Author Archives: Guest Contributor

THE CONTORTIONIST Flourish On Stage In Warsaw, Poland [Review & Photo Gallery]

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Last week, Indiana-based prog metallers The Contortionist came through Warsaw on their fall jaunt across Europe. On the eve of the release of their new EP ‘Our Bones,’ the Hydrozagadka was packed out for a truly memorable show. The air in the venue was electric before the set even began, and as the lights filtered in (to a recording of “I Will Always Love You”, no less) the crowd gave a rousing rendition of their own. The recording faded, and the tension in the air shattered as the show began. Continue reading →

Review: PERIPHERY – ‘IV: Hail Stan’ [Official Video]

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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 →

DEVILDRIVER, JINJER Inspire Mosh Pits In Lexington, Kentucky [Review & Photo Gallery]

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Words By: Kevin Akers | Photography By: Estil Robinson

Lexington Kentucky decided to celebrate Halloween a day early as DevilDriver brought their Outlaws til the End Tour to the Manchester Music Hall. The venue has hosted a bunch of hard rock acts in the past year including Sevendust, All That Remains, and Trivium. But it has never hosted a tour this heavy before. In fact, it may be the heaviest tour to ever play in Lexington.

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New Tool Album: Post-release Weather Forecast

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Tool has always been a mysterious and unique symbiosis of diverse musicians, that have constantly exceeded the expectations of their fans. Groundbreaking and un-erasable milestones that the band has accomplished are in the books for already more than a couple of decades. They serve as undeniable evidence of quartet’s ability to create interesting, unusual, psychedelic, hypnotic and distinguished combinations of sounds. Continue reading →

Review: Obituary – ‘Obituary’ [Song Stream]

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Florida based death metal legends Obituary, are coming out with a new album via Relapse Records on March 17th 2017 and will run a 10 song track listing. This will be the bands 10th studio album, spanning a long career started all the way back in 1989 with the bands debut release titled ‘Slowly we Rot’. Obituary has been considered death metal elite ever since, you cannot bring up death metal without hearing the name Obituary. The bands previous release ‘Inked in Blood’, set a very high standard to surpass or even match, with great reviews from critics and fans alike. The year is 2017 and one of the giants of the genre has returned. Continue reading →

Review: EARTH ROT – ‘Renascentia’

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Formed in only 2014, Earth Rot has really made their mark in the underground scene. The Australian death metal band has released an EP titled ‘Dirt’ in the same year of their formation. A short 6 months later they blew up the underground scene with their first full length LP titled ‘The Black Smoke’. This band offers a black and death metal mix not many bands can pull off with such seamless transition from one to the other. Now the band is back with their new album ‘Renascentia’ just one year after they released their debut album. Earth Rot has evolved and sharpened the craft of blackened death metal and this album shows that. Continue reading →

Review: Within The Ruins ‘Halfway Human’

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Within The Ruins is a metal band based out of Westfield, Massachusetts. They have a new album coming out March 3rd 2017 via eOne Music, titled ‘Halfway Human. When the band was talking about the writing process for this record, they touched upon the fact that they usually rush out music and jump into the studio. Within The Ruins collectively decided they were sick of the same old formula and wanted to try something new and take the time write a great record. Within The Ruins has stated they took the time to review their older material and have tried to make something different sounding. With the time, patience and research they have put into their new album ‘Halfway Human’ I’m sure most will be impressed by what Within The Ruins has done on their 5th studio record. Continue reading →

Review: The Metalhead Box – February 2017

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This is the box I was greeted with at my front door this past week. A seemingly small box that is claimed to be filled with goodies for metal heads. For those of you who have never seen or heard of this box before, I’d like to share with you my very first opening of one. But first a little bit of information about The Metalhead Box. This box contains everything from mugs, pictures (signed and unsigned), CDs, shirts, buttons and patches. The list could go on and on. Every month the box is filled with different things as far as genres and bands go. From hard rock to black metal merch and everything in between. Let’s take a look inside of the box for February 2017.

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Review: POWER TRIP – ‘Nightmare Logic’; Full Album Stream

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POWER TRIP; Hailing from Dallas, the band has toured the world relentlessly for years. Their musical proficiency, perfect song structure, rich tones, fierce riffs, delivery, and collective attitude has seeded them as one of today’s most prolific acts in any astute or heavy genre. POWER TRIP executes music with raw energy, and it’s easily heard on their previous material as well as this new release. They are the up and coming thrash band that everyone should keep their eyes on. These thrashers have 2 full length albums ‘Manifest Decimation’ and their most recent release ‘Nightmare Logic’ out and both are impressive feats. With 5 other releases in their discography that include EP’s, a split and a demo, it shows that nothing can hold this band back from success.  Continue reading →

Tour Review: Bound By The Road Tour With DevilDriver, Death Angel, Winds Of Plague & The Agonist

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The Bound by the Road Tour 2017 is a 5 band affair featuring DevilDriver, Death Angel, Winds of Plague, The Agonist and Azreal. It had plenty of stops in the USA and had 2 stops in Canada which I was lucky enough to attend the one in Toronto Ontario at The Phoenix Concert Theater (formerly known as The Diamond) and it holds up to 1,350 people.  Continue reading →