If you’re reading this right now, there a good chance you’ve whiled away a good chunk of your life in videogames shadowing colossi, defending ancients and hiding in cardboard boxes — so, like myself, you’ve probably got a soft spot for when metal and videogames collide. Many bands have tried with varying degrees of success  Recently, Darren Cesca (ex-Arsis) and Joshua Berry joined forces to take on some classic tracks from Castlevania II: Simon’s Quest, ‘Dwelling of Doom‘ and ‘Monster Dance‘, translating them into what is essentially some extremely melodic and technical death metal:

Anyone who has previously played it will be experiencing a complete nostalgia bomb here, but more importantly it’s another reason to believe that classic chiptunes are metal as fuck and honestly I’d love to see more of this.

Also, HIT DEBORAH CLIFF WITH YOUR HEAD TO MAKE A HOLE.

- DL

One up-and-coming alt-rock band to keep an eye on is Eye Ra Haze, a female-fronted group from New York that combines the eight string guitars and floating atmospherics of Deftones with the melodic cadence of Chevelle. The group are releasing a new EP Eye Of The Storm in the coming weeks, and in preparation, the group are releasing a series of vlogs and guitar playthroughs which will be posted exclusively to Heavy Blog!

Today, we bring you the second in the band’s series of vlogs (the first one here) from vocalist Natasha Nicholson and a video playthrough of guitarist Nicole Papastavrou covering Korn‘s classic single ‘Here To Stay’!

You can also stream the band’s new song ‘Quiet Storm’ below.

- JR

Do you like mathcore? Well it doesn’t matter, you should. More importantly, you should like The Colour Line — an up and coming British mathcore band that are set to release their debut later this year.

Signed to Destroy Everything, which you may know as the recently announced sister label to Basick Records, the band caught my attention initially as probably the most intense and heavy of the first batch of bands that the label announced but quickly sold me on their frantic and mind-bending mathcore. Taking the pedal-to-the-floor approach of bands like The Dillinger Escape Plan and Converge, they waste no time in making their intents known in a flurry of off-kilter blasts and skronky chords that you can hear right here and, although new material is thin on the ground at the moment, the band have just released a teaser containing snippets of playthroughs from their rehearsal space:

If even half of those ideas might it into the final product, The Colour Line are going to have something pretty spectacular on their hands. Also, be sure to check out the brilliantly named ‘Thrash Bandicoot‘, it slays.

- DL

We may be right of the cusp of the release of the new Black Dahlia Murder record Everblack, but that hasn’t stopped the band supporting their previous album Ritual, with the recent release of a live video of, what was by far the stand-out track, ‘Moonlight Equilibrium‘. Now I understand the band’s amazing chops may be the most immediate thing for most people, but for anyone like myself  who has seen the band quite a few times now, the most shocking revelation was the fact that vocalist Trevor Strnad is actually wearing a t-shirt.

As it turned out, the Youtube comments are in full agreement with me. It just came all too sudden for me, I’m considering boycotting Everblack until Strnad goes back to his normally shirtless ways but I’m honestly not sure I could hold out as the teasers for the album have been pretty mindblowing.

Everblack will destroy you come June 11th, through Metal Blade Records.

- DL

Sound Awake is my favorite album of all time. It’s the perfect mix of heavy and harmony, and it’s one of those albums you wish you could have written. However, it’s been four years since the band put it out, and although I’ll never tire of it, it’d be nice to have a new album or even just a new song to jam. Well, ladies and gents, it is nearly time.

Karnivool have announced that their new album will come out midway through 2013, is done being recorded, and a new song from the record, ‘The Refusal’, will be played Sunday night. The best part? They’re also releasing it as a free download on Monday. SWEETNESS. They’ve also announced a new music video is in the works and is being edited now. Being that this is my most anticipated record of the year (and probably also of 2011 and 2012 when I learned they had started writing it), this is huge news. Finally getting close to the release date means that soon the album will be out and everyone can enjoy it. It also means that they can come tour the US again and I can finally see them live, having missed them last time due to work.

The band also released a short video blog about the album, with some little snippets of songs, and judging by what I heard, it sounds like it may be their heaviest and most complex album yet. You can read the full statement from the band after the jump, but stay tuned; we’ll have the single up on Monday!

-SS

August Burns Red are one of the few metalcore bands that keep me intrigued. Though I wasn’t much of a fan of Leveler, I think Constellations is one of the best albums of the genre and completely set a new bar for it. I’m super excited for their upcoming record Rescue And Restore as are quite a few of the writers here, and today the band gave us a first glimpse of the record with their single ‘Fault Line’. And it’s awesome. It’s both heavy and melodic, with some of the best guitar work I’ve heard from the band. There’s even some clean vocals on this track, and they fit in quite nicely with the rest of the song. If this is any indication of how the new album is going to sound, I’m even more stoked. Rev up your excitebikes, ladies and gents!

Rescue And Restore is out June 25th via Solid State Records.

-SS

Sometimes a very brilliant and promising band can exist somewhere and we will have missed out on them entirely. I mean, sure, we’re supposed to have our ears to the ground and fingers on the pulse and all that other nonsense but we do what we can to get by. At any rate, it’s better late than never! We have for you today a symphonic black metal band from Finland, Shade Empire.

Shade Empire have been around since 1999, which makes my oversight on this group that much more embarrassing. However, the group is just now releasing their first album in five years with Omega Arcane, so cut us a break. The band’s sound is comparable to Wintersun, albeit more sinister, brutal, and melancholic. Check out their latest single ‘Ruins‘ below.

I’m listening to the rest of the album as I’m typing this, and let me tell you that this album worthy of year-end best-of lists. We may or may not crack out a review of it, but don’t sleep on Omega Arcane. It’s out now in Europe through Candlelight Records.

- JR

Koi No Yokan was my second favorite album of last year, and the best record Deftones have ever made. Seriously, go listen to it. But it had been a while and there was still no music video for any song on the album, until now. The band, partnering with Noisey, have released a music video for ‘Swerve City‘. I dig it, and you should too. Check it out below.

The video is kind of odd in that it’s literally mostly a woman riding a horse, but at least the band have kept in the tradition of having pretty videos!

-SS

Touche Amore are one of the best new bands to come around. Their fusion of hardcore music with almost pop guitar melodies is really awesome, and I especially dug their recent split with Pianos Become The Teeth when they took a more post-rock turn. It really boded well for them, and as of today, the band are already done tracking drums for the newest record, set to be released this fall via Deathwish Inc. I’ll tell you, it’s going to be a big year for Deathwish: Touche Amore, Deafheaven, Harms Way, Young And In The Way and possibly even Trap Them all have records set to come out, and I’m stoked for all of them, even more so because I know that Deathwish is a killer label who always puts out quality releases. Watch the teaser video below and keep up with their Facebook, and we’ll have more news as it comes!

-SS

While touring through Russia, Emmure frontman Frankie Palmeri was electrocuted due to faulty stage wiring at a venue in Moscow. Despite the humor derived from Palmeri and his antics, I wouldn’t actually want to wish harm on him by any means. Electric shock can be quite dangerous, and I’m actually glad Palmeri was able to get up and walk away. That being said, schadenfreude a powerful thing and watching him tense up and fall is pretty funny. Perhaps its some cosmic force making things right for all that “nigga” nonsense. You can watch the video below. Fun starts at 2:10.

I mean, just look at this and try not to rage.

The Dillinger Escape Plan performed three songs in this week’s Revolver Golden Gods Awards, and judging by the motionless crowd, it would appear that they didn’t get the group either despite a high-energy performance. Let’s face it though; the folks at the awards show aren’t interested in mathcore; they’re either industry insiders or fans of mainstream or traditional metal. It’s Revolver, after all. Hopefully one day Decibel will be as big, but that’s unlikely because music is scary.

Look at me sounding elitist when I have no right to be.

Check out the video below, featuring the tracks ‘Prancer,’ ‘When I Lost My Bet,’ and a cover of Depeche Mode’s ‘Behind the Wheel’ with guest vocals from Deftones’ Chino Moreno. Insane performance involving blood, destruction, and FIRE.

- JR

Vale Of Pnath are another one of those bands that I always hear of, but never manage to hear. I guess I could be slightly forgiven seeing as the band released their last album in 2011 and have remained fairly quiet on the whole ‘releasing new material’ part of the bargain which is where I normally catch on, but given the quality of ‘Sightless‘, I should probably check out their debut The Prodigal Empire.

This technical death metal band display all the trademarked talent of any band picked up by Willowtip records and tip their hat to all manner of band’s including Arsis, The Black Dahlia Murder and Gorod. Which makes sense considering the band are currently on tour through America alongside Inanimate Existance, Kamikabe and aforementioned Frenchmen Gorod and while I can’t find much information on their upcoming plans, I can only assume the band must be working on something soon. And this time I’ll be ready for it.

- DL

It’s been four long years since Mumakil dropped Behold The Failure on us — an album that blew my tiny sixteen year old mind. Since then, plenty of grind bands have come and gone but not many can hold a candle to the intensity produced in those 27 tracks. Finally, they have returned and have begun the hype machine for their upcoming new album Flies Will Starve with a lyric video for a new track, ‘Wrong Turn‘.

The band stated in preparation for the album:

This will be our best album in terms of production, riff quality, variation and songwriting. It is going to be a great mix between everything we love in grindcore and death-metal with subjects like war, anger, pain, personal experiences and deceptions, and an overall theme about mankind’s permanent will to destroy itself.

I wouldn’t expect anything less from this Swiss grind troupe — Flies Will Starve looks set to give 2013 the grind kick it really needs when it drops on June 25th through the legendary Relapse Records.

- DL

There’s definitely something weird going on with British bands and vocalists. Now I’m not saying there’s a massive conspiracy whereby Ozzy Osbourne sweeps through the night regularly on his flying fiery chariot made of money feeding on the attention spans of extremely talented metal vocalists, making them want to move on to other endeavors, like some kind of emotional vampire/sasquatch/immortal lizard man buuuuut…. Well no one’s ever proved that Ozzy doesn’t have a flaming chariot made of money, have they? So there’s that.

Regardless, tech-metallers Aliases are finally back and they have welcomed new vocalist Joe Rosser into the fold after an extensive search. Not wasting any time, the band have released a new track ‘Exasperated‘ complete with video accompaniment, which can be viewed below:

I’ve only managed to listen through ‘Exasperated‘ once but it’s pretty obvious Rosser was a great choice for their sound — his cleans and shouts sit perfectly over the top of the band’s always energetic and jittery riffs and anchor them into the territory of expertly catchy. Plus, it’s good to see them finally catching a break and being able to finally make proper progress on their follow up to their 2011 debut Safer Than Reality, which should apparently see the light of day later this year through those wonderful people over at Basick Records. You can download your very own copy of the track to love and treasure here at the band’s bandcamp page. Here’s to hoping Ozzy leaves them well alone this time.

- DL

Thankfully the ceremony saw the band doing what they do best and even included an amazing cover of the first section of the epic ‘2112‘ by two members of the Foo Fighters and recent Rush producer Nick Raskulinecz, complete with kimonos and garish platform shoes. Considering the fact that they were covering a band in front of thousands of their fans, wearing some pretty unsuitable garb, I’d say they did amazingly well. Check it out after the jump!

All this just solidifies the idea that Grohl and co. are great and that ‘2112‘ is a timeless classic that always sounds great and that everyone should know off by heart by now (seriously, if you’re reading this and you don’t, for shame, hop to it right now you mug). Also, be sure to check out Alex Lifeson’s acceptance speech, it’s just the greatest thing. Skip to 4:45.

Lad.

-DL