Technical Death Metal originators Despised Icon have booked an extensive North American tour for next fall. Direct support to come from Kublai Khan, Shadow of Intent and rotating regional openers. Tickets and VIP/MVP packages go on sale this Friday, June 7th at 10 AM local time at the link below. Continue reading
Long-running Canadian metal fest Trois Rivieres Metal Fest has announced their 2018 line up and it features Deicide, Despised Icon, Jungle Rot, Beyond Creation and more. It takes place April 6 and 7th at Cogeco Amphitheater. Continue reading
Reactivated deathcore legends Despised Icon have booked a full European tour for next winter, their first such tour of Europe in two years. The band is still supporting their 2016 album Beast, which released via Nuclear Blast. Direct support will come from Malevolence, Archspire and Vulvodynia. Full routing and tour dates below:Continue reading
Deathcore legends Despised Icon have added some dates to their ongoing comeback tour since reuniting in 2016 for their Beast album on Nuclear Blast. The band has so far announced four dates this fall.Continue reading
Much like with my last review, I’m walking in cold to Malevolence’s Self Supremacy (BDHW). I didn’t even know they were British. That said, reading tracks like ‘Trial by Fire’ and ‘Spineless’ I thought I might have to find myself playing the role of lyric police… and there are lyrical improvements to be made, as we learn on ‘Severed Ties’ that “you have to cut the grass to find the fucking snakes.” Not the most enlightening sentence ever, but the superb musicianship will certainly capture listener attention. Continue reading
Suicide Silence has been hard at work on their fifth studio album with producer Ross Robinson, and we finally have our first taste of the new material, plus we now know when to expect the new record.Continue reading
Carnifex’s latest LP, Slow Death, is nothing if not about getting down to brass tacks. Quick off the blocks, the San Diego natives jump into the two strongest bangers of the batch, ‘Dark Heart Ceremony’ and ‘Slow Death.’ While doing so, they also set the template of what else to come in the remaining 29 minutes; Carnifex gonna be Carnifex.Continue reading
So it’s 2016 and we have a new album, Beast (Nuclear Blast), from Despised Icon. Yeah, the same Despised Icon that called it a career in 2010 as its members chose to focus on simple family life. The Despised Icon whose music had all the subtlety of a reciprocating saw.
I guess the question is why now? Well, what better place than here, what better time than now? Considering that their last album, 2009s concussive Day of Mourning (Century Media), landed them at number 162 on the Billboard Top 200, they may have called it curtains too soon. Proof? Quite a few “deathcore” acts shamelessly ape Despised Icon and fellow Montrealers Beneath the Massacre’s sonic brew in the years that followed and regularly find themselves debuting in the Top 40.
The better question is, has the passage of time dulled Despised Icon’s edge? Hell no. The Quebec septet are still stitching together bruising hardcore and rapid death riffs and tempos. So much so that about two minutes into Beast there is a clear/brazen callback to 2007s The Ills of Modern Man. The patented Steve Marois lock-stepped pig squeals that are oft-imitated but never matched? Just crank ‘Bad Vibes’ and ‘Time Bomb’ until your heart stops. What about breakdowns? This album is basically a buy one get one free kind of deal with those. ‘Grind Forever’ has a breakdown wider than Texas.
This is a Despised Icon album, through and through. It’s almost like it warrants two ratings. Dyed in the wool Despised fans will love this shit. Those unfamiliar with this noisy and relentless affair? Well, that could be a hard sell. However there are the briefest glimpses of experimentation. ‘Drapeau Noir’ has a name like a cheap boxed wine, but is death metal of the highest excellence, not unlike what you’ll find on a Black Dahlia Murder album. Complete with a fret-burning solo and all the fixings. And I’m usually not a fan of these things, but the two interludes, particularly ‘Doomed’ are used tastefully.
So you could say that the uncrowned kings of deathcore are finally ready to assume the throne.
8.0/10
HANSEL LOPEZ
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Back for an 11th year in a row, Amnesia Rockfest near Quebec, in Montebello Canada will host mega bands such as Blink-182, Rise Against, Jane’s Addiction, Limp Bizkit and Ice Cube among the 125 bands who are slated to perform. Other bands scheduled to appear include Korn, Ontario punks Billy Talent and Sum 41, Bring Me The Horizon, Florida’s A Day To Remember, Lamb of God, Anthrax, Twisted Sister (farewell tour and last show in Canada), Puscifer, NOFX (performing their album Punk In Drublic), The Used (performing their album In Love and Death), At The Drive-In (reunion show), Underoath (reunion show), Blink-182’s Travis Barker (solo show), NOFX’s Fat Mike performing as Cokie The Clown (world-exclusive solo show), Lagwagon (performing their album Hoss), Millencolin, Streetlight Manifesto, Against Me!, Strung Out, Guttermouth, No Use For A Name (special tribute), Leftover Crack, Wizo, Flag, The Adicts, Misfits, Dead Kennedys, Steve Ignorant of Crass, D.O.A., Turbonegro and GG Allin (special tribute), Sepultura, Sodom (first show in Canada in 10 years), D.R.I. (first show in Canada in 20 years), Cannibal Corpse, Korpiklaani, Max & Igor Cavalera Back To ‘Roots’ (performing Sepultura’s Roots album), Corrosion Of Conformity, The Black Dahlia Murder, The Faceless and Poison The Well (reunion show) and many more. Some defunct Quebec bands will temporarily reunite exclusively for Amnesia Rockfest, including Vulgaires Machins, Kermess, Raid, Démence and Yelo Molo. Festival regulars Grimskunk, Despised Icon, The Sainte Catherines (performing Dancing for Decadence), Voivod, Anonymus and BARF will be back this year. In addition, Québec Redneck Bluegrass Project, Bob Bissonnette, Gorguts and WD-40, alt rock legends Ludwig Von 88 (reunion show and only Canadian date) and Les Ramoneurs de Menhirs, Bérurier Noir’s Loran’s group.
Tickets are now on sale at www.amnesiarockfest.com and at Amnesia stores. Once again this year, festival weekend passes will be sold at very reasonable rates: $120 (plus fees and taxes), which comes out to less than a dollar per band! New this year: festival-goers can pay for their order in five instalments. VIP packages are also available.
For the 2016 edition of the festival, the VIP campground will be totally revamped to offer a unique experience to festival-goers. Again this year, several public transit options will be available, as well as an area for RV camping.
