In Tongues

01. The Shepherd’s Staff
02. Imperfect Contrition
03. Hounds
04. The Scales of Justice
05. Cursed
06. Forfeit I – The Crooked Quill
07. Forfeit II – Worn Thin
08. The Tree of New Life
09. Carcass
10. Testament
11. In Tongues

[04/12/13]
[eOne/GoodFight]

Dark Sermon are a Floridian modern death metal band. Taking inspiration from the likes of The Black Dahlia Murder, later Job For a Cowboy and Behemoth at times, they have a sound that is aggressive and melodic. Those bands are all highly regarded within their own communities, but their brand of metal is done by so many other bands that it can be tiring at times, and finding a good band among those can be quite difficult. Dark Sermon’s debut effort In Tongues is their try at this sort of sound, and it succeeds in some ways, but it also falls into some trappings of the genre.

Let’s first talk about the sound. The band’s modus operandi consists of  chunky and often melodic death metal riffs, tremolo picking, blast beats and all that stuff you would expect from a band citing the above influences. The riffing itself is quite good, striking a good balance between a grim sound and melody. The album is dominated by endless headbang-inducing moments and memorable sections. It’s nothing The Black Dahlia Murder or Job For a Cowboy haven’t done before, but fans of those bands would find Dark Sermon to be very enjoyable. It’s not that In Tongues is supremely derivative, it’s just that this kind of sound is so prevalent within the genre that one can’t fault Dark Sermon for going in that direction. And to be fair, they constantly keep it interesting and throw in new riffs instead of letting the same old sections drag out forever, which is very welcome indeed.

The production on the album is top notch, with the guitars sounding very crunchy, clear and satisfying, to the point that future bands in the genre could use this album as a measuring stick. The drums are tight and sit well in the mix too, together with the guitars they make the sound extremely satisfying and pleasant to listen to. The vocals are pretty monotone, sounding like a mixture of Sylosis, The Acacia Strain and JFAC, but they never get boring because they always come in at the right spot and accentuate the riffs. It’s interesting how Dark Sermon take all these extremely played out elements and make them sound great.

Overall, In Tongues is a solid album that fans of modern death metal would love. Dark Sermon take a very tired sound and execute it with finesse and make it fresh again. This album won’t  blow anyone’s mind, but it will make you headbang like crazy. And there’s nothing wrong with that.

3.5/5

- NT

Oh damn, just look at that artwork. It’s like Sylosis’ Monolith cover without all the pea green.

Amorphis‘ eleventh studio effort, Circle, now has a face, some tracks, and a pretty high mark to hit. Their 2009 release Skyforger got me interested in the band, and I’ve delved pretty deep into their back catalogue. 2011 rolled around and I picked up the Beginning of Times, which could have been ten bucks I spent on a pretty kick ass sandwich or the life’s blood known only as coffee. It was a lengthy album that jumped from idea to idea without sticking on one long enough for me to get into it. Go ahead and take a look at what Circle has to offer thus far-

01. Shades Of Gray
02. Mission
03. The Wanderer
04. Narrow Path
05. Hopeless Days
06. Nightbird’s Song
07. Into The Abyss
08. Enchanted By The Moon
09. A New Day
10. Dead Man’s Dream (Bonus Track)

Good. I wanted something a little less dense from them. Granted, these nine songs might all be seven or more minutes each, but I’ve got faith in them; they’ve only really let me down once. Then there’s the added bonus of Mr. Peter Tägtgren (of Hypocrisy and Bloodbath fame) handling production and mixing, which just adds a little extra awesome to my expectations.

April 30th can’t come fast enough! keep up with them on Facebook for some new songs soon (I hope)!

- GK

Members of Hellyeah, Lamb of God, In Flames, and Sylosis Pay Tribute to Dimebag Darrell

Saturday night was the anniversary of the passing of the great Dimebag Darrel Abbot, guitarist for Pantera who was tragically shot and killed on-stage back in 2004. Eight years is a long time, but for those who respcted and loved Darrel, no amount of time will ever be able to effectively heal those wounds. So in honor of Darrel’s passing several bands were filmed paying tribute to the man and his music over the weekend. From Machine Head, to Sylosis, these band’s took special time out of their day and did their best to honor a man who was, for better or worse, a key-player in bringing metal to the masses during the late 80′s, 90′s and early 2000′s. I’m not going to say much else, because really what can I say? If you’re interested, click the videos, watch them, and then go listen to Vulgar Display of Power and pour one out for a fallen homie. Cheers.

Sylosis Performing ‘Strength Beyond Strength’.

Machine Head Performing ‘Fucking Hostile’.

Darrel’s brother, Vinnie Paul of Hellyeah, drinks a black tooth grin with members of Lamb of God, In Flames, and Sylosis.

- EC

Italy has been a hotbed for extreme metal bands in recent years, and  you can add Eyeconoclast to the ever-growing list of pasta-munching headbangers and riff makers. These Romans have a pretty notable lineup, featuring robot octopus/drummer extraordinaire Mauro Mercurio (ex- Hour of Penance, session work on Fleshgod Apocalypse’s Oracles) and guitarist Stefano Morabito, who also owns 16th Cellar Studios (every European death metal record ever). They play a thrashy and utterly insane style of death metal that manages to keep a well-developed structure and some smatterings of technicality while still giving out a big fuck you to the progressive tendencies demonstrated by their contemporaries in Sylosis and Revocation.

Take the track below, for example, which comes from their 2011 EP of the same name. Following the brief sampled intro, the song suddenly kicks in with  a freight train of a riff, ferocious vocals, and some stupidly fast blasting. It never lets go from there, even though there’s enough dynamics and variances to ensure it doesn’t grow old.  The sound is really modern, but in this case I believe that works in the band’s favor, as this is the type of aural assault which you want to hear in full effect.

-DA

I don’t really know much about the band, but from what I’ve heard off of their new record, I dig them. Really good, quality metal. And the best part? Now you fellow metalheads can listen to the album, too! Metalsucks has the full album stream here. Nuclear Blast has pre orders here. And while you’re here, be sure to backtrack and discover more about the band than you ever knew before.

Monolith is out October 9th via Nuclear Blast.

-SS

For a while late last year and earlier this year, I was involved in a project that a group of friends and I came up with called The Monolith. In its initial stages, the basic idea was this: three blogs — The Number Of The Blog, No Clean Singing, and Heavy Blog Is Heavy — would come together to create a hub dedicated to the best of music and film centered around this community of underground music fans. There was a board of five editors when I left, but now there remains the two forces which are now the heart and soul of The Monolith, my good friends Quigs Quigley (of the now defunct The Number of the Blog)  and former Heavy Blog editor Chris ‘Disinformasiya’ Grenville.

In its early phase, I dropped off the project for several reasons. I’ve recently taken up an internship for my major, which cut back tremendously on my day job as well as my time working on this very website. I needed the ad revenue that this site gets to stay afloat, and I was right. Without my work on this site I probably would have had many uncomfortably hungry days. Most importantly though, Heavy Blog is my ‘baby’ of sorts, and I just wasn’t ready to give it up yet. I like the way things are ran here, and the thought of losing control frankly scared me. I was also in a bad state of mind at the time and was being a bit of a pessimist, but that’s neither here nor there.

However, in the past few months that Quigs and Chris have been developing The Monolith, it has grown with great promise and ambition, and I am beyond excited that they are finally unveiling this new site that I had once thought would never see the light of day, and as it stands right now, totally exceeds expectations. Features that were thrown around in passing that I thought wouldn’t work are now apparently blossoming behind the scenes, and I couldn’t be happier to be wrong.

So what is The Monolith now? What’s the deal? What makes another metal website worth my time? Well, first off, it’s not just another metal blog. Sure, it may seem that way at first glance, but that’s just one aspect of what The Monolith is about. News, reviews, interviews, and the like will be common to be sure, created by an experienced staff that you may recognize as coming and going the past few years through the community at large.

There’s also a special emphasis on community which will undoubtedly make The Monolith stand out. An account with The Monolith isn’t just some hamfisted excuse to post comments, it’s like a social network account. Users of the site (‘Acolytes,’ as they are referred) will get their own profiles to allow blogging, interaction with fellow users, and creating events. Users will also have access to a multitude of features, ranging from free music, podcasts, and prizes (which they are already rolling out on Facebook).

There’s also a special calendar feature to the site which allows fans to track tour dates which one can narrow down by band, genre, city, state, and even venue. There’s no excuse to miss a show when you can log in to The Monolith and search your favorite artist for their latest run of dates or punch in your favorite venue to check out relevant shows. The best part is, the calendar is also crowd-sourced, meaning Acolytes can add dates for their own band’s local show for others to check out.

On top of all this, The Monolith will also function somewhat as a record label via Monolithic Records, which will release select artists’ music digitally through the site initially, and if the demand is there, the site will produce physical copies (including vinyl) and merchandise. So as you can see, The Monolith has pretty much everything on would like out of a website catered specifically to this music scene.

After the mystery has been building over the last year, it has finally come to fruition. The Monolith is a social enterprise under which we can all take shelter. The site is still undergoing development, but it shows much promise. With artwork by prolific artist Par Olofsson (The Faceless, Immolation, pretty much every death metal band ever) and development by Sylosis guitarist Alex Bailey’s Dime Digital Media (the folks responsible for Tesseract’s website), the site should both look and work exceptionally well.

I’d be lying if I said I knew all the details, but to get more information, visit The Monolith on Facebook and check out the ‘Notes’ section for their continuing series of posts detailing the site and its features. Visit The Monolith and sign up for the mailing list to get updates and a heads up for when the site sees the light of day.

- JR

Burgeoning prog-thrash Brits Sylosis are gearing up to release their upcoming album Monolith, and the new songs are starting to pour in. Thunderous galloping riffs and wowwing guitar leads everywhere, and Heavy Blog was pleased. We’re looking at a 2012 highlight, here.

First up, the song ‘Born Anew’ was debuted on BBC Radio 1′s Rock Show this past weekend, and luckily they didn’t make us wait long to hear it. The song is available on the band’s Facebook page. The second song, ‘A Dying Vine‘, is also available on the band’s new website in the upper right hand corner. I don’t know what else to tell you except that they’re both fucking excellent, and you will probably definitely enjoy them both. This is a band you need to be familiar with, because they’re going places.

Monolith will be out October 9th on Nuclear Blast Records.

- JR

Modern prog thrash rising stars Sylosis are getting ready to release their new album Monolith in a couple of months (their second album in two years!), and as such, the press cycle has begun! They’ve released the excellent album art a few weeks back (above) a few weeks back, and now the band’s label Nuclear Blast are giving us some insight on the album’s creation via the first in a series of studio videos which you can watch below.

Speaking on the album, guitarist and vocalist Josh Middleton said, “Monolith is the best representation of us as a band in terms of our diverse influences, and stylistically it’s what we’ve always been aiming for; a mixture of thrash, big doomy riffs and dark atmospherics and ambiance,” so I’m excited over what’s to come. That massive nature of Edge of the Earth is what made it so excellent, and it’s good to see that the group is going further in that direction. What little bit of new music in the studio video tickles my fancy as well.

Monolith will be out October 9th on Nuclear Blast Records.

- JR

It looks like Devin’s throwing it all into touring this year! Like the recently announced North American Epic Kings and Idols Tour (featuring Katatonia, Paradise Lost, and Stolen Babies), his upcoming European tour sees Devin teaming up with a co-headlining tour with album title portmanteau-esque names, this time with Fear Factory and support from Sylosis on The Epic Industrialist Tour. Lucky Europeans!

Here are the dates:

10/29 Strasbourg, FRA – La Laiterie
10/30 Esch Sur Alzette, LUX – Kulturfabrik
10/31 Hamburg, GER – Logo
11/02 Aalborg, DEN – Aalborg Metal Festival
11/04 Oslo, NOR – Betong
11/11 Copenhagen, DEN – Amager Bio
11/12 Berlin, GER – C-Club
11/13 Cologne, GER – Essigfabrik
11/14 Karlsruhe, GER – Substage
11/16 Bordeaux, FRA – Barbey Club
11/17 Durango, SPA – Plateruena
11/18 Porto, POR – Hard Club
11/19 Lisboa, POR – Paradise Garage
11/20 Sevilla, SPA – Fanatic
11/22 Madrid, SPA – Penelope
11/23 Valencia, SPA – Rock City
11/24 Montpellier, FRA – Le Rockstore
11/25 Milan, ITA – Magazzini Generali
11/28 Munich, GER – Backstage
11/29 Vienna, AUT – Arena
11/30 Ljubljana, SLO – Kino Siska
12/01 Zagreb, CRO – Boogaloo
12/02 Budapest, HUN – A38
12/04 Warsaw, POL – Progresja
12/05 Poznan, POL – Eskulap
12/08 Geiselwind, GER – Christmas Metal Festival
12/10 Paris, FRA – Bataclan
12/13 Wolverhampton, UK – Wulfrun Hall
12/14 Glasgow, UK – ABC
12/15 Manchester, UK – Ritz
12/16 Bristol, UK – Academy
12/17 Southampton, UK – Mo’Club

If only the North American tour were nearly this extensive. Oh well! Make it out if you can!

- JR

- JR

Unlike some of the older fellows who write for this website, I actually got my start from listening to metalcore rather than nu-metal. Indeed, my first post on this site was about All That Remains was my first real metal band, and how it opened up so many doors for me, not just in terms of this new genre I would soon love with all of my heart, but music in general. When I first listened to All That Remains, I searched for a while to find more of the same style they performed. After going through many bands that were good, but didn’t impress me like I wanted to be, I discovered a band named Anterior, a band based out of the United Kingdom.

It was that video, which combined the intro track and the second track, ‘The Silent Divide’, which really enlightened a then 15 year old to the long road of metal. Anterior played a very anthemic brand of metal which straddled the line between metalcore and melodic death metal, sounding very similar to a sound Sylosis plays. The band, at the time of this record, consisted of Luke Davies on vocals and rhythm guitar, Leon Kemp on lead guitar, James Britton on Bass, and Ross Andrews on percussion.

What you notice across the entire record is that it is absolutely anthemic. Luke Davies gives an absolutely fantastic performance on vocals. You can hear the emotion in his voice whenever he’s screaming a very important. His vocals prove to be the reason why the album feels so anthemic and empowering, as you can feel it’s authenticity.

However, do not let me stop you from thinking that the music backing the record is any less important. Leon Kemp was the lead guitarist for this album, and the record displays so many chunky, melodic riffs that just make you want to bust out your air guitar and go crazy. The drums also have that same effect, as Ross Andrews proves to be a very formidable drummer. His double bass and fills are quite intricate, matching very well with the guitar. Bass lines, however, are not very audible, which is a shame. The moments when they can be heard, however, are very impressive.

The most impressive thing about this record, and what made such an impact on me, is how in sync the band is. Every note feels there for a reason, every snare drum hit is where it needs to be, and how powerful and emotional Luke proves to be. One only needs to listen to standout track ‘Human Hive’, for proof of this.

This album, to me, has withstood the test of time. Whenever I listen to a metalcore or melodic death metal album, I judge it against this album. Now you may have noticed that I used the words ‘used’ and ‘played’ in the early parts of this writing.  This is because they are disbanding after they play their last show, which is in a few days.  Bad times for good music.  A sad end for one of my favorite bands in the last few years.

- GR

Dutch progressive metal outfit Textures have announced their touring plans for next year, which include dates in Germany, Switzerland, Italy, Austria, Poland, France, Spain, Finland, the Netherlands, Portugal and Czech Republic! That’s a whole lot of Europe.

What’s more, they’re taking along the very excellent Sylosis for the first run in early March. Dates as follows:

02/29 Koln, GER – Luxor
03/01 Aarau, SWI – Kiff
03/02 Romagnano Sesia, ITA – R’n’R Arena
03/03 Yverdon, SWI – ISC Amalgame
03/04 Wiesbaden, GER – Schlachthof
03/05 Vienna, AUT – Chelsea
03/07 Krakow, POL – Kwadrat
03/08 Warsaw, POL – Progresja
03/09 Berlin, GER – Magnet
03/10 Bochum, GER – Matrix
03/11 Tilburg, NET – 013

With support TBA:

03/28 Strasbourg, FRA – La Laiterie
03/29 Montpellier, FRA – Secret Place
03/30 Barcelona, SPA – Mephisto
03/31 Madrid, SPA – La Sale
04/01 Toulouse, FRA – Aero

Festival shows:

04/08 Schijndel, NET – Paaspop
06/30 Helsinki, FIN – Tuska
08/04 Vagos, POR – Vegos Open Air
08/11 Jaromer, CZE – Brutal Assault

Textures are currently touring the UK with The Ocean and Aliases. I saw the show when it stopped off in London on Friday, and it was all kinds of awesome – review of that soon!

If you missed it, we badgered Textures with your questions back in September when they joined Periphery‘s Frak The Gods tour. Man these guys are busy!

- CG

As I Lay Dying have finally hit double digits this year. Can you believe the band have been around for ten years?! It doesn’t feel like it’s been that long. Good lord, I’ll be 30 before I know it. God help me, it’s all downhill from here. I am not ready.

But I digress. Indeed, time does fly. As I Lay Dying are making a bit of a celebration for turning ten by releasing a compilation album called Decas, which features three new songs (one of which, “Paralyzed”, can be streamed below), some covers, remixes, and a re-recording. Neato stuff if you’re a fan! Here’s the specifics:

1. “Paralyzed”
2. “From Shapeless to Breakable”
3. “Moving Forward”
4. “War Ensemble” (originally by Slayer)
5. “Hellion” (originally by Judas Priest)
6. “Electric Eye” (originally by Judas Priest)
7. “Coffee Mug” (originally by Descendents)
8. “Beneath the Encasing of Ashes” (re-recorded medley)
9. “The Blinding of False Light” (Innerpartysystem remix)
10. “Wrath Upon Ourselves” (Ben Weinman remix)
11. “Confined” (Kelly “Carnage” Cairns remix)
12. “Elegy” (Big Chocolate remix)

Sweet! Ben Weinman (Dillinger Escape Plan) and Big Chocolate remixes. Should be cool. Decas is due out November 4th on Metal Blade. Here’s their new track “Paralyzed“:

They’ll also be embarking on a headlining tour with Of Mice & Men, The Ghost Inside, Iwrestledabearonce and Sylosis. So I suppose half the tour is worth catching! Awesome. You can catch the dates after the jump!

Nov-30      Long Island, NY – The Crazy Donkey

Dec-01      Philadelphia, PA – Trocadero

Dec-02      Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom

Dec-03      Worcester, MA – The Palladium

Dec-04      Washington, DC – 9:30 Club

Dec-06      Chicago, IL – House of Blues

Dec-07      Minneapolis, MN – First Avenue

Dec-08      Kansas City, MO – Beamont

Dec-09      Dallas, TX – The Door

Dec-10      San Antonio, TX – Backstage Live

Dec-11      Lubbock, TX – Lonestar Center

Dec-13      Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine Theater

Dec-14      Phoenix, AZ – Venue of Scottsdale

Dec-15      Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues

Dec-16      San Diego, CA – SOMA

- JR

Edge of the Earth

01. Procession
02. Sands of Time
03. Empyreal (Part 1)
04. Empyreal (Part 2)
05. A Serpents Tongue
06. Awakening
07. Kingdom of Solitude
08. Where The Sky Ends
09. Dystopia
10. Apparitions
11. Altered States of Consciousness
12. Beyond the Resurrected
13. Eclipsed
14. From The Edge Of The Earth

[03/15/11]
[Nuclear Blast]

I’m shamefully about three months behind on this review, and despite being added to my mental list of ‘bands I need to stop being a lazy dick about,’ once all the praise came in for Sylosis‘ sophomore release Edge of the Earth, I only recently even bothered listening to it. Go ahead and chalk that up to one of my biggest mistakes of the year. My mistake has been rectified. This particular four-piece from Reading, England combines classic Bay Area thrash with Swedish melodic death metal and a touch of progressive influence. Edge of the Earth is certainly one of the more exciting melodic extreme metal records so far this year.

Part of me wants to say that Sylosis ended up being what the dudes in Trivium wish they were, but that really isn’t fair to Sylosis’ maturity and talent (sorry Trivium fans). You see, Sylosis manages to do what many young bands try to do today and fail miserably at, and that’s pulling together a modern thrash record that is not only original, but totally enthralling. Frontman and guitarist John Middleton has stated that the main influences on Edge of the Earth come from bands like Neurosis, Pink Floyd, High on Fire, and Rush — all of which sound present on the album in some fashion, with huge sound, catchy yet hard hitting riffs, and progressive overtones.

The biggest noticeable difference in the band’s overall sound since their 2008 debut lies in the vocal front of the band, guitarist Josh Middleton. After parting ways with original vocalist Jamie Graham, Middleton stepped up to tackling both the band’s technically inclined instrumentation and the vocals instead of finding a new member. This has worked out in their favor considerably, as Middleton is quite the capable vocalist. His bellowing growls and throaty screams are an improvement, and I don’t really see why he didn’t handle the vocal work to begin with. Even when belting out the clean singing (which is used fairly sparingly), he sounds quite proficient in his technique. To see him perform live must be a sight to see.

On an instrumental front, Edge of the Earth features some of the finest riffs and solos I’ve heard all year. Right from the hook-laden opener “Procession,” the album is a tour de force of modern thrash metal guitar work. These riffs will assault you, but the leads and solos will sooth you. Sylosis manage to incorporate epic beauty and melody without sacrificing intense delivery and heaviness, which is quite the feat. In songs like “Sands of Time” and the moving instrumental “Where the Sky Ends“, you can hear subtle layers of ambient padding that lie under the guitar work to provide a soundscape of sorts, which only makes the composition feel grander. Edge of the Earth feels quite triumphant and varied because of this.

The only downfall of the album is its massive 70+ minute length. Of course every song is of high quality, but because of the length, the whole album is quite difficult to absorb in one sitting. This is quite the injustice to the songs on the album, as there’s so much to take in that it makes it hard for each track to have its own identity. Sure, the album is varied enough, but once you cross over an hour in length, it’s hard to keep focus.

Despite the album’s only one true fault, this is a massive undertaking for what is only the band’s second album. If the band keeps moving in this direction, they could be thrash’s saving grace in the years to come. Hell, once you spin Edge of the Earth, you’ll realize that the band might just already be there. Ignore any “metalcore” tag you see about Sylosis on Wikipedia or Last.FM; that often implies immaturity in some circles, and there’s nothing core about Sylosis’ new opus. Fans of melodic death metal and thrash need to take notice — Sylosis is no doubt the future of the genre.

Sylosis – Edge of the Earth gets…

4.5/5

- JR

Gooooood morning Vietspam! Yes, your regular does of Limey goodness returns after completely forgetting my shit for the last two weeks. Prog-Metal March was clearly far too exciting and amidst all the fun and games I figured you probably wouldn’t miss me. Tuesday was my bad, but never mind.

SO. Today’s recommendation comes to you from Josef ‘Brownbear’ Wherry, who cites Sylosis‘ most recent album Edge of the Earth as “easily the best British record of the year so far. Except TesseracT of course,” and so we’re giving him dues and making sure they get a bit of exposure over here. We’ve been lax with a review, but it was a busy month, so pipe down a bear with us.

The song itself is recommended by heavy bro Angry Metal Guy, who names it one of the “8 minute long musical jewels” of the album. Good enought for me!

- CG