Artist Showcase

One of our main goals here at Metal Nexus is to turn you on to new bands that you haven’t heard before.


State Of The Art: Pennsylvania – BURIAL IN THE SKY

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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 Pennsylvania!

There was a plethora of great releases in the tech death realms last year. Obviously, not all of those technical death metal albums of 2016 were shown the love they deserve on Metal Nexus… With that said, I am currently kicking myself in the ass for not covering Burial In The Sky’s jaw-dropping debut LP last year. The absolute least I can do now is have Burial In The Sky as the first featured artist for this month’s State of the Art: Pennsylvania series! Since the band was birthed in 2013, they have only delivered solid material. Now – with a demo, EP, and full-length, under their belts – the future could not look any brighter for Burial In The Sky. The Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania natives, Will Okronglis (guitars, vocals), James Tomedi (guitars, bass) and Sam Stewart (drums), produce a unique brand of death metal with appeasing, technical guitar licks and a dreamy, celestial atmosphere.

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Chicago Open Air Spotlight: Night Verses

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*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 Night Verses.

On Saturday, July 15th, California/New York band Night Verses will be bringing their strange, varied sound to Chicago Open Air at Toyota Park. They formed in 2012 in Los Angeles when vocalist Douglas Robinson (The Sleeping) asked to collaborate with trio The Sound Archives. Later that year, they self-released their debut EP titled ‘Out of the Sky’. The quartet exhibits their wide range of influence extremely well in their releases. They are most prevalent in the post rock, alt metal, mathcore, and experimental categories. Night Verses carries an utterly dark, melodic sound that should make for a high intensity show not to be forgotten. Continue reading →

State Of The Art: Virginia – LOINCLOTH

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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 Virginia!

Virginia’s tenure as our featured State of the Art concludes this week, as I present one more noteworthy artist hailing from the Old Dominion – Loincloth. With members in Richmond and Raleigh, perhaps the band could fit in the Virginia or North Carolina State of the Art series. Nevertheless, the instrumental prog trio is a hard-hitting powerhouse to be reckoned with, featuring concise, syncopated movements of progressive metal riffage and dissonance.  Continue reading →

State Of The Art: Virginia – Trumpet the Harlot

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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 Virginia!

If you are a fan of the most extreme end of the Metal spectrum, Virginia has a plethora of formidable offerings. Doom, Death, Black and Thrash Metal bands absolutely abound from this month’s state. An interesting feature of Virginia Metal bands that arouse over the course of this month is that they tend to stay together for extended periods of time instead of splintering into other projects on a whim. Usually when searching there are a bevy of brand new bands with limited releases and few that have been together for more than a couple of years or longer. While this does not necessarily relegate to the quality of the music, a focused and fully developed sound can be tough to find from extremely young bands. My State of the Art spotlight falls into the former category, being at least seven years old. This week’s nod goes to Trumpet the Harlot.

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Chicago Open Air Spotlight: WHORES.

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*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 Whores.

On Sunday July 16th, noise rock band Whores will be bringing their raw, massive sound to Chicago Open Air at Toyota Park. The trio formed in 2010 in Atlanta, Georgia and released their first EP, ‘Ruiner’ in 2011 via Brutal Panda Records. Following this, Whores released their second EP in 2013 titled ‘Clean’. It was produced by Ryan Boesch, who has worked with various bands like Helmet, The Foo Fighters, and Norma Jean (who is also playing Chicago Open Air). Last year, the band switched labels to eOne Music and released their first full length album, ‘Gold’. The record received a enormous amount of recognition from different websites and magazines like Rolling Stone, Invisible Oranges, and Metal Insider. The band delivers a loud, garage heavy sound that has caught the eye of several people. Continue reading →

State Of The Art: Virginia – WINDHAND

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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 Virginia!

Flashback to Fall 2015: I’m beginning to expand my musical horizons as a listener, discovering the real power behind Bandcamp… I stumble upon this album called, Grief’s Infernal Flower, a, then, bestseller on the website by a quintet from Richmond, Virginia dubbed Windhand. I saw Windhand’s third album sported some beautiful cover artwork, but it was the sound that I found within Grief’s Infernal Flower that made me admire this band the most. Featuring bludgeoning, thick guitar tones and soaring, ethereal vocals – Windhand has comprised some of the best elements of stoner and doom since their inception in 2008, to produce something so gracefully heavy.

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State Of The Art: Virginia – Freedom Hawk

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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 Virginia!

Week number three covering Virginia in our State of the Art series brings us to the barrier dunes of Virginia Beach, where, in 2005, time traveling rockers from 1970 emerged from the warp portal to create this week’s band, Freedom Hawk.

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Chicago Open Air Spotlight: DED

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*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 DED!

We have a nu metal/hardcore revival on our hands! DED will be performing at Chicago Open Air on Sunday, July 16th along with legendary acts like Ozzy Osbourne and Slayer. The band formed in Phoenix, AZ two years ago with the goal of putting listeners on edge. In the last few months they have taken the music scene by storm with their two recently released songs. Their live performances and EP led to a quick amount of success including shows with Beartooth, Atreyu, Every Time I Die, and more. This summer they will be hitting the road with Korn on several different tours, playing alongside acts like Stone Sour, Skillet, and Animals as Leaders. Continue reading →

State of the Art: Virginia – Valkyrie

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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 Virginia!

After starting our State of the Art: Virginia series off with a bang last week, I would like to introduce or reintroduce a band that has been turning Traditional Doom fans on their heads since 2002. Started by vocalist/guitarist Jake Adams, bassist Eric Seaman and drummer Luke Shafer in Rockbridge County, VA, Valkyrie quickly released a five song EP in 2003 which included the track “Wintry Plains” that was later used in their most recent release, some twelve years in the future. By 2004, Jake’s brother Peter (also of Baroness) was added to the band, sharing guitar and vocal responsibilities. A second demo was recorded at a local radio station shortly before Shafer split with the band and was replaced with Mike Hoke on drums. Sunlight Shines followed along with a 7” split with VOG. By the end of 2004, the young band lost Seaman and Hoke and were replaced by Nick Crabill on bass and Nic McIntrurff on drums. Once being picked up by Twin Earth Records, their debut, self-titled, full length album was released with the assistance and engineering talents of Chris Kozlowski (Pentagram, Trouble, The Obsessed, Spirit Caravan, The Melvins, Blue Cheer). Changing the lineup once again, bass player Will Barry–Rec and drummer Gary Isom (Spirit Caravan, Pentagram) were recruited into the band, allowing Valkyrie to play many festivals including the final Emissions from the Monolith Fest in Austin, TX and the Stoner Hands of Doom festival in Phoenix, AZ. Isom left the band in 2007 and was replaced by Warren Hawkins. The next year, Man of Two Visions was released on their own label, Noble Origin. Valkyrie’s debut and Visions were later re-released on 12” vinyl in 2007 and 2008, the year that Pete joined Relapse Records recording artist Baroness which called him away for full time touring. In 2010, Meteorcity Records (The Obsessed, Nebula, Atonic Bitchwax) re-released the first two albums on CD. Joining Valkyrie on bass while still playing with Earthling, Alan Fary released a new split with both bands in 2013. 2014 proved to be a huge year for Valkyrie and its members. With production from Sanford Parker (Nachmystium, Pelican, Voivod), Shadows was released shortly before Pete was asked to play with Glen Danzig’s Samhain where he toured their reunion shows throughout the United States (information from Valkyrie’s online resources).

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Chicago Open Air Spotlight: AVATAR

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*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 Avatar!

Swedish metal band Avatar will be making their debut at Chicago Open Air to “steal the show” on July 15th. Forming in 2001, the band went through several lineup changes before releasing their first full length album, ‘Thoughts of No Tomorrow’ in 2006. ‘Schlact’ followed that in 2007 and then their self titled album was released in 2010. This was the start of the band’s rise to fame having been signed by Sony Music and releasing their biggest song yet “Queen of Blades”. The song received recognition from Blizzard Entertainment as it was about a character from the game Starcraft. Throughout these years they hit the road with many experienced bands like In Flames, Obituary, Helloween, and Dark Tranquility. Continue reading →