Former Gallows and Pure Love frontman Frank Carter has launched his latest venture called Frank Carter & The Rattlesnakes. Stream or get a free download of “Fangs” below.
Carter appeared on the Rock Show With Daniel P Carter on BBC Radio 1, which can be heard below.
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Gallows have finished filming their studio documentary for their new album Desolation Sounds, and the first episode is now available below. The new album is due out April 14, 2015.
If there is one thing these fair isles are good at as of late, its aggressive, no nonsense hardcore. The rise and impact of the likes of Gallows, Brotherhood Of The Lake and their metallic tinged brethren like While She Sleeps is well documented and needs not repeating; but it is clear that the last decade or so has seen an explosive outburst of such bands. Leicester’s own Surrender The Coast are the latest on the scene with their mini release, Lost Souls (Redfield Digital).
It is clear that these guys aren’t out to revolutionize the genre by any stretch; what this EP lacks in originality it more than makes up for in punch. This is full of energy and ferocity and should be tailor made mosh-pit fodder for sweatboxes all around; and there are plenty of hooks to grab you.
The stand out offerings are where the band takes their foot off the throttle a little; ‘Thrones’ begins with a doom metal sense of melancholy before it and the later number ‘Southpaw’ share a menacing, brooding tone and pace.
Far from a groundbreaking entity but this EP shows enough promise to put these guys on the radar, and on the road to greater things.
A strong start.
7.0/10
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CHRIS TIPPELL
Gallows has their new seven inch vinyl single for “Bonfire Season” available as a limited edition coloured version, which is available here. “Leather Crown” is available as an instant download when pre-ordering the new album Desolate Sounds.
A.
Bonfire Season
Bonfire Season Jesus Fucking Christ remix
B.
Denim Demon (originally by Turbonegro)
Scare Me (originally by Major Lazer) featuring Marcia Richards of The Skints
Check out the new track “Leather Crown” below.
May 22: Cathouse – Glasgow (UK)
May 23: Slam Dunk Festival North – Leeds (UK)
May 24: Slam Dunk Festival South – Hatfield (UK)
May 25: Slam Dunk Festival Midlands – Wolverhampton (UK)
May 26: The Garage – London (UK)
May 27: Sound Control – Manchester (UK)
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Split albums are an excellent tool for bands to come together and unleash an onslaught of material which you may not necessarily have been familiar with beforehand – and with Collaboration LP (Handshake Inc., 7 Degrees Records, and Nerve Altarboth) Haapoja and Dephosphorus have not missed the trick at all. Whether intentional or not, these collaborative records encourage a certain level of competition as well – who goes harder than the other? The competitive edge has allowed both bands to absolutely raise their game – in this case it is Finland vs. Greece.
A really interesting element to this split LP is the fact that on both of the respective opening tracks the bands traded front men – and oddly enough both the opening tracks of each section are the better tracks.
The first portion of the album then comes from the Finnish maniacs in Haapoja, who shoot out of the blocks with a phenomenal level of aggression and calculated speed. Opening track ‘We See With Teeth’ builds and builds with this brilliantly executed Thrash style. In fact the pace never really lets up in their half of the album as they race through four tracks in just over ten minutes. The band mesh different influences together, sounding a bit like early Kvelertak – and as you reach the conclusion of their half you’ll find yourself thinking that Dephosphorus will seriously need to deliver something special after a breathless ten minutes, and to be fair to them they absolutely do.
Dephosphorus explode in to the track ‘Aika’ boasting the same level of aggression but with an added element of groove. Away from the first track, the vocals on their side of the LP sound like desperate cries, similar to the power and aggression delivered by the likes of Frank Carter in the early days of Gallows. The two bands on this record do sound similar, but where Haapoja deliver solely a smash mouth flurry of aggression, Dephosphorus smash that same style together with some slower, heavier moments which accentuates the groove.
One thing is for sure, with both bands you’re left salivating for more. This will almost certainly be an album which will sit under the radar, but give it a go – you will not be disappointed. Both bands deliver their music with such passion you cannot help but be taken in by its infectious nature as the quality of the output encourages repeat listens. Yeah the production is a bit shaky at times, but it gives the whole Collaboration LP that added bit of character, it is a raw and snarling beast.
7.5/10
TOM DONNO
Prestigious label In At The Deep End, who have been responsible for releasing breakthrough platters from acts such as Sylosis, Feed The Rhino, Suicide Silence and Gallows, have confirmed they have snapped up aggressive metalcore stars-in-waiting Prolong The Agony.
Hailing from Portsmouth, UK, the band have inked a deal with the influential label and are shaping up to release their debut EP All We Are on April 20, with a first full length to follow later in the year.
Frontman Larry Welling added: “Signing to IATDE is something we truly never expected and it’s humbling to say the least. To join a roster (past and present) that have had such an influential impact on the UK music scene, bands that we have personally grown up listening to, is a real honour and one that we’ll always be grateful for. We have huge respect for the way this label conducts itself and its long lasting reputation speaks for itself!”
Listing Parkway Drive and Of Mice & Men amongst their influences the Britcore metallers have paid their dues having wracked up thousands of miles on the road with such acts as Captain, No Captain Chunk!, Iwrestledabearonce, Crossfaith, and Glamour Of The Kill
All We Are tracklisting:
1. Dead Dreams
2. Counting The Days
3. Loved & Lost
4. Backstabbers
5. Loveless
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Gallows have announced a new single “Bonfire Season” which can be streamed here, and a digital single is presently available, while a seven inch is being readied for a February 9, 2015 release date:
A Side:
“Bonfire Season“ “Bonfire Season” (Jesus Fucking Christ Remix)
B Side:
“Denim Demon” (Turbonegro cover)
“Scare Me” (Major Lazer cover) (feat. Marcia Richards of The Skints)
April 13, 2015 is the release date for their new album Desolation Sounds.
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Bridge Nine Records will be releasing xXx Fanzine: 1983-1988, a book documenting the sounds of Hardcore America, plus an album with artists such as Strife (doing “Who Are You” by Void), Done Dying (featuring legendary No For An Answer frontman, Dan O’Mahony), BoySetsFire, Enabler, ÆGES, Gallows, Krum Bums and I Am Heresy have all recorded tracks for the effort with many more currently booking studio time for the effort. A full track listing will be announced shortly.
“As much as hardcore was an expression of artistry, ambition and rage, it also fostered some of the best and purest songwriting in recent rock ‘n’ roll history,” says xXx editor and main writer, Mike Gitter. “You can’t deny some of the massive songs people like Greg Ginn [Black Flag] or Bob Mould [Hüsker Dü] were capable of. Those songs still thunder as loud today as when they were originally committed to vinyl.”
The compilation will be presented in several formats. All editions of the book will include a download card. However, a limited number of books will include a 12” vinyl version of the comp.
Work on the book itself is nearing completion with last interviews and liner notes currently being assembled with the help of Bridge Nine owner Chris Wrenn in the editor’s seat. In the meantime, keep up with xXx Fanzine on Facebook.
For the past few months UK based riff lords Krokodil have been making all sort of headlines, most involving people referring to them as “Slipknot’s new bassist’s other band”, which is completely unjustified and harsh as it is hardly judging the band on its own merits. With all the coverage, the eyes of the metal world are on Krokodil as they prepare to unleash their debut album Nachash (Spinefarm) so it’s a very good thing that the album is rather bloody brilliant.
The band, which contains members from a menagerie of great British bands such as Cry For Silence, Sikth, Gallows and of course the mighty A, as well as now Iowa’s own metal behemoth Slipknot, Krokodil sound like a well oiled riff making machine and from the sounds of Nachash the machine has been working overtime on this release. 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, a decision that usually over complicates the material but in this case triples up the guitar tracks, like Helmet making it sound as heavy as a ten ton rhino that’s thinking of gaining a few pounds.
With a formula that blends groove based riffage with a later day Cancer Bats bounce and groove is a fantastic mix which keeps up the pace till the bitter end, this on top of the high quality production of the album which makes it sound colossal. If the album does have a mild weakness it is that the vocals are a tiny bit one dimensional, the hardcore barks work well with the up tempo nature of the albums and work perfectly on the second track ‘Skin of The Earth’, but can come across as one note when the album gets into its final few tracks.
Overall, Nachash is a quality release from a band who deserve a lot more credit for their musical output and certainly do not deserve to be known simply as that other band with someone from Slipknot in, they’re not a DJ Starscream or Dirty Little Rabbits. As for this being the bands’ debut album, hopefully there will be even better to come from the band in the future, but for now Nachash is a cracking start to their career. Its high tempo, riffy and most importantly contains quality throughout.
9.0/10
DAN O’BRIEN
They say that variety is the spice of life and when it comes to music fans. Some choose to roll with this, while others completely ignore it. For musicians, the former is usually the case with new bands often looking to distinguish themselves from the crowd and older ones going in search of fresh directions. Vices are a four-piece from Jacksonville who certainly abide by the above sentiments with their latest LP, New Breed (Melatov), mixing some interesting flavours together.
Hailing from the place that spawned both The Allman Brothers Band and Lynyrd Skynyrd, non-listeners may be able to guess what genre some of their influences are taken from, and they’d be right – Southern Blues Rock. On their 2012 EP, ‘The Out Crowd Blues’ this influence is more prominent, but there are a few twangs of it here as well. The other side of the mixing pot is Hardcore Punk, and while the combination may sound odd on paper, it works surprisingly well in the flesh.
Merging slow grooves with angry screams, opener ‘The Sabbath’ is our first glimpse into the albums two opposing styles, and it is also one of the best of the bunch. Trumped only by the smooth angst of the title-track, the first two songs really set the bar high for the rest of the record, and thankfully the band keep on delivering. Bringing a more fast-paced way of music with songs such as the Gallows-esque ‘Slum Wolves’ and ‘Devil’s Advocate,’ it is the middle of the album where things hit more of a hardcore punk vibe but this is no bad thing as Vices execute this style of music with great vigour. The influences of before are not completely forgotten with ‘No One Rules’ bringing together slow jams and hectic overtones, while ‘Swan Song’ closes the album with an impressive, albeit short, solo of the classic rock variety.
New Breed is a refreshing album to listen to, neither boring nor repetitive, only the ‘Instrumental’ track is worth turning off, while the rest are defiantly worth turning up. Extending a more Hardcore feel than their EP, fans of the band’s previous effort will still have plenty to love here, and the same rings true for anyone looking for melodious yet heated passion, both in musical style and lyrical content. New Breed is the kind of vice that you won’t be sorry you have and it won’t kill you either, which is always a bonus.
9.0/10.0
EMMA QUINLAN