Tag Archives: State of The Art

State of the Art: Idaho – Time 4 Change

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

This month’s State is Idaho!

We move on to a new month and a new year with a brand new State of the Art series, this time covering Idaho. Bordered by Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Washington, Oregon, British Columbia, Canada, Idaho was the 43rd state to join the Union on July 3rd, 1890. While there is no certainty how the name was derived, it is most likely an adaptation of a word from the Shoshone, Plains Apache or Comanche Indians. With a current population of 1.7 million and covering some 84,000 square miles, “The Gem State” is the 39th most populated state and the 14th largest. Of course, everyone thinks potatoes when thinking about Idaho, and with good reason since the state provides a full one third of the country’s total yield each year. Hailing from Idaho’s state capitol of Boise come my first SOTA highlight of the year: Time 4 Change, who currently sit in the fifth spot on regional, ReverbNation charts for Idaho.

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State Of The Art: Tennessee’s DAWN PATROL

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

This month’s State is Tennessee!

Memphis, Tennessee’s DAWN PATROL help make crossover relevant again. Their ability to blend thrash and punk influences makes for amazing output from the band. The power trio is comprised of brothers Tommy Gonzales- Guitar/Vocals, Kyle Gonzales- Drums/Backup Vocals, and rounded out with Spencer Martin on Bass/Backup Vocals. The band lists some of their influences as Dead Kennedys, Exodus, Leftover Crack, and Megadeth. The band has released some independent EPs in the past but they consider ‘Democracy Delivered’ their debut as it’s when the band truly started finding their signature sound. The album was released on July 3, 2015.  Continue reading →

State of the Art: War Within

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

This month’s State is Tennessee!

Last week for our State of the Art: Tennessee. Yet another state that has an extremely active Metal scene that hosts a plethora of talented artists in a countless number of killer bands. Big touring bands like Whitechapel, Skillet, Red, Tora Tora, Straight Line Stitch and Saliva all call Tennessee home as do hundreds, if not thousands bands that are kicking and screaming to promote themselves above the chaff. This is a huge reason that I love this series. Getting a deserving band in the spotlight helps assure that these artists continue playing what we like and continues to set the foundation for the next generation of rockers to pull themselves up with. This week I am proud to introduce you to War Within from Nashville, if you have not already heard of these Tennessee heavies before…

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State of the Art: Tennessee – Noisecult

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

This month’s State is Tennessee!

Nashville, Tennessee’s Noisecult came to fruition in 2004 by guitarist/vocalist Don Carr and vocalist Bo Heyward who had been working together on many musical projects since 1993. Sharing a love for the 1970’s Hard Rock and underground Metal infused with Punk and “classic dark wall of sound pioneered by Black Sabbath”, Carr and Heyward started their dream project after a two year hiatus from working together. One short year later, their first full length album “End of Days” was released and Noisecult played a relentless number of shows to get their creation to the public.

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State of the Art: Inferi

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

This month’s State is Tennessee!

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Week number two for our State of the Art: Tennessee brings something much more harsh than I usually choose. While still melodic, this band definitely falls on the more extreme end of Technical Death Metal in sound, theme and in attitude. Named appropriately after the collective gods of the underworld among ancient Romans, check out Inferi!

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State Of The Art: Tennessee – Man Behind The Curtain

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

This month’s State is Tennessee!

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December takes us to the fine state of Tennessee for our State of the Art Series here at MN. Bordered by Kentucky, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Arkansas and Missouri, Tennessee is the sixteenth state in the United States; admitted June 1, 1796. At 42,143 square miles, the Appalachian Mountains dominate the eastern side of the state while the Mississippi River runs down the western border. Tennessee has the 17th highest population at just over 6.5 million and boasts over 82,000 farms, production of textiles, cotton, and electrical power. Major corporations such as FedEx, Autozone, Pilot, Regal Entertainment and many others have located their headquarters there as well. If not for cold winters, I would live in Tennessee. It is the most beautiful state I have ever been to and holds many, many fond memories dating from high school to my honeymoon and my 25th wedding anniversary. I absolutely love the state! Beautiful, wonderful people and very close to where I grew up. When I learned of the recent wildfires in and around Gatlinburg, I was heart-broken. My thoughts and prayers remain focused on the fine folks affected by this tragedy.  Just northeast of there lies the state capital of Nashville, where my spotlight band this week, Man Behind the Curtain, calls home.

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State Of The Art: Utah – Riksha

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

This month’s State is Utah!

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Last Monday of November signals the end of our State of the Art: Utah series unfortunately. This may have been the easiest state to choose killer bands to cover since being brought on with MN. All varieties of Metal represented, from humorous, to Punk, Progressive Rock, straight Metal all the way to the harshest of the harsh; blasting out from an obviously healthy scene. Must be something in the water. This week, let me offer a band out of Salt Lake City who call themselves Riksha. I call them bad-ass!

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State Of The Art: Utah – Principium

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

This month’s State is Utah!

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Looking for good bands in Utah has been as easy as shooting fish in a barrel. The tough thing this month is not finding a good band, but taking the extra effort to find the right band. Here’s a good one. Crap, moved to another state. Hey, another one. Damn, they broke up. Such goes the search. Then I ran into Disforia. Whoa. Almost too good to be true. Yup. The band is on a semi (maybe) permanent hiatus, the members being usurped by other killer bands throughout the area. This one I will follow more deeply. Too much talent to land in anything less than spectacular. What I found was nothing short of that, because I was lead to Principium (taken from the Latin word meaning “fundamental principle”).

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State of the Art: Tr3ason

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

This month’s State is Utah!

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So we enter into week number two for our State of the Art: Utah series. Man, this Metal scene is replete with really, really good bands! I have run into so many, as a matter of fact, I am putting back a number of them for review later. A month will simply not cover everything that has caught my ear while looking for bands to cover in Utah! Seriously, if you are looking for new music, do a search for “Utah Metal” on Google, ReverbNation, Spotify, Soundcloud, Bandcamp or whatever you use and rest assured you will be rewarded with a plethora of killer bands for any musical palate. My next band is so good that I was hooked from the first song I heard, “I, Machine”. Any band that drops something that hits this hard musically and emotionally cannot be a fluke! I was not disappointed. While “I, Machine” remains my favorite, as well as the band’s, everything is else is great as well. The band is Tr3ason and they are one of Metal’s future shining stars!

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State Of The Art: Utah – Truce In Blood

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

This month’s State is Utah!

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Utah was my pick for this month’s SOTA series. Tons of good Metal available from this western state surrounded by Idaho, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, Arizona and Nevada. Being the 45th state (January 4, 1896), Utah is known for the natural beauty of its deserts, Wasatch mountain range and The Great Salt lakes it also serves as the main hub for the Morman church whose choir is internationally lauded. Utah’s population sits just below 3,000,000 spread over 84,899 square miles, ranking it as the 31st most populated state in the U.S., 80% of whom live in the center of the state, along the Wasatch Front. In addition, Utah is considered to be the best state to live in, based on a 2012 Gallup poll, due to its low income inequality, and a variety of economic, lifestyle and health related metrics. Well, coming from the state capital of Salt Lake City comes my first State of the Art: Utah pick: Truce in Blood.

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