Author Archives: valleyofsteel

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

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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…

 

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Congratulations: Kongh Signs to Agonia Records

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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…

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

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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.

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

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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)

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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.

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

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(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…

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

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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.

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

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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…

 
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).

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

Coming Soon: Krampus Reveal Title, Artwork, Release Date for Debut Full-length!

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Well, good morning!  I’m still half-asleep, or perhaps even less-than-half, but this little piece of news grabbed my attention anyway…

Italian folk-metal band Krampus, whom we’ve discussed in terms of their two EPs from 2011 (here and here), have been working on putting together their first LP.  Today they’ve unveiled the cover art (see above) as well as tracklist for the upcoming album!

Survival of the Fittest, which seems aptly named when you consider their typical subject matter of the eventual reassertion of nature’s dominance over humans and their technology, will be available on CD and digital download through NoiseArt Records on 24 August 2012.

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Free Music Alert: Grab a Free Track from Tribune’s Latest Release

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Hey there!  I’ve got good news for any fans of death metal or stoner metal, or especially, for those who like both genres equally!  British Columbians Tribune, whom I designated as “stoner/death metal” in my review of their recent double-EP album, Elder Lore/The Dark Arts, have announced that you can download one of the songs from that release for FREE!  Even better, the song in question (“Man on the Outside”) is one of the catchiest and most memorable — and in this reviewer’s opinion, one of the best — from the album.
 
  
 
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