Tag Archives: Kurt Ballou

High On Fire Releasing Luminiferous On June 16th, North American Tour Dates Confirmed

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L to R: Des Kensel, Matt Pike, Jeff Matz. Photo Credit: J. Hubbard

L to R: Des Kensel, Matt Pike, Jeff Matz. Photo Credit: J. Hubbard

High On Fire will be releasing their new album Luminiferous on June 16, 2015 via eOne Music. The record was recorded at Salem, Massachusetts’ GodCity Studios with producer Kurt Ballou. They have announced a North American headlining tour with Pallbearer, Lucifer and Venomous Maximus. Stream “The Black Plot” below.

HIGH ON FIRE tour dates:
North American Luminiferous Tour

Jul 30: The Casbah – San Diego, CA
Jul 31: Echoplex – Los Angeles, CA
Aug 01: The Regency Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
Aug 03: Hawthorne Theater – Portland, OR
Aug 04: Rickshaw – Vancouver, BC
Aug 05: Neumos – Seattle, WA
Aug 07: The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
Aug 08: The Gothic – Denver, CO
Aug 10: Mill City Nights – Minneapolis, MN
Aug 11: Thalia Hall – Chicago, IL
Aug 12: The Loving Touch – Ferndale, MI
Aug 13: Opera House – Toronto, ON
Aug 14: Lost Horizon – Syracuse, NY
Aug 15: Irving Plaza – New York, NY
Aug 17: Royale – Boston, MA
Aug 18: Music Hall of Williamsburg – Brooklyn, NY
Aug 19: Theatre of the Living Arts – Philadelphia, PA
Aug 20: Baltimore Sound Stage – Baltimore, MD
Aug 21: Ziggy’s – Winston-Salem, NC
Aug 22: Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
Aug 23: One Eyed Jack’s – New Orleans, LA (* Venomous Maximus will not appear)

Track listing:

01: The Black Plot
02: Carcosa
03: The Sunless Years
04: Slave the Hive
05: The Falconist
06: Dark Side of the Compass
07: The Cave
08: Luminiferous
09: The Lethal Chamber

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Meek Is Murder – Onward/Into the Sun EP

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Meek-Is-Murder-Onward-EP-cover

When a band describes themselves as “music for troubled weirdos”, it’s pretty safe to assume we don’t have the next incarnation of Mötley Crüe on our hands. Brooklyn-based trio Meek is Murder look like they would be happier engaging in a mammoth World of Warcraft session then doing blow with hookers on the Sunset Strip but that’s not to say the music they make won’t get one hell of a party started, for new double EP release Onward/Into the Sun (Rising Pulse) is one of the most exciting things you’ll hear all year.

Known for their blink and you’ll miss it song lengths seemingly tailor made for the ADHD brigade, Meek is Murder play a raucous style of mathcore that will have fans of early Botch and Converge foaming at the mouth with wide-eyed delight. It’s no surprise that the band has previously worked with producer extraordinaire Kurt Ballou, for his influence is all over the brief tracks that comprise first EP Onward, from the lurching dissonance of ‘Foreword’ to the manic violence of ‘Downward’ which features some seriously heavy drumming and a devastating false ending that will have circle pits erupting in any sweaty basement it is dropped live.

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The other EP in this release Into the Sun actually came out in 2012 so the re-issue here is a welcome one to those who missed out the first time. A tribute to classic 80s sci-fi flicks Aliens and Back to the Future, this effort is a tad more emotive and plays around with slower tempos than Onward, but is still madder than a box of frogs as the hyperactive ‘Doctor Emmett Brown (Endless in Our Fleeting)’ demonstrates.

This kind of hardcore works best in short, sharp snippets and Meek is Murder have clearly done their homework. At only fifteen minutes in length but with more going on than it’s possible to mention, Onward/Into the Sun shows a band bursting with ideas and incapable of sitting still.

 

8.0/10

Meek Is Murder on Facebook

 

JAMES CONWAY


Obliterations Confirm June East Coast Dates

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Photo Credit: Adam Murray

Photo Credit: Adam Murray

Los Angeles extremists Obliterations have booked an upcoming East Coast run in June with White Lung. They are supporting their debut release Poison Everything, out now via Southern Lord and was recorded by producer Chris Owens (Lords, Coliseum, Young Widows) at Dave Grohl‘s Studio 606, mixed by Kurt Ballou (Converge, High On Fire, Black Breath) at God City Studio, and mastered by Brad Boatright (Tragedy, Integrity, Sleep) at Audiosiege. Watch their Rick Rodney (Strife) directed music video for “Mind Ain’t Right” below.

Jun 05: TBA – Brooklyn, NY (w/ White Lung)
Jun 06: The Studio At Webster Hall – New York, NY
Jun 08: DC9 – Washington DC (w/ White Lung)
Jun 09: Rumba Café – Columbus, OH (w/ White Lung)
Jun 10: The Demo – St. Louis, MO (w/ White Lung)
Jun 11: 7th Street Entry – Minneapolis, MN (w/ White Lung)
Jun 13: PJ’s Lager House – Detroit, MI (w/ White Lung)
Jun 14: Beachland Ballroom – Cleveland, OH (w/ White Lung)
Jun 15: Mohawk Place – Buffalo, NY (w/ White Lung)
Jun 16: Great Scott – Allston, MA (w/ White Lung)
Jun 17: Bar Le Ritz PDB – Montreal, QC (w/ White Lung)
Jun 18: Ottawa Explosion Weekend – Ottawa, ON
Jun 20: NXNE – Toronto, ON

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Southern Lord on Bandcamp
Southern Lord on Facebook
Southern Lord on Twitter


High On Fire Releasing Luminiferous on June 23rd

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HIGH ON FIRE (L to R: Des Kensel, Matt Pike, Jeff Matz) Photo Credit: T. Shinn

HIGH ON FIRE
(L to R: Des Kensel, Matt Pike, Jeff Matz) Photo Credit: T. Shinn

High On Fire will be releasing their new album Luminiferous on June 23, 2015 via eOne Music. They recorded their new album at GodCity Studios in Salem, MA with producer Kurt Ballou.

Says vocalist/guitarist Matt Pike:

“We’re doing our part to expose The Elite and the fingers they have in religion, media, governments and financial world downfall and their relationship to all of our extraterrestrial connections in the race to control this world,”

“Wake up, it’s happening. All while we stare at a socially engineered lie we think of as normalcy. Unless we wake from the dream, there will come true doom.”

Luminiferous Track listing:

01: The Black Plot
02: Carcosa
03: The Sunless Years
04: Slave the Hive
05: The Falconist
06: Dark Side of the Compass
07: The Cave
08: Luminiferous
09: The Lethal Chamber

high on fire luminiferous

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Occultation Releasing Silence In The Ancestral Houseout For North America Via 20 Buck Spin

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occultation silence in the ancestral house

Occultation is releasing their second full length album Silence In The Ancestral Houseout via 20 Buck Spin in North America.

Under the light of the moon, Occultation creeps, crawls and crushes like a many-tentacled abomination using seductive power and hypnotic conjuring on the nine curses contained within. Captured from air in a far more powerful and convincing manner than ever before by Kurt Ballou at God City Studios, the band strikes a mood both sombre and grim, reflecting a contorted, wrecked expression in a cracked mirror through eminently listenable heavy metal sorcery.

Occultation Live:
Mar 22: Saint Vitus Bar – Brooklyn, NY (w/ Dispirit)
Mar 25-29: Treefort Music Festival – Boise, ID

20 Buck Spin on Facebook
20 Buck Spin on Twitter


Sweet Cobra Signs To Magic Bullet, New Album Soon

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sweet cobra

Chicago’s Sweet Cobra have signed to Magic Bullet Records and they have also completed their long-awaited new album, Earth, due out later this spring. The album was created with producers Matt Talbot of Hum and Kurt Ballou of Converge. Recorded at Talbot’s studio Earth Analog Studios near Chamapign Illinois, and mixed at Ballou’s Godcity Studios in Salem MA, Earth also features guest musical contributions from each producer/artist. This will be the first album of new music from the group since 2010’s acclaimed Mercy album.

Magic Bullet Records Owner Brent Eyestone commented on Earth:

“Holy hell… it’s completely badass! Kind of a new sound for the band; catchier, and I can see the appeal of the sound being much broader than their previous output. I get similar feelings from the best Queens of the Stone Age, Quicksand, and Young Widows records… super catchy slabs of heaviness.”

Sweet Cobra Tour Dates

March 27th Drunken Donut – Joliet, IL

March 28th Melody Inn – Indianapolis, IN w/ Kvlthammer

April 4th The Burlington – Chicago, IL w/ Auxes

April 25th Pyramid Scheme – Grand Rapids, MI w/ Hum, Cloakroom (SOLD OUT)

http://www.facebook.com/sweetcobra

http://instagram.com/sweetcobraband/

http://sweetcobra.bandcamp.com/

http://www.magicbulletrecords.com

http://www.facebook.com/magicbulletrecords

http://twitter.com/magicbulletrecs


Mutoid Man Complete Recording New Album

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Mutoid Man logo

Mutoid Man has completed recording sessions for their new album at GodCity Studio with Kurt Ballou producing. A release date later in 2015 is expected via Sargent House.

The band posted the following:

That’s a wrap! New album for @sargenthouse on the way. @GodCityStudio #dogcity pic.twitter.com/PjTmM5cHFS
— MUTOID MAN (@MutoidMan) January 13, 2015

mutoid man studio wrap


High On Fire Announce East Coast Dates, Recording New Album With Kurt Ballou

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high on fire

High On Fire has announced a string of upcoming East Coast dates. The band will begin work on their next record at GodCity Studios in Salem, MA with producer Kurt Ballou, with an early 2015 release date via eOne Music.

Drummer Des Kensel commented on the new songs:

“Everyone is asking what the new High on Fire music sounds like. Chew on some mescaline and listen to side B of Sabbath’s “Master of Reality” backwards at 78 RPM and it might give you an idea.”

HIGH ON FIRE tour dates:

Jan 06: Zydeco – Birmingham, AL
Jan 07: New Brookland Tavern – West Columbia, SC
Jan 08: The Broadberry – Richmond, VA
Jan 09: Saint Vitus Bar – Brooklyn, NY
Jan 10: Webster Underground – Hartford, CT
Jan 11: Port City Music Hall – Portland, ME
Jan 13: The Loft at The Chance Theatre – Poughkeepsie, NY
Jan 14: Simon’s 677 – Providence, RI

High On Fire on Twitter
High On Fire on Facebook


Code Orange – I Am King

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Deathwish Inc is currently on the top of their game, the Real Madrid of the metal world if you will. Their trajectory and ability to find some of the most cutting edge and intense and boundary pushing bands the genre has to offer. Only this year the label have produced the likes of Young And In The Way and Cult Leader, bands who have both released staggeringly brutal and intense albums, rivalling anything released this year in terms of in your face snarl or quality. Code Orange (formally Code Orange Kids) are a band following in the trend set by their Deathwish label mates with their sophomore album I Am King which shows the bands’ progression from hardcore rookies on their first album Love Is Love/Return Is Dust (Deathwish Inc) to full blown masters of their craft on their sludgy, hypnotic and savage second release.

The band have certainly spread their wings and soared into the unknown on this release, with key experimentation taking place such as the band dabbling with more soundscapes and at times even elements of drone.  All this whilst not straying too far from the path that made them the up and coming ones to watch on their first album. Despite listening to the odd Neurosis album and taking a few tips from the returning king of savage production Kurt Ballou, I Am King sees the band do what all good follow up releases should do; take what made the previous release work and expand that idea until it is fit to burst before adding new ideas and experimentation.

This is exactly what Code Orange have done on this album, taking their post-Hardcore meets Converge sound and ramping up the sludge and Neurosis elements almost to breaking point, which at times makes the album one of the most punishing listens of the year.  Plus there are the new forays into drone and other experimental music provide new ground for them to build on the next album.

Overall, Code Orange have proven on this release that they are no longer kids, as I Am King shows the makings of a band not content to just sit in the realms of safety and complacency.  But a band ready to expand their sound and not afraid of experimentation to broaden their horizons. At times heavy, trippy and crushing all at the same time, I Am King is what all follow up albums should strive to be.

 

9.0/10

Code Orange on Facebook

 

DAN O’BRIEN