Tag Archives: Veil of Maya

Reviews Roundup: Week 42: VUUR, We Came As Romans, Veil of Maya, Then Comes Silence and more

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Ghost Cult rounds up those albums which didn’t receive the full review treatment, for your vulgar delectation…Continue reading →


Entheos – The Infinite Nothing

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Entheos – The Infinite Nothing album cover ghostcultmag

In the world of extreme metal, Entheos is what the experts like to call a blue chip prospect. They’re fairly new (a year and some change, roughly), but they’ve already released the well-received Primal EP and have got some serious roadwork done with the likes of The Contortionist, The Black Dahlia Murder and Revocation. And about one year after the release of Primal, they’ve already cooked up their debut full length The Infinite Nothing (Artery Recordings).

With a work ethic like that it’s easy to understand the prized prospect status. But the secret to these young turks success also can be drawn from the members individual pedigrees. For starters, bass wunderkind Evan Brewer spent some quality time in The Faceless while drummer Navene Koperweis kept rhythm for Animals as Leaders. And before that they gigged in the underappreciated in their time Animosity. You may also remember vocalist and human furnace Chaney Crabb from Systems or the Veil of Maya audition video that made the internet rounds. Guitarist Malcolm Pugh is a one man band in A Loathing Requiem.

So you’re probably asking what The Infinite Nothing sounds like. It sounds exactly as how you imagine it. The Infinite Nothing is as fine as tech-death gets. Brutal slam and technical proficiency is dealt out in equal measure while wrapped in a vague sci-fi theme. The oddly titled ‘Bad Chemicals’ and lead single ‘Neural Damage’ are some stellar examples of technical finesse that still bludgeons the reptile brain.

And if you’re thinking it sounds like I just described Unique Leader’s entire catalogue, then you’re not entirely wrong. This is death metal with sci-fi sounding song titles. However unlike most in that quickly crowding field, there is an uncluttered feeling to Entheos’ style. ‘Mind Alone’ crushes like anything their contemporaries can muster, but not relying on studio trickery or heavy samples. Also kudos to Crabb on being a standout growler in a field full of mic cuppers. Think of her voice as an extra angry Mark Hunter from Chimaira who also just stepped on a tack before walking into the booth. Pugh rips into solos like a motivated Michael Keene, while Brewer’s bass acrobatics fill in for the lack of a second guitarist.

Noting their consummate hunger for work (long layoffs were Brewer’s reason to quit The Faceless), Entheos will continue to evolve and scale the extreme metal ladder. Wouldn’t doubt another strong release by next year.

8.0/10

HANSEL LOPEZ

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Warped Tour Echos The 90s With New Found Glory, Tonight Alive, Sum 41, Falling In Reverse, Less Than Jake, The Story So Far, Yellowcard, Reel Big Fish,

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Warped Full flyer ghostcult mag

In a clear throwback to its pop-punk roots, the 2016 Vans Warped Tour Presented by Journeys announced their full lineup tonight. Among the top bands headlining are New Found Glory, Tonight Alive, Sum 41, Falling In Reverse, Less Than Jake, The Story So Far, Yellowcard, Reel Big Fish, We The Kings, Sleeping With Sirens, Four Year Strong, Mayday Parade, The Maine, Pepper, Motionless In White, ISSUES, Crown The Empire, State Champs and more. The lineup was anouncedat a special event/concert webcast , the first-ever Warped Tour Kick-Off Live Webcast held Llst night, held at Full Sail Live in Winter Park, FL

Tour founder Kevin Lyman MC’d the night and commented:

“Who would have thought that we would be still bringing you the Vans Warped Tour in 2016? Each year I look forward to the summer and the chance to tour with so many old friends and hopefully some new ones”.

Jim Estepa, President and Chief Executive Officer of Journeys, also commented:

“As our partnership with Vans Warped Tour grows, we are thrilled to make the jump forward to naming both of the main stages this summer. The visibility, brand growth and full integration that we’ve been able to build into the program with the Warped team has been not only practically beneficial, but also an incredibly fun relationship to build. Over the years that we’ve worked together, we’ve grown our promotional presence, grown the offerings that we can make to our employees, grown our retail partnerships to include ticket sales in multiple markets and now grown to be the name partners of the main stages. It feels like a natural next step for us and we are excited to see what the future brings!”

Warped Tour’s charitable organization Unite The United will be launching a charity auction to aid LA band The Ghost Inside in their efforts to recover from a devastating bus collision on tour last November. The auction will kick off on May 19th at www.Ebay.com/unitetheunited.

Tickets for all dates are on sale now at ww.vanswarpedtour.com.

The lineup for the 2016 Vans Warped Tour is:

Journeys Left Foot Stage

Falling In Reverse 6/23-8/13

Four Year Strong 6/24-8/13

Good Charlotte 7/19-7/28

Less Than Jake 6/24-8/13

New Found Glory 6/24-8/13

Reel Big Fish 6/24-8/13

Set It Off 6/24-8/13

Sum 41 6/26-8/7

We The Kings 6/24-8/13

Yellowcard 6/24-8/13

Journey’s Right Foot Stage

3OH!3 7/21-7/31

ISSUES 6/24-8/13

Mayday Parade 6/24-8/13

Pepper 6/24-6/29, 7/1-7/22

Real Friends 6/24-8/13

Sleeping with Sirens 6/24-8/13

State Champs 6/24-8/13

The Maine 6/24-8/13

The Story So Far 6/24-8/13

Tonight Alive 6/24-8/13

Monster Energy Party Zone North Stage

Atreyu 7/19-8/7

Bullet For My Valentine 7/19-7/22

Crown The Empire 6/24-8/13

Every Time I Die 6/24-8/13

Ice Nine Kills 6/24-8/13

Motionless In White 6/24-8/13

The Color Morale 6/24-8/13

The Word Alive 6/24-8/13

Volumes 6/24-7/17

Whitechapel 6/24-8/13

Monster Energy Party Zone South Stage

Chelsea Grin 6/24-8/13

Coldrain 6/24-8/13

Cruel Hand 6/24-8/13

From Ashes To New 6/24-8/13

Gideon 6/24-8/13

In Hearts Wake 6/24-8/13

Oceans Ate Alaska 6/24-8/13

Vanna 6/24-8/13

Veil Of Maya 6/24-8/13

Full Sail Stage

Avion Roe 6/24-7/21

Bad Seed Rising 6/24-7/27

Broadside 6/24-8/13

Cane Hill 6/24-8/13

Capsize 7/17-8/13

Dash Ten 6/24-8/13

Hail The Sun 6/24-7/16

Like Pacific 6/24-8/13

More To Monroe 7/28-8/13

Mother Feather 6/24-8/13

Old Wounds 6/24-8/13

Palaye Royale 6/24-8/13

Reckless Serenade 6/24-8/13

Safe To Say 6/24-8/13

SayWeCanFly 7/22-8/13

Silent Planet 6/24-7/17

The New Low 7/19-8/13

Wage War 6/24-8/13

With Confidence 6/24-8/13

Tour Dates:

Jun 24 Dallas, TX

Jun 25 San Antonio, TX

Jun 26 Houston, TX

Jun 27 New Orleans, LA

Jun 29 Nashville, TN

Jun 30 Atlanta, GA

Jul 1 St. Petersburg, FL

Jul 2 Orlando, FL

Jul 3 West Palm Beach, FL

Jul 5 Charlotte, NC

Jul 6 Virginia Beach, VA

Jul 7 Syracuse, NY

Jul 8 Philadelphia, PA

Jul 9 New York, NY

Jul 10 Hartford, CT

Jul 11 Scranton, PA

Jul 13 Boston, MA

Jul 14 Buffalo, NY

Jul 15 Pittsburgh, PA

Jul 16 Columbia, MD

Jul 17 Holmdel, NJ

Jul 19 Indianapolis, IN

Jul 20 Cleveland, OH

Jul 21 Cincinnati, OH

Jul 22 Detroit, MI

Jul 23 Chicago, IL

Jul 24 Minneapolis, MN

Jul 26 Milwaukee, WI

Jul 27 St. Louis, MO

Jul 28 Kansas City, KS

Jul 30 Salt Lake City, UT

Jul 31 Denver, CO

Aug 1 Albuquerque, NM

Aug 2 Phoenix, AZ

Aug 5 San Diego, CA

Aug 6 San Francisco, CA

Aug 7 Los Angeles, CA

Aug 9 Las Vegas, NV

Aug 11 Boise, ID

Aug 12 Seattle, WA

Aug 13 Portland, OR


Warped Tour 2016 Lineup Leaks, Less Than Jake, New Found Glory, Reel Big Fish, Yellowcard

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Warped Tour 2016 logo ghostcultmag

The Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas may have blundered big time when their social media team tweeted the poster for their date of The 2016 Vans Warped Tour, Presented By Journeys, just four days before the official announcement of the first wave of bands. Less Than Jake, New Found Glory, Reel Big Fish, Yellowcard, Issues, Falling In Reverse, We The Kings, The Maine, Whitechapel, Chelsea Grin, Veil of Maya, Vanna, and From Ashes To New are among the bands on the poster., the tour is slated to run from June 24th to August 13th and tickets go on sale Tuesday 3/22 at 10 AM local time, to coincide with the lineup announcement and party at Full Sail University in Winter Park Florida. As of yet, there has been no announcement from Warped tour confirming or denying this lineup. Festival producer Kevin Lyman commented on his Twitter account that he will check tomorrow to confirm the accuracy.

 


 

Leaked Warped Tour admat

Warped Tour online

Warped Tour on Facebook

Warped Tour on Twitter

Warped Tour on Instagram

 







Valleys – Experiment One: Asylum

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Valleys Eperiment One album cover 2016

I had been listening to up and coming North Carolina based prog metallers Valleys and to review their ambitious début full-length new album, playing Experiment One: Asylum on a loop and making my notes as I usually do before putting fingers on keys. Then tragedy struck as Valleys co-frontman of Mikey Clements was killed just a week before the release in a tragic accident. Bravely the band is moving forward, treating the release of the album and future gigs as a tribute to their fallen friend.

Genre mashing used to be out of the ordinary in music, and now as a concession to music fans’ fickle tastes and attention spans, it is the norm. Valleys call themselves progressive metal, and they are a modern prog band. But in addition to sounds inspired by bands like Coheed and Cambria, Tesseract, and Protest The Hero; they also blend in electronics, deathcore and other stuff in the mix. It works well, producing solid songs, and not being too all over the place that they lack cohesion. They also display some high-level muscianship, which is needed to pull off these type of songs in the first place.

More impressive, Experiment One: Asylum is a concept album about suffering from schizophrenia/BPD/multi-personality disorder and a personal descent as a result of it. In this time in our world when people are quick to dismiss and stigmatize mental illness, this is very topical. The album opens up with several strong songs in a row with ‘A Tension’, ‘Unraveling’ and ‘Desperate Me’. Energetic riffs, off-time meters, and stop/start tempos abound and the tracks get even better on repeated listens. ‘Take Me Home’ is the high point of the album, and will call to mind Veil of Maya and Linkin Park, mixing up the brutal gutturals with clean lines traded between Clements and Jayson Mitchell. This band can play brutal, but their ability to write the a super catchy chorus is something to make note of, possibly leading them to great heights someday. Closer ‘The Death Of Me’ is also a very impressive tune.

Hopefully Valleys are just getting started on their path and can find a away through this hardship and pain to keep going. It seems like Experiment One: Asylum is exactly the medicine they might need right now.

7.0/10

KEITH CHACHKES

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