Death Ray Vision (Feat. Brian Fair from Shadows Fall) Debut EP out NOW!

Current members of Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall and ex members of Overcast and Cannae have combined forces in the project DEATH RAY VISION. These veterans of the Boston metal scene play a raw brand of metallic hardcore that recaptures the energy of their old school hardcore roots infused with all they have learned and experienced as musicians over the past decade. The songs are short blasts of energy and intensity built on thrash metal rhythms and chugging guitar riffs. 

 The debut 5 song EP “Get Lost Or Get Dead" is available TODAY on Bullet Tooth in 7” Vinyl, Digipack CD, and digital download formats.  Buy the Digipack CD, 7” Vinyl, and Tee Shirts at MerchNow, download at iTunes, Amazon, or Emusic, and stream at Spotify and Rdio. The first song “Shattered Frames” can be streamed at YouTube! The track listing is:

Into It. Over It. Sign with Triple Crown Records

Into It. Over It., the brainchild of Chicago, IL musician Evan Weiss, has signed with Triple Crown Records and will release a new full-length in September. Weiss is currently in the studio recording with Brian Deck (Modest Mouse, Iron & Wine). Check out the teaser video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b17LZMYTDLQ&feature=youtu.be.

Hindsight Records to release Tim Maxwell solo EP

Perth based independent label Hindsight Records are excited to announce that solo artist Tim Maxwell (vocalist and guitarist of Apart From This) has joined their roster, and will be releasing his debut release “Sea Of Selfishness" through the label.

The EP features four acoustic tracks that will be available digitally and on a limited run of cassette tapes.

Details regarding the release date and pre orders will be announced in the coming weeks. In the meantime you can hear a live performance of title track “Sea Of Selfishness" can be viewed here.

Review: Stars In Stereo - Stars In Stereo

Although most female-fronted rock bands are immediately compared with Paramore; Stars in Stereo is not one to be thrown into that category.

Opening up the album with their powerful single “The Broken”, the listener is quickly immersed in the immense sound and style that is Stars in Stereo. The band quickly proves itself worthy of sticking out with tracks like “Violence” and “Queen of Catastrophe”. Lead singer Becca Hollcraft really shows herself to be the intriguing element in the band with her powerful full-fronted voice. The songs on this album are very well written and hit even harder with Becca’s dynamic voice.

With this being the band’s debut album, fans can quickly see that Stars in Stereo is a sound to be reckoned with. The band brings a powerful vocal oriented hard-rock tone to the table, especially with their single “The Broken”. Not only does this song introduce the album, it defines the band’s sound strongly with it’s representation of the singing and song structure. The band takes a stereotypical rock sound and pumps it up with their guitar leads and dynamic drums. The instruments on this album prove themselves a massively sufficient background to the vocals, holding their own and propelling the vocals to the point of view.

Although the album has an all around professional sound, it still very much sounds like a debut. The band has a ways to go when it comes to development. They have set themselves up for success but the album still lacks a certain progression that successfully brings it to a close. Another aspect of the album that has room for improvement is the simplicity of some of the tracks on the album. The songs on the debut album are very well crafted, but with a powerhouse of a leading voice and a batch of well written guitar leads, the listener feels the desire to yearn for a higher potential.

The band has a very defining sound, but hasn’t quite mastered it. Many of the songs have moving verses and catchy choruses, but a lot more can be done with the instrumental part of the album. The band has yet to take full advantage of Becca’s voice in terms of incorporating it into the flow of each song as well as the album as a whole. Using the lead singer as an instrument rather than a hook can be much more rewarding to both the band and the listener, and this is something that fans can look forward to for Stars in Stereo.

Overall this album rings of professionalism and great modern rock songs. Any fan of female fronted bands will be overcome with satisfaction when checking out this band. They have a definitive style and a certain “in your face” attitude to their songs. Definitely keep an eye open for this band as fans everywhere will hear of them soon enough.

9/10

- Nic

Review: Abandoned By Bears - Bear-Sides

Abandoned By Bears new EP release “Bear-Sides” ranks itself among the styles of bands like Chunk! No, Captain Chunk and A Day To Remember.

With their catchy pop-punk choruses and metalcore breakdowns they have proven themselves to adequately mimic the sounds of an all too familiar pop-punk/easycore band. Any fans of Chunk or ADTR will enjoy the easygoing feel that the band radiates with songs like “We Can Break Loose” and “You Need To Stick Up!”, but lose an important sense of originality.

Although the band has a very similar sound to other bands of the genre, they break apart from the group slightly with their heavy use of synthesizer that can be heard in every song. This instrument gives a solid reinforcement and a creative touch to the otherwise generic sound of the EP. Overall, the instrumentation of the EP doesn’t prove to set itself that far apart from bands of the same field; the guitar riffs and chords are some that can be found in almost every other pop-punk band out there, and the drums don’t prove themselves to do any more than follow the minimum synchronizing.

Even without a separating element, the band can still find a place for pop-punk/easycore fans. Listeners of the genre will be content with the upbeat and major sounds of the catchy melody lines and unsurprising breakdowns. The release of this 4-song EP (one song being “INTRO”, a 38 second instrumental) gives a good look into the band’s consistent sound. Fans of the genre should definitely check it out if they are looking for the familiar sound of clean singing melodies and basic breakdowns.

Rating: 6.5/10

- Nic

Sirens Announces June Tour With Ovid’s Withering

Sirens and Ovid’s Withering (Subliminal Groove Records) have announced that they are heading out on a two week run that is being sponsored by BeheadingTheTraitor. The stint will begin June 21^st in Illinois and go through July 1^st in Florida. The tour will hit the east coast and be in support of Ovid’s Withering’s The Cloud Gather as well as Sirens’ Spore EP and new “Drone” single. With Siren’s new single featuring technically-driven heavier sections complementing immaculate ambient soundscapes. Drummer/singer Zakk Huff had this to say on the single,

"‘Drone’ pushes our boundaries in all directions; intricate rhythmic work, experimental orchestration, distinct vocal lines, dense harmony, massive guitar, and drastic style changes that push the genre "progressive metal" to the limits."

TOUR DATES
 
6/21 - Shelbyville, IL @ The Iron Keg
6/22 - Louisville, KY @ Keswick’s Democratic Club
6/23 - Knoxville, TN @ Longbranch Saloon
6/24 - Chattanooga, TN @ Sluggo’s
6/25 - Raleigh, NC @ TBA (w/ Lorelei)
6/26 - Charleston, SC @ Skatepark of Charleston
6/27 - Marietta, GA @ Swayze’s Venue
6/29 - Jacksonville, FL @ Burro Bar
6/30 - New Port Richey, FL @ Insomniacs
7/1 - Lakeland, FL @ The Venue (Ovid’s Withering only)
7/6 - St. Louis, MO @ Fubar Lounge (Sirens only)

Unkind: Reveal New Album Details

Finnish hardcore heroes UNKIND have revealed the album details for their upcoming sixth full-length entitled Pelon Juuret (Translation:  Roots of Fear). The album was recorded with producer Kari Nieminen at Noisecamp studios in Turku, Finland at the end of 2012.  Pelon Juuret continues in the direction of the group’s previous work, offering up a furious fusion of d-beat hardcore crossed with a highly creative touch of atmospherics —as if Mogwai made a record of Tragedy covers or From Ashes Rise were influenced by Explosions In The Sky.  

The album will be released on CD/LP/Digital via Relapse Records on July 9th in North America, July 8th in the UK / World, and July 5th in Germany, Benelux and Finland.  A trailer for Pelon Juuret is available here while exclusive pre-order packages are available via Relapse here. 

Track by Track: Strychnia “Reanimated Monstrosity”

Strychnia have a new EP coming out on May 14th and vocalist Kevin O’Laughlin has the lowdown on each track!

Reanimated Monstrosity
Bringing the band back! That’s what this song represents, as well as the EP. The band is the ‘Monstrosity’ and we’re bringing it back to life, or ‘Reanimating’ it. So we’re metaphorically portraying ourselves as this sickening beast and we’re rising from the dead to come back and just unleash hell and violence. We’re gonna “crush through the opposition” and nothing will stop us. Now that we’ve given you the idea, you can pretty much just read through the entire song and relate everything to our reform. We added in some gore because we love it, so the parts that John of Dying Fetus sings over, he’s basically talking about dethroning the enemy and killing them. “Spinal cord submission” can portray paralysis and “carving out the throat” can represent silence. Again, the whole idea behind this song is just coming back and destroying everything. We want to be on top of the NJ scene and eventually the fucking world!

War Sermon
The lyrics in war sermon are like the tortured screams of the oppressed peoples scattered across remote corners of our world. The innocent people that suffer under violent military regimes, or religiously corrupted governments. “Indoctrination reactivate” as in feed them lies, think as we think, do as we allow. “Lunatic prophets derange the poems,” meaning a person of power twisting the supposed holy words of god into a new meaning used to control others.

Unfortunately many people are similar to sheep that will follow a master and would never bite the hand that feeds them. “Faithless freedom seekers aim to shift the trend through violent means an upheaval crumbles monuments.” Some however, will rise up violent and strong against their oppressors, which is what’s depicted in those lines. Those at the top will always want to keep those at the bottom where they are. When it comes down to it, it’s for their own power and greed. “For power and greed the war sermon shall bleed.” The war sermon is the message of hate they preach to the people and hypothetically bleed on to them. BLEED!

Killdozer
This song is about an army of cybernetic abominations pulverizing a town and essentially taking over the world. Each abomination could be considered a “Killdozer” and we got really in depth describing their features and some of their actions. “Biomechanical mutations, synthesizing blood for fuel. Iron plates, seeping, human plasma…” We really wanted to create a vivid image in the readers head. These monsters are ripping apart the town and harvesting human remains and converting it into resources.

This was a really fun song to write, and we got the idea from an actual story about a guy who armor-plated a bulldozer and started cruising through his hometown and destroying buildings/houses of people who screwed him over. Obviously that’s not that interesting when you break it down but the concept of turning that into a fictional story and making it brutal for metal… that’s fucking cool!

Cephalectomy
Vengeance is sweet. This song describes a new method of execution or death penalty. Imagine a system, where criminals are killed by families of murder victims. So these criminals have ruined these people’s lives, and now they have a chance for redemption. Now obviously we had to spice this up a bit and make it fit our gore-themed style of writing. So we threw a little twist on it and described these families as if they’re savage beasts and they have NOTHING on their mind but the killing of these criminals. “Solitary confinement of their minds, Infesting urge to kill.”

We then took it further and described the actual killing of these criminals with some lines like “Feeding frenzy, dismemberment, blood for the masses!”. After they kill them of course they have to “disgrace the corpse” and do even more fucked up shit. Although this song is fictional, there are probably people out there who would love this concept! When things come up like the recent Boston bombings, shit like this comes to mind. If only they could throw those piece of shit terrorists into a “pit of hell”!

Slaughtered
The fifth track on our EP is a Pantera cover so obviously I can’t do any explaining here.

Tim Lambesis pleads not guilty

As I Lay Dying vocalist Tim Lambesis has pleaded not guilty to one count of solicitation for murder at his arraignment in Vista Superior Court.

The prosecutor argued that Lambesis be held on $20 million bail, citing the musician’s wealth and global connections, but his defense attorney argued that the amount was unreasonable. If he bails out, he was ordered to stay away from his wife and their three children.

Authorities said they learned May 2 that Lambesis was soliciting someone to kill his wife. He was arrested Tuesday at an Oceanside store by sheriff’s investigators.

Xerxes To Release New Ep, ‘Would You Understand?,’ In June

Kentucky’s post-punk band Xerxes has announced the upcoming release of their new EP, Would you understand?, which will be available on June 18th.  Beginning today, fans are invited to check out the new song, “Tramadol,” over at BrooklynVegan.com and pre-order the EP on 7” vinyl at nosleeprecords.com/wouldyouunderstand.