Apr 172012
 

In this post, I’m collecting three newly minted pieces that went into circulation yesterday or this morning, like shiny gold coins that dropped into our grimy claws: a new video from Finland’s Before the Dawn; a new song from Colorado’s Allegaeon (pronounced uh-lee-juhn, in case you forgot), and a new lyric video from Portland’s The Odious. Here we go:

BEFORE THE DAWN

Such a coincidence. Earlier today, I posted a review of a new EP from a UK band — Twilight’s Embrace — that reminded me of Before the Dawn’s style of goth/doom-infused melodeath, and lo and behold, it’s not long before I get an e-mail from DGR alerting me to this new video. It’s for a song called “Pitch-Black Universe” from the band’s forthcoming album Rise of the Phoenix (out on April 27 via Nuclear Blast).

The song is what we’ve come to expect from Before the Dawn — jabbing riffs, sweeping/swirling guitars, bearlike vocals, broken glass, fires burning, the drip of blood, pitch blackness. The video is sweet, too. It’s immediately after the jump.
 


 

Next . . .

ALLEGAEON

We seem to be on a dark melodic death metal kick, because the next entry is a new song that premiered yesterday on Lambgoat from Allegaeon. We’ve been high on this band for a while and have written about them frequently (most recent here, when they debuted the first song from their new album, Formshifter, which will hit the streets on Metal Blade when May 8 arrives).

The new song is called “Iconic Images”. It’s a gun-blast of this band’s more technically oriented, more progressive take on dark melodeath, and it does nothing but confirm that Formshifter is going to be one of the year’s highlights. Let this flashy guitar-driven music scramble your brains while that thooming bass and blitzkrieg drum attack unzip your guts.
 


 

And now for something completely different . . .

THE ODIOUS

This is a Portland (Oregon) band to whom we should have paid attention long before now. They released two EPs last year — The Gynecic Curse and That Night A Forest Grew — both of which are available for download on Bandcamp on “name your price” terms.

It appears the band are now at work on a debut full-length, to be titled Joint Venture. Earlier this year, they loaded a new song on SoundCloud called “A Sheep In Wolf’s Clothing”, and now they’ve unveiled a lyric video for this song.

It’s a 9+-minute kaleidoscope of prog-minded craziness that vaults from one tempo and style to another. After a jagged, galvanic start, it smooths into an extended, slow, heavily instrumental segment that includes jazz, funk, prog-metal, psychedelia, and a bit of mathcore. But there’s a lot more . . . though I’m not going to try to diagram it any further. Better for you to just hear this fascinating song for yourself.
 


 

The band tell us that this song will soon become available for download. You can find out more about The Odious on Facebook.

  7 Responses to “NEWLY MINTED: BEFORE THE DAWN, ALLEGAEON, AND THE ODIOUS”

  1. Man, how good are The Odious? Can’t wait for the new album. I’ve heard the song before, but listening to it again, I had to pause it so I could go take a shit. That’s right… The Odious made me nearly shit my pants.

  2. The Odious are simply better than other bands. “That Night a Forest Grew” is probably my favorite release of last year. I don’t think I like “A Sheep in Wolf’s Clothing” quite as well as anything on “Forest,” because after awhile all the style changes kinda kill the momentum. Still, can’t wait for the full length.

    (And to plug a Dallas local band: if you like The Odious’ brand of heavy-meets-weird, check out Lizard Professor. The title track from their debut EP, “Offthewallogy” pretty much says it all: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VcAxxeNgtlo)

  3. Wow. Quality post.
    That Before the Dawn’s album still isn’t out apparently… like so many other albums one is looking out for. Thankfully one doesn’t mark release dates on calendars.

  4. Before the Dawn – I like this a lot more than Twilight’s Embrace which had me reaching for a cheese-grater within a couple of minutes of that EP. In fact, I like it a lot. Also playing a drum-kit on fire = WIN.

    Allegaeon – technically impressive (and that main verse riff was very Loomis-esque) but lacking any kind of restraint. I like flashy guitar melodies and solos, but I don’t need to hear them over every other riff like some kind of dick-waving contest in which the guitarists are slapping me with their massive wangs from across the Atlantic Ocean.

    The Odious – a big dose of does not computer coupled with wtf. I have no idea what is going on with this song which is probably a good thing.

    Anyway, back to the Midnightmares stream on ReverbNation (http://www.reverbnation.com/artist/artist_songs/417574)

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