California Christian deathcore veterans, Impending Doom announce brand new single, “The Wretched and Godless” along with official lyric video. The new track is off the band’s upcoming sixth full-length studio album entitled ‘The Sin and Doom Vol. II,’ set for release on June 22nd, 2018, via Entertainment One. It can be pre-ordered here. Continue reading
Originally formed in 1995 as an underground act in Northern California, Will Haven has taken their distinct brand of extreme music to the masses over the years on tours with huge names such as Slipknot, and fellow Sacramento representors, Deftones. Chino Moreno even co-produced Will Haven’s 2007 release, ‘The Hierophant’ along with Far’s Shaun Lopez. The band would later work with Slipknot’s percussionist, Chris “#3” Fehn who would take over bass duties on 2011’s ‘Voir Dire’ which was listed among Metal Hammer’s “Top 50 Albums of the Year.” The current lineup now consists of founding members, Grady Avenell (vocals) and Jeff Irwin (guitar); along with Mitch Wheeler (drums), Anthony Paganelli (guitar), and Adrien Contreras (bass). ‘Muerte’, the band’s first album to be released under the Minus Head Records label, was recorded secretly at Pus Cavern studios in Sacramento with the help of Joe Johnston engineering and co-producing; along with guitarist, Jeff Irwin. Mastering was handled by Logan Mader (Devil You Know, Fear Factory, Periphery). Special guest appearances include Yob’s Mike Scheidt on the song “No Escape,” and Deftones’ Stephen Carpenter who contributes writing and performance on closing track, “El Sol.” Continue reading
Just announced – The Monster Energy Aftershock Festival 2018 will be held Saturday, October 13th and Sunday, October 14th. The complete 2018 lineup is scheduled to be announced on April 9th, 2018, however, there is a strong indication that System of a Down will be amongst this year’s surprise headliners, due to the placement of a sound clip of their track, “Prison Song” in the teaser video seen below. Continue reading
Photo by Matt Hall
After honing their chops in other touring bands, the members of ATALA came together in 2013 when frontman Kyle Stratton, who owns two tattoo shops in their hometown, met up with drummer Jeff Tedtaotao, the brother of one of his shop’s tattoo artists. After joining up with their first bassist, the band quickly linked up with producer Scott Reeder (Kyuss, The Obsessed), and released their self-titled first full-length in 2014. In 2016, the band followed up with the release of their well-received sophomore album, ‘Shaman’s Path of the Serpent’, this time with current producer Billy Anderson (Sleep, Melvins, Mastodon) at the helm. After the departure of their previous bassist, current bassist and fellow tattoo artist Dave Horn joined the ranks. Now signed to Salt of the Earth Records, ATALA seeks to reach new heights and expand their horizons with the 2018 release of ‘Labyrinth of Ashmedai’, their most charging and conceptualized offering yet. ATALA have truly found their path, and their groove, with ‘Labyrinth of Ashmedai’. We recently conducted an interview with the band as well which you can read here. Continue reading
Riverdogs are back! Despite a heap of support from fans and critics, the band’s 1990 debut album ‘Riverdogs’ received an underwhelmed reception from their record label, which eventually forced each member to pursue different interests. However, the group reunited in 1993 to release follow-up albums ‘Absolutely Live’ and ‘Bone’. The guys continued working together and recording, however the songs wouldn’t be heard until 2011 with the release of ‘World Gone Mad’, courtesy of MelodicRock Records, which contains various recording sessions from 2003 to 2010. Since then, Riverdogs have teamed up with Frontier Records SRL to release the upcoming 2017 album, ‘California’, due out July 7th. Continue reading
OLD BLOOD is multi-dimensional band that incorporates blues, stoner rock, doom and acid rock into one beautiful package. They formed in 2014 in Los Angeles, California. OLD BLOOD quickly signed to DHU Records in Europe after the critically acclaimed release of two demo tracks on Bandcamp and a Youtube video for their song “Glowplug”. OLD BLOOD takes a push into unknown territory in the genre with the addition of crystal clear vocals, keyboards and emphasis on heavy grooves and an extensive live stage show featuring The Rigomortettes beyond the wall of amplifiers. The soaring vocals by Feathers are the perfect pairing to the bands groove and doom elements within their music. OLD BLOOD incorporates various elements into their sound that makes them almost impossible to pigeon hole to one genre. They have been slapped with the label of “Acid Doom” and that is likely the most fitting. OLD BLOOD’s debut album was recorded and mixed by Frankie Siragusa at The Lab Studios in Hollywood, CA and mastered by renowned Los Angeles record mastering engineer Mike Wells at Mike Wells Mastering in North Hollywood, CA. The debut released on August 27, 2016. Continue reading
This week in metal, highly praised thrash band Warbringer released their fifth full length album, ‘Woe to the Vanquished’. This was the quintet’s first release not on Century Media Records, instead they partnered with Napalm Records. This record debuts two new members (Jessie Sanchez on bass and Chase Becker on guitar) and it is the first Warbringer album without founding member John Laux. The 8 tracks leave no room for filler and kick your ass throughout the duration. You can buy ‘Woe to the Vanquished’ here. Continue reading
Orange County, California rockers Them Evils have released their official video for the song “Untold” which appears on their EP Them Evils released earlier this year. We were first acquainted with the band in October when saw them dominate the stage twice in one weekend. They were the sole act for the Louder Than Life Pre-Party in Louisville, Kentucky, and also the opening act on Sunday for the festival. Some of the footage included in the video is from their time spent at the festival both on and off the stage. Inspired by equal parts of rock giants like Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, and Queens Of The Stone Age, among others, guitarist/vocalist Jordan Griffin, bassist Jake Massanari and drummer David Delaney pay tribute to their roots with every crushing note. Though you can hear their influences in their music they still have a truly unique sound. Them Evils is high energy rock n roll from the US of A. The video version of “Untold” is a remix done by Kato Khandwala (Blondie, Paramore, My Chemical Romance, The Pretty Reckless). The video was done by Ryan Ewing. Continue reading
Recently I was able to hear two of the new songs from the forth coming Long Beach Vagrant album “Death Be Thy Name” that released this week. Immediately I was impressed and was fortunate enough to get in touch with one of the members of the band. Drummer John Aragonez took the time to speak with me about everything going on with the band and what the future may hold for the California based metallers. (There was a technical problem when we were speaking on the phone the call was supposed to be recorded so I could later write the information out, Due to the error I’m not able to quote everything exactly, so the following is in my own words). As some of you may or may not know Long Beach Vagrant (formerly Vagrant) has been around since the 90’s and has opened for some amazing acts in their long tenure. John spent some time in the band about 5-6 years ago. He was living in the high desert and the distance from the other members in the band made it difficult for him to commit to the band. However, now he is fully invested in the band and brings a great amount of experience to the band. He has an amazing drumming style which you can hear on each song. Some drummers that he looks up to are Joey Jordison formerly of Slipknot and All That Remains drummer Jason Costa. The one original member of the band is Mike Pain, who is greatly influenced by horror movies. He also is a renowned artist and because of that the band has a lot of horror related lyrics. They have spent time touring with other horror based bands. We also mentioned that a lot of horror based bands perform at horror conventions around the country as well. It really helps define their audience and fan base since they have horror based lyrics. Instead of trying to garner the attention of a broad audience they can narrow down the field to people that are already passionate about the subject matter. The band also has two new members in Randy Blount on vocals and Rob Gresham on bass. John mentions that these two guys have really brought some new life into the new band, and the fact that they are younger has brought some new influences into the band as well.
