Reminds me of Frank Zappa and Mr. Bungle, but also of Green Jelly and eatmewhileimhot!, The Global Warming Extravaganza comes between parody and insanity, chaos and music, and as always, it’s quite impossible to draw the line between genius and madness. Mark A. Shredmurder and Christopher T. (“The T is for Teriffic”) Bottomsworth supposed to form a band back in 2007, but the other guys didn’t showed up, so… they had to struggle through all the Budweiser and Jack Daniels bought for the party and the result is this monster-brain-child abbreviated GWEX.
And as any good thing in life, “Debaucherous Adventure” can be downloaded for free (“name your price” = donate much as you want/can) from their Bandcamp page.
Be prepared for anything – good and bad – you can think on/of because there will be more. Welcome to the “mEatrix”. This is fuckin’ unbelievable. But brilliant. 😀 Read more GWEX – Debaucherous Adventure (2011)
Metal
The Amenta – V01D (2011)
Although it contains 16 tracks, the band consider it an EP and it’s available only in digital format as free download at the band’s official web site. And you can grab also some videos as well – 4 tracks live from Sydney and the video of “Vermin”, a film clip, never released before. , Over their career their musical style has shifted from blackened death metal to industrialized extreme/death metal.
“Vo1d”, with guest appearances by “Occasus†era vocalist Mark “Cesium 137†Bevan and former bass player Dale Harrison and incorporating a new song, re-records, an Armored Angel cover, electronic experiments, remixes professional video and mastered by Alan Douches (Hate Eternal, The Dillinger Escape Plan), “V01D†is The Amenta’s response to download culture. Read more The Amenta – V01D (2011)
Eyes Set To Kill – White Lotus (2011)
Not a goddamn day without (at least) one (thousand) new metalcore release. Today’s review winner is Eyes Set to Kill from Tempe, Arizona.
Formed in 2003 by the Rodriguez sisters – Alexia (clean vocals, lead guitar, piano) and Anissa (bass, backing vocals), Eyes Set To Kill became one of MySpace.com’s top unsigned screamo bands in 2006. The group signed with BreakSilence/Suburban Noize Records the following year and release three critically acclaimed studio efforts – 2008’s “Reach”, 2009’s “The World Outside” and 2010’s “Broken Frames”. Frustrated with the label politics, and pressure to withhold their identity, Eyes Set To Kill decided to break away and release independently “White Lotus”, their fifth studio album through a joint venture between their own imprint Forsee Records and Maphia Entertainment. Read more Eyes Set To Kill – White Lotus (2011)
NeWBReeD – NeWBReeD (2011)
NeWBReeD was founded in 1999 and they’re coming from Bielsko-Biala, Poland. “NeWBReeD” is their fifth studio release and they play a mixture of complex, technical, modern metal with progressive and avant-garde elements.
This is a quite intense and unique blending of styles and elements, NeWBReeD delivered a kind of psychotic, contorted, but colourful metal, technical, but still soulful, complex, but well structured and not airless, suffocating.
10 songs, “NeWBReeD” is a quite exciting trip to take. Slow, sometimes smooth, sometimes mysterious passages and intense, twisted moments are perfectly build into a modern, breathing and heavy – metal experiment.
Read more NeWBReeD – NeWBReeD (2011)
Fuseboxx – Animated (2011)
Quality progressive metal/rock from this Manila, Philippines band. Formed in 2001 by Abby Clutario – vocals/Chapman Stick/Keyboards, Mico Ong – 6 and 7 String guitars, Eric Tubon – synthesizers/keyboards/Keytar and Lester Banzuelo – drums/V drums, Fuseboxx delivered a quite exciting blending of traditional and modern progressive metal/rock, but sometimes building in smooth pop or jazz constructions and textures or explode in intense metal hurricanes.
Read more Fuseboxx – Animated (2011)
Combat Astronomy – Flak Planet (2011)
I stumbled into Combat Astronomy last year on their Bandcam page. It worth to check out their page, there you can get all their previous releases, some of them are still for free (and donation based) as their latest EP “Barricades” released in July 2011.
Mastermind, composer – and project manager 😀 – James Huggett explore the interference area of post-rock, doom and industrial with the outbursts of free jazz and avant-garde music. Space rock elements and dirty stoner rock riffs are melting down in the contorted noises and explosive outbreaks of horns. Freaky and heavy, cutting and exciting, in a fair world Combat Astronomy should be far better known as they are. But this isn’t a fair world, Britney Spears and Take That are famous and popular and I can’t blame them, not even the industry, the subordinated media, but I blame ourselves, the undefined, comfortable, predictable, lazy, fat and careless consumer. Nobody would be able to sell us shit if we wouldn’t bought it. Read more Combat Astronomy – Flak Planet (2011)
Fen – Epoch (2011)
The second first full length album by British Fen, “Epoch” was launched at the Bull & Gate venue in London with support from the old Corpse Road on the 11th of February 2011 and already gaining positive reviews in most of the magazines. “Epoch” was released in a standard jewel CD case and as a strictly limited – 999 copies – artbook edition with 40, and two exclusive & unreleased bonus tracks, “The Wind Whispers of Loss” and “…From the Mists”.
Following the acclaimed debut, “The Malediction Fields” from 2009, “Epoch” merging black metal, post-rock and shoegaze to express loss, sorrow, exaltation and a sense of ancient pride through music.
The band is named after a region of Eastern England called The Fens. The Fens have very flat and mysterious landscapes, with many marshes and wetlands. The band members grew up in this area, and find much of the inspiration for their music and themes from the atmosphere of this area. Read more Fen – Epoch (2011)
Sun Caged – The Lotus Effect (2011)
Queensryche/Dream Theater fans will definitively enjoy this third installment of this progressive metal band from Netherlands. Paul Adrian Villarreal – vocals & acoustic guitar, Marcel Coenen – lead & rhythm guitar, Rene Kroon – keyboards, Daniel Kohn – bass and Roel Van Helden – drums delivering a nice mixture of classic, traditional progressive rock/metal with heavy, powerful, strong modern metal infusions. Influences from Yes, Styx, Saga, Marillion and Kansas are present just like sounds of Fates Warning, VandenPlas, Dream Theater and Queensryche.
Formed by ex-Lemur Voice guitarist Marcel Coenen and drummer Dennis Leeflang in the spring of 1999, the style stated by the band on their 2000 demo was rather experimental, with the use of female vocals, death growls, with some melodic vocals and a touch of groove metal rawness. After the release of their 2003’s debut album the line up of Sun Caged changed considerably, Coenen being the only band member left from the original line up and the music grow into the more larger progressive area of metal. Read more Sun Caged – The Lotus Effect (2011)
Trivium – In Waves (2011)
Fans of In Flames can give a try on this fifth studio album by Orlando, Florida’s Trivium. Formed in 1999, the band came out under the influence of Metallica to make it to the nowadays so-called metalcore which incorporated clean and screamo vocals, progressive and melodious heavy themes and death-like grindings. Boil in the proper proportion Metallica, In Flames, Machine Head and Iron Maiden in a music blender and the result should come pretty close to what’s on “In Waves”.
This merging of classic heavy constructions, thrash rawness, few death brutalities and powerful, clean vocals against screams and howls is still quite dynamic and Trivium managed to deliver a few extremely good themes and moments, still, this patters and schemes becomes so predictable that nothing can save it from itself. Read more Trivium – In Waves (2011)
Krakatau – Krakatau (2011)
If you’re familiar – and in love – with tumultuous, turbulent musical project such as Fantômas, Tomahawk, Moonchild Trio and Mr. Bungle, generally speaking, if you like the mainly twisted and contorted avant-garde experiments of Mr. Mike Patton, Krakatau might just fit your taste and extremely important: this self-titled full-length debut album is available for FREE DOWNLOAD at the band’s official web site.
This is metal only if you’re not committed to Iron Maiden or Metallica, don’t think that “progressive metal” means exclusively Dream Theater. Say (vocals/guitar), Muz! (bass/vocals), Max (lead guitar) and Mark (drums) expands the horizons and sometimes construct music by demolition. Sometimes hypnotic, other times quite schizophrenic, Krakatau is actually an explosive music volcano, this might not be a safe trip, but eventually an exciting one.
Read more Krakatau – Krakatau (2011)
