New Album ‘Reign Supreme‘ coming June 17th 2012 on CD/Deluxe CD/LP/Digital via Relapse Records! HEAD-FUCKING-BANG
Tag Archives: 2012
Top 5 Albums Of The Year So Far…
Just for fun, I want to share with you my top five albums of the year so far. These albums are great and I think they’ll be contenders for the end of the year list that is just SO much fun to put together. So far we have the following:
5: Exotic Animal Petting Zoo – Tree of Tongues. This awesome gem was an unexpected gift sent to me for review. I’ve never heard of the band until earlier this year and the album just continues to get played to this day. I rocked this shit while in the garage yesterday! It’s really good.
4: Cannibal Corpse – Torture. It just came out but this one is on a continuous loop , I listen to it twice a day at least. The songs on the album are just so fucking entertaining. It takes no time at all to fully enjoy this album for what it is.
3: Plague Widow – 2012 EP. A new band with a big sound. This is how you do death grind. Songs are short, to the point and incredibly heavy. If you haven’t checked out Plague Widow yet after all of these posts I’ve been making you are a fucking retard.
2: Crosses – EP II. Not metal, actually far from it. Chino Moreno/Shaun Lopez/Chuck Doom come together to write some beautiful music. It’s slow & tragic yet romantic. Crosses is one of the best side projects to have come out in recent years.
1: Woods of Ypres – Woods V: Grey Skies & Electric Light. Words cannot describe my love for this album. The bands final album, Woods V, is a really tough album for me to listen to and sing along to all the way through and not get a tear built up. I miss David Gold and this is his amazing last work of art. This album inspires me, it motivates me, it calms me and it makes me think. Not to mention the tunes are fucking good, this is a different take on doom. It’s not just toned down guitars and growling, it’s singing….really good singing. David’s lowest vocal tone ever, and the fact there are so many instruments contributing to the sound on this album makes Woods V that much more unique. Also, even with all of the heavy death metal put out so far this year, nothing makes me headbang harder then the part on “Alternate Ending” on the 1:48 mark, the doom breakdown is so fucking good. I love this album. RIP David Gold, you’ve inspired more than any man ever has.
CEREBRAL BORE To Open Up SUMMER SLAUGHTER
Congratulations to both Cerebral Bore and Earache Records for winning the poll that The Summer Slaughter Tour had going for the past week. They fit in perfectly and hopefully they can get their VISA shit taken care of so they can stay on the entire tour. The lineup thus far is:
Cannibal Corpse
Between the Buried and Me
The Faceless
Periphery
Job For A Cowboy
Veil of Maya
Goatwhore
Exhumed
Cerebral Bore
No dates as of yet but I’ll keep you up to date on those as soon as I know. Congrats again guys/gal!!
I’m Surprised AARP Isn’t Sponsoring The KISS/MOTLEY CRUE 2012 Tour.
The Kiss and Mötley Crüe Tour! Tell your parents their favorite music from their past is coming back for one more trip through memory lane. Oh I can see it now, a sea of face painted dweebs and fat groupies from 1987 who put on 200 extra pounds yet still dress like they are 21 and 120 lbs. Yikes. Not only is this terrifying in imagination, I’m sure the reality of the situation won’t be much better. Oh and my guess is that the ticket prices will be ungodly, like 80 bucks for GA and probably 40 for those nosebleed seats. Enjoy this event! It may not be as bad as I imagine but….I don’t want to take that chance.
Tour dates after the jump.
You Know The New 3 INCHES OF BLOOD Album Is Killer When It Gets Stuck In Your Head After One Play Through
So I checked out the new 3 Inches of Blood album yesterday appropriately titled “Long Live Heavy Metal” and it’s just that, heavy fucking metal. With songs like Metal Woman, Leather Lord, Look Out & Die For Gold, you can rest assure that this album is just a pure headbangin’, beer drinkin, axe grinding good time. It’s been too long since I’ve jammed out on some 3IoB, I mean I completely missed out on 2009′s release of “Here Awaits Thy Doom“, my last sampling of 3IoB is Fire Up The Blades! Cam Pipes still has it man, his voice may be Judas Priest-ish but I think he rocks it perfectly without sounding like a cheap ripoff. The band rights solid metal music and I’m quite impressed so far as to what I am hearing. So grab your swords and shields! Long Live Heavy Metal is one epic quest and will be available March 26th through Century Media.
Look for the actual review next week. Until then, turn up the volume and headbang to this track.
Exclusive Interview: Ben Harclerode from Whitechapel
I had the opportunity to sit down and talk with Ben Harclerode, Whitechapel’s drummer extraordinaire. Recently joining the band and running with them live and recording last year’s EP with them, he talks about just finishing up the new album and tour life. I’d like to thank Metal Blade and Daniel Robben for setting up this interview and giving me the opportunity. This is Headbang or GTFO’s first interview and it was a privilege and an honor to speak to Ben and step foot inside their tour bus. Bold words are my own, normal font is Ben Harclerode’s words. Enjoy.
Thank you for doing the interview with me.
Yeah of course man.
This is Ben with Whitechapel, the drummer.
(laughs)
How’s the tour so far? I know it just started n all.
It’s been great. It’s been off to a really great start, I guess. Memphis is kind of a weird place usually as far as heavier music goes but Knoxville and that whole show was awesome. It’s been really good man, the bands have been really cool.
Right on. What’s your favorite band to watch so far?
After the Burial, those guys fucking shred. Sorry, excuse me. Ahh, those guys are good.
You can say “fuck” as much as you want, I don’t care. Do whatever you want.
Ok, yeah those guys are awesome. They sound great every night, they’re all really tight players and I dunno it’s kinda tech-ier stuff and it’s up my alley.
Yeah, that’s good shit. Have you heard Spawn of Possession’s new album? Incurso? Just came out this week. (March 13th)
No I haven’t.
Oh, it’s fucking brilliant. You’d like it if you like technical death metal.
I like those guys, for sure.
What’s your setlist like on this tour? Is it mainly older shit? Or is it just newer songs? Are you playing anything brand new?
No, I mean the tour is called “The Recorruptour”, we released the Recorrupted EP in November. So we’re naturally playing “Section 8″, the new song off of the EP. Other than that nothing new, we just finished up recording literally the day before we went on tour.
Any details on the release of that album or at least when a single will be released?
Umm, yeah I’m not 100% as far as the single, I mean we’re shooting for a pre-Mayhem release because we’re doing the Mayhem Tour this summer. So I don’t know if I’m technically supposed to say any specific dates but I mean like I said we’re shooting for a pre-Mayhem release.
Will there be any special guests on this album? Guitarists? Vocalists? I know you had two guest vocalists on the last album.
No, as far as vocals go nothing really. As far as leads we have one guy from Knoxville that came in and dropped a couple nasty leads over a couple of the songs. Other than that it’s pretty straight forward.
What do you usually do during the day? What’s tour life like?
I practice a lot, play a lot of video games. I don’t know it’s nice having the bus be an option.
Yeah, it’s fucking nice. (I look around, admiring)
I definitely have done some shitty van tours and it’s nice to be able to hang out or have a place to go take a nap. I just do stupid shit over the course of the day to keep myself occupied. Play drums when I have to, warm up, some people would say I do that more than I need to.
What games do you guys usually play? I see Phil (Bozeman) on Twitter all the time talking about Modern Warfare 2 and 3, is that what you guys usually play?
Yeah, that’s kind of our jam. Play a lot of Modern Warfare 3.
Any good at it?
I’m not very good at it, Phil smokes everybody. He’s like 9th level prestige or something right now. He’s into it.
Well that’s all the questions I have. I just want to congratulate you guys on another headlining tour and finishing up on the album and getting on Mayhem Fest. I can’t wait to hear your new album! Thanks for talking with me. See you tonight and put on a great show!
Yup, thanks buddy.
Concert Review! WHITECHAPEL
March 16th, Beaumont Club, Kansas City, MO….the crowd has already gone nuts several times for the opening bands and now they await patiently for the main event, the headliner….Whitechapel. Set up takes awhile and the stage opens up big for the 6 monsters from Knoxville, Tennessee, allowing them to perform and move about without bumping into one another. Lights are set up, tones are checked and the lights go out. The fog machine spews obnoxious amounts of steam into the faces of the crowd and dimly a blue light barely illuminates the stage and the 5 gents up front walk towards the end of the stage and Ben Harclerode sits down at his kit. The beginning of Section 8 begins to play and then slams into it hard just like how the song is done on the EP. The Recorruptour has come and now the main event is owning the crowd, forcing them to headbang, scream and mosh like crazy.
The sound was loud, terrifyingly loud and very very clear. Their stage was mostly blackened with very little lighting at first. Then the spooky lights would come on every once in awhile covering the stage and band with red, blue and green colors. There were also a ton of strobe light action happening on the faster parts of songs as well, sometimes the colored lights joining in on the strobe fest. It was a sight to behold, one second you can barely see the band, next thing you are being bombarded with flashing lights and evil sounding music. It was intense and the experience was a damn good one, the best I’ve ever seen from Whitechapel.
NEW SONG: MARASMUS – Casket Made of Ivory
One last thing, Marasmus out of Kansas City, MO just released a new single from their new album, Mountains of Dead, coming out this Spring on Disgorge Media. The song is Casket Made of Ivory isn’t exactly new for the band but they’ve put a lot of work into this and reconstructed it and polished it up and put it out for us to consume. Enjoy some brutal death metal, enjoy MARASMUS.
2012: Vote For Change. SUMMER SLAUGHTER TOUR Is Running A Poll For Their Opening Act!
The Summer Slaughter Tour, one of the heaviest touring metal festivals of the year, is letting you decide who opens up the entire thing! The polls have been open for a couple of days now and it doesn’t state when they will close. Each band is definitely worthy of the spot but only one will win! So who will share the stage with Cannibal Corpse, Between the Buried and Me, The Faceless, Exhumed, Goatwhore and Veil of Maya? The nominees are on the picture below.
Visit The Summer Slaughter Tour Facebook page, click on the “VOTING” on the left hand side of the page and install the app. You will then be allowed to properly vote for which band you seem fit to open. As I post this, Fallujah is currently winning but Vildhjarta is right behind them. Will Vildhjarta catch up? Will Enfold Darkness come back and take it all?
Album Review! PLAGUE WIDOW – Plague Widow EP
Newcomers from Sacramento, CA known as Plague Widow came together and recorded this EP last winter and just released it through Buriedinhell Records. This 3 piece death/grind band produces a straight forward metal attack that is filled with lightening fast riffs, blistering drumming and deep monstrous vocals. Vocals usually tend to stay on the low end with a couple of high registered screams on the EP. Drumming is always going non-stop; Tons of blasts, fills and interesting patterns when the music isn’t out for blood. Guitar is tuned low but that adds to the brutality and it’s used for actual tremolo riffing and sinister chords. Not just open string palm mutes and breakdown shit, Hal Rotter’s guitar work is sheer madness and his technique and style is quite deranged; he is trying to kill you with his guitar. Throw all three of these together and you have one solid EP, just murderous death metal that is some of the finest I’ve heard so far this year.
My only complaint isn’t even about the music itself, I find the music ultra satisfying and headbang worthy. I’d blast this shit in my garage/office or car anytime. It’s the obnoxious interlude/intro/outro stuff that takes up 45% of the EP’s space. I don’t find it necessary nor interesting to listen to. I skip them every single time, unless I am just too busy to switch it out. Even then I’m thinking to myself “Come the fuck on, get to the music”. The songs are rather short too but they are so good you can listen to them over and over and they still held my interest even after 10 full listens back to back. The EP is solid and just incredibly heavy, so if you’re a fan of death/grind you’ll appreciate the self titled EP that Plague Widow has released.
Pros: The music is straight up death metal riffs, blast beats and growls. Great production. 8.5 minutes of some of the best death metal so far this year.
Cons: Songs are rather short, the non music crap should be cut from the next EP or full length.
4 out of 5
TesseracT – Perspective 2012 EP Teaser
Inspired by an acoustic session that took place during a 2011 tour of North America, TesseracT decided to expand upon the ideas that were spawned as a consequence of having to look at their songs in different ways in order to make them work in the acoustic setting. The result is the acoustic inspired EP, ‘Perspective‘. It is a re-imagining and development of some of the more melodic songs off TesseracT’s debut ‘One‘, and shows a completely new side to the band.
ASIAN INVASION: Not Porn, New NILE Tour Dates & Album Title Revealed!!!!
Not only are we getting a new album this year, Nile is also hitting US soil as well!!!! NOW WE CAN GET MORE OF THIS!!!!
Nile’s new album “At The Gate of Sethu” is slated for a “second quarter 2012″ release, so hopefully May/June. \w/ Tour dates after the jump.
Album Review! IF THESE TREES COULD TALK – Red Forest
First off, I have to say that this album is great. I really enjoy this album listen after listen. It’s truly compelling and constructed really well. There is a blend of influences coming together to make the particular sound come out of If These Trees Could Talk, and it’s very recognizable. From start to finish, there is a lovely blend of post-metal, post-rock, ambient acoustic/clean channel guitars and smooth bass grooves that work together to form these amazing works of art. The styles are very familiar to other bands if you’ve been listening to this kind of music for sometime. ITTCT have a rhythmic sense about them and their powerful grooves and riffs are similar to something Junius and Russian Circles have done. Their sense of melody and tremolo work is similar to Alcest and Falloch, those long winded chords that they do along the fretboard; there is no denying that their influence is similar to these other bands. I hate comparing bands to one another in my reviews but I couldn’t help but think of how much certain parts of Red Forest sounds like previously released material from other artists. ITTCT have created a remarkable album, don’t get me wrong…it’s just that I felt like I’ve already heard this before.
GOJIRA, Devin Townsend & Fredrik Thordendal Perform “Of Blood & Salt” Live!
YouTube Trollin So You Don’t Have To!!!! More NEUROTIC DEATHFEST Footage: ANAAL NATHRAKH, ORIGIN, GORGUTS, FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, SUICIDAL ANGELS, DEBAUCHERY & CANNIBAL CORPSE
I fucking love metal. Enjoy the footage from the Neurotic Deathfest!!!!!
Fuck Your Way To The Garden: New SYSTEM OF A DOWN Footage! Watch “Aerials” and “Suite-Pee” Live!
Recently System of a Down have been in the land down under to play along with the Soundwave Festival that is happening down there. While performing these songs, they had some guests come on stage and have fun with them. During Aerials they had Ben Weinman from Dillinger Escape Plan and for Suite-Pee they had Joey Jordison from Slipknot. It feels incredible to see the band performing something from their very first album. They need to do a US/NA tour where they headline and play that entire album in full!!! I DEMAND IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
CATTLE DECAPITATION: PERFORM NEW TRACKS LIVE? (Video)
I fucking love Cattle Decapitation. The video shows them opening up with a song that does not sound familiar to me at all, so my initial reaction is “OH BOY NEW SONG!!!!”. If I am wrong, continue to flame me in the comments section. Oh the video shows the band performing a new track then “A Body Farm” & what sounds to be another new track!
For Some Reason, I Just Want To See CHIMAIRA Live & Eat BBQ. I Have No BBQ, But Here Is Some CHIMAIRA. Live Footage From Soundwave 2012.
Chimaira performing Clockwork and Year of the Snake!!!! \w/
Paul Wardingham – Fields of Utopia (Studio Performance Video)
Paul Wardingham is currently recording his new concept album “The Human Affliction”, set to be released mid-2012. So in the mean time, celebrate the one year anniversary of his last release, “Assimilate Regenerate“, he has released this video of him performing the song “Fields of Utopia“. Enjoy.
HOLY FUCK TOUR: Origin, Cattle Decapitation, Decrepit Birth, Aborted, Rings of Saturn and Battlecross!!!
The Occupation Domination tour looks to be one of the heaviest tours in the North Americas. With acts like Origin, Cattle Decapitation, Aborted and Decrepit Birth rounding out the top 4, even that itself is heavier than most tours. What is this? “Special performances by Loculus, Embryonic Devourment, Do Not Resuscitate & Face of Ruin“, well I need to check out who these bands are! I don’t know which is heavier, this one or the current Hate Eternal/Goatwhore/Cerebral Bore/Fallujah tour.
SO MUCH DEATH METAL. SO MUCH HEADBANGING TO BE HAD.
