Metal Riot

Photo by Jeremy Saffer

Shattered Sun became a thrash band we loved after vocalist Marcos Leal sold us on his passion for thrashin’ during an interview with Metal Riot a few years ago. We knew we had to keep an eye on this bunch. Now after a lot of growth and touring the band are back with The Evolution of Anger next month (Pre Order HERE).

Marcos stops by again today to participate in our new formative years column with five records that changed his own life, as surely as his own band has made a difference for someone from a new generation. Check out his picks and Shattered Sun’s new video for “Burn It Down” BELOW!

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Photo by Ester Segarra

“I enjoy writing songs so much that even my shitty songs are meaningful and important to me.” – Trevor Church

I was going to go jogging today but actually ate so many chickpeas trying to re submerge into healthier dieting that I feel like I may puke. That could also be because I had a bunch of Prosecco with the chickpeas but anyway, to make a long story short I am instead lying in bed guilt listening to the first Carnivore record (remastered and expanded soon for a Metalville re-issue, incidentally).

Anyhow, a few weeks ago I was eternally cucked when I had to miss Beastmaker, Geezer and friggin’ Black Sabbath at Gramercy at the last minute. All I can do is wallow beneath the dripping head of a vaguely familiar looking demagogue that Kathy Griffin was waving around yesterday and pray that if I lap up some of the droplets of falling gore that my metal points will rise again like a health meter in some early 90’s side scrolling fighting game. But wait, the Gods of metal have intervened and today brings a chance to redeem myself by sharing with you the good news of Beastmaker’s crushing new opus Inside The Skull ! 

Songs like “Evil One” and “Now Howls The Beast” not only deliver everything a true metal fan could want in a song, but will also be sure to appease fans of the band’s cool earlier songs.

Read more BELOW.

First, let me start by saying props to Toilet Ov Hell for calling Sweden’s Shining what they have become…‘edge lords’. I’ll give credit there for the inspiration for the title of this article, because it made me laugh. Niklas Kvarforth makes some bad ass music but has always kind of been a black metal poor man’s GG Allin. It’s been done before and that route of “shock” rock antics is, well…kinda tacky and frankly, basic. Dude’s brilliant music is completely cheapened by this shit, like getting clicks by doing obnoxious shit and then saying people are “pussies” if they roll their eyes or that they are like, ‘bound to the norms of a society you despise’ or some black metal shite. Cool story, bro. Grow the fuck up. At least Kvarforth also supports some pretty anti-social rap whereas a lot of black metal people would just be bigots and call the rappers savages while then using basically the same kind of language against women you find in the most sexist rap, for example.

Many years ago in my early twenties I was kicked out of CBGB once very trashed for throwing chairs at the audience and fighting the sound guy on stage after drinking most of a bottle of I don’t even remember what. Some of this was documented in an article in the porn/music mag Screw Magazine, which was amazing…but I was still a jerk. And I am told I was spitting in the face of Josh Eppard, my drummer at the time, for having worked once for a local police benevolent association. Ridiculous shit. Then we got beer bottles thrown at us meant for me that whizzed instead by Josh’s head barely missing him. I can’t blame dude for having quit the band after that. I think I thought I had to be a maniac to compete with the punk legacy of the place but in hindsight, I was a total asshole and could have hurt someone. WTF is so cool about alienating people who might actually support your cause?

More BELOW.

I’d bet cash that many of the people who are appalled that Antifa and Berkeley students wanted to protest Anne Coulter and Milo Nambla-palooza have someone in their family who prob was very up in arms when Marilyn Manson was touring Antichrist Superstar. And yes I know about the Nambla/Antifa story, which certainly is not the rule for every anti fascist. Unless you fucking believe #pizzagate, where every Democrat is a pedophile if they ordered pizza once. In which case I don’t know what to say other than… God speed. If you need me I’ll be over here trying to figure out the best way to remove my own rib so I can…nevermind.

See which MM songs made our Deep Cuts list out of many to choose from…BELOW.

Swedish doom band Below return with new Metal Blade release Upon A Pale Horse, an album that will land on you like ton of bricks yet carry you to heights of feeling usually reserved for metal classics at the same time. A more traditional heavy metal influence courses through the veins of this doom outfit than, say, death-doom or the currently all the rage alternative melodic metal/doom of Pallbearer (for example), but it is certainly as powerful in a different way.

In many ways it is terrific to hear a band who carry on and bolster the durability of classic time-honored metal forms, while finding endemic roads of their own amidst well tread riff lands. Below are one of the best bands Metal Blade has in their stable for fans of true metal, certainly no flavor of the week signing like some labels toss out these days to appeal to trends. This is just a cool and real group for die hard metal followers.

Zeb from Below took time out to fill me in on the new album, uh, BELOW.

In the microcosm of friends that I live in there are many women coming together to support and exalt one another in the arts. This is a marked shift from what you see in pop culture which is women competing with one another, exploiting their selves and each other for success, and approval from our patriarchal culture. – Sera Timms

Ides Of Gemini are one of the more deserving bands in the underground, always searching for both revelatory experiences and the breaking of new ground within their art. While the band have benefited from strong support from major players within the scene, from early support from Neurot to a tour with Ghost to finding a new coveted home with Rise Above Records, the band have also faced their share of setbacks that have forced their momentum to sort of develop via ebb, flow and word of mouth despite their hard work. Original drummer Kelly Johnston-Gibson incurred a career-threatening injury while on tour in the US in 2015, causing founding members J. Bennett and vocalist (and then-bassist) Sera Timms to reassess their next move. After enlisting Scott Batiste of Saviours as a stand-in drummer for a short West Coast tour, things clicked and Scott soon became a permanent member. The band then expanded to a quartet for the first time, as Sera relinquished her bass-playing duties to newcomer Adam Murray.

The band have never shied away from making their own path and now return with an album called Women, a simple celebration and study of the sacred feminine perfect for these times when the President sexualizes his own daughter while cutting off all funding to UN Family planning or when just the other day one of the premiere and most dedicated writers in metal – who happens to be female – was attacked deplorably by a site for having a disability . It is great to see some bold art from a band that is far more respectful and also features a woman in a primary – not token/ fashion appendage – role. Sera’s drifting vocals on the hook of new song “Mother Kiev” are positively consuming yet far from predictable, while many still gush about the band’s bold recent take on “Strange Fruit” as a doom dirge. You can hear a mid tempo new track “The Rose” now at Cvlt Nation.

Women is produced by the talented Sanford Parker and features guest appearances from Tara Connelly of Clay Rendering (on Queen Of New Orleans) and Marriages and solo singer-songwriter Emma Ruth Rundle (on She Has A Secret), a personal favorite of mine. Nicola Samori’s cover art looks like something out of a museum, delicate and yet strong and romantic despite being interpretively marred by a partial smear. But perhaps that is up to the viewer or listener to decipher if the art or songs indicate damage, obscurity or survival.

Read my latest interview with the band, this time with vocalist Sera Timms, below.

Death metal fans are raving about the new self-titled Obituary release for excellent reason. From the hysterical video for “Ten Thousand Ways To Die” that picks up where their Inked In Blood “Violence” clip left off and is bound to get a chuckle out of almost anybody, to more rock solid songwriting that builds on one of the most impeccable musical legacies in death metal, Obituary are both writing for themselves and pleasing die hard fans at the same time. The results will have fans crashing down doors like the zombie hordes the Florida greats seem to fear most.

Next year will mark thirty years since the group changed their name from Xecutioner and made metal heavier forever. It seemed about time for a self-titled album under those circumstances, but I spoke with one of the founders, Trevor Peres, to get to the bottom of it all.

More below.