Finally, new Napalm Death has arrived! I’ll be posting a review on this one next week, but if you want to listen to the streaming version for yourself now (and watch a bunch of other goodies), head to their Myspace profile:
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Time Waits For No Slave will receive a proper release in the states on February 10th through Century Media.
After over three years and $65 million spent on the production of Steven Soderbergh’s epic biopic about the Cuban revolutionary Ernesto “Che” Guevara, the critically divisive movie will finally make a debut on Minnesota screens tomorrow at the Uptown Theatre in Minneapolis. The epic 4-hour, 2-part film starring Benicio del Toro apparently plays much like a diary and serves as a very accurate, documentary-like depiction of the motivations that fueled this leader, teacher, fighter, and eternal symbol of human rights and protest. Rightfully so, as the script was actually adapted from Guevara’s own diaries. The first part of the film, “The Argentine”, is taken from “Reminiscences of the Cuban Revolutionary War” (detailing the birth of the Cuban revoltuion and eventual overthrow of the Batista government), and second segment, called “Guerilla” (covering Che’s ill-fated continuation of the Latin American Revolution in Bolivia) is taken from his “Bolivian Diary”. Needless to say, I’m pretty excited to see if these guys were able to make a movie that lives up to the monumental image of Che that I hold in my head. ..well, Del Toro still has yet to let me down, so I’m very optimistic.
Che will be shown in its entirety at the Uptown Theatre for only one week before it is officially released as a seperate features for individual viewing. Click here for more information on the showing and watch the trailer below:
Death metal, black metal and doom metal – to an outsider of metal, there’s little distinction between any of these labels. To a knowledgeable listener, though, these terms take on a new life. These are weighty words known to describe the most extreme of all metal music. Each of these underground breeds of metal specialize in their own flavor of assault – from the brutal riffing of death to the overwhelming atmosphere of black metal to the bleak, plodding heaviness of doom. In recent years, metal fans have benefited from a sea of bloodthirsty new bands that are pushing the extremes of these styles to an incomprehensible degree while each is trying to make their own lasting mark on genre. One of of my favorite recent releases of this kind is Horoskopus, by Seattle’s Book of Black Earth, an album of chaotic headbanging metal anthems balancing on an ungodly trinity all of the extremes – death, black, doom \m/
Whether it’s a crushing groove, a spine-tingling solo, a wall of noise, or an addictive hook, Book of Black Earth connects the dots seamlessly. The focus behind the attack is powered with massive, layered soundscapes and brutal death metal riffing. When it comes to death metal albums like this one, if it’s big & beautiful, I’m all for it, and thankfully Book of Black Earth never forgets this. However, despite all of the albums maniacal power, the true beauty of this album is rooted in the band’s ability to simulataneously contrast the deadly brutality with blackened, psychedelic soundwaves and doomy tonal ambience. It seems to find a very unique marriage between what I enjoy in all of my music – both catchy and extreme. Horoskopus is an intense, demanding, fun, and eye-opening release and a definite buy for any fan of extreme metal.
This was an amazing show on Saturday night (Jan. 10, 2009) at the Hexagon bar in Minneapolis from up-and-coming progressive/experimental black metal band Høst from Fargo. The show was opened by local psychedelic drone/doomgazers Vernal Pool, mathcore riff masters Said the Shotgun to the Head, death-grinders Ambassador Gun, and Eau Claire metal band Desolate Void
A new supergroup has been born, and it features members of Neurosis, Melvins, St. Vitus, Hidden Hand, Om, and Sleep. It’s been speculated for a while, but this week it was revealed that the forces of doom metal luminaries Scott Kelly, Wino, Al Cisneros, and Dale Crover have joined together as Shrinebuilder to produce what promises to be one awesome fucking album. Really, there’s no possible way for this to be anything less than stellar. Luckily, my fellow stoners and I won’t have to wait long to hear what they’re writing. The band hits the studio this weekend and apparently they’ll be posting updates on Scott’s blog throughout the project. We’ll just have to pay attention to the updates for a sneak peak, until we can see what Shrinebuilder releases their first album later this year…
Scott’s first studio update, today, revealed it will be something to look forward to:
Allright here we go… Last night we played together as a full band for the first time, there was immediate thunder. The truth was revealed within seconds.
Trent Reznor truly is the man of the future. ..Really I bet this guy is having more fun continuously pleasing and exciting his fanbase than anyone you can imagine. From NIN.com this week:
The internet is full of surprises these days.
I was contacted by a mysterious, shadowy group of subversives who SOMEHOW managed to film a substantial amount (over 400 GB!) of raw, unedited HD footage from three separate complete shows of our Lights in the Sky tour. Security must have been lacking at these shows because the quality of the footage is excellent.If any of you could find a LINK to that footage I’ll bet some enterprising fans could assemble something pretty cool.
Oh yeah, you didn’t hear this from me.
Videos of the show are already starting to pop up on the bands forum, and as time goes on, it’s presumable we’ll see some even better releases. In the meantime, Reznor’s fans will keep waiting to see what he’ll do next as they enjoy their free FAN CREATED concert dvds. Visit This One Is On Us to read more about the project.
FREE! Any smart Minneapolis music fan should do themselves a huge favor and check out this free showcase this week from some of the areas best metal bands. For those not aware, Høst has been recently been afforded the honor of receiving Decibel Magazine‘s 25th Best Extreme Metal Album of 2008 (placing them somewhere between internationally beloved bands such as Testament and Opeth). It’s quite an honor for a small band from the Minnesota scene that has barely had the chance to play 20 shows locally. Not to mention, their s/t album was my favorite regional metal release of the year. Høst is an innovative journey that takes both black metal and experimental rock through new ideas; a blizzard of an album that will please fans of all types of progressive and extreme music. Opening support is provided by Minneapolis grind’n’rollers Ambassador Gun, St. Paul deathgrinders Said the Shotgun to The Head, gritty Eau Claire metalheads Desolate Void, and Minneapolis metalgazers Vernal Pool. See you there!
FREE! FREE! FREE! FREE!
Neko case has recently posted an awesome video online previewing her new album, Middle Cyclone. This red-headed alt-country darling has my favorite female voice in music and this album looks like it should be pretty awesome; kudos to her for what appears to be an extremely organic recording process. I’m sure the atmosphere of the barn amplified the musicians sound quite nicely. Middle Cyclone will be available on March 3, 2009.
The elusive Japanese quartet of ethereal, engaging, dynamic post-rock noisemakers known as MONO has finally revealed more information about their followup to the brilliant 2006 album, You Are There. In their words:
Now we can officially announce the release of our 5th album, Hymn to the Immortal Wind. It has been 3 years since the release of our last album and we are truly grateful to still be able to create our music today. Being together as a band for 10 years has brought forth some changes and has hopefully allowed us to grow. We have created a special site to give you a preview of what to expect from Hymn To The Immortal Wind. Please check it out.
According to their website, Hymn To The Imortal Wind will see a U.S. release on March 24, 2009! Right now, for your listening pleasure (we’re bypassing MONO’s flash program), here is the first song from the album, “Ashes in the Snow“. Mark your calendars! Tracklist is:
1. “Ashes in the Snow” (DOWNLOAD MP3)
MIND INVERSION 