Metal Riot

Colorado’s Wayfarer craft moody and dark stories via unconventional atmospheric metal with more winding paths than a Tolkien tale. Their Prosthetic debut Children Of The Iron Age is an at times an expressive yet somber meditation and elsewhere an expulsion of screaming nerves beneath vast skies. Like Agalloch or Iceland’s  Sólstafir before them, Wayfarer’s baleful yet contrarily heartening melodic dirges (often reaching over ten minutes per song) are sure to quicken your wanderlust and slaken your thirsty despair over a drout of epic thinking person’s metal. Recommended track: “The Elemental.”

Portland’s perhaps gnarliest band Lord Dying are back with dark power rager Poisoned Altars (Relapse Records), a sludgier album than cult  hit Summoning The Faithless yet still rock n roll grime slime that will own the room live. In 2014 Lord Dying played 114 shows across 23 countries and show no signs of slowing down now. Crank “A Wound Outside of Time” and bring the thunder.

Funny, sludgy, poppy and adrenaline filled, the Upstate, NY duo Dead Unicorn are a treasure trove of great songs, social satire and lost innocence. Drummer/singer Zac Shaw is an accomplished author/blogger in the field of post-downloading music marketing, while bassist/co-vocalist Paul Heath is a painter as well as a great bartender. The boys are always good for some apocalypse themes and ear drum wrecking havoc.

Poughkeepsie, NY’s death/thrash hybrid The Begotten bring a ferocity to the stage befitting the lengthy heavy music scene history of their region. Vocalist Genevieve Salerno’s lithe frame hides the earth shaking roar released from her throat when The Begotten hit any stage. Think Crisis meets Grave meets At The Gates (complex and straight death parts) and you are pointed in the right direction. A sick band to watch!

Sweden’s Sister Sin bring a classic, heavy metal sound into the 21st century! This powerful act, fronted by show stopper Liv Jagrell, have been winning over fans with hard touring and solid songwriting. Liv is a big fan of big energy power rock like Twisted Sister. Her gritty yet melodic voice over the ballsy hard rock riffs make Sister Sin pure metal fun. They’ve made waves in America touring with Otep and Blackguard and have upcoming dates with the legendary Doro Pesch. New album Now and Forever better be blowing up your speakers real soon!

Star & Dagger is the new low end riff outlet for bassist Sean Yseult of White Zombie fame. More devil/less disco, the band combine bluesy, sludgy riffing to rival Kyuss with psychedelic feedback plus the crooning vocals of Von Hesseling. Rounded out by Donna She Wolf (Cycle Sluts From Hell) and Dustin Crops, plus live guitar beefage from Dave Catching (Eagles Of Death Metal), Star & Dagger are set to kill. They even cover “Out Of Focus” by Blue Cheer!

An upcoming show with Helmet and a 3 song 12″ is due out on Last Hurrah Records featuring material tracked in Joshua Tree with Ethan Allen and songs produced by (and featuring a cameo from) White Zombie guitarist J. Yuenger. A full length “Tomorrowland Blues” is also in the works. Lindsey Kuhn will be doing the album art for Star & Dagger’s first release.

You can hear “In My Blood” and “Used to me” (not on 12″) streaming on their Facebook. (Band photo by Leslie Van Stelten).