If you take the massive riffing of progressive death metal masterminds Gojira and tweak it up with the weird brutality of Wormed and a touch of Cynic-influenced jazz fusion, you’ve got on your hands the likes of HYBRID. The group’s new album Angst is out today on Deepsend Records and it comes across as a master’s thesis project on progressive extreme metal. Really, there’s pretty much everything going on here that we like in the genre, from wild experimentation (there’s sitar didgeridoo involved somewhere!) to tastefully done tech-death slapsticks and truly memorable riffs.
As most of you may know, this past Saturday was Record Store Day, an industry holiday created to boost sales for independent record stores by releasing limited exclusive records to physical shops across the world. I took part in Record Store Day, and here’s what I was able to come up with.
After a rocky end to last year’s almost-reformation and tribute to the legendary Deaththat left the tour in a bit of controversy (to say the least), the much talked about Sweet Relief benefit Death to All tour will once again be making the trek across North America this April. More cities will be visited, making this year’s first iteration of Death To All (dubbed DTA1) much more accessible!
Australian progressive extreme metallers, Ne Obliviscaris, last year attracted widespread praise for their brilliant debut album, Portal of I, and have now followed in the footsteps of fellow Melbourne bands Destroyer 666 and Blood Duster by signing with French label Season of Mist. With a strong background in black and progressive metal, and a roster currently boasting names such as Cynic, Carach Angren, and Deathspell Omega, let alone legends Morbid Angel and Mayhem, Season of Mist seems the perfect fit for Ne Obliviscaris as they seek to capitalise on the success of Portal of I, and expand their profile worldwide.
You can read the band’s official statement after the jump. View Full Article »
Hello, everyone! Welcome back! We left you last month with a week-long retrospective of the year in the way of our own personal best-of lists. With 2012 a thing of the past and a new year of promising releases coming up ahead, we felt it appropriate to open our posting cycle in 2013 with a look forward. Throughout the week, several writers will be giving you breakdowns on what records you can look forward to in the coming year. To get you started in planning the year ahead, here are five albums that you need to keep an eye out for:
Cynic – TBA Third Album (Season of Mist)
The progressive metal legends will see a return in 2013 with the follow-up to 2008′s Traced In Air. It doesn’t really feel like it’s been nearly five years since their critically acclaimed comeback, as the band have tied us over with several tours and EPs. Granted, the extreme metal roots that the band started with (the core being members of Death for crying out loud!) have nearly vanished, but Cynic have been leaning much more into a new-age psychedelic jazz fusion sort of sound that is both thrilling and thought-provoking.
Having returned to the studio in December, drummer Sean Reinert promises, “a bold new sound for CYNIC and marks a gigantic leap in the band’s progression. We’ve had a lot of time to let this material develop and gestate, and it finally feels ready to be unleashed on the world. I’ve been in trio mode with Malone and Masvidal flushing out a zillion and one details, and couldn’t be happier about what’s happening with these songs. They are truly alive!”
And with song titles like ‘Endlessly Bountiful’, ‘Moon Heart Sun Head’, and ‘True Hallucination Speak,’ you can guarantee that the band will be back in full force with their shamanistic aesthetic.
Between finals week and being in a constant limbo of varying degrees of sickness, I’m bound to forget to pass on good news from time to time. Today I’m going to make up for one such instance: Jazz metal fusionists Exivious are now back in action after guitarist Tymon Kruidenier and bassist Robin Zielhorst parted ways with Cynic. Returning with fellow-guitarist Michel Nienhuis (also of avant-garde black metal group Dodecahedron) and backed by new drummer Yuma van Eekelen, the trio are in the studio trying to make their sophomore album Liminal happen. Though, being in a jazz-metal fusion band means you’re going to want stellar production for a very niche genre of music, so the cost is going to be high and money is going to be scarce. The group are out of funds and are turning to fans to help pay for studio time.
Luckily, the band were able to reach their goal without much issue at all, which guarantees that the album will see the light of day within the next year. You can still contribute and pre-order Liminal early at the band’s website. Get in on it while the getting’s good and make sure they have plenty of comfortable breathing room in their budget. In the mean time, check out some studio footage and clips of new music below:
Liminal will be self-released in 2013. Get excited!
My fanboy excitement can hardly be contained. Psychedelic progressive metal legends Cynic are now in the studio recording the full-length follow-up to 2008′s Traced In Air. While waiting five years for a new album is torturous from some bands, Cynic have at leased kept fans happy with two EPs in the mean time, Re-Traced and Carbon-Based Anatomy. The evolution as a band since their reformation is starting to see a shift towards more post-rock with indigenous folk and jazz fusion influences as opposed to the tech death band they began as, and while this has alienated many people, I for one welcome our tripped-out prog overlords.
Here’s some of the important information surrounding the band’s third full-length studio album:
Cynic have entered Perfect Sound studios in Hollywood, California to begin recording a new album!About the new material, drummer Sean Reinert said: “This album marks CYNIC’s 5th release [6th if you count the Portal Tapes demos recently released under the Cynic name. - JR]. It’s a bold new sound for CYNIC and marks a gigantic leap in the band’s progression. We’ve had a lot of time to let this material develop and gestate, and it finally feels ready to be unleashed on the world. I’ve been in trio mode with Malone and Masvidal flushing out a zillion and one details, and couldn’t be happier about what’s happening with these songs. They are truly alive!”
Early working titles for tracks include: “Endlessly Bountiful”, “Moon Heart Sun Head”, and “True Hallucination Speak”.
Expect this beauty out through Season of Mist in 2013.
11 years ago Chuck Schuldiner lost his battle with cancer, and left the world of death metal with a huge void. Yeah, there are bands that are great that also play death metal, but Chuck was the genre. He lived, breathed, and slept it. Some even refer to him as the Godfather of Death Metal. I can only imagine how Death would be today if Chuck had survived. Constantly progressing from one album to the next, getting more and more technical and experimental, his contribution to metal is definitely something that cannot be ignored.
So, today, we honor our fallen brother. He may be shredding in heaven, but to many people, through he music, he is still with us. In remembrance here are my five favorite songs by Death. Love and peace, Chuck. Tell Dime and Jimi I said what’s up.
Meantime, it’s your turn! List your five favorite Death songs in the comments below, and share a concert story if you were lucky enough to have seen him live!
For the past few weeks, up and coming progressive metal act Unconscious Disturbance have been sharing with us footage from the studio sessions for their debut album Mind’s Corner, out now and available on Bandcamp. Last week, we posted the band’s first guitar tracking footage, which continues into this week’s studio report, below:
Last week, Brazil via Brooklyn progressive metal group Unconscious Disturbanceshared with us an exclusive look into the recording process (specifically, the drum tracking) of their debut album Mind’s Corner, which is due out next week, December 4th. This week, the band are continuing to roll out their series of studio videos with us with a look into the bass tracking. You can watch the video below:
Being a group that picks up on a lot of Latin musical influence, their rhythm section seems to be very strong in this regard. Unconscious Disturbance’s psychedelic grooves call to mind the likes of Cynic and Intronaut, which already puts the band in high regard around these parts. Be sure to visit the band on Facebook and pick up their album when it sees self-release next Tuesday!
