Category Archives: New Releases

Heathen Beast – Rise of the Saffron Empire; MAKE – Pilgrimage of Loathing (2016)

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Heathen Beast – Rise of the Saffron Empire (Transcending Obscurity Distribution, 25 April 2016)

 

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MAKE – Pilgrimage of Loathing (Accident Prone Records, 15 July 2016)

 

It’s pretty much a universal truth that there are terrible people and terrible situations everywhere in the world, often when it comes to people who have power and influence over other people and the ability to make decisions about the laws and how the public is governed. This has been a societal problem for as long as society has existed, and people have always tried to find ways to protest or fight back. Back in olden times, folks like Woody Guthrie or Peter, Paul and Mary would sit around, holding hands, and singing about how the times were a-changin’. But since then, the times have a-changed; from MC5 to Public Enemy to Rage Against the Machine protest songs have increasingly shifted from blowin’ in the wind to fighting the powers that be.

To illustrate that concept, today we’re going to take a look at new or recent releases by two bands from different sides of the world, which nevertheless seem to share a similar ideology.

 

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Battle Path – Ambedo (2015-16); Hollow Leg – Crown (2016)

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Battle Path – Ambedo (digital+vinyl Inherent Records / Crimson Eye Records, 09 November 2015; cassette Wood and Stone Productions, 24 June 2016)

 

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Hollow Leg – Crown (Argonauta Records, 04 March 2016 EU / 24 June 2016 NA)

 

Well good morning, readers, and a happy Tuesday to you all. I’m finally back after taking an extra week off from writing — partly to recover from the Independence Day holiday weekend (and that Primitive Man show last Monday night!) and partly because of me being so overloaded at my day job. But as always, there’s tons of stuff to tell you about — both old and new — so here we go again. Today we’ll be taking a look at albums by two different bands from the southeastern United States, Battle Path from Murfreesboro and Hollow Leg from Jacksonville. Each of these albums originally came out a little while ago (Ambedo back in November and Crown in March), but they both just got reissued near the end of last month (the former has now come out on cassette, while following a European release the latter is now also available domestically).

 

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

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

 

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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.

 

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Pilgrim – II: Void Worship (2014); Blizaro – Cornucopia della Morte (2016)

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Pilgrim – II: Void Worship (Metal Blade Records, 01 April 2014)

 

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Blizaro – Cornucopia della Morte (I, Voidhanger Records, 15 April 2016)

 

Hey! Did you enjoy Monday’s post about old-school occult/doom metal? I hope you did, because [[SPOILER ALERT]] there’s plenty more where that came from. Today we’ll be taking a look at another pair of bands who fit that description: Pilgrim and Blizaro.

As it turns out, each of these bands will be joining together with Castle on a handful of their upcoming tour dates (which we had discussed yesterday); one of the shows Blizaro is scheduled to play (July 31st in Pittsburgh) also will feature Brimstone Coven; a few lucky people will get the chance to see both Blizaro AND Pilgrim together. Further details about all this will be tucked into the comment section below, so be sure to check that out. But first, let’s talk about some music …

 

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Brimstone Coven – Self-titled (2014); Castle – Welcome to the Graveyard (2016)

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Brimstone Coven – Brimstone Coven (Metal Blade Records, 05 August 2014)

 

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Castle – Welcome to the Graveyard (Ván Records, 15 July 2016)

 

Good afternoon, all you fine people visiting the Valley. Things have gotten a little bit hectic around here recently — I’ll never understand what it is that makes people want to go on vacation in the summertime when it’s so gross and hot and humid outside. Given the choice, I’d rather sit in an air-conditioned office all day, and save days off for later when I really don’t feel like going. Not that much writing happens while I’m at work anyhow, I’m plenty busy enough doing my actual job, but I usually at least can spend the day listening to stuff, and jotting down some little notes that I can turn into a full article or review later. But sometimes lately I haven’t had much chance to even think, let alone formulate coherent sentences.

But as always, there’s tons of stuff happening in the music world, new releases to tell you about, older stuff that you may have missed but really deserves your attention, tours kicking off that just might be coming through your city. And this will be a blend of all of those things: one band whose new album comes out next month, and who started a tour (that will last pretty much all summer long!) just last week; another band who released an excellent album two years ago but somehow we never got around to sharing it with you, and who will be joining the first band for a handful of those shows in a few weeks. So keep on reading, you’ll hear some great music, and the full set of dates for each band will be listed down below in the comments …

 

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

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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…

 
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Infernäl Mäjesty – Nigrescent Years of Chaos; Deceased – Fearless Undead Machines (2016)

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Infernäl Mäjesty – Nigrescent Years of Chaos (Vic Records, 25 April 2016)

 

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Deceased – Fearless Undead Machines (Transcending Obscurity Classics, 10 June 2016)

 

All right, people. Today we’re going to kick it old school.

Please accept my apologies for such a lame introduction, but honestly it’s all I have the energy for right now. After a busy weekend that was capped off with watching the Penguins seal a Stanley Cup victory late last night, I barely managed about three hours of sleep.

So anyway, here’s what I’ve got for you: a pair of newly reissued classics by two bands who — while I definitely wouldn’t call either of them unknown or obscure — have never seemed to achieve the level of recognition that they each seem to deserve …

 

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High Fighter – The Goat Ritual (2014), Scars & Crosses (2016); Zirakzigil – World Builder (2016)

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EP Cover Artwork + by Dominic Sohor Design

High Fighter – The Goat Ritual (self-released, 28 October 2014)

 

High Fighter 'Scars & Crosses' Album Front Cover_ By Dominic Sohor

High Fighter – Scars & Crosses (Svart Records, 10 June 2016)

 

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Zirakzigil – World Builder (Prosthetic Records, 10 June 2016)

 

Hey folks, how are you? Thanks for stopping by. Are you ready for another dose of good stuff to listen to? I hope so, because once again I’ve got some here to share with you today.

Both of the bands we’ll be discussing today will have an album released on Friday: High Fighter from Hamburg, Germany, will see their first full-length put out by Svart Records, which we’ll talk about in addition to that band’s debut EP that was self-released a while back; Zirakzigil from Portland, Oregon, also have their first LP forthcoming, one which was originally released by the band last year but is now being repackaged (and etched onto vinyl for the first time) by Prosthetic Records.

 

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Auriga – VII Dimensions of Asymmetry; Astral Path – An Oath to the Void (2016)

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Auriga – VII – Dimensions of Asymmetry (Avantgarde Music, 19 January 2016)

 

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Astral Path – An Oath to the Void (Avantgarde Music, 15 April 2016)

 

On the way down the street to the bus stop — this is around 5:00 this morning — I realized something. I was hearing birds chirping and singing, and sometimes as I walked past houses, window air conditioners whirring and humming, but otherwise very little background noise whatsoever. It took a few minutes, but finally I came to the conclusion, all of the cicadas must have been sleeping. All those millions of big, ugly, flying things that have gradually emerged from their seventeen-year arboreal naps over the past few weeks to create a deafening cacaphony all over the surrounding area. Over the weekend, when I was stuck spending much of my days outdoors, cutting grass and pulling weeds and various other activities that put me right in the middle of the flight path for hundreds of the clumsy, red-eyed bugs, this nuisance seemed to have reach a terrible crescendo. Sounding like a cross between a gas motor, an alarm bell, and a UFO, the swarm of insects could easily provide a soundtrack for any horror or suspense movie.

Anyway, completely unrelated to anything, today we’re going to spend some time talking about atmospheric black metal. The two different albums I’d like to share with you were both released earlier this year by Avantgarde Music. These bands — one Lebanese, the other Canadian — take slightly different approaches to the genre, but they both generally have a sort of outer space vibe going on. Enjoy!

 

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Druids – Cycles of Mobeum; If These Trees Could Talk – The Bones of a Dying World (2016)

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Druids – Cycles of Mobeum (Sump Pump Records, 03 June 2016)

 

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If These Trees Could Talk – The Bones of a Dying World (Metal Blade Records, 03 June 2016)

 

Okay people, today let’s take a look at another two bands. Both of these are American — one from the Hawkeye State, the other from the Buckeye State — and each of them will be releasing the third album of their respective careers tomorrow (Friday the 3rd). When I came across these two albums recently, it was my first time listening to either of these bands, but right away I found them both to be quite enjoyable (albeit in different ways). I’ve got a feeling you may agree. So let’s get started, shall we?

 

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