Three months after she died on October 4, 1970, on January 11, 1971, Columbia Records released “Pearl”, the only album Joplin ever recorded with the Full Tilt Boogie Band, the touring ensemble that had backed her on the Festival Express. Peaking at #1 on the Billboard 200, a position it held for nine weeks, Pearl included some of Janis’s most familiar and best-loved performances including her cover of Kris Kristofferson’s “Me and Bobby McGee” and her off-the-cuff a cappella “Mercedes Benz.”
The Janis Joplin’s 69th Birthday is honored by Legacy Recordings with the releasing of “The Pearl Sessions”, a two-CD set of Joplin’s final studio recordings.
The Pearl Sessions brings together, for the first time in one package, the original mono versions of the album’s 45s alongside the original LP tracks as well as the revelatory newly-discovered alternate versions, outtakes and vocal takes of Pearl’s classic tracks. The recording were discovered when researchers were putting together material for a 40th anniversary edition of “Pearl”, and find a previously uncatalogued audio tapes from the album’s sessions, produced by Paul Rothschild. Read more Janis Joplin – Pearl Sessions and Move Forward RMX
Metal
The Prestige – Black Mouths (2012)
Back at the beginning of the 90s with all that Alternative/Indie/Grunge wave, I discovered several huge bands among all the trash praised by the media and pushed by the record labels and agencies. One of them was the obscure H.P. Zinker from New York founded by Hans Platzgumer. Their last album, “Mountains of Madness” released in 1995 and its cover design by Stefan Sagmeister won several design awards and it was also nominated for Grammy. “Black Mouths” strangely, but unrelated, reminds me of that record. This Parisian quartet featuring Alex – vocals & guitars, Raphael – guitars, Thibaut – drums, and Julien – bass, delivering a same kind of colorful post-punk/hardcore, adrenaline fueled music merged with lots of colorful, experimental moments and deviations.
Can grab for free “The Truth”, the opening track of their upcoming full-length debut album. Read more The Prestige – Black Mouths (2012)
OSI – Fire Make Thunder (2012)
Office of Strategic Influence – eventually Office of Strange Influences nowadays 🙂 – is a project started originally by Fates Warning (Arch/Matheos, John Arch, Gordian Knot) guitarist Jim Matheos in 2002 and the only other constant full-time member is keyboardist Kevin Moore (Chroma Key, ex-Majesty, ex-Dream Theater, ex-Fates Warning). Although, the band’s name is a reference to the Office of Strategic Influence, a short-lived American government agency formed in 2001 to support the War on Terror through propaganda.
Jim Matheos originally intended to create a progressive metal supergroup while Fates Warning went on hiatus. He recruited then-Dream Theater drummer Mike Portnoy to work on the project. Matheos then asked Chroma Key and ex-Dream Theater keyboardist Kevin Moore to contribute by adding keyboard arrangements to the music he had written. Moore instead heavily edited the music, changing the song structures and adding vocals. Matheos decided to pursue this new, more electronic direction. The members and contributors write and track most of their material independently, sharing and developing tracks long-distance, only coming together at the end of the process for mixing and additional tracking. Read more OSI – Fire Make Thunder (2012)
Killing Joke – MMXII (2012)
If Ian Curtis wouldn’t committed suicide on 18 May 1980 and Joy Division would be still around and playing, “In Cythera”, the leading single of the fifteenth studio album by Killing Joke uploaded to the YouTube on 6 March it’s exactly the kind of music we are probably expected of Curtis. Although, this is a classic Killing Joke album with classic sound, and with the classic line-up: Jaz Coleman on vocals, Kevin “Geordie” Walker on guitar, Martin “Youth” Glover on bass, and Paul Ferguson on drums.
Out on April 2nd via Spinefarm/Universal, “MMXII” consist of 10 tracks which will definitively rock your world. Read more Killing Joke – MMXII (2012)
Black Light Discipline – Against Each Other (2012)
Merging Scandinavian Pop and Glam Metal (H.I.M.) with the Rammstein trademarked Neue Deutsche Härte, using both cutting guitar riffs and trance-like synth layers, the Finish Black Light Discipline are back with 10 brand new songs on their second album.
Founded in 2005 on the idea to make captivating, synth-based grooves by mixing Metal and electro genres, BLD are pushing the envelope of music. They released their full length debut album, “Empire”, in 2008 where featured as guest artists Dj Proteus and MC Raaka P. Toni Valha – vocals, Janne Kankkunen – synths, Joonas Pulkkinen– guitar, Veikka Jokela – drums, and Jani Rissanen – bass are striking again. Read more Black Light Discipline – Against Each Other (2012)
Meshuggah – Koloss (2012)
Simultaneously avant-garde and extreme, Meshuggah not only rocked our world, but tear it down to pieces. Formed in 1987, in UmeÃ¥, Sweden, they became world wide famous with the 1995 release “Destroy Erase Improve” and for its fusion of brutal, fast-tempo Death Metal, contorted Thrash Metal and Dark, Progressive Metal, and Industrial build-ups with Jazz Fusion elements. They were labeled as one of the ten most important hard and heavy bands by Rolling Stone and as the most important band in metal by Alternative Press. They 2002’s album “Nothing” and the albums that followed have all charted on the Billboard 200, although Meshuggah has found little mainstream success, but staying a significant and influential act in extreme underground music. Meshuggah’s most commercially successful album, the previous 2008’s “obZen”, peaked at No. 59 and sold 11,400 copies in the first week and 50,000 copies six months after its release in the United States. In Sweden, the album entered the official album chart at number 16, and in the UK at number 151.
“Koloss”, the upcoming seventh album is set to be released on March 23, 2012 in Germany, on March 26 in the rest of Europe, and March 27 in North America via Nuclear Blast. We’ve got 54 minutes of sonic slaughter and as drummer Tomas Haake stated: “best avoided by the faint of heart!” Read more Meshuggah – Koloss (2012)
Overkill – The Electric Age (2012)
Although everybody seems to have a different account of who came first in the world of New York/New Jersey area Thrash Metal, it seems certain that New Jersey’s Overkill have stayed around the longest, and have never let their fans down by remaining musically consistent and true to their roots for over 30 years and an unprecedented 16 full length albums and it seems we have the certain answer who’s banging till the end. Evil never dies? Who knows, but Overkill seems and sounds unstoppable. By 1987’s “Taking Over”, the band had worked their way up to a deal with the major label Atlantic Records. This relationship would last another 7 years based on the strength and consistency of Overkill’s music. 1989’s “The Years Of Decay” marked Overkill as one of the most murderous Thrash bands of the decade and one of the leading forces of the genre. Read more Overkill – The Electric Age (2012)
Ministry – Relapse (2012)
Few words worth more then a couple of fancy, but meaningless phrases, so, Al Jourgensen – age fiftyfuckingthree years – is back with the twelfth studio album of Ministry and they are simply and straightly louder, faster and angrier then ever. And Mr. Jourgensen is not alone, he’s got serious back up from Mike Scaccia and Casey Orr of Rigor Mortis, Tommy Victor of Prong and Tony Campos of Static X. This time eventually they aren’t pushing the musical boundaries further, they doesn’t break any new ground, but definitively they delivered again the most murderous sonic sledgehammer and you can bang your head to it, get wasted or waste someone, or occupy the streets and markets of your city. Politically correct? The ulcers are gone and Bush is gone, the shit stays the same, the price of the gas goes upper everyday, but let’s stick for now to the music and to this 10 tracks and just bang on this for a while! Read more Ministry – Relapse (2012)
Adrenaline Mob – Omerta (2012)
This album is more like Pantera Groove Metal rather then Dream Theater Progressive Rock/Metal. Singer Russell Allen (Symphony X) and his (super) band mates delivered a quite heavy album full of nervous guitar riffs and raging grooves, classic, but biting and looking forward kind of, hate to say this, but no other proper word, True Metal. Progressive, Groove and some Southern taste like elements are merging perfectly here. Russell Allen had some royal partners in this project: drummer Mike Portnoy (Ex-Dream Theater), guitarist Mike Orlando (previously worked with Zakk Wylde and Bumblefoot), bass player Paul DiLeo (Fozzy), and rhythm guitarist Rich Ward (Stuck Mojo/Fozzy). Meanwhile DiLeo and Ward left the project due to scheduling conflicts with their other bands and on February 8, 2012, John Moyer (Disturbed) became Adrenaline Mob’s new bass player. Read more Adrenaline Mob – Omerta (2012)
Elizabeth – Where Vultures Land, EP (2012) – free download!
This is the debut EP of this brutally brilliant Swiss band delivered – once again – in its digital format and even FOR FREE by Throatruinner Records and its fully devoted “driver”, Matthias Jungbluth. He’s fan-friendly approach, he’s support of those bands deserves our support and every and each penny counts!
Elizabeth reminds me of Celtic Frost in the best possible sense, actually sounds pretty as a modern, and even future Celtic Frost incorporating along the traditional Black and Thrash Metal heritage all the post-scremo, post-hardcore, post-punk, and post (modern) whatevers, everything what can make the music more louder, more stronger, more extreme. And Elizabeth seems to find just the right path of merging past and future into their own cutting edge Metal. Read more Elizabeth – Where Vultures Land, EP (2012) – free download!
