The HAARP Machine have announced their debut record Disclosure to be released October 16th.
Remember when I told you about this in late July? Well now I’m even more excited. The album trailer is up and we’ve finally gotten a glimpse of the impending perfection. It’s a little early to call this one of the best albums of 2012, but it’s entirely possible given the musicianship and overall writing ability of the band. Oh, and just in case those two new guys look familiar, they’re vocalist Mike Semesky (ex-Vestascension, Ordinance, Rest Among Ruins) and drummer Alex Rüdinger (ex-Threat Signal, Ordinance). All aboard the excitebike!
So what about the track list? If you pause the video right around 2:36 (good luck), there are a few frames of a board with seven tracks listed. They’re shortened names of the full songs, but three of them are ‘The Escapist Notion,’ ‘Pleiadian Keys,’ and ‘Esoteric Agenda.’ The other four are ‘Disclosure,’ ‘Machines,’ ‘Vanity‘ and ‘I TP‘ (or ‘1 TP‘). If you can properly identify those songs in the comment section below, I will personally reward you by reading your comment. There looks like there’s more above ’Disclosure,’ so don’t cry that it’ll be too short of an album.
Keep up with the band on their Facebook page for some pre-order information and maybe some tunes to hold us over.
The HAARP Machine‘s debut record is finally on the way.
A low-key way to hear about a release, but it’s still great news. I can already hear the cries of “that’s shopped. I can see the pixels,” so I’ve taken the liberty of linking you to the brief-but-fruitful conversation. Don’t ever say I don’t do anything nice for you, because that was a labor of love. I’m just as excited now as I was the first time I heard “The Escapist Notion“ all those years ago… or was it months? I can’t remember. What I do know is that my wallet is fully prepared for the impending pre-orders.
Believe it or not, France is steadily becoming a beacon for excellent metal, as evidenced by this year’s stellar debut releases from Uneven Structure and Betraying The Martyrs, the latter of which are currently embarking on their first ever tour in America, supporting Born of Osiris, Veil of Maya, and Carnifex [show review here]. I caught up with Betraying the Martyrs bassist Valentin Hauser for an exclusive interview in which he discusses the origin of the band’s name and the troubles of getting a European band into America. I also make a fool of myself by pronouncing his name wrong. Luckily, Valentin is a great sport and a friendly dude!
Alright, so for everyone who doesn’t know, who are you and what do you do?
I am Valentin and I play bass for Betraying the Martyrs.
Oh! “Valentine!” I’ve been pronouncing it like “Valenteen” this whole time! [laughs]
Yeah, in French, “Valenteen” is a name for a girl…
In a turn of events that is likely to delay their debut album (dangit!), UK tech metal outfit The|HAARP|Machine have parted ways with vocaist Dom Sobkowicz, and produced the following video putting out a call for a new one:
If you know anyone who fits the bill, be sure to send ‘em their way. There’s a downloadable instrumental version of their song “The Escapist Notion” here for auditionees to use – or just jam over, if you think you’re ‘ard enuff.
Shit’s gonna be so cash (or whatever bizarre phrase the kids are using these days) when it’s released.
The HAARP Machine is one of the more exciting debut albums coming up on the horizon (besides Uneven Structure‘s Februus of course, but more on that later today). These British Sumerian Records newcomers have been teasing us with stuff from their upcoming record, slated for a fall release (they don’t have much time left!), and I’m excited. As a fan of bands like The Faceless, The HAARP Machine is right up my alley. They’ve posted a third studio video, showcasing some bass tracking. That’s neat and all, but I recently came across this instrumental pre-production track which tickled my fancy quite a bit.
NEAT.
We’ll have more The HAARP Machine info when it comes to us.
It seems that for every two or three respectable bands that Sumerian Records signs, they sign one terrible one. Now, I’m all for diversity and I enjoy seeing the massive fits of fanboy butthurt that sparked over the signing of Borgore and Bizzy Bone. However, it just strikes me as odd that a label as rooted in prog and tech metal as Sumerian is also home to a rapper, a brostep artist, and scene-friendly bands like Asking Alexandria,I See Stars, and now latest signings Make Me Famous, who were no doubt signed in spite of Metalsucks’ glowingrecommendations.
As much as I hate to admit it, I can see the logic in it. Anyone in the same position as Sumerian would do the same. Mainstream success = money. Of course, the mass of Sumerian followers weren’t as keen to the idea and have given an apparently noticeable amount of negative feedback, causing Sumerian Records to make a statement on Facebook.
Two things to all you trolls, goblins and tunnel-visioned orcs: Bands like AA and ISS enable us to spend more money on bands like The Faceless and The HAARP Machine. It’s all part of the record label eco-system. We genuinely love AA and ISS just like we do Veil of Maya and Betraying the Martyrs. The younger, open-minded fans that bands like MMF and AA have end up discovering the more prog/technical metal bands Sumerian has been known for as they get older and everyone wins. Ask Born of Osiris and Veil of Maya yourself when they have toured with bands in that scene before. And before you pass judgement on MMF, wait until October 4th when you hear their first song be released that is officially on Sumerian. When AA and ISS were on Jimmy Kimmel, that was good for the entire family. We understand not everyone will like everything on a record label as big as Sumerian because we do not only sign one type of music. What we can promise though is the bands we sign outside of our “future of metal” roster will go on to be massive. Hate on AA but the band is bigger than every act on Rise Records and is direct support to Avenged Sevenfold, the biggest modern day rock/heavy metal band who came out in the past 10 years. You guys act like we sign 10 scene bands for every one BOO or ATB. It’s the other way around fellas!! Now quit bitching and go support Enfold Darkness! See them on tour with Obscura this fall! -Love, The Sphinx.
I couldn’t have said it better myself. As far as shitty acts go, I couldn’t see Sumerian pulling a Victory and signing anything as bad as Design the Skyline out the gate. The dudes at Sumerian aren’t dumb—it’s not like they’ve ever had The Faceless and I See Stars on the same touring bill. Their in-house booking agency tends to keep bands on their relevant tours and markets them the the appropriate people, so as long as I don’t have to hear or see Make Me Famous, I’m good. Also, I appreciate that Sumerian admits they do it for the money. It’s a no-brainer, really. There’s no shame in putting food on the table, am I right?
Disagree? Still want to complain about how bad Make Me Famous is? Mouth off in the comments. I’m sure they have an album due out soon enough, but I didn’t look into it enough to find out when.
English progressive/tech-death newcomers The HAARP Machine may have been stopped from coming over to the US in what may or may not be a sensational manner, but they can’t be stopped from being totally badass. They have been rolling out a steady stream of studio videos that tease their debut album these past few months, and this new studio video gets me more excited than anything released before. Guitarist Al Mu’min is an incredibly talented player with some damn good technique. His playing is intense and precise, like watching a heart surgeon do his hundredth surgery. Sure, you’re fascinated by the intricacies of what’s going on, but he’s just like, “whatever man.” Classy.
No word on a title or release date just yet, but we’ll be sure to pass that along if it comes in.
It would appear that UK-based latest Sumerian-signees The HAARP Machine were denied entrance into the USA this Labor Day weekend as they were coming over to prepare for their supporting gig for Decapitated. Now, there’s typically problems that arise every now and then when a foreign band tries to come over to tour and get denied, but this time it seems that there COULD be a deeper sociological issue at play here.
Let’s just cut straight to the issue here. It’s nearing the 10th anniversary of the September 11th attacks, and since then, anyone who looks even remotely of Middle-Eastern descent have been getting the short end of the stick when it comes to traveling in the United States. The community seems to be abuzz with trickling claims of racial profiling, and I can see how it would appear to be the case in The HAARP Machine’s instance.
The band’s guitarist is Al Mu’min, seen upper left in the above photo. Unfortunately, coming to America for him may be problematic for obvious reasons, all of which are—obviously—a complete and total bullshit product of senseless fear and racial profiling. Add that to the fact that it’s a week before 9/11′s tenth anniversary, the band are hauling large boxes of electronic equipment, gear, and instruments and that the band’s name itself references a conspiracy theory involving The US Government (hell, their equipment probably has “The HAARP Machine” written on it)… it’s just a terribly unfortunate coincidence that the ever-paranoid TSA and US Government are naively reading too much into. The fact that they’re a death metal band doesn’t help much either, I’m sure.
Of course, there COULD be a reasonable explanation, but I don’t hold much hope for reason. It’s senseless fear at play here, I’m sure. We’ll follow up with official word if/when we get it.
I’m pretty much stoked for The HAARP Machine‘s debut album, which comes out later this year on Sumerian. So much so, I try to look for any new things that come from these English tech-metallers. In doing this, I have found a recent update on the bands studio endeavors. And it gets me so pumped.
I’m a percussionist myself, so when I see this, it’s basically the equivalent of porn. These drums are incredibly nuanced and tech. I’m very curious to hear these drumbeats in context on what should inevitably be an astounding debut. Also, do you notice how epic this is in its filming. It’s shot beautifully.
As mentioned before, their debut album comes out very soon on Sumerian. GIMME. GIMME. GIMME. MORE.
After the jump, the official mastered version of their track, “The Escapist Notion“.
Ladies and gentlemen, if you’re going to attend the Carnival Is Forever Tour (featuring Decapitated, Decrepit Birth, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Rings of Saturn and The HAARP Machine), you’re going to have to be sure to bring a cap so your minds are retained when they’re blown and some clean shorts for when you inevitably shit yourself. The Metalsucks sponsored tour kicks off in September and features some of the coolest death metal bands going strong today, as well as newcomers The HAARP Machine, who have yet to even put out their highly anticipated debut album.
I saw Summer Slaughter last year, but unfortunately had to leave before Decapitated came on. It’s a shame really, but it’s awesome to have them back Stateside. Here are the tour dates:
09/30/11 Montage Music Hall – Rochester, NY
10/01/11 Kingdom – Richmond, VA
10/02/11 The Acheron – Atlanta, GA
10/03/11 State Theater – St. Petersburg, FL
10/05/11 White Rabbit San Antonio, TX
10/06/11 TBA
10/07/11 Clubhouse – Tempe, AZ
10/08/11 SOMA – San Diego, CA
10/09/11 Foro Alicia – Mexico City, MÉXICO
10/10/11 The Whisky – Hollywood, CA
10/11/11 DNA Lounge – San Francisco, CA
10/12/11 Branx – Portland, OR
10/14/11 Studio Seven – Seattle, WA
10/15/11 Rickshaw Theater – Vancouver, B.C. – CANADA
10/16/11 Republik – Calgary, AB – CANADA
10/17/11 The Exchange – Regina, SK – CANADA
10/18/11 Park Theater – Winnipeg, MB – CANADA
10/20/11 Miramar Theatre – Milwaukee, WI
10/21/11 Mojoe’s – Joliet, IL
10/22/11 Alrosa Villa – Columbus, OH
10/23/11 Peabody’s – Cleveland, OH
10/24/11 Opera House – Toronto, ON – CANADA
10/26/11 Club Soda – Montreal, QC – CANADA
10/27/11 Gramercy Theater – New York, NY
10/28/11 The Reverb – Reading, PA
10/29/11 Saints & Sinners Fest – Asbury Park, NJ
10/30/11 Jaxx – Springfield, VA
Be sure to head out for the show, as it’s guaranteed to be absolutely killer.
Original photo by Anthony Dubois.
