Category Archives: Free Stuff

Fister / Teeth Split; Fister / Dopethrone Split (2016)

Posted by valleyofsteel on

a2106076997_10

Fister / Teeth – Split (Broken Limbs Recordings, 29 April 2016)

 

cover

Fister / Dopethrone – Split (Riff Dealer Records, 11 May 2016)

 

It’s Monday and I’m tired and crabby and I don’t really want to be here and I just want to punch everything and everyone right in the damn face. It probably wouldn’t be advisable to do so, because there’s a good chance I’d end up losing my job — and despite what you might think based on how much bitching and complaining I do, that would probably not be a good thing. So as per usual, I’m stuck keeping all that annoyance and rage bottled up inside, with no real outlet through which to channel it. The best I can do is try to calm my nerves by grabbing a pair of headphones and blocking the whole world out with something loud and angry and particularly ugly. In fact, looking ahead at the schedule for the rest of this week, #SpoilerAlert, there’s going to be a lot of angry and ugly going on. So stay tuned for that.

To start off the week, we’re going to visit with St. Louis ultra-doom trio Fister. It’s been nearly three years since I wrote about their Gemini album on the day they were coming here to Pittsburgh with their friends and neighbors The Lion’s Daughter. At that time I had mentioned that there was quite a bit of stuff in the Fister discography, including a split record with The Lion’s Daughter, and that I had chosen to listen to Gemini (and share it with you folks) simply because it had been their most recent release at the time. Well those guys have continued to be pretty active since then, both touring and recording, and I figured it’s about time we checked back with them.

In particular, I thought we could take some time to check out a couple more records that have come out over the past two months. (There’s much more out there on Bandcamp, if you’re curious, but for practical reasons I had to limit myself to two releases to discuss today.) The first will be a split 7″ with Teeth from California, and the other is a split with Dopethrone from Montréal.

 

Continue reading →

Win FREE Tickets for BIG BUSINESS in Pittsburgh!!

Posted by valleyofsteel on

13243809_10154062313963654_4294124797959632991_o

 

Opus One Productions Presents:

Big Business

with Andy the Doorbum

Sunday 10 July 2016

at Club Cafe, 58 S. 12th St., Pittsburgh (South Side) PA 15203

21+ ONLY, 8:00 show / 7:00 doors, $12 adv. / $14 day of

 

Tickets are on sale NOW at Ticketweb… OR you can WIN a pair of tickets FREE, courtesy of Opus One Productions and Valley of Steel! Keep on reading to find out how (and while you’re at it, don’t forget about our other contests we are currently running!) …

 

Continue reading →

Win FREE Tickets for DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT / PRIMITIVE MAN / CULT LEADER in Pittsburgh!!

Posted by valleyofsteel on

12742341_952371618165453_4936385886084288199_n

 

Steel Bridge Promotions Presents:

Dragged into Sunlight / Primitive Man / Cult Leader / Wilt

featuring Slaves BC & Pregnant Nun

Monday 04 July 2016

at The Mr. Roboto Project, 5106 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh 15224

ALL AGES, 7:00 pm (doors 6:30), $10

http://www.facebook.com/events/935142499872537/
 

After a long holiday weekend full of fireworks and partying (and, perhaps, checking out a bunch of bands Sunday night), surely the last thing anyone needs would be ANOTHER show Monday night — when all of us will already have a tough enough time dragging ourselves back to work the next morning as it is. Especially one that features a whopping THREE FOUR(!!) co-headliners (any one of which would be a huge deal if they came to town on their own) who are pretty much guaranteed to smash your brains to bits. And when you throw in two perennial local favorites, plus a special holiday menu of vegetarian fare available from Onion Maiden? Yeah.

Anyway, so Steel Bridge Promotions are bringing all of that to you on Independence Day, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this ends up with buildings exploding just like in the movie of the same name. This will surely be a spectacle not to be missed. Pre-sale tickets are available right now at their Big Cartel page… but for the next two weeks, you can WIN a pair of tickets for FREE, courtesy of Steel Bridge Promotions and Valley of Steel! Keep on reading to learn more…

 
Continue reading →

Win FREE Tickets for OF FEATHER AND BONE in Pittsburgh!!

Posted by valleyofsteel on

13405716_707868615982591_1832975836_o

 

Steel Bridge Promotions Presents:

Of Feather and Bone (Denver, CO)

featuring Steel City Firm (Pittsburgh, PA), Separated (Long Island, NY), Vein (Boston, MA), and High Water (York, PA)

Sunday 03 July 2016

at The Mr. Roboto Project, 5106 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh 15224

ALL AGES, 7:00 pm, $8

http://www.facebook.com/events/1735783396703078/
 

Well, Steel Bridge has done it again — assembled quite a conglomeration of a line-up, a hodgepodge of hardcore and metal, made up of regional and national bands, and presented to you for one low price (only $1.60 per band!). Pre-sale tickets are available right now at their Big Cartel page… but for the next two weeks, you can WIN a pair of tickets for FREE, courtesy of Steel Bridge Promotions and Valley of Steel! Keep on reading to learn more…

 
Continue reading →

FREE SLEEP TICKETS FOR SOLD-OUT PITTSBURGH SHOW. THIS IS NOT A JOKE.

Posted by valleyofsteel on

12768266_10153600891832779_1031334889572961925_o

 

Opus One Productions Presents:

Sleep

featuring Windhand

Wednesday 22 June 2016

at Mr. Smalls Theatre, 400 Lincoln Ave. Pittsburgh (Millvale) PA 15209

ALL AGES, 8:00 show / 7:00 doors

 

As you are all surely aware, tickets for this show have been completely sold out for MONTHS. Since basically like twenty minutes after they went on sale. But as a special treat for our loyal readers, we have a pair of tickets to give away for FREE, thanks to the nice people at Opus One Productions.

 
Continue reading →

Giant of the Mountain – Moon Worship (2014), The Empty Quarter (2016)

Posted by valleyofsteel on

cover

Giant of the Mountain – Moon Worship (self-released, 25 February 2014)

 

GOTM cover

Giant of the Mountain – The Empty Quarter (Burning Dogma Records, 27 May 2016)

 

Emerging from the Plano/Dallas region of northern Texas way back in 2008, the beast known as Giant of the Mountain was formed by guitarist/vocalist Cody Daniels along with Randi Matejowsky, who soon switched from guitar to drums. The pair worked with a series of different bassists as they unleashed a couple EPs and a full-length album over the next several years. By the band’s fifth anniversary in 2013, they had joined up with Alexander Salazar on bass and doubling as a second vocalist — and this is the line-up that remains intact to this day. This threesome recorded and released the album Moon Worship, a masterpiece of progressive-death insanity, a little over two years ago, and now they’re back with the brand-new EP The Empty Quarter which comes out at the end of this week. If you aren’t already on the GOTM bandwagon, keep on reading to find out what you’ve been missing!

 

Continue reading →

HATEBREED and DEVILDRIVER Coming to Pittsburgh — Win FREE Tickets!!

Posted by valleyofsteel on

12440695_10153506933272779_7463577996426593928_o

 

Opus One Productions Presents:

Hatebreed‘s Concrete Confessional Tour

featuring DevilDriver and Act of Defiance

Tuesday 07 June 2016

at Mr. Smalls Theatre, 400 Lincoln Ave. Pittsburgh (Millvale) PA 15209

ALL AGES, 8:00 show / 7:00 doors, $25

 

Tickets are on sale NOW at Ticketweb… OR you can WIN a pair of tickets FREE, courtesy of Opus One Productions and Valley of Steel! Keep on reading to find out how…

 

Continue reading →

Tombs & Hivelords On Tour / Win FREE Tickets For Pittsburgh Show!!

Posted by valleyofsteel on

wp-1462788958590.jpeg

 

Tombs and Hivelords Announce Spring Tour Dates

 

Hey folks! I’ve got some quick tour announcements to pass along to you… starting this weekend there will be a handful of northeastern U.S. dates featuring Philadelphia’s blackened experimentalists Hivelords (whom you may remember from our review of their 2013 album Cavern Apothecary) and Brooklyn’s post-black luminaries Tombs (whom we’ve mentioned before — nearly four years ago — when they came to Pittsburgh with 16 and we did an interview with the drummers of local openers Molasses Barge and Vulture).

Since then, both bands have undergone line-up changes — Hivelords now features two new guitarists (including Evan Void, formerly half of that band’s frequent tourmates Sadgiqacea), and Tombs has replaced some of its members on at least two occasions (also, coincidentally, including new guitarist Evan Void) resulting in essentially a wholesale overhaul for that band.

They’ve both also put out new material with their respective new line-ups: Hivelords‘ album Tapered Limbs of a Human Star came out in 2015 via Anthropic Records, while Relapse Records released Tombs‘ new EP All Empires Fall in early April this year.

And now, these two bands will be performing together on a series of dates, the details of which will be shared with you as you continue reading below. Further down, we’re also including the remainder of Hivelords‘ currently announced dates through mid-summer; and finally, details specific to both bands’ stop in Pittsburgh next Saturday, including your chance to WIN FREE TICKETS to that show!

 

Continue reading →

Anopheli – The Ache of Want (2015), Akem Manah – Demons of the Sabbat (2016)

Posted by valleyofsteel on

a3949128027_10

Anopheli – The Ache of Want (Halo of Flies, 15 December 2015)

 

Demons Of The Sabbat cover

Akem Manah – Demons of the Sabbat (Possession Productions, 11 January 2016)

 

Well folks, it seemed like it would never get here, but finally it’s Friday and nearly the end of the week! I don’t know about you, but I am fully ready to just go and hibernate for two entire days. (Of course, I won’t, because it seems like every spare minute I get outside of work is always filled by repairing something in our house or car, sometimes both at the same time — but just let me have this moment to daydream, ok?) Before I do that, I’ll leave you with one more article about some music you just might want to check out.

I’ve got two different albums to share with you, actually — one is kind of an atmospheric blackened crust style, and the other is more of an old-school death-doom. Both of these were released within the past several months, and both are free to download, so keep on reading and hopefully you’ll find at least one of these to your liking!

 

Continue reading →

Nekrogoblikon – Power (2013), Dethlehem – Destroyers of the Realm (2015)

Posted by valleyofsteel on

POWERLowRes

Nekrogoblikon – Power (self-released, 27 August 2013)

 

cover

Dethlehem – Destroyers of the Realm (self-released, 06 January 2015)

 

Hey, folks. Today’s theme is going to be fantasy-RPG-inspired metal. I know that sounds oddly specific, but there are a couple bands in that realm I’d like to discuss, and they both just happen to be playing a show together later this week. First, Californian horde Nekrogoblikon, as you may have guessed, write songs that are based on goblins — those devilish inhabitants of folklore, who in this instance resemble the nasty green creatures of Warhammer and later fantasy games, more so than the bumbling little muppets from Labyrinth, for example. The band has been around for a few years — the EP I’ll soon talk about was released nearly three years ago, in fact — but since they’re currently on a raid across the country, it seemed like as good of a time as any to share their music with you today. Nekrogoblikon‘s tour will be storming through Pittsburgh in just a few days (accompanied by Urizen from Fort Worth), and when it does, rest assured that a ragtag band of local heroes will be ready for them.

Regular readers of this website are already familiar with Pittsburgh’s own Dethlehem, perhaps from the time we did an interview with them, or from any number of other times the band has been mentioned here. For those who somehow managed to miss out on these guys previously, imagine a group of musicians who have gathered together in precisely the way a typical Dungeons & Dragons adventuring party would: someone who has good fighting skills, someone who knows magic, people who can specialize in lead guitar or rhythm guitar or bass guitar, someone who is good at sneaking around quietly and gathering information or stealing things, folks with vocal skills and drumming know-how, and so on. Basically, a group of people whose strengths and weaknesses can complement each other, and who can work together harmoniously.

 

Continue reading →