Tag Archives: USA

Get Yourself Some FREE Pittsburgh Metal: Innervenus Music Collective – Iron Atrocity v.2

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Innervenus Music Collective – Iron Atrocity v.2 (Innervenus Music, 03 August 2012)

 
Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past nine months, or have never ever seen a post on this blog before, chances are you’ve heard me talking about the Iron Atrocity project. This is purely a labor of love by the wonderful folks who run the Innervenus Music Collective, and designed as a showcase for the array of high-quality metal (and other related music) we’ve got here in the Pittsburgh area.

It’s been a long time coming, and there have been many trials and tribulations along the way, but the second edition of this compendium of local talent has been completed! Just like volume 1, this new collection will be handed out for free by Innervenus-related bands at shows and other events (beginning with the Iron Atrocity Vol.2 release show, which is scheduled for Friday 03 August 2012), but also just like its predecessor, the compilation can be downloaded for free — and it’s available right now!

The new CD has assembled tracks — some newly recorded, exclusively for the compilation, some taken from recent releases — from sixteen different local bands, all of whom have been mentioned on this website in some form or fashion, at one time or another. Nevertheless, I’ll give you the full rundown on all the songs, about an hour and a quarter in all, that will be yours FREE when you grab this download. All you need to do in return is listen and enjoy, spread the word, and whenever possible, show your support by heading out to some shows (or buying some merchandise)!

 
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Upcoming Shows: What To Do In Pittsburgh Tonight (17 July 2012)

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Allure of the Earth Productions presents:

Sons of Tonatiuh, Vulture, and Sistered

 

Mr. Roboto Project

5106 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh (Bloomfield)

 

17 July 2012 | 7:00pm doors | $7

 
http://www.facebook.com/events/285866544829061/

 
Atlanta’s Sons of Tonatiuh are making their way up to Pittsburgh tonight, to contaminate the Mr. Roboto Project with their southern sludge metal. This show is part of the band’s “Beckoning the End Tour,” which will continue through the end of the week with stops in Philadelphia, New York, Virginia, and North Carolina (see the image above). See their website for full details, including more upcoming shows in August and September.

 
Their new album Parade of Sorrow (just released in June) is available to hear or buy through Bandcamp…

 
…and here’s a video for “Consumed” from their 2010 self-titled LP (also available on Bandcamp).

 
 
Joining them will be those titans of Steel City Sludge, Vulture (who can also be heard on Bandcamp), and Cosmic Stoner Punk band Sistered (surprise, Bandcamp again).

Upcoming Shows: What To Do In Pittsburgh This Weekend (12-14 July 2012)

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Good afternoon! Since I waited around till the last minute to do this last week, and then I ended up not having it published on time, I wanted to make sure to get a head-start this week!

Pittsburgh-area readers, or those who might be within driving distance of the city during the coming weekend, here’s a collection of a few shows you might want to check out!

Did I miss any? Probably. If you know of anything else happening this week, let me know — or if you have suggestions of events for any future week, let me know about those too! Thanks…

 
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Time for Another “Signmeto” Unsigned Band Profile: Wearing the Inside Out

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Hey, what’s up, loyal readers? It’s been a long time since I’ve done one of these “Signmeto Roadrunner Records” Band Profiles. For a few months I was doing them on a weekly basis, but some scheduling issues arose and — as you may have noticed — I ended up missing a few weeks.

So what the hell leads me back to the Signmeto website today — on a Sunday, no less, when I normally don’t even do any writing or post anything at all? Well I just learned that local (Pittsburgh-area) band Wearing the Inside Out, who have a few of their songs on that site, are in the midst of a campaign to raise funds for their upcoming east coast tour. I only just found out about this today, but apparently this is the last day (the deadline is midnight tonight, about SIX HOURS from now!), so I wanted to share it as soon as I could.

As I always do in these Signmeto Band Profiles, I’ll check out the songs you can hear on the website and tell you a bit about them. I’ll also tell you about the great gifts (CDs, t-shirts, etc.) you can get for helping the band out with donations…

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Upcoming Shows: What To Do In Pittsburgh Tonight (7 July 2012)

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Good morning, Readers, and a happy Saturday to you!

I had all sorts of plans for yesterday, including another album review and a post to tell you about all the great shows happening in Pittsburgh last night and tonight… but, well, some things came up and I never did get a chance to get anything published.

It’s not such a big deal about the review, because I’ll get a chance to finish it sometime over the next couple days, but last night’s shows have already happened, and if you depend on this blog for news about local shows, then I’m sorry but you missed some good ones!

For example, The Cheats had their CD release show for their new album Pussyfootin! (read the review here), while also opening for Michale Graves on his War of Information Tour. Also appearing were local acts Children of October and Fist Fight in the Parking Lot. You can read more about the War of Information Tour here, and see if perhaps there’s another date you’re able to check out. The Cheats are also playing on a few other nearby shows — including tonight in Cleveland, tomorrow night in Huntington WV, and again next month in Altoona.

Other cool shows I didn’t get the chance to write about for last night included the Icarus Witch release party for their new album Rise (see the review for that one here), who were playing with Thunderfist, Rat Tits, and Reduce to Ash… and another show with local heavy-rockers Whiskey Rebellion.

I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for all these bands to be playing again, and will do my best to keep you informed about it if they do! But like I always say, I’m far from perfect, and I do miss stuff from time to time. (Also I’m not so delusional as to think that anybody out there really relies on me as their sole source of news!) I would highly recommend that you check out two other excellent sources of information, in addition to this one, for local events: The Pittsburgh Scene and MoshPittsburgh.

Having said all that, there are two shows I would like to let you know about for tonight (Saturday, 07 July)…
 
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Out Today: Icarus Witch – Rise

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Icarus Witch – Rise (03 July 2012, Cleopatra Records)

So way back in the dark ages (i.e. the 1990s), when I was in high school, Cleopatra Records was my favorite record label. I’d snatch up all of the compilations and tribute albums I could find at my local store, of their bands’ gothic and industrial cover songs, as well as CDs by Electric Hellfire Club, Mephisto Walz, Melting Euphoria, and lots more.

Eventually, my musical interests expanded in different directions, to include a lot more extreme metal genres, and inadvertently I had completely lost track of Cleopatra.

Fast-forward several years later, and it came to my attention that there was a band from Pittsburgh who had signed to that label, called Icarus Witch. Now, I didn’t know anything about that band (at first), but remembering the styles that Cleopatra was most closely associated with, I was very surprised when I learned that the label had also expanded its musical horizons far beyond where they used to be. Icarus Witch, for example, do a more traditional heavy metal thing with, some power metal influence. And, as it turns out, they’re pretty good at it.

 

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Out Today: The Cheats – Pussyfootin!

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The Cheats – Pussyfootin! (03 July 2012, Screaming Crow Records)

 
So I’d just like to go on the record as stating, holidays in the middle of the week are kinda stupid. Basically it’s like having a weekend, but it’s only one day: all day long there’s that feeling of dread that’s usually associated with Sundays, where it feels nice because you aren’t working, but you know you can’t really do anything especially crazy because you have to be up early the next morning to go back to work.

Lots of holidays are specifically designed to coordinate with your weekend — Memorial Day and Labor Day are on Mondays; Easter is on Sunday but most people get off work the Friday before it; and Thanksgiving is always a Thursday, but if you’re lucky that ends up turning into a four-day weekend.

Some of the other major holidays that could fall on any day of the week (because they have a specific date) can be flexible too: there’s New Years Eve, New Years Day, Christmas Eve, and Christmas Day, and usually it works out to where those holidays end up adjacent to a weekend, or you at least get both days off so it’s like having a second weekend anyway.

However, tomorrow (Wednesday) is the 4th of July, when we Americans celebrate our Independence Day because that was the date (two-hundred-thirty-some years ago) that some folks had signed the Declaration of Independence from Britain. While that was generally regarded as a good thing (people weren’t real happy about the way they were paying a whole bunch of taxes to the king while feeling like they weren’t really getting much in return), as a holiday it’s only significant enough to justify one day off work. That means, when it ends up being on a Wednesday, I get to be all excited to leave work on Tuesday (today), knowing that I’ll get a break the next day… but that excitement will be short-lived because Wednesday (tomorrow) I’ll realize that there’s still two days left in the week and I have to come back.

But all that seems pretty depressing, and I guess I should try to think positive: no matter what day of the week it is, it’s always better to have one day off than zero days! So, fuck it. I’m going to resolve to take advantage of the time I have, however short it may be, and enjoy myself tonight and tomorrow.

But, in order to have a good time, that would also require some good music, right? Naturally. Well, I’ve got just what the doctor ordered, and I’ll gladly tell you all about it…

 
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Hey, Look: Another New Borracho Video

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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.

 
Here’s the new video:

 
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Out Today: Power Theory – An Axe to Grind

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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.

 
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Out Last Month: The Reticent – Le Temps Detruit Tout

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The Reticent – Le Temps Detruit Tout (Heaven and Hell Records, 29 May 2012)

 
Well, shit.

I hate when I feel so overwhelmed by all the stuff I’ve got going on, that I start forgetting about things I was planning on doing. Does that happen to you? It’s like, everything needs my attention, everything needs to be a priority, and some stuff just unfortunately ends up falling through the cracks.

For example: it was about six weeks ago that I wrote about The Reticent — that post was just a comment on a news item about a politically-charged message that the band’s mastermind (and sole member) Chris Hathcock had shared on his Facebook page. But, at the same time, I had mentioned the (then) upcoming album (the band’s third full-length) Le Temps Detruit Tout (“Time Destroys All”), and I did mention then that I was planning on writing a review for the album.

Well, two weeks later, the album came out (on Heaven and Hell Records, who also released the previous two — in fact, the band’s 2006 debut Hymns for the Dejected was the first album that label ever released). And since then another four weeks have passed, and now I find myself digging through some unfinished drafts, when I stumbled upon this one. Not only did I forget to finish writing the review, but I almost shared this too late for you to enter the contest to win a copy of the CD!

When I say almost too late, I really mean it — the contest ends tomorrow (Friday, 29 June), so keep on reading, but then hurry up and hit the link near the end of this post, for your chance to win!!

 
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