Hello there, ladies and gentlemen. Are you ready to rock? HUGE lineup this week

Abscess – Dawn Of Inhumanity (Peaceville)
Acrassicauda – Only The Dead See The End Of War EP (Vice)
Aldaaron – Nous Reviendrons Immortels (Paragon)
Annotations of An Autopsy – Before the Throne of Infection Re-Release (Earache)
Before Their Eyes – Untouchable (Rise)
The Bled – Heat Fetish (Rise)
Blind Witness – Nightmare On Providence Street (Mediaskare)
The Breathing Process – The Odyssey (Un)dead (Candlelight)
Darkthrone – Frostland Tapes (Peaceville)
Daughters – Daughters (Hydra Head)
Demon Hunter – The World Is A Thorn (Solid State)
Dark Tranquillity – We Are The Void (Century Media)
Eluveitie – Everything Remains As It Never Was (Nuclear Blast)
Fear Factory – Mechanize (Limited Edition) (Vinyl) (Candlelight)
Finntroll – Nifelvind (Century Media)
Immolation – Majesty and Decay (Nuclear Blast)
Murder Death Kill – Fuck With Us and Find Out (Mediaskare)
Of Mice And Men – Of Mice And Men (Rise)
Sectioned – Purulent Reality (Paragon)
Serj Tankian And the Auckland Philharmonic Orchestra – Elect The Dead Symphony (Serjical Strike/Reprise)
Van Canto – Tribe Of Force (Napalm)
Varg – Blutaar (Napalm)
White Wizzard – Over The Top (Earache)

[via The PRP and About.com]

Wow, this is a pretty good week. One of the better ones so far this year! There should be something for everyone here. If you can’t find something you like, you’re either too fucking picky or you’re on the wrong website.

Have a good week!

- JR

New Dillinger Escape Plan song “Chinese Whispers” premiered on Full Metal Jackie last night. And just like every other internet radio premier or stream, someone rips it and uploads it to YouTube. Fuck yeah, Faith No More influenced Dillinger is always awesome!

Catch “Chinese Whispers” in higher quality on Tuesday when Metalsucks hosts the stream. We’re about two weeks away from this bombshell dropping on us all; March 23, via Party Smasher Inc and Season of Mist.

- JR

As you may or (most likely) may not know, I’ve written about The Crinn during the early days of HBIH. As a refresher, The Crinn are a mathcore band based out of St. Paul, Minnesota.

From the band’s bio on MySpace:

The Crinn’s self titled EP came to light in the spring of 2007, and after touring the south east to support the EP, The Crinn signed a digital distribution deal with the now defunct record label Corrosive Recordings. This signing allowed the band to greatly expand the reach of their music.

Shortly after the signing with Corrosive, The Crinn and drummer Corey parted ways, which led to the introduction of Chris Zugschwert. He learned the EP in only a few months, then The Crinn embarked on a west coast tour that took them throughout the south, up the west coast and back home to Minnesota.

Upon returning to St. Paul, The Crinn began work on the writing of their next release, “Dreaming Saturn”. In November of 2008, they were offered a record deal by Nuclear Blast to record their next album.

The album, Dreaming Saturn, was promoted as being released on October 19th, 2009 on Nuclear Blast. The year went on and the world of The Crinn went practically silent. The calendar rolled over to 2010 and I’ve yet to hear any new music or word of Dreaming Saturn.

That was until recently when they posted a new song “Man Eating Machine” on their MySpace page. The page also claims that Dreaming Saturn will be out Spring 2010. As far as I can tell, there isn’t an official date set, but they’re having an album release show on April 24th.

Finally, the album is within sight. The idea of Dreaming Saturn is fairly interesting. It’s a concept album, written as one singular piece of music broken up into tracks for the album (as you can tell on Man Eating Machine where it seems to randomly cut off). They used what they call “circular songwriting” with a lot of “ebbs and bows and ups and downs”. The Crinn have stepped up the songwriting by including more varying passages to break up the chaos and the new material sometimes has a more subtle melodic side, while maintaining the twisted technicality.

I think that Dreaming Saturn will surprise the people that hear it, and even has the ability to be a contender as being one of the best albums of the year. That is, if it ever comes out.

- JR

Haunted Shores posted the following update on their MySpace.

Greetings,

We’ll be releasing a split EP with our good friends in Cyclamen (UK), due out tentatively next month! We’re almost done with it, just putting the finishing touches on one more track on our end, as well as some artwork. From the bits I’ve heard of the Cyclamen material it is gonna be something truly special. Appearing on the split EP will be final versions of “When in Oslo” and one more song (which we will be posting here soon!). After that comes out Chris and I will resume work on the new album! We’ve been writing together a ton and are beyond excited to share it with you guys. I also wanted to formally thank all of you who have given us positive feedback on the new iteration of HS. We really take it to heart, especially considering the fact that we’re kind of getting a fresh start if you will. So thanks to all who have listened… tell your friends aboot us!

If you haven’t heard of Cyclamen, shame on you. I interviewed Hayato Imanishi earlier this year. They’re a really great band and are playing their first show with Tesseract March 19th in High Wycombe, UK. Haunted Shores, on the other hand, is a thrashier sounding djenty band based out of Washington DC, featuring Mark Holcomb on guitar and bass and ex-Periphery singer Chris Barretto. Periphery songwriter Misha Monsoor apparently makes studio appearances and handles some of the production.

Everyone should check this EP out and help support independent artists like Cyclamen and Haunted Shores. It will definitely be worth checking out.

- JR

Or at least they try to, in the promo video for their cover of ‘Sabotage’. With mildly entertaining results. Crazy Candians.

To be honest, I was completely unaware that Cancer Bats were releasing an album this year. I like them, but have never been overly into them, which is weird, because they’re exactly the kind of band I should love, a-la Every Time I Die.

This album has the potential to change that though. I really really like this song, and as a result will probably be getting Bears, Mayors, Scraps and Bones when it hits stores on April 13th.

Job done, promotional advertising. Job done.

- CG

Right here, sixth song down, the studio version of “Icarus Lives”!

Sadly, the quality is slightly lacking, but it made me that much more excited for Periphery’s debut album, which is out on 4/20. You know, I can’t think of another band with this much hype and such a huge fan base before even releasing anything official. That speaks volumes on the band. They’ve got lasting power, for sure. SO EXCITE.

- JR

I posted about these dudes a while back. Continuing the DIY ethic of their debut album Contrasts, they’ve built their own official site, on their own. In fact, I believe it was only one of them, and he knows squat all about web design. Props?

The main reason for posting this is the plethora of audible goodies you get as a result. Their Myspace page offers two of the best tracks from Contrasts, as well as some tasty new demos, but for those of you hooked by ‘When the Tiger Lost His Voice‘, ‘The Unspeakable‘ and ‘Happy Ever Afternoon‘, the player on StellaDawes.com also features the third recent demo, as well as album tracks ‘Dichotomy‘, ‘Everything Happens to Eeyore‘ and ‘Investment Intercourse: A Deposit‘.

These guys are one of my favourite unsigned British bands; blending chaotic screamo with atmospheric post-whatever, but always feeling fresh. Think how refreshing City of Caterpillar were, and you’re someway close to these awesome dudes.

I hope this spurs you on to supporting them, even if it’s the measly £3* offering, because they’re genuinely a talented bunch.

- CG

*$4.50 at time of going to press

Awww yeah.

Diamond Eyes
Royal
CMND/CTRL
You’ve Seen the Butcher
Beauty School
Prince
Rocket Skates
Sextape
Risk
976-EVIL
This Place Is Death

I really hope “CMND/CTRL” is the same kind of experimental track as “U, U, D, D, L, R, L, R, A, B, SELECT, START” (wow that was a pain to type) from 2006’s Saturday Night Wrist. Deftones‘ version of post rock = great.

Pointless speculation based on similarly themed song titles is too easy.

The album’s title track “Diamond Eyes” is set to be the official single for the album, but apparently, according to The PRP, they’re doing a video of “Rocket Skates”. Wut?

So in case you missed it, here’s Rocket Skates. You can download that sumbitch right here for free.

Deftones’ highly anticipated Diamond Eyes is out May 18th on Reprise Records.

- JR

Sumeriancore frontrunners Veil of Maya released the studio version of “Unbreakable” for streaming over on their MySpace page. While it doesn’t stick with me as well as “Namaste” did, I still dig it quite a bit.

“Unbreakable” is from their upcoming album [id] via Sumerian Records. Just as the animation says, it’s due out April 6th. I can’t wait.

While we’re on the topic of Sumerian Records, has anyone noticed that they don’t release vinyl versions? I’d love to have The Faceless‘ discography on vinyl but apparently Sumerian doesn’t put any priority on this at all. With the upcoming VoM and Periphery releases, I’d love to preorder them on vinyl, but no dice. Step it up, Sumerian! Music geeks want to give you their money!

- JR

Only Gwar could come up with something like this. This actually boggled my mind.

Via SMN News:

In an announcement given to a “bunch of penguins”, from the bowels of their Antarctic fortress, the world’s sickest band, the mighty GWAR, has announced the continuation of their 25th Anniversary with a public event of colossal proportion – the Crack-a-Thon.

“We are trying to raise money for the kids…not just muscular dystrophy, but retards as well, all kinds of fucked-up freaks,” said Oderus.

The event will kickoff on April 10th, 2010 at the notorious MF Gallery in Brooklyn, NY. The weeklong debauchery will be broadcast live on the World Wide Web, and anybody with internet access will be able to view the gala event free of charge. Viewers will be able to pledge funds via a website to be announced later – check http://www.MFgallery.net for details. Rumors that any money raised will actually be used to pay off Oderus’ crack debt were immediately confirmed.

Sleazy P. Martini, manager of GWAR and reputed underworld overlord said, “Oderus is completely wasted and really has no concept of money, instead he prizes things like little pieces of rope or dead dogs and dead dogs don’t pay the bills!”

“The boys and me wanna give something back to the community, you know, something besides AIDS…”

After the kickoff party on April 10th, there will be a week of intense preparation, as the MF Gallery is transformed into Slave Pit TV central, and Oderus is set loose on the streets of NYC. His atrocities will be carefully documented and broadcast during the Crack-a-Thon, which will commence on Friday April 16th, 2010. Live web cams will broadcast all the action from the gallery.

The Crack-a-Thon will begin on Friday, April 16th and will go as long as it takes to pay off Oderus‘ bill, or he gets bored and leaves, whatever comes first. The public is invited to be our studio audience, and should contact MF Gallery for information on how to reserve a seat in the Crack-a-Thon audience.

Oderus will be joined by band mate Balsac, the Jaws of Death, who will serve as band leader and comic foil.

“I really don’t know why I demean myself by associating with him,” said the metal-faced horror, “but it will be fun watching him fail.”

The rumored list of guests scheduled to appear include Tiger Woods, God, and Carmen Electra’s torso, though this was subject to change. Confirmed is the shadowy underground performance troupe, the F-Minus Art Players, led by the sewer-dwelling playwright and art-fag Anton Reemcobb, who are slated to perform some of their shockingly neo-dada-esque bullshit theatre. Also confirmed are cybernetic musical guests DETHRACE, among others.

I just don’t even…

- JR

Dat Bass

The UK apparently has this scene going with proggy fill-in-the-blankcore, what with Johnny Truant (RIP), Architects, Arusha Accord, and Fellsilent hitting it fairly big (our local Brit Chris could maybe elaborate on this more I suppose). And in the footsteps of SiKth, there’s also a few bands out there in this style using two vocalists (as is the case in Arusha and Fellsilent). It’s pretty cool, I think.

Anyway, Kerrang debuted Arusha Accord’s new video “Dead To Me”, from their stellar debut full-length album The Echo Verses. The video is nothing special, but the song is good. I love how the bass is so high in the mix.

The Echo Verses is out right now, so you should probably go find it somewhere and give it a spin. Expect time signature shifts, audible bass, and killer vocal harmonies. It’s a fun listen.

- JR

Tosin Abasi <3

- JR

The deathcore scene is stagnant and slowly decaying, save for a few stand out Sumeriancore bands that decide to mix some shit up. Bands like The Faceless, Veil of Maya, and All Shall Parish actually have something extra going on and stand out as being the talent that’s ultimately saving this sub-genre from dying out.

Chelsea Grin, however, are prime example of how it can all go to shit. While they aren’t exactly the worst out there *ahemcoughOceanocough*, Chelsea Grin’s Desolation of Eden is probably the most uninspired music I’ve subjected myself to purposefully all year. There’s nothing new or exciting about this music at all.

Just what I expected. The crabcore influence is plain as day!

The riffs are nothing exciting, although there’s a hint of a decent melodic guitar line every now and then, nothing saves this album from being a wasteland of 3rd rate chugging and breakdowns. The vocals are as you’d expect at this point in the review. The highs are lackluster and the lows are just plain average. There’s even some BREEEEE going on at points. No thanks.

The breakdowns. The fucking breakdowns. In general, sometimes breakdowns are useful. But when you put them in every single song (sometimes multiple times), then you’re missing the whole point of having a breakdown in the first place. Speaking as deathcore as a whole, it’s gotten to the point where breakdowns ALL SOUND EXACTLY THE SAME. How many variations of breakdowns can possibly be written before we can just call it a day? Even the one great song on this album, “Elysium”, which is a melodic instrumental track, is plagued by the most pointless breakdown ever tacked on at the end. It’s like they didn’t even try and are throwing them in as a crutch for poor songwriting.

The only good song. I’m not even going to bother post another sample.

In summation, unless you enjoy uninspired chugging that doesn’t challenge the listener at all or want to be bored to sleep, then this is an album you should avoid. This music is as contrived as it gets.

Chelsea Grin – Desolation of Eden gets

1.5/5 – Poor

- JR

Are you really good at guitar and can not only think outside the box, but completely obliterate it? If so, Hunab Ku wants your help.

Their current guitar player Luke Jaeger (2nd to left) is looking to part ways with the band, but instead of being a dick, he will continue to play with the band until a replacement is found, and even going as far as teaching the replacement guitar player how to play the parts, if necessary. How boss of him! If you’re a fan of Hunab Ku and have serious talent and is dedicated to touring and writing crazy music, this is your calling.

They’re taking submissions right now, and will send isolated guitar and drum tracks to those who need them. If you think you can do it, send mp3s or links showing off your skills to hunabku5(at)yahoo(dot)com or via message at their myspace.

- JR

Bongripper, a Chigago, IL based doom band knoWn for being lOng, sludgy, harsh, and even stRaight up noise muSic are getting ready to put out tHeir new full length album tItled Satan Worshipping Doom. The album will contain 4 songs and will clock in at over an hour of SATAN. The track listing is as follows. I’m Pretty excited.

1.  Hail
2.  Satan
3.  Worship
4.  Doom

No joke either. TheSe guys Are seriously good and I wanT to see how they pull off slightly more trAditioNal and cheesy early doom. If you haven’t heard their material before, I suggest the releases Hippie Killer, The Great Barrier Reefer. The band are still looking for a label or some distribution for the new album, so if you can provide that for them, provide that.

-MW