Pantera, Tool, Slipknot and Avenged Sevenfold will headline the 2023 edition of the Welcome To Rockville festival, set to take place May 18-21 at Daytona International Speedway in Daytona Beach, Florida. Also scheduled to appear are Deftones, Rob Zombie, Godsmack, Evanescence, Incubus, Queens Of The Stone Age, Alice Cooper, Chevelle, and Coheed & Cambria, among many others. Tickets are on sale now at the link below.
In a new feature here, we recap the biggest stories of the week here at Ghost Cult! We went to 12, because fuck it, it’s our list! This week we have new reviews from The Mars Volta, Behemoth, and The Devil Wears Prada, an interview with Mike of TDWP, new album news from In flames, concert reviews from Ghost and Oceano, Part 2 of our Bloodstock Festival 2022 coverage, the new plans for The Black Dahlia Murder, Allegeaon welcomes back a vocalist, a potential farewell show from an influential band, and the tragic loss of a member of the metal family.
It’s 2022, September already, a busy time for album releases, a welter of “product” and, more importantly, a feast of music. And I can safely say that – until now – I haven’t heard an album quite like The Mars Volta. Continue reading
Long in the works, the progressive post-hardcore band The Mars Volta has reunited and has shared their comeback single “Blacklight Shine” online, and a corresponding music video. The band’s fans began lining up in Grand Park in Los Angeles, CA this past Sunday to be among the first to hear new music from the long-defunct Texan group. The unique art and music installation – the Voltacube pooped up in Los Angeles on Sunday. This is the band’s first new music in over ten years, since the release of their Noctourniquet, album in 2012. The video was directed by the band’s guitarist/vocalist Omar Rodríguez-López! Stream and purchase the track now and watch the video here! Continue reading
Sad news to report as Marilyn Manson and former The Mars Volta bassist Juan Alderete is in the hospital and in a coma with a traumatic brain injury (TBI) after a solo bicycle accident. According to his wife, Anne, the 56-year-old musician sustained serious head trauma and the prognosis is varied, but still allows for the possibility he will recover. In an Instagram post on Friday (January 24), Anne wrote:Continue reading
Davis M. Shubs of Philadelphia rockers The Bad Larrys shares his favorite concert memory with Ghost Cult. Continue reading
Post-hardcore fans rejoice! According to a reply in a tweet by Cedric Bixler-Zavala, The Mars Volta may be reuniting and doing it soon. A fan tweeted some love for the seminal band that broke up officially in 2012, and Cedric responded with a not so subtle answer about a pending reunion. Former members of The Mars Volta play in offshoot bands At The Drive-In and Antemasque among others. No word yet if a return from TMV includes new music or just touring.Continue reading
Despite this being a début release, the name Schiermann is highly regarded in the contemporary progressive metal/djent community. At the helm is guitarist Chris Schiermann, who over the course of a decade of recording and writing music has befriended many titans in the genre, with the likes of Animals As Leaders, DispersE and TesseracT, and has taken inspiration from a wide range of influences and styles from such contemporary metal maestros to the virtuoso guitar players, most notably like Randy Rhoads. A wide palette that is abundantly clear on his début solo project release Schiermann (Purple Sun), which includes a plethora of guest appearances from such alumni as mentioned and thus offers a vibrant mix and character.Continue reading
False Flags 2015
With their debut mini-album on the horizon, Yorkshire UK discordant hardcore newbies False Flags have made available the excellent preview track, ‘Last Screen Goddess’ that turned heads at Ghost Cult towers. Vocalist Chris Jenkinson helped us piece the puzzle of the band together…
You all know each other from various bands (Red Stars Parade, Whores x 3, Year Of The Man) from a couple of years ago, so how did things come together, and considering you’ve had a break, why now?
We all met through playing gigs together in our old bands back in 2005ish. After all the bands split up, Charlie told me that he, Mark and our old drummer Kev were jamming some new material and I, being quite drunk at the time, said I would be up for doing vocals. The day after, I couldn’t remember saying that at all!
But I still joined anyway.
A year or so of writing and playing the occasional show, Kev left the band so we met Mike through advertising for a new drummer. We’re all in our mid 30’s now, so I think we just do this to get out of the house and hang out.
You’re self-releasing your mini-album. What does “DIY” mean to you?
DIY, to me, is just cutting out all the bullshit and stress that we’ve had in the past with regards to putting the mini-album out. It’s just so easy to put it out ourselves these days rather than trying to get a label to do it.
Speaking of which, Hexmachine is out on 20th November. What can people expect who don’t know about you?
It’s a pretty heavy, straight to the point record from start to finish but you can tell that there’s a structure to it. Rather than most math/hardcore records being all out nuts, we’ve kept it so you can follow what’s going on so its a tad more palatable. I think it’s an age thing really.
You’ve made lead-off track, ‘Last Screen Goddess’, available. Tell us about it, and what do you think it brings that maybe others don’t?
It’s one of the last tracks that we wrote for the record and it kind of just wrote itself. The name came from a headline in the newspaper when Elizabeth Taylor died so I wrote the lyrics about a fictitious character and what they would do to become a famous film star.
It’s pretty much a verse, chorus, verse tune which I don’t think many bands are doing in the DIY scene these days.
What bands do you relate to, and are there any in particular in mind when you’re looking in terms of what you want to emulate?
We’re still fans of the bands that we listened to when we were kids. Pixies, Nirvana, Deftones etc, so when it comes to writing I try to use the same dynamics with a cleaner vocal for the verses and then scream the “chorus”, but then put that into a hardcore band. I remember going to see The Chariot years ago and thinking, that’s the type of band I want to be in, so we bring that dynamic to the table too! Structured chaos!
What’s the deal with the lyrics… Is it true you’re a bit random with them? Are you not worried about not connecting, or are the words just a means to an end? Or is it just trying to do something a bit different and not just bro-downing?
The lyrics are kind of weird really. Each song has a theme but they’re not really about anything in particular. Most of the time we come up with the title first, then I try to write around that. Charlie came in one day and said “Can we call a song ‘Pet Wolf’?” So that ended up being about one of my Chihuahuas being a little shit!
I’m a big fan of lyricists like Cedric Bixler (The Mars Volta) and John Congleton (The Paperchase) so I try to do that “interpret it how you like” kind of thing.
How’s it all fit together with your every day lives? What you guys up to outside of the band?
I have a Mrs, 3 kids, a mortgage and work 6 days a week, so for me this is just a hobby that I love doing and it’s the best way for me to still hang out with old friends. The older you get, you tend to drift away from your mates with settling down and stuff, so it’s cool that my partner still lets me go out and pretend to be in my 20s and fuck about in a band!
Hexmachine is out on November 20. You can pre-order here.
WORDS BY STEVE TOVEY
Following the ending of The Mars Volta, it seemed the long time working relationship and friendship between Cedric Bixler-Zavala and Omar Rodriguez-Lopez had sadly soured and it did seem that tensions were high and this dynamic duo was gone for good. Then, out of the blue arrived Antemasque, with both of them at the helm once again.
After the visceral post-hardcore of At The Drive-In and the explorative and unpredictable prog journeys of the The Mars Volta, Antemasque (Nadie Sound) sees them in new territory. This is a much more straightforward album than they have been accustomed to producing, part blues rock, part indie rock (think NME fodder) with shades of punk. Aside from Bixler-Zavala’s instantly recognisable voice this has little in common with their previous works, and even then this suitably lacks the vocal spite in At The Drive-In.
This is the most simplistic album of the duo’s career; song structures are a stock verse-chorus formula, only 3-4 minute average durations and focused on catchiness and tune rather than tangents and thought provoking routes. The indie vibes may put off many people especially those who discovered them from a progressive background, but otherwise this should make a great summer soundtrack, especially in a festival setting.
7.0/10
CHRIS TIPPELL