Category Archives: New Releases

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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Gay Kiss – Fault (Free Download / In Pittsburgh Tonight!)

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Gay Kiss – Fault (Anxiety Machine Records, 21 December 2012)

 
HELLO OUT THERE! HAPPY 2013!! How’s life been treating you, dear readers?

I wish I could say that flipping the calendar over to a new year has also turned the page on all the problems and stresses and worries and other crap that infringes on my time I’d rather be spending with fun stuff like listening to music and writing about music and all that.

So far, that has not been the case. And at this moment I almost literally feel like I am bursting at the seams with stuff I want to share with you, because you’ve all been such wonderful, loyal readers for so long, I feel like you really deserve to be rewarded with some good music you can listen to.

For my first post as we enter into the thirteenth year of this millennium, I want to tell you about an up-and-coming group of young men who come from the city of Tempe, which is just outside Phoenix and is also the home of the ASU Sun Devils.

That band is called Gay Kiss.

 
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Supervoid – Endless Planets EP

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Supervoid – Endless Planets EP (self-released, 11 November 2012)

Good afternoon, all you fine people! How are things where you are? Here it’s been rainy and nasty, and of course it’s Monday which is never good, but I’m actually feeling pretty good. For one thing, the day’s over, which means I get to go home. But mostly, I’m starting to feel healthy again!

You may have noticed things have been quiet around here for a while. Part of the reason is all the normal crap that keeps me busy and unable to write as often as I’d like to. But a bigger part — at least for the past two weeks or so — is the fact that I have felt like absolute garbage. My normal yearly sinus infection, which tends to completely drain my energy and make my whole body tired and sore for a few weeks (plus my chest, throat, nose and sinuses feeling congested and clogged — which is miserable enough as it is, but also makes it tough for me to listen to music because my ears don’t work right and my head hurts from feeling stuffed up and in general I’m in a very foggy and cloudy state). But I’ve been to the doctor and got some antibiotics, and they’ve finally started taking effect over the past day or two, so I definitely feel like I’m on the road to recovery.

I’m still pretty exhausted and blah, but no more than on any other workday. So, hooray for just feeling marginally lousy, rather than completely and utterly terrible! BUT ENOUGH ABOUT ME.

With a few exceptions, I’ve really been slacking as far as writing anything here, and I’ve been especially remiss in my duties to share new music with you readers. Here it is, nearly the end of the year, and I’ve got a virtual stack of music I’ve yet to write about, which figuratively is towering over me as I sit here. I’d better get moving!

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Here, for example, is something that I’ve been hanging onto for the past few weeks, and kept meaning to write about and share with you — because it’s a really incredible discovery, and I sure hope you all aren’t upset that I didn’t tell you about it sooner!

Endless Planets is the debut release from a relatively new band from the Pittsburgh area called Supervoid. Formed in 2011 by a couple Dethlehem ex-pats, and current and/or former members of several other bands across the region, the band decided to take time to perfect their style of space-rock/stoner/psychedelic/prog-metal before revealing themselves to the public. (By the way, check out this interview with The Sludgelord for more information about the band’s formation and their journey up to this point in their career.)

They had their debut performance at the end of August, and a few more shows since then, attracting a good bit of attention in the local music scene along the way. During that time, the band got together at Pittsburgh’s Treelady Studios to lay down some demo tracks — which they then decided to release in the form of this two-song EP.

Clocking in at around sixteen minutes, Endless Planets serves as a great introduction to Supervoid, as it showcases the band’s talent and is representative of the range they span as performers and songwriters. Plus, it’s available to download for free, so you have no reason not to grab yourself a copy — and once you do, you’ll understand why everyone who has seen this band has been so impressed, and you’ll find yourself anxiously watching to see where this quintet is heading next…

 
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Borracho – Plunge/Return 10″ Single Now Available

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Borracho – Plunge/Return 10″ Single (Strange Magic Records, 27 November 2012)

 
So over the course of the past year or so, you’ve been following along with everything I’ve written, including all the mentions of Washingtonian heavy fuzz-rock band Borracho, right?

Including when I named their album Splitting Sky as one of my Top 11 of 2011 over at No Clean Singing? (Which reminds me, I promised to send them another list this year, so I guess I should start thinking about that, huh?)

Presumably, on my recommendation, you went straight out and bought a copy of that album. Now, if you got the CD or the digital download (including the download that comes free with the vinyl LP), then you are lucky enough to have the full album including the massive epic final track “Plunge/Return”.

However, if you do have that vinyl edition, you probably noticed that it’s about eleven and a half minutes shorter than the digital formats — because that last song just didn’t fit. And even though you have listened to the version you downloaded, the purist in you wishes that you had all of the album’s tracks on vinyl, right?

Well finally, your prayers have been answered.

 
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MAKE – Axis EP

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MAKE – Axis (01 November 2012, Black Iron Records)

 
Hellooooooooo out there, readers! I vaguely remember that I used to do this thing where I’d listen to music, and then write about it, and then you’d read it and listen to the music too, and then everyone was happy. I don’t know why I haven’t been doing much of that recently — I guess a variety of reasons which could pretty much be summed up as “life getting in the way” — but I do want to get back into the habit.

Today let’s talk about this EP that was released by the North Carolinian post-atmospheric-ambient-blackish-doomy band MAKE back at the beginning of this month. I told you it would be coming (here and here) and if you’ve been reading my stuff for a while you already know how much I fawned over their debut LP Trephine (reviewed here).

Somehow during the course of all of that, I neglected to share the preview video for the EP — for which I apologize, but I shall make up for it by adding it here:
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Happy Black Friday!

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Well, good day to all you fine people out there! It’s the day after Thanksgiving in the U.S., traditionally known as Black Friday — and legions of idiots have been lining up outside retailers for hours (or days, in some cases) to get their hands on TVs and junk at discounted prices.

I hate shopping, and I hate crowds of people (or more accurately, I hate most people in general), so would be pretty much the worst possible time for me to go out. Therefore, I won’t be anywhere near any stores today.

However, there are some other good deals out there, if you know where to look — lots of record labels and music stores are offering discounts or bonus gifts or incentives — and this is stuff that interests me way more than anything that people will probably be fist-fighting for at Wal-Mart or Target!

Since many of you readers probably feel the same way (why else would you be reading a music-related blog?) I’ve thrown together an assortment of these special offers right here in this post, for your shopping convenience. Enjoy!

 

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Fistula and Hellbastard Vinyl/Merch Preorders — HURRY! ENDS TOMORROW!!

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Preorder the new Hellbastard and/or Fistula LPs, get exclusive woven patches, colored vinyl, test pressings and T-shirts!

 
From Patac Records head honcho Dan Harrington:

Let’s face it, you have to be crazy to start a record label. It costs a lot of blood, sweat and tears… and a whole lot of cash. Working on a DIY level, I try to do as much as I can for my bands. Pressing a record is one thing, but a record needs touring, ads in zines, etc.

So here’s my plan: I have two records ready to press, the Hellbastard Sons of Bitches 12″ and the Fistula Northern Aggression 12″. The money to complete this project is already secured, we just hope to raise additional funds to create the line of merchandise, new colors of vinyl and provide additional press to help out these two incredible bands. The t-shirts, patches and white vinyl are exclusive to this Kickstarter project, so don’t miss this opportunity to get a bunch of killer collector’s merchandise!

All the merchandise is designed and ready to print. With your pre-orders these records will be released ahead of schedule, promoted to the fullest extent and in addition, both bands will be repaid all proceeds.

One thing that always blows me away has always been the loyalty of my distro customers and fans of the music I have released. My goal is to create a bunch of killer merch and raise some money to help press the records; when the record is out and selling, I’m going to pay back 100% of the money raised to each band to help out with their touring costs. 2013 is going to be a great year — Fistula is negotiating some extensive tours in the US and abroad, and Hellbastard will be pretty much living on the road as well.

All merchandise orders will ship in early December, we hope for vinyl orders to ship by January. The production of vinyl is costly and production times vary, Test pressings will ship in January, however colored vinyl may encounter delays if the pressing plant is backed up.

Thanks so much, hope to see you all on the road!!!

 
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What To Do In Pittsburgh Tonight (14 November 2012)

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Artwork by Kellan Andersen

 

Profound Lore recording artist Atriarch

with Pray for Teeth, Wrought Iron, and Slaves BC

 

at the Mr. Roboto Project

5106 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh (Bloomfield)

 

Wednesday 14 November 2012 | 7:00pm | $6 | ALL AGES

 
Decending upon Bloomfield this evening: Portlandian blackened/ambient/doom/death-rock band Atriarch, whose Profound Lore album Ritual of Passing was named “album of the week” by MSN Entertainment when it came out at the end of October.

For more info about the band and what they do, you can also check out this interview with Cvlt Nation, from just prior to the album’s release.

Joining them at Mr. Roboto will be an assortment of local hardcore/black/grind/death, including Pray for Teeth, Wrought Iron, and (as a last-minute replacement for Resin, who had to drop out of the line-up) Slaves BC (who just played there on Monday, so it seems like they’re getting plenty of mileage out of their new material!).

More details and RSVP here.

What To Do In Pittsburgh Tonight (12 November 2012)

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Hey, party people of Pittsburgh! Remember last weekend when there was a football game that started out so terrible and the officials had some kind of conspiracy and they just completely made up rules and penalties that had nothing at all to do with the game we were watching? And then we all got so disgusted with the whole thing we just quit watching it? And then later that night or the next day we heard that somehow, miraculously, the Steelers had managed to overcome all of that and ended up winning the game anyhow? Remember how cool that was and how surprised we all were?

Well, for those out there who are superstitious, maybe you’d rather not watch tonight’s game either — and maybe you’ll be pleasantly surprised with a similar outcome. I’m not going to tell you what to do, but I’m just saying, it could happen.

If that sounds plausible to you — or if you’re one of the three or four people living in this area who doesn’t care about football in the first place — I’ve a suggestion to keep you otherwise occupied this evening:

 

Apologies for shitty image quality — will be replaced if I manage to find a better one somewhere!

 

Lost Empires, Slaves BC, Seas We Fear to Sail

 

at the Mr. Roboto Project

5106 Penn Avenue, Pittsburgh (Bloomfield)

 

Monday 12 November 2012 | 7:00pm | $5

 
Oklahoma’s Lost Empires, described as “punked-up melodeath” in this Decibel Magazine interview from last Friday, are hitting Pittsburgh’s Mr. Roboto Project tonight, along with locals Slaves BC (for those with super-short attention spans, I just told you about their new EP last week) and Seas We Fear to Sail. (If you see any information floating around the internets about Save Us from the Archon, they were originally scheduled for tonight as well, but due to circumstances which I have no knowledge about, they will not be performing at this show.)

RSVP to this event here.

Slaves BC – we mean nothing. EP

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Slaves BC – we mean nothing. EP (self-released, 26 October 2012)

 
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PREFACE/DISCLAIMER:

Somehow this article turned out way longer than I originally intended, and the majority of it is way off-topic.

If you’re a big fan of my rambly writing style, feel free to keep reading.

But if you’re just interested in reading about some quality crust/hardcore/metal with a sprinkling of death/stoner/doom elements… you won’t hurt my feelings if you skip ahead to the next line of asterisks (where it says “Moving right along…”).

And if you really hate reading and just want to get to the music, you can skip all the way to the last set of asterisks, just above the Bandcamp player at the bottom.

 
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So I don’t know if you heard about this, because it didn’t get that much attention in the news or social media recently, but the other day there was an election held here in America.

In case you weren’t paying attention, the president was running for re-election, and quite a few seats in both houses of congress were up for grabs. And as it turned out, whichever political party was already in charge of those governmental positions basically stayed in charge of them. There may have been a few swaps here and there, but overall not a whole lot changed.

Naturally, the folks who wanted the party with more control to retain that power were delighted, and the others were disappointed, and there was a widespread reaction of surprise at just how evenly divided the votes were in some cases.

However, one thing that was made clear by the final results: America was not interested in electing the candidates who kept insisting that raping women is “God’s Will” — as that entire contingency ended up losing their respective contests.

Personally, I applaud this outcome, as (in my opinion) it seems to represent a triumph — for a majority of the voters living in each of those states or congressional districts, anyhow — of morality, human decency, and modern scientifically-based medical knowledge over ignorance.

Nevertheless, this is America, and of course we are all granted equal freedoms under our constitutional amendments — and many people are now worried that there is no outlet for the ultra-religious nut-jobs to voice their opinion publicly. (Okay, to the best of my knowledge no one is actually worried about that, just bear with me here…)

So that brings us to today’s discussion of the Pittsburgh-based hardcore band Slaves BC.

 
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