Metal Riot

Taking a break from reflecting on how “New Inside” by Tiffany was slept on to get you all clued in to some new music from Chicago 5 piece Starkill. Well, it is actually not their own new music, rather a Foo Fighters cover. “The Pretender” as symphonic metal? Could it work? Should it work? Decide for yourself below!

Parker and Sarah have a cool trade off on this and make it their own. Parker actually sounds a lot like Dave in some spots. The chorus is not as gritty but overall the approach is kind of a blast. I am into it.

“The Pretender” was def one of the songs that showed the Foos could still have some bark when it came out. Kinda cool to hear a radically different band take a crack at it. Such is the power of music that it can bridge genres, right?

When asked about the inspiration behind covering “The Pretender” track Parker Jameson shares,“Foo Fighters have long been one of our favorite groups of all time, and we’ve long considered doing a cover or interpretation of one of their tracks. “The Pretender” is one of those instantly recognizable rock anthems, and we decided to bring together various aspects from both the original and other versions we had heard to form a cohesive, more metal-centric cover. We’ve always been a band to straddle, combine, and question subgenre stereotypes and what is or isn’t “allowed” in metal, so we thought the idea of combining rock, shred, orchestration, and crazy drums made perfect sense for us. To me, the song is about standing your ground and staying true to who you are. We got this idea together of mimicking the original Pretender video, but replacing the riot police with metalheads of all sorts, showcasing that no matter what your preferred subgenre is, music brings people together.” 

Wow. I have loved The Atlas Moth since their first record, for sure one of the coolest and more inventive bands of the past decade’s recent wave of American experimental metal. It has been awesome getting to befriend Stavros and see his band’s star rise. Hearing Coma Noir today over at Revolver HERE is a huge thrill. The title track has moments that are so heavy I was like,” Is this Atlas The Gates?”, but the dudes haven’t gone straight melodeth something. There is still a ton of atmospheric melodic brilliance to the dark churning guitars and a sense of anarchic psychic agony and searching that always appealed to me about their shit.

Make no mistake though, a lot of this is the most rocking and heavy shit they have done to date. “Furious Gold” is desperate and feral but the playing is assured even as it hungers for blood. I think this one is gonna break them a lot bigger! The dudes knocked it out of the park for their Prosthetic debut and Sanford Parker fucking killed it on the production. Eberythng sounds insane and crisp but also dirty and unique. Tones to drool over galore (the end of “Last Transmission From The Late, Great Planet Earth” is as exciting as any melodic soaring moment from pre-super Alex Jones douchebag era Billy Corgan Pumpkins) and just a lot of awesome stuff to drift your mind outward 2. This is a total banger.

I wish I wasn’t writing this but Trap Them, miles better than the vast majority of bands in the extreme punk and metal genre, are calling it a day. If you never had a chance to see ’em live you should try to get into one of these shows come Hell or high water. Trust me, they are one of the sickest live bands I ever saw, or I didn’t just wake up from a weird dream where there was a Gene Simmons Demon wrestler (I did and, incidentally, turns out there WAS once. What does it all mean?). Check out the handful of show dates, pick up their last slab Crown Feral or an older one if you haven’t – I just grabbed Seance Prime – and let’s send them off with a great big thank you for the killer memories and music.

November 10 NYC @ Saint Vitus:

https://www.facebook.com/events/1754000631563775

November 11 Montreal @ Turbo Haus:

event info coming soon

November 12 Boston @ Sonia:

https://www.facebook.com/events/472387189802825

Marty Friedman is always one of the coolest shredders going, just a next level player who is not afraid to take leaps of faith. Now Marty returns in August with his latest release Wall Of Sound, continuing his inspired team up with Prosthetic Records. Some kick ass collabs on this one again as Black Veil Brides, Shining and Deafheaven members have cameos. And of course it is chock full of Marty.

Info BELOW.

One of the best shows I have seen in awhile made it worth it to trek out on a kind of gloomy Thursday night to the Hudson Valley, NY’s best indie concert venue BSP Kingston (I also am partial to Bearsville and The Chance for mostly other genres). There was a solid, if infrequent, metal booking of three bands who I really enjoy, Kingston’s own sludgy grimers Clover, expansive Boston space trio InAeona and the proggy mathic doom of Junius.

Of the three, I had been a fan of all of them for awhile (especially InAeona who are in my top ten fave bands in the world right now), but I’d only had the fortune of raging to Clover before. I was a bit fried from a long concert the night before in Albany, but am so glad I soldiered out to this smaller town show.

More BELOW.

An inspired East Cost short run pairing between the melodic and yet massive styles of Junius and InAeona is just what the doctor ordered to start Spring with a kick to the crotch. Junius are supporting an excellent new record Eternal Rituals for the Accretion of Light and InAeona are between releases but keeping the juices flowing as they contemplate what new material will follow the brilliant catharsis of Force Rise The Sun (which was on our 2015 top 5 year end list, fyi). My friend Michael Guthaus’s driving and chaotic band Clover open the Kingston show.

04/17 Boston, MA – Great Scott
04/18 Baltimore, MD – Metro Gallery
04/19 Philadelphia, PA – Kung Fu Necktie
04/20 Kingston, NY – BSP Kingston
04/21 Pittsburgh, PA – Black Forge Coffee House
04/22 Brooklyn, NY – Saint Vitus Bar

Today, Swiss avant-garde extreme metal titans SCHAMMASCH proudly unveil the first track from their highly anticipated new album, Triangle, which is set for worldwide release on April 29 via Prosthetic Records.

Triangle marks the band’s third album and encompasses 100 minutes in its entirety, with three distinct 33-minute movements differing in atmosphere and style and each representing the three stages of the album’s strong concept – Part I: The Process Of Dying, Part II: Metaflesh and Part III: The Supernal Clear Light Of The Void. This very unique concept is visually presented by a series of four photographs presented as a bold triple-gatefold, limited-edition 3LP set and a 3CD set with imagery realised by acclaimed photographer Ester Segarra (Watain, Behemoth) and graphic designer Valnoir (Alcest, The Black Dahlia Murder). Rarely is such a grand musical and aestethic feat accomplished within the bounds of extreme metal.

“Consensus,” the first track to see the light of day from their forthcoming epic, can be seen streaming below.