Category Archives: Artist Showcase

Soften the Glare “The Funky Lady Tour” coming to a town (hopefully) near you!

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Have you heard of Soften the Glare? Sure you have, just maybe not in this particular form. Heard of Mudvayne? How about that bad-ass bass player and songwriter? What’s his name again? Oh yeah, right: Ryan Martinie. You game now? Alright then, add the mind-bending guitar talent of Bon Lozaga. That’s right, the one from Gong, Tiny Boxes and been featured with other notable guitar gods as Allan Holdsworth, Kai Eckhardt, David Torn, David Fiuczynski among many others. This match made in heaven is joined by the drumming skills of Mitch Hull who has played with Gongzilla, Staxx, Chameleon, War 4 Peace and shared the stage with Tiny Boxes and many other in the past. Well, now you know and you can see them on “The Funky Lady Tour” that kicks off tomorrow in Jacksonville, NC!

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State of the Art: FIFTH FREEDOM

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Photo Credit: Sugar Skull Photography

Photo Credit: Sugar Skull Photography

This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured State.|

This month’s State is Maine!

Great American rock bands have been on the decline in the music world for the past several years. Fifth Freedom have put the state of Maine on the map and brought some attention back to good old fashioned rock-n-roll. The band may call the great north home but their music has it’s roots in the south. The mixture of classic rock and southern rock is a great way to describe their sound. The band went on tour with Kentuckians Black Stone Cherry for two months, that tour put the spotlight on Fifth Freedom and brought some well deserved attention to the band. They have had various lineup changes through the bands existence but long time members Alan Jones (vocals/guitar) and Gary Marston (drums) have remained fully invested in the band. The group released their self titled debut in 2014 and it was an immediate success in the state of Maine.  It debuted at No.1 at Bull Moose music (a 12 location New England record store chain). Continue reading →

State of the Art: Destination: Void

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|This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured State.|

This month’s State is Maine!

Destination: Void is a Progressive Metal band that calls the Southern part of Maine home. They have been working really hard to make their way into becoming a big part of the local Metal Scene in Maine. The band originally formed in 2009. They have been preforming with their current line-up since 2013. Their current line-up includes 5 members: Ryan Cummings (Guitar), Caleb Ring (Guitar), Nick Crosen (Bass), Seth Perkins (Drums) and Luc Damen (Vocals). The band really has a sound that is purely their own. Their song titled “Hive Mother [annihilation] is available on Bandcamp for free download with the “Name you price” of zero dollars. This track is also a part of their Album entitled “TEMPVS FVGIT” that is set to release later this year. The band has a consistently heavy sound throughout this track. From listening to the band I have concluded that I can hear some Mastodon influence in their music. The melodic and harsh vocals give a great contrast to their sound. The overall sound has a smooth yet abrasive overtone. The band is definitely guitar driven, so if you are a guitar enthusiast your mouth will water over this band! We will soon be reviewing their upcoming album, so make sure to keep an eye out for it!

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Cairiss: Black Metal Forever Changed With the Release of “Fall”

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Black Metal is usually a polarizing sub-genre of Metal. Very fast. High-pitched vocals; oftentimes dealing with oppressively dark and/or overtly Pagan/Satanic subject matter, barked out at an unintelligible rate. It is usually either loved or absolutely hated for one or all of the reasons above. Every now and then, however, a band rises above the genre and puts out a release so striking, it ruptures the box attempting to surround it. One such band is Southampton, UK’s, Cairiss.

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A New Breed of Shredding: Toronto Canada’s Mike Milan Dedic

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Today I bring you something special to me. As you all know, I love solo guitar work and have since the inception back in the early days of the Neo–Classical, shred guitar craze. Uli Jon Roth, Yngwie Malmteen, Cacophony (Marty Friedman and Jason Becker), Joe Stump, Andy Timmons, Vinnie Moore, Steve Vai, Satch, Dream Theater (I know, not solo, but Petrucci has to be in this list) and many others. These were my heroes when I started playing guitar and bass when I was in my mid-teens. I could not get enough of them and still listen to all of the same music more than 35 year later. It never gets old and never gets boring. Needless to say, with this pedigree, it is hard to impress me when it comes to this form of music. This is a very, very tough form of guitar skill to play and play well. I don’t say that to be a guitar snob, but just stating the fact that this is a hard row to hoe when these are still the go-to artists for shred.

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State of the Art: FALLS OF RAUROS

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Maine

 

|This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured State.|

This month’s State is Maine!

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Falls of Rauros is a Folk and Black Metal band hailing from Portland, Maine. The band was formed in 2005 and  is comprised of four members: Evan, Aaron, Ray and Jordan. The band released an Album titled “Believe in No Coming Shore” in 2014 that includes 6 tracks. Throughout this album you are exposed to a great mix of Folk and Black Metal. The combination of folk elements and black metal riffs combines nicely for a bad ass sound. Not to mention the raspy sounds of the scream vocals in the background that really takes their sound to another level. Their combination of folk melodies and the raw sound of black metal really shows their creativity. The most unique aspect of the band is that every member is a multi-instrumentalist. One person isn’t tied to any one instrument. They prefer to keep it open and just call their self a “Band” with each member pulling equal weight.  Their sound is something I definitely look forward to hearing more of.  The band will start touring on the West Coast for the first time later this month with the band Wayfarer kicking off in Denver, CO on June 30th. Be sure to give this band a listen and check out one of their upcoming shows!
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Huge Progressive Power: Order of Nine

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Alright. I goofed again, but in a good way. Our current State of the Art is spotlighting bands from Maine. In my early search I mistakenly thought Order of Nine was from Maine, when, in fact they are from Pittsburgh, PA. Simply put: they are way too damned good not to cover, so here you go!

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State of the Art: Dead Season

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 *This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured State*

This month’s State is Maine!

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So June’s State of the Art starts with Maine. Where does the time go? Half way through 2016 already. So many great bands discovered over our great country already. This is why I really love this series. Find interesting music where I would not normally look and share it. What could be more Metal than that? Grass roots head banging at its best. Well, my first band jumped up in about thirty seconds of searching. A real no-brainer to write about. If you are not from the upper, east coast, you may not have ever heard of them. If you are, however, you already know who I am talking about. That’s right. It could only be Dead Season. This is a “holy-shit” good band!

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State of the Art: Iron Iris

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 *This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured State*

This month’s State is Arkansas!

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I have to say that Arkansas has been one of the easiest states to find good, Metal bands to cover for our State of the Art series. All types of Metal have been represented over the course of the month as well: Traditional, Thrash, Christian, Bluesy, Sludge and Doom. As a matter of fact, it took all but a single search to pick out four of my Arkansas bands. Collectively, none of us can read a calender and were getting ready to move onto our next state this week when BloodRoseRed pointed out that we still had one more week in Arkansas. Boneheads. I humorously felt like a complete idiot. Meh. Shit happens. Moving on… I again, had zero difficulty finding another unique band to cover so his week I give you Iron Iris.

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