spinefarm

Album Review:  Anti-Flag — “Lies They Tell Our Children”

Angela BlockLeave a comment

Starting off the new year with a righteous bang, punk powerhouse Anti-Flag is here with their thirteenth album Lies They Tell Our Children.  This release is predictably energetic, expressive, and excellent.  Anti-Flag is always ready to fight for what is right and this album thematically focuses on major world issues including the need for universal healthcare and environmental preservation.  Capturing the urgency and power of the music, each track title is in all caps driving home the messages.  Adding a sense of community and comradery, a number of guest vocalists are featured throughout the album including Brian Baker of Bad Religion.  Lies They Tell Our Children is another success in an impressive discography from a legendary band.  

Continue reading →

Album Review: He Is Legend — “Endless Hallway”

ChrisLeave a comment
he is legend - endless hallway

That whole “kitchen-sink” approach to metal, particularly that peculiar strain of emo, screamo metalcore that insisted on 101 riffs per second and demanded alternating screeched and clean vocals was EVERYWHERE in the early 00s. I remember slowly getting back into the swing of extreme music and being presented with bands like The Fall of Troy, Protest the Hero, Horse the Band (holy cow, remember Horse the Band?) and countless others but it was He Is Legend and a small album called I Am Hollywood that really stuck with me. Part of it was their unabashed love of a good lick and being unafraid to write songs that captured the spirit of 90s rock, but c’mon: part of it was also the astounding range and delivery of vocalist Schuylar Croom. So it pleases me to no end that 18 years since discovering them I get to dive into Endless Hallway, their seventh album and continuing affirmation that the band still has the juice to rip a room apart without sacrificing that special sauce that made them stand out from the crowd back in the day.

Continue reading →

CANTO: Woods of Desolation, Creeper, In Flames, and More

CoreyLeave a comment


The start of another week. But at least the Red Wings notched a few wins this past weekend.

  • Since I live in the mountains now, let’s start with some atmospheric black metal. Woods of Desolation premiered a new track today titled “Illumination”. That’s the third single taken from The Falling Tide, their new album which drops on September 9 through Season of Mist.
  • Moving in a bit of a hardcore direction next, we have Creeper. Their new single, “Ghost Brigade”, is the first material released through Spinefarm. Sex, Death & The Infinite Void dropped in 2020, so we’ll keep an eye out for new album announcements in the months ahead.
  • The new Drowse LP, Wane Into It, is out this coming Friday through The Flenser. As such, check out “Three Faces (Cyanoacrylate)” over at Chorus. There’s an interview there worth reading as well.
  • There’s some real hype surrounding Foregone, the upcoming new In Flames album. So with that in consideration, we’ll tie up our Monday with the new video for “Foregone Pt. 2”. It’s a different vibe than the other singles we’ve heard, but that is definitely not a bad thing. As a reminder, that album is out on February 10 through Nuclear Blast.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb

CANTO: Wolfheart, Saint Asonia, Dryad, and More

CoreyLeave a comment


One more day, and then this move into the mountains goes into full force.

  • Hard rock crew Saint Asonia have announced a new EP, titled Extrovert. That six-track collection will be out on November 18 through Spinefarm, and follows their Introvert EP from earlier this year. Give “Wolf” a listen here.
  • Out of Prosthetic Records, black metal project Dryad have announced a new album, titled The Abyssal Plain. That is set for a January 20 release, and a video for the lead single “Black Smoke” is available over at Decibel.
  • Out of the Season of Mist camp, Obsidious premiered a performance video of a new track titled “I Am”, with footage from Euroblast 2022. That’s taken from the progressive metallers upcoming debut album, Iconic, which drops tomorrow.
  • Closing out, we have the new video from melodic death metal outfit Wolfheart. Give “Knell” a watch and listen below, a track taken from King of the North. That album is out now through Napalm Records.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb

CANTO: Ingested, The Offering, At The Gates, and More

CoreyLeave a comment

I’m drafting this in the middle of the afternoon, while contemplating a beer. Not great.

  • We’ll lead off with The Offering, who dropped a new track titled “Flower Children”. The lyric video for that one is available here. Their sophomore album, titled Seeing the Elephant, is set for a November 4th release through Century Media.
  • Liturgy has announced a new album as well, but we’ll have to wait until March 23rd for that one. 93696 will be out through Thrill Jockey, and you can listen to the title-track right here. They’ve also got some upcoming tour dates if that interests you.
  • At The Gates have announced the return of founding member and guitarist Anders Björler. This announcement falls about a month ahead of their upcoming European tour with In Flames, Imminence, and Orbit Culture.
  • From there, we’ve got a new video from Anti-Flag for “Modern Meta Medicine”, which features Jesse Leach (Killswitch Engage). Lies They Tell Our Children is out on January 6th via Spinefarm.
  • Let’s close out the day with a new video from Ingested. The clip below is for “From Hollow Words”, which features Sven de Caluwé of Aborted. That’s taken from Ashes Lie Still, set for a November 4th release through Metal Blade.

“Ein Bier… bitte.”
– cmb