Hello. It’s time once again to talk about “What To Do In Pittsburgh” this weekend. There are a couple cool goings-on in the world of heavy music, coming up this Saturday (19 May) that I’d like to bring to your attention — one in Pittsburgh, and one that’s a few hours away (but both involve local area musicians). And just to remind you once again, 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.
Tag Archives: USA
Now Available for Pre-Order: Coffinworm – Great Bringer of Night (Vinyl Reissue Shipping Soon!)
Good afternoon! How are you on this lovely Wednesday? Personally, I’m pretty sure I’m about to choke somebody. I don’t know who yet, but it’ll be the next person who says something about how gorgeous the weather is outside. It isn’t raining, and it’s actually been pretty sunny for most of the day, and if you’ve never been to Pittsburgh then you probably don’t realize how rare that is — especially in the springtime. In general, though, we have one of the lowest average numbers of sunny days in the whole United States. Even fewer than Seattle — although we don’t get as much rain, if you factor in cloudy or partly cloudy days and overcast days, we average fewer sunny days per year. True story; you can Google it if you don’t believe me.
So anyway, on the rare occasions that the sun is actually shining and there’s no precipitation around, all these idiots walk around prattling on about what a beautiful day it is, until you feel like you’re going to vomit. Being shut inside a windowless office all day is kind of a double-edged sword, too. On one hand, you don’t have to be subjected to the stupid sun, but on the other hand, all the people around you feel some sense of obligation to give you the goddamn weather report at least once an hour.
Unfortunately, I don’t have an office door. I think there’s an official policy somewhere that dictates who exactly can qualify for an office with a door, and I’m definitely not there yet. In fact, the people one or two levels above me on the organization chart also don’t have doors, and I have no idea how much time and hard work it will take to rise three whole levels on that chart. I suspect it doesn’t involve spending half of one’s day writing a metal blog, though. So for now, I have to make do with the invisible, virtual door provided by loud music through a pair of headphones. It makes the days pass by more quickly, and sends a clear signal that I don’t want to be disturbed by any passers-by.
On a day like today, though, it takes a little bit extra to be able to block out the outside world — some music that’s especially miserable and filthy and nasty. If you’ve been paying attention to Facebook today, you might have noticed that I spent part of the day with Vulture. That helped for a while, and then since I was already in a dirty, sludgey, agonizing kind of mood, I’ve moved on to Coffinworm.
Although it might feel like this band has been around forever, based on the amount of underground cred they seem to have accumulated, they’ve really only been around for a couple of years — their debut full-length When All Became None was just released by Profound Lore about two years ago, while the three-track demo Great Bringer of Night had been self-released about one year earlier. While that demo had been made available for an extremely limited run of physical copies, those have been pretty hard to come by for a long time now.
Well, all that’s about to change, because The Flenser has been kind enough to repackage the songs, along with the demo versions of two additional tracks from around the same time, got all five remastered by James Plotkin, and stuck them on some vinyl inside the warm and inviting cover whose artwork (by Bryan Proteau) you can see at the top of this page.
The Reticent’s Chris Hathcock – Not Very Reticent About NC Gay Marriage Ban!
Apologies for the lame joke in the title of this post, but I just couldn’t pass it up! Thanks to Clawhammer PR for bringing this story to my attention.
The Reticent‘s Chris Hathcock recently denounced the May 8th passage of Amendment One, North Carolina’s constitutional amendment prohibiting the legal recognition of domestic unions, including same-sex marriages. The amendment, which has made North Carolina a national focal point for the issue, defines marriage as solely a union between a man and a woman, and expands an existing North Carolina law banning gay marriage.
Said denunciation primarily came last week in the form of re-posting an image (which I’d already seen multiple times on Facebook) depicting various types of marriage, as described throughout the bible and in the laws of biblical times. However, in this particular context, Hathcock directed his message specifically at the Reverend Billy Graham:
The Reticent is collectively disappointed in North Carolina’s passage of an exclusivist, misguided, and ill-informed piece of legislature today. The mind reels. It is all too clear what really fueled those voters that checked “For” which is terribly disheartening. Billy Graham took out an ad in 14 NC newspapers proclaiming his support and we quote him: “The Bible is clear…”. Alright, then we would like to posit the following as other examples of marriage found in that text.
Mr. Graham has already displayed — on far too many occasions to count — his sick and twisted version of Christianity which has nothing to do with loving thy neighbor or any sort of a golden rule. Therefore, his direct support of a law which serves no positive or helpful purpose whatsoever, and exists only for the sake of excluding rights and liberties from a specific group of citizens, comes as no real surprise.
The reasoning in this case, though, seems to be the source of Mr. Hathcock’s frustration: there’s plenty of outdated (and just plain wrong) information written in the bible, so it makes little sense for anyone to base their entire lives on something that was written thousands of years ago. But even disregarding that, it certainly makes less sense for any law in this country to be based solely on a religious text (without any other grounds for that law’s existence), when (according to Black’s Law Dictionary) the First Amendment to the United States Constitution includes a provision “that prohibits the federal and state governments from establishing an official religion, or from favoring or disfavoring one view of religion over another.”
Anyway, apparently if you make a public statement that is contrary to a decision made by majority vote in certain places — California, for example — it just gets dismissed as another case of Hollywood liberals and most people barely even notice. However if you do the same thing in a place like North Carolina, I guess it’s a much bigger deal. Following that post, it seems a great deal of argument erupted (both for and against the legislation), prompting a second post a day later:
The anger and vitriol on all sides of the current debate in our home state and country is troubling to us. And further we do not want to entertain any further debate on our page because all we want to do is make music. The thing that is most staggering and regretful in all of this is that it seems we as a people cannot have an earnest discussion about this. Are we only capable of venom and hostility? I’m not about to tell you what to think, there are enough people doing that in all our lives already. But regardless of your stance, if we can’t all sit down and have a reasoned, honest, and legitimate discussion of this issue – we will only tear further apart. Once more, we do not wish to use this page to play host to any debate or soapboxing. Yet since we made a statement (which we thought was mild and humorous) we have found it clearly necessary to bring closure to this can of worms. Here ends our political ranting.
Very well, we can let the discussion end here and talk about music instead.
Get ’em While They’re Hot: Download Some FREE Music from Black Sleep of Kali!
Feeling kind of lazy on a Saturday afternoon, the perfect sort of day to chill out with some sludgey doomy slow jams.
Well, as luck would have it, Denver’s always-awesome Black Sleep of Kali have just announced that they’re giving away some new songs for free this weekend!
This band was another one that I discovered through one the Sludge Swamp‘s Swamp Comp collections. The song “Chorus of Flies,” which was taken from the band’s 2009 EP, was included in that compilation, and when I heard it I thought it was such a perfect composition of fuzzed-out sludginess that I just had to seek out more information about the band. So I was wrote myself a note to look them up the next time I was at my computer — but later when I looked at the note, it looked like I had written “Black Sheep” instead of “Black Sleep” and I (understandably) had a hell of a time searching for anything.
But luckily I eventually got that straightened out, and found them on Facebook. I also got myself a copy of that EP, and the rest of it is just as good as the first song that I heard. Anyway, fast forward to today, and like I was saying, I’ve learned that they’ve got four new songs to give away! Apparently back in March they put together a split LP with Union of Sleep (four songs from each band), which is currently available on 12″ vinyl through This Charming Man and Per Koro. And, BSOK were kind enough to announce that throughout this weekend, you can download their half of the record for free (or for whatever price you choose)! You won’t want to miss this deal…
Two Reviews for the Price of One: Ritalin Attack – James Doesn’t Exist Split + Gutter Bombin’
Ritalin Attack / James Doesn’t Exist – Split (13 April 2012, Torn Flesh Records)
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Ritalin Attack – Gutter Bombin’ (07 May 2012, Torn Flesh Records)
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Hey there. I thought it’d never get here, but it’s finally Friday!! And there was much rejoicing. Yay.
So, remember last week when I was talking about music journalists who somehow find the time to also be musicians?
Well, at that time I also started writing this review of the recent split release between Ritalin Attack (the brainchild of Ross Gnarly, of American Aftermath fame) and fellow one-man grind band James Doesn’t Exist, which was intended to be published that same day as kind of a companion piece. But then, as it often does, life got in the way and I didn’t get it finished on-time.
Then, ironically, on Monday I learned that Torn Flesh Records had issued another Ritalin attack release, called Gutter Bombin’. I said ironically, because here I sit, unable to complete one article written on-schedule, and meanwhile an entire album of music (well, more of a mini-EP, to be fair) had been written and recorded AND released.
It’s no wonder Ross manages to write and publish nearly 4,000 articles a week (approximately), and it’s also completely fitting that this artist’s name should refer to Ritalin. Also known as Methylphenidate, Ritalin is a drug often prescribed to treat Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) — probably a condition with a high rate of occurrence among performers and fans alike in the grindcore scene — despite the fact that the medication itself is a stimulant, and from a chemical standpoint is basically a milder form of cocaine. Of course I’m not a doctor or a scientist or whatever, but I have absolutely no idea why that would help.
Anyway, the point of all this is, I’ve now edited and amended what I originally had begun writing, so that now it covers both releases — including how to download each of them 100% free, from the nice people at Torn Flesh.
Out Last Month: Author & Punisher – Ursus Americanus
Author & Punisher – Ursus Americanus (24 April 2012, Seventh Rule Recordings)
Good afternoon, readers. You might remember about two months ago, when I told you about a couple preview tracks from the new Author & Punisher album, Ursus Americanus (as well as an interview with the mechanical engineer Tristan Shone who is the architect of these technological soundscapes).
Well, in case you forgot or you haven’t been paying attention, that album has since been released by Seventh Rule, and is now available for streaming, or to purchase the album download or CD, whichever is your preferred method for experiencing post-apocalyptic harsh industrial nightmares…
Do you remember the basic idea behind The Matrix movies? At some point in the future, humans have built machines that developed higher and higher levels of intelligence, until eventually they became self-aware and rebelled against the people who had created them. “The Matrix,” or the reality that we all perceive, is actually just an artificial virtual environment created by those machines to occupy the minds of the human slaves who are kept as sources of energy; meanwhile, the “real world,” or the actual reality outside of the Matrix, is a war-torn, post-apocalyptic hellscape as the result of generations of battles between men and machines.
In that reality, where the machines are the dominant ‘species’ and nearly all of mankind is reduced to the role of subserviant ‘batteries,’ so to speak, one would imagine that there would be plenty of leisure time for those advanced technological creations. Perhaps they get together for parties or go out to a night club. And when they do, this is their soundtrack.
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Out Last Month: Dreaming Dead – Midnightmares
Dreaming Dead – Midnightmares (Self-released, 20 April 2012)
So it’s been about three weeks since Midnightmares, the new Dreaming Dead album was made available. As you may recall, I told you they were giving it away for free on the day it was released. Did you see that post, and did you take advantage of that offer? If you did, feel free to share your opinion in the comments below — I’d love to hear from you. If you missed it, though, I’m sorry — but you should totally consider taking advantage of subscribing to the Valley News email updates or RSS feed (see the relevant links somewhere on this page), or heading over to Facebook and “liking” the Valley of Steel page, because I’m always sharing information about freebies like that when I hear about them, and maybe next time you can be better informed!
In any case, if you haven’t had a chance to check out this lovely slice of progressive death-thrash yet, don’t worry — it might not be available to download for free any more, but you can still catch a stream of the album at the band’s website, and they’re also selling it in download, CD, and LP formats!
Upcoming Shows: What To Do In Pittsburgh This Weekend (12 May 2012)
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.
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.
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