Metal & Hardcore A/V roundup: Torche, Heaven and Hell, Chimaira, Toxic Holocaust and more

Posted in Media with tags , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on Tuesday, May 5, 2009 by Ryan Buege

Everyone else has been belly-achin’ on this site for a solid week now about the insane amount of homework that’s on their plate (along with too many paid work hours to count) leading into the final week of school, and for me the situation is no different. I’ve had my head buried in schoolwork for nearly two weeks now, and it doesn’t look like I’ll be completely free for the summer for a few more days yet.

However, this afternoon after my ethics presentation, I was able to spend a few minutes combining all of the best free metal media I’ve collected over the course of the last month into a single, easy-to-digest post for you all to enjoy. It’s not often that I make a post that is packed this full of goodies, so feel free to thank me for catching you up with all these incredible new headbangers. Sit back, and just be ready to keep hitting play! We start thing off with a sweet new super-psychedelic music video from our friends in Torche…

Torche

Video: Torche, “Across Shields” (music video) – I’ll start things off with my favorite metal media post of the month. Really, I have no clue what Torche is doing in their new video for “Across Shields” from Meanderthal (available now), but either way it’s hilarious. This stuff makes me feel like I’m a kid again, and I can’t hate that!

Video: Chimaira, “Destroy and Dominate” (music video) – Chimaira is back with The Infection, and their first music video for “Destroy and Dominate” is their most satsifying visual accompaniment yet. Finally, the band’s has a video that gives proper treatment to the tremendous grooves and riffs they crank out. They deserved a video that can convey them as the behemoth metal juggernaut they have truly become, and this is it.

Video: Black Dahlia Murder, Majesty dvd trailer – The dudes in Black Dahlia Murder are coming out with a DVD called Majesty that will finally prove they are as funny as every interviewer says they are. I’m not sure what they mean at the start when they say that they can’t use any copyrighted songs, so I’m hoping that there’s still plenty of ass-kicking death metal to go around.

Video: Heaven and Hell, “Bible Black” (music video) – Everyone in the world knows that Ozzy spends most of his hours making a fool of himself, but what no one’s probably aware of is that the rest of Black Sabbath is still busy making classics without him. Former Black Sabbath vocalist Ronnie James Dio is back with his old bandmates and are now dubbed Heaven & Hell (to avoid confusion), and they are making new rockers such as “Bible Black” that stack up admirably against their legendary back catalog.

Video: Toxic Holocaust, “Nuke The Cross” (music video) – The young Portland thrashers Toxic Holocaust release “Nuke the Cross” their second video from their Relapse debut An Overdose of Death – and they mean business! Ripping video!

MP3: Orcustus, “Asphyxiokenisis” – Underground duo (formerly featuring Infernus and Tormentor from Gorgorth) strongly tied to the legendary Norwegian black metal scene released their self titled debut in March. Download the Mp3 courtesy of Southern Lord to become familiar with their brutal contrubition to the art of black metal.

Anaal Nathrakh

Streaming Audio: Anaal Nathrakh, “More of Fire Than Of Blood” & “The Lucifer Effect” (from In the Constellation of the Black Widow, available 6/29)

Streaming Audio: Coalesce, “Wild Ox Moan” & “Questions to Root Out Fools” (from OX, available 6/9)

Streaming Audio: Buried Inside, Spoils Of Failure (full album stream) (available now)

MP3: Disappearer, “A Skull Full of Bats” (from The Clearing, available TODAY 5/5)

Streaming Audio: Millions, Gather Scatter (full album stream) (available now)

MP3: Children, “Death Tribes” (from Hard Times Hanging at the End of the World, available 5/12)

Fleet Foxes release “Mykonos” 7″ and plan tour dates

Posted in Audio, Concert Dates, Downloads, Music News with tags , , , , , , , on Tuesday, May 5, 2009 by Erik Burg

robin-pecknold     The beloved folk-pop group Fleet Foxes have already toured once in support of their chart topping 2008 release of the same name, and now they’re sketching out some more dates for this summer as well.

     The tour is fairly scattered, including many festival dates both here and across the pond, but the boys were nice enough to squeeze in a First Avenue show on August 9. Tickets are on sale now for $22 (get them here). If you’re a fan of their records at all they are certainly worth seeing live, when I had the chance to see them at Pitchfork last year the acoustics of an outdoor setting didn’t bog them down at all, and they still sounded amazing. So I know I’m certianly excited for a more intimate setting, but if you’re a big festival goer there are plenty of chances to see them at these fine gatherings:

5-25 Sasquatch

6-23 Hove Festival

6-26 Glastonbury 

7-31 All Points West

8-07 Lollapalooza 

     Fleet Foxes released a new single today as well. The “Mykonos” 7″ features the awesome “False Knight On The Road” on the Bfleetfoxes_mykonos2side. MP3s of False Knight have been floating around on the web for a while now, but here it gets a well deserved official release. “False Knight On The Road” is well worth the purchase, the echoing vocals recorded mostly by frontman Rob Pecknold are much more in line with his or fellow Fox’s J. Tillman solo projects, but the song could have just as easily appeared on their self-titled group debut. If you’re broke though, or out a record player, check the MP3 below for what you’re missing. Enjoy!

Fleet Foxes – “False Knight On The Road”

Incubus preface greatest hits comp with new “Black Heart Inertia” video

Posted in Video with tags , , , , , , , , on Monday, May 4, 2009 by Ryan Buege

Vodpod videos no longer available.

It’s hard to believe that these guys have been playing together for nearly two decades, but that’s the truth. From the looks of the band on their new video for “Black Heart Inertia”, it’s hard to tell if they’ve aged a day since the first time I remember coming across their music. Either way, as with every other time they release something new, Incubus continues to sound refreshingly renewed with this new song…

On June 16, Incubus will be celebrating their extensive back catalog with a greatest hits release entitled Monuments and Melodies – the 2xCD will also include two new Brendan O’Brien produced tracks (one of which gets the music video treatment seen here) and plenty of bonus material to satisfy (including a cover of Prince’s “Let’s Go Crazy”). For those of you who already own most of the first album, I’d recommend looking to digital downloads to handpick the ones you’re missing.

Keep reading for the full tracklist for Monuments and MelodiesContinue reading

Download: The Cool Kids & Don Cannon, Gone Fishin’ (Mixtape)

Posted in Downloads, Media with tags , , , on Monday, May 4, 2009 by Tim Althaus

cool-kids

Here it is guys. The Cool Kids & Don Cannon team up for this 21 track mixtape. As my man Erik mentioned in an earlier post, this is their first material since The Bake Sale EP came out last year. Make sure you grab this one, it won’t dissapoint.

Dowload: Gone Fishin (The Cool Kids & Don Cannon)

*Click on the picture for a bigger view of the tracklisting.

Alchemist Talks to PowerPlayed.com

Posted in Media, Video with tags , , on Monday, May 4, 2009 by Tim Althaus

Vodpod videos no longer available.
Hey guys, sorry it has been so long since you have heard from me. I, just like Erik (and most likely Ryan), am falling victim of finals at school and have been sumbmursed in school related activities constantly for the last week. Not only that, but I haven’t really found too much very interesting in music news lately so I haven’t had the urge to write.

This video however is different. I spotted this one over at 2DopeBoyz. Alchemist sat down with the people over at PowerPlayed.com to discuss a variety of issues. I love how they use the beat for “Stuck On You” by Prodigy, it’s easily my favorite beat that Al has ever produced. He talks about his influences from the east and west coast and has a nice metaphor about the body and blood of Hip-Hop. Next he talks about how DJ Muggs basically got Alchemist introduced to Mobb Deep and started that connection going. The part I love about the video is it has a clip of Al building a beat in the studio for his upcoming album, he is a genius when it comes to making beats. Make sure you check this one out, and go out and get Chemical Warfare May 19th.

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)

The Mars Volta resurfaces with “Cotopaxi” from upcoming Octahedron

Posted in Audio with tags , , , , , , , on Saturday, May 2, 2009 by Ryan Buege

Jon over at Sound Verite was kind enough to clue us in to a new Mars Volta track, the first to surface from the band’s upcoming Octahedron album. This album announcement kind of blindsided me, and the fact that an Mp3 is already on the net is the cherry on top of any already satisfactory dessert. It will hit the streets on June 23rd, but in the meantime, I’m on the edge of my seat for any more morsels of this prog rock perfection to drop on the interwebs. Stay tuned…

MP3: The Mars Volta, “Cotopaxi” (from Octahedron, available 6/23)

ps. Don’t forget about the “solo” side project release ORL has lined up for May! It is another year in which TMV reigns!

The Cool Kids release two new tracks in anticipation of new mixtape

Posted in Audio, Downloads, Music News with tags , , , , , , , on Friday, May 1, 2009 by Erik Burg

The indie friendly hip-hop stars Mikey Rocks and Chuck Inglish have been busy since their stellar Bake Sale EP release in 2008. With the release of the That’s Stupid Mixtape the same year in conjunction with a tour, and now they’re working on their second studio album When Fish Ride Bicycles slated for release later this year. But they’ve got another project ready to drop this week. The Gone Fishing Mixtape will be released Monday May 4th on Cake Recordings.

gone-fishing

The tape was produced and performed along side their long time friend Don Cannon, and the two singles that they leaked today display some of their best work to date. “Champions” shows some of the Cool Kids most interesting production to date, adding tons of fuzzed out and over the top bass lines to the usual snare kicks that they’ve perfected by now. I absolutely love this track, the way that the chorus bangs is absolutely unreal. Maybe it’s not quite as smooth as some of their other material and a little bit more of what some people would call “mainstream” but it’s still awesome. The other single, “Popcorn” is a lot more in line with their other material. Some really good samples and some really smooth vocals. It’s always a good mix for Mikey and Chuck.

The Cool Kids – “Champions”

The Cool Kids – “Popcorn”

So grab the MP3s and check their blog Monday to download the whole Gone Fishing Mixtape!

Concert Recap & Video: Mastodon, Kylesa, Intronaut @ the Fine Line Music Cafe

Posted in Concert Reviews with tags , , , , , , , , , on Thursday, April 30, 2009 by Ryan Buege

Mastodon live at the Fine Line

Last night, April 29, 2009, the the conceptual prog/thrash/stoner metal masters in Mastodon came to the Fine Line Music Cafe in the heart of downtown Minneapolis’s  club district to support of their brilliant new album Crack the Skye, and they put together a gripping set that had the MN crowd salivating for more. It’s one thing to make every one of your albums into a separate concept piece, but it’s an entirely different story when you are able to execute that concept, front-to-back, in front of the live audience. However, Mastodon did just that by dedicating the entire first half of their set to the new release, and it didn’t end there they treated each of their releases with the same type of reverence, playing back through their career with mini-conceptual sets devoted to Blood Mountain, Leviathan, and Remission.

Crack the Skye was played in order, and it couldn’t have sounded better than it did at the Fine Line on Wednesday. The guitars were thick, loud, and crunching over the insane drum textures of Brann Dailor, sounding heavy as hell at times and lush and beautiful at others. Mastodon has the unique ability to play heavy rock that tends to get tripped out never loses sight of the fact that it’s main purpose is to fuckin’ rock! Fine Line’s sold out crowd certainly appreciated the heaviness throughout the night, and the moshing only subdued a few times during some of the most Pink Floydian moments.

However, things really kicked into high gear when the band stepped back onto stage for their second set of the night. As the band roared into the first notes of the psychonaut thrasher “Bladecatcher” from Blood Mountain, a renewed fervor hit the pit that didn’t let up until the end. Fans seemed to celebrate each time a new song began, a sure sign that of the future trouble the band might have in putting together albums that can stack up against their back catalog. Nevermind that though, because tonight the band has a more control of their sound and their crowd than any other band I’ve seen all year. The show was an ambitious one, but in the end it brought things full circle, beautifully introducing fans of the old the the new and vice versa.

Not to be outdone, the underground pyschedelic sludge metal vets Kylesa is came into town supporting their new album Static Tensions and played a set that left most of the crowd taking serious note of who was on stage in front of them. To anyone in metal band, Kylesa’s dirty headbanging psychedelics sonic presence is quite enviable, and the fact that they’re the direct support to Mastodon’s sold out tour is probably even more enviable.  To sum it up succinctly, this is a “band’s band”, if you know what I mean; everybody sings, they’ve got two drummers, males, females, and they play some very, very, very sick metal.

The underground prog/sludge heavyweights in Intronaut started things off right with their poly-rhythmic doom metal. Most of the set was focused around Prehistoricisms and The Challenger EP, with only a single song taken from earlier material. All around, the band sounded extremely tight and super heavy last night, and for as technical as their music is, they still came across as a pretty carefree group of musicians. If I would’ve found them in the venue, I would’ve gladly offered to roll one up with the dudes (but I might have had to make that conditional on a personal request for “Fragments of Character” next time they’re in MN – it’s a song that brings back great personal memories!).

And now on to the media presentation! We owe a big thank you to Chris, Erik, and the guys at CultureBully.com for the spontaneous “partnership” that spawned the vimeo hosted video in this post (and they were nice enough to include some of the shots that I took with their own, much better and more detailed writeup of the show)! Check out all the great photos of Mastodon, Kylesa, and Intronaut and FIVE videos of Intronaut and Mastodon. Happy viewing!

VIDEO: Mastodon, “Oblivion” (live at the Fine Line, 04/29/2009)

Mastodon live at the Fine Line(Mastodon)

Mastodon live at the Fine Line(Mastodon)

Mastodon live at the Fine Line(Mastodon)

Mastodon live at the Fine Line(Mastodon)

Mastodon live at the Fine Line(Mastodon)

Mastodon live at the Fine Line(Mastodon)

Kylesa live at the Fine Line(Kylesa)

Kylesa live at the Fine Line(Kylesa)

Kylesa live at the Fine Line(Kylesa)

Kylesa live at the Fine Line(Kylesa)

VIDEO: Intronaut live at the Fine Line Music Cafe, 04/29/2009

Intronaut live at the Fine Line(Intronaut)

Intronaut live at the Fine Line(Intronaut)

Intronaut live at the Fine Line(Intronaut)

VIDEO: Mastodon, “Bladecatcher” (live at the Fine Line, 04/29/2009)

The recap (and more videos) are posted for you after the jump! Enjoy… Continue reading

Wild Style Wedensday Review: Immortal Technique, Revolutionary Vol. 2

Posted in Wildstyle Wednesdays with tags , , on Wednesday, April 29, 2009 by Tim Althaus

revolutionary_vol_2 After listening to this album, you will realize that Immortal Technique is one intelligent ass dude. He is one of the most passionate, intelligent and furious emcees I’ve heard. He attacks the microphone like a serial killer, and every track on this album is a testament to this. This album absolutely dominated my CD player for almost two years when I bought it. Immortal Technique truly is a revolutionary. Most of the rhymes that Technique spits, are way deeper in meaning than you could even fathom. The metaphors and similes that he spits are pretty close to unparalleled.

The album basically starts off with “Point of No Return“, and this track really paints the picture for what the rest of the album is going to be like. Over the eerie beat Tech spits, “This is the point of no return nigga you better believe this/Mary Magdalene giving birth to the children of Jesus”. The track “Peruvian Cocaine” will truly make you question the legitimacy of the war on drugs with an incredible narrative from Immortal Technique, Tonedeff, Poison Pen, C-Rayz Walz and others about the cocaine trade. “Harlem Streets” is a dark and dismal picture of the city that Technique was raised and lives in.

The highlight of the album (and maybe his career) is a track entitled “Industrial Revolution“. The lyrical display on this track is nothing short of amazing, “The “Bling Bling Era” was cute but it’s about to be done/I leave you full of clips (full eclipse) like the moon blockin’ the sun/My metaphors a dirty like herpes but harder to catch, like an escape tunnel in prison that I started from scratch”. He tells everyone why he’s not recognized very much, “…nobody’s better than me they just got better marketing schemes.”

This album is a great example of vivid emceeing at it’s very finest. The raw lyricism displayed on this album is what every emcee should aspire for. There is definitely a reason why this album was on constant repeat for years, because it’s a great fucking album.

8.5/10