Author Archives: Fist

About Fist

Greetings and salutations. Call me Fist, I'm a proud Kentuckian and I've used metal to help me get through the suffering of living in the bible belt. I am an encyclopedia of metal. I'm a fan of all types of metal. My main goal here is to help people find more music they will fall in love with. Hope you enjoy our words! \m/

Review: OWL COMPANY ‘Horizon’ [Song Stream]

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Owl Company is a band from São Paulo, Brazil with power to burn. The band combines hard rock influences from the psychedelic 70s to the 90s with modern rage and brutality to create a sound that is fresh, aggressive, and engaging. The band has built a strong presence in São Paulo, playing all the premier venues in town. Owl Company began in 2015 and their first single, “Condescend,” received ample radio play in their hometown and also in Rio de Janeiro. Now, the goal is to take their music to the worlds stage and become internationally known, that new music being the group’s first full-length release ‘Horizon’. The record is set to drop in July 14th, 2017. The release of ‘Horizon’ will be followed by tours in the U.S. and Europe. The bands music alone is sure to win over fans, and once they plug in on stage their presence will send fans flocking to their style. Owl Company brings all this and more to the party, crafting memorable and melodic rock music that ripples its big riff muscles and instantly makes you want to hear more. The goal is that the new album as well as the international touring will give Owl Company the well-deserved place on the world stage and into the ears of heavy music aficionados everywhere. One listen and you’ll know that Owl Company is a force of nature and will not be ignored. Continue reading →

The Bucketlist With COUNTERFEIT CULTURE Drummer Chris Smith!

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In this series we pose the age old questions 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.

Formed in 2013 New Jersey metalcore band Counterfeit Culture perfectly blends gut wrenching harsh vocals and clean melodies together for a perfectly balanced style and sound. Not only do the New Jersey quartet—Nick Broglio [vocals], Patrick Robertson [guitar], Elijah Pagan [bass], and Chris Smith [drums]—shake up heavy music, but they also shake up pop culture at large, ripping conventions to shreds with an artful amalgam of intricate metallic musicianship and alternative-inspired melodies. Counterfeit Culture, who are set to release Deathwish, their new three track EP on August 1st. You”ll find in the EP, the reoccurring theme of domestic and drug abuse that the band heavily advocates against. The members initially met in 2015 while still in high school. They quickly built a local buzz, performing with top-notch acts such as Suicide Silence, Whitechapel, Like Moth To Flames, The Plot In You, Erra, Thy Art Is Murder, Invent, Animate, and many more. In 2017, they worked with producer Ricky Armellino [Currents, This Or The Apocalypse] and mixer Taylor Larson [Periphery, Darkest Hour] on what would become ‘Deathwish’.

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An Interview With ONI Vocalist Jake Oni!

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Oni is a Canadian progressive metal band that was founded by vocalist Jake Oni in 2014. He says his vision was “to be the band I never got to see”, and his vision has quickly evolved into the band everyone wants to see. With Jake Oni handling vocal duties, Martin Andres and Brandon White on guitar, Chase Bryant on bass and Joe Greulich on drums, they are also perhaps the first metal band to feature a Xylo-synth player, in the form of John “D”, which adds an interesting and intriguing dynamic. Recently signed with Blacklight Media/Metal Blade Records, Oni has released their debut album entitled ‘Ironside’ on November 25th. The band is already an aggressive thunderstorm and just to crank things up a notch Lamb Of God’s Randy Blythe was also featured on the track “The Only Cure”. The band has already been tabbed as a must see band from various music journalists across the country. If you simply watch some video footage of their shows it will have you eagerly awaiting them to play in your town. If you haven’t yet had the chance to hear ‘Ironside’ I demand you check it out now, and you will quickly fall in love with their unique sound.

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The Bucketlist With MORETTA!

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In this series we pose the age old questions 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.

Moretta’s highly anticipated sophomore album has arrived. ‘What’s Left Means Nothing’, ironically, brings it all to the table. “This album is a representation of where we are as musicians and as individuals. I couldn’t be more proud of how it turned out” said vocalist Joe Paisley. In a genre that has become increasingly stagnant by imitation, Moretta finds their footing by refusing to let the genre define them. The band may have started with a mutal love for hardcore but their style and sound has branched out and bloomed far from where they started. Though they retain some hardcore elements the band is truly a multi fusion band that straddles the fence on several genres. Every song meticulously crafted to deliver that special something listeners feen for. With choruses you’ll catch yourself singing at work, blended tastefully with breakdowns you can’t help but play along to on your steering wheel, Moretta continues to grow their fan base around the globe.

Lyrically, they challenge you to look within to find purpose and meaning, urging you to no longer accept the lies being fed through mainstream media; Moretta is asking you to think for yourself, find forgiveness, and take on your internal demons with strength. ‘What’s Left Means Nothing’ will be released on July 28th. You can hear the first single below.  Continue reading →

Review: BYZANTINE – ‘The Cicada Tree’ [Official Video]

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West Virginia’s best hidden secret Byzantine have long been the underdog in the metal world. Their last album ‘To Release Is To Resolve’ along with the powerful single “The Agonies” really propelled the band out of the Appalachian Mountains and into the ears of metal heads worldwide. The band self released the album and it was well received and got tremendous airplay on Sirius XM radio. The hard hitting progressive band also snagged a record deal with powerhouse label Metal Blade. On July 28th, Byzantine will release their new album, ‘The Cicada Tree’, via Metal Blade Records. Heralded as the most underrated band from the New Wave of American Heavy Metal Movement, Byzantine has slowly gained a cult-like following after releasing 5 genre-bending albums. 16 years underground, it’s finally time for the world to hear Byzantine! To state that The Cicada Tree is ‘classic Byzantine‘ in no way implies that this is an album solely rooted in the band’s past. Certainly, all of the hallmarks that have made their sound so compelling for close to two decades are present and correct: muscular yet lithe riffs and fluid leads play against gripping, dynamic and at times unpredictable rhythms, while rich melodies and lyrics that are both involved and intelligent wind their way through every track. But, once more, the groove metal unit has continued their steady evolution – the interplay between their members organic and natural, imbuing the record’s sixty-two-minute running time with a freshness and urgency. The album title – and the song of the same name – is drawn entirely from an event the frontman experienced in his home state of West Virginia in 2016, “The Seventeen Year Cicada” cycle. “It’s a type of locust that lies dormant underground for sixteen years, only to emerge in the seventeenth year, and it then lives for three months above ground to morph, mate, give birth and die. We had a swarm of roughly 1,000 cicada in my front yard underneath a small tree. My eight-year-old daughter, my pregnant-at-the-time girlfriend and I spent the whole season catching and studying them. It was a beautiful experience.” While looking for potential album titles, Ojeda’s girlfriend playfully suggested The Cicada Tree, and while initially dismissing this as a joke he soon had an epiphany. “Byzantine was coming up on its seventeenth year of existence and, just like the cicada, we spent the last sixteen years underground. So, ‘The Cicada Tree’is a metaphor for the lifespan of Byzantine.” Byzantine’s Metal Blade debut ‘The Cicada Tree’ drops on July 28th it’s an album you don’t want to pass on.  Continue reading →

Exclusive: After Being Fired Mason Evans Says “DEAD EARTH POLITICS Is Mine”!

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Last week we broke the news that DEAD EARTH POLITICS had parted ways with founding drummer Mason Evans. [Read Here] Evans co-founded DEAD EARTH POLITICS in 2003 with bassist Will Little and guitarist Ernie Clark, and contributed heavily to the band’s meteoric rise. The Austin, Texas-based metal group have been compared to the likes of Lamb of God, Iron Maiden, Pantera and other legends, this band strikes at many cores. The band has become one of the top bands in the New Wave Of American Heavy Metal. They have their roots in the thrash metal genre, but at times also show signs of influence from traditional metal and power metal as well. DEAD EARTH POLITICS perfectly blends melodic vocals and vicious harsh screaming. The band is one of the most cherished acts in the Austin, Texas music scene and they are a five-time recipient of the Austin Chronicle’s “Best Performing Metal Band,” winning the award every year from 2012-2016. The band released the following statement in regards to Mason’s departure from the band. “One of the toughest decisions to make in a band is whether or not to part ways with a brother who has been there from the beginning. Mason is a founding member whose input and talents drove DEAD EARTH POLITICS’ from the onset. With that in mind we are announcing that due to various differences, we have decided to part ways. We wish Mason the absolute very best in his future endeavors and we are stoked as hell to share some big developments with everyone in the very near future.” Continue reading →

WARBEAST Release “Maze Of The Minotaur” & Announce Benefit Shows! [Stream]

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Photo by Eric Younkin Jr.

‘Enter The Arena’ is the impending new full-length from Texas thrash metal behemoths WARBEAST. Set for release on August 4th via Philip H. Anselmo’s Housecore Records, the punishing, ten-track production was captured at Anselmo’s famed Nodferatu’s Lair, mixed by Mike Thompson at the Riff Factory, and mastered by Lee Russell. The record features newest WARBEAST recruits, guitarist Drew Shoup and bassist Lyric Ferchaud, and stands among band’s most potent, volatile, and unrepentantly powerful offering yet. The release of WARBEAST‘s Enter The Arena follows Corbitt’s recent esophageal cancer diagnosis. A treatable though rarely curable disease, Corbitt faces the likelihood that he will never be able to sing again. The singer, who is currently undergoing an intensive schedule of radiation treatments, played his final show on Saturday, May 27th at the Rail Club in Fort Worth, Texas. View the farewell footage HERE. Continue reading →

Blue Ridge Rock Festival Preview!

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Lynchburg, Virginia has officially put their name on the map in regards to music festivals. Over the past month the Blue Ridge Rock Festival has been slowly announcing bands playing the festival daily. The festival started out a little smaller than originally planned. Due to High Ticket Sales, they decided to expand the lineup and keep the ticket prices the same. How’s that for a reward? The initial bands on the lineup was Twiztid, Ill Nino, Saliva, (HED) P.E., Flaw, Saving Abel, Texas Hippie Coalition, Blaze Ya Dead Homie, Moonshine Bandits, and Almost Kings. Continue reading →

The Bucketlist With Nate Garrett of GATECREEPER / SPIRIT ADRIFT!

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Photo Credit: Eric’s Bad Ass Uncle!

In this series we pose the age old questions 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.

Nate Garrett is a name you may be familiar with. Musicians strike to get signed by a label throughout their careers and Nate has achieved this with not only one band but two. In 2015 Nate founded the band Spirit Adrift, which essentially started out as a one man project. In 2016 the band released an EP ‘ Behind – Beyond’ and a full length ‘Chained to Oblivion’ both via Prosthetic Records . They also released a split release with Khemmis via War Crime Recordings. Spirit Adrift has a slow festering doom sound with some psychedelic qualities. Both releases are riddled with riffs and thundering bass lines. Also on vocal duties Nate’s voice booms with soulful qualities throughout each track. All the tracks have this immense harmony and melodic feel with the powerful guitar work and drum beats holding up the back end. Around the same time Nate was founding Spirit Adrift he was welcomed into Gatecreeper as their guitarist. The bands are vastly different but do have some similar elements. Gatecreeper is certainly more in the vein of death metal, but they combine some doom influence as well. The band includes a Swedish style rapid fire riff attack and equal parts groove to make a smooth and filling cocktail of greatness. Since Nate was added to the band they have appeared on 3 splits, a compilation album, a full length and a live album. The full length ‘Sonoran Depravation’ was released in 2016 via Relapse Records, and the band’s live album ‘Unleashed in the Middle East’ was released in May of 2017 independently. You can easily say at this point that Nate Garrett is a successful musician. Dividing his time between two successful groups is certainly another feat within itself.  Continue reading →

HAIL SAGAN Releases New Video “Stealing The Crown” And Announce Tour

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Electronic Rock artist Hail Sagan announce the release of the new video for their single “Stealing The Crown”. Hail Sagan blasted onto the music scene in June of 2016 with their heavy hitting, debut single, “Dark Cloud,” which highlighted important issues such as bullying, violence, and suicide. Surrounded by a ghoulish league of masked musicians, Sagan Amery, the “purple princess,” as proclaimed by her followers, shines as a rebellious voice for the misunderstood. The philanthropic band who is continuously donating a portion of all funds to various charities, and who offers a network of outreach to those suffering from mental illness, released a self-titled EP in October of 2016, and continues to tour extensively.  Continue reading →