Howard Jones had to leave the current Killswitch Engage tour for some reason (“unforeseen circumstances”). Instead of straight up canceling the tour like some bands would, KsE tap long tome bro in metal Phil Labonte of All That Remains.

Word on the street says Howard has had some kind of injury. But in the mean time, I think Labonte is the perfect Phil in (no more Phil puns–promise). He has a good voice, he’s friends with the band, and All That Remains is a better (imo) version of Killswitch Engage, so it should be a pretty decent tour for what it is.

Phil spoke of the situation on Twitter:

Yep, I’m singing for KsE until HoJo gets better. Not sure how long it’ll be but I’m here till they don’t need me anymore.

So there’s that. Here’s some video of KsE and Phil performing “The End Of Heartache”

- JR

[credit for the headline goes to Blabbermouth user tomelwood]

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

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

Unlike the Mayhem/Tombs/etc tour I posted about today, this one seems right up my alley!

Is much as I don’t hate iwrestledabearonce (see my review of It’s All Happening), I’d gladly sit through their set and be mildly entertained while waiting for the awe-inspiring Dillinger Escape Plan to take the stage and tear it up. And Animals As Leaders are crazy good as well. That will be a great show to see.

So far, there’s only two dates announced and none of them are near me, so there’s still hope I’ll get to see a decent show this year.

EDIT: Full tour date itinerary has been announced. No dice here. If it comes near you, well lucky you. And it appears Darkest Hour will be on board for every show.

Mar. 11 – Irving Plaza – New York, NY
Mar. 12 – The Palladium – Worcester, MA
Mar. 13 – La Sala Rossa Cabaret – Montreal, QUE
Mar. 14 – Opera House – Toronto, ONT
Mar. 15 – Grog Shop – Cleveland Heights, OH
Mar. 23 – The Social – Orlando, FL
Mar. 24 – Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
Mar. 25 – Tremont Music Hall – Charlotte, NC
Mar. 26 – Greene Street Club – Greensboro, NC
Mar. 28 – First Unitarian Church – Philadelphia, PA
Mar. 29 – Otto Bar – Baltimore, MD
Mar. 31 – Diesel – Pittsburgh, PA
Apr. 01 – The Eagle Theatre – Pontiac, MI
Apr. 02 – Reggie’s Rock Club – Chicago, IL
Apr. 06 – Republik – Calgary, ALB
Apr. 07 – Starlite Room – Edmonton, ALB
Apr. 09 – Rickshaw Theatre – Vancouver, BC

- JR

This may or may not actually happen

Black metal all up in our business this April as Mayhem tours the US and Canada. They’re bringing Ludicra and Tombs in tow, along with Krallice in select dates.

4/7 Washington, DC | 9:30 Club*
4/8 New York, NY | Fillmore at Irving Plaza*
4/9 Cambridge, MA | Middle East Downstairs*
4/10 Montreal, QC | Les Foufounes Electriques*
4/11 Toronto, ON | The Opera House*
4/13 Chicago, IL | Bottom Lounge
4/14 Minneapolis, MN | Triple Rock Social Club
4/15 Winnipeg, MB | Royal Albert Arms
4/16 Regina, SK | The Exchange
4/17 Edmonton, AB | Starlite Room
4/18 Calgary, AB | Republik
4/20 Vancouver, BC | The Commodore Ballroom
4/21 Seattle, WA | Studio Seven
4/22 Portland, OR |  Hawthorne Theatre
4/24 San Francisco, CA | Slim’s
4/25 Los Angeles, CA | Henry Fonda Theater
[*with Krallice]

Nowhere near us. I guess they’re avoiding red states (Mitch = Texas, Me = Kentucky) and are leaning more towards Canada. Can’t say I blame them. Canada is generally more awesome. I’d go see the tour if I could; not because I like black metal, but because of  the theatrics:

- JR

Okay, so I went to the tour Monday and after standing in line for too long I got in slightly late for Scale the Summit’s set. I believe I missed one or two songs. Anyway, they did great but whatever we have more important bands to talk about. Since I knew Devy and Cynic were coming up I pushed my way to the front. Devin’s set started up with probably 20 minutes of sound problems because of the tool on the house soundboard. To pass the time Devin got on the microphone and made conversation with the audience. By conversation, I mean making a total fool of himself in front of a crowd of people. Hilariously, I might add. The set opened with Disruptr from Ki and ended with By Your Command from ZTO. The whole set list was awesome, except for the lack of Hyperdrive. Despite Devin claiming complete awkwardness on stage he was VERY intense, especially for By Your Command. The whole band was pretty precise as far as I noticed. The same goes for Cynic, I didn’t notice a missed note and their presence was really enthralling. Very dense atmosphere and inbetween certain songs they played samples that were a cross between a self help seminar and a philosophy class. To be at a concert for both DT and Cynic is pretty crazy, considering their legendary status and how much I love them both. Between the Buried and Me were pretty disappointing, a completely average performance. Just a lot of standing and “Lets play this absolutely correct, fuck entertainment.” but also being preceded by two bands with much more widely appreciated live performances was silly anyway, but the scene kids won’t even notice so whatever.

A 5/5 concert since DTP and Cynic picked up the slack, a lot.

-MW

ps, watch out for me rockin’ my Cynic hoody and DTP Addicted shirt.

Currently out on tour in support of Between The Buried And Me, Devin Townsend performed his first show in about four years.

Whew…first show over. Hard… fun though! Trying to figure out what to do with myself onstage. Just want to be still and play properly… Folks expect different, but again…first show in 4 years. Forgot to take the price tag off my suit! I really enjoy being out again… Thanks for being understanding of the immense learning curve. Peace friends!

- Devin Townsend (via Twitter)

Oh how I wish I could make it to this show. Despite the semi-awkward absence of Anneke (as seen in the above video) and technical difficulties that leave Devin & Co playing along to a metronome, seeing Devin Townsend play would be something truly amazing to behold. Fuck the distractions, the music and the man behind it are right there. And surely, the show will only get better as him and his band get in the swing of things.

Mitch should be going to see The Great Misdirect Tour tonight, also featuring Scale The Summit and Cynic. Hopefully I can live vicariously through him.

- JR

Devin Townsend and his band are gearing up for the upcoming The Great Misdirect Tour, featuring Between The Buried And Me, Cynic, and Scale The Summit, which starts this month. Devin Townsend uploaded a video featuring clips from reheasals.

Here’s a short clip of a DTP rehearsal, no overdubs, no fixes. We plan to have a choir for the tours coming up after January to cover the background vocals. My plan was ALWAYS to make the live experience tight, and like the record (with a few surprises…) This was our first take of By Your Command that day.

I am thrilled to be able to come play for you, thank you for allowing me to continue doing whatever it is I do. I believe now is the start of it all, What I want to do is pretty epic in terms of live concerts, I think my dissatisfaction with shows in the past is that I want to see and provide people with an EVENT, a spectacle… and the music is the soundtrack to the experience. First things first is getting the new band tight and disciplined, we’re ready to play this first tour (our first one) with BTBAM, Cynic, and Scale The Summit. When I complete ‘Deconstruction’ I believe we’ll have every musical base covered to make a heck of a statement.

Have a great new year folks, keep it strong, keep it brutal. Keep it quiet, keep it gentle.

Devin

Here’s a clip of “By Your Command” from Ziltoid: The Omniscient. Their playing sounds amazing. No doubt they’ll put on a hell of a show.

- JR

So Killswitch Engage are going on a headlining tour. Guess who their direct support is?

The Devil Wears Prada.

This isn’t actually surprising in any way. Anyone could have seen this coming. But someone decided to lob a hand grenade into this stagnant pond and now Dark Tranquility are on board.

They left the skinny jeans at home

So, to express my outrage simply, I’ll sum it up it in one sentence:

Melodic Death Metal pioneers Dark Tranquility are opening for Killswitch Engage and The Devil Wears Prada.

Dear God, the booking agency must know absolutely nothing about metal. If this were In Flames, I could see it. But Dark Tranquility? I’m actually surprised they agreed to play before TDWP. Being that they’ve actually stuck to their roots for the most part (Unlike In Flames and Soilwork), Dark Tranquility are still playing Melodic Death Metal. And they’re stuck supporting their directly influenced Killswitch Engage and crap like TDWP.

At the risk of sounding elitist, this makes me rage.

Tour dates for this mixmatch can be found here.

- JR

The following bands are confirmed for the 2010 Warped Tour:

Ace Enders
After Midnight Project
AM Taxi
Anarbor
Alesana
Andrew WK
Artist Vs. Poet
Attack Attack!
Breathe Carolina
Breathe Electric
Closure In Moscow
Confide
Dillinger Escape Plan
Emarosa
Emmure
Eyes Set To Kill
Fake Problems
Far From Finished
Fight Fair
Hey Monday
In Fear and Faith
Mayday Parade
NeverShoutNever
Of Mice and Men
Parkway Drive
Pierce The Veil
Rev Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Riverboat Gamblers
Set Your Goals
Suicide Silence
Sum 41
The Cab
The Casualties
The Rocket Summer
The Summer Set
VersaEmerge
We Are The In Crowd
Whitechapel
You Me at Six

And the following bands are the ONLY bands worth giving two shits about:

Andrew WK
Dillinger Escape Plan

Jesus Christ, what a weak tour. For the life of me, I’ll never understand why Dillinger Escape Plan keep showing up on this tour, but they do. Andrew WK is fun times for everyone though, although at the Warped Tour, I’d imagine the crowd would only be watching ironically. Those assholes.

So if Warped comes to your town next year, go only for Dillinger and stick around for Andrew WK. Everything else is autotune, tight jeans, and breakdowns.

- JR

So basically, Shining are dropped off the tour because of Visa problems in place of some fucking terrible band with the worst name ever called “Lightning Swords of Death”. Awesome, the main attraction dropped off a tour. I don’t know if just Behemoth and Septicflesh are worth it.

Fuck you Kvarforth.

-MW

In Flames, Between The Buried And Me, The Faceless, and 3 Inches Of Blood will be touring the United States this fall. The lineup screams of win and kickass. I’ve seen In Flames live and thoroughly enjoyed the show. I have BTBAM’s Colors_Live DVD and that’s a pretty rad show. The Faceless perform perfectly, but according to Mitch they just kinda stand there. I’m not a fan of 3 Inches Of Blood, but they’d be fun to see for sure.

Only one date has been announced so far, and that’s 9/21 San Francisco, CA @ The Regency Ballroom.

If they come close enough to where I will live, I’d sell my left testicle to get there. The tour doesn’t have an official name as far as I know, but I’m dubbing it Radfest ‘09.

- JR

This is one of the albums I’m totally stoked for this year, as if you couldn’t guess by how I cover every move Born Of Osiris make.

Here’s the tracklist to A Higher Place, which comes out July 7th on Sumerian Records:

1. Rebirth
2. Elimination
3. The Accountable
4. Now Arise
5. Live Like I’m Real
6. Starved
7. Exist
8. Put To Rest
9. A Descent
10. A Higher Place
11. An Ascent
12. Thrive
13. Faces Of Death

Sounds pretty rad to me. After the jump, listen to the track “Now Arise” and a meh-quality live bootleg of “The Accountable” played at Summer Slaughter.

- JR

Read the rest of this entry

Well, it looks like I wont make it to Summer Slaughter tomorrow. My ride fell through, so I’m stuck here.

If you can make it to the most badass tour of the summer, enjoy it enough for the both of us. If anyone out there can get me a decent quality video of Born of Osiris’ set, I will be your best friend.

If you’re within a decent distance of a show and aren’t going, what the hell is wrong with you? GO GET TICKETS.

- JR