Holy Roar Records Files Pt.4 – Employed To Serve’s The Warmth Of A Dying Sun

Matt MacLennan
Listen To This!
It's been a minute since our last Holy Roar Records File and even longer since I wrote one. It's only appropriate that the post is dusted off and brought back for this. Somehow, I hadn't covered Employed To Serve in this feature before but that HAD to change for one reason; The Warmth Of A Dying Sun releases today and is a bona fide game changer in hardcore and heavy music. You can throw Code Orange at me all you want, Employed To Serve are thee band at the forefront of genre smashing heavy music. As always, make your own damn mind up about but if you feel like you need convincing then read ahead. There will be bountiful amounts of hyperbole and fruity language - oh, and a track by track breakdown from EtS's very own Justine Jones. Tight.

What Heavy Blog Is Really Listening To – 2/3/17

Heavy Blog
What We're Really Listening To
For those who missed our last installment, We post biweekly updates covering what the staff at Heavy Blog have been spinning. Given the amount of time we spend on the site telling you about music that does not fall neatly into the confines of conventional “metal,” it should come as no surprise that many of us on staff have pretty eclectic tastes that range far outside of metal and heavy things. We can’t post about all of them at length here, but we can at least let you know what we’re actually listening to. For those that would like to participate as well (and please do) can drop a 3X3 in the comments, which can be made with tapmusic.net through your last.fm account, or create it manually with topsters.net. Also, consider these posts open threads to talk about pretty much anything music-related. We love hearing all of your thoughts on this stuff and love being able to nerd out along with all of you.

65 – Time II Stop Jari

Noyan
Podcast
A week full of fun times! We talk about Wintersun shenanigans yet again, Tidal shenanigans, Bandcamp successes, then we talk about new music or content from a bunch of artists. Opeth, Leprous with Ihsahn, Psykup, Betraying the Martyrs, Born of Osiris, Dodecahedron, Disperse, Virvum, Six Feet Under, Arch Enemy, Quasarborn, Oni, Mayhem, Sunless, Pallbearer, Adam Young, and Mastodon. We also talk about this list of power metal in 2016, some cool people stuff. Also, take a look at this gofundme of a victim of crowdkilling (gfm link here) at a Code Orange show, and check out me and Eden's new role-playing podcast!

Heavy Blog Primer – Our Most Anticipated Albums of 2017

Scott Murphy
Lists!
Though it may seem like we talked ad naseum about how fucking spectacular 2016 was in terms of new music, the fact remains that we saw more fantastic albums drop than we could seemingly keep up with. But just when we thought our palates were satiated, here comes 2017 with an excellent early roster of release announcements, some we've expected for a while and others that came out of nowhere. The following is a surely incomplete list of all the albums worth craving as we ring in the new year. Some of these albums have been fully announced with pre-order links and all that jazz, while others are merely probable assumptions based on various updates on social media. Regardless, these are all phenomenal projects worth looking for in the coming year. This is by no means an exhaustive list, and we encourage you to comment with some albums you're anticipating so we can share in your excitement.

Hey! Listen to Throwers!

Heavy Blog
Listen To This!
It seems like every year a new, incredibly talented metallic hardcore/noise group comes into the fold or gains some much-deserved mainstream recognition. Last year we were treated to Great American Ghost, 2014 found Expire wowing us with Pretty Low, in 2013 Hessian released their debut Manégarmr, and before that, all the way back in 2012, Code Orange came onto the scene with their awesome Love Is Love // Return to Dust album. While we still have six months left of 2016, I believe that Germany’s Throwers will prove to be a future powerhouse of aggressive hardcore, with their debut Loss setting the foundation of their reign as hardcore royalty.