I’ll just let this speak for itself. If you need me to tell you why this is great, then get the fuck out of my office.

- JR

And they’re already streaming a new song on their website?

Classy.

I generally don’t care about Coheed and Cambria all that much, to be honest. “Welcome Home” is a classic song and they stole Dillinger Escape Plan co-founder Chris Pennie and, in my opinion, under-utilize him. That’s about all I can come up with about them worth noting, I suppose. I’m not saying they’re bad, but I’m just saying I don’t actually care enough to follow them all that much.

So Coheed’s new song “The Broken” is the first single off of their upcoming album, Year Of The Black Rainbow. It’s a pretty good track, although I don’t see how they’re a progressive rock band. It seems pretty straightforward to me. I guess their music sounds and feels like progressive music without actually BEING progressive in any way. I’m gonna call them psuedo-prog from now on.

Listen to the new song here and you can either dig it or shrug your shoulders. Year Of The Black Rainbow comes out April 13.

- JR

As far as nu-metal goes, Deftones were always standing out as different than the rest of the pack, at times leaning more towards alternative metal, if such a thing even exists. Empirical evidence also suggests that Deftones are generally more accepted in metal circles than the other bands that they were unfairly clumped with in the 90’s and early 2000’s.

It shouldn’t be news to anyone: In November 2008, Deftones’ bassist Chi Cheng was involved in a car accident that left him in a coma. Deftones then decided to shelve their highly anticipated album “Eros” and work on a completely new album without Chi.

Deftones frontman Chino Moreno (I love saying his name; I mispronounce it so it rhymes) recently spoke with Spin.com in regards to the upcoming album. Read cherry-picked excerpts below:

With former Quicksand bassist Sergio Vega filling in, the Deftones found a renewed energy, writing songs in a rehearsal space together — an approach they had ditched on their past few albums, which were recorded layer by layer with ProTools. Soon the band entered a L.A. studio with producer Nick Raskulinecz. The result: 11 songs for their yet-to-be-titled release, the sound of which recalls the group’s early days — while also exploring new territory.

One of Moreno’s favorite tracks, “Rocket Skates,” is a “heavier” tune with “beautiful yet violent imagery,” that has “a fantasy vibe” similar to “Knife Party,” a hit from 2000’s White Pony. But another newbie, “Nylons and Suspenders,” marks a first for the 20-year-old band.

“Musically, it’s something that we haven’t done before,” he explains. “It’s very… sludgy, like a chainsaw-type of riff but very slow. I shouldn’t say this, but it’s clunky… in an awesome way.”

What can fans expect from the new album?

The dynamics Deftones are known for — aggressive overtones and lush openness. They’re on opposite sides of the spectrum, but we meld them together without sounding contrived. There are a few heavy songs, too, like our first couple records, and there are also experimental tunes — but there’s not a minute on this record that feels like it doesn’t need to be there. Each sound complements the other. I’ll straight-up say it: it’s definitely one of our best albums.

What direction are you going in lyrically?

Well, I’ve been wanting to record a fantasy album like White Pony, where the lyrics are less, ‘This is my life and this is what we’re going through.’ It helps take us away from reality. I don’t like listening to people’s problems — I like music. Music has been smothered with that complaining since the early-’90s. It gets old. Instead of going to the opposite side of the spectrum and listening to Black Eyed Peas, which is just straight silly, I choose to listen to more instrumental music. I do very little singing about myself on this record. I love songs where I can totally take myself out of being human. I can sing about really odd things, and they don’t necessarily have to pertain to me at all. It paints a picture. Those are the kind of lyrics I grew up with — like the Cure. Really visual images and no storytelling.

How did the addition of Sergio Vega affect the music?

It brought us closer together than we’ve been in a really long time. Musically, we were really clicking, and Sergio really fits with the band. But he’s a different type of player than Chi; Chi plays with his fingers, Sergio plays with his pick. We’re just appreciative that we’re still alive and able to make music. The recording process was very different — we didn’t use ProTools. We wrote each song in a practice place and played them a million times ’til they were perfect. That approach goes back to our earlier days, and it’s a lot more personable. We work better when everybody’s together — and the songs benefit.

Below is a video of a live performance of “Rocket Skates”, off of the new album. The yet-to-be-titled followup to 2006’s Saturday Night Wrist is due out some time in May. I’ll be looking forward to it!

- JR

Mastodon. Pretty happy with themselves.

Mastodon just don’t stop. They played close to a hundred shows across numerous countries last year in support of Crack the Skye. They’re just about to kick off the UK leg of the tour, and beyond that they’re booked for dates in every month until June. They must be knackered.

But, in this maelstrom of live shows, they’ve somehow managed to find the time to write the soundtrack to Jonah Hex, the upcoming DC/Warner Bros film adaptation of the comic book of the same name, about an ex confederate soldier and bounty hunter with a gnarly tomahawk-burned face.

Thomas Jane wanted the title role pretty badly, but luckily he was pipped to it by Josh Brolin of No Country For Old Men fame. That was a good film. Punisher was not. But Megan Fox is also in it, so considering her usual role as plot-hole-masking eye candy, I’m dubious as to how good it’ll be. Obviously Christopher Nolan and to a lesser degree Frank Miller and Zack Snyder have set a high bar as far as the genre goes, but people need to learn that not everything should be adapted just so the generally illiterate public, with their miniscule attention spans (waah, books r teh long, crycry), can digest the often brilliant stories to be found in literature. So if it’s shit, it probably isn’t Mastodon’s fault.

</rant>

The story is that listening to Blood Mountain inspired director Jimmy Hayward to finish the script. One fanboy-phonecall later and guitarist Brent Hinds was on the next plane* to New Orleans to visit the set. Apparently Hinds is now even in the film as the first of a reported one hundred and seventy-two souls to be slaughtered onscreen. Noice.

As for the music itself, no excerpts yet, but Troy Sanders says:

“Some of it was heavy, some of it was very moody,” Sanders said. “A lot of it was spacey, Melvins B-sides, Pink Floyd-like, surreal outer space, like Neil Young’s Dead Man. Swirling, nausea music.”

I’ve got to say, whatever the film is like, it’s basically a new Mastodon album fifteen months after the last one was released, so I’m pretty excited.

Jonah Hex hits cinemas on June 18th, and the internet sometime before or after that.

- CG

* artistic license

Metalcore giants Converge are launching a U.S. tour for their newly released album “Axe to Fall” for the year 2010. It will feature Coalesce, Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath, and Harvey Milk all juggling around appearance dates. Here are the dates so far.

04/30: TBA @ TBA w/ Special guest, Lewd Acts, and more
05/01: TBA @ TBA w/ Special guest, Lewd Acts, and more
05/02: TBA @ TBA w/ Special guest, Lewd Acts, and more
05/03: TBA @ TBA w/ Special guest, Lewd Acts, and more
05/04: TBA @ TBA w/ Special guest, Lewd Acts, and more
05/05: TBA @ TBA w/ Special guest, Lewd Acts, and more
05/06: TBA @ TBA w/ Special guest, Lewd Acts, and more
05/06: TBA @ TBA w/ Special guest, Lewd Acts, and more
05/07: Cleveland, OH @ Grog Shop w/ Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/08: Detroit, MI @ Magic Stick w/ Lewd Acts, Black Breath, and more
05/09: Chicago, IL @ Bottom Lounge w/ Lewd Acts, Black Breath, and more
05/10: Lawrence, KS @ Bottleneck w/ Coalesce, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/11: Denver, CO @ Marquis Theatre w/ Coalesce, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/13: Seattle, WA @ Neumo’s w/ Coalesce, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/14: Portland, OR @ Satyricon w/ Coalesce, Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/15: San Francisco, CA @ Slim’s w/ Coalesce, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/16: CA @ TBA w/ TBA
05/17: Anaheim, CA @ Chain Reaction w/ Coalesce, Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/18: Los Angeles, CA @ El Rey Theatre w/ Coalesce, Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/19: Tempe, AZ @ The Clubhouse w/ Coalesce, Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/21: Austin, TX @ Emo’s w/ Coalesce, Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/22: TX @ TBA w/ TBA
05/23: Tulsa, OK @ The Marquee w/ Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/25: Memphis, TN @ The Hi Tone w/ Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/26: Louisville, KY @ TBA w/ Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/27: Nashville, TN @ Rockettown w/ Harvey Milk, Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/28: Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade w/ Harvey Milk, Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath
05/29: North Carolina @ TBA w/ Harvey Milk, Gaza, Lewd Acts, Black Breath

It’ll probably be a blast to go to whether you like the bands or not. I don’t know if I’ll go because the only band I really like enough to see live is Gaza. idk man idk. Shit looks cool for you hxc kiddies though.

-MW

Sup guys! I’m Tyler or mostly known as ECDEU! I will be helping out with posting here at HBIB until I begin to notice what type of a dump I am in and come to my senses and leave to my home. No, seriously, I just wanted to help out these guys because they had put on the side of the website that they were looking for contributors and I was bored. But since I already post about metal at my main blog with GroverXIII, spna15, and demigodraven, I decided to do something a bit different here: post about anything other than metal. I am honestly just running with this as I type but I decided to be on the lookout for non-metal things that are partly interesting and to give you guys my two cents on them. No matter if you care or not. Also, have you heard of my other blog?????

Enough with the pointless plugs (but seriously), now onto my first topic here: Reality Shows.

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Ha. Ha. Ha. I’m hilarious…

Yet another one of those bands I came to way too late (i.e. after they broke up), Mare played a unique mix of uber-sludgy doom with part haunting falsetto, part ball-achingly screechtastic vocals from Tyler Semrick-Palmateer (vocalist for The End on Transfer Trachea Reverberations From Point: False Omniscient). Caleb Collins of Circle Takes the Square handled drums, and there was…urm…some dude on bass.

They only put out one EP before going to the great gig in the sky (re: Crydebris, Push Me Under, a load of more obvious bands I’m probably forgetting) but it got them signed to Hydrahead. They announced the split three years ago this month, but I just got wind of a one-off reunion show they played in Mississauga, Ontario last summer. Some thoughtful guy thought to film it and whack that shit on YouTube: +10 internets for him. The audio quality is pretty damn good, too, and there are some flashy song titles if you didn’t already know them.

Check the related videos for the rest of the set. It’s good.

- CG

Well it isn’t happening. Figures, huh?

“FUCK YOU, NORTH AMERICA!”

This just keeps happening. It’s not like I was going to go or anything, but damn. It’s seemingly next to impossible to get a controversial European band over here on this side of the pond. There hasn’t been an official announcement yet, but all bets are placed on visa issues, which have been plaguing bands left and right over the past few years.

There seems to be a pattern forming. Is it a secret government agenda trying to keep these questionable bands out of the United States? Get out your tinfoil hats, folks. Jumping to wild conclusions easy to do.

- JR

Although that damned groundhog came out of his hole to see his shadow, a sign of six more weeks of winter weather, the feeling of spring is already starting to spread. That feeling has materialized in the form of a headlining Mastodon tour, with support from Between the Buried and Me, Baroness, and Valient Thorr.

Great lineup, although Between The Buried And Me seem like the odd men out, considering they are largely without the sludgy type of sound the rest of the lineup carries, but shit. This is still a great lineup.

From The PRP:

Speaking of the tour Mastodon said that the shows will “bring the band to the fans in American cities that have yet to experience the CRACK THE SKYE live event.” In related news, the group will be offering a limited tour only color vinyl edition of their latest album “Crack The Skye” at the aforementioned tour.

Awesome! Tour dates? We got em.

April 16th Charleston, SC – Music Farm
April 17th Raleigh, NC – Lincoln Theater
April 18th Richmond, VA – The National
April 20th Baltimore, MD – Rams Head
April 21st Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
April 22nd Hartford, CT – Webster
April 23rd Worcester, MA – Palladium
April 24th Burlington, VT – Higher Ground
April 26th Pittsburgh, PA – Palace Theater
April 27th Rochester, NY – Water Street
April 29th Grand Rapids, MI – Orbit Room
April 30th Indianapolis, IN – Vogue
May 01st Columbia, MO – Blue Note
May 03rd Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theater
May 04th Tucson, AZ – Rialto
May 05th San Diego, CA – House Of Blues
May 07th Pomona, CA – Fox
May 08th Oakland, CA – TBA
May 09th Reno, NV – Knitting Factory
May 10th Eugene, OR – McDonald Theater
May 11th Spokane, WA – Knitting Factory
May 13th Billings, MT – The Shrine
May 14th Fargo, ND – The Venue
May 15th Omaha, NE – Sokol Hall
May 16th Lawrence, KS – Liberty Hall
May 18th Madison, WI – Orpheum
May 19th Urbana, IL – Canopy Club
May 20th Memphis, TN – Minglewood
May 21st Knoxville, TN – Valarium
May 22nd Lexington, KY – Busters

Oh, do want. Lexington, here I come.

- JR

• Annotations of An Autopsy – The Reign Of Darkness (Nuclear Blast)
• Arsis – Starve For The Devil (Nuclear Blast)
• Dark Fortress – Yiem (Century Media)
• Dawn Of Demise – A Force Unstoppable (Deepsend)
• Dismal Lapse – Eon Fragmentation (Deepsend)
• Fear Factory – Mechanize (Candlelight)
• The Kandidate – Until We Are Outnumbered (Napalm)
• Killing Time – Three Steps Back (Dead City)
• Lethal Saint – Lethal Saint (Pitch Black)
• Marionette – Enemies (Listenable)
• Meshuggah – Alive DVD (Nuclear Blast)
• Orphaned Land – The Never Ending Way Of ORwarriOR (Century Media)
• Overkill – Ironbound (E1)
• Shining – VI Klagopsalmer (Season Of Mist)
• Stygian – Fury Rising (Mortal)
• Troll – Neo Satanic Supremacy (Napalm)
• Various Artists – Grind Madness At The BBC (Earache)

Pretty okay week. A little something for everyone, I suppose.
Have a good week, everyone!

- JR

“Prizes” from Selva Molhada: Live in Charleston, SC

Loom are great.

Loom are also a post-hardcore band from Salt Lake City, Utah.

Loom are catchy as hell.

You should listen to Loom.

See you tomorrow.

- JR

Have a good weekend.

- JR

As you may or may not know or figured out by looking around, I am a college student from Pikeville, Kentucky. I go to Pikeville College, which is a private liberal arts college. Because of this arty liberalness, I’m required to take courses that have absolutely nothing to do with my major of choice, which is Social Work.

Future social worker running a blog about metal? What can I say, I’m a bleeding heart hippie liberal. Death to Fox News.

Anyway, I’m taking Music Appreciation: History of Rock and Roll. I’m not complaining because that’s a cool class to have, especially if I’m gonna be opinionated and shit all over this place. At least I’ll get a better understanding of where we are and how far we’ve come to reach this style of music.

So, first day of class rolls around and I’m fairly confident in my ability to succeed in the class. My professor tries to play that “LETS INTRODUCE OURSELVES” game and has everyone in the class say their name, where we’re from, major, and favorite genre of music.

Oh shit.

I look around the room in panic. Just what I feared… I’m the only person in the class the even looks like they would listen to metal. Dammit. This is going to be awkward. If you’re wondering to yourselves why I’d bother worrying, put yourself in my shoes: I’m sitting in the middle of the room, long hair and The Faceless shirt making it completely obvious. I’m also from a small town in Kentucky. It’s apparent that I’m going to be the odd man out here. Maybe I’m making this out to be bigger than it really is? I dunno. I was just hoping someone would say “metal” before I did.

Me

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“Mother Dirt is a result of too many line-up changes, alcohol and substance abuse and a general lack of faith in everybody and everything. Fast as fuck, loud as fuck, unholy sons of bitches, fuck you.” – Dan Best, Mother Dirt

Born in a tiny town in the dark hills of Worcestershire, Mother Dirt, in their own words sound like “some kind of bastardised necro doom punk.”

I don’t know what it is about our little arse-end of nowhere, but the past few years has seen Malvern churn out more than its fair share of damn good bands. From your AZWAIs, your Deacon Birches and your Push Me Unders at the heavier end of the spectrum, to more expansive artists like Orbit: Dear Beacon. I can pretty much guarantee you won’t have heard of most of them, but that’s besides the point. These bands don’t do it for the glory; they do it because there’s fuck all else to do when you live in a field.

Mother Dirt are not for everyone. In fact, they’re utterly horrible. But in a good way. They are as dirty as both their name might suggest, and as the cow shed they use as a practice space. I don’t really have a basis for comparison I can offer you bar that their vocalist sounds like Jacob Bannon with a throat full of barbed wire. Their EP has absolutely no title bar the moniker above, but it’s angry, full of contempt and should probably come with a health warning. I doubt they care what you think of the recording quality (which is raw, to put it lightly), but it really doesn’t matter with this kind of brutality – in fact, it’s kind of the point.

Live, they’re on a different level. I believe at their last gig a banister got destroyed. I’ve seen blood and beer flying, and everyone in the room fucking loves it.

1. Belly Crawler
2. Tomb
3. Fallen
4. 5 Bar Prison Blues
   

You’re not likely to ever get your hands on a copy, so hit the link below if you think you’re ‘ard enough. As an extra treat, you can also download their live set from The Purple Turtle in London last year over at their Last.fm page. Better quality, equally as nasty.

Myspace // Last.fm // Download

- CG

As I Lay Dying are among one of the better metalcore bands. They have a tendency of throwing in some good riffs here and there and their shit’s catchy without being too poppy.

With that being said, I’m here to report that As I Lay Dying’s 5th studio album will be titled “The Powerless Rise”. The band has posted a video (below), discussing the new record.

The band are in San Diego finishing up the recording process with Killswitch Engage’s Adam Dutkiewicz at the helm producing, due for release this spring under Metal Blade Records.

My interest level is slightly above “meh”, but I’m gonna give it a shot. Let’s see what they come up with.

- JR