Taint went under-appreciated in their day so it’s good to see the band’s spiritual successor HARK carrying on the torch. The Welsh quartet, featuring former Taint frontman Jimbob Isaac and former members of Whyteleaf, have just released their sophomore album Machinations (Season of Mist), and it’s a belter.Continue reading
Much lauded Sludge/post-Metallers, Steak Number Eight are preparing for a busy Spring by releasing new album The Hutch through Indie Recordings and immediately heading out on a tour to promote the release. The album, which is out on Friday 17th April, also the first date of the tour, is the quartet’s third album.
Tracklisting for The Hutch:
1. Cryogenius
2. Black Eyed
3. Photonic
4. Push Pull
5. Pilgrimage of a Blackheart
6. Exile of our Marrow
7. The Shrine
8. Slumber
9. Ashore
10. Rust
11. Tearwalker
Digital versions of the album will contain a bonus track, ‘The Sea Is Dying’
They will be hitting the road with the highly rated Hark, whose debut album Crystalline (Season of Mist) made the Ghost Cult Albums of the Year 2014.
Tour dates are:
Apr 17 – Vera – Groningen (NL)
Apr 18 – Volt Netherlands – Sittard (NL)
Apr 19 – De Kreun – Kortrijk (BE)
Apr 21 – O2 Academy 2 – Birmingham (UK)
Apr 22 – O2 Academy 2 – Liverpool (UK)
Apr 23 – O2 Academy Islington – London (UK)
Apr 24 – O2 Academy – Bristol (UK)
Apr 25 – L’Empreinte – Savigny Le Temple (FR)
Apr 26 – Z7 – Pratteln (CH)
Apr 27 – PPC – Graz (AU)
Apr 28 – Szene – Wien (AU)
Apr 29 – Feierwerk – Munchen (DE)
Apr 30 – C-Club – Berlin (DE)
May 01 – Underground – Koln (DE)
May 02 – Turock – Essen (DE)
May 03 – Knust – Hamburg (DE)
Steak Number Eight on Facebook
Steve Tovey
It’s hard to believe we’ve already reached the end of another year packed tighter than Joey de Maio’s loincloth with incredible genre-pushing, eardrum-violating, neckache-inducing metal.
So we can begin to tell the story of a year which saw us give more top marks than any other year so far (and more 2’s and 3’s out of 10, too!), a year that left us inundated with so many great releases, we sought the opinions of our esteemed and respected writing team and we offer forth their albums of the year.
The countdown to the Official Ghost Cult Magazine Album of the Year for 2014 has commenced. Please consume and enjoy the results of our 2014 Writers’ Poll. We hope it will introduce you to some of the incredible works of art you may have missed that we have had the immense pleasure of listening to and writing about this year.
In our first installment we bring you albums 50 through to 41.
50. HARK – Crystalline (Season of Mist)
Genre-bending aggression with doses of Doom, Prog, Psychedelia and Hardcore. Heavy as a very heavy thing.
49. THE HAUNTED – Exit Wounds (Century Media)
“The album is filled with urgency and manages to be relentlessly heavy without compromising on those insanely catchy riffs. The Haunted have come back stronger than ever… easily the band’s best effort a decade” DAN SWINHOE 9/10 Full review here
48. THE WOUNDED KINGS – Consolamentum (Candlelight)
“Favouring lengthy yet subtly evolving guitar workouts that never lapse into repetitive dirge territory,The Wounded Kings go about working their dark, smoky magic with grim elegance… Simply put, The Wounded Kings are the quintessential English doom band “ JAMES CONWAY 8.5/10 Full review here
47. SCHAMMASCH – Contradiction (Prosthetic)
“The quality of this album is obvious right from the beginning. Schammasch have created a record both challenging and endlessly refreshing, a truly remarkable sonic journey from beginning to end.” CAITLIN SMITH 9/10 Full review here
46. AUTOPSY – Tourniquets, Hacksaws and Graves (Peaceville)
“Tourniquets… continues in gnarly, raw and near sludgy death metal vein, but maintains their run of high quality and in fact tops anything that has come from their return.” CHRIS TIPPELL 8/10 Full review here
45. KROKODIL – Nachash (Spinefarm)
“With a heavy dose of Mastodon in its veins, Krokodil are a groove juggernaut that pummels all in its path with its three guitarists of fury” DAN O’BRIEN 9/10 Full review here
44. INTER ARMA – The Cavern (Relapse)
“The sheer gravity and fulminating power of much of the music here is oppressive yet it carries the weight easily, this blend of raw animal force, aching melody and immeasurable creativity marks out this fantastic band” PAUL QUINN 10/10 Full review here
43. DEVIL YOU KNOW – The Beauty of Destruction (Nuclear Blast)
“(with) all the promise of a powerhouse, and it delivers on all fronts. The songs are well-crafted, nicely developed and excellently executed.” LYNN JORDAN 9.5/10 APRIL ALBUM OF THE MONTH Full review here
42.BLUES PILLS – Blues Pills (Nuclear Blast)
“…a record that understands and curates its heritage and lineage but is fresh, contemporary and massively memorable. This is the record that you’ll be recommending to your friends for months to come” MAT DAVIES 9/10 Full review here
41. ARTIFICIAL BRAIN – Labyrinth Constellation (Profound Lore)
“Technical death metal with sci-fi themes, brilliant, utterly amazing, breath-taking and challenging from the first to the last second.” TIAGO MOREIRA 9.5/10 Full review here
Compiled by Steve Tovey