You’ve gotta check out Primitive Race. Founded by producer Chris Kniker in 2015, Kniker initially worked with a line of guest collaborators from PRONG, Stayte, Pop Will Eat Itself, Combichrist and Sex Gang Children. New album Soul Pretender has a new core band of Kniker, guitarist Mark Gemini Thwaite (The Mission, Peter Murphy, Gary Numan, Ville Valo) and Erie Loch along with new guest collaborators, Melvins drummer Dale Crover and former Faith No More vocalist Chuck Mosley. The track ‘Take It All’ is streaming on Soundcloud, and Mosley sounds great: a big multi-tracked vocal performance that shows off his full range.
The words ‘creative renaissance’ have been applied to Cradle of Filth more than once lately. They’ve been on a particularly strong run and their new album Cryptoriana – The Seductiveness Of Decay is utterly killer. As Dani Filth says, it’s “deeply infused with Victorian gothic horror and thus the title is a reflection of that. Cryptoriana implies the Victorians’ infatuation with the supernatural, the grave and the ghoulish. And the subtitle, The Seductiveness of Decay, further cements this attraction to death and the glittering lengthy process of self-annihilation.” Cradle of Filth always put on a great show and they’re returning to Australia in May for a national tour. You can see them at 170 Russell on Friday May 11.
Sydney metal band Arteries have just released their long-awaited debut album This Will Destroy Us. Loaded with melody, melancholy and plenty of eight-string guitar grunt, this record is for fans of The Dillinger Escape Plan, Meshuggah, Converge, Deftones and Architects. The band recently appeared at Brisbane’s Dead Of Winter Festival and have also been confirmed as part of Unify in January 2018. They’ll announce a full album tour soon, so keep an eye out for Melbourne dates.
I love a good Friday the 13th gig – a little mini Halloween, if you will – and The Brunswick Hotel has a great one. Catch Zombie Motors Wrecking Yard (slow, groove-ridden dirty stoner rock described as the missing link between Kyuss and Ministry), Stiltman (indie heavy rock and blues), Long Holiday (grungy stony heavy rock the likes of which ye have never seen) and Evil Twin, a jam-oriented duo who thrive on spontaneity. Doors open at 8pm and entry is free.
Act Of Defiance – the metal band featuring former Megadeth members Chris Broderick and Shawn Drover plus Matt Bachand and Henry Derek, have just released their new album Old Scars, New Wounds via Metal Blade and it’s a beast. Their debut was solid but pointed to better things on the horizon, and here they are. What makes Act of Defiance so special is that they hit that sweet spot that connects with classic and modern metal fans at the same time. Hopefully we’ll get an Australian tour. Shawn Drover once did a drum clinic at Pony Music while he was in town, and folks still talk about it to this day.
