The longstanding stereotype of metal bassists is unfortunate. They’re often depicted as failed guitarists and we’re all pretty quick to make jokes about how the bass tracks don’t matter since they’re going to be mixed out anyway. This genre of music is largely for guitarists, though there are a handful of bassists who rock their instruments with pride and prowess. One of the most influential big names in metal when it comes to bass has got to be Evan Brewer (The Faceless, ex-Animosity). Brewer wowed tech metal nerds in 2011 with his solo bass record Alone, and will continue to do so with broader appeal with his sophomore record Your Itinerary.

What makes Your Itinerary different from its predecessor Alone is its full band aesthetic. Alone was aptly titled because of it being entirely composed of bass guitar. Your Itinerary makes use of drums, keyboards, and guitars, expanding the sonic palette. Just check out the new album snippet below to get a taste of what to expect from the record:

The album sounds like it’ll be quite an adventure, absolutely dripping in prog and jazz. I can’t wait to hear it! It’ll be out July 16th on Sumerian Records.

- JR

One of the coolest tours I’ve been to in a while has got to be the pairing of The Dillinger Escape Plan and The Faceless, two of the more important names in progressive extreme music active in the last decade. Resident photographer Maclyn Bean hit up his local stop on April 27th at Music Hall of Williamsburg to capture the show, and you can see the photos after the jump.

TIP: Use the keyboard arrow keys to easily navigate photos.

The Faceless

The Dillinger Escape Plan

For high resolution images from the show and more from the photographer, visit Maclyn Bean Photography on Flickr.

You all likely know the story by now; Extol are an influential progressive metal band out of Norway that disbanded in 2007 and reformed to much praise in 2012 with the promise of a new studio album. We even interviewed frontman Peter Espevoll while the band were wrapping up work on their new album. Their comeback couldn’t have come at a better time! Extreme prog is more popular than ever, and their influence has grown even more obvious, with The Faceless‘ Authotheism pulling pretty heavily from the Extol playbook.

After the long wait for details and new music, the band have finally delivered. Extol announced this week that their new self-titled album will be out this summer, and have given us their first new song since 2005 with ‘Open the Gates.’ Listen after the jump.

Needless to say, the song rocks. It captures that distinct Scandinavian prog sound we love so much from bands like Leprous, Ihsahn, and older Opeth material. We’ll be able to hear how the rest of the album holds up June 25 when the album is released by Indie Recordings and Facedown Records, but so far so good!

- JR

Nomadic

01. The Dead Sea
02. Silent
03. Venom Upon The Blade

[04/02/13]
[Unique Leader Records]

Californian death metallers Fallujah had a sleeper hit on their hands in 2011 with their debut album The Harvest Wombs, which was met with a rapidly growing fanbase and high-profile supporting gigs, both local and international. Initially compared to the likes of The Faceless and the legion of bands that followed in their wake, Fallujah’s depth of sound and wide array of influences set them apart and established the band as stand-out up-and-comers in the emerging trend of prog-influenced death metal. The band has done quite a bit of maturing over the past two years, and now their potential is already starting to become fully realized with their new three-track EP, Nomadic.

Nomadic marks a further evolutionary step for the band, who has since grown to embrace more of their extra-metal influences. In fact, Fallujah manage to further carve themselves a niche and establish a signature sound that is actually wholly unique and memorable. While their feet are still planted in death metal soil with powerful roars, technical riffing, and a driving rhythm section, the band more often find themselves preoccupied with soothing melodic tones and ethereal atmosphere. In fact, Nomadic‘s five-minute centerpiece ‘Silent‘ is an entirely ambient track, with distant unintelligible syllables beautifully sang by guest vocalist Byanca Munoz (ex-Whirr, who is present across the entire EP) which calls to mind the soundscapes of Icelandic post-rock visionaries Sigur Ros.

Of course, extreme metal bands have been biting at post-rock for some time now, but Fallujah — who have already laid the groundwork for success on The Harvest Wombs — allow it to manifest and co-exist alongside death metal, rather than switching styles on the fly, a-la The Contortionist. This is often aided by the band’s myriad of influences ranging from black metal to jazz fusion, where rushing blasts of tremolo picking builds blurring reverb as colorful exotic chords swirl around in the mix. That’s the magic Nomadic; these influences converge seamlessly and cohesively in an organic sound that is known only to Fallujah.

Existing fans need not worry that Fallujah have eschewed the elements of their sound that established them as promising up-and-comers. Alex Hofmann has yet to trade his bark for a croon (not that this would be unwelcome), and the aforementioned clean vocals from Munoz is a pleasant aesthetic choice that sticks to a supporting role. The guitar work is still as strong as ever, and Nomadic is found as a home to some of the most impressive yet tasteful lead guitar that death metal has seen in recent years. The accentuated lush atmospherics work surprisingly well with Fallujah’s mechanical drum work, as well.

Nomadic‘s biggest nemesis is its brevity. Once ‘Venom Upon The Blade’ fades to black, it is immediately apparent that Nomadic is over much too quickly. Though intended to be a brief snapshot of a band as they further discover themselves while at their most inspired, it does exactly what it’s supposed to. While a beautiful and promising sign of things to come, a few tweaks could propel this band further into the stratosphere. The otherwise awe-inspiring ambient track ‘Silent‘ is without climax, and had it been bridged to the surrounding tracks, Nomadic could have had a continuous flow as a three-part-suite that could have made a more profound statement.

Even still, for three tracks, Fallujah have weaved a strangely dichotomous sound that feels like seething cathartic outrage while maintaining an all-encompassing glow of zen. It could be argued that somewhere along the way the term “progressive” became superfluously used to describe bands who never really brought furtherance to their respective genre, but there’s no question that the term is appropriate to describe Fallujah. Nomadic covers more ground in its eighteen minute runtime than many of their contemporaries manage to explore in forty. Let’s hope this is the direction the band keeps exploring, because Nomadic is the band’s most inspired work yet.

Fallujah – Nomadic gets…

4.5/5

- JR

An interesting turn of events this one. As you’ll probably know, The HAARP Machine recently underwent huge line-up changes leaving three particularly great musicians without a proper place to call home. Drummer Alex Rudinger was quickly snapped up into The Faceless and bassist Ollie Rooney decided to go it alone, just leaving vocalist Mike Semesky left as a free agent.

However, with the recent announcement that long-time vocalist Kasper Thomsen has left the band, Raunchy have quickly announced Semesky as his replacement. You can read the statement from the band after the jump.

News from the RAUNCHY camp

Sadly Kasper has decided to leave the band. No drama whatsoever and we wish him the best of luck in the future. Kasper has been a big part of RAUNCHY and done a great job on the last three albums and will remain a good friend. You can read a statement from Kasper over atwww.raunchy.dk

So who´s going to handle the lead vocals on the forthcoming RAUNCHY album? We are proud to welcome the very talented Mike Semesky (formerly of The Haarp Machine) as the new lead singer. After hearing his vocals on some early demos for the forthcoming RAUNCHY album we are beyond satisfied and very excited to start a new chapter with Mike. We are still writing and demoing ideas for the next album and we expect to enter the studio later this year.

We have some tour dates coming up for late june and october so stay tuned.

RAUNCHY

Semesky easily has the chops to match Thomsen so it’ll be interesting to see how this all plays out as I don’t think many were expecting this move.

- DL

I’ll be honest with you guys, I’ve been holding on to this one for a long time, with all thanks going to fellow contributor DeusExMachina. I was waiting on my pre-order package to turn up (a t-shirt, EP and a poster for only a fiver/~$8, complete bargain) so I could give you the full run down rather than just going by what’s on Youtube, but there’s no point depriving you guys of this amazing band any longer.

Take one part The Faceless, one part Obscura and one part Beyond Creation and mix in that penchant for searing leads that have gotten The Black Dahlia Murder so far, and you’re getting close to understanding the sound of Cognizance. Their debut EP Inquisition is 4 tracks of face-flaying technical and melodic death metal and, if you need any more convincing, three words: Alex Fucking Rudinger. The ex-HAARP Machine and current Faceless drummer took some time out to do session work on the album and it’s no surprise really that the drumming on show here is fluid, relentless and, most importantly, tight as hell.

You can grab a copy of Inquisition here for only $3, which is essentially day light robbery when you consider how good this is. Or at the very least, keep an eye out for their name, I have a feeling this is a sign of great things to come.

- DL

Evan Brewer is one of those bassist that is actually a bassist, not a failed guitarist that thinks he settled in on an easy gig. Brewer is a master of his craft, and where metal bassists often hide in the depths of a mix in the guitarist’s shadow, he’s one of the few that embody the true spirit of the instrument. Yes, the bass is a rhythm instrument that largely plays support, but that doesn’t mean you have to stick to plugging along, hitting root notes though the course of the song. Brewer proved as much with his solo album Alone in 2011, a record comprised entirely of bass playing and nothing else. His second record promises to continue the bass-as-spotlight approach, but take it into new territory as well.

Brewer’s sophomore album will take the form of a full-band setup, with Jeremiah Abel doing piano/keys, Navene Koperweis providing and drums/electronics, and Kyle Williams also performing drums. While Alone was a great much-needed statement for bass guitar songcraft, I’m excited that Brewer is expanding his sonic palette and will be putting out songs with accompaniment. Clips of new material along with an update from Brewer can be seen below:

Brewer’s sophomore record will be out later this year on Sumerian Records.

- JR

I don’t know about you, but I love it when bands set up tours where the bands all have widely disparate styles. Unsurprisingly, The Dillinger Escape Plan seem to have a knack for doing just that. Last time I saw the band over here in England, they were nestled comfortably between the prog worship of Mastodon and the rough-neck rock of Red Fang and it was, by far, one of the best nights I’ve ever had. Three great bands, all with completely different approaches, all absolutely killing it. So thankfully, for you guys across the pond in the US, Dillinger have set up their own tour in the same vein this coming April and May, but with themselves holding the headline spot over the Nietzsche-loving prog-metallers and label mates The Faceless and the bluesy rock of Royal Thunder. So, if you love heavy music in any way, there’s easily something on offer for you here.

Tour dates in full after the jump!

Sat 4/20/2013 Worcester, MA New England Metal Fest
Mon 4/22/2013 Lancaster, PA Chameleon Club
Tue 4/23/2013 Albany, NY Upstate Concert Hall
Wed 4/24/2013 Buffalo, NY Town Ballroom
Thu 4/25/2013 Pittsburgh, PA Altar Bar
Fri 4/26/2013 Philadelphia, PA Union Transfer
Sat 4/27/2013 Brooklyn, NY Converse Rubber Tracks @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
Sun 4/28/2013 New Haven, CT Toads Place
Tue 4/30/2013 Columbus, OH A&R Bar
Thu 5/2/2013 LOS ANGELES, CA GOLDEN GODS/NOKIA THEATER
Sat 5/4/2013 Newport, KY Southgate House
Sun 5/5/2013 Grand Rapids, MI The Intersection
Tue 5/7/2013 Indianapolis, IN Emerson Theater
Wed 5/8/2013 Chicago, IL Reggies
Thu 5/9/2013 Des Moines, IA Wooly’s
Fri 5/10/2013 Madison, WI High Noon Saloon
Sat 5/11/2013 St. Louis, MO The Firebird
Sun 5/12/2013 Lawrence, MO The Granada
Tue 5/14/2013 Boulder, CO Fox Theatre
Thu 5/16/2013 Boise, ID Knitting Factory
Fri 5/17/2013 Reno, NV Knitting Factory
Sat 5/18/2013 Sacramento, CA Ace Of Spades
Sun 5/19/2013 San Francisco, CA DNA Lounge
Mon 5/20/2013 Anaheim, CA Chain Reaction
Wed 5/22/2013 Albuquerque, NM Launchpad
Thu 5/23/2013 El Paso, TX Tricky Falls
Fri 5/24/2013 Austin, TX Mohawk
Sat 5/25/2013 New Orleans, LA One Eyed Jacks
Sun 5/26/2013 Birmingham, AL Zydeco
Tue 5/28/2013 Columbia, SC New Brookland Tavern
Wed 5/29/2013 Charlotte, NC Amos’ South End
Thu 5/30/2013 Carborro, NC Cats Cradle
Fri 5/31/2013 Asheville, NC Orange Peel
Sat 6/1/2013 Richmond, VA Kingdom

[via Metalsucks]

- DL

It’s been so long since Sumerian Records and The Faceless announced they were planning a video for ‘Deconsecrate’ that I actually forgot it was going to be a thing. After a few months following the release of the video’s teaser trailer, the full thing is now available. It’s a unique video for sure worth waiting for, showing a narrative story wherein the band takes a church hostage. Not only is the story amusing in various ways (see above), but the story is interspersed with some killer performance footage. Watch the video below:

I appreciate the deadpan humor throughout the video. I just about died when former drummer Lyle Cooper is seen reading a porn magazine hidden in a Bible. It just goes to show that despite the subject matter, they’re not taking themselves too seriously, which is easy to do in a video that sees the band committing countless blasphemies to a song critiquing religion. The apex of death metal subject matter is upon us.

‘Deconsecrate‘ appears on the band’s latest record Autotheism, which is available now on Sumerian Records.

- JR

Photos by Maclyn Bean.

Intronaut are set to release their newest album, the highly anticipated Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones) very soon. They recently did a few shows while trekking to Florida for their upcoming stint with Meshuggah and Animals As Leaders, and when they stopped by Tallahassee, I sat down with Sacha Dunable (vocals/guitar) and Dave Timnick (guitar) to discuss music, inspirations, and their upcoming new album Habitual Levitations.

Alright, so—

DT: Yes.

[laughs]

DT: Next question.

Alright, so you guys are doing this mini tour before you go play with Meshuggah and Animals As Leaders, so what made you guys want to do a mini tour, like a little tiny headlining tour, for just a few dates?

DT: Well it’s not really technically officially a headlining tour, but it’s a string of headlining shows, because otherwise driving out to Florida to meet Meshuggah means several days of spending money and not doing anything.

SD: Yeah, we’re from Los Angeles so you know, that’s a long drive. It’s like a 40 hour drive. So we just figured [we’d] book, like, seven headlining shows.

DT: Get to warm up, make a couple millions of dollars really quick. So it’s no big deal.

How’s it going so far?

DT: Very good, I mean it’s been really good. The shows have been really good.

Are you guys excited to play with Meshuggah? I know I saw on Facebook Danny [Walker, drums] was like, ‘Oh my god, I’m so excited to play with Meshuggah’.

DT: That’s really the only reason we’re doing the tour, just cause he really wanted to do it and we were like, “Fine.”

SD: I’d rather be at home working… but Danny really wanted to do the tour, so we said fine.

DT: I wanted to go to the Stone Sour concert.

SD: I wanted to sit on my couch and do nothing. I don’t have TV or anything, so I guess just sit on the couch and I’d be good to go.

Speaking of work, do you guys have jobs outside of the band that you do?

DT: Sacha, here, is a guitar wizard.

SD: I cast spells on guitars. [laughs] No, I fix guitars, I build guitars, or any stringed instrument, really. I just work on those and—

DT: Sitars?

SD: I have not yet, but I will. More of a Western-stringed instrument specialist.

DT: Yeah, and Danny, Joe [Lester, bass], and myself all work in the restaurant and/or bar industry.

SD: Making bars?

DT: Yes… Making bars and restaurants.

So you guys just do that in between tours just to make some extra dough? Because obviously, with touring nowadays, you’ve got to live off nickels and dimes.

DT: Yeah, well, I mean we do that to…live, you know? All our jobs are not ‘extra dough’; that’s just how we pay our bills more or less. We don’t make real money with this music thing; it’s all for love.

SD: It’s getting better though.

DT: Definitely getting better.

Rad! So your new album comes out on the 19^th of March, if I’m not mistaken?

SD: You are right. You are not mistaken; you are informed. [laughs]

And you guys released the single ‘Milk Leg.’ So is that a pretty good indication of what we’re gonna get the entire album, or is that sort of a “single for single purposes,” if you will?

SD: It’s just the song that we decided…somehow, we were like. “that’s the song that we’ll put out first,” you know? It’s not necessarily our favorite song on the record. I mean sure it’s a great song—

DT: It’s not that great.

SD: I mean, we wrote it, so it’s amazing, obviously.

DT: It’s tied for ‘Best Song Ever’ with every other song we ever wrote. [laughs]

SD: But no, not every song on the album sound like that. There’s a lot of songs that sound like other stuff.

Would you say it was more of a group effort? Last record sounded really rhythm-based; you guys turned up the bass a lot, as well as the drums, so is this one more of an ‘Oh, we’re going to have everyone hear their parts a lot more’, or is going to be similarly rhythm-based?

DT: I think that’s just Joe and Danny turning their tracks up when Sacha and I go outside to smoke a cigarette. [laughs] But the writing process itself is relatively unchained.

SD: Unchained? [laughs]

DT: Well, unchained and unchanged. We, as a full collaborative effort, wrote this.

So how many songs are going to be on the new record?

DT: Nine.

Are they all long songs like ‘Milk Leg’? That was around seven minutes or so, right?

DT: Yeah, there’s a few long ones.

SD: The whole record is a little under an hour. It’s not too long; it’s just long enough. It’s like 50-something minutes.

DT: It’s just long enough for us to reach the G-Spot in your ears. [laughs]

Speaking of reaching the aural G-spot, what are your favorite songs to play live? What songs do you just love to play? Give me a top three, or even your favorite ever. Although all your songs are the best songs ever.

SD: Oh god, favorite song to play? Hmm. I like…

DT: Right now I’m loving playing all the new songs, but that’s just because they’re fresh. But ‘Core Relations’ is one of my favorites to play live.

SD: ‘Core Relations’ is a good one. I don’t know, man.

DT: I just don’t really like playing any of these songs. I just did it for the money and the chicks. [laughs]

SD: Yeah, right now probably just the newer songs, but I mean we really like all of our songs.

How many new songs have you guys been playing on this run of shows?

SD: Five new songs. On these shows, at least. Once the Meshuggah shows start the set gets a little shorter and we can really only play a couple of them. Because people don’t know them yet.

Yeah.

SD: We want to give them something they know, too.

Sacha Dunable

So do you guys have any different influences on this album? Like maybe you were kind of digging an artist and you kind of took something like what you heard and put it to your music, or was it the same Intronaut we got on the last record?

DT: No, but I mean we’re always trying to get into new music, and everything that we get in to always ends up being influential in some way or another. I know personally that some of this newer stuff that I have gotten in to that’s had an impact on me is like, this cat from Switzerland, I think? Named Nik Bärtsch—

SD: I thought he’s German, isn’t he?

DT: Really? Well, he’s from over there, somewhere in the old country. He has a group called Ronin that is fucking unreal. I recommend everyone checking that out.

SD: That’s true, you know. Like when we started writing, actually, we were all kind of, like, actively listening to stuff like that together, actually. That, and like, Steely Dan.

DT: Yeah, those are the two only influences on the new record.

SD: It sounds, well, that.

DT: If both of those had an illegitimate, immaculate conception of a baby. [laughs]

Now, I know Danny has his side project with Murder Construct. Do either of you have any recent side projects that you’ve been working on, or composing material for?

SD: Yeah, always man. Dave, you go first.

DT: I recently did a side project with Justin Chancellor from Tool. I played drums, which will be—if it hasn’t already been released to the public—released soon. It’s called M.T.void, and the album’s called Nothing’s Matter. Highly recommend checking that one out.

SD: It’s good; really good.

DT: And, Sacha, you have something going on as well.

SD: Well last year I put out a record with the band called Bereft. It’s doom metal, with just a bunch of buddies. My buddy Charles from Abysmal Dawn, and Derek [“Demon Carcass” Rydquist] who used to be the singer of The Faceless. And then Derek [Donley] from National Sunday Law, who also recorded the bulk of [Intronaut’s] new album.

Yeah, national Sunday Law are pretty good. I just started getting in to them.

DT: Oh yeah, they’re killer. Good friends of ours.

SD: They’ve got some sick stuff.

Speaking of, are there any bands that are just kind of coming out of the woodwork, that you think people should start to pay attention to because they’re going to become huge?

DT: Well, yes, but not because we think they’re gonna blow up, because there are some good bands that are up-and-coming that are definitely worth checking out. What was that first band…? Or no, what was that band that played right before us in Santa Fe?

SD: Oh yeah, this band called As In We.

DT: Right, As In We! They were very cool. There’s a band we played with last night called…what were they called? With a ‘T’?

SD: Transmuted.

DT: Transmuted. From Pensacola, Florida. They were pretty cool.

SD: But other than that, I don’t know…like who else…you play with bands sometimes so much that you kind of lose track. I mean, there’s a lot of good bands out there.

DT: Now, it might not be a new thing but I recommend everyone checking out Cloudkicker.

Oh, yeah.

DT: I mean it’s just one dude. But I mean that’s not new at all. But we met that guy and he just gave us a CD at one of our shows; we had never heard of him then.

So he went to one of your shows and you got to meet him?

DT: Yeah, this was many years back, and he kind of just… was actually one of several people who had come up to us and given us a CD. But he was very cool about it and not like, “Hey man, take my band on tour!” He just gave us a couple of CDs and I remember we popped it in inside the van and we were all pretty blown away. Now, that’s not really a big secret, but I still recommend everyone check him out, for anyone who hasn’t heard him.

Dave Timnick

Yeah, he’s definitely awesome. Alright, so can one of you describe your new album in three words?

DT: Sucks out loud. Sacha?

SD: Really fucking good. So, as you can see, we have differing opinions on the record.

DT: Hence the creative process.

How do you feel about music, specifically the metal industry, today? It seems as if every single bands that comes out seems to have some sort of gimmick or something new that they’re doing, whether it be playing “djent” music, or—

DT: That’s not just metal, man. It’s all music, you know? Most bands usually kind of go with the sweeping trends, and whatnot, in any kind of music. You know, sometimes you get a band, in any genre, that are a musical act trying to do something a little different, so I don’t think it’s restricted to metal as far, like, you know, doing generic stuff, or popping up with a certain new trend or something. I mean that exists in all genres of music, I think.

I agree. It can get a tad convoluted. So for your new album you just released the album artwork a couple weeks ago. Was it the same artist who did the artwork for Valley Of Smoke?

DT: Yep, the same guy. David D’Andrea. Very cool guy.

So what’s the meaning of the title Habitual Levitations?

DT: We’ll just leave that up to the imagination. It’s whatever you want it to be.

Before we finish, I have a question about the lyrics. Sacha, do you write all of the lyrics, or some of them with help from the other guys?

SD: No, actually Dave writes most of the lyrics, at least for this and the last record.

Is there any particular place you draw inspiration from, Dave?

DT: Wherever there’s inspiration to be drawn. From the gutters of the back-alley brothels, to the gutters of high society cocktail parties. [laughs]

SD: From the gutters, though.

DT: It’s a lot of gutters.

SD: Just different gutters.

Alright cool! Thanks for doing this interview! Any final thoughts? Anything left you want to say about your new record and people checking it out?

DT: Buy our new record or the terrorists win. [laughs]

SD: Yeah, that’s officially what we’re going with.

 ———

Habitual Levitations (Instilling Words With Tones) is out March 19th through Century Media Records.

-SS

Oh what new hell is this? Just a week before a rather large run of North American dates, it seems like Cradle of Filth‘s impending headlining tour has just lost their headliner. The problem seems to be the usual suspect for bands trying to get over to the states, visa issues. I’ve never had to deal with that myself, so while I don’t really know the intricacies involved with receiving a visa, but since Cradle of Filth have been doing this for a few decades now, it seems rather silly that they wouldn’t have planned ahead for this. It happens fairly often in the world of touring musicians, and it just seems like an issue that you would want to plan ahead for.

That aside, Cradle of Filth has issued a statement apologising for the cancellation. I was really hoping to see this tour, because hey, I like Cradle of Filth from time to time, even if their recent output hasn’t been the strongest. Oh well, there’s really not much more to say about this. It sucks for everyone involved, and I hope The Faceless, Decapitated, and The Agonist can pull something together and salvage what they can from this now defunct tour. You can read the band’s statement after the jump.

Cradle Of Filth are really sorry to tell all of their fans that their US tour ’28 Days Closer to Hell’ is going to have to be cancelled, due to US immigration issues beyond the band’s control.

They have been desperately trying to solve these problems, but it has become evident they are not going to be resolved in time for the band to embark on a tour that starts next week.

The band sincerely apologise to all their fans and to the other acts on the tour and want to assure people they have made every effort possible to go ahead with the tour.

We’ll keep you posted if any of the support bands decide to launch their own headlining tours.

- EC

A lot of people were underwhelmed by the latest The Faceless offering Autotheism, and it’s easy to see why. While most of us at Heavy Blog felt that the record was good, the change in musical direction lost many of the band’s tech-death fans who didn’t want to see the band delve deeper into progressive influences. For those lost fans, there is a new saving grace in The Zenith Passage, who have taken up the reigns of writing Planetary Duality-esque death metal. There’s a certain level of guilt that I feel in introducing the band’s appeal as being based on the achievements of another band, but just listen to the band’s single ‘Cosmic Dissonance‘ and let that speak for itself.

Yes, good. This is hitting the spot that I didn’t even know needed hitting. The rest of the band’s new EP Cosmic Dissonance is now available via Total Deathcore. Go get it.

[via Metalsucks]

- JR

A lot has been happening over the last few days in The Faceless camp. So here’s the round up in the style of a news sandwich (good, bad, good):

After the recent departure of long time drummer Lyle Cooper (above, right of center), absolutely no one was left wondering about who would fill the drum stool. So in a move that will surprise no one, Alex Rudinger of the recently shaken up The HAARP Machine has been drafted to fill the space — the official announcement is as follows:

“To clear the air on a few details, The Faceless has decided to part ways with drummer Lyle Cooper due to a growing difference in the level of commitment to the project. We wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors and we’re sure he’ll continue to be successful with music. Having said that, we are very excited to announce that Alex Rudinger is our new full time drummer. We just played our first 3 shows with him in Mexico and what he brings to the band both musically and personally, is simply astounding. We are looking forward to a great future with Alex.”

Needless to say, Rudinger is an absolute beast behind the kit and is clearly more than talented enough to cope with the all the twists and turns Keene can throw at him, so here’s to hoping this is a long lasting tenure (for once).

For those of us in these grand ol’ isles of Britania, the news was tainted a little as it came with the announcement that the band’s upcoming UK tour alongside The Safety Fire has been cancelled due to visa issues:

Due to Visa issues with The Faceless, our forthcoming tour has unfortunately been cancelled. Refunds for tickets are available from your place of purchase.

Thank you to all of our fans who bought tickets for these shows. We will try to make it up to you as soon as possible – TSF

This statement was later echoed on The Faceless‘s page, also suggesting that the tour will be rescheduled at some point.

Oh, and the other good news? Well, this song still exists!

- DL

We’ve tried to avoid persistent rumors surrounding The HAARP Machine guitarist Al Mu’min in the past. Ex-members of the band and people generally in the know came out about how not only was Al Mu’min hard to get along with (it was said that he threatened to burn someone’s house down), but he could barely even play his guitar parts, relying on studio magic and live backing tracks to get by. While the rumors seemed highly likely to be true, we’ve generally shied against this sort of thing, just as we did with the whole Rings of Saturn fiasco from last year. Again, these are rumors that should be taken with a grain of salt, and we do not claim to either confirm nor deny them.

However, these rumors have a little more weight, as everyone in the band who isn’t Al Mu’min has left. Vocalist Mike Semesky sent out the following press release early this morning and made it pretty clear that it was all because of Mu’min (below emphasis mine):

Vocalist, Mike Semesky; drummer, Alex Rudinger; and bassist, Ollie Rooney have parted ways with Sumerian Records’ progressive metal act, The|HAARP|Machine.

Mike Semesky comments

“Due to irreconcilable personal differences with our guitarist Al Mu’min, the three of us (Alex, Ollie, and I) have decided to part ways with The|HAARP|Machine  This was in no way an easy decision to make but the three of us feel that it is in our best interest to pursue other musical endeavors at this time. We would like to thank all of our fans, our friends and families, Sumerian Records, and everyone else who supported our band along the way. Rest assured that the three of us are in no way giving up on our music careers and we’d encourage you all to follow our individual YouTube channels to keep up with our tunes while we are in pursuit of our new musical homes.

Take care and thank you for reading,

Mike, Alex, and Ollie

Mike Semesky’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/mikesemesky

Alex Rudinger’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/mdterps1042

Ollie Rooney’s YouTube channel: www.youtube.com/theollierooney

Now it’s hard telling where The HAARP Machine will end up. Al Mu’min may say “fuck it” after this blow and just dissolve The HAARP Machine; after all, why go through the trouble of finding a whole new band? It’s also worth mentioning that Sumerian Records got pissed and dropped an even more successful band that did this sort of thing, so The HAARP Machine may just be done. If Mu’min is persistent, we could see him sticking to it as a DIY solo project. At any rate, this is a major blow to him, surely.

This also frees up drummer Alex Rudinger in joining The Faceless, as he’s already the fill-in for the vacant drummer spot. As far as I’m concerned, he traded up.

As of drafting this post, there’s been no statement or reaction from Mu’min or Sumerian Records. We’ll have more word on this as it comes in.

UPDATE: Al Mu’min appears to have commented below:

My qualms with my former bandmates are very little to do with my alleged dangerous nature and more to do with musical direction. Yes, whilst I concede to my ardent detractors that I’m not tightest of all players live I should add the songs on the album are quite difficult to pull off in a live context and I would honestly prefer a little support and positivity amongst my ‘metal’ brethren. I wish you all a good day. Evidently my day has been ruined by this loss but I wish not for myself not to wallow in self-doubt and sorrow.

- JR

After rumors spread online that The Faceless drummer Lyle Cooper had left the band — he was absent at a recent live show in Mexico — speculations have now been cleared up, and it is now known that Lyle Cooper has officially parted ways with The Faceless. Taking to his official Facebook page, Lyle had this to say:

“I figured I’d clear up the air about my status with The Faceless.

After almost five years with the band I’ve decided to part ways. Over the last couple of years it seemed that the interests, goals and musical approach of the band was not that of my own. Also, managerial issues became too frequent with no resolution.

These issues, I felt, made it hard for me as an individual to produce as a creative and enthusiastic member. I’m sure that proceeding my departure, the band will have no trouble finding someone with the right mindset and talents to step in and keep the band moving forward.

Thank you to the fans and everyone who supported The Faceless throughout the years. I wish the band and its members nothing but continued success and make sure you catch them on their upcoming tours.

I will still be pursuing my other musical projects so look out for new Absvrdist and Abhorrent this year. -Lyle Cooper“

Amid a slurry of recent band losses, this news is a little less shocking then it would have been a few weeks ago, but it is still a sad development. While I was never the biggest fan of The Faceless, it is clear that Lyle is a talented man, and his contribution to the band was always what entertained me the most. Best of luck to Lyle and all his future endeavors. I’ve not spent time iwth Absvrdist or the Abhorrent, but now I know where to go if I ever want to hear more from him.

The Faceless have yet to comment on these developments, so it is currently unknown if they have found a replacement for Cooper. The HAARP Machine‘s Alex Rudinger was behind the kit at the band’s aforementioned show in Mexico, but it’s likely that he was just a last minute stand in. However, it wouldn’t be all that surprising if he was picked up to be Cooper’s permanent replacement.

We’ll keep you updated as news on these matters become available. Cheers.

- EC