Author Archives: valleyofsteel

The “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week: Amorphead

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Hello, and welcome to another installment of the “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week feature, which is a profile of a band I’ve discovered on the “Sign Me to Roadrunner Records” website.  As always, you’ll find a huge variety of material here; each week you’ll have the opportunity to listen to a few songs from a different band you might never have heard before.  My hope is, you might find something you really dig, and then when they explode in popularity and sell a million records, you can scoff at all the bandwagon-jumpers, saying you’ve been a fan since the beginning.

Today’s featured artist is Amorphead, who describe themselves as “melodic death and groove metal,” from Catanzaro, Italy.  Since forming in 2007, the band has toured all over Europe, “meeting the approval of the public,” and they have had two releases so far: an EP entitled Psychotic in mid-2009, followed by Chaos Expression which emerged on 3 March 2011.  The two songs we’ll talk about today were taken from that second EP.

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Get ’em While They’re Hot: Kosher Komp Vol. 2 Now Available!

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Hey folks, just a quick heads-up about a huge FREE metal compilation that was just released by the folks at Kosher Metal.  They are an internet radio station that plays nothing but metal music.  In case you are wondering about the name, there are multiple meanings of the word; in this case, I’m pretty sure they are referring to metal that has been brined with large quantities of garlic.  Or you can read their explanation here.

Anyway, here’s the official trailer for the compilation, and further down you can see more information, including where to download it, and all that fun stuff.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXq_mYbXcIQ

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Out Tomorrow: Kruds/Rampant Decay – Split 7″

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Kruds/Rampant Decay – Split 7″ (3 February 2012, PATAC Records)

Particularly observant readers may have noticed a slight change to the layout of the blog this week.  For those of you who read the mobile version, or get updates by email or RSS, or those who have just discovered the Valley, I’ll give you a hint.  For the first time ever in the extensive (coming up on four months soon!) history of the VoS, I’ve added an advertisement to the sidebar of the page.  Now, before you all panic, or start writing me scathing emails about how I’ve sold out or whatever, let me explain.  First of all, in order to sell out, I’m pretty sure technically you have to be making some money — and I hardly have the volume of traffic where that would be very plausible.  No, I’ve basically just put in a link to PATAC Records because it’s good to support small, independant companies, and in particular I have a lot of respect for their business model.  Essentially, it works like this: all of their releases are available for you to listen to or download for free (or for whatever price you think they are worth), and when you find something you really like, you can buy it on CD or vinyl (or grab one of the bands’ t-shirts or whatever).  Simple, but effective.

So anyway, the point of all of this is basically just to introduce the new release I am listening to today.  This 9-minute, 6-track split between Kruds of San Antonio, TX, and Rampant Decay from Providence, RI, has been available for streaming or downloading since 17 August 2011, but PATAC has announced that it will be available to purchase on 7″ record starting tomorrow (3 February 2012).  See below for how to grab the free download, but this one’s already worth the purchase price of the physical copy just for that awesome cover art of a hippie getting scalped by a machete, amirite??

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Upcoming Shows: GHOST, Mastodon, Opeth

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This news update is brought to you today by the department of IT’S ABOUT DAMN TIME!

So you might remember a while back when I was whining about the fact that Ghost, having recently cancelled a U.S. tour, announced that they’d be returning to this country, and hitting several major cities but none that are near me.

Then I proceeded to whine some more, at every opportunity I could.  Mostly on Facebook.  Especially when some jerk a highly-esteemed fellow blogger bragged about seeing the show up in his corner of the country.  Well, obviously the band have been paying attention and they got sick and tired of my nonstop whining.  Because lo and behold, yesterday they put out an official announcement:

Children of America,

As whispered about these last weeks, we are in fact returning to haunt your vast lands again in April and May, together with Mastodon and Opeth.
Go to http://ghost-official.com/ to see the dates

Malicious wishes

/Papa Emeritus 1 and his Nameless Ghouls

The news gets better, because this tour is making a stop in Pittsburgh — on 15 April at Stage AE.  It appears that Mastodon and Opeth are alternating dates for headlining, and on this particular date it seems that Mastodon will be the one on top.  Not that it matters, because I wouldn’t mind seeing either one of them.  Hit the link above to see the full list, or just check it out right here, beyond the jump.

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Just Released: Mondvolland – Pestvogel

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Mondvolland – Pestvogel EP (Self-released, 28 January 2012)

I’ve learned that internet radio can really be a blessing during a long, boring day at work. There are stations out there that specialize in literally any genre or style you can imagine. I can usually find one that suits whatever mood I’m in on any given day, and as an added bonus, I often end up discovering new bands I never heard before. Whenever I hear a song I really like, I usually stop what I’m doing to search for that band on Facebook so I can “like” them and then keep informed about what they’re up to.

This is how I came across a band called Mondvolland; once upon a time I was in a folk-metal mood (when this happens, Warrior Radio is usually my drug of choice), and I heard some excellent quality blackened folk, which turned out to be by this Dutch group.

Fast-forward to December, and I started seeing updates from the band about some new material they were recording. I asked them at that time to please let me know when they had anything finished, because I was anxious to hear it. Well as it turns out, I didn’t have to wait long, because this week I got an email from bassist/vocalist/co-founder Mickeal who told me they had just put out a press release: to give fans a taste of the new direction the band are taking, they decided to release a 3-song EP to download for free!

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The “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week: Victorian

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Hello, and welcome to another installment of the “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week feature, where I post a profile of a band I’ve discovered on the “Sign Me to Roadrunner Records” website.  As always, the material here may be of varying quality, but each week you’ll have the opportunity to listen to music from a  different band; my hope is, maybe you’ll find something you really dig.  Then one day, when they explode in popularity and sell a million records, you can scoff at all the bandwagon-jumpers, saying you’ve been a fan since their first demo recording or whatever.

Today’s featured artist is Victorian, a symphonic/gothic metal band from Indonesia.  As I understand it, they have been around since January 2008, and started out with only male vocals.  After some lineup changes and about a year of inactivity, the band was reignited in mid-2010, deciding to instead feature a female vocalist.  Their first demo single “Beginning of Sorrow” was released in early 2011, and the band has stated that they are hoping to expand their reach beyond their hometown of Bandung (West Java), especially using the internet as a means of promotion “with hope of acceptance from the metal lovers in Indonesia and abroad.”  I first heard these guys in early 2011 and fell in love with that first single.  Then, they contacted me in September saying they had added a second single, called “Weak” and they were looking for some opinions.  After the jump I’ll tell you more about these two songs and you’ll get a chance to discover them for yourself.

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6 FREE CDs… It’s a Doom Metal Extravaganza! Enter to Win Now!

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Enter to WIN 6 Free Doom Metal CDs

 Brought to you by our friends at Metal Maniacs and Metalhit.com…

  • The Howling Void – Megaliths of the Abyss
  • DOOM:Vs – Aeternum Vale
  • DOOM:Vs – Dead Words Speak
  • Celestial Season – Forever Scarlet Passion
  • Remembrance – Fall, Obsidian Night
  • Saturnus – Veronika Decides to Die

All it takes is your name, email address, and mailing address, that’s it… good luck!!

If you win, let me know, or maybe you could show your appreciation by sending me half!

Upcoming Shows: GWAR, Dying Fetus, Behemoth

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Well, folks, here’s a pretty cool surprise that showed up in my inbox this weekend. I get updates at least once a week from Pittsburgh-based promoters Opus One Productions, but since they deal in events that range literally all across the musical spectrum, the majority of the information they contain usually is not of any interest to me. This time, however, the update pertains exclusively to metal shows, and (as you can tell from that headline) it includes some pretty huge names in the metal world, all coming to Pittsburgh!

All three shows — a co-headline of Dying Fetus and The Faceless in early March, GWAR on Saint Patrick’s Day, and Behemoth in mid-April — are taking place at Mr. Small’s Theatre in Millvale (just a few miles northeast of the city on Rt. 28). If you haven’t been there before, I’d highly recommend catching a show there. It has been converted from an old church, and has a lot of the original architectural features including a real high cathedral ceiling; I don’t know if that’s the reason why, but in any case, the place has pretty great acoustics. Plus, it’s got a pretty intimate feel to it (only holds a few hundred people) but at the same time it’s big enough that you usually don’t feel too claustrophobic (for all-ages or 18+ shows, there is a wooden half-wall barrier that separates the bar from the rest of the floor area; I usually end up hanging out behind here, since you can get a great view of the stage but it’s usually not too crowded).

After the jump, catch all the details of the events. If you aren’t local to Pittsburgh, take heart in knowing that all of these great bands are currently touring the U.S.; check out their Facebook pages or websites (most of which are linked in the information below) to find the full tourdates and see if there is also a show in your area. If you live outside the U.S., then piss off! You surely have awesome tours and festivals in your area all the time! Let me savor the thought of having these few visit my city, this time.

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Just Released: Nephelium Offering First Single from Upcoming Album for Free Download

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Brutal death metal band Nephelium formed more than ten years ago in Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Although they have long since relocated to Canada, they never left their roots far behind, as is apparent from the music they create, which blends technical death metal with exotic Middle Eastern melodies and flavors. Their debut LP Coils of Entropy is scheduled to be self-released in just over a week (7 February 2012), but as an appetizer they have served up samples of all the songs, including one full song you can download for free!

 

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Congratulations: Code Orange Kids Sign with Deathwish Inc.

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Some more big news out of the Pittsburgh music scene exploded onto the internet yesterday, as Deathwish Inc. announced its signing of local hardcore up-and-comers Code Orange Kids.

Code Orange Kids join the DW Family, on tour now, new album later in 2012
Deathwish are proud to welcome Code Orange Kids to our affiliated family.

Fresh out of high school and with an average age of 18 years old, Pennsylvania’s Code Orange Kids remind us off our own embryonic days in the aggressive music scene. They do things their way, creatively cutting their own path through it all. Unconcerned with the direction of other artists, their brand of gritty hardcore/punk is simply refreshing to hear. Merging cryptic melody, dirty hardcore power, and intense dirges into their own uniquely inspired sound.

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