Antigama release seventh album

by David Rosales on May 12, 2015

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Antigama dispatches their seventh full-length studio album, The Insolent in the coming days. This all transpires just one week before the band makes their long-awaited return to American soil for their East Coast tour with Selfmadegod Records lablemates, Drugs Of Faith, including the band’s second time attending Maryland Deathfest.

Recorded in February at JNS Studio in Warsaw, The Insolent was engineered by Pawel Grabowski, mixed by Pawel Grabowski and the band, mastered by Scott Hull at Visceral Sound in Bethesda, Maryland (Pig Destroyer, Agoraphobic Nosebleed), and features a guest appearance by the legendary Polish electronic artist Władysław “Gudonis” Komendarek.

Orders for The Insolent are available on cassette, eco-pack/gatefold digisleeve CD, black 12″ gatefold LP, and a translucent 12″ gatefold LP, limited to 100 copies worldwide. All four versions are now available internationally from Selfmadegod HERE and in the US via Selfmadegod’s stateside mailorder outlet, Earsplit Distro, RIGHT HERE.

Antigama tour the East Coast US Tour w/ Drugs Of Faith:

  • 5/13/2015 Nihil Gallery – Brooklyn, NY w/ The Communion, Buckshot Facelift [info]
  • 5/14/2015 The Funky Jungle – Providence, RI w/ The Communion, Eaten, Feedback [info]
  • 5/15/2015 Clash Bar – Clifton, NJ @ Mildfest w/ The Communion, Organ Dealer, Pink Mass, more [info]
  • 5/16/2015 Second Empire – Philadelphia, PA w/ Infernal Stronghold, Past Tense [info]
  • 5/17/2015 Smash! – Washington, DC w/ Ampallang Infection, Blockhead [info]
  • 5/18/2015 Cellar Door – Annandale, VA w/ Earthling, Blooddrunk Trolls [info]
  • 5/19/2015 Strange Matter – Richmond, VA w/ High Priest, Empty Hands [info]
  • 5/20/2015 Main Street Annex – Charlottesville, VA w/ Earthling, Blooddrunk Trolls [info]
  • 5/23/2015 Baltimore Soundstage – Baltimore, MD @ Maryland Deathfest [no Drugs of Faith] [info]

You can follow Antigama on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/antigama

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Zealotry Announces New Drummer

by David Rosales on May 12, 2015

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Boston-Quebec old-school technical death metalers Zealotry have announced that Alex Zalatan (Inhumatus) will be joining their ranks as the band’s permanent drummer. Zalatan will be in charge of percussion duties for Zealotry’s upcoming sophomore release, The Last Witness. Besides mastermind Roman Temin, Zealotry’s line up also includes Phil Tougas, single member of the project Chthe’ilist, on lead guitars.

Zealotry have made the following announcement on their facebook page:

It is with great pleasure that we announce today that for the first time in our history Zealotry has a permanent drummer.
Alex Zalatan, also of Inhumatus, Cymatics and Burial Moss.
Alex will be performing on our upcoming second album The Last Witness and any future shows we play. We’re very excited abut having someone of his considerable talents behind the drum kit for us.

A demo of what is to come in the second album was uploaded in 2014 and can be heard here.

 

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6OnpP3Fjvok

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Possession premiere new track

by David Rosales on May 12, 2015

Belgium’s Possession return with a brand-new mini-album, 1585-1646, set for international release on June 6th, with Iron Bonehead Productions handling the vinyl pressing and Invictus Productions handling the CD pressing, and today premiere the new track Ceremony.

Through these four tracks, Possession tells the story of a witch who lived in France between 1585 and 1646: on Obscurity, an intro sets the crucial medieval atmosphere; with Visitation the future witch receives the visit of the Devil, who offers her a pact she accepts; on Ceremony comes the Sabbath; with Guilty the Inquisitors hunt the witch, catch her, and torture her to make her confess; and at last, on Ablaze the Inquisitors burn the witch.

The track can be heard on Soundcloud.

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Mistweaver – Nocturnal Bloodshed

by David Rosales on May 12, 2015

MISTWEAVER-Nocturnal Bloodshed

Labeled under the very loose term melodic death metal, Spanish band Mistweaver write a versatile power metal with mainstream sensibilities and growling vocals. An experienced band sharing the stage with many prominent acts such as Suffocation, Enslaved, Exodus, Grave and Sodom, Mistweaver is onto their 5th full-length album.
(more…)

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Gruesome: Death-Loving Collective Untethers Slayer Cover

by David Rosales on May 12, 2015

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The cast of Gruesome, the Schuldiner-hailing collective featuring members of Exhumed, Possessed, Malevolent Creation and Derketa, today untethers a very special cover of Slayer’s “Black Magic.” The band’s latest reconfiguration of the old-school appears on the deluxe digital edition of the band’s Savage Land full-length.

We chose our cover tunes the same way we tried to write the album,” relays guitarist/vocalist Matt Harvey. “We just did what Chuck [Schuldiner] would have done. Death was never a band particularly known for their cover song repertoire, but they did occasionally close their set with a rendition of ‘Black Magic’ and it’s a cover that dates as far back as an old 1984 Death/Mantas rehearsal, so we felt it would be appropriate. We were considering ‘The Exorcist’ by Possessed, since Death started recording a cover of it during Individual Thought Patterns, but since [Gruesome guitarist] Dan [Gonzalez] is in Possessed, it was a bit weird. Again, we tried to approach the song as Death doing a Slayer cover, so… hopefully we came close to the mark.

Gruesome pays homage to the mainstream’s and non-death metal listeners’ most celebrated American acts, Death. As such, their debut full-length, Savage Land, released last month Relapse Records, is an addictively punishing exhibition of late-’80s/early-’90s Florida-styled death metal that keeps the true sound and spirit of Chuck Schuldiner and Death alive and well.

Gruesome was borne out of guitarist/vocalist Matt Harvey (Exhumed) and drummer Gus Rios’ (Malevolent Creation) mutual involvement with the Death To All tours. After discarding the idea of putting together another incarnation of DTA to focus exclusively on Death’s first two albums, Harvey half-jokingly suggested writing their own songs in that vein. The idea gained traction, and the band had five songs written. Rios later recruited Possessed guitarist Daniel Gonzalez and Derketa bassist Robin Mazen to record the material in Florida. Savage Land was tracked by Rios and Gonzalez at Riversound Studios in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, mixed by Jarrett Pritchard at Mana Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida, and features a guest guitar solo on “Closed Casket” by James Murphy as well as cover art by legendary illustrator Ed Repka (Death, Megadeth, Massacre, Athiest et el).

Savage Land is out now via Relapse Records on CD, LP and all digital outlets. Physical orders are available now at THIS LOCATION, and digital orders HERE.

“This couldn’t come more highly recommended. Buy this and take a trip back to the ’80s when death metal wasn’t all about blast beats and gutturals.” – Stereokiller

“This isn’t your crusty, nasty, run-of-the-mill retro death metal. Hell no. This the advanced, dripping-rot-from-the-corners-of-a-coffin, putrid, vile death metal throwback that you’ve been waiting for. Observe.” – Metal Injection

“The enthusiasm alone on Savage Land is awe-inspiring… this is a fun romp through the rehearsal space of a bunch of longhairs who love a band so much it hurts. 8/10” – Exclaim

“…just so goddamned fun.” — MetalSucks

“Metal needs more albums like Savage Land… The legacy and sound of Death lives on ever so faithfully through bands like Gruesome, and wherever he is, Chuck Schuldiner is undoubtedly windmilling ferociously and smirking ear to ear at the deathly sounds of Savage Land. 4/5” – HeavyBlogIsHeavy

http://www.facebook.com/gruesomedeathmetal
http://www.facebook.com/relapserecords
http://www.relapse.com

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Classical String Quartets for the Death Metal Fan, A Second Look

by David Rosales on May 11, 2015

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In order to help death metallers make a smooth transition into string quartets, the first edition of this series presented the reader with two quartets that are superficially and at least partially, in terms of a simplistic judgement of mood, akin to underground death metal. Today, we will venture into a territory that is equally relevant to metal, composition-wise, not because metal artists compose in this way, but as I suggested last time, because there are many ideas relating to refinement that could be extrapolated and applied in a death metal context. In order to make this transition smoothly, one of the quartets introduced in this second edition is still superficially dark in atmosphere.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart: String Quartet No. 19, “Dissonance”

Nicknamed after the prominent dissonances right at beginning of the first movement, it was the last of six quartets that Mozart dedicated to Haydn, who defined the classical way to write for string quartets. Even Beethoven recalls a before-and-after marked by the study of Haydn’s quartets. Mozart describes these quartets as “the culmination of a long and laborious effort” and many think it is the display of composer’s finest faculties.

As with any string quartet, the listener is encouraged to pay attention to each moment, absorb it, but not dwell on it. References to the exercise in dissonance application to an otherwise strict style can be found in other places in the quartet. A challenge may be to spot where this happens. We can start trying to wait for the moment in the second movement when the cello receives a leading line and the rest of the instruments play dissonant harmonies around it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZyNFElawfTg

 

Béla Viktor János Bartók: String Quartet No. 4

An important influence to many from Benjamin Britten to King Crimson’s Robert Fripp, Bartók’s string quartets’ particular sound owed a great deal to the composer’s extensive field research on European folk music. Paul Wilson in his book, The Music of Béla Bartók, wrote that it was this research that allowed the composer to rid himself of the “tyrannical rule of the major and minor keys, leading eventually to a new conception of the chromatic scale, every tone of which came to be considered of equal value and could be used freely and independently.”. The astute and attentive observer may note that this, Bartók’s fourth string quartet, uses no prominent themes (complete musical expressions in themselves), but advances through developing motifs (musical cryptograms) only.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0667YvaVw9w

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Idis Örlög reveal new album cover

by David Rosales on May 11, 2015

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Idis Örlög have revealed the cover for their forthcoming album to be released sometime within the coming months. The title is Frøya og Svipdag and Songs from Njartharlåg. The songs on the album weave and wax and wane on sagas, stories, histories, landscapes, characters and feelings. The title refers to the saga of Svipdag which comes from the elder Edda. You can read it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Svipdagsmál.

Njartharlåg is the old name for the island of Tysnes, where Tyr and Njarthar (Nerthus or some say also Freya) were worshiped. An altar was found there, as well as some standing stones.

Songs on the album are about the above and more, going to these places and to locations from nature and from dreams.

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Masacre to release new album Brutal Aggre666ion

by David Rosales on May 11, 2015

masacre

Colombian true living Death Metal legends MASACRE have inked a deal with Xtreem Music for the European version of their latest album “Brutal Aggre666ion”, the 5th in their long career for this band formed back in 1988 that has built a truly incorruptible cult status as one of the most mythic south american bands ever!!

First released only for the colombian territory through the band’s own label Mórbida Prod. in October 2014, “Brutal Aggre666ion” is another solid step in the band’s discography, showing a truly brutal form of Death Metal in their traditional style, empowered, once again, by the production skills of HATE ETERNAL/ ex-MORBID ANGEL’s Erik Rutan at his own Mana Studios in Tampa, Florida.

Track listing for “Brutal Aggre666ion” is as follows:

1. La Guerra
2. Mutilated
3. Bullets
4. War in Hell
5. Donde Habital el Mal
6. Satanic Peace Agreement
7. Reality Death
8. The Calm Before the Storm
9. Valle de la Muerte

 

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Final Fright – Artificial Perfection

by David Rosales on May 11, 2015

finalfright-artificialperfection-cover2015

Hailing from Italy, Final Fright play ripping speed metal right out of the mid 1980s. Established in 2010, the band played covers, released the demo Abusive Grindhouse in 2012 and now in 2015 present us with their first full-length album, Artificial Perfection.

Unabashedly retro in their choice of style, Final Fright feels completely at home and does not try to impose modern conventions on the language of this particular brand of speed metal. Neither is the band copy pasting from particular acts. Artificial Perfection sounds like a someone learning and dominating a foreign language. When this happens, the music does not come out sounding like a cardboard front disguising something else, but the artists are able to express themselves as native speakers in the lingo of the genre.

But speaking a language does not necessarily imply you have something worth saying. So it is that the honest and proficient handling of the musical language by Final Fright is satisfactory and even enjoyable but unexceptional all the same. People looking for bouncy, authentic speed metal in a different mouth and voice but offering nothing different will find this is a fantastic release for them.

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Calgary Metalfest IV

by David Rosales on May 11, 2015

calgaryiv

Big Nate Productions presents Calgary Metalfest IV June 3-7, 2015 with over 40 bands, kicking offJune 3rd at The Ship & Anchor Pub featuring: The Electric Revival, Bloated Pig, Lucid Scream, The Outer, and Woodhawk.

June 4th at Vern’s Bar will feature: The Cadavor Dog, Frightenstein, SS Doom, DethGod, Penitentz, After The Prophet, and No More Moments.

June 5th the Main Stage at Dickens Pub will feature: Villainizer (Edmonton), Begrime Exemious (Edmonton), Without Mercy (Abbotsford BC), Neck of the Woods (Vancouver), Vile Insignia, Every Hour Kills, Riot City, and Moosifix. Lord Nelson’s Bar features: Mortillery (Edmonton), Dead Asylum (Vancouver), XUL (Vernon BC), Sentient, Path to Extinction, Altars of Grief (Regina), and Skymir.

June 6th the Main Stage at Dickens will feature: Kobra and the Lotus, Into Eternity (Regina), Caveat, Untimely Demise (Saskatoon), Viathyn, Sparky (Saskatoon), Noire (Winnipeg), and Apprentice (Vancouver). Lord Nelson’s Bar features: Lavagoat (Saskatoon), Kataplexis, Chieftain, Doberman, Numenorean, Triton, and Okazaki Fragments.

June 7th CMF IV Hangover Party at Distortion – Live Music Venue. Bands to be announced.

Every year Calgary Metalfest has auctioned off a giant 4’x6’ festival poster signed by the bands to raise money for Make-A-Wish Southern Alberta. This year will be extra special as Reverend Rock (Ross Ingall) of the Metal Nation Radio program Too Metal For Church (Mondays from 10am-2pmand Fridays 12pm-3pm EST) has generously donated a Schecter Twin Tribal Double Neck Guitarfor the auction. The guitar and poster auction will take place before headliners Kobra and the Lotus go on stage at Dickens Pub on June 6th.

The Ship and Anchor Pub is located at 534 17th Ave SW, Vern’s Bar at 622 8th Ave SW, Lord Nelson’s Bar at 1020 8th Ave SW, Dickens Pub at 1000 9th Ave SW, and Distortion at 3828 MacLeod Tr. S, Calgary. All venues 18+. Doors for all shows will be at 8pm. Tickets and passes are available online at http://calgarymetalfest.com and at Dickens Pub, Sloth Records (Calgary), The Soundhouse (Red Deer), and from the Calgary bands.

CMF IV is sponsored by Last Rites, Heroes & Villains Tattoo & Piercing, Beatroute Magazine, Absolute Underground Magazine, UA LOCAL 496, and Metal Nation Radio.

 

Official site: http://calgarymetalfest.com

Nathan Renaud: info@bignateproductions.com 403.404.6283

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