LP Review: "Hadal Ascending" by Ichor

Hadal Ascending

There's a lot of talk out there by old farts who're long divorced from the actual music scene, Gene Simmons, who want to say rock is dead.

Well, he's old and wrong.

In the world I live in, there's more new music than could ever make it into my world. The vast majority of it though, isn't kitsch  music for the masses.

The music I find attractive in 2018 is new. Take Ichor for example. They're death metal right?

In 1992, Death Metal had hard and fast rules. Your drummer had to be basically a force fed automaton pounding out surgical beats. The guitars had to be fast. And blastbeats. No matter what. Blastbeats.

Of course, Ichor has all of these things, but they don't stop there. Why should a band's expression stop at an imaginary, though clearly delineated place? Hadal Ascending won't convince anyone who's not already among us, but they'll entertain many a metalhead who's grown tired of well worn formula.

Release 12/7/18 PREORDER FACEBOOK

Vinyloscopy with The Risk! Podcast's Kevin Allison

Kevin Allison

Before we get into it, yes, this is the same Kevin Allison who was on MTV's The State.

About 2 and a half years ago, I was sitting on a plane to San Francisco reading The Union of the State by Corey Stulce. It told the story of well, The State. At the end, it started talking about what the cast members did after the show ended. Allison ended up starting a podcast called Risk!. I'd never been much for podcasts and had never subscribed to one, but I figured, let's listen.

Well, we're a couple years on, and I've not missed an episode since then and I've read the Risk! Book as well. If you think This American Life is great, but it needs more...we'll call it  uncensored spice...then Risk! is probably right up your alley. Check it out on all the podcast apps.

Recently, Allison made mention of buying a turntable and we spoke briefly about his setup and such. It then occurred to me, let's find out more. The Vinyloscopy column has had loads of metal dudes giving us the what for, but now let's find out from someone who's new to all of this.

So, let's jump right in.

Full Album Stream: "To" by Totenmesse

Please indulge me just a little bit. This isn't something I normally get into here at Glacially Musical, but Totenmesse is allowing us the opportunity.

That means it's time to seize the day and bring our readers something pretty cool. On 11/2/18, Pagan Records is releasing Totenmesse's debut record, To, on digital, CD, and sweet vinyl.

Listen to the whole album below. It's some dark, doomy, black metal that doesn't sound like the run of the mill from any of those genres.

While you're digging this record, you can preorder the disc HERE.

Bookin It with Curtis Dewar

Curtis Dewar

Brand New Column! 

The recurring column interviews are some of the most fun for me because we get to learn about the insides of our subjects and see more about them than just dude plays riffages!

The albums reviewed here are written, recorded, and performed by human beings who have lives and fears and what nots.

So I attempt to encourage you to get to know the human beings behind the corpse paint and Flying V guitars.

To kick off the Book Column, we're starting off with Curtis Shawn Dewar, of Dewar PR. If you want to hear about cool music or if you're a band check the man's FACEBOOK.

1. I try to read at least two books per month, and mostly fail, what's your goal and reality?

I try to do a book a week but usually average 2-3 per month including audio books. If we're talking *just* reading the book and not listening average goes way lower.

LP Review: "Ambiance" by Ølten

Ambiance

It's nearly time for that most festive of days. It's the one where the lights are out and we let out our inner selves.

This is the holiday where I cower away from people under the cover of darkness. If you guessed Halloween. You nailed it.

Being socially awkward really takes the fun out of social holidays. So instead of dressing up and being visible, let's turn to a great record that you can use for all of your Halloween parties!

The Swiss are quite good at putting out bands and Ølten is no exception. They're a sludgy, Post Toastie Metal band. This record is quite aptly titled.

This record, isn't a traditional slab of songs, is more of a series of moods. Those moods, while never evil, never angry, are ominous. Imagine spending the spooky preamble of a horror film while you're waiting to see the monster for the first time for about forty five minutes.

At first glance, this cover is wrong, but on second...what seemed incorrect earlier has become terrifyingly right.

Release 11/1/18 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

Vinyl Review: "Wants You Dead" by Junkpile Jimmy

Wants You Dead

Have you ever heard of this place called California?

Apparently over one sixth of the United States's population lives in this elbow shaped land mass on the West Coast. This state abuts the Pacific Ocean and the State of Nevada.

Talk about Scylla and Charybdis am I right?

If you were to ask someone who's not a USA citizen, or someone West of Los Angeles, what the defining feature of California is you'd probably get an answer along the lines of warm sun and Hollywood.

For me, the defining jewel of Cali is the Bay Area, what with the Metallica, the the Janis Joplin, The Winterland, and the eternal fall and all, but I'm slightly odd or I'm going slightly mad...either way.

Back to Hollywood....

Video: "Mas Alla del Hiperboreo" by AstorVoltaires

Last month, Post-Rocker(s?) AstorVoltaires released their first album in five years on Slow Burn Records, La Quintaesencia de Júpiter.

It's a little abnormal for me to return to something from a minute ago, but this one. There must have been a cosmic reason for checking this one out.

This track is neither heavy nor crushing. One would be hard pressed to even say there are riffs. It's a piece of music that's a little bit different and it speaks to me in a way that's hard to pin down.

Check out the song and tell AstroVoltaires what you think on FACEBOOK.

LP Review: "Mesa" by Abyssous

Mesa

In 2018, Lo-Fi recording is no longer a necessity for those bands on the lower end of the pay scale spectrum. It's now a choice of sounds.

And there are times when nothing else would improve upon a song than a gritty, almost rusty, sound.

Abyssous's sophomore LP, is a smoldering campfire of black metal. It's the single blade of fire in a pitch black evening.

It's the heavy metal acid trip that leaves you warm and loved. Unfortunately, an album that's wholly like that grows dull and cold.

Abyssous understands the concept that is album dynamics. Most of the record is ethereal black metal, but then there are forays out of the atmosphere and back to terra firma. It also appears that from time to time, the guitar player was even lucky enough to win some of the arguments... Listen well, oh, not even that well really, and you'll see why.

Mesa is another album in the long line of black metal records that warmed me up to the genre. Sit down and roast a marshmellow.

RELEASE 11/1/18 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

Stream: "Medicine Man" by Absolutely Not

It's been over a year since we've heard from Chicago's punk rockers, Absolutely Not.

This particular track, has long been a live staple for Absolutely Not and it was released on cassette back in the before time. A few years later, they've resurfaced the song and overhauled it. New recording and a new release.

Check it out below. Click HERE to pick up their last record.

Hometown Tales with Jezebel Slade

Jezebel Slade

Do you recall me talking to Jezebel Slade about Food and Touring?

Until such point that I get that new record, it's going to be more of this because their last record, again, under the name Van Halst, was an amazing piece of metal.

It was the kind of metal that rocks the marrow of your bones and can turn your milk sour.

Their new record was to be entitled Jezebel Slade, and it apparently was strong enough to not only alter their direction, but transmogrify the band into that character.

This album is currently highly anticipated by Glacially Musical at least and it's expected to crush the predecessor.

LP Review: "No More Conqueror" by Cortez

No More Conqueror

Did you watch the Clerks Cartoon show? In the first episode, after the first flowerpot gag, Randall, my personal hero, threw their ropes over the edge of the building.

"When Cortez arrived in the New World, he burned his boats to inspire his men," Randall Graves.

This album, while using the name of the fabled Conquistador also has an anti-conquietador title, so color me a bit confused by that.

No More Conqueror is a hardcore tour de force that punched me square in the intestinal fortitudes.

This Swiss hardcore/mathcore/not quite so grindcore trio come in with all guns blazing. Imagine if someone was put down in a chair, under a bright white light, and then told, we know what you did. Why don't you make it easy on yourself and tell us everything from the very beginning.

This album is precisely the result of the questioning. The only thing...it seems that Cortez feels justified in everything they did and they'll tell you everything. Just sit back and listen.

Release: 11/09/18 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

Road Warriors with Insurrection

Insurrection's a strikingly awesome metal band from Gatineau, PQ. Feel free to check out all about their home town HERE.

Last year they released an absolute cracker of a death metal record, Insurrection, and you can pick that up at Big Cartel.

Like any band out there worth their Poutine, Insurrection likes to get in the van and hit the road for awhile.

Let's find out what it's like to be there with them.

1. What's the right length for a tour?

 The longer the better! It’s more about finding the right shows then just filling dates though but if you can line up decent gigs then go for it!

Video: "The End of Ice" by Aeolian

Did you hear that right now humanity is headed towards irreparable damage to our only habitat because a segment of the society chooses to believe the "findings" of the fossil fuel industry, aka, the industry which non-partisan, non-political science has shown to be one of the major contributors to Climate Change, have come forward with?

Well, if you're a bit angry about that, here's a good chance to listen to a melodic death metal band singing about the planet warming up and how we don't care that we're killing our children.

Enjoy!

Check out Aeolian on FACEBOOK. 

Vinyloscopy with Striker

Striker

We're heading back north to Edmonton, AB once again.

You may recall the shredding interview with did with Striker about foods last month, but this month, we want to know about the vinyl with them.

By the by, speaking of records, this Friday, October 26th, Striker's new record hits the racks and becomes available for purchase. You can get it on Amazon Preorder today though.

If not, feel free to tell them why not on Facebook.

1. Listening to Black Sabbath's eponymous debut the night I got it blew me away. What's the album that sounds the best on vinyl compared to digital sources?

EP Review: "Integra" by Anomalie

Integra

The thing about metal is that deep down most metalheads wants to feel like they're listening to something evil when the record starts spinning.

This is doubly true of fans of extreme metal and doom metal. Well, Austrian multi-dimensional metal duo, Anomalie, seem to understand this idea.

25 years ago, Jerry Falwell may have been on TV decrying this record.

This EP, even though it's only twenty seven minutes long treads much ground. It's almost as they had a pile of musical ideas and this was the brainstorming session.

Earlier, I referred to the band as the press release refers to them as I cannot quite divine where to place them in the pantheon of metal subgrenes. Integra features black metal, doom metal, folk metal, acoustic metal, heavy metal, and death metal.

The weird thing is, they're all done superbly well, Nothing sounds like a put on. There's nothing resembling Geddy Lee rapping here.

Check this EP out on November 9th.

PREORDER FACEBOOK

Vinyl Review: "Top of the World" and "Confused" by Sam Huber

Top of the World

Confused

Let's get something off of the table straightaway. This particular
vinyl review is different than any other I have done thus far.

This one is a bit like my digital reviews, which make up about 80% of all of them.

I have a hard and fast rule, that can be excepted, about digital reviews; they must be published before the album is released.

It's the only fair way of handling it as there are always about 500 unread emails in my inbox.

That's just the reality.

Now, vinyl reviews, all but one or two of them, are posted after the albums are released. Some of them have been published years after release. Digital reviews aren't much of an outlay for the labels, the bands, and the PR firms, because a digital file doesn't cost anything.

Stream: "Endgame" by Awaiting Sacrifice

Hailing from the capital of the Hoosier State, Death Metal semi-newcomers have released their kind of debut EP, Uprise, last month. In 2012, they released their debut EP, but then things happened, differences arose, and it was pulled out of circulation.

After that, the band took an extended hiatus and now they have laid bare the fruits of that time away.

Now it's time to get out there and ram this death slab of metal down the throats of the people. Click on the image below for bandcamp purchase options.

Fans of old school Cannibal Corpse are in for a treat.

Hometown Tales With Bast

Bast

In case you're looking from blackened doom metal, you could do far worse than Bast. The Kingston, Ontario trio is on the cusp of their next release, Nanoångström, via Black Bow Records.

You can check that out HERE.

In the meantime, I'd like to get to know more about Merry Old England. So that means they use a lot of superfluous U's.

1. St. Louis City is my hometown. I've lived here for most of my life in and around the city. Where are you from?

Me (Jon) and Craig are initially from Worcestershire, where we lived until we were 18 or 19, then moved down to Kingston in South West London.

We were studying at the time, and met Gavin in a pub here, after noticing he was wearing a Neurosis tshirt. We called him ‘Neurosis Guy’ between ourselves for a while, before we were properly acquainted.

Gav is originally from South West London, but spent some years living in New Jersey before we met him.

LP Review: "IV: Great Brunswick Forest" by Thrawsunblat

IV: Great Brunswick Forest

Kismet is a funny thing at times. The other day, sitting in my nearly remodeled sitting room, I played Thrawsunblat's III: Mechathonia. It vaguely occurred in my brain that it seemed like it was time for a new record.

These gentle Canadians from Canada's Canada, New Brunswick, have flipped the script. Now, it would appear that someone listened to side IV of III and sent them email after email about how awesome those songs sounded without extreme vocals and on acoustic guitar.

Because, what we have here is an entire blackened folk metal album, minus the blackening. There are no distorted guitars,. double bass blast beats, or growls.

Thrawsunblat has stripped down to their very essence and, while this new effort may not check off all of the boxes for black metal fans, it gives a new look into a very talented band. If this all sounds hard to grasp, it kind of is for me, but look at the cover of the previous album, the forest was burning.

That cover is a bit of a metaphor for this record. What wasn't real has been burned away and we're left with the sound that comes out the instruments themselves. There's no distortion. There's no wah wah.

We have only the sounds of the forest.

Out: 10/19/18 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

Road Warriors with Lords of the Trident

Lords of the Trident

Do you remember that amazing video game magazine that came out way back when?

It was called Nintendo Power.

No? Well, perhaps you're not quite as old as your friend and humble narrator. Well, What about that TV show, Home Improvement?

Oh, well maybe when you were in Primary School you caught an episode here and there right? 

Well, those things and America's Lords of the Trident feature large amounts of power.

If you're interested how much ridiculous power they have, check out their latest DIY album HERE.

It could be overpowering, because they're power metal.

Get it?

Vinyloscopy with Malacoda

Malacoda

Oaklville, Ontario is the home of a horror theme power metal band, Malacoda.

They're on the cusp of releasing a full length album based on the video game Silent Hill 2.

Personally, I'm not going to point out right now that I much prefer Zombie Revenge and Deep Fear or that Sega has always made the best games...

But maybe they'll make a Deep Fear concept record next? Naturally, that's ridiculous wishful thinking because most people never played that game or heard it existed, but seriously, mutant zombie things on an underwater sea lab?

Who's not in for that?

Anyway, Rockshots Records will be releasing Restless Dreams and you can check it out HERE.

1. Listening to Black Sabbath's eponymous debut the night I got it blew me away. What's the album that sounds the best on vinyl compared to digital sources?

LP Review: "Stridshymner Og Dodssalmer" by Sjukdom

Stridshymner Og Dodssalmer

If you've ever wondered how albums are chosen for review, it's kind of like this. There are labels, bands, and PR Firms that have priority.

Typically it's because they've passed along great music in the past. One of those eye popping labels is the venerated Osmose Productions from France.

So, they're getting ready to release Sjukdom's latest album, Stridshymner Og Dodssalmer.

Because of they are and what they've done, I've come to expect a high standard of them and their artists. Seven years after their formation, Sjukdom is releasing their debut record.

It starts off with a comforting water fall of traditional black metal. For the most part, that's what this album is, traditional black metal. Or at least, what I think of as such, but the thing that makes this record great isn't its strict adherence to a heavy metal subgenre.

The willingness of the band to leave the oft-tread path to create a black metal song all in their own style with, shall we call it, bits of flair to liven up the old girl as it were. The one thing about this album though, as it's wholly in Swedish, who knows if the vocals are intelligible!

Release: 10/26/18 PreOrder Facebook

Foods We Love With Rapheumets Well

It's time to check in with classical metal band, Rapheuments Well. You can check out their single Betrayer HERE.

They like to blend all sorts of styles in together and couple those styles with kick ass face masks. As a former goalie, I can get behind bands wearing masks.

What? Masks are cool.

They just dropped their latest record, The Elder's Anthology via Test Your Metal Records. You can check that stuff out on BANDCAMP.

1. For me, lunch is usually the meal where I don't have to deal with the Napoleon of Food. So it's my favorite meal. What's your best meal of the day?

Supper represent!  Some of us in Rapheumets Well like to fast because we're either lazy or we feel like it is healthy, but when supper comes around, we partake in such a way that makes up for all the missed meals! 

Video: "Tyranny" by Thoren

As a total metal snob, one of the things I dig is a band that's a member of a sub-genre with about four or five words. Today we have the grand daddy sub-genre of them all:

Instrumental Dissonant Progressive Death Metal.

That's five words. On top of that, this is one of those times where you can totally hear all five of those things going on at once and it's awesome.

I urge you to listen tot he track below. Check out the whole record on BANDCAMP.

5 Minute Origin Stories with Martyr Art

Martyr ARt

Today it's time to get to know something more about Martyr 

Art. To keep it simple, it's an industrial  and/or thrash project.

The man himself has given us quite a lot of information, so we'll
just say check it out on FACEBOOK
for more updates on the new album.

1. Is there an event you can point to you that made you 

say, "wow, that's the instrument I want to play?" 

Not like guitar or drums, but the reason why you play 

the model you do?

It wasn't necessarily an "event" per se, it was out of necessity. For years, I was playing Schecter 6-string guitars. I thought they had a nice full-bodied sound, but struggled with keeping them functional with my weird-ass tuning.

Stream: "Rape Culture" by Guerrilla Ghost

Well, in case no one has noticed, life has become rather contentious in the United States of America.

It's frankly tiring to live here. The last gasp of the patriarchy, the last gasp of white supremacy, they're begging to hold onto power even as the majority of the nation votes against them.

With that idea in your noggin, here's the latest single from Milwaukee, WI's favorite hip hop group, Guerrilla Ghost.

Chuck Jones had the following to say about this track:

“This song is definetely my favorite from the new record. As a father of two daughters along with performing in a project that touches on many social and political issues, it was only a matter of time before I addressed this topic. 

The recent events with the Brett Kavanaugh scandal are a reminder that we need to be aware and stay vigilant to protect our mothers, sisters, wives, daughters and friends. Women are being sexually assaulted and exploited every day and we need to break away from the generations of degradation in order to move forward and better this world for future generations to come."

You can preorder Perpetually Sad Motion Machine on BANDCAMP and be sure to check them on FACEBOOK. 

Hometown Tales with Hitman

Hitman

Halifax, Nova Scotia is home to not only the Mooseheads, Alexander Keith, but also Hitman.

Hitman's a grooving stoner metal band.

Their latest record, The Offering, dropped on September 14, 2018 and it's one you might want to check out if you dig music.

Check it out over at BANDCAMP.

The price is even in Canadian dollars. How exotic right?

While you're streaming that, let's find out about Halifax, Nova Scotia through their eyes.

1. St. Louis City is my hometown. I've lived here for most of my life in and around the city. Where are you from?

Owl Maker Shares Album Teaser

Owl Maker

Hey Glacially Musical, thanks for sharing this preview of our new tracks!  The first one you'll hear is "Sky Road," a song about a person unsuccessfully trying to escape his vices.  

The title comes from the story of our namesake, the Lakota goddess Owl Maker; she guards the Milky Way, or Sky Road, which is the entrance to the land of the dead.  Next you'll hear a snippet of "Owl City," an imaginative tune about -- spoiler alert -- a city of owls.  

The owls' forest has been invaded and they're planning their revenge .

  --JessieMay

According to Lakota legend, the crone goddess Owl Maker guards the Sky Road -- the entrance to the Land of the Dead.  Souls who bear the wrong tattoos are cast back to Earth to fade into oblivion...

Following the success of their debut EP Paths of the Slain this March, heavy metal trio Owl Makeris set to release the two-track EP Sky Road on November 2nd, 2018.  

Foods We Love With Kill No Albatross

Kill No Albatross

Before we get moving, really, it's hard to not talk about the name of the band. Is there anybody else thinking about The Rhyme of the Ancient Mariner?

Well, Kill No Albatross hails from Burlington, Ontario in the eastern portion of Canada. 

This past summer they released their latest EP, Speak True Evil.

They're one of those new kinds of bands in this modern world that take a few different styles of music and put them together. The technicality of Prog, the accessibility of Rock, and the energy of Hardcore is pretty much the Tri-Force of power for these Burlingtonians.

Check out the EP on BANDCAMP.

While you think about that, let's hear about how they're eating north of the border.

LP Review: "Gammagelu" by Negative Wall

Gammagelu

Has anyone ever noticed that typically doom metal isn't gloomy or depressing? There really needs be a peer reviewed study there.

In the meantime, it's worth noting that Goats of Doom got me all riled up for some doom metal and didn't deliver, so it's time to get that itch scratched.

Negative Wall is one of Tommy Stewart's projects. It's him on bass and vocals.

Gammagelu is science fiction concept album, but as we don't discuss lyrics here... moving on.

This record is slow and fuzzy. There's really not an appropriate analogy for that, but we'll keep looking. The guitars sound like they were recorded with a speaker out. That's how perfect the fuzz is.

The vocals are...and this isn't meant as a pejorative..lacking confidence. This has never been a superlative,  but for this album, it's a perfect fit. I've not examined the storyline, but the idea of someone recounting their experiences and not being believed would fit this delivery like a glove.

Guitars? You want solos and wah wah and all that great good stuff...well Negative Wall has got'em along with chunk riffs and angular curves.

Release 2/8/19 BANDCAMP FACEBOOK

Vinyl Review: "Impossible Orbits" by Dephosphorus

Impossible Orbits

When it comes to styles of music, there's one genre that never really grabs me, save for extraordinary circumstances and that's Punk.

It might be the simplicity and brevity of the songs. Perhaps the lack of musicality is what rubs me the wrong way.

Essentially, what it takes for me to be a fan of any punk rock bands is that those bands have to be more than the genre defining sounds.

They have to be genre expanding bands for me to see past the punk rock trappings.

Now, when it comes to metal, there's a country cousin to punk rock and it's Grindcore.

I'm probably going to lose all of my metal, rock, and street cred cards if I keep this course going much longer.

Anyone into heavy music knows just how critical those musical styles were to the evolution of metal. Without punk, we never get Metallica and without grindcore, we never get Death Metal and what would have become of Carcass?

LP Review: "Mountain Rabbit" by Roaming Herds of Buffalo

Mountain Rabbit

Let's have some semi-real talk. Dead to real in terms of internet talk. Roaming Herds of Buffalo contacted me for their last album, The Bugbears, but the times didn't match up.

Thankfully, the Seattle-based umm...rock...dream... ambien... well frankly, I don't know what in the hell this band is.

Mountain Rabbit is their sixth release and they're just as strange, just as abnormal as any other band of nutters out there I suppose.

This album is a never ending buffet line of musical styles. I'm reminded of an old friend that I was  nearly in a couple different bands with. He could pick up any instrument near him and play like he'd been at it for years.

At no point during their modern rocking genre romp do Roaming Herds of Buffalo ever sound like they're faking it. When they played heroin rock, dream pop, hard rock, and modern era pop, it sounds as they've played those styles their whole lives.

So, at this point, I'm forced to lay down the gauntlet in the faces of those who people Roaming Herds of Buffalo...

You either need to play your natural style on your next record, or drop some sweet ass Flamenco and Salsa.

Release 10/16/18 FACEBOOK BANDCAMP

Vinyloscopy with The Castor Troys's Chris Ledroit

In Hamilton, Ontario there's a rock punk rock band full of driving rhythms and beating hearts and drums.

You can check out all of their stuff on BANDCAMP

In the meantime, let's find out what they're spinning.

1. Listening to Black Sabbath's eponymous debut the night I got it blew me away. What's the album that sounds the best on vinyl compared to digital sources?

Pretty much anything sounds better on vinyl!  We a/b'd our record with the digital version on a nice turntable with some really high end speakers and were really surprised at the difference.  

But I think the biggest difference will come in anything that was recorded on tape, rather than digitally.

2. I was laying in bed one night and couldn't sleep and I figured, it was time to start buying records. How did you come to the idea that it was time to start buying vinyl instead?

Video: "Mater Tenebris" by Blood of Serpents

In 2012, Fredrik Nilsson and Kristian Rouppe formed a partnership that would last until the present day. Most likely, you're thinking that six years isn't all that long, but it's a lot harder that many might think.

What they're dropping on us now is a load of Swedish black metal. If you're close to the edge, you might want to back off a little bit.

Find yourself in this cool black and white performance video. Tell them what you think on FACEBOOK but check out the full length, available now, on BANDCAMP.

Hometown Tales with Insurrection

Insurrection

Today I'm talking to a bilingual band about their hometown.

Gatineau, Quebec's Insurrection is still riding high on the wave of their crushing album, Extraction.

Unlike most times when we hear the term bilingual in the USA, Insurrection is English and Spanish.

Older timers may recall when the Montreal Expos were in town and they sang that strange French and English version of O Canada.

Canada has those dual languages up there. Before you find out all about where they're from precisely, hit them up on FACEBOOK.

Now that you're internet friends with these French Canadian bashers, let's find out about French Canada.

1. St. Louis City is my hometown. I've lived here for most of my life in and around the city. Where are you from?

Video: "Legend: The Omega Man" by Edward De Rosa

Edward De Rosa has dropped his latest single, Legend: The Omega Man.

There are some times when you know King Diamond and Sabaton aren't on tour or recording, so you gotta check out another master of power metal to fill that void.

If that's how you're doing today, give this man The Old College Try!

Say hey hey on FACEBOOK or get yourself over to iTUNES

LP Review: "Rukous" by Goats of Doom

Rukous

Goats of Doom. Well, it's been a minute since I've had a new doom metal record punch me in the gut with its slowness and intelligible vocals.

Oh that tuned down vibrato.

Welp, that's not what this album by Goats of Doom is. Apparently, Goats of Doom has chosen a name intended to throw us all amiss and think they're something they're not.

But, the thing about that is, what is Goats of Doom? That's where things get a little bit confusing. During the first track, it would be easy to call them an atmospheric black metal band.

As the record spins, Goats of Doom show several more sides of their art. There are even times when I would have to call this Blackened Folk Metal, but the one place they never tread, doom metal. There's nothing doom about this record.

It is a great disc that crushes it from top to bottom. The changing of timbres and sub-genres keeps this whole album fresh and exciting.

Release 12/7/18 FACEBOOK BANDCAMP 

Foods We Love With Jezebel Slade

Jezebel Slade

You might recall our talk recently with Jezebel Slade, but you might also recall the review of their album we did back when they were called Van Halst.

Here we are talking to Jezebel Slade once again about the foods from up north.

Now, this isn't the only time, but she makes mention of Alberta Beef.

I'm reasonably certain that we're all familiar with Montreal Beef, Halifax Beef, Chihuahua Beef, and my personal favorite, Cork City Beef.

What? None of those things are real?

The difference here is that Alberta Beef is apparently a legitimate thing, like St. Louis Style Pizza. You can read all about Alberta Beef HERE.

In the mean, time hit up Facebook to keep abreast of Jezebel Slade's upcoming album and tour.

LP Review: "Quarter Life Crisis" by Ben Katzman's DeGreaser

Quarter Life Crisis

Personally, I'm a sucker for a catchy turn of a phrase. Ben Katzman caught my attention with Quarter Life Crisis.

That's the title track of Ben Katzman's DeGreaser's latest record. There's other great tracks like Too Old For Retail that hit me right in the feels.

I got out of retail when I was 28. I still bear the scars of that career path all these years later.

It takes a bit more than some bad ass titles and funny lyrics to catch my attention for longer than just a song or two though. What Quarter Life Crisis features is some great songs.

These tracks are one part D.R.I., one part Suicidal Tendencies, 1 part Metallica, and 1 part Kiss. So, this album is a little bit angry, a little bit silly, and a big bit of party time. The songs bounce. The guitars shred.

But best of all we can relive those delightful days of the late 80's and early 90's with the hardcore punk thrash metal crossover bands. The addition of the Kiss element is why this record is so damned good.

There's a great deference paid to D.R.I., Suicidal Tendencies, The Cro-Mags and the rest, but it's got a different vibe that turns it into something else no matter how eerily familiar it might be.

Release: 10/12/18 BUFU Records BANDCAMP FACEBOOK