While on tour with his American power trio - supergroup, The Winery Dogs, Mike Portnoy filmed an epic and personalized invite video to his first ever Progressive Nation at Sea Cruise. Taking you band by band and leading you through the musical adventure that attendees have to look forward to at this one of a kind, floating Progressive Rock festival taking place February 2014.
SLC PUNK is getting a sequel and you can help make it happen now. Join cast and crew on this journey and make it YOUR movie.
With so many Metalcore bands showing up, it is hard to tell who might just be the next hot thing within the scene. Glass Cloud may be just one of those bands you need to keep an eye on. After their debut release in 2012, the band return with a new E.P, entitled ‘Perfect War Forever’. This isn’t something extremely surprising but yet it is darn good to listen to.
Opening with ‘Trapped Like Rats’, you get the genuine aesthetic of the album. It starts off like a typical Metalcore song, with heavy, down-tuned chugs, heavy bass, well-structured drumming and some great (and unique) vocals. But as you get into the song more, you realise that this is slightly different. The band appear to be importing some truly unique styles of Metal to create one of the more unique and original Metalcore experiences in recent years. The next three songs follow the same kind of pattern with all three of them being truly something to bare witness to. After the three tracks, ‘I Dug A Grave’, ‘How To Survive Suicide’ and ‘Soul Is Dead’, you reach closing track ‘Lilac’. This is the same affair as the other tracks, fitting for the E.P, thus making it consistent in its content.
The weird style of Metalcore here is something to behold and lust at, being a unique experience for the listener. This is full of chugs, weird riffs, hard-hitting bass, precise drumming and unique vocalization. Mixed out well to create a well balanced E.P, ‘Perfect War Forever’ is something that grabs you and won’t allow to let go.Great track quality and wonderful mixing help further push the E.P’s overall effect forward, leaving the listener astonished, for all the best reasons.
So, how to end this review… well, this is Metalcore at its finest and most weirdest. It is a five track love affair that intrigues and compels you, making you feel many different things when listening. It is something great but is something you need to witness yourself in order to see if this is something you will enjoy. This is not your standard Metalcore stuff but it doesn’t mean it is something for everyone. Listen, evaluate and decide yourself. Personally, I think this is a solid and well thought out effort, even if it does seem rather simplistic to the average listener. Listen to it, even just to one track, and decide for yourself. You may not be disappointed.
8/10
- Asa
SEEKER have teamed up with Lambgoat to stream their forthcoming album, Unloved, in its entirety for today only. Described by Decibel Magazine as, “Part noiserock. Part old-school metalcore. All fucking lethal,” SEEKERs Victory debut album Unloved continues to vaporize even the most selective of hard rock and metal critics. Metal Sucks has gone so far as to say that SEEKER is restoring credibility to the term ‘deathcore’. Listen to the full stream now.
You can hear a new song from Manchester Orchestra called “After the Scripture” from the Dallas Buyers Club soundtrack streaming on Fuse.
Singularity will be released in North America on November 5th. Produced and mixed by Will Putney (Lamb Of God, Suicide Silence, Fit For An Autopsy), Singularity has already won mass acclaim for its blend of post-hardcore and modern metal upon its Australian release earlier this year.
Australia, a country that have, in recent years, spewed forth some of the biggest hitters in modern Metal. Whether it be big acts such as Parkway Drive, heavy and destructive acts such as Thy Art Is Murder and Make Them Suffer or something devastating such as Destroyer 666, it is apparent that Metal is something that seems celebrated over there. So where does Metalcore Aussie act Northlane stand amongst such tantalizing bands? Apparently rather damn high up the ladder.
'Singularity' is the second album from a band that are easily becoming the next hot property in the Metalcore scene. Whereas Capture the Crown seemingly tried to recreate Asking Alexandria's first album, Northlane decided to take their own path. Mixing heavy chugs, well-balanced keyboard work with precise drumming and some of the most ground-breaking vocal work within the current scene, Northlane prove to us all that they are more than just another Metalcore band.
Starting off their Metalcore attack is the intro opener ‘Genesis’. People could draw similarites to Asking Alexandria intros but this is by far heavier and better than any Asking Alexandria intro to date. ‘Genesis’ moves into ‘Scarab’, a heavy yet wonderful track. Making good use of vocal versatility, heavy chugs, well placed synthesizers and well-executed drumming, it is something that sets the landmark of the albums genuine feel. It has everything you expect from modern Metalcore but with a little twist added into it in order to produce that extra kick you get when listening to this album.
The album moves through its several tracks, keeping its turbo-charged assault on the senses with songs that constantly change in their tone and approach, with hard-hitters ‘Worldeater’, single ‘Quantum Flux’, ‘Masquerade’, which features Stray From the Path frontman Drew York, and title-track ‘Singularity’ standing out. The last track, entitled ‘Aspire’, is a fitting end to an album that doesn’t give up, not loosing any of its power throughout.
An album that showcases all sorts of vocal power, well-placed techno aspects, heavy chugs and melodic riffs with a fitting bassline and suitable drumming is something to be proud of and it is clear that Northlane are heading towards big things. The album is balanced out perfectly with great sound quality due to the high production quality. It is mixed extremely well and keeps its listener engaged, with all songs having their subtle differences to appear more interesting.
There isn’t much to say about this album because, in the end, you’re either going to love it or hate it. This is one of those albums you have to witness yourself before making up your mind.
So then, well produced, a great balance between heavy riffs, melodic riffs, devastating bass-lines, precise drumming, great synth grooves and versatile vocals and an all round great album. But yet this is something you need to decide for yourself. If you love Metalcore, you’ll love this album but if you’re a little skeptical then just give it a listen. You never know, you may just end up liking what you hear. This is more than a mere standard Metalcore album, it is a little gem within the Metal community.
This is something to behold and appreciate and, in terms of Metalcore albums, is something that is damn bloody excellent. By far the best Metalcore album of this year and this is one of the more surprising releases so far. Well-balanced, this is something that everyone should learn to appreciate. Northlane, you have hit gold with this gem.
9/10
- Asa
On February 11th, 2012, MASTODON took the stage at London’s O2 Academy in Brixton, capping off the Atlanta-based band’s world tour in support of their critically acclaimed album The Hunter. This sold-out performance was Mastodon’s first show at the legendary Brixton venue. It won’t be their last, as the London audience positively erupted from the opening chords until the final, frenzied encore. Mastodon Live At Brixton will be released on December 10th, so fans will be able to see and hear what happened on that night. The trailer and setlist can be seen below
Dry Bone Valley
Black Tongue
Crystal Skull
I Am Ahab
Capillarian Crest
Colony of Birchmen
Megalodon
Thickening
Blasteroid
Sleeping Giant
Ghost of Karelia
All The Heavy Lifting
Spectrelight
Curl of the Burl
Bedazzled Fingernails
Circle of Cysquatch
Aqua Dementia
Crack The Skye
Where Strides The Behemoth
Iron Tusk
March of the Fireants
Blood and Thunder
Creature Lives
According to our source, All Time Low will be touring in the Spring with Man Overboard as direct support. Handguns will be splitting the opening slot with Mixtapes. It’ll most likely be a B-market tour (smaller cities) so there’s a possibility ATL are playing Warped Tour. Dates/venues TBA
UPDATE: We’ve received word that Mixtapes turned down this tour in favor of another. No word on who ATL got to replace them
DETHKLOK mastermind Brendon Small is chock full of surprises this week— revealing the official METALOCALYPSE: the DOOMSTAR REQUIEM A KLOK OPERA soundtrack track listing, taking part in a very successful Reddit AMA (thanks DethFans), and now this! Brendon can now reveal a 30-second “Making Of” featurette teaser from the deluxe edition of the official score soundtrack. The teaser can be viewed now, exclusively at CraveOnline.com via this link.
CLOSE YOUR EYES have teamed up with Alternative Press to stream their forthcoming album, Line In The Sand, in its entirety starting Friday, October 25th through Sunday, October 27th. Are you looking for melodic, punk influenced hardcore anthems that you can believe in? This is the album that you have been waiting for. Listen to the full stream now.
