Category Archives: Free Shit

The Secret Dethlehem Code, Deciphered (FOR REAL This Time)!

Posted by valleyofsteel on

4 13 13

 

I WAS SO CLOSE!

 
 
…by which, of course, I mean that my article from a few days ago analyzing Dethlehem‘s mysterious image (above) speculated that the answer had something to do with Dethlehem doing something. That much of it turned out to be absolutely 100% accurate. (The rest of what I wrote, not so much. Although those who are interested in the ins and outs of the recording process still can benefit greatly by visiting producer Patrick Lammie‘s blog as he details the creation of the band’s third full-length album!)

So what I thought was a crazy eye thing actually turned out to be a representation of a magical portal; the fact that the middle part of the “eye” looks like the number zero wasn’t just a coincidence; the other numbers superimposed on the image, surprisingly, had NOTHING to do with an encrypted message, but rather they indicated a significant date. That date, 04.13.13, was this past Saturday — and at some point during that day, the band uncovered a really exciting secret project…..

 
Continue reading →

Person or Persons Unknown: Six Questions with Annakarina’s Craig Hodgkins

Posted by valleyofsteel on

Person or Persons Unknown

 

Six Questions with Annakarina‘s Craig Hodgkins

by Asya Yanyo

 

Have you ever been going to an event somewhere, where you don’t really expect things to be different — you figure it’s totally going to be a fun night, but nothing out of the norm — then suddenly after you’ve walked in the door, something begins and BAM!, you are completely blown away?

Yes? No? Doesn’t matter, that’s basically the exact scenario of how I first heard Annakarina: I was attending a punk show with Eric in Charleroi, PA, last December. This show was about five minutes from our house — quite a change from our normal hour-plus drive, so I was happy to be attending for that reason — but with the inclusion of the word “punk” I didn’t expect to be hearing something that Eric later described to me as “Post-Mathcore,” but we did. It was seriously gorgeous in its expression of angst and precision side-by-side.

So Annakarina and their music really never left my mind after the show. Soon afterwards, I found out that someone had taped their whole set and put it on Youtube, and I’ve probably watched it like five times since then — needless to say, I was a fan.

Anyway, last month we were attending another punk show at the same venue — where as it turns out, Annakarina was going to be making another appearance — and on this day I happened to decide that I needed to drink A LOT of tequila before the show (and during). Probably because we were so close to home I was feeling a little more rebellious, I don’t know. Drunk or not, I was extremely excited to see Annakarina again, but this time I decided that I needed to talk to those guys. In my drunken stupor, I basically poured my inner fandom out for them, sharing the fact that Eric was a blogger, that we attend shows at least once a week in Pittsburgh, all sorts of stuff.

[Editor's note: at one point, I recall she had told bassist Kurtis Kelley about the description I made up the first time we'd seen them. He seemed a bit puzzled, but then said, "Well, I know what post-hardcore is, and I know what math rock is, and -- yeah I guess I can see that."]

I’m sure they were like, who’s this crazy lady, but even so they were all very kind. I got introduced to them all one by one, and in particular I felt drawn to [guitarist/vocalist] Craig. In between bands I talked casually to him (or as casually as I could manage — remember I was very drunk) about his music, his friendship with the drummer and other bandmates, and soon I realized this guy was special pretty special.

In a way, I was feeling sort of annoyed that no one else we knew really knew anything about this band — because I’ve never seen them at any shows in Pittsburgh, and (I mean this in the nicest way possible) honestly they’re better then a few bands that we’ve seen playing other shows in the past. So I decided I needed to introduce Craig and his music to more people — so there’s the core reason for this interview. I think you’ll agree he’s quite a special guy — that magical combination of intelligence, wit, weirdness, awkwardness, and sincerity that you couldn’t fake if you tried. So here he is, pouring his heart out to you, via my six questions; I hope you will find him as endearing as I do, and I hope you will venture out to the University of Pittsburgh at Greensburg this Sunday to see his band playing a charity show benefiting PLEA. Trust me, Annakarina is a band you won’t want to miss, and this guy is one of the major reasons for that.

 
Continue reading →

Slaves BC / Cousin Sleaze – Split 7″

Posted by valleyofsteel on

SleazeBC-cover

Slaves BC / Cousin Sleaze – Split 7″ (self-released, 11 April 2013)

 
 
Several months ago, I wrote about a new EP from the Pittsburgh-based dark, caustic hardcore/metal band Slaves BC, which was titled we mean nothing. If you’re feeling especially adventurous, you could look it up if you searched for it, but I’m not linking to it here. Because honestly, it was among the worst articles I’ve written, and I wouldn’t advise taking the time to read it. Instead, just listen to the songs and download the EP, which you can do it you follow the Bandcamp link at the end of this page.

About that review — I’ve noticed sometimes when I really like something or really connect with a piece of music on some level, I feel inadequate to convey that in words, and so I end up rambling about some other nonsense that isn’t related to the actual music. In this case, we mean nothing. centers around the concept of someone struggling and perhaps questioning the validity or value of religion — and I sort of ran with that idea, focusing more on people who place too much value on religious principles, at the expense of common sense and moral decency.

Sort of lost in all of that was my opinion of the actual music — dark and caustic, as I just said; abrasive, ultra-heavy. Some music is described as “doom metal” which usually seems to foretell a bleak, dire outcome; some music is “post-apocalyptic,” representing that tragic new reality. What Slaves BC bring is more like DURING the apocalypse: there isn’t doom coming, it’s happening RIGHT FUCKING NOW.

Anyway, one thing I did point out in that review was that the sound had improved dramatically over their first release, the demo album This World Shall Pass Away. With that in mind, the appearance of any new Slaves material should be really exciting. And GUESS WHAT — today we have exactly that! Two new songs, to be exact, coupled with a pair from the band’s comrades from New York, Cousin Sleaze.

The four-song split is available as of today on CD (if you come to the bands’ joint release show TONIGHT at The Smiling Moose in Pittsburgh — see below for details), and the 7″ vinyl version (in three different colors) can be ordered now, and will be out in the very near future!

 
Continue reading →

Borracho – Mob Gathering 7″

Posted by valleyofsteel on

Borracho - Mob Gathering 7- - cover

 
It’s been nearly two years since Borracho, the heavy stoner-fuzz-rock band from Washington DC, graced the world with their debut album Splitting Sky. Since that LP was released (and subsequently landed on my Top 11 of 2011 list), there has also been a 7″ single (and video) for “Concentric Circles”, a video for “All in Play”, and a 10″ single for “Plunge/Return” (which was included in the digital and CD versions, but didn’t fit on the vinyl pressing of Splitting Sky).

Now, all that has been really cool, but we haven’t heard any NEW songs in a while! Well as it turns out, that’ll be changing soon, because in a few months the band will have a follow-up album out…

 

[In mid-February], we entered the studio to lay down brand new music for a proper follow-up release. We’ve reunited with Splitting Sky producer Frank Marchand at his brand new Hudson Street Sound studio in Annapolis MD. The as-yet untitled record will be co-released on limited edition 12″ vinyl by No Balls Records (Germany) and Ghost Highway Recordings (Spain) in June.

 
So that’s pretty exciting, huh? But that’s not even all of the good news I have for you! Although it’ll still be a few more months ’til we get some new material, right now you can get treated to some OLD stuff — plus select east-coast cities are due to be visited by the band this weekend!

 
Continue reading →

Dendritic Arbor – Sylvan Matriarch

Posted by valleyofsteel on

SylvanMatriarch

 

Dendritic Arbor – Sylvan Matriarch (self-released, 26 March 2013)

 
Good morning, folks! What’s new with you?? I have to tell you a story about what happened to me recently, but it’s a little bit embarassing…

So I’m sure you all remember Quercus, guitarist/vocalist for that band of black metal eco-terrorists Dendritic Arbor — he and I had a conversation about his band last month when they were performing at the Winter’s Wake pre-fest show (which you can read here). As you’ll recall, there was some discussion at that time about their forthcoming release Sylvan Matriarch…

Anyway, fast-forward to a couple days ago, and I got a message from Mr. Quercus, where he asked me whether I do album reviews on this website. Well. That was sort of a reality check for me — I know that I’ve been very preoccupied lately and have been writing very, very little. And what I have been posting recently has largely consisted of interviews, either conducted by myself or by someone else. But at that moment I realized, geez, you really couldn’t tell just by looking — unless you were to dig pretty deep — that reviewing music is sort of supposed to be the primary purpose of this website!

So I got my hands on a copy of Sylvan Matriarch, which is officially available today — it actually went up on Bandcamp yesterday, but tonight Dendritic Arbor will be playing a show to celebrate the release. I’ve got all the information you need about the album, the show, AND a special super-limited bundle were you can get a whole bunch of goodies for a really low price, IF you’re one of the first few people to jump on this deal!

 
Continue reading →

Vermithrax – Vol. 1 Sampler (FREE Download!)

Posted by valleyofsteel on

vermithrax-volume-1

 

Vermithrax – Vol. 1 Sampler (14 February 2013)

 
Hey! Remember back when I used to write about music? That was fun, I think I’m going to try it again.

So the Pittsburgh-based old-school thrash & NWOBHM-influenced band Vermithrax has some new material available for downloading and inserting into your ears. They announced this fact a couple weeks ago, but I was right in the middle of a million different things at that moment, so I grabbed myself a copy and planned to go back to it later.

Well, “later” ended up being just a few days ago, and now I’m kicking myself for not jumping on this sooner. If you’re already familiar with Vermithrax — perhaps from their appearance on the Innervenus free compilation Iron Atrocity Vol.2 (more info here) — then surely you understand.

If you haven’t heard that compilation yet, go download the damn thing already!! But in the meantime, here’s the Vermithrax song, “The Final Feast”:

 
Continue reading →

Winter’s Wake Winterview: Drones for Queens

Posted by valleyofsteel on

dfq-wa-cover

 
We’re drawing closer and closer to the Winter’s Wake 2013 Thursday Night Pre-fest Show! Here’s one more interview with a band that’s playing tonight!

I already wrote about this particular band a few months ago, but here’s the responses I got to some questions I asked Drones for Queens:

 
Continue reading →

Winter’s Wake Winterview: Dendritic Arbor

Posted by valleyofsteel on

dendritic-arbor-logo

 
The Winter’s Wake 2013 Thursday Night Pre-fest Show is coming up very soon! Here’s an interview with another band that’s playing tonight!

Once more, since there have been so many different bands to talk to, I’m keeping these relatively short and sweet. Hopefully there’ll be enough here for you (the reader) to get a bit of background info about each band, and you’ll get excited about getting to see every single one of them this weekend!

Below you will find the result of chatting with Quercus, guitarist/vocalist for the ecologically-minded harsh black metal band Dendritic Arbor…

 
Continue reading →

Winter’s Wake Winterview: Vit

Posted by valleyofsteel on

vit-tds-cover

 
Good morning readers, here’s another Winter’s Wake band interview I’d like to share with you!

Once again, with so many people to talk to, I tried to keep these short and sweet. Just long enough for you (the reader) to get a bit of a lesson about each band’s history, to learn a little about where they came from and what they’re doing now, so that you can be as excited about seeing all of them as I am!

This one comes from Vit percussionist JK.

 
Continue reading →

Winter’s Wake Winterview: The Gates of Slumber

Posted by valleyofsteel on

TGOS-COVER

 
Hey folks, how excited are you that Winter’s Wake is almost here??

I know I really am — there are so many bands I’m really excited about, some of which I’ve never seen before, some of which I’ve been a fan of for a long time, some of which I don’t know that much about yet, but there literally isn’t a single band that I’m not looking forward to checking out.

So when Jon Leone of Allure of the Earth Productions asked me if I’d mind doing an interview with each of the bands leading up to next weekend’s event, of course I jumped on the opportunity!

With so many people to talk to, I had to keep these kind of short and sweet — mostly enough for you (the reader) to get a sense of the band’s history, to learn a little about where they came from and what they’re doing now, so you can get excited about seeing all of them too!

Here is a conversation I had with Karl Simon of The Gates of Slumber…

 
Continue reading →