Well this sucks. GWAR’s planned April Australian tour has been cancelled. Promoter DRW Entertainment has not commented, but tickets bought online or via telephone are being refunded, and Ticketek will be in contact with those who bought tickets in person. It would have been the band’s first Australian tour since the loss of frontman Oderus Urungus in 2014.
Melbourne’s Dead City Ruins have just signed with Dinner for Wolves for the release of their new album, Never Say Die, to be released on Friday April 13. The first single, ‘Bones,’ is out now. The album was recorded with James Lewis (Arctic Monkeys) and the band says it was inspired by the way certain classic acts were able to transcend their classic sound; Led Zeppelin were more than ‘Whole Lotta Love,’ Sabbath were more than ‘Iron Man’ and Soundgarden were more than ‘Outshined.’
Brisbane’s Massic release their debut album on Friday March 30. This hardcore groove metal act was formed in 2015 as a songwriting project but quickly evolved into a live entity. Redshift captures the honest, raw abrasiveness of their sound over nine tracks of massive riffage and heavy grooves. Check out the first single, ‘Devolve,’ in all the usual places.
The Sword burst out of the gate with the instant stoner classic Age of Winters in 2006 and the follow-up was the massive Gods of the Earth in 2008. After a solid run of albums, the lads started to feel that a creative rebirth was in order so they took more of a classic rock direction with 2015’s High Country. New album Used Future, scheduled for release on Friday March 23 via Razor & Tie, continues in this vein but pushes deeper into an anthemic, grooving, classic rock style inspired by the great records of the ‘70s. Check out the single ‘Deadly Nightshade’ on your streaming service of choice.
Speaking of stoner metal, the utterly entertaining Red Fang are touring in May, joined by Drunk Mums. See them at the Corner Hotel in Richmond on Sunday May 13.
The Ocean has begun work on their eighth studio album, Phanerozoic, due for release in two separate parts beginning in October. They’ve been writing this damn thing for almost three years, but the massive popularity of 2013’s Pelagial has kept them on the road pretty consistently. The album title refers to the era that followed the Proterozoic in the Precambrian supereon: it saw the evolution and diversification of plant and animal life on earth, as well as five great mass extinction events. Sessions for the new album are underway now with the legendary Jens Bogren booked to mix it, while Julien Fehlman will record drums, and Cult of Luna’s Magnus Lindberg will handle stringed instrument production.
