Tag Archives: Metal

Inkcarceration Festival Announces Tattoo Artists & Searching For Up & Coming Bands!

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Metal and tattoos, it’s a perfect marriage isn’t it? This July Inkcarceration Music and Tattoo Festival will bring to you the ultimate summer holiday getaway. It is a a one-of-a-kind destination event that presents to you heavy and hard rock music from over 30+ plus bands on two stages, with some big names from the industry, such as the likes of RISE AGAINST, A DAY TO REMEMBER, BUSH, BLACK LABEL SOCIETY, CLUTCH and many more. It’s a star studded line-up. Adding more to the festival’s appeal, it will also host a tattoo festival inside of one of the country’s most infamous prisons, plus so much more. Continue reading →

GUS G. Says OZZY Wanted To Perform ‘Blizzard’ And ‘Diary’ In Their Entirety [Audio Interview]

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Greek guitar virtuoso Gus G. has established himself as one of the premier guitar gods on the planet.  Gus is best known for his time as the much coveted axe-slinger for Ozzy Osbourne  along with power metal powerhouse Firewind.  On April 20th Gus G. will release his second solo effort titled ‘Fearless’ through AFM Records.  Gus took the time to sit and talk with me about everything ranging from his upcoming solo album, his biggest influences, his time with Ozzy and everything in between.  Interesting to note that Gus stated  Ozzy wanted to play both ‘Blizzard Of Ozz’ and ‘Diary Of A Madman’ in their entirety and back to back for the last 4 or 5 nights of the ‘Scream’ in 2011.   This interview is a must listen for any Ozzy fan.  Hear the entire conversation below. You can pre-order the album here 

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The Bucket List with MEKA NISM

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* For the Metal Nexus’ Bucket List series, we pose the age-old question to some of your favorite artists: “Before you die, which band(s) would you want to see play live that you haven’t seen before, and why do they mean so much to you?” *

This week, we focus on Orlando, Florida’s art metal mavens, Meka Nism. The quintet consisting of Meka (vocals), Bobby Keller (lead guitar), Jarret Robinson (bass), Christopher Lane (drums), and Jay Adkisson (keys) have made quite a name for themselves in the metal world through their uniquely eclectic, genre-melding sound. Influences swirling throughout their music include everything from opera, to rock, to nu-metal, to black metal, and beyond. It’s no wonder that we see such a wide array of musical styles pop up on each band member’s bucket list. Continue reading →

An Interview with BALLPEIN

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A scene that frequently gets shoved to the wayside by the heavy-metal community is the massively influential, thriving and certainly one-of-a-kind brand of underground music that was both a worldwide phenomenon commonly known as “Hardcore punk”, and more specifically in this context a significant subculture that had begun to emerge in the wake of Thatcher-era Britain, – indeed, “Hardcore punk” has now become a very generalised term yet it barely scratches the surface of what the community did for so many young people in an era of increasing economic crisis, political unrest and social inequality. This was a chance for young people’s voice to get heard amidst all of the unravelling chaos – yet it wasn’t always easy. Continue reading →

Album Review: GUS G. – ‘Fearless’ [Official Video]

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Greek guitar virtuoso GUS G may be best known for his tenure as Ozzy Osbourne’s lead guitarist, but Gus has now forged his own path with his newest solo venture titled ‘ Fearless’! Available April 20th from AFM Records.  ‘Fearless’ is an out of the box, extremely varied album with everything from amazing straight up rockers, to shred-fest instrumentals and everything in between.

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Elijah Witt (CANE HILL) “Nickelback Is A Hit Machine”

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Cane Hill formed in 2011 in New Orleans. They took their time finding their sound and released their self titled debut in 2015, then released their first full length in 2016 titled ‘Smile’. This is the album that truly got fans to open their eyes. The band doesn’t just impress in the studio either. We had the opportunity to see Cane Hill at 2017’s Chicago Open Air and their performance was one of the most dominating of the weekend, which is saying a lot considering the lineup was packed with heavy metal icons like Slayer, Behemoth, Lamb Of God and Body Count. The band has announce they were releasing a new album titled ‘Too Far Gone’ in 2018. Everyone was excited for the album, but when it dropped they quickly brought on a fire storm of new bands. ‘Too Far Gone’ has been one of the most talked about albums this year. Elijah Witt stated about the album “A lot of these songs reference a time in our lives when we were really headstrong about what we were doing as far as drugs were concerned and believing we were invincible. It took this shift as we realized we were losing ourselves. I think it’s lucky we recognized that before it became a problem. We definitely went a little bit past our limit, and we’re coming to terms with those mistakes. We went too far gone with everything. The title encapsulates the entire era.” They are the fresh meat in the nu-metal genre and they are proving that newer bands can crank out material that can compete with the elder nu-metal that are still relevant today like Korn, Limp Bizkit, Slipknot and Papa Roach. ‘Too Far Gone’ will likely be one of the best albums of the year for most people. The genre has only had a handful of bands still keeping the sound of the late 90’s and early 2000’s alive, but that has changed with Cane Hill turning heads and proving they can unleash an album that makes those veteran acts realize there is new competition in their genre.  Continue reading →

CHROMATIC POINT Pushes The Boundary Of Prog With New Music Video, “Clockwork”!

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Macedonia? Anyone? Betcha didn’t know any bands from the land of the great Alexander from Macedon! Alright let me do the honours of shedding some light on you in introducing one of the most creative and intriguing bands from Europe. Headbangers! introducing the ever so vibrant, and one of my all time favourites, ethno progressive(yeah, this too!) band CHROMATIC POINT, from the Balkan land of Macedonia(FYROM). “Chromatic” as they sound both musically and visually, the band incorporates every sense of the word and just goes on to show the frantic and seemingly chaotic nature of it’s sonic virtuosity. Just like the rapidly changing “flight of the bumblebee”. See what I did there? Yup, that was your daily dose of classical music puns!

All right let’s stop beating around the bush and get to the point. So, this Balkan progressive powerhouse has just unleashed their brand new music video, “Clockwork” today, which the band says has been taken off their “next studio material“. Let’s get dissecting the new chops!

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MEKA NISM Release “The War Inside” Video From Upcoming EP [Video Stream]

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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 →

SIKTH And EXIST IMMORTAL At ‘NME Best Small Venue’ The Forum, UK [Review + Photo Gallery]

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Just before embarking on their mini EU tour including debut shows across Germany and the Netherlands Complexity Festival alongside Carnifex, The Faceless and others, djent pioneers SikTh treated UK fans to two intimate performances with Londons Exist Immortal. Firstly at Sub 89 in Reading, and secondly to my local venue and ‘NME Best Small Venue 2012’ The Forum in Tunbridge Wells. This gig marks one of many celebrating to small 250 capacity venues’ 25th anniversary celebrations, which has a reputation of giving a stage to bands before they made it big. SikTh are locally held in very high regard where they are practically legends and it was a pleasure to have them back here once again. UK alternative hardcore act Cove were announced as openers but unfortunately had to reschedule to the following Sunday – a shame for those attending as Cove perform with such an explosive veracity that they would have put on one hell of an opening performance! Despite this slight alteration to the evening, together SikTh and Exist Immortal both delivered equally passionate and energetic performances, where their two distinctive styles accentuated one another with their mix of djent and melodic verses. Continue reading →

State Of The Art: TORO [EP Stream + Official Video]

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*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. 

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