Bleed From Withinhave built upon their humble origins with each release, nowadays a powerhouse of kinetic energy and irresistible groove heavy metalcore that draws as much from NWOAHM as deathcore. Fifth album (!) Fracture is their most cohesive release yet and the metalcore standout release thus far in 2020. It is certainly an album that ought to generate a lot of excitement.
A few weeks ago I sent questions to the Scottish band’s own Steven Jones who shares thoughts about recent global events, the new album and more! Be sure also to join the ambitious group on Facebook this Friday from 7pm BST as they go live, discussing all things Fracture listening to the album, and answering your questions!
Stitched Up Heart are a hard rock/alt metal band who have been absolutely exploding the last few years due to their high energy, melodic power and connection with fans. With numerous top 30 mainstream rock hits, over twenty million worldwide streams and a lot of fresh eyes on them, this band is not only headed places but ALREADY somewhere many acts never reach. New album Darkness explores a dynamic range of emotions while managing to be huge, catchy and electrifying. It is sure to appeal to those enduring angsty growing pains or older rock fans looking to feel new energy.
Singer Mixi took some time out during this crazy and horrible pandemic to talk about the new album with me, her approach and some philosophy as well as getting through this time as a planet, animal fostering and vegetarianism.
All the best to this band and make sure to check out Darkness. They sound better than ever.
Thrash act BONDED released a pulverizing debut Rest In Violence back in January via Century Media that you will want to make sure you get to hear a little of before it burns your skull to cinders. It is actually now a German stamina test to see how much of the record you can withstand before your ears burst into flame, at least in my quarantined imagination. This album will make you feel passionate about the bonds in your life, keep the fire in your step and help give you the will to fight through the clouds in your mind.
Formed by scene veterans Bernd “Bernemann” Kost (Guitar) and Markus “Makka“ Freiwald (Drums) in 2018 after their exit as longtime members of SODOM, musical partners Marc Hauschild (Bass) and Destroy Them / ex Suicidal Angels member Chris Tsitsis (Guitar) were quickly added to the ranks in order to continue working on new own song-material as well as to develop the concept for a new entity, which was finally completed with the addition of Assassin frontman Ingo Bajonczak (Vocals) and consequently named BONDED.
Get to know this amazing project and read our exclusive new interview with Bernemann BELOW!
Dark Fortress social distance by staying 666ft. apart and of course dwelling in dark fortresses.
Dark Fortress have sculpted a new masterpiece of black metal drenched with the blood squeezed from a death metal shroud. Spectres From The Old World is a significant piece of work and surely due a lot of attention from the metal community if there is any justice left on this plague-ridden rock.
The band was just forced to cancel release shows due to Covid-19 in March but we are pleased to publish at last a recent conversation with musical genius Morean (also of Alkaloid and Noneuclid renown) about the new record to help lift some of the sting or perhaps steer people towards this great 2020 Century Media release if they were unaware. (Buy merch HERE)!
MYE. Spectres from the Old World is an intense and powerful album, highly anticipated by fans. I loved the album title. Do you think we are always haunted by the past or sometimes we actually forget it too quickly and repeat tragic things? It is also good to know where things come from, like musical styles. Some older bands like yours and also God Dethroned come to mind as having great new music this year, still fighting for the dark metal legacy!
Morean: As a species, that’s definitely true. Just look around you and what mankind is discussing right now. I remember that at the turn of the century, I felt like the human race might be at the eve of an evolutionary quantum leap. Now, twenty years later, it’s obvious that the monkey part of us that throws feces at the monkeys in the other tree is not actually that far in the past. At the same time, we can transform the Earth into one giant telescope to take pictures of black holes, land probes on comets, genetically engineer organisms and so on. I think our technical evolution is so far ahead of our mental and emotional evolution that it’s still a big question if progress will have the upper hand in the near future, or if we just go to some dystopian Mad Max-like society, only postponing its last degenerate breath. Time will tell, but we’re far from being able to relax about it. The “old world” of this album is something else entirely though; it refers to the universe of the previous album, where the protagonist has transformed into a being of pure light and reincarnates here as the sentient fabric of a newborn cosmos, in great agony. It’s black metal after all.
“Going dark” in theatre speak means a show is closed down whereas it is “lit” when the production is up and running. Some things manage to be both lit and embrace the dark at the same time (Kerli’s recent confident electro-spooky wub wubbing “Where The Dark Things Are” track from the awesome as hell Shadow Works album comes to mind). Tribulation, one of the most darkly theatrical and grandiose yet no nonsense musical bands in any era of metal, certainly also could count as both “lit” and very dark, indeed. You might even call them creatures of the night.
Now Tribulation are unveiling their first official live album, the marvelous new Alive & Dead at Södra Teatern. This is a major moment for this acclaimed band from Sweden who have wowed so many with their deep dives into the inner fears of humanity. Invited by ex-Nirvana 2002 vocalist and curator Orvar Säfström, who served as master of ceremonies, Tribulation’s first-ever Södra Teatern (Southern Theatre) main hall gig was a very special night of black celebration.
Founding member Adam Zaars took the time to speak to me through mists of swirling terror (actually through email) to attempt to illumine what the chemistry, moment and import of this release means to the frighteningly talented band behind it. Read MORE below.
New album alert! The Agonist are back… faster, harder, and darker than ever. Their new album Orphans is a thesis in evolution: After 5 years, 2 albums and countless international gigs (with the current lineup), the band have gelled into a paragon of extreme music. In this spectacularly dark work of art, The Agonist combine the melodic death you know and love with an array of other elements (including groovy prog metal and metalcore) that will keep you guessing all the way to the end. Each component shines: In addition to Danny Marino’s multilayered guitar parts, expect pulsing bass lines, machine-gun drums, harmonic clean vocals, and even vocalist Vicky Psarakis singing in Greek. This album is sure to please longtime fans as well as pull in new ones.
And speaking of Vicky Psarakis, this week we had the opportunity to speak with her about Orphans, The Agonist’s upcoming tour with Jinjer, and more.
Posted by Metal Riot on Thursday, August 22, 2019 at 5:15 PM (PST)
“Whatever you may see. The change resides in me. Fluidly. Any genre any dream sphinges, sibling selves and queens. A rollercoaster for each moment mood or picture frame. Please love me the same.’ from “Observation Deck/Shinges Sibling Selves And Queens”
I identify as multi-gender at this point, after a lot of research and therapy and trans groups and not feeling quite like what other people were discussing wrapped up my experiences similarly in a bow. I know that can be confusing for people. They are like ,”what do you want? It has to be this or that.” Nope. MYE.
This is a lengthy interview conducted in July by Kriegmaster Hatesturm of the great anti fascist agitators Neckbeard Deathcamp, kind enough to inquire into the guest artists, overall album background and the reasons behind prominent multi-gender/non binary themes on my new Walking Bombs album Sphinges, Sibling Selves and Queens. The album is out now via Nefarious Industries HERE.
In my experience the underground music world doesn’t necessarily reward being a good person and lifting people up or whatever, but you should still do it because it’s the right thing to do. -Boone Epstein
Sorry for the light amount of posts this week, metal family. My doggo best pal of 14 years passed away a week ago today. She was basically my fur daughter and I have been a flat out hot mess of sads, so only got up an Angel Witch post this week. Y’all know the new Slipknot is out already so let me assume some of you have already headbanged today and let myself off the hook a little. Regardless, We have a great interview with a rock solid cosmic death metal mutation known as Grogus for you kids to make up for a slow week around here. Because it never hurts to have more metal goodness!
This Minneapolis band of real deal musicians have released a new tape with our friends at Tridroid Records (grab it HERE). Entitled Four Kings, the release is one of the most satisfying excursions into the wonderful weirder side of sludgy experimental death. I love how taken out of a musical context that just sounds like falling into some Gotham lab ooze. Anyhow, let’s check in with Boone Epstein and get the lowdown BELOW.
Mumbai’s Pacifist released one of the absolute banger EPs of the year in the form of the must-hear Greyscale Dreams.How often do you get to hear a hardcore band that actually makes you still want to be a better person these days? People are so cynical that it takes a lot of spirit to cut through the Godforsaken fog of modern malaise. It will take you about fifteen minutes to finish the entire EP and I hope it will move you as much as it made me feel inspired. “Double Down” at the 2 minute mark from a crazed diagonal sounding edgy hardcore riff suddenly melting into a wash of brief almost shoegaze guitar and careful cymbal work paired with poetic, youthful musings is an exhilarating thing to have reach your ears and stir the blood.
I reached out to the band’s contact and they graciously agreed to an interview about hardcore, India, the EP and their influences and goals.
I saw Concrete Dream recently at a show in Poughkeepsie, NY where the New Jersey bred band was faced with the pretty daunting task of warming up a room for veterans Nonpoint and P.O.D., but their blend of crowd rallying alternative metal, rap and metalcore was up to the task. In short order vocalist Jeremiah Mayhem had gotten people to move up to the front of the stage and stop being wallflowers and the group made sure in short order that people would remember their name. That’s the way to not take a limited time stage slot for granted.
Noticing over the few weeks since that the band seem to keep an active social media presence, have a good attitude and care about what they are doing coupled with the fact I was still thinking about the concert, I decided to reach out. Now we have a cool ass interview and you can hear some music you may or may not already know about, homies.
Jeremiah Mayhem stops by Metal Riot today to answer some questions about the up and coming determined hard rock group. Fittingly as I am writing this into our system to publish the article there is a wild lightning storm starting to rage outside, which seems to compliment the energy of this band.
Mario Quintero of NY’s Spotlights is our latest proud addition to Metal Riot’s interviews. The alternative rock influenced band have been making waves for several releases now, but their newest Ipecac opus Love & Decay is next level phenomenal. This is a big scopealbum with numerous standout tracks (the chill slow burn build of closer “The Beauty Of Forgetting” comes to mind right away), but which can easily consume your full attention all the way through. It sparks a deep dive into your imagination and often feels like it could soundtrack a space exploration video of massive bodies floating in the void. Certainly on the short list of best musical releases of 2019 for me thus far, I know I am going to spend a lot of time with this pensive, personal and powerfully moving album probably for many years. It has that special energy in the performances, vibes, melody and songwriting that makes you circle back to it…and did I mention big ass juicy riffs as well?!
“…the fact that we have these wild parakeets flying around between the palm trees and most normal people don’t even acknowledge them…they are a precious detail that only the wisest of Los Angelinos truly appreciate.” – Actually Huizenga.
Happy Easter weekend, sinners. Or Passover or Pagan Bunny day if that’s what you are doing. Whatever is clever. I’m here to bring you back from the dead in style with a blasphemous article on the most holy musical warrioress of our times, Actually Huizenga. She is a performer, brilliant musician and funny and chill as heck, a multi-faceted director, actress, rager, singer, expert on obscure subjects and also probably will live forever through cult worship ceremonies. She is the force behind Patriarchy(a much better one than “the patriarchy” – you will want to rave about how “Patriarchy” is finally cool).
Yes, cool is a dorky word. But facts are facts. I was scrolling IG one day and saw herPatriarchy page and was like WTF! Some people would maybe think they had stumbled into a Babylonian hellscape but I was like…this is basically utopia!
Now, a little known fact…there is not really a God. Famed-ethnobotanist Terence McKenna was right about the fractal machine elves but something overlooked is that fractal machine elves sometimes tie it on too hard. They also have the big responsibility of determining how much coolness every soul which is born gets pre-birth from their little weird psychic elf factory. One day a particularly handsome elf we will call “Buzz” was kind of asleep on the job and rested his nose too hard on the “coolness lever”. Well, it turns out baby Actually got 30X the concentrated radness usually given to a normal “mortal” and thus is probably going to save or destroy the world. Are we ready for her messages?
All I know is she saved my brain the last few days by offering a much needed alternative to Trump bleating about “No collusion”, a far superior place with chain mail, snakes, decadence and synthy wise-ass glory. I know y’all wanna read about Accursed Spawn and stuff all the time, but sometimes we need to get freakier than that – ok?!
So I wrote to her and the California based artist thankfully agreed to let me interview her. Fuck yeah! She even told me funny stories and humored me while I was telling her about being stuck in a forest and seeing giant hawks that thankfully didn’t eat me alive or this never would have been published. Instead, you have the following conversation to memorize. You should also watch her videos and movies twice as many times as people streamed The Dirt. Jesus says everyone who does gets to go to heaven this weekend for free, no matter what. For real.
In all seriousness though, she is hysterical, beyond talented and really blew my mind when I heard her incredible music. So happy this came together and hope all of you have fun reading it or discovering her world and killer material if you haven’t yet.
“This is very much a standalone release that has its own atmosphere and really works as one long song.” – The Watcher.
UK Black metal/post-rock hybrid FEN are far too good to really simplify with such limiting descriptors. Regardless if you feel the alleged freedom inherent in “black metal” as a concept (which some people think ought to actually be quite restrictive) covers their sound adequately and wether or not you feel the over-used assumption that all “post-rock” is slow tempo Mogwai aping without the innovation is grossly lacking accuracy when it comes to FEN’s moving dynamics and kinetic emotional resonance, there is just no way to capture the power of what the band does in simple short genre tags. They are a mind blowing experience.
When I first heard this band a few years ago I felt like they had the emotional power to connect that the best Agalloch or Ulver material had but with a much more savage side. Also, the music takes an even greater deep dive into the sort of nature respecting weary yet awed exploration of humanity and the wider Universe in a way that, doesn’t sound much like, but connected with me in a primal way as much as a legacy band like Neurosis. They even cover some of the melodic vocal ground you might hear these days in a more progressive leaning band like Enslaved, while still staying a bit more rooted in the black metal sound than that band has become (no shade, love it all). But yeah…to put it simply, FEN are just really fucking sick musicians who also don’t lose “the feel”.
It was an honor to interview The Watcher about the group’s astounding Eisenwald MLP Stone & Sea.
Psychic Hit will redesign your life for a negotiable fee.
Ariana: ‘I had a secret wish to start a band with Andrea when we started dating. We were busy with other bands at the time. She gave me this amazing mix with Captain Beyond, Hightide, Aphrodite’s Child… That’s how I knew she “got me.” Our brain/lovechild, Psychic Hit, was born when we skipped Folsom Street Fair to stay home and roll on molly.‘
The searing classic rock and heavy metal infused sounds on Psychic Hit’s crucial and unfuckwithable demo from last year knocked me on my ass and made me more stoked for anything I’d heard with throwback influences since Amulet or maybe even the glammier Spiders. This is a top notch act that I cannot believe are so potent right out of the gate. I sort of stumbled across them online and had my mind completely blown by their songwriting skills and also an unabashed Heart influence here and there, so fucking cool. I feel like they could blast the door off any venue with the fire of their energy, for real.
Honestly I think this band could be very powerful within the scene if they keep their goals focused, make connections, get a good PR person and gig as much as they can. I don’t include write good songs because I am 100 percent confident anything they do is gonna kick ass. THAT’S how impressed I was by them. I would fucking die to somehow see them live with, like, my beloved Blood Ceremony or Earthless or really any band. Along with some amazing acts like Electric Children or the East Coast’s The Advertisers, Psychic Hit have made me feel really stoked about some of the energy percolating in underground rock in 2019 already! I cannot rave about them enough so please just fuckin’ read the interview I had with most of this amazing group (their first EVER interview) BELOW!
“The fact that oppressive institutions and nations born of colonial hegemony, demonize, profile, police and punish the survivors of ongoing genocide and attempt to dictate where they can and cannot live is morally bankrupt, and yet here we are.” – Misandr
One of the best parts about blogging is I always love the chance to help boost amazing work of all stripes by fascinating, forward thinking people. Be it Spellling’s dope slow come down beats and chill as heck textures plus stunning vocal work on Mazy Fly or the harrowing new cinematic Hether Fortune track “Sister” (which was so powerful live) or the latest ominous yet massive doom-opus from Candlemass , there has been so much good stuff already in 2019 to share. And we need it, cuz it is rough out there right now for a lot of people.
One of the most awe-inspiring things that landed in my promo box this year so far was the much-anticipated Tridroid Records split from somewhat mysterious noise practitioner MISANDR and whitephosphorous, “This Can Not Continue”. The release just went up for pre-order very recently and is a must hear rejection of bigotry and hatred funneled through the lense of sonic vertigo and alienating physical sound avalanches paired with razor keen current event subtexts. The split title This Can Not Continue is both a perfect and simple fact for the horrors going on in the world as well as an apt summary of how the music and content is so intense that it tests the bounds of human endurance until a flip switches and you somehow are comforted by the harsh swirl of cacophony and distress.
Thanks are to be extended to Misandr who allowed us to interview them via email for a VERY insightful and rewarding exchange. I can’t do it justice summarizing but topics include inverting fascism on itself, ableism, noise as self-catharsis, the project’s past and future, the dangers of xenophobia and so much more. Super thrilled to be publishing this and hope you all will read it and enjoy near drowning in this artist’s emotionally exhausting new single on the Tridroid split as much as I did.
With each average ten minute track on the new Elder opus OMENS (Armageddon Shop, 4/24) the increasingly more progressive rock by leaps and bounds band of trailblazers head further into more exciting horizons. The standout cut "Embers" soars from almost flirting with Sunny Day Real Estate/Fairweather melodic but moody charm to sophisticated progressive alternative post metal. I know, that is a mouthful...but it's pure ear heaven. They were always good, but the level of freedom in the current material is extremely exciting, melodic and strong chakra opening good shit. This record defies shuffle mode and rather than pouts simply works on capturing your complete attention with brilliant performances. Press play on the title track and just let it all go. Along with bands like Huntsmen, Bask and King Buffalo, they are helping lead the way for a new pack of innovators still coloring within yet expanding historical sub-genres.
