Well here’s something interesting. Turns out Borracho has got a video out for another song from last year’s album Splitting Sky.
This song, “All in Play” is one of the more mellow, laid back grooves on the album — and at nearly nine minutes, definitely one of the longer ones.
The last few minutes of the song are made up of an extended fuzzy guitar jam, the kind where if you’re playing Guitar Hero, your fingers are about to fall off and you keep on wondering if the song is going to end soon!
But you aren’t playing Guitar Hero, you’re just kicking back and enjoying the pretty pictures of huge natural phenomena like waterfalls and volcanos, and possibly enhancing your listening pleasure with some sort of herbal supplement from your local pharmacy. Who knows.
Power Theory – An Axe to Grind (29 June 2012, Pure Steel Records)
So who out there is heading out to the Warriors of Metal Open Air Festival today (or tomorrow, or both days)?
Well, I suppose if you were going today, you’d be there already. But I dunno, maybe you’re heading out later in the afternoon, or maybe you’re catching up on the latest Valley of Steel updates in between bands or something…
Myself, although I’ve been reporting about it for months, unfortunately I’m stuck here at work, which is pretty shitty because it sounds like it’s going to be an awesome time! (Although the heat and humidity are forecasted to be pretty brutal this weekend — hell, when I left home at 5:30 this morning the air was already difficult to breathe — so anyone who’s attending, have fun, but be sure to drink lots of water!)
Although it sucks I’ll be stuck inside a boring office all day with no throngs of screaming metalheads (and no alcohol), at least I can try to make myself feel better by listening to some heavy tunes. No matter how high I turn the volume on this computer, I know a pair of headphones will never compare to a huge stack of speakers on an outdoor stage, but sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.
Anyway, when I was trying to decide exactly what I should be blasting into my ears today, the perfect choice suddenly became obvious: the brand new Power Theory album! Not only is German label Pure Steel Records releasing An Axe to Grind today, but the band will be celebrating that release when they take the stage at WOM this evening!
Maybe I won’t be there to see it live, but I can at least experience it vicariously through the studio version — and for all those readers out there who are also unable to make it to the Frontier Ranch in Pataskala Ohio, I’ll tell you where you can hear some Power Theory too, and where you can get your own copy of this album.
That’s right, everyone’s favoreite True Norwegian Balkan Metal band TrollfesT, in conjunction with their label NoiseArt Records, have made one of the songs from their upcoming album Brumlebassen available as a FREE MP3 download!
All you need to do to take advantage is: go to the NoiseArt website, click the link and subscribe to their newsletter. That’s it!
The song will be available for download for one week only, so hurry! (Offer ends next Friday, 06 July).
Hello out there on the other side of the computer screen! How are things where you are? Here, it was a pretty typical Monday. Back to work, feeling half-asleep all day long, struggling to do simple things like remember my network password…
Sounds like lots of fun, doesn’t it? Yeah, not so much. Times like this, it’s pretty tough to stay focused on anything for very long. So just to warn you, this will end up being a pretty disjointed post! I’ve been hearing about upcoming new music from a bunch of different places over the past few days, so basically I’ve assembled a collection of previews for you — some you can listen to, some you can watch, and some you can download.
There’s a pretty wide variety in this assortment of songs, so chances are, you’ll find something here that appeals to you. If you see/hear something you find interesting, let me know! It’s always nice to know what resonates with you, the reader, so I can be sure to put more effort into stuff like that. And if you don’t find anything you like here, then definitely let me know, and I’ll try harder next time!
Happy Friday, readers! Just a few more hours left ’til quitting time, which means no more work until next week… You have no idea how nice it feels to say that. I think I’ll say it again: HAPPY FRIDAY!!
It has turned out to be kind of a dreary day, and of course it’s made all the more dreary simply from being at work. Feels like it’s about time for something to lighten the mood a bit, and I’ve found something perfect for that! If you’re as big of a Monty Python fan as I am, or if you’re as big of a thrash metal fan, or especially, if you’re heavily into both, you’ll definitely want to pay attention to this…
One of the most famous Monty Python’s Flying Circus segments of all time was the wildly popular “Ministry of Silly Walks” sketch. It seems this is exactly what came to mind when guitarists Spencer Le Von and Eytan Gordon of Canadian thrash quartet Fatality were really bored one night and tried to think of a way to amuse themselves. As Spencer (who is also the band’s vocalist, and writer of the band’s official blog) wrote in a blog post earlier this month:
…It took a while for me to realize how astonishingly important killing time is as a musician. It is a vital component of what we do. Whether it is mind bending travel time to a gig or waiting to perform, metal musicians have killing time down to a delicate science, and a band that laughs together stays together.
To better illustrate this point we have devised a CONTEST based on our latest “weekly challenge” video. The video involves Eytan and I acting like complete assholes in public, because that is what makes us laugh and that’s what we find funny.
For this video we decided to pay tribute to Monty Python and the Ministry of Silly Walks. In this clip you can see me and Eytan going for a swift jaunt in our local Metro to purchase some late night munchies.
For their contest, the band want you to take a video of the silliest walk you can come up with, and then submit the video to their Facebook page.
The person who submits the silliest video (as judged by the band themselves) will win a cool prize pack including the following:
Free Fatality T-Shirt
Free CD
Free patch, beer cozie or 3 pins
2 free tickets to our next local show (if applicable)
This contest was first announced about two weeks ago — there was an update on the band’s Facebook page earlier this week stating that they’re still looking for submissions, but I haven’t heard any official word about a deadline. It seems like the contest is pretty informal, but you won’t want to miss out on these great prizes so you’d better get stepping… as silly as you can!
Oh, and just in case you aren’t already familiar with Fatality’s material, and you want to get a better idea of what you’d be winning, I’ve got some stuff here for you to hear — including several tracks you can download for FREE…
So the fifth album by Cleopatra Records recording artists (and Pittsburghers) Icarus Witch is coming out in two weeks!
Here is a video teaser for Rise, to be released on the 3rd of July:
You can also listen to the album’s title track here.
Furthermore, the band has filmed a video for the track “The End,” which they hope to be able to get edited and released prior to the release of the album… which is where you come in!
Good morning again, Readers! We’ve already had some great news today involving details of an album due out via Noise Art Records this August, but there’s another exciting release scheduled for around that same time, on that same record label!
If you recall, about two months ago we learned the title, tracklist, and the narrative behind TrollfesT‘s forthcoming fifth album Brumlebassen, and at the same time we were treated to a glimpse of the cover art (reproduced at the top of this page).
Well, now there’s more treats for your eyes and ears! The band has put together the following video teaser, which contains a large dose of nature scenes, hiking, and picnic lunches, though a very small amount of either metal music or information about the actual album…
Coincidentally, following the release of this album, TrollfesT will also be taking part in the Heidenfest tour across Europe, alongside Korpiklaani and Wintersun, as well as Krampus (as reported earlier today).
Hey there! I’ve got good news for any fans of death metal or stoner metal, or especially, for those who like both genres equally! British Columbians Tribune, whom I designated as “stoner/death metal” in my review of their recent double-EP album, Elder Lore/The Dark Arts, have announced that you can download one of the songs from that release for FREE! Even better, the song in question (“Man on the Outside”) is one of the catchiest and most memorable — and in this reviewer’s opinion, one of the best — from the album.
Good evening, blog readers of the world! Another new week has begun, which means another trip to the “Sign Me to Roadrunner Records” website to find some new music! Remember last week when we were too hung over from a long holiday weekend and I said I had skipped over some great heavy bands in favor of something mellower and more relaxing? Well now we’re going to back it up and revisit one of the more brutal metal bands…
Scent of Remains, from Knoxville, in the eastern end of Tennessee, play some pretty heavy-hitting music that hovers somewhere between melodic death metal and a more thrash-groove-oriented style. They’ve been at it for about three years now, during which time they’ve released one full-length CD, as well as a recent EP of teaser tracks from a second album due to be released in the near future.
Banda de la Muerte – Pulso de una Mente Maldita (29 March 2012, Zonda Records)
So remember about two weeks ago, when I published a review of the most recent Cultura Tres album? At that time I talked about rectifying my previous oversight of South American bands, and hinted that there were two in particular I had my eye (or, ears) on. Well this is the second one: Argentina’s Banda de la Muerte.
My original plan was to write up both of these reviews and post them on the same day, but then I came to the realization that there would be so much similarity between the two, that you might get some weird sense of déjà vu — hence the delay in finishing and publishing this one. Now, I’m not trying to say that the two bands are the same or that their music is very similar; that wasn’t the problem. However, the way I first got introduced to these guys was virtually identical.
Like Cultura Tres, the name Banda de la Muerte first came to my attention as part of a European tour with Undersmile. And also, just like their neighbors to the north, these Argentinians had a song included in the recent Grip of Delusion Radio compilation The Book of Riff-elations. Once again, the band name jumped out at me when I recognized it in the track listing, and I found that I especially enjoyed their contribution, “Parte de Mi Historia” (Part of My Story).
The parallels don’t end there, either, because these guys also have had two releases, with the first one (2009’s Banda de la Muerte) being offered for a free download through Bandcamp (details included at the end of this post). Their newer album, Pulso de una Mente Maldita has been out since March (via Argentina’s Zonda Records, who also handled the earlier self-titled work), but it was recently announced that (just like Cultura Tres’ El Mal del Bien) it’s now available worldwide on vinyl (details on that included later as well).
So as you can see, there are quite a few similarities between the two bands’ stories, and in particular, my own road to discovering them. But enough of that — now I’d like to talk about what makes Banda de la Muerte unique.
Valley of Steel 