FOR THE LOVE OF METAL
Excitement is an understatement when you hear that your favourite band is coming to town. You read the show listing, the time, the date, and you immediately scan your brain to process your work schedule and the money you either have or lack to pay for the tickets. It will always be enjoyable to experience music in the comfort of your own home and solitude but nothing will ever compare to a live experience.
Guitarist/vocalist Therese Lanz and drummer Stefani MacKichan have been part of Calgary’s music scene for a while now, Lanz as frontwoman for grindcore band Exit Strategy and the pair most notably comprising two-thirds of the hard rock trio Kilbourne, but since forming Mares of Thrace it feels like they’ve stumbled upon something special. One album in, they already have a very strong identity, as The Moulting (Arctodus Records) is a blistering combination of the massive riffs and rhythms of Neurosis, the angularity of Unsane and the Jesus Lizard, the intricacy of the Dillinger Escape Plan, and some well-timed melodic passages to boot.
Adrien Begrand speaks to one of Canada’s most exciting new bands, the Calgary based duo known as MARES OF THRACE.
In summation: Decrepit Birth: bad name, bad past, good band. Polarity: great record. Bravo!
Another one of those bands I somehow stumbled onto by accident, there’s very little I can tell you about Indianapolis’ Sleepbringer. Born out of the ashes of Heroes Laid To Rest, an Internet search bore only one other short review (so far) of Compendium, although I have the feeling that once this record gets heard a little more, that’s going to change. What I can tell you without a doubt is that this record absolutely crushes, it’s one of the most promising debuts I’ve heard this year.
The songs, like the lineup of the band itself, seem a tad underdeveloped, like a reasonably well-produced demo tape made to audition a bassist and/or singer. I doubt that stoner/doom minded musicians are in great abundance in Belgium, but the band would benefit from both in my belief
“We’ve always known that as an entire band—both live and everything on our albums—we’re asking listeners to have a very open mind, more open than a lot of people are capable of. Depending on what song somebody hears, we could fit so many different categories. So if somebody sees we’re “black metal” and then listens to “Japanese and Lovely,” they’ll think we’re “false metal,” or that the person who called us black is an idiot. Vice versa if somebody’s told we’re indie rock and then, God help them, comes to our show, screaming for the door.”
Part two of Jay H. Gorania’s interview with Amber Valentine of JUCIFER.
Lucky number seven! The seventh installment of the Hellbound Handshake Clip Of The Week is a doozy! Pentagram playing “Forever My Queen” at Maryland Deathfest VIII
All in all, I’m not overly impressed by this release. Only by purposefully listening for something positive did I find anything worth more than one listen. The musicians on this record do a great job but they don’t mesh with Floor Jansen’s voice at all. The song writing on this just didn’t seem to be as much of a focus as the keyboard and vocal flourishes were.
How significant a release is Manilla Road’s After Midnight Live? Imagine if Judas Priest or Iron Maiden suddenly went, “Whoops, look what we found lying around, a live recording from the early days featuring songs none of our fans have ever heard before.”
Hey everybody, since Monday is a holiday in Canada (August Bank Holiday for those unaware) we will be going fishing. See you Tuesday!