Contorted and blunt, dark, but intense, For You.Earth saluting us from Nizhni, Novgorod, Russia.
Formed in 2006 by school friends Victor Murzaev -vocals and Andrey Prokofiev – guitars, and with Sergey Tokarev on drums and Maxim Malygin on bass they record their first demo in 2007. At the end of the same year Dima Lobachev became the new drum player and the band played on “Murder By Carrot” festival. In January 2008 they recorded “Traces Of Alarm Rockets” the song which featured on “Screaming Nation”, the first Russian compilation of independent heavy music which included also other friendly bands such as: .crrust, Follow The White Rabbit, Maria:Abort Chosen, Equal Minds Theory, etc.
Based exclusively on the DIY principles and practices, the band started recording their debut album in the rehearsal room with a mobile studio. The album, entitled “The Oldest Songs” was released on September 5th 2009. The songs on album were written between 2006 and 2009 and recorded between 2008 and 2009, including some re-recoded versions of lost tracks from the band’s very first demo. Having faced the problem of releasing the album, guys established their own independent label Opposing Music. Read more For You.Earth – The Deathsongs (2012)
Aoria – The Constant (2012)
Doom and gloom flavored, overwhelming, heavy and cinematic simultaneously, Aoria merging frozen Nordic melancholy with the strength of modern (post) Metal, building bridges between The Cure, Sigur Rós and the raw power and energy of Tool. We’re entering a realm of shadows, haze and dark despair, but Aoria’s music will lead us through and at the end, possibly, there is a crack of light and hope.
In July 2011, after four years of silence, Erik Nilsson of A Swarm of the Sun – vocals and guitars; Robin Bergh of October Tide – drums and Niklas Sandin of Katatonia – bass; began recording Aoria’s debut album. The album will be released October 10th on LP and CD, and is distributed world-wide through Sound Pollution. The album is recorded at Garaget Studio and produced by band member Erik Nilsson. It is mixed at Studio Riddarborgen by Magnus Lindberg (Cult of Luna, Khoma) who, with his uncompromising sound, has intensified what has become “The Constant”. The result, six complex, epic, disturbing songs, a doorway into a still fully unexplored, scary, but simultaneously tempting, hypnotizing world. Read more Aoria – The Constant (2012)
Muse – The 2nd Law (2012)
The waiting – and unfortunately the resistance – it’s over, the upcoming sixth studio album by Muse it’s set to be released on 1st October 2012, respectively on 2nd October 2012 in the USA.
The expectations are pretty high, “The Resistance” was a brilliantly super album which also put one Grammy Award for Best Rock Album in their pocket, although they were nominated in three categories. Along the way, Muse have won several music awards including five MTV Europe Music Awards, five Q Awards, eight NME Awards, two Brit Awards—winning “Best British Live Act” twice, an MTV Video Music Award, four Kerrang! Awards and an American Music Award. In a digital era with serious piracy issues, they still managed to sold over 15 million albums worldwide.
The album title refers to the second law of thermodynamics. The music it’s a colorful mixture of old and new, merging sounds and genres from roots back to traditional Brit Rock, invoicing mainly Queen, up to contorted, so-called “Dubstep” influences from American producer Skrillex. Read more Muse – The 2nd Law (2012)
Between the Buried and Me – The Parallax II, Future Sequence (2012)
This is definitively “Future Metal” with some very “alien” perfumed “Scifi” taste. These guys eventually are form out of space. Offspring s of some killer breed.
After five albums, for for Victory, the debut for Lifeforce, BTBAM singed in 2011 to Metal Blade and shortly after released an EP entitled ” The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues”. Set to release on October 9, 2012, originally planned to be another EP, “The Parallax II, Future Sequence” consist of 11 tracks, an extremely contorted, but colorful, spectacular journey over the edge, behind the explored territories of the conventional Metal and the “comfort zone” of most of the people. Think of a musical blender where you can throw in King Crimson, Pink Floyd, Rush and Yes with VoiVod, Pantera, Metallica and Earth Crisis, but came out with an extremely compact, consolidated musical result. Although, they have some extremely biting Metal riffs and intense, brutal grindings, they shifting quite smoothly from extreme, Death flavored Metal to Jazz, Progressive Rock or simple, quiet, acoustic moments. Read more Between the Buried and Me – The Parallax II, Future Sequence (2012)
Steve Harris – British Lion (2012)
“This is a big hearted and ferocious triumph” – declared Dom Lawson of Metal Hammer, while Nick Ruskell of Kerrang! go even further and proclaim: “British Lion is a brilliant album”. Well, it have its moments, but far not so brilliant as the media (and EMI) try to sell it to us. I can understand and generally I appreciate the British proud and the unconditional support for their own artists, and if not Steve Harris, the former and leader of one of the most famous and influential Heavy Metal bands of all time – talking about Iron Maiden, obviously – then don’t know who else might be called a “Rock icon”, but still, these 10 tracks are not so thundering and lightning Metal masterpieces as they are advertised. Actually singer Richard Taylor is another pale and weak copy of Ian Gillan mixed up with Bruce Dickinson, fortunately 100 better then poor Blaze Bayley, but not even close to the almighty Dickinson. This album with Dickinson, well, then, maybe, this could come closer to the praises. But Richard Taylor’s voice is smooth, but completely powerless.
On the other hand David Hawkins and Grahame Leslie delivered some excellent guitar parts while Steve Harris, surprisingly, managed to play his bass more colorful as he regularly does it in Maiden. Worth to highlight it, there are a couple of actually brilliant guitar solos on the album.
And strangely, the album here and there reminds me more of some Dickinson’s solo work from the 90’s, rather then sounding as a 2012 Metal album. And for God’s sake, the lyrics, who was interested in another song about Judas??! Read more Steve Harris – British Lion (2012)
Green Day – Uno (2012)
Green Day has sold over 65 million records worldwide with 25 million in the US alone. It’s almost 65 million reasons to hate Green Day. They also has won five Grammy Awards and two years ago (2010), a stage adaptation of “American Idiot” debuted on Broadway. This is “iPhone Punk”? Maybe. But I’m too old, to tired to hate, and Green Day are one of the very few bands around who are still capable to write songs, even further, from time to time, deliver great albums. “American Idiot” it’s a huge album. The follow-up “21st Century Breakdown” sounded more like leftovers, but it still won for second time the Grammy for “Best Rock Album”.
In February, Billie Joe Armstrong announced that they are in the studio recording a new album. He also said: “We are at the most prolific and creative time in our lives… This is the best music we’ve ever written, and the songs just keep coming. Instead of making one album, we are making a three album trilogy. Every song has the power and energy that represents Green Day on all emotional levels. We just can’t help ourselves … We are going epic as fuck!” Armstrong suggested making a trilogy of albums like Van Halen’s Van Halen I, Van Halen II and Van Halen III. He stated in an interview that, “The songs just kept coming, kept coming. I’d go, Maybe a double album? No, that’s too much nowadays. Then more songs kept coming. And one day, I sprung it on the others: ‘Instead of Van Halen I, II and III, what if it’s Green Day I, II and III and we all have our faces on each cover?'”
And here we go, the ¡Uno!, ¡Dos!, ¡Tré! trilogy, a series of studio albums will be released from September 2012 to January 2013. “¡Uno!” is set to be released on September 21, 2012 in Australia and Europe, September 24, 2012 in the United Kingdom and the next day in the United States through Reprise Records. “¡Dos!” comes out on November 13 and “¡Tré!” is due January 15, 2013. Read more Green Day – Uno (2012)
Bang Ur Head (Byzant At Sunset)
Bang Ur Head [Take One] by byzantatsunset
Byzant At Sunset are back with a brand new track. In a world where the zeros and ones replaced the words and emoticons replaced the human touch, we’re kind of Read more Bang Ur Head (Byzant At Sunset)
Amavo – Gracefool (2012)
Esmerelda, the singer and Tony Hotel, the drummer of the band called Noh Mercy were part of the Punk, New Wave movement of San Francisco and having the motto “No Boys On Guitars”, they delivered a quite unique sound and style of music back at the end of the 70s.
Nowadays fromSCRATCH Records, record label and a booking agency based in Firenze, Venezia, Italy bring to our attention a band called Amavo (which means LOVED in Italian) featuring also two girls, Lott Anna – electric guitar, synths and Silvia Lovo – drums, penny whistle, vocals; delivering their own flavored style of Experimental/Avant-Garde Post-Rock/Post-Punk, which reminded me of Noh Mercy, although the two bands are not directly related, musically, some similarities are still detectable.
In a “Man’s Man’s Man’s World”, a girl band on the Punk-Rock scene it’s always refreshing. And these girls have balls. Amavo merge some of the 70’s and 80’s Avant-garde/Progressive Rock and Psychedelia vibes with a healthy portion of Retro New Wave, and the energy of Punk and Rock. The result is a colorful, noisy, sometimes even contorted, but definitively edge cutting music. Prefer not to label it in any particular way. Sometimes they reminds me of a very exciting Hungarian band from the 80’s called Kontroll Csoport, a band also fronted by a female singer, Bárdos-Deák Ágnes who’s voice and style is similar to the performance of Silvia Lovo, but they also reminds me of White Stripes and The Dead Weather.
As teaser, can download the promo mp3 of “Jello” from the website of fromSCRATCH Records for free. Read more Amavo – Gracefool (2012)
Sinan Kaya – Punch and Bloom (2012)
It’s all about the perfume, the mysterious aromas, the veil of smoke, the vibe, the groove and the pulse of the life itself expressed by the magic of the sounds. “Smoke In The Streets”, the opening track of Sinan Kaya debut full-length album take us the universe of the untold stories of the “One Thousand and One Nights”, hypnotize you and rock you into it while you can almost touch the smoke floating around. Then Sinan Kaya lead us gently through his raw beats and smoothly dislocated, subtle and floating sounds, mixing up Oriental aromas with Jazz vibes, minimalist Techno beats with Deep House pulses and Dub fueled sounds. He merge the Magic of simple things hidden in Life with the pleasure of dancing through the night nice and easily.
“No Negotiation” reveals some smooth Jazz infusions, a discrete piano runs throughout the song gave it a special taste while the beat keeps you moving. From the same area is “One Fine Day” too, while the beats are pumping, the music is made up of sparkling sounds and slowly moving layers creating a nice, intimate contrast. Read more Sinan Kaya – Punch and Bloom (2012)
Skunk Anansie – Black Traffic (2012)
I loved Skunk Anansie for their intense Rock, their honest rage and unleashed energy. Skin, Cass, Ace and Mark Richardson formed Skunk Anansie in March 1994, disbanded in 2001 and reformed in 2009. In 2004, the band was named as one of the most successful UK chart acts between 1952 and 2003 by the Guinness Book of British Hit Singles & Albums, with a total of 141 weeks on both the singles and album charts ranking them at #491. I loved their murderous 95’s debut “Paranoid and Sunburnt” , and the following two albums, “Stoosh” and “Post Orgasmic Chill”, before their 2001 disbanding. Their come back album, the 2009’s “Smashes and Trashes” was a quite honorable return while their latest release, the 2010’s “Wonderlustre” was more of a Pop Rock album, then the furious Rock band we used to know.
“Black Traffic” is somewhere inbetween, Read more Skunk Anansie – Black Traffic (2012)
