Tag Archives: Rebreather

Kite – Currents; So Hideous – None But a Pure Heart Can Sing (2021)

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Good afternoon, friends; Happy Monday and Happy New Year to you all!

Now that my Top 21 of 2021 list is complete (it was published right as the clock struck midnight on New Years Eve, so, I’m proud to say, this has been the first time in quite a long time — maybe like nine years? — that the year-end list was ready AT the actual end of the year!), I’m setting my sights on checking out all the new 2022 releases that have been pouring in, so I can start sharing them with all you lovely people.

But as always, there’s still a bunch of cleanup to do, plenty of releases from last year (as well as from years past) that we’ve missed discussing, and I’d like to start today by offering two of those for your listening pleasure.

 

Kite – Currents (Majestic Mountain Records, 08 October 2021)

 

So Hideous – None But a Pure Heart Can Sing (Silent Pendulum Records, 03 December 2021)

 

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Rebreather – The Line, Its Width, and the War Drone + Pets / Orange Crush (2021)

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My first exposure to Rebreather, from Youngstown Ohio (right across the state border from here via the turnpike), was August 2013 in neighboring Kent Ohio — where they performed at that summer’s Blackout Cookout.

Unfortunately no images survive from that performance, because all my show photos were stored on a Facebook account which no longer exists. But it was a pretty eventful day, where roughly a dozen different bands alternated sets on stages at opposite ends of the venue. Rebreather closed out the night, at which point we were all so completely exhausted and dead to the world, that we could hardly even focus on what was happening. But damn. Even now, eight years later, I can still remember badly wanting to hit the road to get back home, but being sucked in and transfixed by the abject heaviness emanating from that stage.

Luckily, I would eventually see the band multiple times in Pittsburgh and Ohio, so at least once or twice got to experience them while fully awake and slightly more lucid. Anyway, fast-forwarding to 2021, the band has just put out a brand-new record that any fans of noise-rock or grunge or fuzz or post-rock should have on their wish list for Santa!

 

Rebreather – The Line, Its Width, and the War Drone (Aqualamb Records, 03 December 2021)

 

Rebreather – Pets / Orange Crush (Aqualamb Covid Covers Series, 03 April 2021)

 

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The List of 2013 Year-End Lists

Posted by valleyofsteel on
Photo Collage - 2013 Shows - by Mrs. Valley of Steel

Click for full-sized image

 

Hey folks — a very Happy (Belated) New Year to all of you! 2013 definitely turned out to be an interesting year for me, with lots of big changes, new projects, new responsibilities, etc., but an unfortunate side-effect of some of that was (as you’ve surely noticed) that the amount of time I’d been spending writing really tapered off as the year went on, to the point where I didn’t post
anything here for the last few months! Well, as you may have seen, I’ve started writing reviews of some new 2014 releases — and as time allows I promise I will also be sharing plenty of older stuff I’ve missed writing about, because believe me there has been a TON worth sharing!

But more on that later. As I started doing last year, I’ve once again put together a collection of various people’s “best of” lists from 2013. Admittedly I sort of got a late start on this (I didn’t even put out the open invitation until after most websites had already finished with publishing all their year-end stuff), but several people have answered the call and contributed some really interesting lists that you’ll want to check out…

 

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The Huge List of 2012 Year-End Lists!

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Well, friends, here we find ourselves in the waning moments of 2012. It’s been an interesting, eventful year that’s had lots of high and low points — a ton of excellent new music has been released and quite a few brand-new bands have emerged that I’d fully expect to be making some serious waves in the near future.

One of the best things about 2012, for me personally, was that I found myself (and my wife) going to lots more shows than in recent years, and as a result I’ve been fortunate to meet a lot of new people — as well as starting to take a way more active role in the local music scene.

Anyway, a few weeks ago I had a suggestion from one of those people I’ve gotten to know in the past year (I won’t say who — he said he preferred not to be given credit for the idea, although I will say that it’s somebody who contributed to this). The idea was to collect top-ten lists from various folks in the Pittsburgh metal community.

So I put out an open invitation for any musicians or other people who are involved in the scene in some way — I was looking for anything, whether it was the traditional “Top Ten Albums” or something totally off-the-wall like someone’s ten favorite sandwiches they ate during the year. Really, the only rules were that it had to be a list, and involve something from 2012.

 
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Git Ahtta Tahn! (Your VOS Travel Guide for 19-20 October 2012)

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Sometimes you just feel like you need to get away from it all. If you feel like that either tonight or tomorrow, and you want to catch some great bands in the process, BUT you don’t want to go more than a few hours away, I’ve got just what you need right here.

Or maybe you don’t even live in Pittsburgh. I know there are people who read this blog from all over the place. So maybe you’re already in Ohio, or someplace closer to these shows than to the ones happening in Pittsburgh. In any case, here’s some info about some really cool shit.

 
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