Tag Archive: Relapse Records

Why Can’t I Go To All These Tours? Intronaut, Black Tusk & East Of The Wall

Jan.26, 2012

So I don’t know if you guys have noticed, but a lot of awesome tours have been announced and hinted at over the past two weeks. It seems like every awesome band is getting buddy-buddy with another awesome band and trekking through North America together. The only thing I have to complain about is…none of them are coming near me. Which sucks, but honestly I can live with not going because knowing that metal fans will have such a wide array of awesome shows to go to is enough to make me happy. Well, kind of.

Anywho, as it says up top Intronaut have just announced a small selection of shows with openers Black Tusk and East of the Wall. Now there’s only a handful of dates, but damn does that line-up sound nice. If I had to choose I think this tour would be the one I wound up going to…you know, if it were anywhere near me. Sigh.

[EDIT - EOTW and Black Tusk will be playing more shows without Intronaut. Full run of dates after the jump!]

- EC

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Tags: Black Tusk, Century Media Records, East of the Wall, Intronaut, Relapse Records

Christian Mistress Turn ‘Black To Gold‘

Filed Under: Audio, New music, Upcoming releases

Jan.19, 2012

I love Christian Mistress. Their album Agony & Opium was one of my favorites of 2010. They have since migrated labels from 20 Buck Spin to Relapse, and I’ve been looking forward to their Relapse debut for a while now. For those who are unfamiliar with Christian Mistress, think Iron Maiden, Thin Lizzy, and Black Sabbath having a threesome, and their strange offspring having a vocalist with two x chromosomes.

Now, they’ve since released a new track from their upcoming album Possession, which is entitled ‘Black to Gold‘, and it is awesome:

I absolutely love this track. Those riffs are just fantastic, full of chunky goodness, and Christine Davis’ vocals have never sounded better. And how bout that solo? I’m sold that this record will be amazing.

Possession is set to be released February 28th on Relapse Records. February 28th is going to be a huge, huge day for metal. We are not worthy.

- GR

Tags: Black Sabbath, Black To Gold, Christian Mistress, iron maiden, Possession, Relapse Records, Thin Lizzy

Brutal Truth Play Their Cards Right In The ‘Lottery‘

Filed Under: Video

Jan.10, 2012

Premier grind band Brutal Truth have finally got around to properly promoting their 2011 effort End Time with a video for the track ‘Lottery‘. Having finally got round to spending a good amount of time with the album over the holiday period, I can safely say I respectfully disagree with fellow contributor Tentaclesworth’s review of it. For me, it’s their best effort since 1997′s Sounds Of The Animal Kingdom — a full hour’s worth of punk-infused sleazy grind imbued with the traditional spirit of classic rock and roll. I just wish I’d given it the time before it came down to picking my favourite records of the year because it would’ve been a serious contender.

While they couldn’t have picked a better track (OK, maybe ‘Small Talk‘ but beggars and choosers and all that), the video leaves a lot to be desired despite how much it matches the spastic and frantic grind the pumps through your speakers. It’s not so much a music video as an assault on the eyeballs of subtitles and live footage, however I wouldn’t be surprised if that was the exact route they were going for. In short, check it out — if only for the music.

- DL

Tags: Brutal Truth, End Time, Lottery, Relapse Records

Ulcerate Signs To Relapse Records

Filed Under: General News

Nov.08, 2011

I fucking love Ulcerate, man. In fact, they’re one of the reasons I’m making the trek out to Maryland Deathfest next year (yeah, I know I keep bringing it up. I’m just too damn excited.) Find me a progressive death metal band more brutal than Ulcerate. Go ahead; literally make my day!

But until then I’m going to assume that these New Zealanders are pushing death metal to its limit with dense atmosphere and absolutely chaotic dissonance. Signing to Relapse will hopefully give Ulcerate the coverage and recognition that they deserve. Their latest album The Destroyers of All is one of my favorite death metal records of the year, despite the negative review given by one of our previous writers. It’s a shame I didn’t discover them until after the fact, and I’d definitely recommend it to fans of challenging death metal. Here’s the opening track, “Burning Skies.”

If that doesn’t interest you, I don’t know what will. Here’s some words from drummer Jamie Saint Merat:

“Working with Relapse is a very logical next step for us, and we’re really looking forward to the partnership. Their presence of quality releases regardless of genre, overarching aesthetic and attention to detail is something that we find very natural to align with, as well as being fans of the label’s releases well before the band was even started. In terms of what’s next for the Ulcerate, 2012 will be a big year for us – in February we’re touring Europe for 23 dates with our good friends in Svart Crown, followed up by MDF X and accompanying side-shows in the US in May, New Zealand shows in December (2011) and January, and a tentative return to Australia mid-year. We’ll also begin work on album number 4…”.

So we could have a new Ulcerate album around this time next year. Exciting! Be sure to keep up with Ulcerate on Facebook, as they’re only going up from here.

- JR

Tags: Burning Skies, Jamie Saint Merat, Relapse Records, The Destroyers of All, Ulcerate

Once More With Streaming: Black Tusk “Set The Dial“

Filed Under: Upcoming releases

Oct.18, 2011

Southern metal aficionados Black Tusk are releasing their new album Set The Dial next week on Relapse Records, and you can stream it over at AOL. Check it out if you’re into their contemporaries, the likes of Kylesa and Baroness; all that sludgey riff-related goodness. I haven’t actually heard it yet, but Metal Injection and our very own Dormition reckoned it were none too bad, so it might be worth a looksee.

- CG

Tags: Black Tusk, Relapse Records, Set The Dial

Once More With Streaming: Relapse With Rwake’s Rest And Brutal Truth’s End Time

Filed Under: Upcoming releases

Sep.21, 2011

For fear of getting bogged down in nothing but news posts about album streams, I’m just going to compile them as I see them, and content volume be damned.

First up is Rwake‘s stunning Rest, that I know JR has been enjoying the tits off it since August, and I’ve just started to delve into it as well. Catch the full stream over on their Bandcamp here and then sling big piles of money their way.

One of our brand new guys Tentaclesworth also reviewed the new Brutal Truth yesterday, and here is Hails and Horns’ stream of it.

Unfortunately he didn’t like it a whole bunch, but when you write for this website you lose all semblance of reasonable thought and professionalism apparently, so what the hell do we know!

Anydiddle, both are out next Tuesday 27th, and both on Relapse Records.

- CG

Tags: Brutal Truth, End Time, Relapse Records, Rest, Rwake

Brutal Truth – End Time

Filed Under: Reviews

Sep.20, 2011

Brutal Truth

End Time

01. Malice
02. Simple Math
03. End Time
04. Fuck Cancer
05. Celebratory Gunfire
06. Small Talk
07. .58 Caliber
08. Swift And Violent (Swift Version)
09. Crawling Man Blues
10. Lottery
11. Warm Embrace Of Poverty
12. Old World Order
13. Butcher
14. Killing Planet Earth
15. Gut-Check
16. All Work And No Play
17. Addicted
18. Sweet Dreams
19. Echo Friendly Discharge
20. Twenty Bag
21. Trash
22. Drink Up
23. Control Room

[09/27/11]
[Relapse Records]

Grindcore is not a genre that is meant to be explored. As much as innovation and creativity is appreciated, taking the genre of grindcore and deviating into the places Brutal Truth go in their 6th album End Time is a step in the wrong direction. They do no favors for grind this time around – save for the excellent drumming (as always). They’re no strangers to grind and are considered a staple in the genre by many, but after hearing End Time, I feel like I’ve just listened to the most frantic of Brutal Truth’s work 22 times over. This isn’t necessarily a good thing.

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Tags: Brutal Truth, End Time, Relapse Records

Rwake And Bake A Week Late Over At NPR

Filed Under: Audio, New music, Upcoming releases

Jul.26, 2011

As previously mentioned, I only recently got hip to southern sludgemasters Rwake, who just so happen to have a highly anticipated new album called Rest on the horizon. I’m excited for their new album, but for some reason, I totally dropped the ball last week when they debuted a new song “It Was Beautiful, But Now It’s Sour” on NPR on Thursday. Better late than never, I always say, sometimes.

The 11+ minute jam is pretty damn excellent. If it’s any indication, Rest will be as fantastic as I hope it will be. You can listen to it when it drops September 27th on Relapse Records.

- JR

Tags: It Was Beautiful But Now It's Sour, Relapse Records, Rest, Rwake

Revocation Post Studio Update Video For Chaos Of Forms

Filed Under: Upcoming releases, Video

May.06, 2011

Revocation‘s forthcoming album Chaos Of Forms is sounding absolutely spectacular – I mean check out that riffs at 2:55 and 1:35! Dave Mustaine would believe in any religion that gave him the ability to continue writing huge rapid fire riffs like that. Also, I wasn’t aware that the album artwork had been released but it looks very old-school legit, much like the previous album. Reminds me of the early Testament artwork which was consistently amazing.

You only have to wait till the 16th of August for Relapse to release Chaos Of Forms, but until then, you could try making your own fap-gallery to play bass in front of – as shown above.

- DL

Tags: Chaos of Forms, Relapse Records, Revocation, Testament

PROG-METAL MARCH GIVEAWAYS! WIN A FREE COPY OF OBSCURA’S OMNIVIUM COURTESY OF RELAPSE RECORDS!

Filed Under: Contests, Prog-Metal March

Mar.23, 2011

You know, there weren’t many eligible entries for last week’s contest because a lot of people didn’t read the directions closely enough. The album hidden in the R of “PROG” (and not “MARCH”!) in last week’s Prog-Metal March header was Devin Townsend‘s Ocean Machine: Biomech. Of the few that did give the correct answer, one person won the DVD, and that is Tom Wills from Florida. Congrats dude! I’ll send you the DVD this week.

This week’s contest is brought to you by the folks at Relapse Records! You can win a copy of Obscura‘s excellent new album Omnivium, due out next week, March 29th (check out our review later). Here’s what you have to do: Send me your full name and address with the subject title “Prog-Metal March: Obscura” to mail(at)heavyblogisheavy.com along with the answer to the following question. I’ll go easy on you folks this time: