CLOAK Unveil New Tour Dates; Will Support MAYHEM

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Atlanta, GA’s metal quartet CLOAK have announced new dates surrounding their tour supporting MAYHEM. CLOAK will kick off their tour on March 25 at Kentucky’s Blood of the Wolf Festival, and will perform across Baltimore, Columbus, and Waterford, NY before joining MAYHEM. A full list of confirmed tour dates can be found below.

CLOAK are touring in support of their debut full length, ‘To Venomous Depths‘. It is available across various CD and LP formats here. The album is also streaming across Bandcamp, Spotify, Apple Music and more!

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MADBALL Finish Recording New Album ‘For The Cause’ Featuring ICE-T Guest Appearance

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New York hardcore veterans, Madball have finished recording their upcoming album, ‘For the Cause,’ which will feature a guest appearance from rapper/Body Count frontman, Ice-T.  About being featured on the record, Ice-T commented, “It‘s an honor to record with the legendary Madball. Body Count draws its closest similarities to NY Hardcore. This is a natural.” Singer, Freddy Cricien added, “It’s truly an honor to have Ice-T on our record! I grew up on his music from his early hip hop stuff till now. He’s an iconic figure but also a ‘class act’, you don’t always get both at once. Ice has a great respect for NYHC and Madball, means the world. This was meant to happen…. real recognizes real.” Continue reading →

SIKTH And EXIST IMMORTAL At ‘NME Best Small Venue’ The Forum, UK [Review + Photo Gallery]

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Just before embarking on their mini EU tour including debut shows across Germany and the Netherlands Complexity Festival alongside Carnifex, The Faceless and others, djent pioneers SikTh treated UK fans to two intimate performances with Londons Exist Immortal. Firstly at Sub 89 in Reading, and secondly to my local venue and ‘NME Best Small Venue 2012’ The Forum in Tunbridge Wells. This gig marks one of many celebrating to small 250 capacity venues’ 25th anniversary celebrations, which has a reputation of giving a stage to bands before they made it big. SikTh are locally held in very high regard where they are practically legends and it was a pleasure to have them back here once again. UK alternative hardcore act Cove were announced as openers but unfortunately had to reschedule to the following Sunday – a shame for those attending as Cove perform with such an explosive veracity that they would have put on one hell of an opening performance! Despite this slight alteration to the evening, together SikTh and Exist Immortal both delivered equally passionate and energetic performances, where their two distinctive styles accentuated one another with their mix of djent and melodic verses. Continue reading →

Howard Jones Hanging With KILLSWITCH ENGAGE Recently “They Are Friends Who Saw Me At My Worst…It Was Good To See Them Again”

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Some of you may know Howard Jones from the legendary time he spend in Killswitch Engage. He spent 10 years in the band from 2002 – 2012.  The first album that Howard appeared on was 2004’s ‘The End of Heartache’. Howard replaced singer Jesse Leach that had fell into a depression and decided to quit the band telling the band via email right before they had some shows lined up. Killswitch quickly started looking for a replacement. The previous album ‘Alive Or Just Breathing’ was the last to feature Leach. The album had some critical response so the success of ‘The End Of Heartache’ sealed the deal that the band had made the right decision in selecting a new vocalist. The title track was nominated for Best Metal Performance for the 47th Annual Grammy Awards. The album also was certified Gold by the RIAA on December 7, 2007. Killswitch Engage was/is one of those bands that instantly grabbed the attention of most metal heads. Not just any band can cover Dio’s “Holy Diver” and still be accepted by the metal world. In 2012 Howard left the band to gain control of his diabetes, which had been hard to control while on tour. There wasn’t much time off for him as he almost immediately formed Devil You Know. The original lineup of the band was Howard on vocals, Francesco Artusato (All Shall Perish, Hiss of Atrocities) – guitars, Ryan Wombacher (Bleeding Through) – bass, backing vocals, Roy Lev-Ari (Hiss of Atrocities) – guitars and John Sankey (Divine Heresy, Fear Factory)– drums. Since then Roy Lev-Ari and John Sankey have left the band. The current drummer of the band is Mike Sciulara (Extinction A.D.). I was fortunate enough to see the band a couple times while on tour with Coal Chamber and on stage they put on an amazing show. Howard’s vocals are still brilliant and he carries that same perfect tone he made so famous in Killswitch. Devil You Know released two albums ‘The Beauty of Destruction’ (2014) and ‘They Bleed Red’  (2015). The on July 26, 2017, the band announced via social media that they have changed their name to Light the Torch. The band in a way wanted a fresh start, and I believe the name has a better ring to it. The band is now set to release their debut under the name Light The Torch with ‘Revival’ which will be out on March 30, 2018. The singles “Calm Before The Storm” and “Die Alone” has already been released from the album and if this is any indication the album is going to be a complete success.  Continue reading →

World’s Loudest Month Spotlight: TYLER BRYANT & THE SHAKEDOWN

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*This is part of the “World’s Loudest Month” segment where we branch out and focus on bands that fans can see at the year’s biggest music festivals during the month of May 2018!  This week, we introduce Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown, a blues-rock quartet from “Music City” Nashville, TN who will be seeing a lot of stage time this Summer at Rock on the Range, Rockville, and more!*

I’m a firm believer that no matter your music preference, whether it be metal, rap, pop, or techno, everyone loves the blues in some form or another.  It’s also my belief that this, paired with the know-how and musical ability to create incredible music compositions, has played a major role in the rising success of Tyler Bryant & The Shakedown.  The band is the epitome of soulful, genuine songs of rhythmic blues-infused rock and roll and have proven themselves so much as to be privileged enough to share the stage with music giants like ZZ Top, Eric Clapton, AC/DC, and Guns N’ Roses.  Continue reading →

Indiana Doom Metallers THORR-AXE To Tour Western U.S. This April

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Wonder why their name is the way it is? Cause the doom they bring is as heavy as Thor’s hammer. Ok bad joke. Anyways, doom fanatics! THORR-AXE has got some really good news for you up its sleeve. The crusty Indiana doom metallers are all set to begin a voyage on the western side of America next month, alongside, ravaging eight cities this April 16-26 before ultimately concluding at Chicago Doomed & Stoned Festival this June.

“This is our longest run to date,” says longtime guitarist and vocalist Tucker Thomasson. Adding to a few details on the tour here’s what Tucker has to say,”We’re playing with a few awesome bands we’ve worked with before (Green Druid, Wizzerd, Green Altar) and we’re also looking forward to meeting and playing with some new bands as well. We hope to see a lot of people who’ve been following us for awhile out at some of these dates. See you out there!“

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EXTORTIONIST To Embark On A North American Tour With BY THE THOUSANDS

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Idaho deathcore act EXTORTIONIST have announced that they will be embarking on a brief North American tour this spring with BY THE THOUSANDS. The tour is slated to kick off April 22nd in Peoria, IL at The Rail II, and will conclude on April 27th in Salt Lake City, UT at The Loading Dock.

In addition to releasing their debut full-length ‘The Decline‘ last year, the band have recently unveiled a brand new single, “Absent Ones” (check it out, HERE). You can view the complete tour routing for the band’s run with BY THE THOUSANDS below, as well as additional tour dates the band will be taking on this spring.

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PRONG Unveils “Zero Days” 2018 West Coast Tour Dates With POWERFLO

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American Power Trio PRONG has announced the continuation of their Zero Days tour with a series of West Coast dates alongside POWERFLO. After a solid year of touring with the likes of TESTAMENT, OBITUARY, SEPULTURA, and EXODUS, as well as filling key slots on the European Summer Festival Circuit, the band now brings it back home to the states, including a highly coveted, co-headlining run with HELMET.

Are you ready for the mosh?

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State Of The Art: Georgia’s GUILLOTINE [Album Stream]

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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 Georgia!

Atlanta-based Guillotine offers bass-heavy, blackened death/doom metal with heavy doses of groove. Weaved seamlessly into the band’s sound are a unique blend of musical influences such as old school American death metal, Scandinavian black metal, and Southern sludge. Their songs often bounce between slow/doomy evilness to mid-tempo aggression. While typically never delving into super high-velocity thrashing speeds or blast beats, alternately their use of grooving riffs and double-bass rhythms gives Guillotine a signature sound of their own that is equally dark and punishing. Continue reading →