Already featuring a massive lineup of bands, Download 2017 has added 20 more names to the roster with Devin Townsend Project, Code Orange, Max & Iggor Cavalera playing their ‘Return To Roots’ show, Sick Puppies, rapper Machine Gun Kelly, Sikth, Suicide Silence, Ty Bryant And the Shakedown, Krokodil and many more announced. Continue reading
Despite the fraught hostility coursing through the first two albums from San Francisco Sludge quartet Kowloon Walled City, there was evidence of a Post-hardcore sensibility. It’s no surprise, therefore, to see a heightening of the band’s melody on third album Grievances (Neurot).
Brief flurries of lead are evident from the outset, but so is a slow pace; Ian Miller’s rumbling bass, especially throughout tolling closer ‘Daughters and Sons’; and Scott Evans’ embittered yell. What opener ‘Your Best Years’ misses in urgency and frenetic neurosis, it gains in feeling and an almost unbearable tension: sections where brakes are applied evoke scenes of tethered wild animals straining to be free. The ensuing title track has the same doleful, stone-kicking pace: violent desires suffocated by a Doom-like oppression which leaves every synapse twitching with the harrowing drama of it all. When the explosion occurs at the track’s midway point, it too is sufficiently reined to maximise its powerful statement. Less, here, is more…
It is this skill which Kowloon Walled City possess in buckets: the ability to move further toward the more touching, tortured elements of Touché Amoré without sacrificing their own aggravated, pummelling core. Timing, especially with the introduction of Evans’ vocal, is immaculate and delivered to optimum effect with always a word left out there hanging past the instrumentation: the “Weaknesses…” refrain to ‘Backlit’ is positively chilling. Yet it all feels so organic, a fluid part of the breathing whole.
That anger is occasionally allowed its freedom, within the crashing ire of ‘The Grift’ for example, yet it remains tempered by a complexity of sound: the guilt after lashing out which even the tweak of strings at the track’s coda highlights. This is the embodiment of pure expression: an album depicting a person with so much justified anger, yet is too nice to show it or feels like shit when they do. An album fizzing with pain and frustration yet constantly, feverishly, grasping at its reins for fear of what could happen if let loose. The pregnant ‘True Believer’ epitomises this fragile balance: a squall of pent-up hurt and aggression which flays the skin when the bubble pops.
Grievances is an at times unsettling and traumatic but always potent experience, blowing this year’s closest relative, Black Sheep Wall’s I’m Going to Kill Myself (Season of Mist), from the water by more accurately personalising the rawness and unpredictability of suppressed emotion.
8.5/10.0
PAUL QUINN
Temple Of Dagon. Photo Credit: Paul Lee / Organ Donor
California crust conjurors Temple Of Dagon is streaming “The Wandering Spirit,” off of Revelations Of The Spirit, out June 9, 2015 via Black Voodoo Records here. The EP was recorded by Alex Estrada (Xibalba, Touche Amore, Silver Snakes) at Earth Capital Studios in Los Angeles, CA et al) and at Mammoth Sound in Alameda, CA. The band has a string of June shows coming up.
Jun 06: East 7th Punx Warehouse – Los Angeles, CA
Jun 14: House Show – Oakland, CA
Jun 15: Blackwater Bar – Portland, OR
Jun 16: The Mix – Seattle, WA
Jun 18: Club Scum – Denver, CO
Jun 19: Hexagon Bar – Minneapolis, MN
Jun 20: TBA – Madison, WI
Jun 21: Mousetrap – Chicago, IL
Jun 23: Spitfire – New Orleans, LA
Jun 25: The Lost Well – Austin, TX
Jun 26: TBA – Phoenix, AZ
Jun 27: The Music Hall (Cruststock 2015) – Anaheim, CA
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Coheed and Cambria is the latest rock act to have joined Jay-Z’s Roc Nation roster for management purposes, following Touche Amore also joining their roster.
They have announced a string of upcoming live dates:
May 07: The Observatory – Santa Ana, CA
May 09: Rock In Rio USA – Las Vegas, NV
Jun 18-21: Amnesia Rockfest – Montebello, QC
Jun 26: Summerfest – Milwaukee, WI
Aug 06-09: Ink N Iron (Music City Gathering) – Nashville, TN
Aug 14-15: Hevy Fest – Port Lympne (UK)
Special warm up show – Santa Ana, CA – The Observatory Orange County with seahaven – May 7th.Tickets on sale tomorrow at 10am. http://tktwb.tw/1B62An9
Posted by Coheed and Cambria on Thursday, March 19, 2015
Robotic Empire will be releasing a second Nirvana tribute album titled Whatever Nevermind: A Tribute To Nirvana’s Nevermind, for Record Store Day on April 18, 2015. The songs on this focuses on the Nevermind album, and will be released as a 12 inch + 7” set, as well as digital download. Stream Circa Survive‘s “Drain You” below.
Whatever Nevermind: A Tribute To Nirvana’s Nevermind track listing:
01: Young Widows – “Smells Like Teen Spirit”
02: Torche – “In Bloom”
03: Kylesa – “Come As You Are”
04: Cave In – “Breed”
05: Boris – “Lithium”
06: La Dispute – “Polly”
07: White Reaper – “Territorial Pissings”
08: Circa Survive – “Drain You”
09: Touche Amore – “Lounge Act”
10: Wrong – “Stay Away”
11: Pygmy Lush – “On A Plain”
12: Nothing – “Something In The Way”
13: Thou – “Endless, Nameless” (bonus track)
14: Thou – “Even In His Youth” (bonus track)
We are extremely stoked to announce our second tribute to Nirvana, this time with their breakout “Nevermind” album being…
Posted by Robotic Empire on Tuesday, March 24, 2015
Sweet mother of God: it’s pub-Post hardcore!! Seriously, this is a vibrant effort from Californian agonists Griever (not to be confused with the British metalcore band of the same name), but it’s marred somewhat by a miscast vocalist in Alex Jacobelli and a horrible production which deadens areas of brutality and heightens elements it shouldn’t resulting in tinny cymbals occasionally ruling the sound even through the most bass-heavy cans.
Our Love is Different (Vitriol) carries the sound of a harsh, more weighty Touché Amoré. The jagged leads and closing violence of ‘Malice’ show real emotion while the leadplay coursing through ‘The Tie That Grinds’ evokes the edgy post-punk of Joy Division. Jacobelli’s voice, however, is a consumptive and limited roar more suited to Sludge, and in these surroundings it’s hindered further with each cab doubling as an airing cupboard; though this bizarrely aids the heavy, rapid pummel of ‘King of Ash’. Unfortunately that muffled state dulls the edges of some enterprising and energised riffs and whilst anguished savagery is evident throughout, it’s obvious that a certain sharpness and vitality is missing. The emotive, skipping riffs of the title track descend to a moody subtlety which is broken by a hoarse rasp seemingly threatening to give out at any minute, yet miraculously managing to maintain its wounded bark – it detracts from the emotion but this is thankfully held up by yet more heartfelt leadwork and those switching, often frenetic rhythms.
Post-hardcore is no longer in its infancy so, whilst maintaining an exciting pace and possessing moments of jerking, acerbic battery, such prominent faults are too easily noticeable and threaten bags of promise with mediocrity. Griever possess all of that promise and no little variation too; the sinister and impassioned ‘The Endless Wall’, with its resigned clean vocal, is a much valued departure from the template and shows a sensitive edge to the ferocity.
There’s no doubting that this would be an immense live proposition with the chaotic, sometimes imbalanced sound somewhat more suited to that arena. Through the stereo, however, these guys could brush up on a few aspects before they can be considered all-round contenders.
Maybe a tube of Lockets for starters?
6.5/10
PAUL QUINN
So many directions and departures in such a relatively short career… The debut album from Californians Black Sheep Wall was considered unworthy of inclusion in the annals of the notoriously strict Encyclopedia Metallum, yet their follow up No Matter Where It Ends (Season of Mist) exploded through that draconian outlook with its oppressive Sludge. Last EP It Begins Again (Independent release), their first without former key players Trae Malone and Garrett Randall, saw post-hardcore emotion blend with that weighty brutality, and that’s how third full-length I’m Going to Kill Myself (Season of Mist) resumes the turbulent career.
The ridiculously fluffy, colourful cover does a great job of hiding the torment within and the ponderous, stark Post background is coated in former bassist Brandon Gillichbauer‘s anguished screams, mirroring Touché Amoré‘s more desolate moments, though without the snappy delivery, and with pounding monoliths hitting the brake pedal. Torture and angst is immediately in your face, despite the often delicate meanderings and heartfelt teardrops of lead guitar strains, so that when the brief pummel of the ferocious rhythms within opener ‘The Wailing and the Gnashing and the Teeth’ kicks in, you’ve been preparing yourself for it for a while.
That wounded fury, straining at the leash, is positively feral on the primal roar of the ensuing ‘Tetsuo: The Dead Man’, the pulverising, contorted riffs beating the staccato rhythms with barely controlled frenzy, whilst Gillichbauer’s voice is all abject pain and sparing, vertiginous leads pierce the mind. It’s a pulsating ball of embittered anguish which is as compelling as it is unnerving. The complex, contorting mass and intensity of ‘White Pig’ is near unbearable: the brutal onslaught of its power passages, varying in tempo yet never in their crushing ferocity, are only augmented by the subtle ambience and eerie intonations which create a maelstrom of feverish tension.
It’s this innate ability to set terrifying scenes which is the band’s forté. The last two minutes of ‘…Pig’s’ unsettling reverb and spoken word delivery induce the arse twitches just in time for the 34-minute closer ‘Metallica’; a metronomic, pulverising saw riff underpinning Gillichbauer’s apparent and barely-managed breakdown, with brief lulls and occasional silences puncturing the expanding swell like Astute missiles. The lash of the oft-chaotic rhythm increases steadily, as does the intensity; yet marvellously, incredibly, a bone-crunching pace remains constant. The largely unflinching template of the track wears the nerves a touch but it’s a minor quibble, and when the harrowingly screamed line “I’m going to kill myself” reappears like a recoil through the last six minutes it chills the marrow. What the fuck it has to do with the Bay Area behemoth fuck knows, but it’s a synapse-shattering experience and the latest proof that this band are now masters at turning violent emotional turmoil into an irresistible listening experience.
8.5/10
PAUL QUINN
Circa Survive
Circa Survive will be performing on the Sunday (April 12/19, 2015) of Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival 2015’s two consecutive weekends, alongside Drake, Florence and the Machine, Brand New, Jenny Lewis, Built To Spill, Touche Amore, Joyce Manor and more.
They are currently touring behind their new album Descensus, out now via Sumerian Records, and was produced, engineered, and mixed by Will Yip of Studio 4.
Circa Survive is Anthony Green (vocals), Colin Frangicetto (guitar), Brendan Ekstrom (guitar), Nick Beard (bass), Steve Clifford (drums).
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I love sloths. Slow, easy living, tree-hugging, cute in a strange kind of way…That’s not this Portland, Oregon, trio though – bristling with a fulminating, ireful energy, Sloths’ sludgy brutality is tempered by streams of post-hardcore lead guitar twisting through distortion, whilst diseased growls and Nate Sonenfield‘s Jeremy Bolm-like harrowing screams express previously unspeakable agonies. Indeed ‘Void’, the second offering of the three-track EP Twenty Years (Independent), is Touche Amore from the swamps, with downturned riffs waking a lazy, pensive build; Kyle Bates‘ agonised post leadwork and Sonenfield’s screams overtaken by a jagged, rumbling crescendo, the cavernous riffs causing mountains to shake.
The at times frenetic drumming and tortured roars driving the unhinged new-wave of closer ‘Passing’ are again moderated by those moody, chiming leads; the accompanying leaden force and delicious time changes the final urgency of an intriguing sound. Three tracks is not easy to judge the overall potential of a band but the signs here are really promising with the sounds and feelings of pain, hatred and unbearable sadness portrayed bitterly and beautifully.
These guys might not be as cuddly as the real thing, but they’re bloody impressive. The EP is free through bandcamp, but Twenty Years is well worth some of your hard-earned.
8.0/10
PAUL QUINN
