Hi there. It’s been a few weeks since I’ve done one of these “What To Do In Pittsburgh” features, but there are a couple interesting events coming up this Saturday (12 May) that I’d like to bring to your attention. For the record, if you work for a local promotion company, a venue, or a band, I can only write about the shows that I know about! So get in touch with me if you’ve got something you want to share.
The “Signmeto” Unsigned Band of the Week: Patron Saint of Plagues
Hello there, readers! Hope your day is going well — or at least, as well as a Monday can be expected. Even though I’m at work, I’m not in a terrible mood, which is pretty unusual for me. Maybe because I feel like I actually got some stuff accomplished over the weekend. More likely, I’m just (still) not awake enough to really feel anything yet. Well anyway, I don’t know about you, but I need some music while I work. Today (just like I do every Monday) I’m heading over to the “Sign Me to Roadrunner Records” website to look for something good, and then I’ll share whatever I find with you!
A short while ago, I got a message from a Canadian band called Patron Saint of Plagues, who describe themselves as “a twisted concoction of ominous tones and eerie melodies melded into dark story-tale like songwriting that touches on the very essence of the darkside of humanity and the terrifying thoughts that plague the mind of a psychopath.”
That, coupled with the photos of the quartet (guitarist Dead Boy, bassist Robbie Graves, drummer Bonez, and founder/frontman/vocalist/songwriter/guitarist Opi Saint) looking like a cross between The Spooky Kids and The Misfits on Halloween, definitely let me know that we’re in for a fun ride today.
Get ’em While They’re Hot: Free Compilation from Domestic Genocide Records!
According to the label’s official bio,
Domestic Genocide Records is an independent, donation-run record label, focusing on musicians who have been oppressed, who have not been given the opportunity to deliver their message of creativity through music. We are 100% online-based, located in various parts of the USA. Our name reflects some of the harshest realities our artists and staff have had to endure throughout their lives.
If you ask me — and technically, since you’ve come here to read what I have written, you kind of are implicitly asking me — that’s pretty awesome. Since I’ve started writing this blog, and even before that, I’ve always gravitated toward the bands and music coming from some of the more, shall we say, non-traditional parts of the world. By “non-traditional,” I mean countries that aren’t traditionally associated with heavy metal music. And, I’ve quite often been pleasantly surprised by what I’ve heard.
In places that have been under the most oppressive of conditions for so long, you might not expect most of the people living there to even have the opportunity to know about heavy metal. But some do manage to hear it and love it — and some of those people go on to create music of their own. And as I was saying, a lot of the stuff I’ve heard has been pretty incredible.
So, for Domestic Genocide to work so hard to give those artists an outlet to get their work heard across the world is totally cool and deserving of your attention and support.
Earlier today, I learned that the label has just released a compilation of songs – called Death Zone, Volume 1 – from several different artists across the world. The comp is available to download for free if you choose, so the artists (and the label) can get as much exposure as possible, or for whatever price you decide to pay, if you like what you hear or if you want to help out their mission to give people a voice.
In Case You Missed It: Fire in the Cave – Self-Titled
Fire in the Cave – Fire in the Cave (28 February 2012)
Happy Friday!! I’m so ready for the week to be over so I can get my ass home! No more school for a few months, no more work for a few days, nothing to do but kick back and… do all the shit I need to take care of around the house, that I’m unable to do during the week. Sometimes it feels like I barely get a single minute to myself, to relax or whatever. I’ll be honest with you — I’m always amazed (and, I’ll admit, sometimes a little jealous) when I hear about one of my colleagues in the music-writing world being in a band, on top of the writing and also having a “real” job and whatever else they’ve got going on. I hardly find the time to go to shows as often as I’d like, let alone to be able to rehearse beforehand, or even to put in the effort to recruit a bunch of people to even get started in the first place! But like I said, there are some people out there that manage to do it all, and I definitely respect that.
Case in point is Jarad Oates, editor/writer for Orlandooom!, plus an occasional guest columnist for … well, as far as I can tell, pretty much every other Florida-based music-related publication in existence. In addition to all of that, he’s also a member of Orlando swamp-metal warlords Fire in the Cave, for whom he contributes caveman-esque (no pun intended) bellowed vocals. A couple of months ago, that band self-released a self-titled EP, and I’d like to share that with you now.
Breaking Up is Easy to Do: Averse Sefira Have Officially Disbanded
So you know that thing when you’re watching the news, and you hear that some famous person died — an actor or comedian or somebody — who was pretty old and whom you hadn’t heard anything about in years? And you don’t want to be rude or anything, but your immediate reaction is to think, “Oh, I didn’t even realize he was still alive”? Yeah, just like that.
Long-running Texan black metal band Averse Sefira have officially announced that after more than fifteen years, numerous tours across Europe and America, and four highly acclaimed albums (most recently, 2008’s Advent Parallax), they’ve decided to disband.
The two remaining founding members of the band, vocalist/guitarist Sanguine Mapsama and bassist Wrath Sathariel Diabolus have both issued a formal farewell message on the band’s blog.
Their most recent two albums, the aforementioned as well as 2005’s Tetragrammatical Astygmata are both available for purchase as digital downloads, on CD, and (for Advent Parallax, on LP) from their Bandcamp page.
The official Averse Sefira website is here.
Happy International Ne Obliviscaris Sharing Day!
And, as promised yesterday, here it is!
————————————–
Now, get sharing! You can RSVP to International Ne Obliviscaris Sharing Day here.
Here is the link to pass along to all your friends:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wa4zqBwPVE&feature=youtu.be
————————————–
New album Portal of I can be pre-ordered here; the official release date is the 7th of May.
Get ’em While They’re Hot: Download a Brand New Bonded By Blood Song for Free!
Good morning. Do you like free music? Do you like thrash metal? Of course you do, I was only kidding.
Bonded By Blood, who are associated with the contemporary “re-thrash” revivalist movement (and not, as the name implies, an Exodus tribute band), are putting out a new album, The Aftermath, on the 3rd of July (2nd July in Europe) through Earache Records. In anticipation of that forthcoming release — their third full-length and fourth overall — they’re offering up a brand new track from that album for you to download for FREE!
Also I’ve got some pre-order info as well as tour dates to share with you, so keep on scrolling…
Cover Me: Shining Does Katatonia, Meatshank Does Metallica (With a Little Help from Overkill Drummer and Friends)
We all love a good cover, right? Of course, nobody can quite agree on the definition of a “good” cover — but most often, these are usually the ones that honor the spirit of the original while taking them in a new direction, or those that are totally unexpected choices for the band doing the covering. Anyway, I’ve got two brand new ones for you in this post, and you can be the judge!
—————————-
First, Swedish atmospheric/depressive blackened death metal band Shining has released the first song from its upcoming covers EP Lots of Girls Gonna Get Hurt. Scheduled to come out 16 May 2012 from Spinefarm Records, this will feature versions of songs by Katatonia, Kent, Imperiet, and Poets of the Fall. Apparently, the renditions here are different enough from the typical Shining material, that frontman Niklas Kvarforth issued a statement (the quote here is taken from a paraphrasing of that statement, which was published in a press release by the band’s management), saying that this EP
…is definitely not a change of direction for the band. It was recorded at the same time as the band’s as yet untitled eighth album, and represents some of the artists and music that Shining’s members like and listen to. The fact that some Shining followers will be ill at ease with the material is, according to the band, irrelevant.
Tomorrow is International Ne Obliviscaris Sharing Day!
So what in the hell does that mean, you may be asking yourself. Well isn’t it obvious from the name? Tomorrow (3 May 2012) starting at 5 pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (that’s GMT+10, so for example, it would be 8 am in the UK, or 3 am on the American east coast), a brand new song will be available for your listening pleasure — courtesy of Melbourne-based, violin-centric, progressive metal band Ne Obliviscaris. And, well, I’ll let them explain the rest:
Do you have good manners?
From very little we’re taught that sharing is the polite thing to do. So later today at 5pm (AEST), May 3, 2012 we are going to put up a new song from the album ‘Portal Of I’ (out May 7!), and in return all we ask of you guys is that if you like it, share it!
Let’s see how many people we can get sharing this song and how many people we can get to hear it!
Don’t hog it all to yourself, be polite and share.
You can RSVP to International Ne Obliviscaris Sharing Day here.
**Update: head on over here to check out the new song!**
New album Portal of I can be pre-ordered here; the official release date is the 7th of May.
Happy May Day! (Review of Krampus – Shadows of Our Times)
Krampus – Shadows of Our Times (Self-released, 31 March 2011)
Happy May Day! Also, happy International Workers’ Day, for those readers lucky enough to live someplace that celebrates that holiday — I hope you’re enjoying your day off work as much as I am not enjoying my day not off work. Which is to say, quite a lot. But there’s nothing to prevent me from imagining I’m someplace else; I do it pretty much any other day, anyway!
Now, to be honest, as an American I really don’t know anything about May Day celebrations except for what I’ve seen in movies, so basically I am picturing a bunch of people in old-fashioned clothes, dancing in a circle with a bunch of ribbons tied to a pole, while playing some folk songs. There’s lots of flowers and happy shit all around, and people are celebrating springtime and nature and generally acting like a bunch of hippies. Actually, that sounds pretty fucking lame.
So naturally, in my imagined celebration, I need to make some serious modifications. First of all, any hints of happiness and dancing has got to go. That would just make me more depressed, and frankly, I’d be better off just being here at work, totally miserable. No thanks. We can swap out the folk music for some folk metal, and instead of the springtime celebration of nature… well, I don’t mind the pro-nature sentiments, but I need everyone to be all pissed-off about it, like they’re ready to smash someone’s face in.
Then it hit me — some really angry folk metal that’s rooted in pagan celebrations and violently pro-environment while being equally anti-humanity, that sounds awfully familiar. Time to break out some Krampus!
Valley of Steel 