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Metal Cds
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Contributed by The 616
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Thursday, 31 January 2008 |
Black Metal has never been a genre I've felt too compelled to follow, except when keyboards are involved. Something about synthesizers and keyboards tend to make a bland metal offering worth checking out. I love layers, I suppose. So it's very rare when a band says "For Fans of Dimmu Borgir and Emperor" that I feel the need to listen to it. I usually just shake my head and move on to the next album. Unless of course, the packaging makes me think twice. I'll be honest, the album artwork for The Breathing Process's new release, "In Waking: Divinity" is the main reason I felt I should give it a listen. And I'm glad I did. From the album's opening instrumental all the way through to the climactic album closer, The Treasonist, The Breathing Process blasts through powerful, intense music and doesn't look back. The vocals are ridiculous and intense, the guitars are memorable, something I can't say for most bands in this genre. Standout tracks like Somnium, The Treasonist and Dear Antigone make the second half of the record the most memorable and almost make you want to skip through the instrumentals just to get to them, but this is an album that comes as a whole package...not something to be skipped through to pick and choose, but an album that should be swallowed en masse. Besides, there are a ton of little gems strewn throughout this recording. I can't stress enough just how great the vocals are on this disc. John Lafreniere's growls are almost unhuman. In terms of memorable extreme metal vocalists I would put it in line with Mikael Akerfeldt of Opeth, or Marcus Biscoff of Heaven Shall Burn.
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Hardcore Cds
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Contributed by The 616
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Wednesday, 12 September 2007 |
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I have to say, I feel old any more when it comes to hardcore. I go to shows, I look at cds in the record store (which is surreal to me in and of itself...hardcore cds in an FYE or a Sam Goody?) and I genuinely don't understand how we went from bands like Snapcase to bands like Throwdown...speaking of which...what the HELL happened to Throwdown, and when did Phil Anselmo start working as their marketing and developing person, and how do I fix that...because their new cd is an embarrassment. All that aside, I'm one of those hardcore kids who genuinely misses 1990-99. Bands like 108 might be making a comeback (finally), but where are the groups like Snapcase and Strife?
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Rock Cds
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Contributed by The 616
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Wednesday, 12 September 2007 |
Everyone's a little bit biased, whether we like to admit it or not. I've straight up admitted that I love Eighteen Visions...then they broke up. Another band I get a nice stiffy for is Buffalo, NY's Every Time I Die...who I've been a fan of since I first heard Last Night In Town, and my respect for them musically, lyrically and as a live band grows every time they put out new material or come to my home town. Now in 2007, the band's follow up to their uber successful 2005 release, Gutter Phenomenon hits the streets. Inquiring minds want to know, will "The Big Dirty" be a shitfest...or just a mess? The record has more of a Southern grunge rock feel to it than Gutter Phenomenon (think of moments like 'Tusk and Temper', 'Gloom And How It Gets That Way' and 'Bored Stiff').
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Punk/EMO Cds
Band Interviews
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Contributed by The 616
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Tuesday, 03 April 2007 |
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Shallow Water Grave is a metalcore band from the general New England area (they're one of those acts that has guys from New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and everywhere excluding Timbuktu in the band), and they've been making waves since about 2003 with an off the wall demo which featured one time Shai Hulud vocalist Geert Van Der Veldt doing some guest screams. Eric Dellon, the group's figure head, as it were, sits down and tells me everything I could possibly want to know about him, aside from whether he's a boxers or briefs kinda guy. Check it out...
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Contributed by The 616
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Sunday, 20 August 2006 |
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This is the first time I've ever interviewed a band more than one time, but metal band Elysia's singer and frontman Zak Vargas is entertaining, well spoken, and just so gosh-darn cute I couldn't resist. Here's what he had to say about life for Elysia since we last spoke, and the experience of having a new record out. Vargas: Let's do this Me: let me put on my pretend professional hat. Vargas: Let me get my microphone. Me: Alright. boom. we are all systems go...this is so much easier the second time. Ok, you guys just released your full length album, Masochist. What was the recording experience like for that? Vargas: Yes we did! It was pretty long and gruesome and still wasn't enough time. *laughs* Me: Did you guys produce that yourselves, and I just now realized that I asked you who was producing the new record in the last interview, so don't answer that. Vargas: ok, i won't. Me: Instead...answer this. A lot of times, bands will go to the studio with certain albums or bands in mind, like a sound they want to shoot for. Did you guys do that or did you really just want to do your own thing. Vargas: Well we came in with lots of stuff that we had given the guy like months before. There wasn't anything we were shooting for particularly, because you know we wanted to have our own sound. Me: Right. What sort of things did you really want to do different recording this time that you didn't do last time, or vice versa? Vargas: Well this time we really just wanted to spend a lot more time on it, which we were able to do with guitars. But I still feel like I wish I had more time, there's a lot I'd like to change.
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