NEWS: Obituary Announce European Tour Dates, New Video

 
Floridian death metal titans Obituary have announced a month-long European headlining tour, beginning on 3rd March in Cologne DE and ending 1st April in Schijndel NL at Paaspop Festival. A full list of tour dates is available below.

Obituary commented on the tour:

We are super excited to be back on a headlining tour in Europe. We have had great opportunities as direct support these past few years for Carcass, Cannibal Corpse, and Kreator but it’s time to get back to that final slot and the full power of a headlining tour. 45-50 min spots are just not enough for Obituary to cover all albums from the past three decades and our fans expect and deserve to see more… and more is what they will get from us on these dates.

We can’t wait to bring our full production and full-length concert to Europe. We will be performing many songs from the self-titled and Inked in Blood releases along with showcasing all the classics that everyone loves and is eager to hear.

We are working on the set list right now and want to hear from our fans which songs they want to hear so we encourage you to give us your ideas, thoughts and suggestions. Hang on to your asses because shit’s about to get real….Real Heavy!!!

 
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NEWS: Laster Signs with Prophecy Productions; New Album in the Works

 
Atmospheric metal band Laster has signed with Prophecy Productions. The Netherlandic group, which formed in 2012 and refers to its ferocious sound as “obscure dance music,” is currently hard at work on its third full-length release and follow-up to last year’s Ons Vrije Fatum (Dunkelheit Produktionen). Laster‘s Prophecy debut is expected in 2018.

A uniquely gifted band with a singular, solitary sound, Laster plays metal with all its fury, but its music could also be described as progressive (i.e. Crack the Skye-era Mastodon), atmospheric, experimental, and even jazz-like. Attempting to categorize Laster‘s elaborately textured and ever-changing style is like trying to catch air with a net; it’s difficult to describe, but “atmospheric blackened shoegaze space prog” should provide a shadowy sense of what to expect. The band has the ability to stun first-time listeners with the utter violence of its initial impact which is unapologetically harsh, particularly with regards to the vocals which morph from flesh-peeling shrieks to ugly, gasping growls, harsh whispers, somber spoken words and rising yells of anguish. Despite its gruff exterior, digging into Laster‘s compositions reveals many layers of complexity.

Prophecy has been part of our musical development since we were in our early teens. Inviting each other to this dance feels like a proper and weirdly magical gesture,” comments the band when asked for a statement. “At the moment we are in the middle of the writing process. The record will be an expansion of Ons Vrije Fatum. A bit more technical. A lot more nocturnal. City vibes. Some more dissonance. Experimental.”

 
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NEWS: Body Count Receives First-Ever Grammy Nomination

 
Los Angeles-based thrash metal outfit Body Count are excited to announce their first-ever Grammy nomination for Best Metal Performance with their controversial yet inspirational single, “Black Hoodie,” taken from their sixth full-length album, Bloodlust, out now via Century Media Records. The 60th Grammy Awards show will air live from New York City’s Madison Square Garden on January 28, 2018.

Additionally, it has been announced that the band will perform live during The Grammy Awards Premiere Ceremony (hosted by Paul Shaffer), which will take place at The Theater at Madison Square Garden on Sunday, January 28, 2018, from 3–6 p.m. ET, and will be streamed live internationally via grammy.com/live and CBS.com.

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No Gnews is Good Gnews (11 December 2017)

Gary-Gnu

 

No Gnews is Good Gnews!

 

Happy Monday once again, folks! Today we’re going to dive back into our extensive mailbox for various news items that have come our way since our last update. For starters, we’ve got new information about two of the bands we discussed last time (Harakiri for the Sky and Tengger Cavalry) plus more goodies!
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No Gnews is Good Gnews

Gary-Gnu

 

No Gnews is Good Gnews!

 

Hello, and happy Monday, and (if you live in the U.S.) happy day-back-to-work-after-a-nice-long-holiday-weekend. It’s been quite some time since we’ve checked in with our pal Gary Gnu (pictured above), so here he is again, bringing you some bits of gnews that recently arrived in our inbox …

 
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Anicon / Forest of Tygers – Split 7″ EP (2017)

Anicon / Forest of TygersSplit 7″ EP (Acteon Records, 03 October 2017)

 

Hey folks! How’s your day going so far? Got another one here to toss your way: a quick one this time, two different bands with one song each, right around five or six minutes apiece. Both of these — Brooklyn’s Anicon crew, and husband-and-wife team Forest of Tygers from Nashville — have been discussed around here previously, and personally I’ve really enjoyed what I’ve heard from both groups. So naturally it was exciting news when I recently learned that Acteon Records (which is run by the Tygers folks) had put out this split release of brand-new material last month!

 

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Echopraxia – Pumpkin Palace (2017)

EchopraxiaPumpkin Palace (self-released, 31 October 2017)

 

“But Halloween was like two weeks ago,” someone will surely be whining; “why would you be writing about a Halloween-themed metal album now??” For starters: it’s my damn website and I’ll write about whatever I want to. But also: just because the calendar turns over to November doesn’t necessarily mean that celebrating All Hallow’s Eve has to come to an end — in the immortal words of The Ghost of Christmas Present, “It is the season of the spirit / the message if we hear it / is make it last all year.” And I’m pretty sure that song (“It Feels Like Christmas”) was meant to be universally applicable.

And more seriously: especially now that the clocks have changed, it’s completely black outside both walking to the bus in the morning and coming home from work in the evening, the air is often cold and foggy, everyone in the neighborhood still has a whole bunch of pumpkin-based decorations (some of which were designed vaguely enough to work for the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday as well, but many of which are just the result of being too lazy to put them away and drag out the Christmas stuff already), and one evening last week I happened to hear this five-song EP during my walk home and it seemed strangely appropriate. (Not to mention, at just under twenty minutes in length, it coincided with the journey from bus stop almost perfectly.) And therefore, regardless of the actual date, I felt like sharing this music with you.

 

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No Funeral / Livid – Split LP (2017)

No Funeral / LividSplit LP (Live Fast Die Recordings, 15 August 2017)

 

Where the hell did October go? Or September, or fall, or most of this goddamn year? What’s even happening anymore?

I don’t know. But I do know this: I’m quite literally drowning in excellent music over here, that I need to share with you people. And there’s just never enough time — but I’m not here to whine or make excuses, I’m here to get something published that I’ve been wanting to tell you about for a while. This is gonna be a short one, but that’s better than nothing, right? Right?

Anyway, check out this split LP featuring a pair of Minneapolitan bands, Livid (whose Prosthetic Records debut Beneath this Shroud, the Earth Erodes, which we discussed here, came out just about a month earlier) and No Funeral (who just got back home yesterday from a tour of the east coast, and who also happen to run the label responsible for releasing this split) …

 

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P. Moss – Vegas Tabloid (2017)

P. MossVegas Tabloid (Squidhat Press, 01 October 2017)

 
Hey there, ladies and gentlemen of the internet. It’s been some time since we’ve done a proper review around here, as you may have noticed. Things should be getting back to normal soon, but the simple reason is that there just hasn’t been much time available for listening to anything lately! With an abnormal amount of turnover at work over the past couple of months, I’ve found myself spending my days training quite a few temp employees, which has drastically cut into time I’d normally spend tuning out the world with my headphones blasting. A lot of the actual writing is done on the bus or in small bits here and there as I have spare time, but it’s virtually impossible to listen to anything on the bus because it’s so noisy I can barely make out anything — even with my Walkman turned up dangerously high.

Bus rides do afford me some quality time for keeping up with email though, or just for reading. So I find myself doing a lot of the latter, either via analog paper copies borrowed from the local library or digital books downloaded onto my phone. And that’s why, in a space where you’d normally come for music news, today I’m doing a book report like I’m back in middle school or something. Hopefully you all will enjoy this diversionary change-of-pace. Feel free to let me know in the comments. And be sure to stop back for more music-related stuff soon!

 

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Steel Bridge Promotions Presents: MANILLA ROAD (Pittsburgh, 20 October 2017)

 

Steel Bridge Promotions and Shadow Kingdom Records Presents:

Manilla Road (Wichita, KS)

with Lady Beast and Legendry

Friday 20 October 2017

at The Smiling Moose, 1306 E Carson St, Pittsburgh (South Side) PA 15203

Doors 9:30 – Show 10:00 | $15 @ door

http://www.facebook.com/events/1674169725950809/

Steel Bridge Promotions — who have been responsible for putting together all sorts of really solid shows in the Pittsburgh area over the past few years, as well as being among the most genuinely nice people you will EVER meet — recently announced that their final shows will be taking place this October. While that’s terrible news for this city, SBP will definitely be going out with a bang! Today, we’ll be sharing some information about another of those final shows.

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