I remember hearing ”While We Sleep” for the first time and thinking to myself ”How can this be so beautiful?”. I had never been into the genre let alone into Insomnium but instantly it touched something I had no clue was even there. Their music has a healing power like no one else and that includes brand new track ”Heart Like A Grave”!
New Jersey’s Toothgrinder have announced their third album ‘I Am.’ The album, produced by Matt Squire (Ariana Grande, Panic! At the Disco, Underoath), drops October 11 via Spinefarm Records. It’s available for pre-order HERE. Continue reading
Welcome back to our ongoing series of LOUDER THAN LIFE 2019 artist profiles, our weekly guide through the lineup of acts who’ll take the stage at Louisville, Kentucky’s Highland Festival Grounds at Kentucky Expo Center September 27-29 in what’s sure to be one of the biggest concert events of the year. This week, we’re taking a closer look at the Austin, Texas based melodic nu metal rockers Fire From The Gods.
Fire From The Gods formed in Austin, TX in 2010 and has really sprung onto the scene in the last year or so. Their album ‘Narrative’ had bangers like “Excuse Me” and “End Transmission” with AJ Channer controlling the flow of the songs with his blend of rap, reggae, and rock vocals to keep you on your toes. Fire From The Gods is likely one of the most energetic and complex bands slated to perform at this years Louder Than Life festival. AJ Channer is actually the band’s second vocalist after he replaced Eric July who is now doing a project called Backwordz. Fire From The Gods has already played several major festivals like Rock on the Range, Carolina Rebellion, Welcome to Rockville and they blessed the stage at the 2017 Louder Than Life as well. They only continue grew in popularity by playing on the Vans Warped Tour a few summers ago. This isn’t just your typical, generic rap or nu metal band. These guys have a message to go with their music that has been needed for a long time. Continue reading
*This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured state. This month’s state is Kansas.*
Originally forming in May of 2010, Existem have emerged as a progressive force in the Kansas City music scene, combining bursts of technicality, subtle progressions, ambient instrumental passages and jazz phrasing to express their unique sound. Existem was formed by Brad Trinkl on guitar, Chris Gochis on guitar/vocals, Ben Chipman on bass/vocals, and Matthew Chipman behind the drum kit. The band released their self titled debut EP on April 21, 2011 that consisted of 4 tracks. The band went on to release their first full length ‘Years Of Winter’ on September 14, 2012. They would follow that up with another EP in February of 2014 titled ‘Phoenix’ and also a single “Closed Eyes” in November the same year. Continue reading
High Rise are a Metalcore band hailing from South West London. Formed in 2014 the band have taken influences from bands like Underoath, The Ghost Inside and A Day to Remember to find and hone their own sound – ambient overtones with hard hitting riffs accompanied by dual vocal harmonies and much more. Following on from the success of their 2015 debut EP ‘Tides Will Take You’, High Rise independently released their second 5-track EP ‘Left It For Everything’, recorded with Dan Kerr at Avenue Studios [Our Hollow Our Home, Shields, Create to Inspire], in July 2016.
After a fantastic 2017 that saw the band play with a whole host of incredible artists including Bad Omens, Our Hollow Our Home, Create to Inspire, Vanity and Faces of Eve, as well as a well received slot on the Vocalzone Stage at Teddy Rocks Festival, and several sold out ‘home town’ shows in Kingston, High Rise are in the process of finishing writing for their new music release, due in 2018.
*This is a part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured state.*
This month’s state is Maryland!
Welcome to the final installment of this months SOTA! I thought I would end this one with an artist that I believe will quite literally blow your mind. This is songwriting at its highest conceivable level, but what is most remarkable, is the fact that it is solely the work of one man! From Baltimore, Maryland, let me welcome the technical/blackened deathcore project Greylotus. January saw the release of the explosive debut EP ‘Savior’ which in my opinion is undoubtedly one of the most exciting releases of this year (up there with the likes of Inferi and Slugdge who have both dropped AOTY contenders) and forms the first part of a total 3 installments. Collectively the 3 EPs will form Greylotus’ debut full-length album, with work already underway on the second installement ‘Dawnfall’. Continue reading
From Ashes to New is a 4-piece rock band from Lancaster, PA. Getting their start in 2013, From Ashes to New has released 2 EP’s. The first was self-titled and released in 2013. Their next EP was titled ‘Downfall’, which released in 2015. In addition to those EP’s From Ashes to New have also released a full length studio album titled ‘Day One’ which hit stores in 2016. The band is now added yet another release to their discography, ‘The Future’ will be out this Friday, April 20th, on Better Noise/Eleven Seven records. Having consistent lineup changes, From Ashes to New started out as a 5-piece band and stayed that way until late 2017/early 2018. The current members of From Ashes to New are: Matt Brandyberry – clean vocals, rap vocals, keyboards, rhythm guitar, and programming, Danny Case – clean vocals, unclean vocals, Lance Dowdle – lead guitar, and Mat Madrio – Drums. In addition to their releases FATN also are credited with creating the theme song for WWE’s 205 Live along with CFO$. Being a fan of the WWE, it’s amazing when you those two worlds collide. FATN has been going building their fan base and anchoring their sound for 5 years now, and we certainly hope they continue on for many more to come. Continue reading
Florida based alternative metallers Meka Nism have just released the official video to the single “The War Inside”, off their forthcoming The War Inside’ EP.
The debut single is a visual representation of the internal struggles that some of us battle with throughout our lives – from anxiety to depression, addiction to insecurity. In the video, the story is one of self-healing, reflected through the spiritual journey of the shaman. Frontwoman Meka portrays both her own lost soul fragments, and her own hero. She faces her fears by confronting them head on in each of her energy centers, portrayed by six butoh dancers (Root Chakra, Sacral Chakra, Solar Plexus, Heart Chakra, Throat Chakra and Third Eye Chakra).
Meka says “We each have the power and courage to face our struggles and to save ourselves from all that we are desperately fighting. The intention behind “The War Inside” is to help inspire and create the energy to empower others to take their own healing journey and know that everything we need to win our war is already inside of us.” Continue reading
*This is a part of our State of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured state.*
This month’s state is Georgia!
Georgia is a state that is rich with music history, not specifically metal but music in general. Some big names that changed music emerged from the Peach State like Ray Charles, R.E.M., The Allman Brothers, Mastodon, and various others. A band that I think will become just as iconic as the bands that came prior to them is Atlanta, Georgia’s Toro. The band is still relatively new as they formed in 2015. The band formed with Zackery M. Hembree – vocals, Adam Mitchell – guitars and vocals, Pablo Davila – guitars, Bruno Segovia – bass and Jason Belisha – drums. They have been getting their name out their in the local scene and playing quite a bit within the city of Atlanta. They have opened for some killer metal bands like Mothership, The Obsessed, Lazer/Wulf, and Double Ferrari.
Photo Credit: Christian Buck
*This is a part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured state.*
This month’s state is Vermont!
Combining elements of doom, death, sludge and black metal the Montpelier, Vermont based band Lightcrusher was formed in 2010. You could say that their lyrical themes tend to be more leaning towards the darker side of things with themes like nature, misanthropy, loss, and isolation. The band is comprised of 5 members including members and ex-members of bands like Chalice, Lord Gallows, The Demon Bell, Sunder, Cruciferion, Limbwalker and others. Some of the members were actually in these bands together, so there was already a chemistry and bond created there that you can hear on the bands material. The members include M. Schrift on vocals, A. Sørensen on guitar and vocals, K. Emmons also on guitar, J. Elwert behind the drum kit and L. Gallows on the bass. The quintet released their first material in the form of a demo in September of 2015. Simply titled ‘Lightcrusher Demo’. The recording included five tracks. Fast forward to December 2016 and the band has now released a brand new EP titled ‘Forests of Unresolve’ which includes 5 blistering tracks of death doom and the bands signature duel vocal style.
