Except the geographical location, an exclamation mark less, the approach and sound makes the difference between the Welsh (UK) located Attack! Attack! and the Westerville, Ohio (USA) located, metalcore/electronicore band Attack Attack!. Hate to say this over and over, but a little more inventiveness and inspiration would be just great when people are about to choose their band name. It’s kind of starting with the wrong foot your career guys if there’s another band with the same or almost similar name in the business.
Formed in 2005 (while the band from Welsh seems to formed one year later…), some of their songs seems to contain Christian-based lyrics, but not all members of Attack Attack! are Christian, and do not consider themselves a Christian band. Musically, Attack Attack! merged the groove and aggression of Pantera with post-emo feeling and electronic sounds, features a djent sound to its guitar riffs played primarily in drop-G, and delivering a quite intense and disturbing mixture of melody and brutality. This third studio album by the band seems to be a concept album. Read more Attack Attack! – This Means War (2012)
2012
Mindless Faith – Just Defy (2012)
Although, as I just find out, this is their fifth album, “Just Defy” is the first album by Mindless Faith I ever listening to. I crashed into Mindless Faith at Indaba Music through the Jane’s Addiction remix competition , competition won by them which actually makes me hate them – although my remix is even darker – 😀 – but, I’m not gonna deny my subjectivity on this issue! 😆
Anyway, it seems they have a solid and substantial fan-base and experience in remixing “business”, delivering several tracks, including remixes for Nine Inch Nails and Front Line Assembly, and they delivering solid, balanced remixes incorporating their dark, deep and pulsing marks on these works. They remixed two Nine Inch Nails songs: “Only” and “The Hand That Feeds” and won a number of radio remix contests, met Trent Reznor as part of one of the prize, who said their remix was “better than some I’ve paid for”.
Mindless Faith find their path of merging industrial rock and EBM, their dark and contorted music honor predecessors such as Ministry, Pigface, KMFDM, Front242, Funker Vogt, Skinny Puppy, Combichrist, Nitzer Ebb, Schnitt Acht – just to name few.
“Just Defy” it’s another trip into the dark side and Mindless Faith is an exelent combo delivering soundtracks for this strange times of global turmoil. Read more Mindless Faith – Just Defy (2012)
Biohazard – Reborn In Defiance (2012)
I was expected a murderous follow-up of their 92’s “Urban Discipline”. You know, ’92 – ’12, it was a seven years gap between their eight and ninth studio album, we’re living kind of strange, sometimes twisted and dangerous times, I guess I actually missed pretty badly the bold power of some grinding tracks as “Punishment” was. “Vengeance Is Mine” have something from that spirit, but something still missing. And few tracks further kind of disappointment taking over the hopes and although “Reborn In Defiance” sounds cutting and strong, Biohazard seems to became too slow, too predictable, eventually to conservatives.
And the dilemma remains the same: Metal or Hardcore? Read more Biohazard – Reborn In Defiance (2012)
Red- _ -box – Think Out Of The Box (2012)
Free download, contorted dubstep, worth to give it a try. So, go and grab it – from the Sostanze Records web page.
We’ve got 6 tracks, an excellent mixture of noisy electronics and subtle experimental sounds, a monstrous clash between the raging and wobbling dubstep basses and the more gentle, smoothly layered progressive trance taste like passages and soundscapes.
This is electronic music, but it’s absolutely brutal and have a quite destructive rock vibe. “Deathmatch” definitively may pull your head off. And it’s not the only explosive moment, “If I Die Growl Growl Growl” will blow up your speakers instantly. This may not be rock, but it’s definitively rocking pretty hard. Read more Red- _ -box – Think Out Of The Box (2012)
Enter Shikari – A Flash Flood Of Colour (2012)
The merging of metalcore and dubstep was kind of predictable and unavoidable evolution of the scene. Low frequency oscillations, the wobble bass and some crushing riffs and screaming vocals make a quite destructive pair and definitively fits the taste of the new generation. But there’s at least one question left. Those kids who are willing to set the city on fire only to steal a pair of sneakers and eventually a flat screen TV, are gonna pay for all that music the industry kindly delivering, or they gonna download – steal – it? And honestly, most of this music deserves nothing than to be downloaded.
Although I have my (musical) roots back in hardcore, but I also appreciate the quality dubstep too, so, I think this musical collision could bring to the surface quite exciting results, I still did not heard some outstanding results. America had his best shot by Korn, but not even the almighty Skrillex and a whole army of appreciated nowadays producers could save the lack of inspiration from “The Path Of Totality” and hide it under the massive sound. So, let’s see what the Brits managed to delivered on their third album… Read more Enter Shikari – A Flash Flood Of Colour (2012)
Kayo Dot – Gamma Knife (2012)
Kayo Dot, the brainchild of Toby Driver is a quite different musical project then most of the nowadays trendy runners. It’s an everchanging mixture of rock, jazz, metal and avant-garde elements, it’s definitively not a common, usual, easy to label and listen kind of music. But it’s much more alive.
A partial live recording with overdubs added in the studio, they delivered 25 minutes of their usually unusual music, this time kind of saxophone fueled noise metal, a quite contorted trip, eventually with the exception of the title track which it’s an almost classical track with chamber and (possible) Gregorian aromas and offers a chill exit for the listener. Read more Kayo Dot – Gamma Knife (2012)
Field Frequency
Yesterday, Friday 13, was a quite odd day. But after all I managed to get over it. Just to face another task today. 😀
The Weekly Brief is an on-going program to source specific, high-quality music for Indaba‘s non-exclusive licensing catalog.
In this inaugural edition of their weekly commissions, they’re reaching out to the artists of Indaba to compose an adrenaline-fueled score for this snowboarding footage. I delivered a quick, noisy one for this one, kind of clash between Black Sabbath and Ministry… Check it out, hope you enjoy it. 😉 Read more Field Frequency
Hexis – XI (2012)
Two words: death and destruction. I think back in ’86-’87 when I first listen to Kreator’s “Endless Pain” and “Pleasure to Kill” I had that murderous feeling. Back then it was something terrible and shocking, nowadays nothing’s shocking anymore, still, Hexis delivers some brutally good mixture of extreme metal. Slow, doom and black metal grinding moments are ripped away by killer massacres of grindcore and hardcore intensity.
I wasn’t able to dig out too many infos about this Copenhagen (Denmark) based band formed in the beginning of 2010, but it seems they already has released a bunch of different records and toured Europe a few times in countries like Sweden, Germany, Holland, France, Switzerland, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic together with bands like Celeste, The Secret and This Gift Is A Curse. Read more Hexis – XI (2012)
The Atomic Bomb Audition – How to Dismantle a U2 (2012)
The key to this is – as they defined their own music -: “psychedlic soundtracks for films that don’t exist”. Under this funny and cleverly inspired album title they offer a collection of enclosed materials which represents all phases of the band, digging back till 2006 and the “Eleven Theatres” era. Also got the cover of “Laura’s Theme” from the famous “Twin Peaks” soundtrack which fits right in in the atmosphere and vibe of this release and reflects quite precisely the (mainly) gloomy and ghosty style of the band.
Released on 1st January 2012, and free of charge (“name your price”) on their Bandcamp page, this is a nice gift and a great opportunity to get know this band and their music. Read more The Atomic Bomb Audition – How to Dismantle a U2 (2012)
Lamb Of God – Resolution (2012)
If there is such thing (music) as “post-Pantera Metal”, Lamb Of God are definitively the kings of it. No better album to kick in into 2012 then this furiously raging “Resolution”, the band’s seventh studio album scheduled for a January 24 release. Hard – actually quite impossible – not to jump up and bang on this. Maybe this is (still) so Pantera, but this is still murderous and those bloody riffs, those killer screams and growls, this brutal Metal still have so much anger and energy that’s gonna rip your head off. Randy Blythe learned and applied all the tricks of Anselmo perfectly, Mark Morton and Willie Adler bring to the surface the most cutting edge riffs while the rhythm section made by drummer Chris Adler and bass player John Campbell delivered the most intense grooves extremely precisely. 14 tracks, almost one hour of massacre, call it Groove, Nu or whatever Metal, this is so brutal and so good that if it wouldn’t be invented, it would have. But no use to re-invent the Steel ( 😀 ), it’s essential to play it straight from your heart and with guts and loud enough. Read more Lamb Of God – Resolution (2012)
