State of the Art: Oregon – Sacrifice to Survive

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

This month’s State is Oregon!

Man. Can hardly believe it is already May. With that we move from Pennsylvania on the East Coast to the West Coast to hit Oregon, our new state for our State of the Art series. Having a capital of Salem and being bordered by Washington, Idaho, Nevada, California and the Pacific Ocean, Oregon became the 33rd state in the U.S. February 14th, 1859. Taking up some 98,000 square miles and having a population of about 4,000,000 residents, Oregon is the ninth largest state and the 33rd most populated, respectively. Within its boundaries lies a wide variety of geography including volcanoes, large bodies of water, dense forests, high deserts, semi-arid shrublands and beaches; driving Oregon’s economy powered by agriculture, fishing, hydroelectric power, timber and cutting edge technology. Nike, FLIR Systems, Portland General Electric and Columbia Sportswear are just a few international corporations that call Oregon home [Wiki]. In addition, the state has spawned a large number of notable bands such as Red Fang, Black ‘n Blue, Toxic Holocaust, Whermact, among many others. For my first Oregon SOTA band this month I would like to shine the spotlight on Sacrifice to Survive.

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Into The Grave Spotlight: POWERWOLF

Powerwolf is one of the bands that is headlining besides Saxon this year at the most metal festival in Holland. The Festival we are talking about is called ‘Into The Grave’ and it has been growing and growing since it started back in 2010. The festival is just like I mentioned in my preview (read here) about the festival itself really diverse. It features bands like Amon Amarth, Life Of Agony, Whitechapel and pirate metal pioneers Alestorm. Every genre is welcome at Into The Grave and that’s exactly what people with diverse taste in metal just like me are looking for.

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HIGHLY SUSPECT Release ‘Little One’ [Official Video]

Ever felt like rock bands lost their touch to their routs or that bands don’t sound like original rock? if so, i have very good news for you. Highly Suspect maintains the oh so good original rock sound like no band has. They are an American band of 3 with Johnny Stevens on the lead vocals as well as the guitar, Rich on the bass and doing backing vocals and Ryan Meyer on the drum and also on the backing vocals. They have been around for 8 years now, they started out as a bar cover band and made 4 EP’s. First one they made is ‘First Offense’ which didn’t really do it for the audience. After releasing another 3 EP’s ‘The Gang Lion’, ‘The Worst Humans’ and ‘Black Ocean’ the band created their debut album ‘Mister Asylum’ which opened everyone’s eyes and made people go nuts. People just started realizing how amazing this band is. Not only the audience started to see the bands potential but also The Grammy Awards started to see how huge this band is. They nominated ‘Mister Asylum’ for Best Rock Album of the year 2015 and they made it to the 58th place! After this huge breakthrough the band finally got the followers they truly deserved. 1 year later and full with energy and passion they released another album on the 18th of November ‘The Boy Who Died Wolf’ via 300 Entertainment.

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MUNICIPAL WASTE Reveal New Album Details [New Single Stream]

Big news coming out from cross over thrash giants, MUNICIPAL WASTE. Hailing all the way from Richmond, Virginia, USA, they are undoubtedly the fathers of crossover thrash metal, they quickly rose to fame after their debut album and now they’re one of the major cards out there. Thrash and punk comrades the wait is over and they have finally revealed their upcoming album since their 2012 chart buster album, ‘The Fatal Feast‘ that debuted #1 on the Billboard New Artists chart. ‘Slime and Punishment‘, their sixth feather on their thrash arsenal is slated to be released on the 23rd of June, this year out via Nuclear Blast Records.

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Chicago Open Air Spotlight: FAILURE ANTHEM

*Every Thursday from now until Chicago Open Air gets here we will be releasing an article about a band playing the festival to get you familiar with them.*

This week’s artist is Failure Anthem.

On Friday, July 14th, Failure Anthem will be right up with Hell or Highwater (last week’s spotlight artist) to be one of the first bands to take the Chicago Open Air stage in 2017. This will be their second Danny Wimmer Presents festival after playing Carolina Rebellion last year in 2016. The band has made swift progress after only forming in 2013 when guitarist Kile Odell wanted to form his own project after working with several other artists including Motionless in White. From Greensboro, North Carolina, Failure Anthem set out to deliver catchy hard rock songs with a positive message in their music. The band signed with Razor & Tie in 2015 and released their debut record in early 2016.

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GHOST BATH Gives Flight To “Seraphic”, Lead Single From New Album ‘Starmourner’ [Official Video]

American black metal meets tremolo infused post rock atmospheric band Ghost Bath have a lot to be excited about this month. Back in mid March, yours truly reviewed the entirety of Ghost Bath‘s latest offering, ‘Starmourner‘ and posted said review for the entire world to see (or at least the parts of the world that were paying attention. Click here for that full review.)  April 21st marked the full launch of that album to the world at large and now, they’ve got a fresh new video Continue reading

The Bucketlist With REMARK Guitarist Denis Novikov!

Moscow’s REMARK has garnered a tremendous amount of attention with their video for the track “Falling” from their recent self titled album. The video has been out for a period of time but is still circulating heavily. The band released their debut ‘REMARK‘ in January 2016, it was produced by Andrew Konoplev. The band has stated that “Our first album was about finding our sound, style, manner of execution, and ultimately how REMARK should sound and look on stage”. I’m not sure what sound they were striving for but they hit a home run with the outcome. A true rock n roll record with a gritty edge. The 5 piece band is able to add melodic and aggressive notes within their style along with a rhythm that has that instant classic appeal. REMARK with Kuper Kukunchikov (METAMORPHOSIS Production) released two new music videos; the first one, “Falling,” brought REMARK to national attention and pushed them to the next level, winning the “Ultra Music” radio contest and a performance on Russian TV. In 2016 they appeared in rotation on many internet radio stations, and performed on many major Russian radio stations such as the RSN, L!FE, MAXIMUM live. The band raised the standards for rock n roll. Check out the video for “Falling” below. Continue reading

FIRE FROM THE GODS Release Official Music Video For “The Voiceless” Off Of Upcoming ‘Narrative Retold’ Album

Since the release of their debut LP, Narrative, last summer – Austin, Texas hardcore outfit, Fire From The Gods, have experienced a rapid surge in popularity. Attaining a record deal from Rise Records in the process, Fire From The Gods’ second album, Narrative Retold, is slated for a May 19th release. And the forecast could not look brighter for this young band’s sophomore LP, as the official music video for “The Voiceless”, revealed by Fire From The Gods last Friday, is an all-out slammer! Make sure and check out the music video above! “The Voiceless” is one of two tracks featured on Narrative Retold that were produced by none other than Jonathan Davis of Korn. Harnessing a genuine hardcore mentality with the perfect touch of melody, Fire From The Gods are bound to release one of the most solid albums of the year next month – that said based on this raw, powerful track alone. Continue reading

Review: LIFE OF AGONY – ‘A Place Where There’s No More Pain’ [Official Videos]

Life Of Agony has been around for over 20 years but they still surprise to this date . They managed to keep their routs intact while changing things up big time, They are from New York and best known for their debut album ‘River Runs Red’ from 1993. This and their album ‘Ugly’ (1995) built their staircase into the hardcore scene. They toured all over the place with many great and influential bands like Metallica, Black Sabbath, Foo Fighters, Ozzy Osbourne and The Red Hot Chilli Peppers. And I have to tell you, you don’t get that spot for sitting around a table playing poker. After this incredible start they released another album in 1997 ‘Soul Searching Sun’, 2 years later the band decided to split up and all walk their own directions. After this devastating news the band managed to surprise everyone by coming back together in 2003. They finally found their love for the band again and decided to make an album, ‘Broken Valley’. This album got them right on track and showcased their intense love for the band.  After long waiting we finally got it, a new album from Life Of Agony. It’s called ‘A Place Where There’s No More Pain’ and wow what a great album it is people. They produced it themselves with a helping hand of Mat Brown. The bands label is one of the best around Napalm Records and Ted Jensen mastered it. He is well known for his work for Alice In Chains, Machine Head and Deftones so we are in for a good one.

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CARACH ANGREN Release New Single “Charlie” [New Song Stream]

Dutch symphonic black metallers CARACH ANGREN have released yet another song titled, “Charlie“, from their upcoming 5th studio album, ‘Dance And Laugh Amongst The Rotten‘ out via kick-ass record label Season Of Mist on June 16th, 2017. Symphony, black metal, horror and orchestra are what makes CARACH ANGREN one of the best symphonic black metal bands out there among the likes of Dimmu Borgir, Cradle Of Filth etc. Their blend of horror, drama and suspense story line embedded in their music never fails to leave me awestruck and at the same time a feeling I would equate with ghost and horror tales. With bands like them experimentation in the black metal genre seems more mass appealing for sure.

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