Louder Than Life Spotlight: THROUGH FIRE

*Every Tuesday and Thursday from now until Louder Than Life gets here we will be releasing an article about a band playing the festival to get you familiar with them.*

Today’s artist is Through Fire.

On Saturday, September 30th, Nebraska hard rockers Through Fire will be hitting the stage at the 4th annual Louder Than Life. The band came to be just last year after the band Emphatic decided to change their name. If you’ve been listening to rock radio for the last few years, Emphatic might sound familiar. They had hits like “Put Down The Drink” and “Remember Me” that received a lot of air time. I don’t think they play any material from those days as they already have their full debut record out as Through Fire. ‘Breathe’ dropped last year and charted very well in the US for a debut rock artist’s release. Their song “Stronger” played a large part in this. It stayed atop Sirius XM Octane’s “Big Uns” list for many weeks. This will be the band’s second Danny Wimmer Presents festival. They opened up the inaugural Chicago Open Air festival last year right as their record was released. Continue reading

Chicago Open Air 2017 Day Three: Ozzy Osbourne, Slayer, Lamb of God, Amon Amarth, Behemoth, & More

We have finally arrived to the last day of Chicago Open Air. Sunday was the reason many of us made the trip for this huge three day weekend. By the time it rolled around, some fans were calling it “Death Day”.  You could definitely understand where they were coming from. There were several heavy hitters taking the stages today including Ozzy and Zakk Wylde, Slayer, Lamb of God, Amon Amarth, DevilDriver, Behemoth, and more. Lots of running back and forth would lead to a very tiring day. Luckily, it ended up being the coolest day of the weekend, which made it a bit more bearable. Continue reading to see our review on the most electric day of the festival. Continue reading

MOTÖRHEAD Plan To Release “Under Cöver” Album This September

MOTÖRHEAD had a special knack for covering songs of their favourite artists and giving it a pure rock and roll and classic heavy metal touch to it. Every album had one song or the other which Lemmy and co. liked to morph it to their own taste and it would undoubtedly make an excellent rendition of the original song. Hell, sometimes even better than the original. Be it the legendary British punk rock SEX PISTOL‘s God Save The Queen‘ or The Rolling Stones Sympathy For The Devil‘ or even ‘Whiplash‘ by METALLICA, the band who themselves cite MOTÖRHEAD as their probably biggest inspiration to whatever they’re doing today. MOTÖRHEAD have never failed to take us by storm with their good old fashioned rock and roll twist of their covers.

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State Of The Art : AMERICAN STANDARDS

*This is a part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured State*

This month’s state is Arizona!

 

When we found out what state would be featured for our weekly series of STATE OF THE ART, I automatically knew who I wanted to introduce to the world, the fantastic guys in American Standards. American Standards is a chaotic hardcore band that you probably do not know and will kick yourself for not knowing them before today. But don’t be saddend by this, even I was late to the party, not discovering them until sometime in late 2016 when meeting their vocalist Brandon Kellum through the Facebook fan group for Dillinger Escape Plan, The Dillinger CompoundAmerican Standards story is that of separation, loss and the adaptability that allows us to preserver. Formed in Phoenix, AZ in the summer of 2011, the band released their first album ‘Still Life’ through We Are Triumphant, an imprint of Victory Records. Musically, the record walked a fine line between subtle melody and raw chaos providing a platform for vocalist Brandon Kellum’s emotionally and politically charged lyrics. The band quickly became known for their intense live shows and undeniable work ethic playing over 300 shows to date.

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CANNIBAL CORPSE Announces USA Tour With POWER TRIP & GATECREEPER

Get ready to get have a hammered smashed face soon this fall in the months of November and December as the lads from Buffalo, New York, CANNIBAL CORPSE just announced a massive month long tour with young guns, Texas thrashers POWER TRIP whose latest album ‘Nightmare Logic‘ has been out to some widespread positive reviews and new death metallers on the block, GATECREEPER. Also along with the tour dates, the band just revealed the new album will be out this fall. They will be supporting their untitled(as of yet) 14th studio album on this tour. This will be CANNIBAL CORPSE‘s follow up to their 2014’s ‘Skeletal Domain‘, released via Metal Blade Records which charted at an impressive #32 on Billboard’s Top 200 chart (the highest chart position in their storied career!). The band’s new album – which was recorded at MANA Recording Studios with producer/engineer Erik Rutan (CANNIBAL CORPSE, SOILENT GREEN, BELPHEGOR, HATE ETERNAL) – promises to be another aggressive, powerful record in their catalog, that will surely make history once again.

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DRAGONFORCE & ONCE HUMAN Dominated Washington D.C. [Photo Gallery]

Dragonforce

 

On an extremely hot and humid summer Tuesday, The Reaching Into Infinity World Tour by DragonForce, arrived at Washington DC. This show certainly delivered with one of the most intense & intimate shows I had ever witnessed! We had recently reviewed ‘Reaching Into Infinity’, the latest album of DragonForce that hit the shelves during mid May (read review here). This was the first time I had attended a show at Rock & Roll Hotel in Washington DC, and I did not really know what to expect of the venue. Well, I have been to a lot of concerts of big bands, and let me tell you, for the crowd in the front rows, a concert cannot get any more intimate. The tiny stage at the venue means that you can nearly touch the band members with your nose. I had to literally lean backwards with my camera glued to my eye to make sure that my camera does not end up touching the guitars, or worse I get hit by the guitars. Just take a look at the photographs and you will see that even with my wide angle lens, I could barely get the musicians in the frame. These are the kind of shows in which I depend upon the kindness of metalheads attending the concerts to give me 5 minutes in a good spot to get the photographs, and then I move out of the way. It would have been damn near impossible to photograph this event, without the kindness and help of front row crowd. If you were one of the guys who helped me get the photographs, a big shout out to you, thank you for all the help, Metal Nexus & I really appreciate it!

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An Interview With ‘Nu-Metal: Resurgence’ Author Matt Karpe!

Nu Metal: Resurgence revisits the groundbreaking movement of the 90s/early 00s and goes bang up to date with the inclusion of a host of new bands, proving that Nu Metal is indeed here to stay. Passionately compiled by British music journalist Matt Karpe, Nu Metal: Resurgence documents the original movement with over 80 detailed band biographies which include exclusive contributions from members of Coal Chamber, Orgy, Spineshank, Taproot and more, before moving on to ‘The Nu Breed’; shining a light on the likes of Keychain, Frontstreet and Cane Hill, who are intent on bringing Nu Metal back to the masses. Also included is a foreword from Noah “Shark” Robertson (Zombie Shark Records, Motograter), essays on Nu Metal’s collaborations with hip-hop artists and monumental chart success, plus contributions from musicians who perform outside of the Nu Metal scope, yet their love for the movement remains unwavering.

“The last and most prominent book written on Nu Metal was released way back in 2002,” explains Matt, affiliated with UK print magazine Powerplay Rock & Metal. “When the book came out, Linkin Park had only released ‘Hybrid Theory’, Slipknot’s latest record was ‘Iowa’ and Papa Roach only had ‘Infest’; so 15 years on from that, I felt now was the right time to revisit the era and all of the amazing bands, plus open people’s eyes to the new talent that is emerging worldwide, who all share the same Nu Metal ethics and deserve to be noticed. I grew up with and witnessed the whole Nu Metal movement, so writing this book was a no-brainer.”

About the Author:

Matt Karpe is a British music journalist and writer, currently affiliated with print magazine Powerplay Rock & Metal. Over the years he has interviewed members from bands such as Korn, Seether, American Head Charge and Ratt to name just a few, and in 2016- he released his first book We Own the Night, which focused on the underground of the modern Amercian hard rock scene.

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Members Of TYPE O NEGATIVE, DANZIG & AGNOSTIC FRONT Form SILVERTOMB

Massive news for TYPE O NEGATIVE fans coming in as members of the former band, members of DANZIG & a single member of American hardcore metal band AGNOSTIC FRONT gear upto form SILVERTOMB, in what seems to be a massive supergroup. The members poised in this epic move are Kenny Hickey (TYPE O NEGATIVE, SEVENTH VOID) Johnny Kelly (TYPE O NEGATIVE, DANZIG, SEVENTH VOID), Hank Hell (SEVENTH VOID), Aaron Joos (AWAKEN THE SHADOW, EMPYREON) and Joseph James (AGNOSTIC FRONT). 

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Maryland’s TUBEFREEKS Raise The Bar With ‘The Dry Tide’

Maryland hard rockers, Tubefreeks, are at it again with their self-released, third full-length album ‘The Dry Tide’.  The album comes fully stocked with blistering guitar solos, entrancing rhythm riffs, and harmonized vocals which preserve the spirit of the 90’s grunge era that we all love so well.  I was given this album along with others to review, and nothing hit me quite like ‘The Dry Tide’ and at first listen, I was hooked. Continue reading

Album Review: QUIET RIOT ‘Road Rage’ [Tracks Streaming]

QUIET RIOT 2017
Chuck Wright, Fankie Banali, James Durbin, Alex Grossi

You’re never to old to “Bang Your Head”. Here in 2017 QUIET RIOT are still giving fans a reason to keep their heads banging with their newest release “Road Rage”, Available August 4th from FRONTIERS MUSIC. “Road Rage” marks the first release with new front man, and ex American Idol finalist James Durbin. The lineup is Rounded out with long time drummer Frankie “Boom Boom” Banali, long time bassist Chuck Wright and Guitarist Alex Grossi who’s been with the group since 2004. Continue reading