RAWR!
You know what’s weird about music, is that it’s way less melodramatic behind the scenes than those two other forks in the entertainment trident. You’ve got billion-dollar video games publishers being as corrupt as anything and those endless miles of self-important bullshit in Hollywood, but rarely do I encounter the same when communing with men and women of music these days. Tell you why: Money. Or the lack of it. When there’s no money in something, nobody gives a shit. They just get on with the business of whatever it is. In this case, that’s riffing, and hollering, and soloing wildly. Kind of beautiful in a way, even if they’ll all go to their unmarked graves as shirtless paupers. “Learn to be poor but dedicated,” says Converge‘s Jacob Bannon. Hear it.
NE OBLIV GUITARIST FINALLY GETS AUSSIE VISA
One big reason for Ne Obliviscaris‘ relative silence over the past year or so is that, initially, they tried to bring French guitar wizard Benjamin Baret over to our fair isle to play with them. His visa was denied, and it’s since taken 13 months and one big petition for it to be approved. Initially, Baret applied for the ‘Distinguished Talent’ visa, but was rejected because our Immigration Department requires that, to have an “international reputation,” a muso must have “collaborated with Iron Maiden, Metallica, or Disturbed.” Yes, Disturbed. You’d think that last one would keep him out of the country.
EAST OF THE WALL’S SORRY STREAM
If you’ve yet to hear East of the Wall‘s killer post-hardcore bent, hang your head in shame. They’re all about recapturing the fearlessness of the early 2K underground, but are equally as quiet about it, too. Who’s got time for self-promotion when you’re constructing riffs like the ones on their latest record, The Apologist? The whole thing’s streaming for free over at brooklynvegan.com. You want.
ABORTED FLATLINE
I love Aborted. For seriously, Strychnine.213 is one of the boldest and best examples of dedicated death metal colliding with simple-ass groove around. By the sound of the sickening trailer for their next record, Global Flatline, this one’s gonna move a few heads, too. YouShmube “ABORTED – ‘Global Flatline’ Trailer”. Word is The Black Dahlia Murder‘s Trevor Strnad, Misery Index man Jason Netherton and even Rotten Sound lunatic Keiijo Niinima are all guesting, and that’s a bit insane. It’s out January 24 on Century, title track’s going out next week. Yeah shit.
VOICE OF THE BINARY CODE
They switch up vocalists like I don’t change boxer shorts, and that’s often. The Binary Code‘s latest throat is Rory Crumm, who reminds me of that fat stinky monster from Aaahh!!! Real Monsters who’s name I think was also Krumm. This guy used to be in some band called Swallow the Ocean, but now he’s a Binary man full-time. “Considering our most recent exploration of the post-metal genre, Rory’s vocal abilities, both screaming and singing, and other instrumental talents are absolutely equal to the task, and then some,” say the band. “We’re going to be doing vocal pre-production very soon, and plan to share that with our listeners when we’re done.”
GET A DISC UP YA
East of the Wall – Ressentiment [2010|Translation Loss]
Right, so. I’ve got East of the Wall fever right now, and you’re all coming with me into this sweaty little trip down memory lane to 2010. They describe ’emselfs as “situational art metal,” but in truth that’s kind of preposterous and what this really is is situational art metal. Psyche! Sure, you can draw parallels with the Mars Volta here and there, but the crucial difference is EotW can at least keep it together for an entire song.
METALVISION
Axl Rose doing dumb shit is always good for a minute or two, so chuck “La Caida De Axl Rose Epic Fail!!!” into PooCube and witness the Gunners mentalist falling flat on his arse during a live show in Mexico City. It doesn’t happen mid-leap, or mid-mosh, or even mid-mirror gaze, it happens while he’s doing nothing at all. Putting your foot up on the foldback is hard.
DEATHQUOTE
“I personally don’t, but someone else might. We were playing similar music back before they made up the name Djent. I personally think the term is fuckin’ lame.”
– That’s Jon Howard of Threat Signal when quizzed on how much rates this whole “djent” thing. Evidently, not a lot. He also thinks Kittie are good, though.
FEEDBACK
Have you SEEN the chick from Landmine Marathon??? Who the fuck is that. She is astounding. I want to make friends with her hiney.
– Jeff
That’d be Grace Perry. Bit like Angela Gossow, you’d never pick the vocals in Landmine for belonging to the fairer sex. Check out their latest disc ‘Gallows.’ She looks nice ‘n all, but she’d probably eat your head off during the act.
~tobes
