MARYLAND DEATHFEST: A TRAVELOGUE (Part 3)

 Mosh Pit  33 Responses »
May 272014
 

photo by Kusha of Theories

One of the most striking aspects of Maryland Deathfest XII was something that hit me even harder after I returned home to Seattle: As one of my new MDF acquaintances put it on Facebook today, it was a place “where EVERYTHING in totality, literally, everything in a 360 degree view, was ‘metal’ oriented in some way or another.”

You get that feeling at just about any metal show, but it’s a feeling that usually only lasts a handful of hours and then you’re back in the world. At MDF, it went on for days. Everywhere you looked, at almost all hours of the days and nights, even on the streets of Baltimore, you saw and heard the sights and sounds of metal. And especially at the Edison Lot, it was like being transported to another planet populated solely by metalheads. I’ve never seen so much black (or so many patches) in one place in my life.

People-watching was definitely one of the primary MDF spectator sports, second only to watching the bands on stage. Given that this was like a metal homecoming party (or, as Kim Kelly put it, “metal’s version of Spring Break”), lots of people obviously put a lot of thought and care into their selection of finery — including the dude in the horse-head mask pictured above, just after he had successfully crowd-surfed over the barricade at Edison Lot’s Stage A.  And of course the official mascot of MDF, Chicken Man: Continue reading »

VADER: “TIBI ET IGNI”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
May 272014
 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the forthcoming new album by Poland’s Vader.)

Can we just agree at this point that Vader is the Clint Eastwood of death metal? Clint Eastwood, in all of his films where he has appeared as an actor, has basically put out nothing but awesome movie after awesome movie. They have only varied in degrees of how good they are, but if I were to think in terms of a personal one-to-ten scale, Eastwood has never scored below an eight, even at his worst, despite (or maybe because of) the fact that his on-screen persona rarely changes very much. I view Vader in the same way; they have that Clint Eastwood trait of never changing dramatically, merely showing different shades and sides of themselves.

I mean yeah, the band have had their The Bridges of Madison County (The Beast in their case, which strayed into some slightly different territory), but the fact remains that Vader have been a band who are metal, war, and imperialism incarnate. They’ve done this consistently for years with inhumanly good results.

At this point, that history also makes Vader albums pretty difficult to review. Not because they are hard to describe, but because “It’s a Vader album” tells you what you need to know. It’s almost as if there is no point in reviewing their music any more because it has proven itself so remarkably consistent in quality, and it’s not as if they’ve ever taken a huge step outside of their box either. With that said, though, I’m enthusiastically rabid for Tibi Et Igni. It has been on never-ending repeat since we got the promo for it. Continue reading »

LEVEL MATCHING YOUR LIFE

 Mosh Pit  11 Responses »
May 272014
 

(This is a follow-up to a widely read piece we published last month about The Loudness War by guest writer Alex (the co-founder and chief editor of Metal-Fi and an audiophile who has been listening to metal for more than 20 years).  This article is also being cross-posted at the Angry Metal Guy blog as well as at Metal-Fi.)

“But I like my metal loud. It just sounds better to me.”

This is bar none the number one reaction I get from fellow headbangers, who after they read one of our articles, go off in a frenzy and measure all their record’s dynamic range only to discover they almost always prefer the hyper-compressed albums over the dynamic ones.

Not surprising. In fact, most of the time their results only reinforce why the Loudness War exists in the first place. Let me explain.

From a strictly Darwinian standpoint, the ability to hear is critical to your survival. It allows you to perceive the natural sounds in your environment, find food (as well as avoid becoming it), keep your balance, and most importantly in this day and age, communicate with your fellow headbanger more effectively. Consequently, your ears have developed into a highly sensitive instrument. You have the ability to hear a whisper in a sound-proofed room as well as detect the loudest scream at a Pig Destroyer show. Putting that into numbers, the human ear has about 140dB of dynamic range (the CD is only 96dB) and can hear up to three orders of magnitude in frequency (20Hz – 20kHz).

However, the perceived response of human hearing is not linear with respect to frequency. In English, the apparent loudness of a sound depends on its frequency and intensity. As I stated in my previous article, the study of how our ears perceive sound with respect to volume was first researched by Fletcher and Munson back in 1933. They came up with the first Equal-loudness contour, a plot that shows how your hearing changes depending on a sound’s intensity (sound pressure level or SPL). The curves are measured in Phons, which is the value of SPL that has constant apparent loudness for average human hearing. Continue reading »

WHITECHAPEL: “OUR ENDLESS WAR”

 Album Reviews  7 Responses »
May 272014
 

(DGR wrote this review of the new album by Whitechapel.)

I appear to have written a lot of words about a Whitechapel album. I consider it an enlightening experience. I apologize to those of you who feel this review is way too long, but I wound up analyzing far more of the disc than I had planned. I also found myself discussing the group’s legacy and dynamic so far; I figured it would help explain (somewhat) why this review took so goddamned long to get out there, but it has given me the opportunity to know this album note for note, word for word, since its release.

Ever since Whitechapel catapulted into metal’s consciousness at large a few years back, it seems that every single review that has come out usually begins with something akin to “a tale of two Whitechapels” and how there is one side that the reviewers really like and another side of the band that they don’t enjoy at all — usually to help represent the fact that the group have somewhat moved beyond their days of bludgeoning deathcore-by-definition songs and into something more akin to a Vader-inspired death metal.

It’s an experience I’m sure a lot of us have shared. I personally began with This Is Exile, as many others did (and would later check out their prior works as well, on the recommendations of other fans and to sate a general curiosity). They became one of the four or five surface-level deathcore bands that I enjoyed. Never felt the need to go any deeper into the genre, but they were always good for a quick hit and then I would be out.

This was helped by the fact that I found the rapid-fire vocal delivery in the titular song to be really cool. And, as much as I would’ve hated to admit it, they were really, really good at the beefy and crushing breakdown, so the appeal was definitely recognizable. However, the band have grown, and over the span of two more albums really have won me over — so much so that I was genuinely excited to hear what Our Endless War would sound like. Continue reading »

MARYLAND DEATHFEST: A TRAVELOGUE (Part 2)

 Metal News  11 Responses »
May 262014
 

I’m already experiencing post-coital tristesse (yeah, look it up) after 4+ days of M D Effing.  I’m now sitting in the lobby of my hotel with my two Seattle friends killing time before we drive from Baltimore to D.C. for our flight back home. I thought I might as well take advantage of the lull and bang out some more thoughts about my Maryland Deathfest XII experience.

Although this was my first MDF, I gather from talking to people who had attended many of the previous festivals that the logistics of this one were the best yet. I know I was really impressed with everything. The biggest venue (and the one making its first MDF appearance this year) was the Edison Lot — just a gigantic parking lot in the shadow of an overhead freeway that MDF took over for the last 3 days.

It was more or less a huge rectangular space with two big stages set up at opposite ends. A smaller rectangular space was carved out by a chain link fence that ran the length of the lot, and that area was lined on both sides with small, open-air, tented booths, every one of them offering merch of different kinds — tons of shirts, vinyl records, tapes, CDs, patches, pins, posters, and more. At one end of that space was an even larger tent (which was almost fully enclosed) filled with many more merch tables: Continue reading »

MARTY FRIEDMAN: “INFERNO”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
May 262014
 

(Austin Weber reviews the new solo album by Marty Friedman.)

Unfortunately, to some Marty Friedman is just “that guy” who played guitar and contributed to several of Megadeth’s best records, which is absurdly high praise in itself. But often his mind-blowing neoclassical efforts in Cacophony go undermentioned or unknown by modern fans, as does his continually solid solo career — a career that has shifted toward more Japanese releases and Japanese cultural efforts since his relocation there some time ago. The man has an unreal discography behind him, and yet Inferno is not a showcase of solo showboating or an example of resting on past achievements and styles.

Inferno is more than a scorching storm of guitar pyrotechnics or a cliche title. Ultimately, its intensity serves as a reminder that Marty Friedman isn’t done blowing minds yet, and the beautifully emotive feeling in his playing is alive and well here. Some modern updates such as Meshuggah groove influences find their way into a few tracks, but the leads and soloing over the top of those grooves put most all to shame. Continue reading »

MARYLAND DEATHFEST: A TRAVELOGUE (Part 1)

 Metal News  18 Responses »
May 252014
 

“Having a great time.  Wish you were here.”

As I warned you I might do, I’ve decided to put together a small diary of my excursion to Maryland Deathfest this year. I intended to write something day by day, but somehow the waking hours have flown by, so I’m a few days late. I thought about writing nothing at all because of the possibility that it could be seen as obnoxious, kind of like the first sentence in this post, except with more words. Obviously, that risk hasn’t stopped me.

As I write this, it’s mid-day on Sunday, with one full day of the festival still to come. So far, it has been an incredible experience in every way. The music has been fantastic. The venues have been great. The organization and logistics for an undertaking of this size and complexity have been very impressive. We’ve had beautiful weather, and all the people I’ve met, without exception, have been beautiful, too.

And that last point is really the first one on which I ought to elaborate. Continue reading »

A METAL DUDE IN THE CONCERT HALL — THE STORY OF FLORIAN MAGNUS MAIER

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
May 242014
 


(photo by Natalia Kempin/Natalia Die Hexe, used with permission)

(Andy Synn provides the following introduction to a new documentary now streaming over the web.)

Dark Fortress are, without a doubt, one of my favourite bands, and their last albums, Ylem, is similarly one of my favourite albums.

Why am I telling you this? Well it just so happens that Dutch public-service broadcasting network NTR has just released a 50-minute documentary on the band’s frontman Florian Magnus Maier (aka Morean) and his composition of a double-guitar concerto entitled “Schattenspiel” (“Shadowplay”) for the Zaterdagmatinee, whose premiere performance took place at the Royal Concertgebouw, Amsterdam.

Now I actually already knew that Florian/Morean was a gifted composer (go me), with some impressive credentials to his name, but actually watching him piece the whole thing together, keeping all the changes and instruments in his head at the same time, really gives you a whole different insight into the process and the man behind it. Continue reading »

ARCH ENEMY: “WAR ETERNAL”

 Album Reviews  40 Responses »
May 232014
 

(Below, Andy Synn reviews the new album by the revamped — and revitalized — Arch Enemy.)

Ok, I’m sure a fair few of you have already skipped past this review, simply because of the words “Arch Enemy” there at the top. After all, AE are a pretty big band, and an easy target, so it’s not at all “cool” to like them. That’s fine.

But for those of you still reading, I’m sure you’re more than a little interested in just what this new incarnation of the band is all about. After all, the band’s line-up has undergone some pretty big changes recently. Chris Amott has taken what appears to be his final retirement from the group, to be replaced by the superfluously talented Nick Cordle, who comes to the band from the decidedly Arch Enemy-influenced Arsis… it’s not quite Ripper Owens joining Judas Priest, but it’s not entirely dissimilar, is it?

Overshadowing this of course is the departure of Angela Gossow and her replacement by ex-The Agonist frontwoman Alissa White-Gluz, inspiring a firestorm of internet nerd-rage of apoplectic proportions, so-called “fans” of the band clamouring desperately for attention as part of “Team Angela” or “Team Alissa” like angsty pre-pubescent girls.

But let’s make one thing clear right now, before we go any further – having listened to the album in full I can confidently say that Ms White-Gluz is a more than worthy successor to Angela Gossow’s vacated throne. Close enough in terms of power and delivery to maintain a sense of continuity within the band’s discography, but with a style and substance of her own, she brings a welcome breath of fresh air and a renewed, combative edge to the vocals that helps her stand out as more than a simple carbon-copy of her predecessor. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: COPROCEPHALIC — “DESOLATION OF CONJOINED EMBODIMENT”

 Premieres  1 Response »
May 232014
 

Coprocephalic are a multinational band, with two members in Taiwan and one in Southern California. Their debut album Gluttonous Chunks descended in 2013, and they have now signed with Lacerated Enemy Records for the impending release of their new album The Oath of Relinquishment, as well as a limited edition EP that will precede the album — Desolation of Conjoined Embodiment.

The new releases feature the eye-catching artwork of one of our favorites, Ken Sarafin (Sarafin Concepts), and both the EP and the album include guest vocal appearances by a trio of brutal heavyweights — Matti Way (Pathology), Angel Ochoa (Disgorge), and Jeremiah Blue Jensen (Guttural Secrete).

Today we bring you the debut of the EP’s title track, “Desolation of Conjoined Embodiment”, which features guest vocals by Angel Ochoa. Measured strictly by the commonly accepted defining standards of brutal slamming death metal, it is a highly accomplished piece of merciless thuggery. But more is going on in the song than a decimating beatdown. Continue reading »

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