Category Archives: Artist Showcase

State of the Art: Invasive

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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 Washington!

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Very cool the way the Metal family works. I have stated before, that Metalheadz know no strangers. We all share a bond in the music, the bands, the musicians and for one another. What’s especially cool is when that camaraderie is perpetuated from band to band as well; not as competition, but as influences, friends and fans instead. Such is the case with my next SOTA band who was suggested to us by BloodRedRose’s band Homewrkr earlier this month and shared the stage with a number of my bands including Mechanism and Elephant Gun Riot. Let me introduce you to Invasive.

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State of the Art: Lust for Glory

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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 Washington!

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Just about everyone likes Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Eagles, old Aerosmith, Blue Oyster Cult and other late sixties/early seventies Hard Rock favorites. If you like Rock in any form, you are not likely to find friends with similar tastes saying they hate these bands, right? Heavy riffs, bluesy, heavy hitting solos, blasting drums and booming bass lines were the foundations for everything that we listen to today, much of it having direct underpinnings paying homage to these gods. As good as the music has always been, the live shows were where all of the glory was, however. Festivals that lasted weeks in a time of free love, fun Rock ‘n Roll and overt illicit drug use are pillars on which today’s Metal grounds itself. Such is the case with my SOTA band this week. Lust for Glory flies in the face of just about everything modern in favor of their Lo-Fi take on what music should be.

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Psychoprism Sets The Power Metal Standard Outside The Stratosphere

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Bands form for a lot of reasons and have limitless paths to success. Growing up surrounded by musicians and naturally forming a band, churches or other like groups that need music, studio players or substitute band members that are taken on tours with bands they have recorded with and kept for one extenuating circumstance or another; the list goes on and on. Sometimes a band’s story is as good as their music. Such is the case with a completely sick band called Psychoprism out of New York/New Jersey.

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Progressive Metal At Its Very Best – The Arbitrary

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If you are like me, you think “The Big Easy”, Mardi Gras, Cajun food, Tulane or Katrina when New Orleans is mentioned, right? Well, it is also considered the birthplace of Jazz, in all of its wonderful variants. Horns, tubas, upright bass, snare drums, accordions; often played in the streets as part of a festival or parade. Sue me. I love it all (mostly traditional Bop and Hard Bop). You get my point. But, you ask yourself, this is a Metal site, correct? This is where things go a little sideways, because there is a new name in Progressive Metal that was born and bred in this same city at the end of the Mississippi River. Hold on tight because, The Arbitrary is about to change your perception of New Orleans music.

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The Beautifully Rough Edges Of Layden And The Lion

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Being involved with music and musicians is a real blessing. I have gotten to meet and speak to long time heroes that have kept me sane for as long as I can remember as well as discover new music by just showing up at a show just because I need a break from my life for a couple of hours. These are also the shows that I have met and gained so many new friends that I am grateful to be surrounded by today. I don’t mind driving a few hours to see bands coming through that I have reviewed because, as you know, our staff only covers what we like (we are a diverse group, so most music is going to be liked by at least one of us). Such was the case when I was recently on vacation in Louisiana. I have worked extensively with Chelle Nelson of Rawk Promotions out of Dallas so when presented the opportunity to hit a show with her and her husband, I took it. Turns out, it is a small world because I got to see and meet Space Ape, who Dragon had already reviewed (Space Ape) and a new band out of Lafayette, LA/Santa Rosa Beach, FL called Layden and the Lion, who I think deserves some serious attention. Continue reading →

State of the Art: Mind Vice

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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 Washington!

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Not looking for the normal fare this week. I was looking for something different, but couldn’t quite put my finger on what specifically I was looking for. When I heard it, I would know, right? Washington has, so far, provided a bevy of super music, so I figured it couldn’t be too difficult. Two hours later I found EXACTLY what I was looking for. Heart of 70’s Rock with elements of Funk and fuzzy Psych they have termed as “Head Banging, Ass Shaking, Molten–Hot–Sludgefunk”. I’ll buy that. Saves me the trouble of trying to categorize them and sounds much cooler than anything I would have come up with anyway. So, without further ado, let’s check out what makes Mind Vice such a kick ass band.

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Virtuosity Defined – Raiju

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Illustration by Chasing Photons

Illustration by Chasing Photons

According to Wikipedia:

Raijū (雷獣,”thunder animal” or “thunder beast”) is a legendary creature from Japanese mythology. Its body is composed of lightning and may be in the shape of a cat, fox, weasel, or wolf. The form of a white and blue wolf (or even a wolf wrapped in lightning) is also common. It may also fly about as a ball of lightning (in fact, the creature may be an attempt to explain the phenomenon of lightning). Its cry sounds like thunder.

Raiju is the companion of Raijin, the Shinto god of lightning. While the beast is generally calm and harmless, during thunderstorms it becomes agitated and leaps about in trees, fields, and even buildings (trees that have been struck by lightning are said to have been scratched by Raiju’s claws).

Another of Raiju’s peculiar behaviors is sleeping in human navels. This prompts Raijin to shoot lightning arrows at Raiju to wake the creature up, and thus harms the person in whose belly the demon is resting. Superstitious people therefore often sleep on their stomachs during bad weather, but other legends say that Raiju will only hide in the navels of people who sleep outdoors.

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State of the Art: Burning Witch

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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 Washington!

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Featuring two of Washington (and metal’s) most prolific artists, the short lived doom/sludge cult known as Burning Witch stunned and repulsed with their strange Continue reading →

State of the Art: Mechanism

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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 Washington!

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So I was on vacation last week and, as a result, did not post a State of the Art: Washington showcase article. Well, when looking for Washington bands to cover this week, I was almost overwhelmed with the number of really good bands deserving some attention and have decided to make up for last week by posting two this week. So, let’s go to Tacoma, Washington, just northeast of Olympia, home of Melodic Hard Rock/Metal monsters, Mechanism.

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State of the Art: Elephant Gun Riot

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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 Washington!

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After a week off, I am back with you here at MN. So we are off to Washington this month. Population of 7.062 million spread over 71,300 square miles in the upper, northwest corner of the continental United States. Known for its snow capped mountains of the Cascades and the rainforests of Olympic National Park, tech industry and cultural diversity in music, art and business, Washington definitely deserves a month in the spotlight. For my first SOTA lets head just a little north and all the way east from Washington’s capital of Olympia to Spokane and check out Elephant Gun Riot…

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