For the most part, the fourth album from Jess And The Ancient Ones continues down the low-key approach to Occult Rock that was established on 2017’s The Horse And Other Weird Tales. Just about every song on Vertigo (Svart Records) is driven by a short length, an upbeat structure, and extensive layers of psychedelic instrumentation. Aside from the eleven minutes of the closing ‘Strange Earth Illusion,’ the first two albums’ more drawn-out runtimes seem to be a thing of the past.
Deftones’ fan video archive channel Deftones Live on YouTub has shared a long-lost concert performance of the band from their 1996 opening slot on the now legendary Pantera/White Zombie Tour. Deftones were promoting their debut album Adrenaline (Maverick Records) and the concert was shot for a promo that was never released. Watch the video now!
The reignited interest in distinctly eighties-sounding metal styles, and more specifically, the thrash revival of the 2000s, has brought with it a handful of blistering new acts, alongside a slew of respectable releases from its originators. However, as a general scene, it has also suffered from a lack of innovation and compositional creativity. Often bands of this scene are perfectly content to just emulate classic sounds long-established by Sodom, Kreator, Venom, Bathory, and Slayer. Oftentimes, I find it a dull guessing game of which thrash bands are being ripped off whenever I listen to these bands. But there are nevertheless a handful of acts that in addition to paying tribute to the old guard’s sound manage to capture that fury, excitement, and blasphemous spirit of heavy music during the proto-extreme metal era. James McBain, the singular creative force behind Hellripper, clearly loves the style of first wave black metal and Teutonic thrash but is also creative enough to blend them to create something that sounds completely fresh. The result here is The Affair of the Poisons (Peaceville Records), a sophomore effort to the more straightforward Coagulating Darkness, and a release of blackened thrash/speed metal fury that will leave you yearning even more for a destructive live experience in 2020.Continue reading
Rising Australian rock stars Starcrazy have teamed up with Ghost Cult to stream the first single from their debut EP, due in early 2021. “Long Way Home” calls it back to a simpler time of spazzed out licks, breezy hooks, catchy verses, great vocals, and real rock n roll swagger. A song like this is the polar opposite of today’s fake everything and too clean substitute for pop pulp. The band already counts legends such as Alice Cooper and Fishbone frontman Angelo Moore, and chances are you are next!
Relative newcomers to the scene, Detroit’s Plague Years follow up their independently released 2018 debut EP with their first full-length offering, Circle of Darkness (eOne Music). Continue reading
Music fans love a good supergroup. However, a lot of times the results may vary and the resultant music that felt like it would rule on paper doesn’t translate in the end. Well, that sure isn’t the case with Disciples of Verity. Not only does the band boast a who’s who of dynamic talents from across Rock and Metal (Living Colour, God Forbid, Negative Sky, Sekond Skyn), their debut release Pragmatic Sanction (The Label Group/InGrooves) has a ton of memorable songs; heavy enough for the real headbangers, but catchy enough for the masses. Continue reading
“Summer of Love” inspired band Children of the Sun are releasing their new album Flowers via The Sign label on July 26th, 2019 in digital, CD, and vinyl formats. The eight-piece band hailing from Arvika, Sweden deals not just the hippie aesthetic of that time, but a musical homage to the emotive vocals, Hammond B-3 organ and spacey guitars of their forebearers. Ghost Cult is presenting the retro video for their song ‘Emmy’. Get ready to jump in your Delorian and gun it to 88 miles per hour, taking you back to a simpler time of free love, good drugs, and all-around kindness to others, which we need more of today. Watch the clip now!Continue reading
When it comes to the heavy scene of Finland, your average metalhead is likely to associate it with a plethora of power and melodic death metal bands that established themselves during a period in the late 1990s and early 2000s. The strength of such acts, which included Stratovarius, Children of Bodom and most infamously Nightwish, not only helped put Scandinavia on the map but to this day remain the icy nation’s most popular and recognised exports. However, despite a long-lasting legacy steeped in epic choruses, neo-classical soloing and gliding keyboards, it so happened that in 2010, a humble quartet from the small town of Jyväskylä by the name of Lost Society would bust down the gate with a relentless thrash album aptly titled Fast Loud Death. It was a release that harkened back to the very earliest days of Metallica and Exodus, and was so instantly beloved by thrashers around the world that it solidified the band as one of the most energising new faces of the genre. So much that when the band dared to change their style up on their latest release (2016’s Braindead – Nuclear Blast), many of their fans were left feeling at best, puzzled, and at very worst, betrayed. On the back of this polarising release, Lost Society welcomed a mosh-ready Manchester crowd for a night of thrash, groove and everything in between on their very first UK headline tour.Continue reading
Coming out of Milwaukee with their own flavor of genre-redefining socially conscious Hip-Hop, Guerrilla Ghost drops their new album this week, Perpetually Sad Motion Machine via Triple Eye Industries. Reminiscent of leaders of the scene like Dead Prez, Common, Jedi Mind Tricks, Dilated Peoples, Dalek, Kool Keith, Death Grips, Jurassic 5 and others; the new album features guest spots by Carnage the Executioner, Lorde Fredd33 (New Age Narcissism), members of Fox Face (Dirtnap Records), and artwork by Child Bite’s Shawn Knight, Perpetually Sad Motion Machine is the next step in the evolution of one of the genre’s rising acts. Jam out to the album now! Continue reading
In a post to social media, California metalcore kings Atreyu has announced their new album In Our Wake, releasing on October 12th via Spinefarm Records. This is the band’s second album since their reunion, following 2015s excellent comeback album Long Live (Search And Destroy/Spinefarm). The band created the album with John Feldmann (a.k.a. Feldy of Goldfinger) who famously produced their classic Lead Sails And Paper Anchor album. The final track ‘Super Hero’ even features M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold and Aaron Gillespie of Underoath. You can hear the title track of the new record and another song, ‘Anger Left Behind’ and pre-order the album right now! Continue reading