AN NCS INTERVIEW: JESSE LEACH OF KILLSWITCH ENGAGE

 Interviews  1 Response »
Nov 122012
 


(NCS writer BadWolf interviewed Jesse Leach, who was the original vocalist of Killswitch Engage and returned to the band this year after a decade-long separation, following the departure of vocalist Howard Jones. In 2011, he recorded an album under the name Times of Grace with Killswitch bandmate Adam Dutkiewicz.  Killswitch are now in the midst of an anniversary tour, with a new album on the way.)

 

–This interview appears courtesy of the Toledo City Paper.

It’s been a long journey for Jesse Leach in the past ten years. Shortly after recording the vocals on Killswitch Engage’s sophomore LP, Alive or Just Breathing, he parted ways with the band, citing vocal cord and emotional difficulties.

Alive or Just Breathing turned out to be a classic. The late-career revivals of Carcass, At The Gates, and melodic death metal as a whole, probably had a lot to do with Killswitch re-introducing the genre in an Americanized context. To this day, new bands use its basic structure of melody, hardcore beats, and good cop/bad cop vocals, as a template.

After his triumphant run on the short Times of Grace tour, Leach is back in Killswitch, and the band is about to embark on an anniversary tour, playing Alive or Just Breathing from end to end. After ten years of struggle, things might be looking up for Boston’s most unlucky screamer. As he said to me: everything happens for a reason.

The deck turns around. Continue reading »

LIVE IN SEATTLE: MITOCHONDRION, LOSS, WORM OUROBOROS, AND BELL WITCH

 Concert Reviews  23 Responses »
Nov 112012
 

Last night, November 10, 2012, a couple of friends and I ventured out in a butt-freezing Seattle night to catch the live performances of Profound Lore stable-mates Mitochondrion, Loss, Worm Ouroboros, and Bell Witch at The Highline bar. This was the second stop on a West Coast tour by Loss and Worm Ouroboros that will have different bands sharing the stage with them as the tour progresses.

Before leaving home I spent an hour finally studying the user manual for my hot-shit digital camera in an attempt to improve the quality of my live-show photos. I even typed up a cheat sheet about various settings that seemed like they would be useful, because the shit was so complicated that I knew I’d never remember it. And then I left home without the cheat sheet — and I was 100% right: I couldn’t hardly remember any of it. But I took pics anyway, and the best of a sorry lot are in this post.

I met my friends at a Vietnamese restaurant before the show. I’ll call her S and him O. O is a metalhead and a vocalist who’s working on a new DIY album. He has eclectic tastes and a preference for physical formats; his latest purchases are CDs by Inquisition, Kreator, and Sargeist. S listens to some metal, but she’s not really into the head-wrecking stuff. I think Worm Ouroboros was the main draw for her last night.

I’d never had Vietnamese food before. I followed their lead, except ordering twice as much food as they did because I wanted to explore. It was damned good, and I ate most of it. With my fucked-up ankle and a bloated belly, I tried to convince O to carry me on his back for the two-block walk to The Highline, y’know, as a test of friendship. He passed the test, merely chuckling instead of telling me to go fuck myself. Continue reading »

RatM RatM

 Album Reviews, Metal News  33 Responses »
Nov 112012
 

(In this post, Phro commemorates the 20th anniversary of Rage Against the Machine’s debut album as only Phro can.)

So, all this talk about Hacktivist has mostly been like water off a horny duck’s back to me, but it has had one interesting effect: reminding me of how great Rage Against the Machine is. Well, apparently, November 3rd was the 20th anniversary of Rage Against the Machine’s debut, self-titled album. As I read this article on Stereogum (I ended up there from a link on The Atlantic because otherwise I would have no fucking clue something called “Stereogum” existed), I realized: holy fuck balls, I don’t think I’ve ever listened to this album. Obviously, like many people, I’ve heard “Killing in the Name” and “Wake Up,” but that’s probably the extent of my knowledge of the album.

“Well, that’s weirder than seeing Willy Wonka fucking a dentist to death with a strap-on made of candy corn,” I thought to myself. Especially considering how damn much I loved Evil Empire, The Battle of Los Angeles, and even their covers albums Renegades. So, I figured, why not review the album with almost completely fresh ears? And that’s what I’ve done. I’m writing this stream of conscious as I’m listening to each track only once.

Enjoy! And be sure to tell me why I’m a total fucking distended asshole in the comments. Continue reading »

ON DOWNLOADS, COMPRESSION RATES, AND ALBUM ARTWORK

 Mosh Pit  37 Responses »
Nov 112012
 

(This guest opinion piece was written by musician Robert Hunter O.)

Batman, starring Michael Keaton and Jack Nicholson, came to theaters one day before my eighth birthday, in 1989. With it came my first cassette, the eponymous soundtrack and eleventh album by Prince. Over the next few years, I stumbled my way through a variety of genres, before purchasing Alice in Chain’s Dirt. It has been nearly 20 years since I laid down $16 for my first CD, and I have spent tens of thousands of dollars on a wide variety of artists and genres, across formats as diverse as vinyl, CD, cassette, Mini-CD, business card CD-r, and paper (Especially Likely Sloth!). No matter what format, the artwork and layout have always been essential to the kind of immersion I prefer as part of my music-listening experience.

Recently, as my free time has decreased, I have been making more digital purchases. Sites like Amazon and CDBaby give me access to mainstream artists, while Bandcamp has made smaller artists and their releases more accessible than ever, with full album streams and a platform that gives artists the majority of money from purchases. Despite the ease with which I can acquire new music, there is one thing which I have really been missing with digital downloads: the artwork. Of my recent online purchases, most did not come with more than an album cover relegated to 300 pixels. Where are the lyrics? What happened to the 8-page booklet with artwork tying together the concept of the album? Who was the producer? Are the engineers not important? Where are the “thank you” lists that used to provide me new artists to check out?

Of the digital albums I have recently purchased from Amazon including Evoken, Mike Keneally, Edison’s Children, Down, and Rush, the only artist to include a digital booklet was the latter. This is irritating for a couple of reasons, chief among them that the price of digital downloads is typically only a few dollars less than buying the physical product. Continue reading »

MEEK IS MURDER: “INTO THE SUN WHERE IT FALLS OFF THE SKY”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Nov 102012
 

(Tyler Lowery has been burning up his keyboard.  Here’s yet another guest piece from him, this time a review of the new EP by Brooklyn-based Meek Is Murder.)

 As I started to listen to the new Meek is Murder EP, I decided to make a cup of tea. It’s miserably cold out, and I thought I could listen to the EP in the background while waiting for water to boil. What I didn’t realize was the EP was under 7 minutes in its 5-track entirety. Before the water was even warm, the album was already over.

Ok, time to try again. I sat down and listened to the 59-second opening track. The EP starts at a slow rumble. A dingy guitar run repeats itself as the vocals scream over the almost limping drums. Just as quickly as the first track rolls to a stop, the second jumps straight into fourth gear. Cacophony cuts quickly with a thrashy riff as the drums ride heavy on the crashes. About halfway through the song, gears shift back down to a surly bubble as it fades away.

Probably the most diverse track of the album, “Marty Mcfly” starts with shouted lines over a fuzzy bass groove before the guitars come back to play briefly with a punky riff and closes out with the deepest growls of the set. Done as quickly as it came, it’s on to the final track. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 49: SATAN’S SATYRS, VERDUNKELN, AND ASGARDSREI

 MISCELLANY  1 Response »
Nov 102012
 

This installment of MISCELLANY could be sub-titled “The Tr00 Nate edition”, because it was that former writer for The Number of the Blog who recently recommended to me each of the bands discussed in this post.

As a reminder about the rules of this game, I pick bands whose music I’ve never heard before (and usually know nothing about — which is certainly true in this case), I listen to a song or two without knowing what they’re going to sound like, I write up my impressions, and I stream the music I heard so you can make up your own minds.

In the past, I’ve had good luck with bands Tr00 Nate has recommended. Though he usually finds them much deeper underground than I usually dig for new music, that’s part of why I’ve enjoyed paying attention to what he thinks . . . because I’m pretty damned sure I’d never come across the bands on my own.

So, for today’s MISCELLANY excursion, I’m checking out Satan’s Satyrs (U.S.), Verdunkeln (Germany), and Asgardsrei (The Phillipines). Continue reading »

BANNED IN SINGAPORE: INQUISITION JOINS “PUFF THE MAGIC DRAGON” AND JANET JACKSON

 Metal News  14 Responses »
Nov 092012
 

The excellent Seattle-based black metal band Inquisition was scheduled to perform in Singapore for the first time on November 29 at the True Metal Invasion festival, along with Onslaught, Desecration, Deathhammer, and local bands Skullmania, Lavatory (featured at NCS here), and Balberith.

Unfortunately, it appears that Singapore’s government was not as thrilled about this idea as Singaporean metal fans. Not long ago, the following statement appeared on the Facebook page of Inquisition:

“Attention: Government Media Authorities of Singapore have banned Inquisition from their public appearance at True Metal Invasion Festival that was due on November 29 2012. Essentially Inquisition is banned from Singapore and according to the government, it is due to the band’s themes. We apologize to fans in Asia, this is beyond our control. Inquisition performs classic unholy Black Metal of its truest form and will continue as such.”

I admire Inquisition’s outward stoicism in the face of this terribly disappointing and hurtful news. I worry, however, that they may be weeping inside. So I would just like to tell the band that they can hold their heads high, because they are in good company. Continue reading »

HACKTIVIST

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  11 Responses »
Nov 092012
 

(TheMadIsraeli has some thoughts to share about the debut EP by the UK’s Hacktivist, which will be out on Nov 12 and is up on iTunes for pre-order now.)

Alright sons, it’s time for some real talk here. If you don’t like this band, at least be able to give me an academically informed reason as to why their music sucks, because if all you have to say is “it has rap in it not kvlt,” I really don’t have an interest in hearing it.

Hacktivist are bringing something new and interesting to the table by combining two things that, quite frankly, were always begging to be combined: rap and djent. We’ve had a shitton of discourse in the metal sphere about whether or not djent is just the more legit, more intelligent form of nu metal, and I think Hacktivist’s self titled EP is the closing case on the matter. It’s here where we see the two styles melded together so well that it’s amazing it wasn’t done sooner.

I’ve always had the confidence that rap and metal COULD work together. Rage Against The Machine is a dear favorite band of mine, and while nu metal mostly sucked, I did enjoy the angst and energy a lot of it had. Hacktivist take these elements and combine them with modern groove metal into a package that I think works, and works superbly well. Continue reading »

WEASELS RIP MY ANKLE: CRYPTICUS, NIDINGR, ARKHUM

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  25 Responses »
Nov 092012
 

So good to be back in Seattle after a fucking 6-hour flight home last night. Did you know that your feet swell up something fierce after 6 hours at 40,000 feet? Did you know that this is really not a good thing if you’re trying to recover from a serious ankle sprain? Did you know that it could cause your toes to turn black and your ankle to turn red and blue even a week after your accident, so that it feels like weasels are ripping into it? Well, now you know.

Did you know that if your hearing is sort of shitty and you try to listen to metal at the proper head-wrecking volume on your earbuds during a 6-hour night flight that your neighbors who are trying to sleep will look at you like they want to set you on fire? Did you know that if enough neighbors look at you like that, and you’re a weenie, you will sheepishly remove the earbuds and lose out on the chance to catch up on new metal for 6 hours and instead drink heavily and become surly and morose? Well, now you know.

Did you know that when your body’s time clock is still in a time zone that’s three hours later than where you are, your body will wake up thinking that it’s 6:30 a.m. when in fact it’s 3:30 a.m.and you’ve only been asleep for 4 hours after being awake for nearly 24 hours and you will feel like day-old shit with your ankle throbbing and be unable to fall asleep again? Now you know.

Did you know that even when you’re a really important metal blogger and you’re mostly out of touch with metal for more than a day, metal is still happening, as if it did not depend on your paying attention in order to continue happening? Amazingly, that seems to be true.

Here’s what I found this morning in between hobbling trips to the coffee maker to recharge my bowl-sized Deathwish coffee cup: Crypticus (U.S.), Nidingr (Norway), and Arkhum (U.S.). Continue reading »

SYLOSIS: “MONOLITH

 Album Reviews  7 Responses »
Nov 092012
 

(Please welcome guest writer ElizabethKristina with a review of the new album by Sylosis.)

Writing this review was my first run-in with this British quartet, so naturally, curiosity got the better of me and I read up a little on the band. The foursome hails from Reading, Berkshire in the UK. Formed back in 2000 with the intention of playing thrash and death metal, it took Sylosis eight years before they got their big break with Nuclear Blast Records to record their first album, 2008’s Conclusion of Age. Now in 2012, the band sees the release of their third full-length album, Monolith.

While the title conjures images of a large stone block floating through space, this album is nothing of the sort. Sylosis have really kept up with their original mission to play thrash, but have evolved to incorporate a more progressive sound; the classic thrash elements are definitely present throughout Monolith, but the interweaving of progressive melodies and tempos breathes new life into both styles.

The first song of the album, “Out From Below,” with its atmospheric build-up and satisfying explosion of speed and riffage, evokes an Opeth-like sound, and also sets the rest of the album up quite nicely. “Fear of the World” features some aggressive and full-sounding vocals, but also has a beautiful moment of clean-singing about three minutes in.

“Behind the Sun” was a personal favorite of mine as it brought to mind Mastodon with some of the singing and guitar work. “A Dying Vine” also features great guitar work, and the ever-shifting tempos juxtapose the softer prog with the classic thrash to maximum effect. In fact, much of the interest derived from Monolith is due to the frequent tempo changes and stylistic shifts that keep the listener on edge for the nearly hour and half of play time. Continue reading »

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