Category Archives: Artist Showcase

State Of The Art: Florida’s ELEMENT OF ECLIPSE [Album Stream]

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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 Florida.*

Hailing from Tampa, Florida, Sin Scythe (Kevin Nichols) is the one-man mastermind behind the brutally dark and aggressive, blackened death metal project Element of Eclipse. On wax, you’d never know by the immense atmospheric sound that it was created and performed solely by one person. Scythe recorded his first demo for Element of Eclipse back in 2003 and has since released five full-length albums, with 2015’s ‘HeretiKvlt Manifesto’ being the most recent. The first album ‘Apocalyptic Life’ (2006) was an all-acoustic project with synth and vocals that began laying the groundwork for much heavier things to come. As a distinct evolution from his acoustic beginnings – and packed with high-speed, distorted riffing and blast beats – ‘HeretiKvlt Manifesto,’ is one of Scythe’s most refined and crushing works to date, improving upon the format that was solidified on the previous two records. With a sound that’s equal parts Immortal and ‘Alters of Madness’-era Morbid Angel, Element of Eclipse delivers powerful extreme metal with a well-executed and crisp production value that propels the music’s power and atmosphere to the limits. Continue reading →

Rock Allegiance Artist Showcase: SYLAR

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From Queens, New York, Sylar brings a head-bobbing groove to this year’s Rock Allegiance festival. Their current sound reflects a fusion of rap-rock with heavy modern riffs harkens back to the early 2000’s influences that nu-metal brought to the table. Sylar came to fruition by the hands of singer Jayson Panesso and drummer Thomas Veroutis. Currently signed to Hopeless Records, they are set to release their third full length, “Seasons,” on October 5th.

Their first EP, “Deadbeat” will likely appeal more to a more hardcore audience and two full lengths in between bridge the gap to where the band currently is. Early material was produced by Beartooth frontman, Caleb Shomo, whom Sylar will tour with this fall, one of the stops being Rock Allegiance in Camden, New Jersey. You can check out our previous interview with the band here.

Sylar do an excellent job in paying homage to a major influence, Linkin Park in 2017 when they released a single of their cover of “Points of Authority.” Heavy, aggressive and sometimes unforgiving, Sylar find the perfect balance between chaos and composure. Panesso’s vocals carry a tune that glazes the beatdown riffs with something sweet.

October 6th, in Camden, NJ, Sylar will be a part of the fourth annual Rock Allegiance festival. Tickets are still for sale and can be purchased here, with some fabulous VIP options as well.


State of the Art: West Virginia’s ASTRAEUS

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Smart, yet intoxicating riffs travel through the speakers as an easy brush of arpeggios lift one into another world where all things are neatly and perfectly packaged into sonic bites of progressive wonder. Charleston, West Virginia is the homeland of Astraeus. If you can’t already tell, they are excellent. Continue reading →

Aftershock 2018 Spotlight: WAGE WAR [Video Stream]

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*This is part of our “Aftershock Festival 2018 Spotlight” where we branch out and focus on some of the up-and-coming bands that fans can see at this year’s Aftershock Festival on October 13th & 14th.  This week, we’re checking out WAGE WAR.*

Wage War are slotted to bring their unique form of melodic metalcore to the Northern California stage at this year’s Aftershock Festival. The band has been bringing the heaviness since their inception in 2013 in Ocala, Florida. The lineup for the quintet includes Cody Quistad (vocals/guitar), Briton Bond (vocals), Seth Blake (guitar), Chris Gaylord (bass), and Stephen Kluesener (drums).  Signed to the Fearless label, Wage War has two full length records under their belt – ‘Blueprints’ (2015) and ‘Deadweight’ (2017), which are both produced by Andrew Wade (Neck Deep, Motionless in White) and Jeremy McKinnon (A Day to Remember). They are currently in the process of working on new material that they discuss, among other topics, during their recent interview with Talk Toomey: The Metal Nexus Podcast – which you can check out here. Continue reading →

State Of The Art: West Virginia’s ZEROKING

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ZEROKING

*This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured state. This month’s state is West Virginia.*

ZEROKING is a four piece Hard Rock outfit hailing from the city of Charleston WV.  Formed in 2004 by guitarist Shane Day and drummer Chris Webb.  The band’s core lineup was  finalized in September of that year with the addition of vocalist Andy Haught. The next two years saw the group writing original material and performing anywhere and everywhere they could.  After writing only a few songs together it was clearly defined which direction the sound of the band would go in for years to come.  Mid-2006 saw the release of their debut EP ‘The Sweet Sale of Excess’.   After a few personnel changes on bass over the course of the two years, ZEROKING finally added bass player Paul First to the fold. This lineup would prove to be the classic lineup.  More shows and writing followed over the course of the next several years.  The band saw itself billed with some of the biggest names in the rock world, playing shows with major artists such as DROWNING POOL, BLACK STONE CHERRY and POPEVIL to name a few.  All the while the foursome feverishly strived to improve their sound and complete songs for their first full-length album.

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State Of The Art: GHOST ROAD [Album Stream]

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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 West Virginia.*

When you think off West Virginia, the first thing that comes to mind is some good old backwoods bluegrass and country music. What you don’t expect is that deep within the hollers, there’s a band who’s music sounds will take you back to the beginning’s of punk with the fusion of the horror genre into their image. Ghost Road is a punk rock horror band that’s based out of Morgantown, WV and they will take you out of the stereotypes of West Virginia music. Continue reading →

Louder Than Life 2018 Spotlight: TURNSTILE

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*This is part of our “Louder Than Life 2018 Spotlight” series where we  focus on some of the up-and-coming bands that fans can see at this year’s Louder Than Life Festival on Sept. 28th-30th.  This week, we’re checking out Turnstile.*

Formed in 2010, Turnstile are Brendan Yates, Franz Lyons, Daniel Fang, Pat McCrory and Brady Ebert. Over the years, they’ve made their name as an innovative, one-to-watch hardcore act with the release of EPs, ‘Pressure to Succeed’ and ‘Step 2 Rhythm’, and a debut album, ‘Nonstop Feeling’. Turnstile puts on some of those classic hardcore shows where you see fans getting on stage with the band, diving from the stage and just all out chaos going on. Of course; we won’t see this happening at Louder Than Life with the large security presence but it has to make you respect the band even more knowing they are use to working under chaotic circumstances and still perform flawlessly. With the exception of Pat McCrory the rest of the band is original members and that is one thing that also contributes to the bands amazing chemistry both on the stage and in the studio.

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State Of The Art West Virginia: NECHOCHWEN

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Apalači folk metal two-piece Nechochwen are based in the dense forest of West Virginia. Nechochwen (Aaron Carey) plays the nylon and steel string guitars, hand drum, flute, lalawas, and vocals while Pohonasin (Andrew D’Cagna) supports the rhythm section with drums and bass. Taking inspiration from indigenous peoples, their music is a blend of modern and folk instrumentation.

Formed in 2005, they focus on their Native American roots both lyrically and instrumentally. Releasing Algonkian Mythos in 2008, Nechochwen wrote and performed all the tracks. Finding spiritual guidance Nechochwen explains,  “It was only natural that the mythos of the Eastern Woodland Indians of which I was learning would manifest itself through my other passion, music. There is no central theme to Algonkian Mythos; it is just my attempt to paint musical scenes of Native events that inspire, anger, or sadden me. I hope it somehow will transport you to another time and place.” The tracks on this album vibrate with a spiritual intensity and curiosity. Continue reading →

Rock Allegiance 2018 Artist Showcase: STONE BROKEN

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Stone Broken was formed in 2013 after one of frontman Rich Moss’ former bandmates tragically died. Almost abandoning music for 4 years, Moss would form Stone Broken with longtime friend Robyn Hancock on drums, Chris Davis on guitar, and Kieron Conway on bass. Their self-released and self-financed EP, The Crow Flies was released in 2014. They then hit the studio again with producer Romesh Dodangoda (Motörhead, Bring Me The Horizon,Twin Atlantic) to record their debut full length, All In Time. Gaining a local following their first full length, there fan base grew rapidly. With tracks like “Not Your Enemy” and “Wait For You” getting airtime on Kerrang! Radio and Planet Rock, the venues became larger and larger. Continue reading →

Aftershock 2018 Spotlight: DOROTHY [Video Stream]

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*This is part of our “Aftershock Festival 2018 Spotlight” where we branch out and focus on some of the up-and-coming bands that fans can see at this year’s Aftershock Festival on October 13th & 14th.  This week, we’re checking out DOROTHY.*

Los Angeles-based Dorothy brings bluesy rock with a sixties and seventies feel to the stage at this year’s Aftershock Festival. With a voice that’s equal parts Grace Slick and modern-day Janis Joplin, namesake and lead vocalist Dorothy Martin sings sleazy dive bar anthems that ooze with sex appeal and rebellious freedom. The band – which also includes Owen Barry (guitar), Leroy Wulfmeier (guitar), Eliot Lorango (bass), and Jason Ganberg (drums) have just released their sophomore album ’28 Days in the Valley’ earlier this year as a follow-up to their successful 2016 debut ‘ROCKISDEAD.’ Check out their highly entertaining music video for “Dark Nights,” directed by industry veteran Chris Marrs Piliero (The Black Keys, Ariana Grande). It’s a great track and equally kickass video that shows the band’s comedic side and even features a surprise appearance from Napoleon Dyanamite’s Pedro. Continue reading →