Win a Test Press Copy of the Author & Punisher LP from Seventh Rule!

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Hey readers, here’s another cool contest you might want to check out — but hurry, you only have until tomorrow (Friday, the 5th of October) to enter!

Seventh Rule Recordings is giving you the chance to pick up a test press of Author & Punisher‘s newest LP, Ursus Americanus! If you haven’t seen it yet (or if you’ve blocked it out of your conscious memory), you can check out my review for this gem of industrial-doom here — which was without a doubt the most fucked-up thing I’ve written in a long time.

So anyway, if you’d be interested in grabbing one of these (since the record plants only produce a very limited number of tests for each album, these are very rare and hence they’ve become a pretty hot commodity among vinyl collectors), all you have to do is throw together a mash-up video using the A&P song “Terrorbird” …

Now that sounds pretty daunting, right? I mean, you’ve only got til tomorrow to do it! (I didn’t get a chance to post this right away when I got the email from Seventh Rule, or else you would have had two whole days’ notice — sorry about that!) But fear not: you have a tool available to you that will drastically simplify the process! It’s called Youtube Doubler, and it looks like it’ll be a lot of fun to play with…

 
So, check out these rules for the contest, and then get to it!!

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Kosher Metal is Giving Away a Copy of the Rock Science Trivia Game!

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TONIGHT (Thursday, the 4th of October), the Kosher Metal radio station is throwing a birthday party for the one-year anniversary of the Metalocity live show with Stack the Ripper and Steven Steel!

To celebrate this milestone, they are going to be giving away a copy of the Rock Science rock trivia game!

 

 

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What To Do In Pittsburgh This Weekend (29-30 September 2012)

Ladies and Gentlemen of the Steel City metropolitan region, I am pleased to once again present you with your list of weekendly happenings in the area!  Read on, become informed, and then go support your local music scene!

 
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The Last Trollfest Post, I Swear! (Before the New Album is Released)

 
So okay, I know there’s been an awful lot of attention paid to the “True Norwegian Balkan Metal” collective known as TrollfesT. There’ve been video trailers, free songs to download, and all kinds of other stuff floating around. Well, here’s one more update about the band, where I’ve collected some of the latest bits of information and news, as we inch closer to the official release of their fifth album, Brumlebassen (out via Noise Art Records on the 24th of August — that’s tomorrow!)…

 
Just the other day, the band released a track-by-track video guide to the new record, which can be seen below:

 
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Upcoming Shows: Some Bands are Playing in Delaware!

Hi. I’m in Delaware.


 

 
Good evening. I’d like to take a few moments to talk to you about the state of Delaware. For any foreign readers (or Americans who are just really bad at history and geography), Delaware is one of the fifty states that comprise the United States.

It’s noteworthy for being one of the original thirteen British colonies that declared independance from the UK and went on to form the USA. Furthermore, its biggest claim to fame was being the first out of those thirteen states to adopt the new national constitution.

In the two centuries that have passed since that time, Delaware has done pretty much nothing else to distinguish itself. This is clear if you ever see the license plate on one of the state’s cars: they all have a slogan that says “The First State.”

If you look at a map, Delaware is a skinny little piece of land hanging off the southeast corner of Pennsylvania — as if Philadelphia just came out of the bathroom and failed to notice it had a piece of toilet paper stuck to the bottom of its shoe. In fact, I suppose you could say Delaware is to Philadelphia pretty much what New Jersey is to New York City.
 

 

That’s weird, you know so much about Delaware. Who are you, fuckin’ Joe Biden?


 

 
Well despite all that, the residents of this state seem to think there is something more to the place where they live. I am basing this observation entirely on the one person I know who lives in Delaware, who happens to be a frequent reader and commenter on some of the same metal blogs that I read and comment on.

Recently he said something about how Philadelphia seems to attract all the good shows, and maybe if that city were destroyed, more bands would come to Delaware instead. I can sort of relate to this; although I live in the same state, I am almost six hours away from Philly, but it seems that many national touring bands feel one stop in Pennsylvania is sufficient. If I’m lucky, they’ll also come to Cleveland (Ohio) but that’s still three hours from here.

Anyway, the point of all this is that I just saw (via the always-helpful folks at Clawhammer PR) not one, but TWO bands who are playing shows in Delaware in the near future! Both are part of mini mid-Atlantic tours, and of course neither of them are coming anywhere near Pittsburgh, but when I heard about this, I felt it was my duty to pass the information along.

If you live in Philadelphia, Virginia, or New Jersey (or on the west coast), there’s some good news for you here as well.
 

 

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Out Last Month: The Reticent – Le Temps Detruit Tout

 

The ReticentLe Temps Detruit Tout (Heaven and Hell Records, 29 May 2012)

 
Well, shit.

I hate when I feel so overwhelmed by all the stuff I’ve got going on, that I start forgetting about things I was planning on doing. Does that happen to you? It’s like, everything needs my attention, everything needs to be a priority, and some stuff just unfortunately ends up falling through the cracks.

For example: it was about six weeks ago that I wrote about The Reticent — that post was just a comment on a news item about a politically-charged message that the band’s mastermind (and sole member) Chris Hathcock had shared on his Facebook page. But, at the same time, I had mentioned the (then) upcoming album (the band’s third full-length) Le Temps Detruit Tout (“Time Destroys All”), and I did mention then that I was planning on writing a review for the album.

Well, two weeks later, the album came out (on Heaven and Hell Records, who also released the previous two — in fact, the band’s 2006 debut Hymns for the Dejected was the first album that label ever released). And since then another four weeks have passed, and now I find myself digging through some unfinished drafts, when I stumbled upon this one. Not only did I forget to finish writing the review, but I almost shared this too late for you to enter the contest to win a copy of the CD!

When I say almost too late, I really mean it — the contest ends tomorrow (Friday, 29 June), so keep on reading, but then hurry up and hit the link near the end of this post, for your chance to win!!

 
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Contest Alert: Fatality Seeking the Silliest Silly Walk!

 
Happy Friday, readers! Just a few more hours left ’til quitting time, which means no more work until next week… You have no idea how nice it feels to say that. I think I’ll say it again: HAPPY FRIDAY!!

 
It has turned out to be kind of a dreary day, and of course it’s made all the more dreary simply from being at work. Feels like it’s about time for something to lighten the mood a bit, and I’ve found something perfect for that! If you’re as big of a Monty Python fan as I am, or if you’re as big of a thrash metal fan, or especially, if you’re heavily into both, you’ll definitely want to pay attention to this…

 
One of the most famous Monty Python’s Flying Circus segments of all time was the wildly popular “Ministry of Silly Walks” sketch. It seems this is exactly what came to mind when guitarists Spencer Le Von and Eytan Gordon of Canadian thrash quartet Fatality were really bored one night and tried to think of a way to amuse themselves. As Spencer (who is also the band’s vocalist, and writer of the band’s official blog) wrote in a blog post earlier this month:

 

…It took a while for me to realize how astonishingly important killing time is as a musician. It is a vital component of what we do. Whether it is mind bending travel time to a gig or waiting to perform, metal musicians have killing time down to a delicate science, and a band that laughs together stays together.
 
To better illustrate this point we have devised a CONTEST based on our latest “weekly challenge” video. The video involves Eytan and I acting like complete assholes in public, because that is what makes us laugh and that’s what we find funny.
 
For this video we decided to pay tribute to Monty Python and the Ministry of Silly Walks. In this clip you can see me and Eytan going for a swift jaunt in our local Metro to purchase some late night munchies.

 

 
For their contest, the band want you to take a video of the silliest walk you can come up with, and then submit the video to their Facebook page.

The person who submits the silliest video (as judged by the band themselves) will win a cool prize pack including the following:

  • Free Fatality T-Shirt
  • Free CD
  • Free patch, beer cozie or 3 pins
  • 2 free tickets to our next local show (if applicable)

 
This contest was first announced about two weeks ago — there was an update on the band’s Facebook page earlier this week stating that they’re still looking for submissions, but I haven’t heard any official word about a deadline. It seems like the contest is pretty informal, but you won’t want to miss out on these great prizes so you’d better get stepping… as silly as you can!

 
Oh, and just in case you aren’t already familiar with Fatality’s material, and you want to get a better idea of what you’d be winning, I’ve got some stuff here for you to hear — including several tracks you can download for FREE…

 
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Contest Alert: Win a Copy of the New Dying Fetus CD!

The new album from death metal gargantuans Dying Fetus, Reign Supreme (their seventh full-length), is scheduled for release on 19 June (US), 22 June (Germany and Benelux), or 25 June (worldwide) through Relapse Records.

However, thanks to Metalhit.com and Metal Maniacs (in cooperation with Relapse), three lucky winners will get a free copy of that CD along with a sticker…

All you need to do is click here, and fill out your name and address!

Good luck!

 
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Dying Fetus: Facebook, Myspace, Youtube
  Pre-order Reign Supreme here!
Relapse Records: website, Facebook
Metal Maniacs: website, Myspace
Metalhit: website, Facebook, Myspace

Contest Alert: Win Municipal Waste Tickets (PLUS Free Downloads!)

Guess what! After last week’s post about the upcoming Municipal Waste/Toxic Holocaust split (still available for pre-order from Tankcrimes), I got word from Scion A/V that they will be giving away a pair of tickets to each and every date on the current Municipal Waste U.S. tour (with Black Tusk and 3 Inches of Blood)!

I apologize to those who live in North Carolina and Georgia, since the shows in those areas have already taken place; also, if you live in Florida, the winners for tonight’s show (29 May) in Orlando and tomorrow’s show (30 May) in Pensacola have already been drawn. Sorry!

But for the rest of the country, take a look at those tour dates (listed in last week’s post), then check out these simple directions:
 

  • Read the official rules here
  • Follow Scion A/V on Twitter here
  • Tweet this message: “@SCIONAV @MWTour [date of show]“

 
And that’s all there is to it. The randomly selected winner for each date will be notified one day before the show.

 
Just in case the chance to see them in concert for free isn’t enough for you, there’s even MORE Municipal Waste news… how about a pair of tracks for you to download ABSOLUTELY FREE?
 
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Contest Alert: Win a Stonecreep Prize Pack

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Hey there, readers. Real quick, I wanted to bring this to your attention: in a joint effort between Blistering.com and Clawhammer PR, for the next few days you can have the opportunity to win a prize package from Portlandian death-thrashers Stonecreep!

This giveaway will include a digipack of the 2011 re-release (via Old-School Metal Records) of their 2009 album The Deathmarch Crushes On, a CD copy of the 2007 demo EP We Bleed Disaster, a t-shirt, sticker, and beer koozie. All you need to do is click right here, and fill in the relevant personal information. Be sure to submit your entry soon, because the contest will close on Friday (1 June)!

Oh, and while we’re on the subject, the band will soon be heading out across the U.S. in support of the Deathmarch album’s recent re-release, on what they’re calling the Storm of the Deathmarch U.S. Tour 2012. So far there have been sixteen confirmed dates over the course of three weeks between June and July (including a stop in Pittsburgh). See below for the full details…

 

Update 12 June: the contest may have ended but the Deathmarch tour is still, umm, deathmarching soon! I’ve learned of a few adjustments to the tour schedule, which has been updated accordingly, below, along with an explanatory statement from the band…

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