Like Stephen Tyler said, ‘I’m back in the saddle again.’ Thanks to Josh for once again picking up this column while I was off on my sojourn to the Pacific Northwest. I fought no demon hordes in my tenure there (although I did steal a couple souls…), just a lot of hiking, sightseeing, and stuffing my face with doughnuts and beer. As all good vacations should be. And now, back to business. We have a ton of good tunes for you on this week’s playlist, so dive right in and see what’s been running through our collective headphones lately.
Had an interesting and funny conversation amongst the staff last week (our water cooler conversations are always golden) regarding tech death versus technical death metal which led into the myriad of varying genre tags. Out of nowhere came “I consider Judas Priest heavy metal, all else is just metal” which is accurate and great and made me roar with laughter – score. Really, it is that simple if you think about it…and then it’s not, everyone wants to know what they’re getting into up front. Either way, get into what this week has to offer.
To say I’ve been carried away by Moon Tooth’s Crux is the understatement of the year – it’s rock, it’s metal but most of all it’s MEMORABLE which is something we don’t get enough of these days so by all means, get yourself a copy STAT. Next up is the debut, Something Wicked Marches In, from Vltimas and I knew to expect a pummeling mixture of death and black metal based on the membership here but I didn’t count on this thing being as addictive as it is. Sliding into some nastier territory is Triumvir Foul with their blend of bestial black, death, and noise on Urine of Abomination, definitely drink this one in folks. Last up top is the third full length, Departed Souls, from Boston’s Magic Circle who show that a four year gap doesn’t mean a thing when a band can churn out doomy heavy metal as good as this, another MUST own so do that.
Those four could be the entire week but ALAS, there’s much more. Get in there with all the grind, death, core, post, black, rock, atmospheric, symphonic, heavy, power, instru-metal…I could go on for days. But I won’t.Continue reading →
The end of March always seems to find me on the road to some far-off destination and folks, this year is no exception. When you are reading this, I will be leaving a night of camping in Northern California and will be on my way up to Portland, OR, one of my favorite places on Earth, followed by a few days in Seattle. I am ridiculously excited to spend some quality time with my family and my partner away from the nightmare hell world that is work. And if you need to spend some quality time away from the cares of the world too, why not dip into this week’s playlist? We made it just for you. It’d be rude of you not to.
New York’s Moon Tooth has set aside March 29 to unveil their monstrous second full length Crux and if razor edged hard rock/metal that is as aggressive as it is memorable is something you’ve been missing, this album needs to be in your pre-order list. The band’s trajectory has been nothing short of amazing; 2015’s Freaks EP was a ball of unbridled energy and 2016’s Chromaparagon added a progressive touch to said energy but tighter and more focused. On Crux, the band’s path shifts towards planet ‘kick ass and take names later.’ But seriously, this sophomore outing is exactly that but most of all it’s MEMORABLE and I can’t get enough of it. I recently had the opportunity to chat with guitarist Nick Lee about Crux, a new tour, lessons learned along the way, solid advice for any new band, and so much more. Head below to hear how it all went down and click those outro links to show some love to Moon Tooth. Continue reading →
Greetings once more, fellow travelers on the journey of life. Too much? Maybe. I’m just glad it’s the weekend again. Or it could be that I’m just hungry. It’s lunch time when I’m writing this, and I’m lusting after some chinese food (I’m eating food from home though, and my wallet better thank me for this one). Either way, it’s time to get this party started, and there’s no better way than our weekly playlist. We’ve got lots of good tunes coming this time, and there’s a little something for every taste in there. I personally included the CHVRCHES song I’ve been jamming on all week, because sometimes it’s nice to take a break from the bleak and the heavy, and CHVRCHES whip ass anyway. I’ll catch you all next week. Back to dreaming about chow mein…
