Agonal Breathing either is or will soon be one of your favorite slam bands, with their album ‘Bloodthirsty Mutilation’ announced and read to spawn somewhere this year and the nasty ‘Pure Agony’ already being part of my daily routine they really are the State Of The Art of the state Kansas!
*This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured state. This month’s state is Kansas.*
Black metal and a history lesson? Get your pencil and paper out, Marsh of Swans are about to school you in downtrodden riffage and local history. The black metal duo call Lawrence, Kansas home. They go by CJ and BC, sharing the writing and production duties. BC is the voice that is heard on the tracks and CJ does the drum work, however. 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
*This is part of our monthly State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured state. This month’s state is Hawaii.*
Ever wonder what the soundtrack of mutilation might sound like? Pretty sure it’s Gorgos. Hailing from a beautiful place like Honolulu, Hawaii, yet they have no shortage of brutality. It’s death metal, it’s slam, a little bit of grind thrown in the mixer. What churns out is blood soaked and meaty riffs. This is carnivorous music. 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 Missouri.*
Sorry, Scout describe themselves as an “Indie rock/pop punk/ Americana” hybrid out of St. Louis that write songs about “love, gentrification, police brutality, bigotry and survival in an increasingly oppressive reality.”
The band is made up of Randi Whitaker (vocals), Nate Jones (guitar), David Anson (bass) and Zack Schultz (drums). They are fresh, melodic, powerful and driven. They hammer home their ideas about society with the charm of a well versed poet, armed with a supreme sense of purpose. Their one release to dste is the anthemic artistically authentic EP ‘Never Asked For It’, which was issued in August 2018. Continue reading
Hungry and visceral with a hint of southern edge. SavageLand is a beautiful sip of aged bourbon, followed by a punch in the face. Hailing from Kansas City, Missouri they sound more like they are straight from the heart of New Orleans. The band was formed in 2016 and has since released one six song, self-titled EP, with tremendously impressive production value.
Picture groove riffs with guttural stoner vocals. Fans of Crowbar and Corrosion of Conformity meet fans of Baroness and also meet a calloused hard working slide guitar player by a campfire. The EP opens with said slide guitar, and a Mastodon quality riffs. SavageLand crafts these pseudo-stoner anthems with such ease. Down and Pantera influences, too, leak into the blueprints of their songwriting. “Animal Kingdom” has a wiry riff strung through the verses, swelling behind the chorus. The kind of jams to smoke a joint and enjoy a beer to. It’s aggressive but not disruptive.
SavageLand teased the early stages of new material mid 2018, after stating in 2017 they are inactive. Fingers crossed that 2019 will be the year the band gets in gear and releases some new music because this stuff is really something.
Barking vocals, chugging bass and anger. Waterloo, Iowa natives, Bleedchain find balance between new school death metal, old school groove and partying. Keeping the band on tempo, Joe Bartruff on the drums. Scott Carey holds down the low end on bass and vocals. Guitar duo consists of Mike Tucker and Michael Tucker and Lucus Johnston fronts the band.
The band has been around for a little over a decade and have released one demo and two full lengths: 2010’s “Rise of the Goddess” and “Martyrs Throne” from 2016. Bleedchain are hard hitting, fast paced and unforgiving. Experimenting with layered vocals and excessive shredding on top of some NOLA influences, check out the songs, “Viliscas Axe” and “Pile Hammer” Influences from Pantera and DevilDriver are present. Anyone seeking chugging riffs and chugging beer, Bleedchain is the here.
Bleedchain are often playing local gigs in Iowa which can be found on their Facebook page. Listen to their music on ReverbNation.
In this installment of State Of The Art over here at Metal Nexus, we’re gonna be analyzing some of the top underground Metal acts from the great state of Iowa! Famous for having some of the most vast farmland in the USA, and the home of some household Metal names like Slipknot and Stone Sour, what seems to be a very rural part of our country is also home to a very strong and sturdy underground Metal scene. This month we will be giving you all a look at Green Death, an up and coming thrash outfit from Des Moines.
Providing us with music from EMP Label Group, Dan by Dave Ellefson, these young guys have already shared the stage with the likes of Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals, Trivium, Suicidal Tendencies, and many many more. Having charted across Amazon and iTunes, there’s no surprise as to why this outfit are growing as quickly as they are. The quartet consists of guitarist Mark Reinking, vocalist Sol Bales, drummer Ryan Berrier, and bassist Parker Willis.
My Memory Remains
*This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured state. This month’s state is Wisconsin.*
My Memory Remains formed in June of 2015. The band consists of Nicole Steinmetz on vocals, Aaron Aull and Justin Perry on guitar, Kyle Miller pn drums and CJ Schmidt on bass.
They are based in Eau Claire, WI and have appeared on the same bill as killer bands such as The Devil Wears Prada, All That Remains and Otep.
From their biography, the band “write music in a way that everyone can relate to and can feel a connection with.” They are a hard rock band with Metal leanings and a singer with an incredible voice and range.
*This is part of our State Of The Art series, showcasing bands every Monday from the featured state. This month’s state is Wisconsin.*
Absolutely everything about Knaaves sounds so incredibly pissed off you can’t help but call out, “GET THE FUCK UP” in your car alone while enjoying their 2018 EP, ‘January’, that was released in February. Knaaves is a four-piece modern beatdown hardcore unit from Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Andy Parmann fronts the group with venomous vocals. The rhythm section consists of Jamie Kerwin on guitar and Amanda Daniels on bass. Rounding out the bunch on drums is Antonio Ninham. The band formed in 2016, coming together from various local projects such as Amora Savant, Die Alone and Enabler. Continue reading
