As Ghost Cult announced last week the 2018 Psycho Las Vegas festival will be taking place from August 17th-19th at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. The lineup promised to be a banger, with one notable change, Young And In The Way (YAITW) have canceled their appearance at the fest due to their impending breakup. They were to have played the pre-festival pool party event on August 16th. The festival will announce a replacement soon. Continue reading
The 2018 Psycho Las Vegas festival will be taking place from August 17th-19th at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas. Today the organizes have unveiled the final lineup, and it’s just AWESOME. Continue reading
Roadburn 2018 is shaping up to be another incredible festival. In addition to the main lineup of bands, and special programs, Roadburn has announced its Cul de Sac lineup of special bands in Roadburn’s most intimate venue as well as the site of its Pre-Party. The festival takes place, as always, Tilburg, NL between April 19-22 and tickets are expected to sell out as usual. Continue reading
Although initially billed as an Industrial Metal band, France’s Dirge have long left the confinements of the classification. And although electronic sounds abound on their latest EP, Alma | Baltica (Division), the style here is somewhere even further down the post-metal rabbit hole. I’m not quite sure even if Alma | Baltica falls under metal anymore. These five tracks seem more like the score of a science fiction film that’s yet to be filmed. Continue reading
Godflesh will be releasing their highly anticipated new album, Post Self, on November 17th via Avalanche Recordings. Continue reading
Godflesh has now confirmed that they will be releasing their highly anticipated new album, Post Self, on November 17th via Avalanche Recordings.Continue reading
In Ghost Cult’s continuing series of how bands deal with touring all summer long, we chatted with Todd Jones of Nails about touring behind their new album You Will Never Be One Of Us (Nuclear Blast), getting props from his heroes, opening for legends like Black Sabbath later this year and more.
On who Nails likes to tour with most:
I’d like to share a stage with pretty much all of the bands were currently touring with. If I had a wishlist of bigger bands to play with, I suppose it would be Hatebreed, Soulfly, Carcass, it would be pretty cool to tour with them guys. Those bands are all on our label so maybe it can happen.
On getting humbled by respect from the metal community:
I woke up one day to go to work and I looked at my phone that somebody had texted me and told me about this article that they saw where (Max Cavalera) said he was proud of me. I lost my f***ing mind because when I was 13 years old, I saw the (Sepultura) ‘Territory’ video on MTV, and I’ve been a fan of everything that he’s done since that. It’s someone that I’ve looked up to, that I’ve admired for a long time. To get him acknowledging me is big, and it’s basically what I’m doing in my writing.
(‘Territory’) That came out, I think I saw it on Headbanger or MTV. Maybe they were playing it during the day which is f***ing crazy. I don’t know, man. I still listen to ‘Territory’. I think they might be one of my top 5 metal bands. For sure one of my top 3 metal bands for me anyway.
On opening for Black Sabbath at Ozzfest/Knotfest:
That’s one thing I’ve learned above everything else is, that nothing is impossible. Like you start by yourself at a small rehearsal stage like seven years ago, eight years ago, and we’re going to have to play with Black Sabbath. If it’s not pessimist to say anything isn’t possible, then I don’t know what is.
Other cities Nails will hit on tour this year:
London, U.K. Mexico City. We’re going to go there in October, and of course, our hometown of Los Angeles. Let’s not forget we’re sold out here. Those are probably the cities where we get the most wowed at the reactions.
WORDS BY HANSEL LOPEZ
CONCERT PHOTOS BY EMMA PARSONS PHOTOGRAPHY
Reviewing a release consisting largely of remixed tracks isn’t something we often do here at Ghost Cult but, when the sinister Industrial harshness of Birmingham UK’s Khost is given such treatment by Justin K. Broadrick, it’s imperative to sit up and take notice. Three tracks from last album Corrosive Shroud (Cold Spring Records) are utterly transformed by the Godflesh supremo and take the lion’s share of coruscating EP (Cold Spring Records).
The Nimoy-esque narrative of ‘Inversion’ is retained, whilst the horrific roars of Andy Swan are given a boost. The Drone-like pace of the original, however, is replaced by the metallic hammering and claustrophobic intensity of Broadrick’s outfit. Damian B’s rampaging, resonant bass is also more to the fore here, whilst the mixing work sees crushing pulses of noise duel with minute icicle drops of melody.
Broadrick’s intense reworking removes any element of softness and results in the near-destruction of the nervous system. The original eastern intonations of ‘A Shadow on the Wound’, so characteristic of the Khost sound, are reduced to mere blurred echoes as Swan’s terrifying, squalling riff and guttural delivery is enhanced. It’s a stark landscape, made miserable by the constant foreboding and scorched by oppressive rasps of electronica. ‘Revelations Vultures Jackals Wolves’, meanwhile, is given such an abrasive layering of scratches and pulses that the experience is physically painful: the hostility purely technical yet utterly crushing, and monstrous in its staccato, synthetic brutality.
It is something of a relief to reach new product ‘Deadsset’ which still carries that sampled undercurrent yet seems more easily digestible, without losing any of the febrile tension. A subtler assault on the senses it nevertheless unhinges sanity, a robotic snake steadily coiling around the organs and suffocating the life from them.
That this remains a Khost product despite being mercilessly separated from dominating elements of their personality is a testament to the immediacy and savage intensity of their music. Whether any of these versions can be considered as an improvement is open to conjecture, but it’s a regeneration that does no harm to the band’s growing reputation.
7.0/10.0
PAUL QUINN
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In Part II of our exclusive chat between Hansel Lopez of Ghost Cult and Todd Jones of Nails, Todd discusses touring with the band, while keeping things stable as possible on the home front. He also goes in-depth about playing on bigger festival stages with more mainstream bands such as Ozzfest, This Is Hardcore, New England Metal And Hardcore Festival, and the possibility of another new Nails album in the works soon.
I noticed that you guys are going to be making an appearance at the Ozzfest this year.
Yeah, we’re going to be playing Ozzfest. We got asked to play. I don’t know what was the deal. We got the phone call saying “Hey, do you want to play with Black Sabbath?” I said “Yeah, for sure.” They put us on. I’m pretty psyched to play that shit.
I’ve noticed, it’s a diverse bill since it has bands like Kataklysm, and brutal bands like that. But at the same time, Disturbed and other mainstream acts. How do you think the audience are going to react to you guys? Do you think it will be a good show?
It’s a process man. It’s fucking mainstream metal. What do you expect? How are people going to react to it? I don’t know. I don’t even know if there is people there. It’s 1:50 in the afternoon, that’s our set time. I imagine people will come to the stage when we play, and we’re going to get up there and do our thing, and use it to the best of our ability. I don’t know how people are going to react to us. Like I said, I mentioned Oz Fest is fucking cool cause ongoing to get to see Black Sabbath for free.
That’s pretty much it. We’re going to go play and do our thing, and hopefully, people dig on us. If they don’t, they don’t. We’re only going to be playing for 30 minutes, so we’re not going to waste our stage time. I don’t know what to expect, and I don’t have any expectations other than I’m going to drive an hour away from my house to go play a show and then go watch Black Sabbath, and that’s pretty much it.
I’ve always understood that you guys work day jobs, but sporadically will tour across … I know you guys have a date coming up I think in Boston next month.
We tour for about 1 month to 6 weeks per year. We take time off of work here or there, just go off and play some shows from June 17th to June 26th. We’ll be going from Chicago to Raleigh, North Carolina, and just playing about 11 shows from the Midwest to the East coast of the United States. That is correct. We will be playing Boston at the Middle East, and that’s pretty much it, man. We do tours sporadically, and we do tour one week at a time. With Nuclear Blast, they didn’t require that we play more shows. When we contacted them, we told them what we were willing to do and what we weren’t willing to do, and they told us what they needed from us and what’s they didn’t need from us, and that was pretty much it. They didn’t want to change the format. It’s pretty much just business as usual for Nails, man.
Outside of the little summer tour you guys are doing, and the Ozzfest appearance, what’s next for you guys?
We’re going to go to Europe in November, and then I’m sure we’ll find our way to … We’re going to be playing This Is Hardcore Festival in Philadelphia in August. We’ll find our way around the country a couple more times before we start making another record. We’ll probably be playing Boston, I think we’ll play Boston four times, so we’ll probably get out there and play some more shows, some more festivals. They’re still doing New England Hardcore Fest (Editor’s note: New England Metal And Hardcore Festival) and if they want us to come back, we’ll definitely come back. It’s just playing shows, man. That’s pretty much it. We’ll probably start working on another record in the next year or so.
Really, that quick?
Yeah. Typically, bands put out records every 2 years. We put out records every 3 years, but who knows what will happen, man. Maybe it’ll take another 3 years to make a record, but … If our record comes out in June, and Nuclear Blast wants to try to get another record out within 2 years, that means we’ll probably have to start writing about a year from now and record. You have to follow the idea of a year. Who knows? Who knows what’s going to happen? We’re just stoked. We’re ready for our new album to come out, and we’re just ready to have fun, play shows. We’re just grateful that there’s people who want to see us play, and that’s pretty much it.
Just speaking of the writing really quick, ‘They Come Crawling Back’, which in my understanding is the longest song you’ve ever written at 8 minutes?
Yeah, that’s fair. Yeah, that’s our longest song.
That’s my favorite track off this new album. I thought it was killer.
Thanks, man. We’re going to have to play that song live because I’ve been getting so much feedback like that. We’re starting to play our songs live too much, but we’re going to have to rehearse it and get it together. I really like that song too. It’s just, it’s fucking long.
But it’s rewarding. It’s almost like for me it’s like when you listen to Godflesh and Neurosis, it’s like that crushing heavy sound.
Yeah, man. It’s like my favorite bands, and my language was referencing those 2 bands.
Great minds think alike, right?
That’s what’s up man.
INTERVIEW BY HANS LOPEZ
CONCERT PHOTOS BY EMMA PARSONS PHOTOGRAPHY
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