Metal playlists from the underground
AC/DC’s decision to destroy Madison Square Garden was most likely made to honor their sold-out crowd of loyal rock ‘n roll fanatics. The legends blasted through their radio hits “Back in Black,” “You Shook Me All Night Long,” and “Highway To Hell,” and blazed through new cuts “Anything Goes” and “War Machine,” making last night’s […]
Sometimes bad things happen for a greater good, and such is the case when referring to the plight and resurgence of Early Graves. Refreshingly injecting dollops of crusty Swedish metal into their chest-thumping Hatebreed meets vicious punk metal on acid formula, this San Francisco quartet convincingly sever the ties with its former identity Apiary and […]
Opiate for the Masses is a veteran act whose current release MANIFESTO takes a number of elements from a metal smorgasbord to comprise its sound, with melodic industrial metal taking the reigns and being the most prevalent throughout the 11-track sojourn. Electronically charged with the machine-like manipulations not unlike the harder moments conceived by Linkin […]
1. Study with infinite loopholes finds that heavy metal music restricts blood flow to the heart causing added stress [gigwise.com]. 2. Lame vampire soundtrack bumps AC/DC’s Black Ice from the peak position on the US pop chart [reuters.com]. 3. XM and Sirius finally merge their stations. Sirius “Hard Attack” is now “Liquid Metal” and “Buzzsaw” […]
Female-fronted aggro-metal seems to be in fashion thanks to bands like In This Moment and of course Lacuna Coil, and you can add Tennessee quintet Straight Line Stitch to the list. This group’s latest 10-track disc WHEN SKIES WASH ASHORE juxtaposes the differences between Staind, DevilDriver, and Killswitch Engage, melding melodic hooks with blistering metalcore […]
Straight-edge deathcore unit Liferuiner bring another seething slab of modern anger to life on their latest 11-track offering TAKING BACK THE NIGHTLIFE. Injecting the similarly raucous rage of bands like Emmure, Bury Your Dead, and similarly-minded moshcore troupes into their bass drop and guitar chug heavy bag of tricks, songs like “Americant” and “Bad Rock […]
Lodi, CA sextet A Skylit Drive champion the screamo dynamic on their 13-track release WIRES AND THE CONCEPT OF BREATHING. While at times the disc treads the dreaded paint by numbers waters, there’s some decent riffing and strong song structures beyond the surface of the uber-nascent Coheed-esque vocals and played to death breakdowns (“Eris and […]
You can watch some highlights of the upcoming series, That Metal Show, at eddietrunk.com. The show begins Nov. 15 on VH1 Classic at 11 p.m. The highlight video on Trunk’s website contains bits featuring Dee Snider, Jay Jay French, Yngwie Malmsteen, and Mike Portnoy. Eddietrunk.com also lists the program schedule with episodes featuring Lita Ford, […]
Sounding a bit too polished for the catacombs and definitely way too advanced to come from America, the Illinois duo known as Overthrone unleash their black metal malaise to the masses in the form of the eight-track DECLARATIONS OF SECESSION. Taking the template set by bands such as Cradle of Filth and incorporating it into […]
1. The bassist of The Deftones, Chi Cheng, is reported to be in a coma following an auto accident [latimes.com]. 2. “The View” meets “Headbanger’s Ball” on “The Metal Show” beginning Nov. 15 on VH1 Classic [hardrockhideout.com]. 3. Metallica plans to release “All Nightmare Long” as their next single, including a music video, in December […]