The Blackout Cookout 7
at The Outpost Concert Club
4962 State Route 43, Kent, Ohio 44240
Saturday, 13 August 2016
For ticket information and other details:
http://www.facebook.com/events/514819615393012/
Tag Archives: USA
Derkéta – In Death We Meet (2015 Reissue)
Derkéta – In Death We Meet (originally self-released 2012; remixed/remastered CD and vinyl edition Ibex Moon Records, April/December 2015)
Named for a goddess of death in the mythology of the fictional kingdom of Stygia (analogous to Egypt in the Hyborian era setting of Robert E. Howard’s Conan stories), the band Derkéta are widely regarded as Pittsburgh’s own goddesses of death/doom metal. You remember Derkéta, don’t you? Formed almost three decades ago, active on and off throughout those years with many of the same core members rotating in and out of the line-up; released a number of demos and EPs but then finally put out their debut album in 2012?
For a quick refresher, you could get a more complete history by checking out this interview that I did with founding guitarist/vocalist Sharon Bascovsky about three and a half years ago, when the band was about to perform at the Winter’s Wake festival in Pittsburgh.
Since that time, In Death We Meet was remastered for a vinyl release via Ibex Moon, and during that process they went ahead and polished up the recordings for a new CD version as well — which (in my opinion) was a vast improvement to the overall mix (generally sounding louder and heavier, wider and more spacious, with a more even blend of all the instruments rather than having the cymbal crashes dominating everything else) and warranted an “Honorable Mention” on my Top 15 of 2015 list.
And now — tonight, in fact — the band will be appearing in Pittsburgh once again, this time alongside the legendary Deströyer 666 at the Smiling Moose. You can find the relevant details about that right here if you happen to be in the area, but first, whether you’re planning on going to the show tonight or not, this seemed like a perfect opportunity for us to discuss In Death We Meet …
Battle Path – Ambedo (2015-16); Hollow Leg – Crown (2016)
Battle Path – Ambedo (digital+vinyl Inherent Records / Crimson Eye Records, 09 November 2015; cassette Wood and Stone Productions, 24 June 2016)
Hollow Leg – Crown (Argonauta Records, 04 March 2016 EU / 24 June 2016 NA)
Well good morning, readers, and a happy Tuesday to you all. I’m finally back after taking an extra week off from writing — partly to recover from the Independence Day holiday weekend (and that Primitive Man show last Monday night!) and partly because of me being so overloaded at my day job. But as always, there’s tons of stuff to tell you about — both old and new — so here we go again. Today we’ll be taking a look at albums by two different bands from the southeastern United States, Battle Path from Murfreesboro and Hollow Leg from Jacksonville. Each of these albums originally came out a little while ago (Ambedo back in November and Crown in March), but they both just got reissued near the end of last month (the former has now come out on cassette, while following a European release the latter is now also available domestically).
Northless – World Keeps Sinking (2013); Primitive Man / Northless – Split (2016)
Northless – World Keeps Sinking (Halo of Flies / Gilead Media, 23 August 2013)
Primitive Man/Northless – Split (Halo of Flies, 04 March 2016)
As the end of the week draws near — if you didn’t have enough of Primitive Man after Tuesday’s post, maybe this will do it. Like Fister, whom we discussed on Monday, these Denverites tend to keep themselves pretty busy. Actually, it’s not that surprising to learn, those two bands did a split record together once upon a time! But that’s not what we’re here for right now — rather, I wanted to let you know about a much more recent release: a split that Primitive Man did earlier this year with Milwaukeean band Northless. And that reminded me that a full-length of theirs has been on my to-do list for quite a while (as it happens, 2013’s World Keeps Sinking was that band’s last release until this newer split record). Buckle up, this might be a bumpy ride …
Primitive Man / Hexis – Split 10″ (2014); Primitive Man – Home is Where the Hatred Is (2015)
Primitive Man/Hexis – Split 10″ (Halo of Flies, 13 May 2014)
Primitive Man – Home is Where the Hatred Is (Relapse Records, 17 February 2015)
Hey, everyone. Today I’ve got two items to discuss with you, involving Denver-based vitriolic sludge-spewers Primitive Man. It seemed like a good time to share these, because I’m excited that they’ll be coming here to Pittsburgh next week. For those of you who live around here, don’t forget you can win a pair of tickets to that show, but today’s post is for everyone no matter where you live.
First will be a split record that Halo of Flies put out two years ago, which pairs the band with Copenhagen natives Hexis. That will be followed by last year’s Home is Where the Hatred Is EP, which ended up with a slot on my Top 15 list. Yesterday I promised a week full of angriness and ugliness. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
Fister / Teeth Split; Fister / Dopethrone Split (2016)
Fister / Teeth – Split (Broken Limbs Recordings, 29 April 2016)
Fister / Dopethrone – Split (Riff Dealer Records, 11 May 2016)
It’s Monday and I’m tired and crabby and I don’t really want to be here and I just want to punch everything and everyone right in the damn face. It probably wouldn’t be advisable to do so, because there’s a good chance I’d end up losing my job — and despite what you might think based on how much bitching and complaining I do, that would probably not be a good thing. So as per usual, I’m stuck keeping all that annoyance and rage bottled up inside, with no real outlet through which to channel it. The best I can do is try to calm my nerves by grabbing a pair of headphones and blocking the whole world out with something loud and angry and particularly ugly. In fact, looking ahead at the schedule for the rest of this week, #SpoilerAlert, there’s going to be a lot of angry and ugly going on. So stay tuned for that.
To start off the week, we’re going to visit with St. Louis ultra-doom trio Fister. It’s been nearly three years since I wrote about their Gemini album on the day they were coming here to Pittsburgh with their friends and neighbors The Lion’s Daughter. At that time I had mentioned that there was quite a bit of stuff in the Fister discography, including a split record with The Lion’s Daughter, and that I had chosen to listen to Gemini (and share it with you folks) simply because it had been their most recent release at the time. Well those guys have continued to be pretty active since then, both touring and recording, and I figured it’s about time we checked back with them.
In particular, I thought we could take some time to check out a couple more records that have come out over the past two months. (There’s much more out there on Bandcamp, if you’re curious, but for practical reasons I had to limit myself to two releases to discuss today.) The first will be a split 7″ with Teeth from California, and the other is a split with Dopethrone from Montréal.
Win FREE Tickets for BIG BUSINESS in Pittsburgh!!
Opus One Productions Presents:
Big Business
with Andy the Doorbum
Sunday 10 July 2016
at Club Cafe, 58 S. 12th St., Pittsburgh (South Side) PA 15203
21+ ONLY, 8:00 show / 7:00 doors, $12 adv. / $14 day of
Tickets are on sale NOW at Ticketweb… OR you can WIN a pair of tickets FREE, courtesy of Opus One Productions and Valley of Steel! Keep on reading to find out how (and while you’re at it, don’t forget about our other contests we are currently running!) …
Pilgrim – II: Void Worship (2014); Blizaro – Cornucopia della Morte (2016)
Pilgrim – II: Void Worship (Metal Blade Records, 01 April 2014)
Blizaro – Cornucopia della Morte (I, Voidhanger Records, 15 April 2016)
Hey! Did you enjoy Monday’s post about old-school occult/doom metal? I hope you did, because [[SPOILER ALERT]] there’s plenty more where that came from. Today we’ll be taking a look at another pair of bands who fit that description: Pilgrim and Blizaro.
As it turns out, each of these bands will be joining together with Castle on a handful of their upcoming tour dates (which we had discussed yesterday); one of the shows Blizaro is scheduled to play (July 31st in Pittsburgh) also will feature Brimstone Coven; a few lucky people will get the chance to see both Blizaro AND Pilgrim together. Further details about all this will be tucked into the comment section below, so be sure to check that out. But first, let’s talk about some music …
Brimstone Coven – Self-titled (2014); Castle – Welcome to the Graveyard (2016)
Brimstone Coven – Brimstone Coven (Metal Blade Records, 05 August 2014)
Castle – Welcome to the Graveyard (Ván Records, 15 July 2016)
Good afternoon, all you fine people visiting the Valley. Things have gotten a little bit hectic around here recently — I’ll never understand what it is that makes people want to go on vacation in the summertime when it’s so gross and hot and humid outside. Given the choice, I’d rather sit in an air-conditioned office all day, and save days off for later when I really don’t feel like going. Not that much writing happens while I’m at work anyhow, I’m plenty busy enough doing my actual job, but I usually at least can spend the day listening to stuff, and jotting down some little notes that I can turn into a full article or review later. But sometimes lately I haven’t had much chance to even think, let alone formulate coherent sentences.
But as always, there’s tons of stuff happening in the music world, new releases to tell you about, older stuff that you may have missed but really deserves your attention, tours kicking off that just might be coming through your city. And this will be a blend of all of those things: one band whose new album comes out next month, and who started a tour (that will last pretty much all summer long!) just last week; another band who released an excellent album two years ago but somehow we never got around to sharing it with you, and who will be joining the first band for a handful of those shows in a few weeks. So keep on reading, you’ll hear some great music, and the full set of dates for each band will be listed down below in the comments …
Win FREE Tickets for DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT / PRIMITIVE MAN / CULT LEADER in Pittsburgh!!
Steel Bridge Promotions Presents:
Dragged into Sunlight / Primitive Man / Cult Leader / Wilt
featuring Slaves BC & Pregnant Nun
Monday 04 July 2016
at The Mr. Roboto Project, 5106 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh 15224
ALL AGES, 7:00 pm (doors 6:30), $10
http://www.facebook.com/events/935142499872537/
After a long holiday weekend full of fireworks and partying (and, perhaps, checking out a bunch of bands Sunday night), surely the last thing anyone needs would be ANOTHER show Monday night — when all of us will already have a tough enough time dragging ourselves back to work the next morning as it is. Especially one that features a whopping THREE FOUR(!!) co-headliners (any one of which would be a huge deal if they came to town on their own) who are pretty much guaranteed to smash your brains to bits. And when you throw in two perennial local favorites, plus a special holiday menu of vegetarian fare available from Onion Maiden? Yeah.
Anyway, so Steel Bridge Promotions are bringing all of that to you on Independence Day, and I wouldn’t be surprised if this ends up with buildings exploding just like in the movie of the same name. This will surely be a spectacle not to be missed. Pre-sale tickets are available right now at their Big Cartel page… but for the next two weeks, you can WIN a pair of tickets for FREE, courtesy of Steel Bridge Promotions and Valley of Steel! Keep on reading to learn more…
Valley of Steel 