Just a couple of weeks ago, I was watching Devil Sold His Soul tearing it up live in support of Ghost and Gojira and I remember thinking, although slightly unconventional at first listen, how well vocalist Ed Gibbs suited the band’s post -metal inspired hardcore. Their latest release Empire Of Light was a real sleeper hit for me and so it is a shame to see Gibbs leave, however it is obvious from his statement that it is an issue of needing a more stable career than anything sinister:
If you’re unfamiliar, Hateform are a band to keep an eye on in 2013. Featuring past members of Mors Principium Est, Hateform blend thrash, prog, and death metal for a package that should sit well among fans of Death, Revocation, and Obscura. Top shelf melodic death metal is getting harder to come by over the years, but Hateform are keeping the genre alive with technical guitar work and stellar songwriting. Their forthcoming new album Sanctuary In Abyss is seeing release through Spinefarm Records this March, but you can hear the first new track from the record ‘Perpetual Cold’ below:
Mixed and mastered by Thomas “Plec” Johansson (Watain, Scar Symmetry, Mors Principium Est) and featuring artwork from Jon Barmby (Architects, Devil Sold His Soul), Sanctuary in Abyss will see release March 1 (Europe) and March 6 (North America; Digital only) on Spinefarm Records. Visit Hateform on Facebook for more on the band and Sanctuary In Abyss!
- JR
It wasn’t until 2011′s There Is A Hell… that I gained an appreciation for the polarizing metalcore group Bring Me The Horizon. Often credited as being one of the bands responsible for popularizing deathcore in their early days, the band has since grown and evolved, picking up more mature musical influences and going for a somewhat artsy aesthetic. My interest was piqued for their upcoming album Sempiternal when the band stated in interviews that the new material had a touch of post-rock influence; after all, who wouldn’t be slightly curious at the prospect of BMTH aping If These Trees Could Talk and This Will Destroy You. If anything, the most cynical of us could say they’ve gotten bored of ripping off Architects and instead decided to take a grab at Devil Sold His Soul.
While not necessarily in the ballpark of post-rock, Sempiternal‘s leading single ‘Shadow Moses’ does have an epic sort of air about it and has layers of ambiance. The single sounds massive, and while all we’ve got is a decent quality radio rip from Daniel P. Carter’s Rock Show on BBC Radio One, Terry Date’s production shows signs of being extravagant. Also, bonus points for the Metal Gear Solid reference.
Stream the track below:
Sempiternal will be out later this year, perhaps around April.
- JR
Case in point, the band’s upcoming 2013 record Sempiternal is said to have a major post-rock influence. Via NME:
Bring Me The Horizon have said that post-rock bands like Explosions In The Sky and This Will Destroy You are set to be a big influence on their fourth studio album.
The band are soon set to begin work on the follow-up to ‘There Is A Hell, Believe Me I’ve Seen It. There Is A Heaven, Let’s Keep It A Secret’ and are likely to be back in the studio by summer 2012, with guitarist Jona Weinhofen revealing that he and guitarist Lee Malia have been getting inspired by post-rock for their new material.
Weinhofen told Alternative Press: “Lee and I are listening to a lot of post-rock lately. It might sound strange, but we listen to this laid-back, epic music and think ‘If this was heavy – if we made metal out of this kind of music – it would be exactly what we want to sound like”.
I would imagine the record would sound something like fellow Britons Devil Sold His Soul, who have been combining post-rock and hardcore since their inception. Though, the newly unveiled album teaser (above) shows a striking emphasis on atmospherics and climactic songwriting. It’s hard to judge, because it’s likely just the album’s intro track, but it sounds absolutely promising for the rest of the record to come.
Sempiternal is due out in 2013, and we’ll let you know when the first full taste of the record is available.
- JR
Every so often, I’m guilty of judging a book by its cover. After you’ve been listening to music from a critical standpoint for a while, you start to pick up on certain patterns that begin to appear as trends come and go, and one of the big tip-offs for me that a band will likely be a derivative paint-by-numbers djent/metalcore band is the ‘Plurals’ style moniker. With this in mind, I was expecting a band by the name Acres to be some sort of band that fits in to that scene of music, but instead was pleasantly surprised by their emotive hardcore and atmospheric post-rock style akin to fellow countrymen Devil Sold His Soul and Burials (alright, another Plurals outlier!). You can listen to their climactic self titled EP below:
- JR
Here’s an interesting measure of how tr00 you are. Think hard — when, exactly, was the moment that Metallica fell from grace?
If you said “Never! They’re so consistently good!” then dear god, learn to respect yourself. Nobody deserves that kind of treatment. If you said “Just after Kill ‘Em All” then well done, you’ve managed to miss out on some of the greatest metal albums of all time! Everything in between is a sliding scale, with an average of “right after …And Justice For All.” Which leaves The Black Album, which marked the band’s transition from thrash kings to surprisingly acceptable radio conquerors, as the most controversial Metallica album there is and, interestingly enough, you can see it clearly in the line up chosen for the recent Kerrang cover album, in which the magazine chose bands to cover the entire tracklisting:
01. Enter Sandman – Rise To Remain
02. Sad But True – Your Demise
03. Holier Than Thou – DevilDriver
04. The Unforgiven – The Defiled
05. Wherever I May Roam – Yashin
06. Don’t Tread On Me – Hawk Eyes
07. Through The Never – Evile
08. Nothing Else Matters – LostAlone
09. Of Wolf And Man – Savage Messiah
10. The God That Failed – Black Spiders
11. My Friend Of Misery – Motionless In White
12. The Struggle Within – Devil Sold His Soul
Sitting alongside some pretty respectable underground acts like Evile, Savage Messiah and Black Spiders are some more questionable bands including the fringe-filled Motionless In White, Scottish ‘post-hardcore’ group Yashin and Famous-Dad-Core pioneers Rise To Remain. Major respect to all bands involved for paying tribute to a great album, but it seems for every band that tastefully stays true to the original or even subtly add their own spin to it, there’s another that wrecks it beyond all recognition to the point where it’s not even funny. I can completely understand the idea of covering the track in your own style, but when it seems like you’re just baiting people to hate it, it becomes hard to see it as anything other than a brazen joke. After the jump you can check out the highlights, both good and bad, and it would be interesting to see what you all think of it:
View Full Article »
British ambient metal/post-hardcore band Devil Sold His Soul are gearing up for the release of their forthcoming, just-announced new album Empire Of Light with the first new bit of music we’ve heard from them since 2010′s Blessed & Cursed. The track is called ‘No Remorse, No Regrets‘, and marks a return to the harder, edge displayed on earlier albums, with vocalist Ed Gibbs’ caustic vocals carrying the song right through until a small section of clean singing right at the end.
I’ve always enjoyed the hell out of these guys – both on record and live – as they have a knack for creating epic atmospheric soundscapes with their music – as well as writing some killer riffs.
Of the new album, vocalist Ed Gibb said, in the spirit of Rocky, that “The world ain’t all sunshine and rainbows”, and the album is about being strong and persevering through trying times.
If you like what you hear, you can pick up the track for free over at the band’s Facebook page!
Empire Of Light is currently on course for a September 17th release through Small Town Records, and promises to be a raucous bag of fun. In the meantime, the band will be playing Hevy Fest and Pukkelpop in August, and will also be touring this winter.
- CG
Devil Sold His Soul, the UK’s somewhat heavier answer to Deftones, have released footage of a live recording session they die for Sitcom Soldiers of their song ‘An Ocean Of Lights‘ from their 2010 album Blessed & Cursed.
This was posted on the band’s website about a month ago, but it’s testament to their relative lack of exposure that it’s taken this long for even me, an avid fan, to pick up on it – which is a shame, because they’re a hugely talented band with an admirable work ethic.
They just recently toured Russia, Ukraine and Belarus – which not a lot of UK bands do – but they seem to have a surging European following, which is great. Catch the tour video after the jump if you’re interested.
- CG
The discovery of a new band is always exciting. Will it be something you’ve heard countless times? An experience that leaves a bad taste in your mouth? Or is it a treat from which you cannot stop consuming? I wanted to take a trip back in time to reminisce about bands/albums that not only introduced me to heavy music, but kept me coming back for more…
From The Archive: Devil Sold His Soul – A Fragile Hope
Avast ye! First-Mate Disinformasiya has effected a second mutiny and ousted Cap’n Dormition from his regular column! YARRRRR!
No, young Dan has in fact been very busy working his particular talents on a super secret project for us, and so I’ve taken the reigns of this mighty chariot once again to bring you another variation of From The Archive™!
You know those albums that you know almost instantaneously you’re going to fall in love with? This was one of the first. What’s more, it was one that I found for myself. Devil Sold His Soul were mine.
Today I would like to discuss a recent trend in the field of album artwork as it pertains to metal bands. When you think about the artwork of most metal albums, images of skulls, demons, fire and misogyny spring to mind. Metal is supposed to be evil and the artwork is supposed to reflect that right? In the past this was the case. Cliched imagery, was combined with a mono- or duo-chromatic colour palette to create something dark and unsettling. Blue implies coldness, red symbolizes fire, purple is alien, etc. A combination of sickly green and blue are used to startle and disgust the viewer. Of course there are exceptions to the rule but in the majority of cases, the design and execution of metal album artwork has followed strict, unwritten rules.
But things are different now. Metal musicians can have short hair, merch can be neon, and a genre called djent can exist and be taken seriously. So what does this mean for album artwork? Perhaps you have seen the signs already, noticed the changes, album art is no longer the one colour festival of evil that it used to be. Bands are embracing warm and varied colour palettes, comforting textures, landscape images and even sunshine! Gasp, you say! I’m not just talking about scene golems who have embraced all over print design like your nearest BAPE outlet (LOL at this image). I’m talking about bands that are lauded by critics and recognized as talented and original.
Let’s examine some evidence.
