Monthly Archives: June 2012

In Memoriam: Woods of Ypres Merchandise Available to Benefit Family of David Gold

Posted by valleyofsteel on

 
The following information comes from Clawhammer PR:

On Dec 21, 2011, there was a shock wave felt around the world when David Gold of Ontario’s Woods of Ypres died on Highway 400. In loving memory of this immensely talented artist and beautiful human being, the family of David Gold has made available a range of merchandise bundles at this location.

Paypal information is included, so please make a purchase in memory of the man that meant so much to so many with his creative, emotionally deep contribution to music. All proceeds from the sales are used to cover funeral costs and other expenses resulting from David’s death.

David’s mother Esther Gold wrote about her son in her e-mail to us and we are honored to assist in spreading the word.
Continue reading →

In Case You Missed It: Stangala – Boued Tousek Hag Trau Mat All

Posted by valleyofsteel on

 

Stangala – Boued Tousek Hag Traou Mat All (05 December 2011, Solitude Productions)

 
Good afternoon, Readers. How are you? This day has been dragging on forever, and I’m so glad it’s finally ending! There seems to be no amount of coffee sufficient to keep me alert today — no matter what I do, I feel like I’m stuck in slow motion and surrounded by fog. This morning I was feeling pretty terrible but then I took some allergy pills, and now I’m feeling… nothing. Just sort of dazed. Which would be totally fine if I didn’t have to be at work, and even then it might not be so bad if my job didn’t revolve around numbers and thinking and stuff. Times like this, I feel pretty nervous to come back the next day, because I’m always afraid I’ll hear about some big mistake I made where, like, I forgot how to add and I ended up being off by a million dollars someplace, or that I totally zoned out and missed a step, and some important thing didn’t get paid on-time or whatever.

Ugh, it would totally hurt my head just thinking about it, except for the fact that at the moment I am more or less incapable of feeling any pain. So, nevermind.

Do you ever have days like this? It’s actually not so bad, like being all cozy inside a drug-induced cloud. Of course, in this particular instance, those drugs are ones that were legally purchased from a pharmacy (actually I think they’re even Wal-Mart brand, how stupid is that), but, whatever. This afternoon I’ve been listening to some equally tripped-out, hazy, cloudy music, and I thought just maybe you’d like it if I shared it with you — keep on reading and then give it a listen; maybe you won’t even need any chemical substances to feel like you’re in an altered state!

Continue reading →

Free Music Alert: Now You Can Download Vesperia’s Whole Demo for FREE

Posted by valleyofsteel on

Vesperia – The Swordsman Demo (Self-released, 01 May 2012)

 
Ladies and Gentlemen, if you’ve been paying attention to this blog over the past month, you’ve seen the name Vesperia a few times. That’s because this newly-renamed band has put together a brand-new demo to reintroduce themselves to the world, and each week throughout the month of May, they released a new track for free.

Well, now that they’ve all been made available, the whole four-track package can now be downloaded for free (or any price you choose), for your convenience. There’s also more stuff on the horizon for these guys — including a newly-added tour date and an upcoming live DVD!

So I’ve taken this opportunity to collect all the information I’ve previously shared about the band, combined it with the new stuff, and while I’m at it, I’ll say a few words about the music contained in the demo. Which, again, you can go download for free. Ready? Here we go…

 

Continue reading →

Congratulations: Kongh Signs to Agonia Records

Posted by valleyofsteel on

image

Although I only discovered them about a year ago, Sweden’s Kongh quickly became one of my favorite new bands.  Their brutally heavy, almost aggravatingly slow, brand of sludgey, droney post-doom really resonated with me from the first time I heard a track from their 2007 debut Counting Heartbeats.  Sadly, as much as I love that album (it can be streamed/downloaded on Bandcamp), I haven’t seen it available on CD anywhere.

However, I did snatch up a copy of its follow-up, 2009’s Shadows of the Shapeless, which was released in North America through Seventh Rule Recordings, as soon as I saw it at my local record store.  That’s an incredible album as well, so I am beyond excited to learn that they are nearly ready to begin recording a third album!

That announcement came yesterday (Wednesday, 13 June) morning, along with information about the band’s new record deal…

Continue reading →

In Case You Missed It: Greed & Rapacity – Loki Bound

Posted by valleyofsteel on

 

Greed & Rapacity – Loki Bound (9 April 2012, Milam Records)

 
Good afternoon, Readers! Time for another album review. It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these things; I hope I remember how…

 
With its roots in Australian soil, but being a collaborative effort between members (who are also involved with various other projects, including Azoth, Bleakwood, and Ironwood) living in both Sydney (NSW, AU) and Portland (OR, US) Greed & Rapacity have the goal of “channeling and venting the worst of human nature in sonic form” — not surprising, considering they have deadly sins as namesakes.

Following a demo in 2010, this spring the band’s debut EP Loki Bound was released on cassette by Milam Records (although it’s also available as a digital download, so don’t worry if you never bothered to get a new tape player after the batteries leaked and corroded your Walkman’s innards fifteen or twenty years ago).

The album was named for the god of chaos in Norse mythology, who was bound by the other deities for his mischievous crimes, and had a serpent suspended above him, from which venom would occasionally drip onto the captive, causing him to writhe in pain and agony.

Continue reading →

Upcoming Shows: What To Do In Pittsburgh TONIGHT (13 June 2012)

Posted by valleyofsteel on

EARTHRIDE featuring Vulture and Molasses Barge

at the 31st Street Pub

3101 Penn Ave., Pittsburgh (@ 31st St. Bridge)

 

9pm | 21+ only | $5

For well over a decade now, the mighty Earthride have been making quite a name for themselves in the world of doom metal — no small feat in the over-crowded Maryland scene. Their last album, 2010’s Something Wicked, was an absolute masterpiece, and they haven’t shown any signs of slowing down anytime soon…

     More Earthride info: Facebook, Myspace, Southern Lord (label)

Our neighbors from the south will be paying a visit to our fair city this evening, appearing alongside two of the best local acts in the sludge/doom milieu, Vulture and Molasses Barge!

     More Vulture info: website, Facebook, Innervenus (label)
PLUS, read the Valley of Steel review of their full-length debut Oblivious to Ruin here.

     More Molasses Barge info: Facebook, Myspace, Innervenus (label)
ALSO, I wrote up a quasi-review of one of the Barge’s shows here,
AND, check out this really cool interview with guitarist Justin Gizzi (courtesy Hellride Music) here!

     For further details about the show: see the Facebook event pages here and here, and the 31st Street Pub Facebook page here.

Upcoming Shows: What To Do In Pittsburgh This Weekend (08-11 June 2012)

Posted by valleyofsteel on

Hey, Pittsburgh-area friends.  Here is your weekly digest of shows and events that are happening in town.  There are some good ones coming up over the next few days, so listen up.

As always, a reminder: I can only write about what I know about — so if you work for a local promotion company, a venue, or a band, please be sure to get in touch with me with anything you want to share.

Continue reading →

Now Hear This: A Brand New Song by Moths (FREE Download!)

Posted by valleyofsteel on

(Click for larger size)


 

Moths – Horsebreaker single (06 June 2012, Self-released)

 
As a music blogwriter based in the Pittsburgh area, I feel like it’s my obligation to keep myself relatively informed in terms of what’s happening in the local scene, and then to spread this information to you, the loyal reader, whether you live near here or on the other side of the world. It’s a pretty big job, but I really do try to stay on top of things.

Sometimes I need a little bit of help, though. In one particular case, I had to discover a pretty amazing local band when their 2011 demo tape was featured on another (non-local) blog. That was The Number of the Blog, and I’d you link to the original post, but several months ago TNOTB went off to live on a farm somewhere with lots of land where it could run around with other blogs and be happy and free…

However, the band — Moths — is still alive and well; that two-track demo still features some excellent tech-metal drumming and guitarring as well as nicely-done death-metal vocalling, AND it’s still available for free download (stay tuned till the end of this post); and in fact, just yesterday they released a brand new song that you won’t want to miss…

 
Continue reading →

Somebody Please Tell Me: Where Can I Hear More “Gipsy Punk Rock”?

Posted by valleyofsteel on

Hello, ladies and gentlemen. I’m going to share some more new music with you, but first somebody out there has to promise to answer the question in the title of this post. Deal? Okay, good.

 

 
So our good friend Mihai, who is a guitarist/keyboardist/songwriter for Dirty Shirt (more about that band here), also has a solo career (using the name M.T.) as a remix artist. Now, I know what many of you are probably thinking: a “remix” just means taking a song and adding some kind of techno dance beat behind it, right? Well, a lot of the time that’s true, unfortunately, and admittedly there really isn’t much artistry involved there. However, the work that M.T. does is more like re-composition, because he generally takes the original vocal part, but very little else from the actual song; instead, adding instruments and sounds of his own.

Anyway, earlier this week I learned that he had taken a number of these creations and compiled them into a digital album called Rock RMX Collection. Due to legal complications (with the various copyrights on the original source material) this release will not be made available to download or to purchase in any format, but it’s out there in cyberspace for you to listen to, if you choose to do so.

 
Continue reading →

More News About Upcoming Releases: Video Teaser for New TrollfesT Album

Posted by valleyofsteel on

image

 
Good morning again, Readers! We’ve already had some great news today involving details of an album due out via Noise Art Records this August, but there’s another exciting release scheduled for around that same time, on that same record label!

If you recall, about two months ago we learned the title, tracklist, and the narrative behind TrollfesT‘s forthcoming fifth album Brumlebassen, and at the same time we were treated to a glimpse of the cover art (reproduced at the top of this page).

 
Well, now there’s more treats for your eyes and ears! The band has put together the following video teaser, which contains a large dose of nature scenes, hiking, and picnic lunches, though a very small amount of either metal music or information about the actual album…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w-EXKg6KDjM

 
Coincidentally, following the release of this album, TrollfesT will also be taking part in the Heidenfest tour across Europe, alongside Korpiklaani and Wintersun, as well as Krampus (as reported earlier today).

 
—————————————————–
TrollfesT: Website, Facebook, Myspace, Reverbnation, Soundcloud, Webstore