Yeah, it’s kinda late in the day for another post, but I just saw a press release about a new tour running from March 15 through April 21 of next year that I thought was worth talking about. This tour had been forecast previously, but now we have a concrete schedule. Here’s the line-up:

DevilDriver
The Faceless
Dying Fetus
Job For A Cowboy
3 Inches of Blood
Impending Doom
Wretched

Why is this interesting? Well, first of all, it should be loaded with new music. The Faceless is currently putting the finishing touches on its third album for a tentative February release on Sumerian. Stands to reason that they’ll be performing songs from that album. I’ll be curious to hear it, because guitarist Michael Keene has described the CD as “the most musical and progressive record we’ve made” and says the songs will be more focused “on musicality and making an expressive, unique, moody and expansive record.”

On top of that, Dying Fetus is currently recording a new album. It’s not projected for release until the middle of next year on Relapse, but they will clearly be finished with the recording before hitting the road on this tour, and so we can expect new songs from them, too. And that’s not all.

Job For A Cowboy has also recently finished recording their next album for an early 2012 release on Metal Blade. So yes, we can expect to hear new songs from them, too. I thought the Gloom EP released this year was a step ahead for this band, and their next full-length is something I definitely want to hear.

And 3 Inches of Blood? They’re currently recording their next album as we speak.

What about Wretched? According to their facebook posts, they’ve been writing new songs and plan to play new music on their tours this winter, pointing toward a new album next year.

Impending Doom is also planning to release a new record in 2012, though whether the songwriting is sufficiently advanced for road-testing of new music I don’t know. Still, I’ve never been disappointed in one of their live shows.

Probably nothing new from DevilDriver, but I know from experience that they kick plenty of ass in a live performance — as do all of these bands. So even if there were no new music coming, this would still be a tour worth checking out. But getting new music from almost all of these bands in a live setting? Bonus!

Here are the dates and places:

Mar. 15 – Austin, TX @ SXSW / Scoot Inn
Mar. 16 – New Orleans, LA @ The Hangar
Mar. 17 – St Petersburg, FL @ State Theater
Mar. 18 – Charlotte, NC @ Amos’ Southend
Mar. 20 – Baltimore, MD @ Sonar
Mar. 21 – New York, NY @ Gramercy Theater
Mar. 22 – Danvers, MA @ Palace Ballroom
Mar. 23 – Montreal, QC @ Club Soda
Mar. 24 – Toronto, ON @ Opera House
Mar. 25 – Columbus, OH @ Alrosa Villa
Mar. 26 – Joliet, IL @ Mojoe’s
Mar. 27 – St Paul, MN @ Station 4
Mar. 28 – Winnipeg, MB @ Garrick Centre
Mar. 29 – Regina, SK @ Riddell Centre
Mar. 30 – Edmonton, AB @ Edmonton Events Centre
Mar. 31 – Vancouver, BC @ Rickshaw Theater
Apr. 01 – Seattle, WA @ Studio Seven
Apr. 03 – Portland, OR @ Hawthorne Theater
Apr. 05 – Oakland, CA @ The Pound
Apr. 06 – Pomona, CA @ Fox Theater
Apr. 07 – Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theater
Apr. 09 – Denver, CO @ The Summit Music Hall
Apr. 10 – Omaha, NE @ Sokol Auditorium
Apr. 11 – Des Moines, IA @ 7 Flags Event Center
Apr. 13 – Memphis, TN @ New Daisy Theater
Apr. 15 – Lawrence, KS @ Granada Theater
Apr. 16 – Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
Apr. 19 – Dallas, TX @ House Of Blues
Apr. 20 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s East
Apr. 21 – Houston, TX @ House Of Blues

September is behind us. Here in Seattle, it was such a beautiful month that it seemed like nature’s compensation for how late the summer started. Unfortunately, with September’s end, we’re on a short track to the onset of winter, which means about six months of short, cold, grey, ceaselessly wet days. Ain’t that just fuckin’ great?

Well, bitchin’ about the winter ahead won’t change one fucking thing. I prefer to think instead about the deluge of new metal that’s headed our way and try (momentarily) to forget about the deluge of rain on the horizon. Which brings us to the latest monthly edition of METAL IN THE FORGE.

You know the drill:  In these posts, we collect news blurbs and press releases we’ve seen over the last month about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like (including occasional updates about releases we’ve included in previous installments of this series), or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know their music yet. In this series, we cut and paste those announcements and compile them in alphabetical order.

Remember — this isn’t a cumulative list. If we found out about a new album before August, we wrote about it in previous installments of this series. So, be sure to check the Category link called “Forthcoming Albums” on the right side of this page to see forecasted releases we reported earlier. This month’s list begins right after the jump. Look for your favorite bands, or get intrigued about some new ones. As usual, also feel free to tell us about how we fucked up by omitting releases that you’re stoked about.

ABIGAIL WILLIAMS: “Abigail Williams will begin recording their third full-length album today. The process begins in the band’s new home of Southern California as the band enter Keene Machine Studios with The Faceless’ Michael Keene and Abigail Williams’ mainman Ken Sorceron engineering. Former Abigail Williams and Black Dahlia Murder drummer Zach Gibson will be playing on the album, as previous band mate Ken Bedene focuses on The Aborted. . . . The new album has an anticipated January release, followed by additional US tours supporting Dark Funeral and then Deicide.”

AMON: “AMON, the resurrected Florida-based death metal band featuring former DEICIDE members Eric Hoffmann (guitar) and Brian Hoffman (guitar), will film a new music video on October 22 in Clearwater, Florida with director Chris Nemzek (former CROSSBREED guitarist). AMON has set an October 31 release date for its new album, “Liar In Wait”.

ANIMALS AS LEADERS: “Progressive instrumentalists ANIMALS AS LEADERS will release their second full-length album, “Weightless”, in North America on November 8, in mainland Europe on November 4 and in the U.K. on November 7 via Prosthetic Records.”

ANAAL NATHRAKH: “U.K. extreme metallers ANAAL NATHRAKH — consisting of Mick Kenney and David Hunt — are currently working on the follow-up to “Passion”, released earlier this year via Candlelight Records. Hunt commented from the studio, “The songs we’ve recorded so far have come out very well. They are stylistically quite heterogeneous yet somehow sounding focused at the same time. And there’s one section that’s completely from left field, which we’ve included as a personal tribute. It’s all still in a raw, hardly mixed and not-yet-mastered state, but it’s all sounding quite powerful.”

A PLEA FOR PURGING: “”The Life”, a brand new song from the Nashville, Tennessee-based Christian metal/hardcore act A PLEA FOR PURGING, can be streamed in a new YouTube clip. The track comes off the band’s new album, “The Life & Death Of A Plea For Purging”, due on November 8 via Facedown Records.”

BIOHAZARD: “”Reborn In Defiance”, the long-awaited new studio album from New York hardcore metal legends BIOHAZARD, will be released on January 20, 2012. The CD will be made a vailable via Nuclear Blast outside of North America, with a U.S. label partner soon to be announced. The band will celebrate the launch with a record-release party in its hometown of Brooklyn, New York before setting off on an extensive international tour.”

BLEEDING THROUGH: “Orange County, California’s BLEEDING THROUGH is working on material for its next album, tentatively due in early 2012 via the Portland, Oregon-based independent record label Rise Records.”

CANNIBAL CORPSE: “Cannibal Corpse has begun recording their twelfth studio album at Sonic Ranch studios in Texas with producer Erik Rutan. The band has spent months writing the album and has recorded at Sonic Ranch in the past, but never with Rutan at the helm. More details on the album, including art, songs, title and more will be revealed in the months to follow. For now, the band is hard at work forging their next death metal offering.”

CARNIFEX: ““Until I Feel Nothing” will be released on October 25 via Victory Records. Produced by Tim Lambesis (AS I LAY DYING), the follow-up to 2010′s “Hell Chose Me” “captures an in-your-face extremity that drips with malice and ferocity, solidifying the effort as the most anticipated album of the year,” according to a press release. The cover artwork was created by famed comic book illustrator Menton3 (Silent Hill, Monocyte).”

CITY OF FIRE: CITY OF FIRE, the band featuring Burton C. Bell (FEAR FACTORY), bassist Byron Stroud (FEAR FACTORY, STRAPPING YOUNG LAD), guitarist Terry “Sho” Murray, and drummer Bob Wagner, will enter the studio this week to begin recording its sophomore album.”

CLOCKWORK SPIRIT: “AMARANTINE, the Helsinki, Finland-based metal band featuring members of AJATTARA, KIUAS, LIE IN RUINS and HANGING GARDEN, have changed its name to CLOCKWORK SPIRIT to coincide with the release of its self-titled debut album. Due on October 28, the CD will be distributed by the German label Dance Macabre Records and will initially be available only in Europe.”

CRADLE OF FILTH: “The UK’s premier extreme metal antagonist, Cradle Of Filth, has revealed the track list and artwork for the band’s upcoming CD/DVD mini-album entitled, Evermore Darkly…. The follow-on from last year’s, Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa, will hit stores in North America on October 18 through Nuclear Blast Records. Artwork comes courtesy of Natalie Shau, whom also contributed the cover art for Darkly, Darkly, Venus Aversa.”

CYNIC: “Progressive rock/metal band CYNIC will release a new EP, “Carbon-Based Anatomy”, on November 11 in Europe and November 15 in North America via Season Of Mist. Unlike last year’s “Re-Traced”, this new EP consists exclusively of brand new material.”

DYING FETUS: “DYING FETUS, HAIL OF BULLETS, WACO JESUS, SUFFOCATION and LOCK UP are among the artists who are featured on the “Death Feast Open Air 2010″ DVD. The set, which has a running time of almost two hours, was filmed and recorded during last year’s edition of the Death Feast Open Air festival on June 10-12, 2010 in Hünxe, Germany. As an extra bonus, the DVD includes a 30-minute special from Death Feast Open Air 2011. You can pre-order the “Death Feast Open Air 2010″ DVD for 15 euros (plus shipping and handling) at the Death Feast Open Air shop. Delivery starts November 1.”

FINNTROLL: “Finnish metal marauders FINNTROLL will release a special tour edition of their last album, “Nifelvind”, at the end of September. The digipak tour edition comes with new artwork by the band’s guitarist, Skrymer, and an extra CD including three brand-new cover versions: “Insects” (OINGO BOINGO), “Can You Forgive Her?” (PET SHOP BOYS) and “The God That Failed” (METALLICA). The cover versions were recorded and mixed at Sonic Pump Studios between June 27 and July 4 by FINNTROLL and Nino Laurenne.”

GOATWHORE: “Video footage of New Orleans natives GOATWHORE performing a brand new song, “Beyond The Spell Of Discontent”, on September 16 in Fort Walton Beach, Florida [has been recorded]. The entire concert is available at Tyronehood.tv. GOATWHORE recently entered Mana Recording Studios in St. Petersburg, Florida with producer with Erik Rutan to begin recording the follow-up to its most successful album to date, “Carving Out The Eyes Of God”. An early 2012 release via Metal Blade Records is expected.”

HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE: “With a newly rejuvenated lineup and its signature sound intact, San Francisco’s HAMMERS OF MISFORTUNE has returned with “17th Street”, a brash and heartfelt song cycle, blending the best elements of NWOBHM, thrash, doom, and American folk music while somehow sounding unlike any of these. Due in Europe on October 24 (three days earlier in Germany), “17th Street” takes the band’s inimitable sound to a new level . . . . “I can see how someone could find it an upbeat record,” says John Cobbett, guitarist and producer of the band, also of underground metal legends LUDICRA and SLOUGH FEG. “There are glimmers of hope there. But if you listen carefully to each song, you’ll find that each one has its own point of view; you might find hope, or something very different, very dark.”

I DECLARE WAR: “Seattle’s I Declare War is back with their sophomore Artery Recordings album, the self-entitled “I Declare War”. The album will be released on October 11th. “I Declare War” is produced by Andreas Magnusson (The Black Dahlia Murder, Haste The Day). The album is the first the band recorded with new vocalist, Jamie Hanks.”

JOB FOR A COWBOY: “Arizona extreme metallers JOB FOR A COWBOY have entered Audiohammer Studios in Sanford, Florida to begin recording their next album for an early 2012 release via Metal Blade Records. The band is once again working with producer Jason Suecof (TRIVIUM, CHIMAIRA, DEVILDRIVER), who helmed the group’s latest EP, “Gloom”.”

KORN: “KORN will release its tenth studio album, “The Path Of Totality”, on December 6 via Roadrunner Records. But this one is unlike any KORN record. It’s even unlike any record released before. “The Path Of Totality” is an experimental album which finds KORN shifting gears and exploring new territory. For “The Path Of Totality”, the band collaborated with some of the leading dubstep and electronic producers in the world, including Skrillex, Excision, Datsik, Noisia, Kill the Noise, and 12th Planet. The result is something completely new, yet utterly and definitively KORN.”

KRISIUN: “Brazilian death metallers KRISIUN will release their new album, “The Great Execution”, on October 31 in Europe and November 1 in North America via Century Media Records. The band’s eighth studio CD “musically expands KRISIUN trademark high-speed death metal violence with a heavily increased amount of diversity ranging from extreme tempo variations over distinct rhythm patterns to clean guitars and even Flamenco parts!” according to a press release.”

LIKE MOTHS TO FLAME: “Ohio-based metalcore quintet LIKE MOTHS TO FLAMES has inked a European deal with Nuclear Blast Records. The band’s full-length debut, “When We Don’t Exist”, is scheduled for a November 11 release.”

METALLICA/LOU REED: “The musical collaboration between Lou Reed and METALLICA, “Lulu”, will be released on November 1 in North America via Warner Bros. Recordsand one day earlier (October 31) in the rest of the world through Universal Music.”

MORBUS CHRON: “The fine folks at Invisible Oranges are currently streaming MORBUS CHRON’s full-length debut “Sleepers In The Rift” in its entirety! The latest offering from the Swedish makers of audio filth is set for release in North America via Pulverised Records on September 27, 2011. A throwback to crude, early ’90s death metal, the hellions from MORBUS CHRON rekindle the vital atmosphere of this genre. “Sleepers In The Rift” was produced by Nicke Andersson (ex-Entombed), features artwork by Spanish fantasy/horror artist Raul Gonzales (Deceased, Abraxas, etc.) and will prove to be one of the finest hours in blistering, old-school death metal; the mortuary is now open and no corpse shall be spared! Prepare to be gut-fucked. Slay your ears HERE.”

MY DYING BRIDE: “Following the release of Evinta earlier this year, in which the band marked 20 years of existence with a release of symphonic compositions re-imagining past My Dying Bride themes, the UK doom legend now presents its latest chapter in the form of new EP, The Barghest O’ Whitby, to be released November 7th through Peaceville Records on CD and limited vinyl. This single track, 25-minute epic represents the epitome of poetic grace and funeral soundscapes from one of gothic doom’s most celebrated acts. With a masterful blend of pounding guitar riffs and sombre atmospheric passages, My Dying Bride embarks on a chilling journey through superstition and folklore.”

NIGHTWISH: “Finnish/Swedish symphonic metallers NIGHTWISH will release their new album, “Imaginaerum”, in Finland on Wednesday, November 30 and the rest of Europe on Friday, December 2 via Nuclear Blast Records. The CD will be made available in North America through Roadrunner Records.”

NOCTURNAL RITES: “Swedish power metallers NOCTURNAL RITES are currently rehearsing new songs and are preparing to start recording them in a few weeks or so. In the meantime, the band has released “a little trailer to let [the fans] know [the group is] still alive!”"

REDEMPTION: “REDEMPTION, the U.S. progressive metal band featuring in its ranks guitarist/songwriter Nick van Dyk and legendary FATES WARNING vocalist Ray Alder, will release its fifth studio album, “This Mortal Coil”, on September 26 in Europe and October 11 in North America via InsideOut Music.”

RUMPELSTILTSKIN GRINDER: “Candlelight Records has announced the worldwide signing of thrashers RUMPELSTILTSKIN GRINDER. The Philadelphia-based band is already working on its new album, titled “Ghostmaker”, expected for release early spring 2012.”

SHADOWS FALL: “Massachusetts metallers SHADOWS FALL will enter the studio in October to begin recording their new album for an early 2012 release.”

SHINING: “Norwegian “blackjazz” outfit SHINING (not to be confused with the Swedish extreme metal band of the same name) will release its first-ever live DVD and CD, “Live Blackjazz”, on November 11 via Indie Recordings. The effort was produced by SHINING frontman Jørgen Munkeby and was mixed by Sean Beavan (MARILYN MANSON, NINE INCH NAILS, SLAYER). The mastering duties were handled by Tom Baker (MARILYN MANSON, NINE INCH NAILS).”

SLIPKNOT: “It’s been 10 years since SLIPKNOT unleashed its second album, “Iowa”, on the world. . . . To celebrate the album’s decade of existence, the band is releasing a special, tenth-anniversary edition of this landmark release, which will drop on November 1. . . . Disc One will comprise the original “Iowa” album along with a remix of “My Plague” as an added bonus track. Disc Two will include the full live audio from the legendary “Disasterpieces” DVD, where the band’s 2002 show at the London Arena was captured by 30 cameras and released as a concert film. The DVD will include “Goat”, a new film directed by M. Shawn Crahan featuring never-before-seen interviews and footage showing the madness that surrounded the “Iowa” era, plus four music videos.”

SOULDRAINER: “Swedish death metallers SOULDRAINER will release their second full-length, “Heaven’s Gate”, on November 25 via ViciSolum Productions. The follow-up to 2007′s “Reborn” was recorded at Empire Studio in Frösön, Sweden and was produced, mixed and mastered my Marcus Edvardsson.”

STORM CORROSION: “STORM CORROSION, the much-anticipated collaboration project between OPETH’s Mikael Åkerfeldt and PORCUPINE TREE’s Steven Wilson, has completed work on its self-titled debut album for an April 2012 release through an as-yet-undicslosed record label.”

SWALLOW THE SUN: “Finnish doom metallers SWALLOW THE SUN check in with the following update: ‘During the well-deserved break we took from shows this year, we’ve been preparing new music, and now we are happy to announce that we have entered Drumforest Studios at Viitasaari to record our fifth full length album, which will be released February 1, 2012 by Spinefarm Records.’”

TAAKE: “TAAKE’s fifth full-length album, “Noregs Vaapen”, was released in Europe on September 20 via Dark Essence Records and will be made available on November 1 in the USA.”

TERROR: “On November 1, Los Angeles hardcore/metal band TERROR will release the “Defining The Faith” DVD as part of the special deluxe reissue of the group’s latest CD, “Keepers Of The Faith”. Produced, edited, and authored by Carlo Oppermann and Ambitious.Films, “Defining The Faith” features a full live set that is composed of three different TERROR shows in three distinct settings: a small club, a big hall, and a massive European festival.”

TESTAMENT: “TESTAMENT has been spending time in the studio recording its new album, “Dark Roots Of Earth”, tentatively due in February 2012 via Nuclear Blast Records.”

UFOMAMMUT: “Italian masters of thunderous psychedelic doom UFOMAMMUT have inked a deal with Neurot Recordings for the release of their next album. . . UFOMAMMUT is in the studio at this very moment working on their next epic.”

VENOM: “VENOM, the hugely influential U.K. outfit now celebrating a full 30 years since the release of its “Welcome To Hell” debut, will have a brand new studio album released on November 28 via Spinefarm Records/Universal. Titled “Fallen Angels” and featuring 13 fresh recordings produced by mainman/bassist Conrad “Cronos” Lant, this is the follow-up to 2008′s “Hell” release, and sees the trio (completed by guitarist Rage and drummer Dante) adopting a style highly redolent of classic early VENOM with modern studio technology employed only to increase the general level of nastiness.:

VOIVOD: “Canadian metal innovators VOIVOD are continuing to write and demo new material for their upcoming album, tentatively due in early 2012. The follow-up to 2009′s “Infini” will contain the band’s first music to be written with new guitarist Daniel “Chewy” Mongrain (MARTYR) following the passing of original axeman Denis “Piggy” D’Amour in 2005.”

(We’re pretty close to just turning the whole site over to Andy Synn. Today we have Andy’s third post since Monday. Here’s his review of the new EP by Job For A Cowboy, which be available digitally and physically via mail-order (only from Indiemerchstore.com) on June 7.)

Doom & Gloom. A perfect pairing in so many ways. Showcasing as they do the growth and evolution of JFAC’s ungodly chimeric creation, two sides of the same coin, still redolent with untapped potential, which has lost none of its lustre or value over the years.

If it is impossible to discuss JFAC without mentioning the dreadful pejorative “deathcore”, then let me address the issue in this manner; the band have, for me, always epitomised the strengths and possibilities of what the sub-genre could, and should be. Taking death metal’s powerful engine and building a sleeker, more modern vehicle around it, fuelled by youthful energy and ambition, the band have joined other such groups of the modern death metal pantheon, such as The Black Dahlia Murder and Aborted, who have (at times) been tagged with the “deathcore” identity, yet (thankfully) have little in common with what the sub-genre has unfortunately become. The one thing the aforementioned groups do have in common however is the admirable growth and maturation they have achieved over the years.

From youthful fire-starters, attempting simultaneously to both ape the achievements of their predecessors yet also define themselves by opposition to what came before, these acts have found that one CAN build an identity on the genetic blueprints of their forebears without becoming clones of them, and as such have become more comfortable within the death metal mould, yet not limited by it exclusively. They are no longer afraid of learning from, or being associated with their parents, having reached the understanding of adulthood themselves. (more after the jump . . .)

“Misery Reformatory” tears out of the gates, and my immediate thought is, “hmmm, that’s pretty Belphegor”, it’s dark, hypnotic tremolo melodies and jack-hammer riffs immediately bringing to mind the Austrian masters of malicious misanthropy. This is in no way an accusation that the song is derivative, however, merely that, in a similar way to how The Black Dahlia Murder draw deeply from the well of Dissection to fuel their own distinctive efforts, there is a line of connection here that suggests the blood of death metal is indeed thicker than the water which divides its disciples.

As such, there’s a far more “blackened” feel to the song, along with a fluid, liquid flow that once again recalls Michigan’s finest, in stylistic terms if not in pure execution. The riffs are spiky and dynamic, rough enough to please old-school aficionados yet sharpened and honed to a lethal, modern edge. The lead work is utterly stunning throughout, yet equally as impressive is the flowing and striking bass work of Brent Riggs, who accents and aids his partners in crime with mellifluous bass lines that ooze a dark malevolence.

Following a blazing, blasting introduction, “Plastic Idols” sees the band focussing less on acceleration and more on maintaining a high-altitude cruising speed, allowing one to appreciate the remarkable depth and breadth of subtle nuances which the group have incorporated to bolster their deathly metallic clamour. It’s far from a slow song, it simply feels more restrained than its twisting, manically paced predecessor. The riffs are thick and grimy, clanging chord progressions bolstered by another brilliant bass performance, providing a doomy glamour to the whole occasion.

“Execution Parade” seems designed specifically for uni-directional speed and fury, technically adept riffs piling weight onto an inhumanly fast drumming performance which is almost too much to absorb in one go. Yet while maximum velocity is achieved in an amazingly short time, then maintained for as long as humanly possible, one is still able to appreciate the streamlined, perfect design of the vehicle itself. The song is an amalgamation of murderous riffs and sharp, whip-crack drumming, all superfluous and unnecessary elements having been stripped away for maximum, unfettered lethality. Several short, blistering solo section are perhaps the only concessions to melody the song makes, retaining a vicious pace right up to it’s punishing, crippling conclusive slow-down.

Last track “Signature Of Starving Power” opens once more with warp-speed blasting, aided and abetted in this aural assault by a prominent, bruising bass tone, before seguing seamlessly into a massive, pulverising groove that is equal parts harsh metallic power and dark, hypnotic melody. The creative and clever drumming arrangements of Jon Rice make every change and transition natural without being predictable, while maintaining an aggressive dominance over the sound, keeping all the instruments in check with an unassailable battery of perfectly placed beats and fills.

A soaring, pseudo-melodic solo is a shock to the system, adding to the sense of brutal desperation evoked by the track; its shining, occasionally off-kilter notes more infectious then they are catchy. Throughout the track the guitarists wring every last drop of blackened, blood-drenched poison from the instruments, gnarled, diseased chords ringing out behind stark, famine-ridden tremolo lines and guttural, vomitous vocals as the band build to a monstrous, unforgiving climax.

All the members of the group demonstrate remarkable growth and progression on their chosen instruments on this EP, Jonny Davy‘s vocals in particular having developed some new and interesting facets, a rougher, more bile-spewing tone that speaks of twisted vocals chords and (dare I say it?) a newly refined sense of characterisation. The guitars are at times both more chaotic and more controlled than ever before, serving the structure of the song, rather than burying it beneath mountains of notes or under-developed riff ideas; when needed, they shred and flay with a singular, rabid fury, yet are also unafraid to ease back and grind out slower, more depraved concoctions of riff-centric horror.

In this they are aided by the powerful and impressive, yet never knowingly flashy, drumming of Jon Rice who plays with muscular power and flair, delivering a forceful and bone-jarring performance throughout, whether blazing away at full-speed or hammering home the broken-down moments of crushing heaviness with creeping, dreadful intensity. Indeed, overall perhaps, the very best feature of the EP is the sense of atmosphere it conjures, a bleak and nebulous sense of gloomy foreboding enveloping a ravenous cadaver of gnawing addiction and starvation which places the band more in the company of groups like Arsis and Abysmal Dawn than many of the more popular proponents of pseudo-brutality who currently dominate.

If this is still “deathcore”, then I contend that it is “deathcore” as it always should have been – the mutant offspring of a dying death metal scene in need of new blood. Transplanting a fresh heart from the all-too willing donor of hardcore did nothing to change the body, did not change the soul, of death metal at all, but gave new strength and new energy into the walking corpse of death metal. It’s unfortunate, however, that the rejection rate remains so high, that so many are left weaker than before by inferior donor organs, and that too many of these transplants occur in order to save bodies which would be better left to rot.

EDITOR’S NOTE:

Here’s “Misery Reformatory”:

Give up? The answer is: They’re all bands who are signed to Metal Blade, they all have new releases on the horizon, and they all have new songs that Metal Blade has packaged together in a digital stream emanating from SoundCloud.

Here’s the line-up of music:

Black Dahlia Murder: “Moonlight Equilibirum” (album: Ritual)
Job For A Cowboy: “Misery Reformatory” (album: Gloom)
Behemoth: “Slaves Shall Serve” (album: Abyssus Abyssum Invocat)
Barn Burner: “Keg Stand and Deliver” (album: Bangers II: Scum of the Earth)
Sister: “Hated” (album: Hated)
Faloner: “Svarta Ankan” (album: Armod)
Gentlemans Pistols: “I Wouldn’t Let You” (album: At Her Majesty’s Pleasure)

All of these albums are scheduled for release on June 7, except the first and last ones, which will be released June 21.

There is good news and bad news here. The good news is that we can listen to these 7 songs right here, right now. The bad news is that these are the only songs from the albums that we’ll be able to hear, because the Rapture is coming on May 21.  (more after the jump . . . including breaking news about the end of the world)

Yes, it’s true. No less an authority than Harold Camping, founder of Family Radio Inc., has calculated that Jesus will return on May 21, and that will be all she wrote in terms of earthly existence. As reported in the Nashville Tennessean newspaper:

According to Camping’s prediction, the Rapture will happen exactly 7,000 years from the date that God first warned people about the flood. He said the flood happened in 4990 B.C., on what would have been May 21 in the modern calendar. God gave Noah one week of warning.

Since one day equals 1,000 years for God, that means there was a 7,000-year interval between the flood and rapture.

And just to make sure people don’t squander the last 10 days of existence on Earth, Family Radio has been putting up billboards all over Nashville — 40 of them at last count — reminding people to “Save the Date!”

I’ll tell you what, May 21 is sure as fuck circled in red on my calendar! With only 10 days left, I’m putting my moral qualms aside and torrenting every unreleased album I can find, because I have a sneaking suspicion there won’t be a place in Heaven for Metal Blade. Metal Blade and all those bands will most likely be in . . . well . . . you know . . . that other place.

Actually, having now visited Family Radio’s web site, it appears I was a bit hasty about the destruction of the world.  Mr. Camping says that although the Rapture will happen on May 21, the world won’t be destroyed until October 21. So, I guess Metal Blade won’t have to move up the release date for these albums after all. Those of us left behind after May 21 can still crank the metal, at least for five more months. At least when we’re not eating each other and trying to appease The Beast.

Yeah, life on post-Rapture Earth during the ensuing apocalypse is bound to be a clusterfuck of cosmic proportions. So, I’ve got this suggestion for those who believe they will be taken up into the air to meet Jesus on May 21: In the 10 days you’ve got left, please donate all your worldly possessions to your favorite unclean metalheads so we can do our best to survive before everything goes to oblivion. Please contact me for details.

Now, back to the music. I’m a fan of the first four bands on this Metal Blade stream, but had never heard the music of the last three. Sister is a Swedish outfit billed as a “sleaze/punk” band. They look the part, I guess. At least the sleaze part.

I will say that the song featured on this Metal Blade stream is pretty damned catchy.

Falconer is also from Sweden and they’re a power-metal band who’ve been around since 1999. Having now listened to this song, it becomes clear why I hadn’t heard their music before. It’s power metal. The instrumental parts (including a very Queen-like solo) are bearable, but the singing (which includes a clean male/female duet) — not my thing. Maybe it will be yours.

And finally, there’s Gentlemans Pistols. This is an English band. It’s a rock band. There’s a bit of  punk influence in the song on this compilation; it sorta reminded me of The Offspring. But again, the music ain’t really my thing these days.

By the way, that Behemoth release is a 2-CD set featuring two previous Behemoth EPs, both of which are currently “out-of-print”, and it includes all new expanded artwork as well as bonus tracks on each disc. The two EPs featured are Conjuration and Slaves Shall Serve. Here’s the cover art:

Okay, enough introductory verbiage. Here’s the SoundCloud player with these 7 tracks. Enjoy them while you can.

We’re jumping the gun on this post, since the month doesn’t end until tomorrow. Why? Uh, because this post is ready to go and we don’t have anything else finished for today yet. Work and other shit interfered with our grand plans for a Sunday post.  We might still get another one up later today, but for now, feast your eyes on the barrage of metal headed our direction.

What we do with these installments of METAL IN THE FORGE is collect news blurbs and press releases we’ve seen over the last 30 days (or in this case, the last 27 days) about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like (including updates about releases we’ve included in previous installments of this series), or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know them yet. And in this post, we cut and paste the announcements and compile them in alphabetical order.

This isn’t a cumulative list, so be sure to check the Category link called “Forthcoming New Albums” on the right side of this page to see forecasted releases we reported in previous installments. This month’s list begins right after the jump. Look for your favorite bands, or get intrigued about some new ones. There’s some awesome shit on the way.

ANAAL NATHRAKH: “Candlelight is again proud to have performers at the upcoming Scion Rock Fest. . . . England’s ANAAL NATHRAKH were just confirmed as an additional performer, marking only the second time the band will perform on US soil. No word yet if the band will perform selections from their forthcoming album Passion, now confirmed for North American release on May 17th.”

ARTILLERY: “Danish thrash metal veterans ARTILLERY have completed work on their sixth album, My Blood, at Medley Studios in Copenhagen for a March 21 European release via Metal Mind Productions (April 5 in the U.S. through MVD and March 9 in Japan via King Records).”

AZARATH: “AZARATH, the Polish extreme metal band featuring BEHEMOTH drummer Zbigniew Robert “Inferno” Prominski, will release its as-yet-untitled fifth album on June 6 via Witching Hour Productions. The CD was recorded in January and February at Hertz Studio (VADER, BEHEMOTH, LOST SOUL) with the Wieslawscy Bros. handling the production, mixing and mastering.”

BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE: Atlanta, Georgia-based metallers BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE will release their fourth album, Celestial Completion, on March 29 via Solid State Records. The CD was produced by Matt Goldman (UNDEROATH, THE CHARIOT, COPELAND) and contains 11 tracks. The cover artwork has been created by Dan Seagraves.

BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME: “Celebrated progressive rock / cutting-edge metal band BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME (also BTBAM) has inked a worldwide recording deal with Metal Blade Records. The award-winning North Carolina quintet will kick off the partnership with the April release of its new album The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues.”

BLOODIEST: “Chicago, Illinois’ BLOODIEST will release its debut full-length, Descent, on March 29 in North America (April 4 internationally) via Relapse Records. The CD was recorded with engineer Sanford Parker at Steve Albini‘s Electrical Audio studios in Chicago.”

BLUT AUS NORD: “France’s BLUT AUS NORD will release their new album, 777 – Sect(s), on April 19 (one day earlier internationally) via Debemur Morti Productions. Originating in 1994 from the ashes of VLAD (who released two demos), BLUT AUS NORD are undisputable French black metal pioneers, always managing to progress and move forward, evolving in perpetual mutation, developing their own vision of black metal.”

BORN OF OSIRIS: “Chicago-based progressive metal hybrid BORN OF OSIRIS will release its third full-length album, The Discovery, on March 22 via Sumerian Records. The CD was recorded at BOTA Studio in Lake In The Hills, Illinois and was mixed by Jason Suecof (ALL THAT REMAINS, TRIVIUM, DEVILDRIVER).”

CHRIST AGONY: “Polish black metal legends CHRIST AGONY will enter Studio X in Olsztyn, Poland on March 21 with engineer Szymon Czech to begin recording their ninth album, NocturN, for a fall release via Mystic Production. The cover artwork and the graphic design for the follow-up to 2008′s Condemnation will be handled by BlackTeamMedia. Session drums on the effort will be performed by Zbigniew Robert “Inferno” Prominski (BEHEMOTH, AZARATH).”

COMMUNIC: “Norwegian metallers COMMUNIC have issued the following update: ‘We have completed the work in studio, the new album is ready, and the result is simply amazing. Dan Swanö [EDGE OF SANITY, BLOODBATH, NIGHTINGALE] is currently putting the final touch on the mastering [at Unisound studios in Örebro, Sweden] and we are one step closer to get this album out there. Happy times.’ COMMUNIC‘s follow-up to 2008′s Payment Of Existence is tentatively due in June via Nuclear Blast Records.”

CRIMFALL: “Finnish folk metalers CRIMFALL will release their sophomore album,The Writ Of Sword, on March 23 via Spinefarm Records. The CD was recorded at Adamantium Studios and was produced and mixed by Hit Happens. It features guest appearances by Tapio Wilska (SURVIORS ZERO), Ville Sorvali (MOONSORROW), Mathias “Vreth” Lillmåns (FINNTROLL, CHTHONIAN, DECOMPOSTER), Mathias Nygård (TURISAS), Olli Vänskä (TURISAS) and Trollhorn (FINNTROLL,MOONSORROW). The album was mastered by Jens Bogren [OPETH,SOILWORK, KATATONIA, PARADISE LOST, BLOODBATH] at Fascination Street in Örebro, Sweden.”

DEATH: “Producer/engineer Jim Morris from Morrisound Recording Studios (TRANS-SIBERIAN ORCHESTRA, ICED EARTH, CANNIBAL CORPSE) in Tampa, Florida has just finished remixing the legendary 1991 album from DEATH called Human. Human will be reissued in 2011 internationally in a partnership between Relapse Records and Perseverance Holdings Ltd. The reissue will mark the 20th anniversary of the original release of Human on Relativity/Sony and will include loads of extras, including DEATH‘s cover of “God Of Thunder” by KISS.”

DECAPITATED: “Polish technical death metallers DECAPITATED have entered Radio Gdansk Studio in Poland to begin recording the follow-up to 2006′s Organic Hallucinosis. The follow-up is being produced by Wacek Kieltyka and sound engineered by Malta Arkadiusz Malczewski.”

DEMONICAL: “DEMONICAL, the Swedish death metal band featuring past and present members from CENTINEX, GRAVE, REGURGITATE, INTERMENT, AMARAN, WORLD BELOW and DELLAMORTE, will release its third album, Death Infernal, on April 15 via Germany’s Cyclone Empire Records.”

DYNABYTE: “DYNABYTE, the Italian industrial metal band featuring former OPERA IX vocalist Cadaveria and NECRODEATH bassist John (a.k.a Killer Bob), has inked a deal with Wormholedeath/Dreamcell11 for the CD release of its new album, 2KX. The effort, which was produced, arranged, engineered and mastered entirely by DYNABYTE, was previously released in October 2010 exclusively on a USB stick, with extra content (previously unreleased pictures, wallpapers and exclusive multimedia content) as a way to thank fans for their support. The CD version of 2KX will be made available on February 25.”

EMPEROR: “TAAKE, HELHEIM, TROLL and HORNA are among the bands who will appear on the forthcoming tribute album to the majestic Norwegian black metal band EMPEROR. Entitled In Honour Of Icon E, the collection will be released later this year via Metal Swamp and Tryzna Production.”

EYEHATEGOD: “New Orleans sludge miscreants EYEHATEGOD will release an official live DVD on March 22 via MVD. Simply titled Live, the 88-minute production features multi-camera footage from 2009 (Baltimore, Maryland) and 2010 (Cleveland, Ohio), with bonus clips from the last show of their 2010 European tour and videos never before released on DVD.”

FORMLOFF: “FORMLOFF has completed work on Spyhorelandet, a nine-song, 54-minute collection of ‘rural black metal, thematically embracing the tragedy of everyday life.’ The effort is described in a press release as ‘a journey through an atmospheric-yet-progressive and at times jazzy black metal landscape with a raw sounding production.’”

GRAVEYARD: “Psychedelic doom rock band GRAVEYARD from Gothenburg, Sweden have unveiled the artwork for their second full-length studio release, Hisingen Blues. The album was produced, recorded, and mixed in 100 percent analog by Don Alsterberg (JOSÉ GONZALES, JUNIP, SOUNDTRACK OF OUR LIVES, THE INTERNATIONAL NOISE CONSPIRACY) at Don Pierre Studios in Gothenburg, Sweden. It will be out in Europe on March 25 and in North America on April 19 via Nuclear Blast Records.”

ICED EARTH: “U.S. power metallers ICED EARTH are hard at work on their tenth studio album, due later this year via Century Media Records. Unlike 2008′s The Crucible Of Man and 2007′s Framing Armageddon, the new CD won’t be a conceptual effort. Instead, band leader Jon Schaffer promises a return to the raw-and-heavy sound of ICED EARTH‘s classic fan-favorite albums.”

ILLDISPOSED: “Danish extreme metallers ILLDISPOSED will release their new album, There Is Light (But It’s Not For Me), one week later than previously announced — on April 1 via Massacre Records. The band recorded the CD at Antfarm Studio in Århus, Denmark with producer Tue Madsen (MOONSPELL, DARK TRANQUILLITY, GOREFEST, SICK OF IT ALL).

INDIAN: ““No Grace”, a brand new song from Chicago, Illionois’ INDIAN, can be streamed here. The track comes off the band’s new album, Guiltless, which will be released on April 12 (April 25 internationally) via Relapse Records on CD, 12-inch vinyl, and digitally. The CD was recorded at Semaphore Recordings in October with engineer Sanford Parker (UNEARTHLY TRANCE, PELICAN, MINSK, BLOODIEST). The album art, as designed by Scott Fricke, can also be viewed [via the same link].”

INSENSE: “Norwegian metallers INSENSE will release their fourth album, Burn In Beautiful Fire, on April 8 via Indie Recordings. IN FLAMES frontman Anders Fridén, who manages INSENSE, stated about the latter act, ‘The first time I heard them, I wanted more. They have this amazing ability to sound extreme yet poised, dark yet beautiful, hardcore yet soft, technical yet simplistic, all without falling into the ‘pathetic’ trap. They are an extreme metal band that’s comfortable to listen to. They’re difficult to categorize that way.’”

JOB FOR A COWBOY: “Glendale, Arizona extreme metallers JOB FOR A COWBOY have entered Audiohammer Studios in Sanford, Florida with producer Jason Suecof (TRIVIUM, CHIMAIRA, DEVILDRIVER) to begin recording an EP of all-new material. The as-yet-untitled effort will feature the first new music from the band since 2009′s Ruination LP, which landed at position No. 42 on The Billboard 200 chart. A spring release via Metal Blade Records is expected.”

KAMPFAR: “Norwegian old-school black metallers KAMPFAR will release their new album, Mare, in Europe on March 25 and in the U.S. on April 5 via Napalm Records. The follow-up to 2008′s Heimgang album was recorded at Abyss studios in Pärlby, outside Ludvika, Sweden with producer Peter Tägtgren (HYPOCRISY, PAIN).”

LAST CHANCE TO REASON: “LAST CHANCE TO REASON have announced April 12, as the North American release date for their PROSTHETIC RECORDS’ debut, Level 2. The Augusta, Maine based, experimental prog-metal sextet will hit the road in February for their first Canadian run of dates and will then meet up with the legendary Atheist. The band will also be appearing at this year’s New England Metal and Hardcore Festival in Worcester, MA on April 16^th.”

LEPROUS: “Norwegian progressive metal upstarts LEPROUS are recording their new album at legendary EMPEROR frontman Ihsahn‘s Ivory Shoulder Studio (formerly Symphonique Studio). Commented Ihsahn: ‘We are happy to have the guys in LEPROUSworking in our studio these days. So far the recording has been going great, and new material is absolutely fantastic! In lack of a crystal ball, we would still definitely predict this to be one of the best progressive albums coming out in 2011.’ LEPROUS has served as Ihsahn‘s backing band for his recent live appearances.”

LOWER THAN ATLANTIS: “British four-piece indie/post-hardcore act LOWER THAN ATLANTIS has inked a North American deal with Sumerian Records. The band’s new album, World Record, will be combined with the group’s debut, Far Q, and made available as a double-disc release on April 19.”

MASTODON: “Atlanta progressive metallers MASTODON will release a new live DVD/CD, Live At The Aragon, on March 15 via Reprise. The set was filmed/recorded during the band’s October 17, 2009 concert at the Aragon Ballroom in Chicago, Illinois and it features a performance of the Crack The Skye album, along with other tracks from MASTODON‘s back catalog, plus a MELVINS cover.”

MERCENARY: “Danish melodic death metallers MERCENARY will release their sixth album, Metamorphosis, in North America on March 29 via Prosthetic Records. The North American version of the CD will feature the exclusive bonus track, “Incorporate Your Demons”.”

MOONSORROW: “Epic heathen metallers MOONSORROW — a five-strong outfit formed in Helsinki in 1995 — will release their new album on February 23 in Finland and March 21 in the U.K. through Spinefarm Records. Titled Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa (English translation: “As Shadows We Wander In The Land Of The Dead”), this 60-minute-plus opus sees the band taking an approach to its craft that borders on the cinematic, carving out truly monumental swathes of sound best enjoyed with a flagon of mead in one hand and a sharpened weapon of war in the other.”

NOMAD: “NOMAD, the Polish death metal band featuring BEHEMOTH guitarist Patryk Dominik “Seth” Sztyber, will release its new album, Transmigration Of Consciouness, on March 21 via Witching Hour. The CD was recorded with Arek “Malta” Malczewski at Hendrix Studio in Lublin, Poland and is now being mastered at Hertz Studio. Eight songs of ‘ultra-heavy and sophisticated death metal’ were laid down during the sessions, ‘with intro and outro encapsulating the album into one massive apocalyptic composition.’”

PAIN: “Swedish metallers PAIN, who are led by HYPOCRISY mainman Peter Tägtgren, are working on the follow-up to 2008′s Cynic Paradise. NIGHTWISH singer Anette Olzon, who also happens to be the girlfriend of PAIN bassist Johan Husgafvel, writes on her official blog that Tägtgren is putting the finishing touches on the new CD this week. ‘The album will be out approximately in June,’ she says.”

PENTAGRAM: “PENTAGRAM, the band that has been churning out widely admired hard rock/doom metal for over four decades, has just revealed the track listing and artwork to its highly anticipated new album, Last Rites. Due on April 12 via Metal Blade Records, the CD contains 11 new tracks of behemoth tunes that fans have been clamoring for since the last Liebling/Griffin masterpiece was released in 1994 (Be Forewarned).”

PRIMORDIAL: “Irish dark metal masters PRIMORDIAL have finished recording their seventh studio album, Redemption At The Puritan’s Hand, with producer Chris Fielding (NAPALM DEATH, ELECTRIC WIZARD) for an April 26 release (three days earlier in Europe) via Metal Blade Records.”

RIBSPREADER: “RIBSPREADER, the Swedish “old-school death metal” band featuring guitarist/vocalist/bassist Rogga Johansson (PAGANIZER, DEMIURG, BONEGNAWER), will release its fourth full-length album, The Van Murders, on April 25 via Vic Records. According to a press release, the CD “sounds like the classic RIBSPREADER debut album Bolted to The Cross. Less groovy than Opus Ribcage, WAY more raw, harsh and old school (band leader Rogga expressed it as: ‘dirty, simple old-school death metal, no frills and lots of chills’).”

RUDRA: “Singaporean metallers RUDRA will release their new album, Brahmavidya – Immortal I, the long-anticipated final chapter of the Brahmavidya trilogy, on March 3 via Sonic Blast Media. . . . With 19 years of history under RUDRA‘s belt, this new album is a monumental release for RUDRA as it is not only the final chapter to the Brahmavidya trilogy but also the start to a new chapter with Sonic Blast Media; and we look forward to many more releases by RUDRA.”

SARKE: “SARKE, the Norwegian band featuring Sarke (real name: Thomas Bergli; KHOLD, TULUS, OLD MAN’S CHILD, SENSA ANIMA) and Nocturno Culto (DARKTHRONE), will release its sophomore album, Oldarhian, on April 15 via Indie Recordings.”

STATE:CHAOS: “STATE:CHAOS, the Dutch metal band featuring former members of CALLENISH CIRCLE and DESENSITISED, will release its debut album, Chaos | Pain | Despair, March 7 via the British label Casket Music. The CD was recorded by Hans Reinders at PIT studios and was mixed and mastered by Jochem Jacobs (TEXTURES).”

STREAM OF PASSION: “Dutch/Mexican gothic/progressive metal band STREAM OF PASSION has entered Sandlane Recording Facilities in Rijen, Holland to begin recording its third album for a 2011 release. . . . STREAM OF PASSION‘s sophomore album, The Flame Within, entered the official chart in Holland at position No. 57.”

SUIDAKRA: ““Dowth 2059″, the new video from German melodic folk/death metallers SUIDAKRA, can be viewed here (courtesy of Metal Injection). The clip marks the band’s first collaboration with director/producer David Thelen. “Dowth 2059″ comes off SUIDAKRA‘s tenth album, Book Of Dowth, which will be released on March 25 via AFM Records.”

SYLOSIS: “A promotional video for Edge Of The Earth, the sophomore album from U.K. modern thrashers SYLOSIS, [has been released]. Due on March 11 via Nuclear Blast Records, the CD was produced by Scott Atkins, who previously worked with the band on 2008′s Conclusion Of An Age.”

SYNKRONIZITY: “SYNKRONIZITY, the new project led by former ATHEIST/CYNIC bassist Tony Choy, has completed work on its debut album for a May release. The cover artwork for the CD is being created by Eliran Kantor, who has previously worked with ATHEIST, TESTAMENT, SIGH, ANACRUSIS and GWAR, among others. Commented Choy: ‘This project reflects how I have always wanted to express myself in metal combining fusion, death metal jazz to pop, but keeping it to true to the ‘South Florida death metal legacy and show the world what Tony Choy is capable of.’”

THURISAZ: “Belgium-based metallers THURISAZ have inked a deal with Greece’s Sleaszy Rider Records for the release of the band’s third album, The Cimmerian Years. Due in May, the CD was recorded and mixed at CCR Studio in Zulte, Belgium with producer Kris Belean. The artwork was created by the Dutch artist Geert van Mook . . . .”

TORCHBEARER: “Swedish black/death metallers TORCHBEARER will release their third full-length album, Death Meditations, on April 25 via Vic Records. The CD was produced by Plec Johansson (WATAIN, SCAR SYMMETRY, SOLUTION .45, MISERATION). The artwork was created by Pär Olofsson (IMMORTAL, IMMOLATION, MALEVOLENT CREATION). Death Meditations is a concept album based on the philosophy of Hagakure — the way of the samurai.”

VARG: “German Viking metallers VARG will release their new album,Wolfskult, on March 4 via NoiseArt Records. The artwork was created by Thomas Ewerhard and can be seen here. A limited-edition two-CD digipak version of the album will be made available in Germany, Austria and Switzerland.”

VERENPISARA: VERENPISARA, the Finnish band featuring AMORPHIS members Tomi Koivusaari and Santeri Kallio, will release its fourth album, Eilinen On Kuollut, on February 23. The group started working on material for the CD five years ago, but record company problems and AMORPHIS commitments delayed the process, with the bulk of the recording sessions taking place over the last two summers. ”

WINDS OF PLAGUE: “Southern California metallers WINDS OF PLAGUE will release their new album, Against The World, on April 19 via Century Media Records. The CD was recorded at a Los Angeles studio with renowned producer Matt Hyde (SLAYER, HATEBREED) and will feature guest appearances by Jamey Jasta of HATEBREED, Drew York of STRAY FROM THE PATH, TERROR guitarist Martin Stewart and Mattie Montgomery from FOR TODAY.”

We’ve splashed our admiration for Navene Koperweis across these pages enough times that it’s verging on stalkerish. If somehow you missed one of our many posts in which we dropped his name, he’s a self-taught drummer from California who’s also strikingly adept at playing all sorts of other instruments, too.

He used to blast the skins for deathcore band Animosity. Now, he plays with Tosin Abasi in the stunningly good Animals As Leaders, and he’s the creative and instrumental force behind Fleshwrought (with Job For A Cowboy’s Jonny Davy on vocals).

It’s not like we think about him all the time, which would be kind of creepy. But a few days ago, we saw a Facebook post by one of the dudes in FXZero that linked to a four-year old video of an Animosity song called “The Black Page” that we’d never seen.

And there was Navene Koperweis, pummeling the crap out of his drums and looking much younger than when we saw him with AAL on the SUMMER SLAUGHTER tour a few weeks ago (see our photo above).

So, we thought, what the fuck — let’s put together a little audio-video montage of this dude, then and now. You can see how he’s grown in his playing and his musical interests, and all the songs happen to be fucking great, too.  (after the jump . . .)

ANIMOSITY

First up is the video for that Animosity song. It’s fun to watch, and not just because it includes lots of cuts of Koperweis. Check it out:

Not bad, huh?  Damn, but I miss Animosity.

ANIMALS AS LEADERS

Next, we’ve got an Animals As Leaders song. AAL doesn’t have any “official” videos out, and we had a tough time finding a live performance vid where the sound was worth a shit.  This one is the best we could do. It’s AAL performing “CAFO” in Ft. Worth, Texas, during the SUMMER SLAUGHTER tour.

ANIMALS AS LEADERS (AGAIN, SORT OF)

This next video shows Koperweis playing the drum track to another AAL song, the amazing “Tempting Time”. It’s not the best way to hear the song, because the rest of the instrumentals are submerged in the background, but it’s nice footage of Koperweis’ playing.

FLESHWROUGHT

And finally, here’s a song called “Mental Illness” from the new Fleshwrought album. This isn’t a music video; the images are just a running Metal Blade ad for the album. But you can hear the song, which kicks ass.

As one of the commenters said at the YouTube page where we found this thing, “When I heard this, tears ran down my face. Then my face ran down my face.” Pretty much says it all, right there.

Alright then.

I suppose we could stop here. But, what the hell, one more.

FLESHWROUGHT (AGAIN, SORT OF)

We’ve put up this video before. But one good turn deserves another. This is a video of Koperweis playing the instrumentals for a Fleshwrought song called “Inner Thoughts” with Alex Rudinger, who’s a Maryland-based session musician and drummer for an unsigned band called Ordinance.

Except Koperweis isn’t playing the drums this time.  It’s Rudinger behind the kit. As we said the first time we put this up in a MISCELLANY post, it’s a stunner of a video. It uses a split-screen technique to show these two accomplished performers jamming this technical instrumental.

It’s a blast to watch, and to hear. And of course it’s humbling to see that Koperweis is this good on guitar, when he’s already so fucking good as a drummer. More humbling really isn’t what we need here at NCS, but that’s the way it is.

Enjoy this shit if you didn’t see it the first time, and have a wonderful fucking day.

Saturday mornings have to be the least memorable mornings of the week. If you remember anything about Saturday mornings, it’s usually just the fallout of whatever you did on Friday night, and the fallout usually isn’t worth remembering. In fact, sometimes all you want to do is forget.

If you’re like me on a Saturday morning, your ass is dragging and your brain feels like it’s swimming through a pool of rapidly cooling tar. All you want is to be left alone until you recover your senses in the fullness of time.

Well, fuck that shit. You may think that’s what you need, but your friends here at NCS are trained medical professionals, and we know better. We have a prescription for what ails you on this Saturday morning. We think what you need is the aural equivalent of a stun gun to the back of the head. Y’know, something that will jolt you into the world of the living.

Of course, if you really outdid yourself partying last night, this prescription could seriously fuck you up. That’s why we’re taking a page from the playbook of the pharmaceutical companies that run those obnoxious TV ads for drugs you don’t need: We’re giving you a warning:

In rare cases, people who listen to the music you’re about to hear on a Saturday morning will bleed from the ears and nose, develop uncontrollable convulsions, experience explosive diarrhea, and/or fall into irreversible comas. If you’re pregnant, listening to this music may lead to spontaneous abortions or cause your child to come into the world with its eyes permanently crossed. Do not listen to this music while driving, or while sitting, standing up, or laying down. If you are in the middle of a vicious hangover, you should induce vomiting now, in the privacy of your own bathroom, instead of risking a spew down the front of your shirt once the music begins.

By clicking past the jump to listen to the music that follows, you and your heirs and assigns agree to irrevocably release and hold harmless NO CLEAN SINGING from all resulting claims of damage, past, present, or future, whether currently known or unknown, anticipated or unanticipated, minor or fatal, and you assume all risk of paralysis, impotence, rectal bleeding, facial boils, hair loss, necrotizing fasciitis, seeping mouth ulcers, and chronic ventricular dysrhythmia.

Okay, now that we’ve got the legalese out of the way, we can proceed to dispense our medication — immersion in bass drops and apocalyptic havoc.

This is actually a sequential course of medication, beginning with the immersed part.

IMMERSED

Immersed is a band from Ottawa, Canada, that we checked out following a friend request from them on MySpace. That’s a photo of them at the top of this post. They have a debut album coming out on September 3 called In the Ire of Creation. Two songs from the album are streaming on their MySpace page. You can also hear those two songs on the widget we’ve embedded below.

The music reminds us of the almighty Fleshgod Apocalypse and the equally almighty Decapitated. It’s faster than a cheetah at dinnertime. It leaps like a hare with its ass on fire. If it don’t wake you the fuck up, then it’s time to call the morgue. We’re panting for the release of that album.

BASS DROPS

The second course of your treatment involves bass drops. In a previous post, we were confessing our love for them after getting hammered by All Shall Perish at the SUMMER SLAUGHTER tour last weekend. One of our readers (“Dan”) added a comment, explaining that those giant bass waves are called 808 drops because they used to be done with the Roland TR-808 drum machine, though the sound is now produced (as All Shall Perish did it) by triggering a sample on an electronic drum pad.

That sound has become a fixture of deathcore breakdowns, and some death-metal purists undoubtedly sniff haughtily (or more likely hock a loogie) at the use of it, but we sure dig it. And it seems like just the right follow-on to those Immersion tracks as a way of getting the blood pumping on an ass-dragging Saturday.

One of our NCS collaborators, Alexis, pointed us to Fear Factory’s “Shock” (from the 1998 album, Obsolete) as an early example of that 808 kick-drum effect in extreme metal, and Dan suggested a few other choice examples — “Meticulous Invagination” by Aborted and “Entombment of A Machine” by Job For A Cowboy. There’s tons more examples out there, but these three will do nicely. Click and drop:

Fear Factory: Shock

Aborted: Meticulous Invagination

Job For A Cowboy: Entombment Of A Machine

UPDATE:  If you want to explore bass drops a bit further, we’ve added something after the Goatwhore video.

APOCALYPTIC HAVOC

And for your third course of treatment, this song popped into our heads, because it’s just such a fucking awesome riff injection — evil and nasty and still as groovy as you could want. By the inimitable Goatwhore, of course.

It’s the final stun-gun shot to the dorsal part of your cerebrum. After you listen to this, you should now be fully alert and ready to face the day — or passed out on the floor in a pool of your own vomit.

Please send your co-pay to us promptly. We’ll bill your health insurance carrier for the balance of our fees. (Next Saturday morning, you can avoid these expenses by just moistening your finger and jamming it into a light socket.)

UPDATE: MORE BAAAASSSSSSS DROPS

Go on, admit it. You didn’t get enough bass-drop action from those three songs we offered up above. So, courtesy of our Dutch blog brother Niek at Death Metal Baboon, we have this video, which stitches together just the bass-drop portion of dozens of extreme metal songs. It’s heavy on the deathcore, but also includes choice excerpts from the likes of Hour of Penance, Strapping Young Lad, and even that Fear Factory song we featured up above.

Find a machine with a sub-woofer and crank it up.

This is really the fourth installment of MISCELLANY, but I like my photo caption better as a title than “Miscellany (No. 4)”.  And actually, seeing the photo up above was part of my morning’s journey around the webz, so it’s a legitimate part of this post.

The eye-catching image at the top is a new addition to the photo albums on Grave’s Facebook page. I don’t know whether the person executing the autograph is a member of Grave or another band, but his penmanship is amazingly good, under the circumstances. (To see our review of Grave’s new album, go here.)

The rest of this post is a log of my morning’s browsing around the internet, randomly checking out music from bands I’d never heard before. The way this MISCELLANY thing works, I have no advance idea whether the music will be good, bad, or indifferent, so I can’t offer you any guarantees either. I just dutifully set out what I found, and presume you’ll be interested.

Here are the bands I checked out this morning: Drudkh, Sickening, Psycho Enhancer, and Infinite Tales.

Oh yeah, as icing on the cake, we’ve got a stupendous Gojira video to close out this post.  (all this shit, after the jump . . .)

DRUDKH

I’ve heard of this Ukrainian band before, and some people whose opinions I respect like ‘em. What caused me to start the day listening to Drudkh was a tweet from one of the dudes in The Funeral Pyre asserting that a Drudkh song called “Skies At Our Feet” is “one of the greatest black metal songs ever written.”

Now, making allowances for exaggeration, I still decided the time had come to check out Drudkh — because The Funeral Pyre is itself a pretty hot-shit band (our review of their latest album can be seen at this location).

I don’t know if “Skies At Our Feet” is one of the greatest black-metal songs ever written. I’m not even sure it’s one of the greatest black-metal songs I’ve ever heard. But no doubt, it is one helluva song. It’s a long (almost 11 minutes) instrumental jam with minimal vocal accompaniment. It’s simple, it’s hypnotic, it’s beautiful, it’s black, it’s metal.

“Skies At Our Feet” comes from Drudkh’s 2007 album Estrangement.  Check it out:

Drudkh: Skies At Our Feet

SICKENING

After listening to Drudkh, I followed up on a note I’d made earlier in the week to check on an Italian death-metal band called Sickening (not to be confused with Norway’s The Sickening). I’d seen a note on Blabbermouth that Sickening was about to begin recording their second full-length album, Against The Wall Of Pretence. The CD will be mixed at 16th Cellar Studio in Rome.

I like a lot of Italian death-metal bands, so I thought I should see what Sickening sounds like. And the answer is — they sound sick-ening. They’re brooootal. Like the demonic offspring of some unspeakable three-way orgy among Suffocation, Dying Fetus, and Devourment. Lots of grinding rhythm, some cool drumwork, and stygian gutturals. A night-day contrast with Drudkh, but I liked it.

What I heard was a demo version of a song that will appear on the new album called “Blast Of Madness” It’s avaialble for streaming on Sickening‘s MySpace page. Here it is:

PSYCHO ENHANCER

We got an e-mail from this band whose members are from Long Island and Queens, and so my next stop on today’s journey was to check out their MySpace page.

What should greet my eyes but a blaring banner that proclaimed Psycho Enhancer as “THE DRUNKEST MUTHAFUCKA’S ON EARTH”, and a media player with song titles such as “Wasted Life”, “Beers On The Dance Floor”, and “Full Blown Alcoholics”.

It appears they self-released an album called Party Like A Psycho on their DIY label Party Van Records last August. You can order it at this location. But should you order it?

Well, it’s a novel concept: hardcore punk that doesn’t take itself too seriously. The hard-charging music includes compulsively chugging riffs, some old-school breakdowns, nasty hardcore barking, and lots of lyrics about beer. In fact, I think all the lyrics are about beer. I also had a blast listening to the songs.  Here’s a sample:

INFINITE TALES

From Psycho Enhancer, I moved over to another Ukrainian band called Infinite Tales. Earlier in the week, I’d seen a blurb about the band’s new video, “Running Away”, on Blabbermouth and made a note to check it out. And then I saw another blurb about the video on MetalSucks.

So this morning, I did watch the video finally. The song comes off the group’s full-length debut, Only The Beginning, which was released last year in the Ukraine via N.J. Music. It’s melodic death metal, with harsh male vocals trading off — sometimes within sentences — with clean female vocals by an Avril Lavigne look-alike named Kiki.

I’m not a big fan of this style of metal — mixing clear, clean female vocals with the hard stuff — but this is a catchy song and Kiki’s got a decent voice. So, I’m not complaining that I took the time to watch this.

If you like this music, here’s the band’s ReverbNation widget with more songs and free downloads:

JOB FOR A COWBOY

Well, that was pretty much the end of my MISCELLANY browsing for the day. But before closing out this post, I thought I’d throw a few other things your way just for the fuck of it.

First, one of our readers who goes by the handle BeeAreWhyAyeEn sent us a couple photos he took of Job For A Cowboy from their stop in Allentown, PA, with Whitechapel, Cattle Decapitation, and Gaza — and my, what an ass-kicking show that must have been.

A professional photographer would undoubtedly find all sorts of things wrong with these pics, but we thought they were cool. They make it look like the world was ending — or maybe a new one was being born — to a JFAC soundtrack.

GOJIRA

Finally, just as I was finishing up my internet rounds, I got an e-mail from one of my NCS collaborators, IntoTheDarkness, sending me a link to a MetalSucks blog post from earlier in the week that I had somehow missed, with only this message from ITD: “Oh my.”

Within the MetalSucks post was a link to a 72-minute, pro-shot video of the god-like Gojira performing at Festival Les Vieilles Charrues on July 27. Not a bad way to end the morning.

If you’re a Gojira fan, then this will likely cause you to wet yourself. If you’re not, well, all we can say is, Have a nice fucking day.

We were reading today about a band called Fleshwrought that just signed with Metal Blade Records for the worldwide release of their debut CD, Dementia/Dyslexia. The news caught our bloodshot eyes because of who’s in that band (more about that later). We listened to some tracks streaming on the band’s MySpace page and got more interested. We Googled the band, and among other things, found a link to Amazon.com.

The link was not for a Fleshwrought album — of course not, because Metal Blade hasn’t released it yet. Instead, the link took us to a Metal Blade Summer Sampler released on June 22 that happens to include a Fleshwrought song. It also includes songs from 23 other bands.  And guess what? You can download the whole thing for free.  And guess what? There are some fucking good songs by some fucking good bands on this comp.

Here’s the line-up.  And after the jump, as a public service, we’ll give you the link for the download — and we’ll tell you the interesting names behind Fleshwrought.

(more after the jump . . .)

First things first.  To download the album, go to this location.

Now, as for Fleshwrought:  It’s a two-man project: Navene Koperweis (former drummer of Bay area death-grind band Animosity, and currently in Animals As Leaders) performs all the instruments, and Jonny Davy (vocalist of Arizona’s Job for a Cowboy) wrote the lyrics and provides the vocals.

That’s a pretty powerful one-two punch.  The music is also way out there — not your usual death-metal fare. You can listen to one of the band’s tracks on that sampler, or you can visit their MySpace page. Cool album art, too.  And so you don’t get too confused, the band’s name used to be Fleshrot.  They announced the name change on June 21 — we’re guessing at the label’s insistence because some other band , someplace else in the world, had already staked a claim to “Fleshrot”.

Happy listening.

Job For A Cowboy, Whitechapel, Cattle Decapitation, Revocation, and I Declare War hit Seattle hard on JFAC’s current Ruination tour on the night of May 18 at El Corazon. All three of your NCS collaborators turned out for the carnage and we file this somewhat incomplete report, along with a somewhat incomplete batch of our half-assed photos (be sure to scroll to the end of the review to see those).

Somewhat incomplete, because we had to leave before JFAC’s set. Maybe if we were being paid to run this site, we’d have stayed to the bitter end, but the people who actually do pay us were expecting our asses to show up on time early the next morning. Life is full of fucking compromises, isn’t it?.

I DECLARE WAR

Well, what can we say? It’s just so fucking cool to see our local boys making good. As we reported here back in March, IDW has signed with Artery Recordings and has a new album (Malevolence) due out on June 8, with two of the songs currently streaming on their MySpace page. They played some dates earlier this month in California with Whitechapel and Son of Aurelius, and next month they start a nationwide tour with Molotov Solution, Dr. Acula, and Monsters.

But this night was a show for the home folks — something of a coming-out since the news of their label-signing, and man, did the home folks turn out. El Corazon was packed to the gills in time for the first chord of IDW’s first song, and they showed these hard-working, hard-playing dudes a lotta love.  (more after the jump . . .)

IDW whipped the crowd into a moshpit frenzy with their uber-brutal brand of deathcore, featuring the super-low gutturals of Jon Huber (who has himself left bits and pieces of his body in moshpits throughout the Northwest — and did it again last night when Whitechapel took the stage). IDW’s self-confidence on stage has grown tremendously since we first saw them play more than two years ago, and they put on a killer set full of primal power and head-crushing groove. We wish them the best with the new album and the big tour about to start.

REVOCATION

We last saw these guys in Seattle on January 26 as part of the Metal As Art tour (and wrote about that experience here). They blew us away then, but that was just a warm-up for the jaw-dropping performance we saw at this show.

We’ve pretty well decided that this band is unclassifiable. They serve up a big dose of death-metal-infused thrash, but at the same time the instrumentation is so technically complex that it also appeals to died-in-the-wool math-metal nerds (like us).

All four of these guys are technically superb, and what’s amazing is to watch how flawlessly and in-sync they execute on stage while playing like super-charged bats out of hell. Think of being stuffed inside a child’s top, which is then set spinning at a zillion rpm’s and struck repeatedly by lightning bolts. That’s kind of what it was like being in the audience while Revocation tore up El Corazon on May 18.

As good as all four of these dudes are, we’ve got to say again that Dave Davidson’s shredding puts him in some very rarified air. He’s not just blazingly fast and inventive, he plays with tremendous passion and feel.  If these guys played here once a month, we’d turn out every damned time.

CATTLE DECAPITATION

We’ve admired from afar this San Diego foursome’s uncompromising dedication to their principles — and to the brutal way they convey it in their music and album art. But until last night, we’d never seen them mop up the floor with their live music. What a complete mind-fuck this set was!

Hyper-technical grind played with the speed of a whipping centrifuge. No discernible melodies. Very few rhythms or tempos that lasted for more than about 5 seconds before shifting to something else. Each instrumentalist going berserk on their instruments at a blinding pace, and yet somehow in complete sync with each other.

There’s no telling how many million hours of practice and performance enabled these dudes to pull this shit off, but it was an awesome (if bizarre) spectacle to watch.

And speaking of bizarre, vocalist Travis Ryan looked (and shrieked) like he was going through one protracted, non-stop seizure, which included him periodically sticking his fingers into his mouth, rolling his eyes, and thrashing about like he had electrodes shoved up where the sun don’t shine.  The dude’s vocals are also insane. It was riveting to see, and hear.

Cattle Decapitation drove the already frenzied crowd into an even more intense frenzy and elicited a thunderously enthusiastic reception.

WHITECHAPEL

We’ve seen these deathcore titans before, but they just keep stepping up their game. Such a huge difference between their first stop in Seattle on a national tour two years ago and the jolting performance this week. They’re in complete command now, and they put on a pummeling live show.

The band’s unusual three-guitar attack delivers serious blunt-force trauma in a live setting. It’s all about rhythm and visceral power and roof-collapsing breakdowns and Phil Bozeman’s gut-rumbling gutturals and hair-raising shrieks. Just impossible not to get into it, particularly when almost the entire, densely packed floor was in constant motion from start to finish. Somehow, there was even enough room to manage a wall of death before the set ended.

Whitechapel has a new album (A New Era of Corruption) scheduled for release on June 8 via Metal Blade, but their El Corazon set was mainly a selection of songs from their previous releases, Somatic Defilement and This Is Exile. The crowd knew those songs well, screamed along with Bozeman, and was ready for every tempo shift and breakdown with mass physical action.

After Whitechapel’s set ended, capping off the equally wild performances that preceded them, we felt like we’d been cooking all day in a Dutch oven bubbling with moshpit juices. The place was just hot as hell — and it’s not even June in Seattle.

JOB FOR A COWBOY

Massive fail by us! We had to leave before their set started. No slight intended to JFAC. Like I said at the beginning, life is just full of fucking compromises, and my cohorts and I just couldn’t make this as late a night as we would have wished in a perfect world.

********

Bottom line: this is a tour that’s definitely worth catching up to if you have the chance.  And watch out for that Molotov Solution – I Declare War tour if it comes to your neck of the woods. Those tour dates can be found here.

And now, here are some more photos from the show.  Sorry to say, they’re even more half-assed than usual because someone decided to keep the stage pretty dark for most of each set, with big white spotlights directed instead onto the crowd. For amateurs like us, that really makes it tough to get decent exposures for stage shots from a distance. Oh well, fuck our excuses, here are the pictures:

I DECLARE WAR

REVOCATION

CATTLE DECAPITATION

WHITECHAPEL