The surprisingly so-so All Stars Tour now has tour dates! The trek — featuring Every Time I Die, Veil of Maya, iwrestledabearonce, and more — will run through July and August. Special guests Volumes will be performing July 26th-August 11th and Structures will appear July 19th-25th and August 12th-17th. Here are the dates:
We don’t take part in nearly enough music festivals, but that’s slowly starting to change. We were able to send our resident photographer Chris Collins to South By So What?! festival in Grand Prairie, TX on March 16th to get shots of a number of bands. The festival is a polarizing one, but here’s something in its depths for everyone. Among those of interest to us in particular were Architects, Betraying the Martyrs, Chelsea Grin, I Declare War, Norma Jean, and Upon a Burning Body. Check out the photos below:
I tend to think of these yearly summer package tours that Sumerian Records and the Pantheon Agency put on as falling on a certain spectrum. One one end you have Summer Slaughter, meant for fans of more extreme music which has now branched out to appeal to prog fans. On the other end All Stars Tour appeals to more hardcore/scene fans — think a selection of bands that you could see on the heavier end of Warped. I tend to align myself with Summer Slaughter Tour and avoid All Stars like the plague, but this year’s All Stars tour has at least three bands I’d LOVE to see!
Avant-Garde is definitely an acquired taste. If someone had shown me Gorguts four or five years ago I wouldn’t have dug it; I was still scratching my head at Tool’s change from 7/8 to 13/6. However, when I discovered iwrestledabearonce’s debut LP It’s All Happening, my ears were confused. I had never heard anything of the sort. They mixed bluegrass with metalcore, interspersed with symphonic black metal moments, and even some technical guitar work. It was truly mind-boggling, but it worked. And not only did it work, but people my age enjoyed it. I knew people who went to their shows not because they were on the same bill as Asking Alexandria, but because they wanted to see something different. So, with metal purists fuming at this point in the story, how does IWABO fit in with the “avant-garde” genre?
It’s no secret that I’m a guy who loves the DIY aesthetic when it comes to bands. Nothing makes me smile wider than knowing an awesome record came from some awesome dudes in an awesome basement somewhere in an awesome upper-middle class neighborhood… Especially when those dudes have sick mosh riffment!
Ogden/SLC local homies Consumed By Silence are just the types of DIY, breakdown-loving bros that the self-release scene needs (let’s face it, it’s oversaturated with a bedroom djent project for every plural noun in the dictionary). Earlier this year they released the sick ‘Systematic Collapse.’ A brutal single reminiscent of older Whitechapel.
After that, we got the more varied ‘The Arramental‘ single. It’s not quite as heavy, but has some cool chugged chord progressions and the awesome production of Stetson Whitworth (who worked on Chelsea Grin‘s awesome step-forward Evolve). And now we’ve got the new single ‘Illuminated’ featuring Gus Farias of Volumes. The song has some creepy overtones (a la that sick production work), and just generally sick breakdowns
So with all this sick moshing going on, you may be worried you’ll have to wait until next year for your next favorite mosh-friendly record, but not quite so. The full-length The Tyranny of Tradition drops doomsday 12/21/12, and you can be assured when it drops, it’ll be doom for any weenies in the pit.
- NS
So Chelsea Grin, complete with ex-Born of Osiris guitarist Jason Richardson, are releasing their new Evolve EP soon, which contains some re-recorded tracks of theirs and a new track called ‘Lilith,’ which you can hear above. Either I am gaining a tolerance for/becoming desensitized to exhausting generic deathcore staples, but this new track seems like it could mark an upswing in the band’s otherwise abysmal discography.
‘Lilith‘ sees the band picking up some symphonic influences, Jason Richardson’s added guitar flair, and apparently clean singing. While I love me some vocal melodies, the chorus on ‘Lilith‘ is just not good, and that’s not to mention those whiney cleans earlier in the song. While the band are arguably musically better, the vocals and lyrics are the weakest part. If I had a dollar for every tough guy deathcore kid who used the lyrics ‘fuck this world’…
What do you folks think of the new track? Let us know! Evolve is due out June 19th on Artery Records.
Born of Osiris released what some would call their opus, The Discovery, last year. It got a ton of praise, and for good reason; the band ramped up their progressive and melodic side and really transcended that whole “fuckin’ bow down” chugfest label that some naysayers wrote them off as. You know this, obviously; how many people out there reading Heavy Blog have never heard The Discovery? Probably not many.
In that regard, when the band kicked out latest guitarist Jason Richardson, whose first output with the band was the suddenly excellent The Discovery, some people called into question whether or not the band would recover and be able to make new music that was as good as The Discovery. Well, judging by the very brief new pre-production teasers, those people can breathe a sigh of relief/start eating their words. The band have been hard at work writing their new album, projected to be a late 2012 release. You can watch some very brief teasers above and below.
As you can see, the sound present on The Discovery is still intact. Still no word on whether or not Jason Richardson will make Chelsea Grin worth listening to, but signs point to “doubt it.”
- JR
Impending Doom01. Murderer
02. For The Wicked
03. Chaos: Reborn
04. Deceiver
05. Falling Away
06. Absolute Horror
07. Angry Letters To God
08. Baptized In Filth
09. My Light Unseen
10. Death. Ascension. Resurrection.
Deathcore is a very touchy subject this side of Heavy Blog Is Heavy. The name is infamous in the metal community, especially with so called “metal purists” who think that breakdowns and 808 bass drops don’t belong in metal. Personally, I like deathcore. I think everyone needs some good music just to vibe to. You don’t always need to have a super technical guitar solo over a 21/8 riff while going 220 BPM. Sometimes, the standard 4/4 chug is a breath of fresh air after consuming ample amounts of tech metal or death metal. Impending Doom do deliver some of the sickest chugs I have heard in a while. However, I can’t help but feel dissatisfied with Baptized in Filth.
Woah, I didn’t really see this coming. After a great year and critical acclaim for their latest album The Discovery, Born of Osiris apparently fired their guitarist Jason Richardson.
To all of our fans and followers, we have decided to part ways with guitarist Jason Richardson. This was something that just needed to happen. We will be a more creative, energized, and focused unit as a result. The past year was the band’s most successful and we owe it all to our amazing fans. We promise everyone that 2012 will see us take further steps to bringing every aspect of our band to a new level. We couldn’t possibly be more excited for what the future holds.
Also, since the finishing touches were put on The Discovery we’ve already been in the process of writing our next album. The past month and next two we will be home writing and finalizing the record that will be released this summer/fall.
Big news coming soon regarding our summer touring schedule, we can’t wait to see all of you again soon with some new music to play for you!
On top of the split, Richardson has recently joined Chelsea Grin as a fill-in guitarist. Richardson is no stranger to band hopping, either; after replacing Chris Storey in All Shall Perish in 2009, he quit the next year to join BoO. I’m also a bit surprised that they already have another record preparing for release this year. Was the greatness of The Discovery due to Richardson joining or was it the direction the band were already heading?
Jason seems to think it’s the former. Not long after the announcement of the split, Jason gave his side of the story:
Just to clarify to everyone I did NOT quit Born of Osiris, I would have never been able to bring myself to do such a thing no matter how much tension was between us. All of those dudes were essentially my family, I lived in the same house as them for over 2 years. This was by no means at all my decision(not that I was involved in the decision in any way shape or form lol). I have been fired from the band because I, “don’t agree with the way they want to live their lives” and “it felt like their dad was in the band.” So instead of confronting me about my eeeendless bitching about their excessive drinking and assorted drug abuse they decided that calling me at 130 in the morning 4 days before christmas while I’m home visiting family to tell me that all of my belongings from the new BOO house were in my trailer on the way to me in VA was the professional way to handle it. So i can say with pride that I will NEVER play another note on stage with the group of cowards that is Born of Osiris. I don’t give a fuck what they think of me for putting their personal stuff out there, I want everyone to see them for who they really are. Im just happy the truth finally came out and now I know what truly matters to them and it is NOT putting out albums like The Discovery.
