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Tag Archives: Sony Music
Audio: Chevelle – Young Wicked, New Album Due In July
Chevelle has released a new single, ‘Young Wicked’, from the their upcoming release, The North Corridor, scheduled for a release date of July 8th by way of Sony Music/Epic. You can hear Young Wicked at this link or below:
The North Corridor was led by Joe Barresi, the American record engineer and producer who has worked with bands like Kyuss, Tool, Melvins and Queens Of The Stone Age.
Drummer Sam Loeffler commented about the songwriting undertaking for the new release: “We just wanna write a bunch of songs that we like and we wanna play every day on stage. Pete’s [Loeffler, guitar/vocals] our writer. He works tirelessly at it. We work on everything together, but Pete writes the songs and he brings them to us and then we compose them as a band, as most bands do. And it’s been a really good process. We’re super excited to play these songs. ‘Cause you play songs for so long, you just wanna play new stuff.”
When asked in an interview if they are involved in picking singles from the albums or if they just leave it to the label to make that decision, Pete said: “We actually battle everyone all the time. We have a good feeling when we get close — ten [or] fifteen songs that we’re gonna do. But, ultimately, it comes down to just hashing it out and picking one, which is tough. It’s not easy.”
The North Corridor track listing:
01. Door To Door Cannibals
02. Enemies
03. Joyride (Omen)
04. Rivers
05. Last Days
06. Young Wicked
07. Warhol’s Showbiz
08. Punchline
09. Got Burned
10. Shot From A Cannon
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Metallica To Serve As Official Ambassador To Record Store Day, New Live Album Release Planned
This years Record Store Day on April 16th , a day dedicated to supporting merchants, many of them independent retailers and other chains that still sell music. Every year a celebrity artist is chosen as an ambassador and this year that artist is Metallica. As one of the best selling bands of all-time, one of the current largest retailers of digital music, as well as a band that began in the underground by trading tapes, they are uniquely qualified to serve in this capacity.
Lars Ulrich commented on the honor:
“Independent record stores are part of Metallica’s DNA.. They have been pivotal in shaping each one of us into the music fanatics we’ve all become. We could not be any prouder to be Record Store Day Ambassadors for 2016 and are looking forward to screaming from every rooftop the next few months about everything independent record store and beyond.”
To celebrate the honor, Metallica will release a RSD only live album Metallica will release Liberté, Egalité, Fraternité, Metallica! – Live at Le Bataclan. Paris, France – June 11th, 2003, on their own label Blackened Records. The release will be a special CD featuring a live recording from the club, with the band, Record Store Day and independent record stores donating proceeds to benefit Fondation de France’s Give For France charity (details here)
Metallica! – Live at Le Bataclan. Paris, France – June 11th, 2003 track listing
The Four Horsemen
Leper Messiah
No Remorse
Fade To Black
Frantic
Ride The Lightning
Blackened
Seek & Destroy
Damage, Inc.
The sponsors for Record store day include labels that support rock and metal such as ADA, Border City Media, Caroline, Crosley Turntables, Disk Union, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, InGrooves, Music Business Association, RED, Red Bull Sound Select, Redeye Distribution, Sony Music, Universal Music Distribution, Warner Bros. Records, WEA and more. More details about record store day can be found at the RSD official website, which as just relaunched.
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Babymetal – Baby Metal
Sometimes, perspective and a second chance can make all the difference. When the world was first introduced to Babymetal (Sony Music) in 2014, those parts of it that are likely to use the phrase “true Metal warrior” non-ironically exploded in a whirlwind of tears and finger-pointing, accusing the band and their fans of essentially betraying Metal in one of the most hysterical displays of Heavy Metal siege-mentality since… well, the last one. Even on the internet tantrums die down quickly, however, and with the benefit of a year’s distance and the vocal support of respected Metal figures like Kerry King and Jeff Walker, the hysterical crying has settled enough to allow us to ignore the controversy and look at the actual music.
Which is fortunate, because as it turns out the music on Babymetal is fantastic.
This is an unashamed Pop album that draws on elements of diverse Metal subgenres to create its own sound – it does not sound like To Mega Therion (Noise), and it would be foolish to expect it to. The argument that it is “not Metal” is equally silly, though – there is a solid core of accessible, polished, radio-friendly but still very “real” Metal running all the way through these songs. Big, tuneful and frequently very heavy riffs reference Melodic Death Metal, European Power Metal and the catchier side of Thrash with the confidence of musicians who very clearly understand those genres, and growled/screamed vocals interplay effectively with the three teenage singers.
Like all fusions, Pop-Metal only works if both elements are understood equally, and the triumph of Babymetal is that it marries the riffs and breakdowns of its Metal side with a flawless knack for how to write a Pop song. After the playfully pretentious intro, songs are paced with ruthless efficiency, structured around breathless choruses and cheeky key-changes lifted perfectly from the J-Pop side of their family tree. They’re also full to capacity with the quality that both Metal and Western Pop forget about too readily – joy. The elements of reggae, hip-hop and dance music (all translated through a J-Pop filter) are lacking the pretentious “wackiness” that such things often have, and feel like nothing less than the band having fun.
Looking back at Babymetal with the advantage of time and distance, most of the criticisms levelled at it are completely irrelevant. Critics made a big deal of the band’s “manufactured” nature, but while it is true that the band and their music were assembled by a professional agency, this collection of almost perfect songs – played by skilled musicians who can replicate the results live and are clearly into what they’re doing – make it hard to remember why it was supposed to be a bad thing that they didn’t meet backstage at a Bathtub Shitter gig.
Equally pointless but far more sinister was the “Paedo-Metal” accusation that’s still bandied around by some of the nastier online critics. In a genre which has always struggled with the representation of women probably the best non-musical thing about Babymetal is how entirely unsexualised the girls are, and how innocent the pleasure they’re obviously taking in their job is. If you think that the presence of young Japanese girls makes something inherently sexual that’s your prerogative, of course, but you might want to ask yourself some serious questions about why.
Babymetal is, all hyperbole and controversy aside, a brilliant Pop Metal album. It’s not for everyone – a quality that it shares with all “true Metal” – but it achieves what it sets out to do perfectly, and adds something truly worthwhile to the vocabulary of Metal.
9.5/10
RICHIE HR
Grave Pleasures Book Upcoming Euro Festival Appearances
Grave Pleasures has booked a number of upcoming European festival appearances this summer. The band have announced they have signed with Sony Music for their next album.
May 29: Rock Im Revieer – Gelsenkirchen (DE)
May 31: Olympia Park (Rockavaria) – Munchen (DE)
Jun 06: Sweden Rock Festival – Solvesborg (SE)
Jun 12: Sideways – Helsinki (FI)
Jun 21: Hellfest – Clisson (FR)
Jun 27: Provinssirock – Seinajoki (FI)
Jul 05: Ruisrock – Turku (FI)
Jul 19: Ilusaarirock – Juensuu (FI)
Aug 28: Reverence Festival – Valada (PO)
Aug 29: Beyond The Gates IV – Bergen (NO)
Grave Pleasures Hires Ex-In Solitude Drummer, Begin Recording New Album
Grave Pleasures (ex-Beastmilk) have announced the addition of new drummer Uno Bruniusson (ex-In Solitude) and have inked a new recording deal with Sony Music. They will enter the studio in May to begin tracking their new album with producer Tom Dalgety (Royal Blood, Killing Joke), with a tentative September release date. Read the statement here.
We’re super happy to announce that we have been joined by Uno Bruniusson (In Solitude, Procession) on drums and we have…
Posted by Grave Pleasures on Friday, April 17, 2015
Unlocking The Truth Seeks Exit From Sony Music Deal
Unlocking The Truth are reportedly seeking to exit their $1.8 million dollar recording contract with Sony Music they signed last year. At the March 14th screening their Breaking A Monster documentary screening, band guitarist/singer Malcolm Brickhouse revealed they were seeking to sever ties with Sony due to “complications.”
Band drummer Jarad Dawkins said:
“Our attorneys are in the process of us exiting the label.”
When pressed for further details, he offered:
“We can’t discuss the complications. But complications — that’s what I can tell you.”
The band was formed by Brickhouse and his seventh grade friends Dawkins and bassist Alec Atkins started performing instrumental metal in 2010, and by the summer of 2013 they began performing regularly. Sony Music signs them to a multiple album deal, if sales figures are met, could land them $1.8 million.
Within the interview, it states about the band’s rise following on YouTube with the band’s performances in Times Square to band manager Alan Sacks signing the group and orchestrating their deal with Sony Music. But it also shows the friction between the band and Sacks, as well as with their label, and at meeting with their label presenting the trio as cartoon characters resembling “The Boondocks”, amongst other objections.
The band is scheduled to perform at South By Southwest, where they just performed this past Tuesday. No word on other previously scheduled live appearances at this time.
Mallory Knox Streaming “Ghost In The Mirror” and “Shout At The Moon” Music Videos
Mallory Knox will be touring the US and dates have been confirmed. Watch the video for “Ghost in the Mirror” here. Watch the video for “Shout at the Moon” here.
Jan 23: Viejas Arena – San Diego, CA
Jan 24: The Marquee – Tempe, AZ
Jan 26: Warfield Theatre – San Francisco, CA
Jan 27: Roseland Theater – Portland, OR
Jan 28: Show box SoDo – Seattle, WA
Jan 30: The Great Saltair – Salt Lake City, UT
Jan 31: Fillmore Auditorium – Denver, CO
Feb 02: Sokol Auditorium – Omaha, NE
Feb 03: Uptown Theater – Kansas City, MO
Feb 04: Myth – St. Paul, MN
Feb 06: Aragon Ballroom – Chicago, IL
Feb 07: Eqyptian Room at Old National Centre – Indianapolis, IN
Feb 08: The LC Pavilion – Indoor Stage – Columbus, OH
Feb 10: Stage AE – Indoor Stage – Pittsburgh, PA
Feb 11: Stage AE – Indoor Stage – Pittsburgh, PA
Feb 13: Tsongas Arena – Lowell, MA
Feb 15: Electric Factory – Philadelphia, PA
Feb 17: Hammerstein Ballroom – New York, NY
Feb 18: The Fillmore – Silver Spring, MD
Feb 20: The National – Richmond, VA
Feb 21: The Fillmore – Charlotte, NC
Feb 22: The Tabernacle – Atlanta, GA
Feb 24: Fillmore Miami Beach – Miami Beach, FL
Feb 25: House Of Blues – Orlando, FL
Feb 26: House Of Blues – Orlando, FL
Feb 28: Bayou – Houston, TX
Mar 01: South Side Ballroom – Dallas, TX
Mar 03: Backstage – San Antonio, TX
Mar 04: Diamond Ballroom – Oklahoma City, OK
Mallory Knox on Facebook
Mallory Knox on Twitter
Engel – Raven Kings
Not content with plying his trade with one major label band, guitarist Niclas Engelin, who stepped into the Jesper Strömblad sized hole in the In Flames line up on a permanent basis in 2011, teams up with long-standing partner in crime Marcus Sunesson (ex-The Crown) for Raven Kings (Gain/Sony), the fourth installment of his near-eponymous band Engel, and his stamp, and that of his day job, is all over this new release.
Engel are keen to show that the metal does indeed flow in their veins, and the decision to kick the album off with two ragers works from a dynamic point of view, particularly considering the exemplary production job undertaken by Jacob Hansen (Volbeat), although the decision to utilize new vocalist Mikael Sehlin’s harsher tones at the onset of the album instantly draw comparisons with Anders Friden, which for a side project that are not a million miles away from the furrows being ploughed by his other band, is potentially too thin an ice to be stomping army boots on.
Where they do come into their own, though, is as the album progresses and the bands’ keen ear for a hook is accentuated and highlighted, be it riff, groove, vocal melody or chorus that provides it, this is an album full of catchy moments and Soilwork-ed passages, with Sehlin operating much more effectively in the melodic ranges, sounding not too dissimilar to Sebastian Bach’s more Slave-ish moments, and with a power and tone reminiscent of Chris Jericho.
While the band have termed themselves Melodic Death Metal there is no escaping that the core sound of Engel is intrinsically close to that of In Flames, particularly as electronic and “industrial” nuances fleck both the Jester’s and this ancillary outfits’ sound these days, or that the term “Death” in that descriptor is a bit of a red herring. Yes, their hooky song-based modern metal (I’m loathe to add the word core on the end as it almost by default detracts from what they produce) is heavy without resorting to ultra beatdowns to bring the weight, but it is in the melodic and the catchy where they thrive, as, ultimately, Raven Kings is a worthy release of contemporary, commercial metal.
7.0/10
Engel on Facebook
STEVE TOVEY
Not Riding The Spiral – Chevelle Dismisses Comparisons With Tool
Chevelle released their seventh overall album titled La Gargola this year, debuting at number three on the Billboard 200 album charts. Singles such as ‘Take Out the Gunman’ and ‘Hunter Eats Hunter’ have been strong singles off this album and continuing to attract new fans along the way.
One aspect of the band that they have not been able to shake off is the constant comparisons to such bands as Tool and Helmet, which they have regularly drawn similarities to. This has been a thorn in their side, but drummer Sam Loeffler does not take it personally when this tag comes up.
He shared his thoughts on this subject. “Eventually you kinda go ‘seriously?’,” he said, about the comparison. “We write essentially almost what you would call it radio-ish rock songs. It’s completely different from either band. Once you get a bit of a comparison in a singer, when they are super diehard fans, they can’t see past it.”
“I think a really good example of that is Muse and Radiohead. ‘Let it go. That’s what that guy sounds like.’ He’s not copying anyone. It’s his natural voice. Muse is an amazing band. Radiohead is an amazing band. Those guys go on.”
“Eventually you’ve gotta go ‘come on guys…what do you want us to do?’ When was the last Tool record? Seven or eight years ago, right? At least. We’ve written at least another three records in that time. We’re just writing songs. That’s it. I don’t know what people think we’re doing. Listening to an eight year old Tool record and trying to copy it? It doesn’t make any sense. I know the Tool guys never came up. They don’t think twice about it. They don’t think about us whatsoever.”
“When you’re a rock band, it doesn’t matter what you do. When someone hears you, they’re going to compare you to something. ‘Oh the Strokes! Oh yeah it sounds a lot like the Doors or Led Zeppelin.’ It doesn’t matter. They’re going to compare you to something. That’s the only reason people listen to it and it’s because they recognize something in it that they like.”
“The reality is, that kind of stuff comes up, fine. If you have a problem with the comparison, don’t listen to it. It’s ok. We all learned in kindergarten, if you don’t have anything nice to say….it doesn’t bother me. We have our influences. If you really go back and listen to what our music’s like, I can listen to Helmet Aftertaste, Meantime and Betty and go back to Alice In Chains and even listen to stuff like the Minutemen – stuff that’s really influential to us – Faith No More. These are the records we grew up on and pushed us to write music. If you go back and listen to those records and compare, sure.”
While Loeffler has his influences that helped shape Chevelle’s sound, the music he listens to on his spare time isn’t quite what most may imagine: “I listen to way less music than I used to now, because you start to think about it in terms of your own interests. That being said, a lot of music I listen to is not like our genre, like Every Time I Die and The Bronx are two of my favorite bands right now. Believe it or not, I listen to Duke Ellington and stuff like that because it’s entirely different and you don’t necessarily know where things will go with it. It’s unpredictable which is really nice. Then certain bands come out like Middle Class Rut. They’re amazing records and so fun to listen to. Makes you want to sing along. That’ll be more of a modern rock kinda thing that I’m interested in.”
“Pete [Loeffler, singer/guitarist]’s gone back to a lot of older stuff like the Ministry records have come back up for us – Land of Rape and Honey and Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste. These records that were so influential to us 22 to 24 years ago that helped shape us then. You go back and those records are still great. Recently we got back into Ministry a lot and that’s been fun.”
REI NISHIMOTO