Archive for the Sunday Metalhead Minute Category

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Sunday Metal Album: Poison the Well, The Tropic Rot

Posted in Sunday Metalhead Minute with tags , , , , , on Sunday, July 5, 2009 by Ryan Buege

As one of the most undeniably underrated bands in underground metal and hardcore during the last decade, Poison the Well has been consistently surpassing all expectations placed on  them through the thick and the thin. It’s honestly hard to believe that they held together long enough to record their last album Versions in 2007, a record that saw them step far outside the conventional confines of the metalcore sound which they had a huge part in originally pioneering; and it’s even harder to believe that their fanbase stuck with them through such mind-boggling changes. After all was said and done, the lucky ones who were still paying attention were left with one of the best progressive, post-hardcore albums in recent memory – a disc that is still growing on me to this day..

This week, Poision throws us for another loop with the release of their newly recorded opus The Tropic Rot. I’m still doubtful that this album will write Poison The Well the place in the metal/hardcore history books that they truly deserve, but that is no fault of their own… This is one vicious, thought-provoking release, and I hope that the critics don’t overlook the fine work of the dudes from PTW this time-around around. Mark my words: this is a strong album of the year contender. Listen in on their myspace for free today and see why…

FREE ALBUM STREAM PREVIEW: Poison the Well, The Tropic Rot (available 7/6)

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Sunday Metal Song: Suffocation, “Blood Oath”

Posted in Sunday Metalhead Minute with tags , , , on Sunday, June 21, 2009 by Ryan Buege

Like every other musical genre, over the course of the years the death metal landscape has become an over-populated sea composed mostly of bands relying on mimicry and unabashed idea stealing to produce a sound that nearly always comes back to the ideas started by the genre’s pioneers in the early 90s. But while all these new cats on the block aimless  try to make the “ultimate” death metal album, it seems unlikely that any of  them will ever push the revered innovators in Suffocation off of their throne. After five albums, the NYDM quintet continues to forge ahead with their sixth release next month, incessantly blazing a path that their peers will have no choice but to follow.

“Blood Oath” is the first track to be released from Suffocation’s forthcoming (releasing on July 3rd) full-length album of blisteringly brutal technical death metal, and it showcases a band firing on every cylinder, completely undeterred by the over-abundance of new bands trying aping their sound. On “Blood Oath”, Suffocation separates themselves from the pack with a masterful display of the headbang inducing rhythms, blasting drum hits, and sneering vocals that make them the envy of every death metal band on the planet. Listen in for yourself below…

LISTEN: Suffocation, “Blood Oath” (from Blood Oath, available 7/3)

Vodpod videos no longer available.

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Sunday Metal Song: Starkweather, “Shroud”

Posted in Sunday Metalhead Minute with tags , , , , , on Sunday, June 14, 2009 by Ryan Buege

The Sunday Metal Minute is back for another week, and yet again the underground metal mainstream has failed to provide me with any new media that I’m anxious to post (..I’m holding out on a Municipal Waste post until we either get some more tracks to leak or see a music video..), so I’ve decided to dig back into the Mind Inversion vaults. Without the albums released by this week’s pick, Starkweather, metal as we know it likely would not exist.

Though they are still relatively unknown to this day, early releases by Starkeweather such as Crossbearer and Into the Wire united the ferocious styles of death and doom metal with the no-bullshit straightforward hardcore of Youth of Today and Minor Threat and eventually contributed a directl influence current darlings including Converge, Mastodon, and the Dillinger Escape Plan among others. In fact, for those who need a comparison, I’d liken the plight of Starkweather to the same one that afflicted Anvil back in the 80s, where the most enjoyable aspects of the band’s abrasive, hard-rocking metal sound were co-opted by others to propel their success while Anvil continued to dwell in obscurity (at least until this year, that is..). However, unlike Anvil, Starkweather’s output from the early 90s still sounds ahead of its time today and could easily garner comparisons to recent output from the like-minded boundary pushers in Kylesa – and they still haven’t received their big break.

“Shroud” is a great example of the emotional depth and vicious ferocity that Starkweather was capable of. If you have never heard this band but enjoy any others that I’ve mentioned in this post, do yourself a favor and download this and then begin to search for more to add to your collection; recent reissues and a new album via Candlelight Records in 2006 have made it easier than in past years.

DOWNLOAD: Starkweather, “Shroud” (from Into the Wire, 1995)

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Sunday Metal Video: Mayhem, “Freezing Moon (live at Wacken)”

Posted in Sunday Metalhead Minute with tags , , , , , , , on Sunday, June 7, 2009 by Ryan Buege

Blackened Fest is here! Weak-minded fools would do best to stay away from Station 4 on Tuesday, when the black metal lords and their legions come out to lay siege to Minneapolis for the first time in over a decade.

LIVE VIDEO: Mayhem, “Freezing Moon (live at Wacken 2004)”

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Sunday Metal Song: Buried Inside, “Time as Imperialism”

Posted in Sunday Metalhead Minute with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , on Sunday, May 31, 2009 by Ryan Buege

Buried Inside

Nothing was really catching my eye as far as brand new metal media this week (..maybe I wasn’t looking hard enough?), so I’ve decided to dig back into my vault for this week’s Sunday Metal Minute. In addition to acknowledging my deep love of doom metal, this post serves to honor the date that Buried Inside hasscheduled w/ Battlefields at the 7th St. Entry on July 16th (which we announced earlier this week); download below and listen in to Buried Inside’s “Time As Imperialism” from 2004’s earth-shattering Chronoclast opus.

Besides the fact the the lineup is rounded out by a who’s-who of must-see local doom metal acts (Battlefields, Frontier, and Lungs), the appearance by Buried Inside alone will make this a metal show to sonically annihilate all other metal shows this summer, and I believe is pretty solid evidence.. Enjoy, and I hope to see you all at the show!

DOWNLOAD: Buried Inside, “Time As Imperialism” (from the album Chronoclast, 2004)
total time: 4:24 | size: 7.1 MB

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Sunday Metal Song: Darkest Hour, “No God”

Posted in Sunday Metalhead Minute with tags , , , , , , , on Sunday, May 24, 2009 by Ryan Buege

Outside of Ringworm and BTBAM, this band is the only Victory Records band that I even pay attention to anymore. Period. Over the years, the label’s taste have seriously gone downhill, but they have managed to hang onto a select few of aggressive musics finest names (and the most extensive and respected hardcore back catalog in existence). After you download the sampler containing their newest song from their forthcoming release The Eternal Return (..their first release since the departure of shredder Kris Norris and a self-professed return to the aggression and speed of Hidden Hands..), I won’t have my feelings hurt if you delete all the other tracks. Scratch that – I actually recommend you delete the excess songs to focus on the thrashy goodness contained within this reintroduction to a band that has never let me down yet.

DOWNLOAD: Darkest Hour, “No God” (from The Eternal Return, available 6/23)

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Sunday Metal Song: Clutch, “50,000 Unstoppable Watts”

Posted in Sunday Metalhead Minute with tags , , , , on Sunday, May 17, 2009 by Ryan Buege

Clutch is back with a powerful new track called “50,000 Unstoppable Watts” from their forthcoming Strange Cousins from the West album, and our friends at the MetalSucks Clutch, Strange Cousins of the Westmansion were kind enough to offer an exclusive premiere. The release is due in stores on July 7th, and if this track is any indication, it looks like Clutch won’t be straying too far from the riff-heavy, groovy prog rock they’ve displayed on some of the exceptional releases they’ve put out this decade. In fact, while it’s hardly a sound that qualifies for the “metal” classification I’ve thrown on them in this post, it seems to marry the wicked boot-stomping heaviness that originally introduced me to Clutch with the swampy classic rock and blues that eventually started to infest their minds more seamlessly than ever. My prediction is that this will be the album to satisfy your summer hard rock craving; I hope Clutch finally get the radio play they deserve with Strange Cousins. Get this one while it’s hot!

LISTEN: Clutch, “50,000 Unstoppable Watts” (from Strange Cousins from the West, available 7/7)

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Sunday Metal Video: The Chariot, “Daggers”

Posted in Sunday Metalhead Minute with tags , , , , , , , , , , on Sunday, May 10, 2009 by Ryan Buege

The Chariot is a band that seems to have gotten the short end of the stick during the last few years. Mostly because he left Norma Jean right before they really started to go downhill, I don’t think Josh Scogin’s The Chariot has ever really gotten the kudos they deserve for the freeform, peerless, raucous punk-n-metal noise that they create. Somehow the crappiness of latter NJ releases unfortunately tended to overshadow the consistenly awesome output that Scogin’s new band contrbuted to the music world, but hopefully some of that will start to change. Landing on the music map somewhere among an array of bands such as Converge, Lightning Bolt, Meshuggah, Sonic Youth, and Drive Like Jehu, I believe The Chariot are a band who have earned the right to be mentioned among the hardcore genre’s modern luminaries for their commitment to purely original and exciting underground punk rock.

The band just released their new album Wars and Rumors of Wars, and I’m hoping that this will finally be the one to grant them their justified notoriety as one of hardcore and metals most independently minded collectives. For a preview, watch their visually stunning new video for “Daggers” below and get a sense of the controlled, epic, experimental chaos that the The Chariot creates. …And local residents take note: tomorrow they’ll be in St. Paul for a show with equally exceptional modern tech/death metal bands Gojira and Car Bomb; don’t miss it!

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Sunday Metal Song: Kylesa, “Said and Done”

Posted in Sunday Metalhead Minute with tags , , , , , , , on Sunday, May 3, 2009 by Ryan Buege

kylesa

Kylesa just came to Minneapolis last week for a performance at the Fine Line, but with all the lavish attention thrown at Mastodon, it maybe was unfortunately too easy to overlook the incredible show that these Savannah, GA natives put on that night. This post is here to straighten out anyone who can admit to this shame.

“Said and Done” is a grandiose track that showcases all this brilliant band’s  best qualities; bombastic cascades of drum thunder are the anchor to some of the thickest guitar grooves this side of Entombed and enough nasty psychedelic metal embellishments to make anyone’s jaw drop. Kylesa is clearly firing on all cylinders these days, and they sound they best I’ve heard from them so far! Check it out for yourself – courtesy of SXSW.

MP3: Kylesa, “Said and Done” (from Static Tensions, available now)

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Sunday Metal Song: Pestilence, “Devouring Frenzy”

Posted in Sunday Metalhead Minute with tags , , , , , , on Sunday, April 26, 2009 by Ryan Buege

Pestilence is back in action (kind of) with a new video for “Devouring Frenzy” from the band’s newest album, Resurrection Macabre – their first album since Spheres was released in 1993. Death metal fans will be happy to know that even 15 years out of the game the band hasn’t lost any fire; in fact, “Devouring Frenzy” indicates the dudes are only getting more vicious with age and new recording advances. Still as technically progressive as I remembered them, “Devouring Frenzy” has extra muscle where it matters. This is sure to be just one of many great many brutal death metal releases this year (Nile, Behemoth – I’m looking at you) and this Sunday Metal Minute acknowledgment is my effort to ensure that this one doesn’t get overlooked by young ones..

VIDEO: Pestilence, “Devouring Frency (from Resurrection Macabre, available now)

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