Author Archives: valleyofsteel

GUEST REVIEW: Grisly Amputation – Cannibalistic Tendencies

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Dear readers, as you should already know (because I just told you a couple weeks ago!), two Innervenus artists have CDs coming out tomorrow (Tuesday, 12 February 2013)! One of those is the death metal + grind unit called Grisly Amputation, with their debut full-length Cannibalistic Tendencies.

 
GrisAmp_CDcover

 
Considering my professional relationship with the band, as the record label’s PR representative, it didn’t seem appropriate for me to write a review of their album, because it wouldn’t seem objective or unbiased. So I found a neutral outside reviewer who was willing to write about the album and then let me publish it for him. He was a frequent contributor to the “Sign Me To Roadrunner Records” website when I used to spend a lot of time there, and his reviews were always very thoughtful and detailed. Plus, as a musician in a death metal band himself, I’d be inclined to say he’s even more qualified to discuss this album than I am…

 
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GUEST REVIEW: Lycosa – Self-Titled EP

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Dear readers, as you should already know (because I just told you a couple weeks ago!), two Innervenus artists have CDs coming out tomorrow (Tuesday, 12 February 2013)! One of those is the brutal death/thrash/groove/sludge conglomeration known as Lycosa, who will be putting out their debut, self-titled EP.

 
Lycosa_CDcover

 
Considering my professional relationship with the band, as the record label’s PR representative, it didn’t seem appropriate for me to write a review of their album, because it wouldn’t seem objective or unbiased. So I found a neutral outside reviewer who was willing to write about the album and then let me publish it for him. He was a frequent contributor to the “Sign Me To Roadrunner Records” website when I used to spend a lot of time there, and his reviews were always very thoughtful and detailed. So I asked if he’d be willing to discuss this EP, and he graciously agreed…

 
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The 3rd Annual Pittsburgh Rock Music Awards!

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Click for larger image

 

The 3rd Annual Pittsburgh Rock Music Awards!

Presented by Asperity Music Group

 

Friday, 08 February 2013 | Doors @ 6:30pm | All Ages

At Mr. Smalls Theatre

400 Lincoln Avenue, Millvale PA

 
Emceed by singer/entertainer Phat Man Dee
Featuring performances by Fist Fight in the Parking Lot, Dazzletine, and more!

 
Tickets are available here. For more details: http://www.facebook.com/events/409187592493385/.

 
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Crawl – Crawl Demo

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Crawl – Crawl Demo (self-released, 12 October 2012)

So who’s in the mood for some heavy doom with a nice dose of southern sludge??

Don’t bother answering that; it was a rhetorical question. Here we go…

There have been a few bands called Crawl over the years, but this one formed in Atlanta, in spring 2012. Most of what I hear coming out of Georgia nowadays is rather fuzzy and stonery; it’s clear these guys draw from SOME of the same influences as their fellow statesmen, but they also incorporate some darker elements of west coast doom and the weightiness of gulf coast sludge, for an amalgam that’s definitely worth checking out.

 
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Winter’s Wake 2013 Presented By Allure of the Earth

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AOTE

 
So all the final details for this year’s Winter’s Wake festival are finally here! The venues, scheduled bands, and ticketing information all have been announced, and I’ve collected all of it right here for you!

 

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Innervenus Music: Two New CDs Coming Next Month!

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Hello, friends. Regular visitors to this website have surely noticed that recently the volume of writing I am putting out there has significantly decreased. I apologize for that. But it hasn’t been the result of laziness, I assure you. I’ve been getting myself involved with a few other things — as I keep alluding to in several new posts over the past few weeks — and finally I want to let you know about one of those.

So, I have been asked to join the Pittsburgh-based record label The Innervenus Music Collective to help out with their PR and publicity. It’s a pretty exciting opportunty for me — first of all, as a writer I’ve been working with a variety of PR people and representatives from other labels, so I understand what’s involved, and it’s cool to be getting some experience from the other direction now. But even more than that, now I get to work directly with a group of people who do so much to support our local music scene — between planning shows and giving away the Iron Atrocity compilations, not to mention releasing albums from some really talented bands (Vulture, Invader, Fist Fight in the Parking Lot — just to name a few examples that I had written about last year)!

And so this new position has been using up a lot of my free time recently, mostly because we’re gearing up to put out two CDs in February: the debut full-length by grindcore/death dealers Grisly Amputation, and a self-titled EP by death-thrash-groove-sludge-core band Lycosa. I’ve been sending out promo materials to a whole slew of websites and magazines, so we should start seeing some reviews trickle in shortly, but I figure I wouldn’t really be doing my job (EITHER job – as a writer OR a publicist!) if I didn’t also inform you about the releases here on Valley of Steel!

 
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I Can Has Videos?

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VOStube

 
So here’s something pretty neat. I was playing with this over the weekend and announced it all over Facebook, but if you aren’t one of the select few that get to see my posts in your news feed — or even worse, if you somehow forgot to “like” my page in the first place! — I figure I ought to say something about it here, too.

So there’s officially a Valley of Steel Youtube channel now.

Here it is: http://www.youtube.com/user/valleyofsteelDOTnet/videos. There’s just a handful of videos there so far, but feel free to subscribe to it, because my plan is to continue adding performances from all the great bands and shows I’m constantly telling you about.

 
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Winter’s Wake Thursday Pre-Fest Show

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AOTE

*** NOTE: ALL THE FINAL DETAILS FOR THE WINTER’S WAKE FESTIVAL HAVE BEEN COLLECTED AT THIS LOCATION: https://valleyofsteel.net/2013/01/28/winters-wake-2013-presented-by-allure-of-the-earth/ ***

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So are you excited yet!?? The Winter’s Wake festival will be taking place in exactly ONE MONTH, right here in Pittsburgh!

Venue and ticket information will be released for the two-day show later this week. (I know, it seems like we’ve been waiting a long time for these details, but I’ve learned that the folks who run the production company sponsoring the event, Allure of the Earth, have been dealing with a sudden tragedy in their family — so I think we can certainly forgive a bit of a delay…)

Anyway, the full list of bands playing on Friday and Saturday (the 22nd-23rd of February) were announced last month, so really all we’re still waiting for is the exact schedule order for each day, as well as where and when we can get tickets…

…plus the details for the Thursday night show!
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Kongh: New Album Details + Pre-Orders Now Available

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sole-creation

 
Hello again, folks. You might not remember, but last summer I was happy to report that Kongh, Swedish titans of heavy doom, had signed a deal with Polish label Agonia Records — and especially excited about the news that the band was working on a new album, their third overall!

Well, I haven’t forgotten — I’ve been excited about that news in the several months since then, and I’m glad to say, my most-anticipated album of 2013 is finally almost here!

 
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Vesperia Now Have A New Guitarist; New Album On The Way Soon!

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Good afternoon, readers! I hope your day is going well. In my opinion, this Monday doesn’t seem to be coming to an end nearly quickly enough! All I’ve wanted to do all day is go back home and get back in bed. Oh well, only a couple more hours before I’m able to do that.

In the meantime, I’d like to share some news with you. It’s been a few months since we mentioned Vesperia — the Canadian black/folk/pagan metal band who used to be called Bolero — and as you might have guessed, they’ve been as busy as ever during that time!

Following the release of their first demo EP under their new band name, the re-release of their 2011 full-length album, and the announcement that they were searching for a new guitarist, it turns out that they now have filled that missing spot in their line-up, and have been spending this winter working on more new material!

 
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