DESPISED ICON Come-back Headliner In London, UK! [Review + Photo Gallery]

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“It’s been a long f**king time!” shouted front man Alex Erian. In fact, it’s been 11 years since Despised Icon have graced our shores with a headline set – long since 2007’s phenomenal co-headline UK/European tour with Misery Index, Annotations For An Autopsy and Beneath The Massacre. Whilst they have played the UK as recently as 2016, tonight marked a monumental occasion, firmly solidifying the Montreal metallers legacy and dominance over the Deathcore scene. For fans, this headline set may have been a long time coming but ‘The Beast’ is back and fully reawakened!

Following immediately on from their sold-out show in Antwerp, tonight’s performance at The Dome in central London marked the first leg of the UK section of this momentous comeback tour. With only a handful of tickets left on the door of this 500 capacity venue, and subsequent shows at Birmingham and Manchester expected to sell out, it was clear that everyone here was about to witness something very special. With support combining the best tech, hardcore and slam, whoever put this line-up together must be some kind of god-tier genius – for joining alongside Despised Icon were Vulvodynia, Archspire and the UK’s very own Malevolence. Missing this show was not an option!

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The Bucketlist with Phil Freeman of SMALL TOWN TITANS

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*In this series we pose the age-old question to a wide array of music lovers. As fans of music, most of us keep a mental list of active bands we want to see live that we haven’t yet seen. The Bucketlist brings to you those lists of your favorite artists and why those bands mean so much to them*

The Small Town Titans are a power trio from York, PA who love to constantly create, as well as play live.  Gone is the notion that a rock band should only release 10 songs at a time every 2 years.  In a world where music fans crave new content constantly, the Small Town Titans aim to deliver their brand of art all the time, drawing inspiration from a new wave of rock bands such as Royal Blood to rock legends such as the Foo Fighters, Audioslave, and Deep Purple.  Thanks to their efforts at assembling their own studio in a basement, STT can create and release songs, podcasts, live online concerts, and more with no rules. Continue reading →

State Of The Art: Vermont’s LIGHTCRUSHER [Album Stream]

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Photo Credit: Christian Buck

 

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

This month’s state is Vermont!

 

Combining elements of doom, death, sludge and black metal the Montpelier, Vermont based band Lightcrusher was formed in 2010. You could say that their lyrical themes tend to be more leaning towards the darker side of things with themes like nature, misanthropy, loss, and isolation. The band is comprised of 5 members including members and ex-members of bands like Chalice, Lord Gallows, The Demon Bell,  Sunder, Cruciferion, Limbwalker and others. Some of the members were actually in these bands together, so there was already a chemistry and bond created there that you can hear on the bands material. The members include M. Schrift on vocals, A. Sørensen on guitar and vocals, K. Emmons also on guitar, J. Elwert behind the drum kit and L. Gallows on the bass. The quintet released their first material in the form of a demo in September of 2015. Simply titled ‘Lightcrusher Demo’. The recording included five tracks. Fast forward to December 2016 and the band has now released a brand new EP titled ‘Forests of Unresolve’ which includes 5 blistering tracks of death doom and the bands signature duel vocal style. 

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Review: KING WITCH – ‘Under The Mountain’ [Album Stream]

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Photo by Alan Swan Photography

 

Edinburgh based four piece band King Witch make a triumphant debut with ‘Under the Mountain’ which is released via Listenable Records! With this release we get 9 tracks of genre bending, kick ass HEAVY METAL! ‘Under The Mountain’ was recorded and produced by guitarist Jamie Gilchrist at their underground studio in their home city of Edinburgh, mixed and mastered by Tom Dring at Vagrant Recordings (Dragged Into Sunlight, Acolyte) in Southport and comes swathed in artwork created by vocalist Laura Donnelly. The record serves as King Witch’s follow-up to their debut EP, ‘Shoulders Of Giants’, and boasts nine riff-laden tracks offset by the powerful yet bewitching vocals of Donnelly. Influenced by everything from Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin to Mastodon and High On Fire, ‘Under The Mountain’ is as melodic as it is monolithic, taking its listener on a journey from soulful doom to full-tilt metal mayhem. Continue reading →

Review: SOULBORN ‘Crash And Burn’ [Track Stream]

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Hailing from Norwich, England, SoulBorn serve up American-style, southern-fried metal with heavy portions of groove; or as the band describes themselves, “This is proper beer-in-hand, good time music.”  Their visually striking album cover, featuring a topless chick wearing only boxing gloves leaves little doubt that their full-length, debut release, ‘Crash and Burn’ not only promises a good time, but also packs plenty of punch. Continue reading →

DINOSAUR EYELIDS Release Video For “Day Zero” [Video Streaming]

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Dinosaur Eyelids have been one of the most revered rock n roll bands in the New Jersey music scene since their formation in 2009. The bands goes about things in a true DIY way and have no released 5 albums. The advise that their musical influences range from Soundgarden to The Replacements to Ween. That is certainly a vast area of influence but so is this bands style and sound. It seems that about anything they set out to conquer they are able to do in stride. With around 100 shows under their belt Dinosaur Eyelids is not only refining their sound in the studio but on the stage as well. Their 2014 album ‘Bypass To Nowhere’ debuted at #1 on WRSU Rutgers Radio and their material has been played on 180 college radio stations across North America. They are like a mixture of Nirvana and Neil Young that creates heartbreaking love songs that sink you to lows and also life stories that uplift you. Dinosaur Eyelids is like the pendulum of life told through rock n roll. Continue reading →

Review: MELT – S/T [Album Stream + Live Performance Video]

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Melt hails from Toulouse, France. The band originally formed as a duo in 2007 when Charlotte and Olivier met. Charlotte at times has used several aliases including Shiro. Olivier adds about Charlotte “there would be no band without her.” They quickly recorded their first demos which they deemed as “a powerful and personal rock, finding its full emotional potential on stage.” Charlotte’s singing comes from a crisis during in which she went crazy and untied herself from the real world. Her lyrics are oniric, a mix of english and imaginary invented language, disconnected from the “real” world, again. Melt sought out additional members and the lineup currently consists of Olivier (guitar), Roméo (drums), Charlotte/Shiro (guitar and vocals) and Julien (Bass). The band’s music is an unexpected mix between metal and cold wave tragic melodies. The band released a self titled EP in 2015 consisting of 4 tracks “Stigmata”, “Cypher”, “Blast” and “Opikanoba”. Those tracks along with 4 additional tracks make up the bands debut album. Melt released their self titled debut album on December 3rd, 2017. The album was recorded, mixed and mastered in a small studio in Saint Antonin, France, the studio doesn’t really have a name, and it was the producers debut working with a band other than his own. So it turned out to be both a debut for the band and the producer. The album is self released by the band and you can hear it below or pick up a copy via bandcamp here.

 

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Decibel Magazine Tour 2018, North America – Featuring ENSLAVED, WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, MYRKUR, And KHEMMIS [Full Tour Dates]

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The seventh annual Decibel Magazine Tour 2018 kicks off in North America, featuring Norwegian progressive metal legends, Enslaved, Washington black metal beasts, Wolves in the Throne Room, Danish post-black metal siren, Myrkur, and Colorado doom-metallers, Khemmis (with regional openers in select markets).

Enslaved guitarist, Ivar Bjørnson comments, “I have always wanted Enslaved to be part of the Decibel Tour concept.  Not only is Decibel an institution, and defender of the last line of resistance for the printed metal mag in North America (for a band started in 1991, printed magazines are no small matter), but the Decibel Tour has also become an institution and an icon for metal that we admire here on the other side of the pond. So, to be asked to headline, and to perform with these other very fine artists, is a great honor and a great pleasure. Be there or be trapezoid!” Continue reading →

SLEEP SIGNALS Announce The Tour-Rito Supreme Tour With COLD KINGDOM

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Minneapolis, MN-based rockers SLEEP SIGNALS have announced that they will return to the road on the Tour-Rito Supreme Tour with COLD KINGDOM, which begins on March 1st at the What’s Up Lounge in Mankato, MN and concludes on April 7th in Lincoln, Nebraska. The band will also be playing Showdown Fest in El Paso, Texas supporting Vince Neil from Motley Crue on March 16th.

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