Metalcore act New Years Day is ready to release another album and this time it goes by the name of ‘Unbreakable’, which they truly are. And all that just by promoting their band via MySpace back in 2006! So with that out of the way let’s get right into this beautiful piece of art!
Big Business is a band. They play heavy rock. On that, we can all agree. Things get tricky when you try to classify exactly where on the musical spectrum the dynamic duo’s racket falls. “I guess psychedelic heavy metal punk rock? I don’t know. People always say ‘sludge rock,’ which I always found to be lazy and kind of inaccurate,” says drummer Coady Willis. “A lot of our songs are fast, and it’s not like we’re playing a half-assed Black Sabbath riff over and over again. That’s been the struggle of the band. We’re a band that doesn’t really fit into what everyone else is doing.” Continue reading
Photo Credit: Steve Thrasher
The present and the future is bright for Southern California’s rockers, Joyous Wolf. Since forming the band in 2014, they have been wowing audiences with their refreshing brand of bluesy, modern-style, classic hard rock sound and electrifying live performances. A huge part of that onstage electricity is powered by lead vocalist Nick Reese who impressively channels his inner James Brown and Jim Morrison as he shakes and shimmies like a bonafide old soul frontman – ladies beware. Throw in some jumps, a flip, and a few splits that would make David Lee Roth stand up and take notice, a tremendous voice that are equal parts Eddie Vedder, Bob Seger, and Robert Plant, and you have one dynamically entertaining individual in Reese. Continue reading
Coming fully loaded with heavy artillery of rock, Thunderbird is back with a brand new album. After the success of 2016’s ‘Heavyweight,’ Thunderbird has spent the last two years recording another face melting album. The band showcases Marc Lafrance on vocals, Rob Becker on bass, Kelly Stodola on drums, and Brice Tabish replacing Rod Coogan on guitars due to other commitments. The bands self-titled album, ‘Thunderbird’ is a throwback to the classic days of rock. Thunderbird will be available everywhere digitally April 25, 2019. Continue reading
Words By: Masen Smith
For nearly a decade, DC prog metallers and forerunners of Djent; Periphery have been churning out album after album of tasty riffs and inventive songwriting. Few bands in the genre have been able to continuously and fluidly evolve for this long, constantly leaving fans guessing on which direction they’ll take next. No sentiment could be truer regarding their latest record, ‘IV: Hail Stan.’ After shockingly departing from Sumerian Records and subsequently launching their own label 3Dot Recordings, their creativity as a band was allowed to take centre stage. On their revamped writing process, guitarist Jake Bowen explained that this record was unique in that it took an entire year to write- something that the rushed schedule of major labels simply didn’t allow. The result is a polished, purposeful, textured and masterfully crafted album, one that was certainly worth the wait. Continue reading
High n’ Heavy are a four piece instrument of destruction out of New Bedford, Massachusetts. Formed in late 2014 with The Stooges, Black Sabbath, and Motörhead in mind; their sound has evolved to perfectly embody all of their influences. Mostly playing shows in their native New England, High n’ Heavy has been picking up a handful of new fans every time they perform. The following is multiplying not only because of their talented musicianship but also because of their high energy live sets that create fandom simply by word of mouth. Their first 3 albums have shown the band to be at home playing everything from the most brutal of doom to the dirtiest of rock n’ roll. The electric circus that is High n’ Heavy consists of Kris Fortin on vocals, John Steele on guitar and keys, Mike Dudley on bass, and drummer Nick Perrone. The New Bedford band have now released their 4th album ‘Warrior Queen’ (via Electric Valley Records): An album full of psychedelia, mysticism and killer airfare! ‘Warrior Queen was recorded & engineered by Trevor Vaughan, recorded at The Colosseum and produced by Trevor Vaughan and High n’ Heavy.
Portland, Oregon’s Lord Dying is set to release their third full-length album ‘Mysterium Tremendum’ on April 26th, 2019 via Entertainment One. Not unlike previous releases, their sludgey roots remain intact while, this time around, the sound has noticeably evolved to welcome a wider range of varying influences. The ever-present prog elements have been kicked up several notches along with some serious genre-hopping style shifts. If you’re a fan of metal in general, and can easily enjoy bands from multiple sub-genres, ‘Mysterium Tremendum’ is the answer to which record to put on when you just can’t decide. This album has it all – from melodic to brutal, and everything in between while delivering a punishing arsenal of inventive riffage. The variation is most evident in the vocals which can, from one moment to the next, alternate stylistically anywhere from the likes of Geoff Tate to Chuck Shuldiner. Like an appetizer sampler platter, ‘Mysterium Tremendum’ offers some of the best of several metal favorites, while helping to define Lord Dying’s signature sound through experimentation. Continue reading
Since their inception in 2007, Whitechapel have embraced darkness unlike many other bands have been able to do, and their forthcoming seventh studio release, The Valley, is no different. Let’s set the record straight for a second, though. There aren’t many, “happy,” things about their music to start with, but when you start to dig deeper than the music and the lyrics, and begin to strike a personal connection with the stories they tell, you begin to feel like you’re one with the grim tales that they narrate in their music. For frontman Phil Bozeman, this is as personal of an album as ever, giving you an inside look at events that he went through as a child growing up in Knoxville, Tennessee, with a new perspective on life and how his childhood traumas have molded him into the human being he is now. From his putrid relationship with his step father, to diving deep into analyzing his mother’s multiple personality syndromes, it is nothing short of a lyrical masterpiece that exceeds any and all expectations from a modern Deathcore band in today’s music scene. The Valley, based on true events by Whitechapel, is an overwhelming, emotional, and cut-throat look into the darkest side of a person’s mind.
The album begins with the opening track, When A Demon Defiles A Witch, a song that Bozeman wrote about his mother’s personal demon. A gruesome tale that properly sets the mood for the unrelenting and over the top musical onslaught that you will face when listening to this album. To make things perfectly clear, this song has nothing to do with his stepfather, but it is about a demon by the name of, “Mycar,” that used to haunt her in their home. Bozeman’s mother had journals that she kept writings in of all the things that she experienced with this being, and these journals actually contained lines and phrases that Bozeman would use as lyrics for the track in certain places, (“Burn the bed, burn everything, it’s a lie anyway.”) the original writings of the journal concur that she referred to herself as a witch, and talk about how the demon would sexually assault her in her bed. Continue reading
Iron Griffin, the throwback/retro metal band from Finland are set to release ‘Curse of the Sky’ on March 22nd via Gates of Hell Records. Like the self-titled debut, Oskari Rasanen handles all the instrumentation himself! Joining him on vocals, however, is Maija Tiljander whose previous experience included singing power metal covers in Finnish bars and clubs. Continue reading
Sacramento, California’s classic rockers Tesla return with their eighth studio album ‘Shock.’ Classic rock is a term that may not be desired, despite being earned. Tesla has been running from unwarranted labels from day one, so this is likely nothing new. They were labeled early on as a “hair band” or even as a “glam band,” despite clearly being way more of a center of the road, straight-ahead rock band. Tesla’s lineup has relatively remained the same over the years, with only minor changes, and it shows in the songs. The album is chock-full of classic Tesla that not only held my attention but made me revisit some of my favorite Tesla tunes after spinning it. See: “Mama’s Fool” from 1995’s ‘Bust a Nut.’ Continue reading
