As some of you may remember, I said As I Lay Dying‘s new album The Powerless Rise was their best so far, and I still stand by that statement. It also seems that I’m one of the few who thought The Cool Tour had a (for the most part) good lineup. AILD, BTBAM, Architects, and Cancer Bats on one bill? That is indeed very cool.
The point I’m getting at is that high quality performance footage for their song “Anodyne Sea” that was shot during The Cool Tour has been posted online. That is awesome, especially seeing as how the footage wasn’t overdubbed with the studio track; it’s an official and hi-def pro-shot live music video. The best part about that fact is that AILD are actually pretty damn good as a live band. Who knew!? Give the video a look-see below.
With a line up this killer it’s not something to miss. Neurosis making an appearance as a headliner, along some other favorite bands like Defeated Sanity, Repugnant, Wormed, Devourment, and Hooded Menace I’m ready to start saving up cash.
I don’t get to go to metal shows very often, so I have to pick and choose wisely. It seemed to me that Summer Slaughter’s stop fell on a Friday within a 4 hour distance and had arguably the best lineup, so that’s what I set my sights on. I was ready to have a good time, and all in all, I did.
However, things started off in the shitter. I was planning on and looking forward to interviewing The Red Chord’s Guy Kozowyk, but upon arriving at the box office I was turned away. Apparently, the guy at the ticket booth was not given any names under The Red Chord’s list, leaving me a bit confused, annoyed, and somewhat embarrassed. Seeing my genuine look of confusion, he offered to go and talk to the band and see what was up while I waited. After a few minutes had passed, he came back to tell me that there was too much going on backstage to get a hold of anyone and that it would be a good 20 minutes before he could reach anyone. I then noticed that people were being let in, so I said “I guess I’ll just buy a ticket and come back later,” and joined my friend (who had never heard of most of the bands on the bill) in line. Sadly, the shit didn’t stop there. Apparently it had hit the fan and sprayed all over the stage.
If you haven’t heard Fleshwrought‘s debut album Dementia/Dyslexia, then you are missing out on some of the best proggy tech death of the year. I thought it was amazing, and if you have any sense about you, you should at least find it enjoyable to some degree. One of the songs has a (midi?) saxophone solo, for fuck’s sake. That’s awesome.
So now it looks like the two man project (featuring music by Navene Koperweis of Animosity/Animals As Leaders and vocals by Jonny Davey of Job For A Cowboy) is tossing around the idea of playing some shows, to which I say, “FUCK YES.”
As you can see in the above video, Navene kills it in the guitar parts while drummer Alex Rudinger pounds away, proving that the album was more than just some protools wizardry. This shit can be pulled off spotlessly.
More info to come when there’s something to report. Meanwhile, go listen to Dementia/Dyslexia — out now on Metal Blade — and bask in its glory.
This past summer has been full of great tours here in North America, and one of the ones I’ve been most excited for is the Over The Limit Tour. With a fairly solid lineup of mostly techy deathcore bands, with a few exceptions, I was expecting a pretty good show. I’ll go ahead and tell you I was disappointed with what some of them had to offer, but the show only cost me $10 and it was only an hour drive to Ground Zero in Spartanburg SC from where I live so I’m not complaining.
Shot live at a recent festival in France, this 72-minute live show from Gojira is definitely worth your time. Gojira put on quite a show and they sound as good as always. Here’s the setlist:
Lizard Skin
Clone
Backbone
Indians
A Sight to Behold
The Art of Dying
Drum Solo
The Heaviest Matter Of The Universe
Flying Whales
Toxic Garbage Island
Vacuity
World to Come
Oroborus
Superb. If I recall correctly, they should have an EP out some time this year. I haven’t heard anything about it since, but I can’t wait to hear it.
So I just stumbled upon this article written by Every Time I Die frontman Keith Buckley. It’s basically a big rant about the sad state of our sub-culture, where people with no talent can get together and call themselves a ‘band’, get a bunch of 14 year-old scene kids to be their fan base, get on warped tour and get rich because of their ‘music’. He even calls out a few bands by name, which I found enjoyable. I’m not really even a fan of Every Time I Die, but this is a great article and Keith makes some very good points. Check it out, unless you’re in love with Attack Attack! or some other similiar ‘band’.
Update: Marc Broussely of LoudPixels.net took some high quality video of the concert for your viewing pleasure. Make sure you check it out!
I’m in there somewhere too
This one I’ve been waiting for for a long, long time. I mentioned last week that Converge were one of the bands that made me heavy. Shamefully, in all this time, I’ve never seen them live – and it’s not for lack of presence. Two summers ago they passed through London twice – but I was indisposed being poor and jobless back home in the Midlands.
So when they announced their European tour in support of the phenomenal Axe to Fall, I made a (Broken) vow to catch them this time. “No problem,” I thinks, “I’ll definitely be in London this time!”
Then the night I went to book my tickets I get a call from the guy on the left in the picture above who looks like a duck (and he’s going to hate me for saying that if he ever reads this). “Hey Chris,” he says, “why don’t you come to the Birmingham show? Everyone from home is going!”
I could hardly say no. I mean for God’s sake, I met up with only three of the guys, but half the room was from my town.
But I get ahead of myself. I arrived a little to late to see openers Kvelertak, but was bang on time for a £4(!!) pint and the beginning of Gaza‘s set.
While I wasn’t too stoked on their new album, I thought Korn’s performance in “The Encounter” was pretty entertaining, and it was good to see them play the classics. Cheesiness of the crop circle aside, it’s awesome that they did this. Not many bands pay to produce a show like this and put it online for free. You have to respect something like that, whether you like the band or not. Watch the hour-long performance below.
Oildale
Pop a Pill
Let The Guilt Go
Here To Stay
Falling Away From Me
Throw Me Away
Move On
The Past
Freak On A Leash
Are You Ready To Live
Shoots and Ladders
Clown
Got The Life
The set could have used some Untouchables and Untitled representation, in my opinion, but it was an enjoyable show!
A blog called Distractions of Living Alone has posted a recent live set by bay area favorites Cormorant, featuring two new songs. Both songs are still without vocals, but they sound great so far.
The quality of the recording is pretty decent, despite the low volume. I boosted the volume a little and cut the set into tracks for your listening and downloading pleasure below. If the songs don’t open their own players in this page, try refreshing.
I’m in there somewhere too
