Ghost Cult continues our “End of Year Guest Post Extravaganza” with a slew of posts from bands, industry, PR pros, and more! We’ll be sharing lists, memories, and other shenanigans from our favorite bands, partners, music industry peers, and other folks we respect across the globe. In this edition, Max Maxwell of Mountain Caller shares an in-depth review of his Top Albums List for 2020. Their excellent covers album The Truthseeker is out now (buy and stream it here!
Ghost Cult continues our “End of Year Guest Post Extravaganza” with a slew of posts from bands, industry, PR pros, and more! We’ll be sharing lists, memories, and other shenanigans from our favorite bands, partners, music industry peers, and other folks we respect across the globe. In this edition, Claire Simson, guitarist of Mountain Caller shares an in-depth review of her Top Albums List for 2020. Their excellent covers album The Truthseeker is out now (buy and stream it here!
It’s a name that will be unfamiliar to many but London-based Alex ‘A.A.’ Williams is destined to rise above the radar before too long. With YouTube comparisons with Chelsea Wolfe and Emma Ruth Rundle already boosting her reputation, the fact that Holy Roar Records are releasing eponymous EP A.A. Williams is a testament to the growing sense of expectation.Continue reading
There are a plethora of super young bands being scooped up by big labels left and right lately. Remember that when weighing the merits of wunderkind types, you need to judge slowly. From Mozart to Louis Armstrong, Sinatra to Little Stevie Wonder, Tori Amos to Jason Becker, Fiona Apple, Devin Townsend an now Adele; the bristling energy of a talented prodigy can make hearts pound. Recall that except for Adele, they didn’t have to deal with trolls on current social media who have neither talent nor any nurturing it seems. Since forming ten years ago Floridians Black Tide broke out with their explosive début Light From Above (Interscope), and they blew up as fast as their riffing little fingers were moving. In the years passed they have dealt with changing times, changing members, and a back biting scene.
However, the story does not end here and the arc of Black Tide’s career does fade out yet. Founder Gabe Garcia and longtime guitar partner Austin Diaz have matured past the Trivium-esque neo-thrash of their début and the active rock of Post Mortem to make an interesting mix of all those influences and much more. Chasing Shadows (Pavement Music) sees the band come into its own and becoming comfortable with uncomfortable: adulting in this cray decade.
When Chasing Shadows rocks, it blazes hot. After a dramatic classical intro ‘No Guidelines’ just rips. There is a confidence to match the talent now that has seasoned into form. Thrash, heavy metal, harmony guitar solos, great singing: all in the kitchen sink of well written songs. ‘Angel In The Dark’ has a faint hint of a pop-rock chorus, but doesn’t lose the script of a ballsy rocker. ‘Predator (Animal)’ is the best song on the album. Gabe and Austin are super talented shredders and when the band lets their inner Iron Maiden loose, you are sure to smile.
There are other worthy gems on here such as the title track, the stellar ‘Before We Form’ and the epic thrash closer ‘Promised Land’. There are some missteps too, and despite some competently performed balladry the band will always fall nearer to mid-era Avenged Sevenfold and Bullet For My Valentine than Shinedown or Seether. Nothing wrong with that at all by the way.
7.0/10
Brian Marquis is streaming his I Miss the 90s EP, out now via Equal Vision Records. The EP is comprised of five covers of 90s favorites and features guest vocals by Vinnie Caruana (The Movielife, I Am the Avalanche), Will Noon (fun., Straylight Run) on drums, Julio Tavarez (The Black and The White, As Tall As Lions) on bass, and Doug Grean (ex-Scott Weiland, The Terpsichords) on piano/keyboards.
TRACKLISTING
01: Say It Ain’t So (originally by Weezer)
02: Rooster (originally by Alice in Chains)
03: Shadowboxer (originally by Fiona Apple)
04: High and Dry (originally by Radiohead)
05: Something in the Way (originally by Nirvana)
This Summer, Marquis will perform daily and run production on the Acoustic Basement Stage on the 2015 Vans Warped Tour for the fourth consecutive year – a stage that he founded in 2011 under the guidance of Vans Warped Tour founder Kevin Lyman.
TOUR DATES
Level and The Square w/Brian Marquis
May 27: Viper Room – Hollywood, CA (EP RELEASE SHOW)
2015 Warped Tour Dates
Jun 19: Pomona Fairplex – Pomona, CA
Jun 20: Shoreline Amphitheatre – San Francisco, CA
Jun 21: Seaside Park at Ventura County Fairgrounds – Ventura, CA
Jun 23: Quail Run Park – Mesa AZ
Jun 24: Isleta Amphitheater – Albuquerque, NM
Jun 25: Remington Park – Oklahoma City, OK
Jun 26: NRG Park Main St. Yellow Lot – Houston, TX
Jun 27: Gexa Energy Pavilion – Dallas, TX
Jun 28: AT&T Center – San Antonio, TX
Jul 01: Tennessee State Fairgrounds – Nashville, TN
Jul 02: Aaron’s Amphitheater at Lakewood – Atlanta, GA
Jul 03: Vinoy Park – St.Petersburg, FL
Jul 04: Coral Sky Amphitheatre – South Florida Fairgrounds – Miami, FL
Jul 05: Tinker Field – Orlando, FL
Jul 06: Morocco Shrine Auditorium And Grounds – Jacksonville, FL
Jul 07: PNC Music Pavilion – Charlotte, NC
Jul 08: Farm Bureau Live – Virginia Beach, VA
Jul 09: First Niagara Pavilion – Pittsburgh, PA
Jul 10: Susquehanna Bank Center – Philadelphia, PA
Jul 11: Nikon at Jones Beach Amphitheatre – New York, NY
Jul 12: Xfinity Theatre – Hartford, CT
Jul 14: Xfinity Center – Boston, MA
Jul 15: Darien Lake PAC – Buffalo, NY
Jul 16: Riverbend Music Center – Cincinnati, OH
Jul 17: Molson Canadian Amphitheatre – Toronto, ON
Jul 18: Merriweather Post Pavilion – Columbia, MD
Jul 19: PNC Bank Arts Center – Holmdel, NJ
Jul 21: The Pavilion at Montage Mountain – Scranton, PA
Jul 23: Blossom Music Center – Cleveland, OH
Jul 24: The Palace of Auburn Hills Parking Lot – Detroit, MI
Jul 25: First Midwest Bank Amphitheater – Chicago, IL
Jul 26: Canterbury Park – Minneapolis, MN
Jul 27: Hollywood Casino Amphitheatre – St. Louis, MO
Jul 28: Marcus Amphitheatre – Milwaukee, WI
Jul 29: Klipsch Music Center – Indianapolis, IN
Jul 30: Cricket Wireless Amphitheater – Kansas City, KS
Aug 01: Utah State Fairpark – Salt Lake City, UT
Aug 02: Pepsi Center Parking Lot – Denver, CO
Aug 05: Qualcomm Stadium Parking Lot – San Diego, CA
Aug 07: Portland Expo Center – Portland, OR
Aug 08: White River Amphitheater – Seattle, WA
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