They’re probably one of the slowest bands playing, with Alan Dublin throwing high shrieking on top of the mix.

You can find an mp3 of “Skin Coat” from Khanates first release at the Southern Lord Records page.

Khanate At Southern Lord Records
Hydra Head Records

Saturday, September 23, 2006

Arsis Post Cover Art And Song Online

For those of you who haven’t heard Arsis, here’s a chance to get familiar with a new song. Many people describe them as fitting in somewhere with melodic death metal, yet they stand above many in the genre by being very original.

You can see the cover art for the new album titled “United In Regret” here, and you can hear the new song titled “Lust Before The Maggots Conquest” here.

Arsis
Arsis At Willowtip Records

Thursday, September 21, 2006

End Of The Year Candidate - Suffocation: “Suffocation”


The introduction known as “Oblivion” is the first ambient intro Suffocation has ever done. This is a sign that death metal pioneers actual do something that is needed in the genre, which is to make some sort of progression to keep the damn thing alive. Granted, the progression here is mostly improved production with most of the new elements being small details.

In the past, Suffocation has created songs that stand out, due to the slightly grindy nature, odd time signature changes, un-harmonious harmonies, and songs that do have some portions that repeat, but don’t quite fit with the verse chorus format. Granted, all those same things are still present, but now Suffocation has come much closer to creating an album as opposed to a good collection of songs.

After the intro, we begin with the quickly paced “Abomination Reborn”. The general high speed nature of the song is a bit of a departure for Suffocation, preferring in the past to revert to the safety of often moving to slower parts even in their fast songs. The guitar solo in “Abomination Reborn” takes place over several sonic change-ups, bringing what would typically be a slightly longer than average song a more epic feel.

We have experimentations with clean tones and strangely catchy melodies in “Redepmtion”, while the song “Entrails Of You” involves diving whammy bars in the creation of riffs.

One unfortunate aspect about this new self-titled album from Suffocation is that while the first half of the songs are part of a whole album entity, the second half comes off, just as in the past, merely a collection of songs. In the end though, I’d say we have one of the best albums of 2006 on our hands.

8/10

Suffocation
Suffocation At Relapse Records

Wednesday, September 20, 2006

Dimmu Borgir And Their New Album


Well, they’re finally talking about it, a new album from Dimmu Borgir. Four years between albums in the world of underground music can be a long time. It looks like if things get going, the new album will be out by 2007. Hopefully they’ll have a permanent drummer by the time they’re ready to tour. It’s still questionable why their old drummer Nick Barker was fired. For now, Hellhammer from Mayhem is temporarily playing drums for Dimmu Borgir.

Dimmu Borgir

Dimmu Borgir At Nuclear Blast

Killswitch Engage’s New Album


Being the band that helped get me back into metal in general, Killswitch Engage holds a special place in my heart. MTV and a few other news sites have done interviews and spoke to some of the band members about the new album. So far, the new album “As Daylight Dies” is said to be more of a band collaboration between the band members this time, similar to the first two Killswitch Engage albums, self-titled and “Alive Or Just Breathing”, and unlike their third release “The End Of Heartache”.

I, as well as many other people feel that “Alive Or Just Breathing” is a modern classic. To my ears, I had always heard much more of an 80's thrash sound to that album, but many other people make comparisons to In Flames (I don’t hear that influence myself).

I thought “The End Of Heartache” was a decent album, though spread a bit thin. It seemed to me as though they had been trying out some other well-used metalcore ideas from other bands such as some Gothenburg style melodies and a hinting of Meshuggah in a few places.

We’ll have to see what’s in store for “As Daylight Dies”. Some band members have talking about a southern influence creeping in, such as Crowbar, Eyehategod and Corrosion Of Conformity. That could prove to be entertaining.

Killswitch Engage
Killswitch Engage At Roadrunner Records

Tuesday, September 19, 2006

I Posts Two New Songs Online


The band known simply as I is the project of Immortal frontman Abbath. The songs for I can be found at their MySpace page. The two new songs sound quite a bit like a mixture of Immortal and Celtic Frost to my ears. Sounds extremely good so far.

I
I At Myspace
I At Nuclear Blast

Chimaira Posts First Three Web Episodes Online


One of these said web-episodes, most notably episode #2 documents Chimaira through the songwriting process for their new album. You can see their YouTube page here. The band is set to enter the studio on October 2nd with production handled by Jason Suecof and mixing by Andy Sneap. The new album is due out next year, and will be Chimaira’s first album since splitting with Roadrunner Records.

Chimaira
Chimaira At Roadrunner Records

Monday, September 18, 2006

Suffocation Album Streaming Online


The new self-titled Suffocation self-titled album has been posted online in it’s entirety here thanks to the AOL Music’s “Full CD Listening Party”. I believe the new Suffocation album comes out tomorrow...

Sounds great so far. Suffocation have always pushed creative boundaries, and I’ve heard a few new oddities they’ve been playing around with. An album review will come up soon!

Suffocation
Suffocation At Relapse Records

Kylesa Post mp3 And Video Online


The video and mp3 for the track “Where The Horizon Unfolds” here. The track comes from the new album from Kylesa titled “Time Will Fuse It’s Worth” which will be released on Prosthetic Records on October 31st.

I own “To Walk A Middle Course” and it was a very good album, very different. It reminds me of underground indie art rock, but made much heavier.

Kylesa
Kylesa At Prosthetic Records

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Demiricous To Enter The Studio


These four lucky guys have been getting on some very good tours recently, such as hitting the road with Byzantine, the big tour with Dismember, Vital Remains, Grave and Withered, or the tour with God Forbid, Goatwhore and The Human Abstract. Pretty diverse tours as well, Demiricous is probably reaching out to some new fans.

They’ll be taking some bits and pieces of time off to write their new album, and hit the studio for February 15th.

If your wondering what Demiricous sounds like, well, they get a lot of comparisons to Slayer.

Demiricous
Demiricous At Metal Blade Records

Demiricous To Enter The Studio


These four lucky guys have been getting on some very good tours recently, such as hitting the road with Byzantine, the big tour with Dismember, Vital Remains, Grave and Withered, or the tour with God Forbid, Goatwhore and The Human Abstract. Pretty diverse tours as well, Demiricous is probably reaching out to some new fans.

They’ll be taking some bits and pieces of time off to write their new album, and hit the studio for February 15th.

If your wondering what Demiricous sounds like, well, they get a lot of comparisons to Slayer.

Demiricous
Demiricous At Metal Blade Records

Wednesday, September 13, 2006

Disillusion Post Trailer For Their New Album


If you click here, you’ll see a short trailer for the new album from Disillusion which will be titled “Gloria”, and is scheduled for released in Europe on October 23 through Metal Blade Records.

Disillusion has been described as having a mixture of such things as death metal, black metal, melodic death metal, progressive and folk music. I’ve also heard comparisons made to Opeth due to song length and the mixture of heavy and not so heavy moments.

Disillusion
Disillusion At Metal Blade Records

Monday, September 11, 2006

Job For A Cowboy Start Work On New Album


Newly signed to Metal Blade, Job For A Cowboy have resumed the song writing process for their upcoming full length due in spring 2007. For a band playing deathcore and having only one EP out for awhile, they have quite a large degree of popularity (relatively speaking). Could it be due in part to someone editing a Spongebob Squarepants cartoon to a Job For A Cowboy song?

I highly recommend Job For A Cowboy. I’m predicting that they’ll cement their place in the world of death metal influenced metalcore alongside The Red Chord and All Shall Perish as leaders of the genre.

Job For A Cowboy
Metal Blade Records

Engineer Signs To Black Market Activities

Taking musical residence in that heavy noisy world between Mastodon, Converge and Isis, we have Engineer (I love the name). I’ve found the material they’ve put out so far to be extremely entertaining.

Engineer will be hitting the studio this winter to record a full-length with producer Jocko Randall who has produced such bands as From A Second Story Window and Ed Gein. Hopefully Metal Blade might step in and help with promotion and tours like they’ve done in the past with a few other Black Market Activities bands.

Engineer (Site isn’t working right now)
Engineer At Purevolume
Engineer At MySpace
Hex Records
Black Market Activities

Checkout Counter - Accept Death

The sound coming from Accept Death might be described as some as lo-fi sludge. They seemed to have learned much from the school of Eyehategod and Iron Monkey. Low production, strange, and very entertaining, although not quite as good as this years The Abominable Iron Sloth.

Accept Death At MySpace
Retribute Records

Thursday, September 07, 2006

Metal Blade Signs Aeon


Swedish death metal band Aeon have signed to Metal Blade records. With death metal (and many other forms of metal) rising in popularity at this time, one has to wonder why Metal Blade doesn’t try hard to push some of the bands they already have a bit harder. Not only that, but they could take advantage of the situation and re-release some good albums, such as the three Immolation albums “Here In After”, "Failures For Gos” and “Close To A World Below”.
“Close To A World below” is a personal favourite out of the Immolation albums which I’m having a bit of a hard time obtaining. It seems to have the best production of all the Immolation albums, as Immolation have typically had album production so poor it really detracts from the songs. Strangely, I saw Immolations very first album “Dawn Of Possession” at the local CD shop, and I’ll probably get it.

Aeon adds some minor creative elements to their sound without escaping death metal. Perhaps the new Aeon album with Metal Blade will provide something with a high level of creativity to place them higher amongst their peers.

Aeon
Metal Blade Records
Unique Leader Records

Wednesday, September 06, 2006

The Agony Scene In Retrospect

The year 2003 was a huge year for metalcore. Many big and important bands had either released an album in 2003, or did heavy touring for important albums released in 2002. Many bands associated with this early scene benefited as well. Bands looking to forge their own path had got their foot in the door at a relatively early stage in the game, and this is where The Agony Scene fits in.

The Agony Scene in 2003

It was at this point in 2003, a significant record label for metalcore at the time released a self titled album for a band known as The Agony Scene. That record label was Solid State, known some for good christian metalcore bands. The association with this record label in their early stages would probably both help and hinder the popularity of The Agony Scene. Surely many christians interested in metalcore were exposed to The Agony Scene simply for being on Solid State Records, although secular audiences also picked up on the self-titled album. Later, The Agony Scene would state they were not in fact a christian band after they had signed to Roadrunner Records.

The self-titled album from The Agony Scene was something I consider to be significantly different from typical melodic metalcore. Many people made comparisons to Gothenburg, but I saw The Agony Scene as taking a heavy influence from 80's thrash. The vocals were high and raspy, gaining a lot of comparison to black metal. The breakdowns in the songs were often well-hidden to the average listener. Some of the breakdowns were of the “one-note-chug” variety, but with a much more original thrash feeling. The other half of the breakdowns were in fact run by the drums with more creative riffs thrown on top. The Agony Scene had made an impact in the world of metalcore at that time as a standout band doing something original.

There was a mass signing of metalcore bands to labels in 2004, most of those artists being clone bands putting their first album out. Some smaller bands moved on to bigger labels though, and The Agony Scene was one such band who got signed to Roadrunner in 2004. Trivium also got signed to Roadrunner in 2004


The Darkest Red was released in 2005. In many respects it continued much of the same formula followed on their self titled album. The main exceptions were inclusion of a few more songs with clean singing. "Prey", "Screams Turn To Silence", "Procession", "My Dark Desire" were four out of six songs to feature more sing-along style choruses. Also different from the first album were the fact that all the songs on The Darkest Red all had a verse/charous format, as some of the song on the previous effort eschewed that structure.

The Agony Scene in 2005

Maybe it was the signing to Roadrunner Records and the inclusion of more clean vocals in 2005's The Darkest Red that put some more underground followers of The Agony Scene off. The promotion for that album from Roadrunner didn’t last for long, as soon after, Roadrunner would be busy dumping their money into Trivium. The Agony Scene appeared on only a few tours, and their merchandise wasn’t very diverse either. More underground styled bands need to tour in order to survive and keep the momentum of the band going, and more merch offered from the same types of underground bands helps immensely.

Now signed to Abacus Records with a new album getting primed to go, perhaps The Agony Scene can get some of the things they weren’t able to get on Roadrunner Records, such as more promotion, better tours and more of them, and better merchandise.

In the end, the music produced by The Agony Scene is an important element to the world of metalcore, as both albums as very good, and provide a much needed break to the constant cloning of Gothenburg styled bands.

The Agony Scene
Sold State Records
The Agony Scene At Roadrunner Records
Abacus Records

The Agony Scene Has Signed To Abacus Records


Formerly on Solid State Records, and then onto Roadrunner Records, The Agony Scene have now signed a deal with Abacus records They expecting to record this fall for a release in spring 2007, and they will announce the name of their new drummer soon.

Most people characterize The Agony Scene as melodic metalcore, but my own personal opinion of their sound is different. I’ve always felt they’ve had a heavy influence of 80's thrash with black metal styled vocals, with well-hidden breakdowns.

The Agony Scene
Abacus Records

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

The Red Death Post New Songs Online


The new songs for The Red Death are currently in the demo stage. At this point in time, The Red Death has no record label, as they were dropped by Metal Blade some time ago. The current songs from these demos are very much in the vein of melodic death metal, eschewing many of the “chugga” style breakdowns of their previous album, “External Frames Of Reference”. While not a direct sound alike, I can imagine people comparing their guitar work to The Black Dahlia Murder.

The Red Death At MySpace

Hatesphere Post New Video Online


The video for the song “Reaper Of Life” off of Hatesphere’s new album “The Sickness Within” has been posted here.

Hatesphere play a modernized version of thrash. It’s very fun entertaining stuff, which is a good reason to check these guys out!

Hatesphere
Hatesphere At SPV Records

Checkout Counter: War Of Ages


War Of Ages play melodic metalcore with all bad-cop vocals. There are some subtle differences between War Of Ages and many other melodic metalcore bands out there, but the differences are subtle.

War Of Ages
Facedown Records

Dine Cazares Formerly Of Fear Factory Reveals New Band

I’ve been interested in hearing what Dino’s new project would be since he said he would be teaming up with drummer Tim Yeung. Tim Yeung has drummed for some very fast metal bands in the past, such as Hate Eternal and Decrepit Birth, I believe he’s still participating in Vital Remains currently as well. Tim Yeung also won the “Fastest Feet” award at the last NAMM convention.

So far this project has no title as of yet. The members thus far -
Dino Cazares on guitar who used to play in Fear Factory
Tim Yeung on drums, who’s served time in Hate Eternal and currently drums for Vital Remains
Tommy Vext (of the band Vext) doing lead vocals
Risha Eryavec currently of Decrepit Birth is doing bass

So far rumours give the explanation of this current bands sound as “Soul of a New Machine” era Fear Factory and “Demanufacture” era Fear Factory, but faster and heavier.

Checkout Counter: Vader


Unlike most Checkout Counter articles, Vader isn’t an up-and-coming band. Instead, Vader are a veteran death metal band from Poland, and at times have a Slayer and Morbid Angel influence to their sound. They’ve been around for a very long time, as long as many of their peers in the scene.

Vader have recently released a new album titled “Impressions In Blood” through Candlelight Records, and impressions of the album so far have been very good, although not quite progressing beyond their current boundaries.

Vader

Hearse Sign Record Deal With Dental Records


Hearse has been described by many as death n’ roll. Awhile back they acquired former Arch Enemy vocalist Johan Liiva, and have produced some quite entertaining material so far.

As stated before, they recently signed a deal with Dental Records. Their last album was produced by Dan Swano, a name some might be familiar with, as Dan has had a lot of involvement in the Swedish death metal scene. The new album is due in October.

Hearse

Monday, September 04, 2006

The Haunted Post New Track Online


The new track can be found at The Haunted’s section at the Century Media website. It comes of their new album “The Dead Eye”, and the song itself is titled “The Medication”.

I enjoy The Haunted very much, but this song comes off as typical material for The Haunted played at a slower pace. I wasn’t quite as entertained by “The Medication” as I had hoped to be. Hopefully the rest of the album will be better, or it could just be me.

I would say that The Haunted is based heavily on 80's thrash cranked up to modern standards of heaviness and speed, with a small atmosphere of metal from Sweden (the homeland of The Haunted) within their sound. I’ve found all their work to be very entertaining.

As a final note, if there’s a wish I’ve had for The Haunted, it’s that they’d have Marco Aro do guest vocals for a song, as I’ve always like the tone of his vocals.

The Haunted
The Haunted At Century Media (the same place you’ll find the new song)

Jesu Getting New Album Ready

The new album from Jesu titled “Conqueror” currently being mixed and being set up for mastering. It’s slated for release sometime in 2007 through Hydra Head Records.

Jesu is the slow droning masterpiece from former Napalm Death guitarist Justin Broadrick, who was also the mastermind behind underground industrial/noise pioneers Godflesh. Jesu is a highly recommenced band.

Jesu
Hydra Head Records

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Checkout Counter: Divider

Divider is a chaotic technical band that fits somewhere in the world of metalcore. They’re the sort of band who might appeal to those who like Dillinger Escape Plan, Psyopus, or Into The Moat and other such bands, although Divider seems a slight bit less chaotic. They sound pretty entertaining so far.

Divider

Shock Value Records

Morbid Angel: A Retrospective On The Steve Tucker Era


A retrospective on the Steve Tucker era for Morbid Angel may seem strange to some of those reading this article. The first frontman to Morbid Angel, and favourite to many has been David Vincent. Some have even gone as far to compare the difference between David Vincent and Steve Tucker to Rob Halford against Tim “Ripper” Owens in referance to Judas Priest, or Bruce Dickenson against Blaze Bailey during the time when Bruce left Iron Maiden in the 90's. The comparison continues, as Steve Tucker has left Morbid Angel for a significant period of time now with David Vincent now returning to the fold.

Filling the shoes of what some consider to be an icon can be difficult. On one hand, the band wants to move forward, but at the same time, the guy fronting the band from the beginning is often viewed as a member that people think of when they think of that band.

The Morbid Angel albums from the Steve Tucker era have also gained mixed reaction from fans. Some fans disliking Steve Tucker, and some disliking the experimentation that guitarist and founder Trey Azagthoth and the rest of the band have done with those Morbid Angel albums.

Steve Tucker has never attempted to imitate David Vincent, he’s been his own man with a different vocal style. The major differences being that David Vincent began singing on Morbid Angel’s 3rd (Covenant) and 4th (Domination) albums before he left. Steve Tucker on the other hand would accent his low vocals sometimes by adding a higher scream on top of his growl to create a harmony of sorts with harsh vocals.

The tradition started on the second Morbi Angel album (Blessed Are The Sick) of instrumental segueways and having slow songs has stuck with Morbid Angel to this very date. At the same time, Morbid Angel has always been forward thinking, as drummer Pete Sandoval has continued to become a faster drummer with every album, and Morbid Angel have always experimented with strange sounds in the world of death metal. You can always count on Morbid Angel to have a different album every time.

“Formulas Fatal To The Flesh” was the first album to feature Steve Tucker after David Vincents departure. Many have stated that “Formulas Fatal To The Flesh” is the fastest Morbi Angel album to date, because most of the songs on the album are very fast. The sound in many of the songs is a mixture of old Morbid Angel typically for the fast portions, and a modern Morbid Angel sound for the slower parts, typically slower breaks within the songs. The song “Nothing Is Not” is the official slow song on the album. The song “Invocation Of The Continual One” is an nine minute epic with a retro sound, as the liner notes state that Trey wrote the song in 1984. Trey also does the vocals for “Invocation Of The Continual One”. On a downside though, the instrumental segueways seemed over abundant, poorly written and placed close together.

“Gateways To Annihilation” is to many the highlight of the Steve Tucker era for Morbid Angel. Favourite second guitarist to many, Erik Rutan re-joined the band after working with his own band Hate Eternal. The production is probably the best for a Morbid Angel album, which is significant, as most Morbid Angel albums have had generally poor to mediocre production. At this point in their career, Morbid Angel played a lot of opening tours with Pantera as well, getting Morbid Angel out to a wider fan base. The cover art was done by Dan Seagrave, the same artist for their first album “Altars Of Madness”, their most famous album cover. The “Gateways To Annihilation” cover ended up getting wide circulation on many Morbid Angel shirts as well.

The sound from “Gateways To Annihilation” has been characterized as the slowest Morbid Angel album out of all of them with many heavy mid-paced songs. The album may have appealed more to the Pantera/groove metal generation as many of the mid-paced songs could have been interpreted as having a very groove oriented drum beat which works well in a mid-paced tempo setting. “Gateways To Annihilation” presents the biggest team effort in song writing since the 4th Morbid Angel album “Domination”. Steve Tucker contributed to writing some of the songs, as well as writing most of the lyrics for the album. Erik Rutan added many guitar solos to the songs, as well as what has been considered by some to be the fastest Morbid Angel song “God Of The Forsaken”, although the speed issue could be debated now. It makes sense that Erik Rutan would create an ultra-fast song, as his other band which he would begin focussing his time on, Hate Eternal is based on operating at insanely fast tempos. Trey Azagthoth would also write the lyrics for the song “Secured Limitations” and contributed vocals to that song.

And then came “Heretic”... Many disliked the album at first due to terrible production, probably the worst production on a Morbid Angel album to date. Often times the guitars sounded as though strings needed to be changed, and the guitarist themselves tuned. Pete Sandovals drumming was the fastest on any Morbid Angel album to date in specific songs, and his timing is impeccable as well, practically a human clock, yet the drum sound is strangely tuned. The bass drums were not very powerful, the snare drum doesn’t give a good, solid short crack like most typically good metal snare drums do, and the cymbals are buried in the mix. Perhaps the intention of the production was to give the album a throwback feel to the old days.

Production grips aside, deep within the mix of “Heretic” are good songs, for the most part anyways. Had some of the songs been worked on so certain portions didn’t drag on so often, certain riffs weren’t repeated so often, certain verses had been chopped off, and endings improved, those many decent songs could have been great songs. The same problem with those instrumental parts on “Formulas Fatal To The Flesh” were also apparent on “Heretic” as well.

The album “Heretic” also added some unneeded and questionable things. The huge amount of extra tracks past the 14th track (44 in total), and the bonus CD which included., such as Trey’s solos which by themselves come off sometimes as goofing around or simply showing off seem to have no purpose, especially for someone to dig through all those tracks. There’s also random sounds, a version of the song “Beneath The Hollow” with no vocals, and demos of the songs from “Heretic” with no vocals. All the extra stuff comes off as pointless and boring.

Steve Tucker has since left Morbid Angel, with none other than David Vincent coming in as his replacement. Erik Rutan has also joined Morbid Angel for a European tour, and there have been rumours of a new Morbid Angel album for 2006 or more likely by 2007. Unfortunately the setlists from Morbid Angels live shows contain no songs from the Steve Tucker era. One could speculate the many reasons why Morbid Angel aren’t playing those songs live. Perhaps they want to stick to the older songs which seem to be more popular. Perhaps they wanted to play the songs that David Vincent was familiar with. Whatever the reasons why, it’s too bad that there are decent songs from the Steve Tucker era which may never again be played to an audience.

Morbid Angel

Anaal Nathrakh Post A New Song Online


This band has generated some personal interest for some time now. You could describe the sound of Anaal Nathrakh as raw black metal with some industrial overtones (due heavily in part to the use of drum machines). Some have suggested a move to a black/death sound. I can see the comparison with the new song which was posted on their MySpace page titled “When The Lion Devours”. The New song will appear on their forthcoming album "Eschaton". Anaal Nathrakh are an interesting and intriguing band indeed.

Anaal Nathrakh
Season Of Mist

Saturday, September 02, 2006

Checkout Counter: Of The Son


Anyone like more metalcore? Of the Son will be coming out with a new EP very soon.

Of The Son
Harvest Earth Records

Trivium Post Video Online


The video for the song "Entrance Of The Conflagration" can be found here. The song comes Triviums upcoming new album titled “The Crusade” which will be released October 10th through Roadrunner. The song sounds a lot like 80's thrash. I miss Matt Heafy’s harsh vocals though...

Trivium
Trivium At Roadrunner Records

Checkout Counter: Forever Mourne

Most people don’t think of Texas as being a hotbed for raw black metal. Forever Mourne will be releasing their first full-length sometime soon. If the sounds from the songs are any indication, the production is well done for being raw, and there’s a bit of melody within the songs.

Forever Mourne At MySpace

The Haunted Reveals Tracklist And Art For New Album


One of my favourite bands from Sweden, The Haunted have revealed the tracklist and the cover art for their new album titled “The Dead Eye”. The cover art for "The Dead Eye" is shown at the top left.

Here’s a list of all the songs slated to be on “The Dead Eye”:

01. The Premonition
02. The Flood
03. The Medication
04. The Crowning
05. The Reflection
06. The Prosecution
07. The Fallout
08. The Medusa
09. The Shifter
10. The Cynic
11. The Failure
12. The Stain
13. The Guilt Trip

One question that’s been on my mind for awhile has been the suggestion of a rare/unreleased tracks album. The Haunted had an album naming contest prior to “rEVOLVEr”, and the winning title was dubbed “Subliminal Messages Of Suicide Promotion” (pretty damn good title), which The Haunted had stated would be used for something like a rare/unreleased style album. Considering the large amount of bonus tracks floating around, I’d like to be able to get my hands on the thing. That, and “Live Rounds In Tokyo”, that one’s a very hard to find from The Haunted.

The Haunted
Century Media

Checkout Counter: Dead Men In Reno

Here we are presented with standard metalcore via Dead Men In Rio. It sounds executed properly.

Dead Men In Reno
Candlelight Records

Cynic Rumours


Word is that in 2007 that Cynic might be doing a reunion tour... no confirmation as of yet.

Along with Atheist, Cynic pioneered the sound of death/jazz, and created a classic titled "Focus" released in 1993. Unfortunately the band didn’t last long, although their legacy would.

Checkout Counter: Destroy Destroy Destroy


In comes another American band influenced by (but not a direct rip-off of) Children Of Bodom. What that means is essentially we have keyboard heavy melodic metalcore. Destroy Destroy Destroy keep it quick, fun and entertaining.

Destroy Destroy Destroy
Destroy Destroy Destroy At BlackMmarket Activities

Martyr Signs To Galy Records


For a band that has had little or no record label support over the years, Martyr has managed to make a name for themselves in the Quebec metal scene. Most people say that they’re technical death metal, which I would say is an apt description.

Not only will Martyr release a new album through Galy Records, but they’ll also be releasing their two previous full-lengths as well through the same record label.

Quebec metal tends to be both highly technical, very extreme, and artistically creative, having the best of many worlds. The downside of many metal bands from Quebec is that not too many of them tour (with the exception of Cryptopsy, Kataklysm, Despised Icon, Ion Dissonance and Neuraxis). Hopefully this new label signing will help Martyr get out on the road.

Martyr
Martyr At Galy Records

Checkout Counter: Fleshmould


Imported from Belgium, we have some decently produced chunky death metal with a hint of technicality. There was a portion I heard from Fleshmould that could draw some comparisons to Meshuggah.

Fleshmould
Shiver Records

Friday, September 01, 2006

Hatebreed Posts Defeatist Video Online


The song “Defeatist” is my favourite off their new album “Supremacy”. I love the gang vocals shouting “HATE!” inserted in the middle of sentences that chorus like section “Cause you HATE yourself and you HATE this world and you HATE the fact that you HATE every moment”. It’s catchy.

You can view the video here.

Hatebreed
Hatebreed At Roadrunner Records

Mastodon Makes New Album Available Streaming Online


Just check out their special MySpace page to hear the new Mastodon album “Blood Mountain” from beginning to end. Could it be any simpler?

Mastodon
Mastodon At Relapse Records

Album Review - Hatebreed: “Supremacy”


It’s difficult to move forward in hardcore. So often it’s a genre built on doing things the right way, which puts some of the more modern metal infused hardcore bands in a bit of a rut.

Going back in time, when you compare the 2002 release “Perseverance” against 2003's “The Rise Of Brutality” you can see a definite progression between the two albums. Most of the songs on “Perseverance” were short mid-paced metal infused hardcore songs. “The Rise Of Brutality” presented the listener with both faster and slower songs that were longer, which really added to the depth of both the individual songs and the album overall.

On “Supremacy” there are little bits and pieces not seen in other Hatebreed albums. Jamey Jasta adds a hint of singing to his gruff shout in a few places. The song “Gives Wings To My Triumph” has a slow foreboding introduction, unfortunately the introductory piece wasn’t reflected through the rest of the song.

The album as a whole actually feels held back slightly by having most of the songs run at a generally mid-paced tempo. Indeed, taking a slight look back in time begins to hurt the album. The song “Destroy Everything” also feels like a dud out of the bunch by having a typical groove metal/lock-step pattern typical of many Pantera clones from the 90's, not to mention shallow tough guy lyrics within the same song.

The minor steps of progression of course are incredibly minor, and make very little impact in moving Hatebreed forward. At the same time, none of the downsides are truly terrible.

7/10

Hatebreed
Hatebreed At Roadrunner Records