Thursday, December 29, 2011

Review #34: Awakening The Revenant - The Procreated [EP]

Album: The Procreated [EP]
Year: 2011
Origin: Huntington/WV/United States
Genre: Deathcore/Death Metal/Hardcore
For fans of: Fall Before Your Creator, Isla Sorna

Tracklist:
3. The Great Deceiver (feat. Trenton Allen Heck)

>> BUY! <<

(seriously supporting these guys, means you safe at least 1 square meter of the Rain Forest in the dusty Desert of the Antarctica!)
These guys deserve your money, the money of your friends, the friends friends and their pets!

YOU SHOULD ALL GET THIS, BECAUSE OTHERWISE YOU SUCK!

Review:

A long time ago, Awakening The Revenant announced the release of a first record, which finally came out in late December. The Procreated offers the broadest range of different kinds, to play Deathcore in just 5 Tracks (excluding the Intro). Groundbreaking Breakdowns, dramatic ones and a lot of blast beats at it's finest, this is what your first impressions would look like. But actually behind these deadly walls is a lot more then guessed and considered as "generic Deathcore". A very special and positive feature, which is also pretty rare to find within this kind of music, are the clean sung vocals in the songs "The Great Deceiver" and "Conqueror".
The sound for a first release is pretty solid. The quality in the tone of the guitars sounds pretty massive.
Coming to the intense moments. They're present! In masses. 
From the scream in the beginning of "This City Screams War", to the end of the EP. 
Indeed, these guys do more then Deathcore, there's a definite prove of classical Moshriffing, that leans to Hardcore bands such as The Acacia Strain, Betrayal and so on. Well layered riffage all in all.
I would highly suggest, checking this band out, also if you aren't into Deathcore at all, or even hate it.
There is no Suicide Silence or other shit influence to hear.
Awakening The Revenant offer a pretty original and steadfast sound!
Period.

Sunday, December 25, 2011

Random Post.

Hey there. Just want to wish you guys happy Christmas days and want to thank my friends for the good times.
Special thank goes out to Leonard and Simon, for being the greatest Dudes who go with me to concerts haha.

- Cheers

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Interview #25: Awakening The Revenant

My last post for today, will be for a Band of my Dude.
These guys finally finished their EP "The Procreated".
A very talented band from Huntington,WV. Definitely more than worth a listen. 

Tyler, this one goes out to you! Merry Christmas bro!

Check out the Awakening The Revenant, my newcomer Deathcore band of this year!

 Awakening The Revenant - The Great Deceiver 


How did you guys came together? Was it hard to find agreement on the type of music?
-we came together over the last 2 or 3 years. ATR has been a band for a long time, just hasn’t always been very serious, had a lot of drummer changes until we found our dood tyler here, to fill up the position, and I must say, he rocks the shit. Best drummer we have ever played with.

How would you describe your sound?
-we are pure American Deathcore. We love what we do, we love deathcore. We throw the clean vocals in there simply to draw in more fans. We don’t do it much, but when we do, we feel it fits the part! Its unexpected with a band of our tone and style, so it adds a bit of personal flavor/uniqueness.
Are there bands that influenced your sound?

Which genre defines your band the most?
-Deathcore/Hardcore it’s a mixture of the two. We go hard into those 2 genres, just because its what we enjoy playing

What makes your music, being your music?
-we all enjoy different kinds of music, so we just take all of our favorite kinds of music, and try to incorporate them into deathcore.

Why do you think shall we all check you out (needless to say, since you guys are a cool dudes)?
-we think you should check us out because, like you said, we are great guys. We do this for fun, and hopefully one day, we can do it for a living, but until then, we will continue on our path, and we wont be giving up. We work hard for everything we have, and we feel like we should have it to pay off, at least with meeting new friends and fans along the way!

What are your favorite bands?
-as a band, I would say: A different breed of killer, Molotov Solution, King Conquer, Whitechapel *of course*, The Plot In You, Within The Ruins, and so many more, I mean, we couldn’t possibly name them all.

Where do you get your inspirations, beside to other bands, especially for the lyrics?
-seth and tanner both do the lyrical content, they work together, or write them solo for some songs, just according to who has the better feel for it, the inspiration comes from our hatred towards why certain things happen the way that they do, why we are particularly looked down upon from others, and questioning things such as god (not necessarily disbelieving, but just questions & our way of expressing those questions) and a lot of other things such as life situations and just straight up trying to be as brutal as possible.

What are your interests beside the band? Do you guys just do the band or do you work/go to school/study?
-Well, that’s a different answer for us all, Tyler works a full time job while is married! Tanner goes to College at Marshall University, Seth & Marcus both go to high school, but are graduating in a few months. We are all very stoked for that. Haha.

How often do you guys meet in a week to make music?
-we usually meet about 2 times a week. If we have more shows than usual, we will only 1 time or possibly none depending on how close the days of the shows.

Do you often end your band sessions in chill and laugh rounds?
-Every time, also smoke sessions. AKA we get high. Haha.

What are your personal opinon about drugs?
-see above question. Haha. Drugs are a no-no. Weed isn’t a drug. It’s a plant. People who disagree. Get over it. It’s harmless and people shouldn’t judge about stuff such as that. Its something we do for fun, if you don’t, that’s cool. We don’t play music about it or try to push it on you. Haha.

Do you think stereotyping is wrong? Or do you think it has a special sence to the modern society?
-Ehh, stereotyping is going to happen, no matter our opinion on it, but its wrong in some cases, and helpful in others, we suppose.

What things are coming up? News about new releases, new merch, line up changes?
-Right now, we just dropped our EP “The Procreated” mixed & mastered by Charles J. Wall (Sonic Assault Studios – King Conquer, Betraying the Martyrs, Ect.), All re-amping done by Brian Hood (4,5,6 Productions – The Crimson Armada, Gideon, Ect.), and all Vocal Editing done by Jeff Dunne (Arcana Recordings – Cephalic Carnage, Of Mice & Men, The Color Morale, Ect.) we also have our T-Shirts coming in the next 2 weeks, and a music video for the song “My Redemption” off of the record!

Do you guys have played in other bands before?
-Tyler played in Isla Sorna & This World Will Fall but that’s about it, really.

Are there any bands you would like to see on this page in future? Are there bands you would recommend for taking a listen?
 -Hendrik, you're the man, so it's hard to tell what you will pull off brother. We Hope you rock it! Haha.

What was your sickest show?
-Probably with We came as Romans & Attila. PA, Stage, Everything was very nice. –Credit to: David Dunlap. Hes a great promoter.

Recommend us some local bands we should check out! 
 -Check out Fall Before Your Creator. They're our great friends from here in West Virginia, US. They Deserve the listen! Sick musicians!

Which bands would you like to tour with and how would your favorite tour look like?
-Umm, right now, we would love to tour with too many bands to name, but Whitechapel, TBDM, Hatebreed, Winds of Plague, Suffokate, Oceano, Soooooo many bands that really have a sick live performance and would love to rage with!

Any messages left to fans, friends or family?
-Just want to give a huge thank you to the small amount of fans that we do have, there isn’t many of them, but the few that help us and try to promote us, are awesome people. Huge thank you to David Dunlap & Dereck ‘Dmetal’ Stinson for always hooking us up with good shows that are coming through town. As for the Friends, you know who you are. You guys are the best friends ever. And we appreciate you. To the families, thanks to all of our parents for putting up with our metal since young ages!

Interview #24: Caliban


There's not much to say about this band, since everyone knowns the one and only Caliban!
I got some time from the guitarist Marc, to do this with me. 
Merry Christmas to all of you!

Here's there newest video

Caliban - Memorial

Here's my interview with Marc Görtz from Caliban!

How does it feel to be in such a famous and well known band, having fans all around the planet and being founder of a new era of metal?
 I don't know really, we don't think about this… and it's also for other people to judge if it even is that way! But what i can say is, that we live a dream to be able to go around the world and play our music, which actually only our fans made possible!!!

How did the name "Caliban" came up?
 There are some things to find around the web, but what does the band say to this point?

 It is a character from Shakespeare, it's a demon who cant decide between good and evil and we thought it matches pretty well for the music, since we also didn't wanted to have a word you can translate… we wanted a "name"….
it fits, because we also play with opposites, fast-slow, melodic-heavy- clean vox-screams etc….

What do you think about stereotype thinking, such as "this band is Metalcore, this band is Deathcore and so on..."?
 I don't care really for genres, i just care if i like the band or not! I also couldn't say if we are Hardcore, Metal, New Era Metal, Metalcore… or whatever…

To that point, would you put Caliban into a single genre?
 I think i answered the Question above .

How do guys describe your own sound?
 Hard to say, i think we have many influences! But to reduce it to the main musical elements, i would say, mostly Metal, with some Hardcore and Post-Hardcore influences...

Do you also listen to your own music?
 Do you mean, the style of music or actually us? If you mean us, i listen usually a lot to it during the writing and recording process, to improve them as much as possible… and after the mixing too for some days, but after that i put it to rest a bit for me, that i'm not over the songs when we start playing them live hehe.

What is the favorite band release so far? 
 Say Hello To Tragedy and Shadow Hearts, but soon by far I Am Nemesis!!!

Which songs are your favorite to play live?
 "I will never let you down"

Also, are there songs you don't like yourselves?
 Do you mean songs we play live i don't like?
 Not really, but in general i like better songs to play live where i don't have to focus so crazy much on playing it really accurate… like the song above, it's pretty easy and i can move/run around better, if you know what i mean… but the songs we play live i like all!

What do you guys think about fans, that cover your songs on guitar, drums, vocals, etc?
 I actually love it! First it's really interesting to see how people play it and second it makes me really happy/proud that there are people who put a lot of effort into our music to learn and practice it! Thats awesome!

What do you guys do beside the band? Do you work/study?
 No, we are a full-time band! There would be not enough time to work, specially during the writing process of an album… the new album took for example around 10 month to finish!

What are the bands and the members interests/hobbies?
 Well i cant talk about all hobbies of the other members because i simply don't know all of them, but Marcos hobby is pretty much star wars . Denis is a movie fan.
 Andy is crazy for TV shows and he reads a lot of books, but seriously i don't know how he can watch some of them and don't get me wrong i like some shows too Patrick likes to try new restaurants!
 what kind of activity they like, i don't know so much, because for example Andy and Patrick live pretty far away… i like snowboarding, cooking, going to the movies with friends, Ps3, reading books…..

What kind of music or which artists are your personal favorites?
 I don't have one single fav band, i can name a few, because i listen to different types of music, not only to heavy stuff…i like In Flames, Muse, The Acacia Strain, Bury Your Dead, Dredg for example...

Do you guys care about your fans, because you have such a big fanbase and it must be hard to take time for them all?
 Of course, we care actually a lot! without them we wouldn't even be able to write the music we do! At least not the same way! We always try to answer mails and questions, of course we cant answer all, but we try our best! So at this point, thanks for all your support! be assured it means the world to us!

Which bands would you recommend to you fans, listening to?
 Well, thats a hard question, basically it's always good to listen to outstanding bands, which do what nobody else does, for example Muse, this singer/guitarplayer is a genius to me! This kind of tones he creates etc…

How many members have been in other bands before? Could you name them too?
 Denis has played in Aclys and Marco and Patrick in Six Reasons To Kill… Andy and me didn't have another band before, the band had just another name in the past when we started as a school band… i just had 2 sideprojects in the meanwhile..

Do you also took ideas from these bands into Caliban or did they influenced Calibans sound?
 I cant really tell, not really i guess, specially not for the "Say Hello To Tragedy" and "I Am Nemesis" just like i mentioned above, the Muse guitarplayer inspired me to create some unique sounds for the new album, but not actual the band itself…
 of course in some way you are always influenced by stuff you listening too, can be even uncountions

 Actually you guys revealed the cover artwork, the Tracklist and the title of your new album "I Am Nemesis". Can we expect a new sound from you guys?
 Yes, like i said above, i tried to create new sounds for the new album and tried to add new influences to the music without changing our style really and i think it turned out amazing, i'm really proud of it!

How does it came, that you have Marcus Bischoff and Mitch Lucker as guest vocalists on one track?
 The lyrics were actually asking for guestvocals at this song and we thought about who we could ask… and then the idea came in my mind to ask our fans what they also would like! The top 2 were obviously Marcus and Mitch, we are friends with both bands, so we wrote them a mail! And it turned out they fit perfect for the song!

Would you guys do another EP such as Coverfield and let fans decide which songs you will cover?
 Actually on the Bonus CD of our new album are a couple more coverings… in total 8 tracks! I don't think that we will record another cover CD so soon….

Have you guys ever thought of going into hiatus?
 Sorry, what?? haha…..no idea what that means….

What was your guys favorite venue and tour so far?
 I liked the chain reaction club in Anaheim California a lot, but there has been many many great places we played, i couldn't mention all of them.. this one i said, i just remember because it was a really crazy intense show and maybe the hottest we ever played, Denis even passed out behind the stage shah… but that has been some years ago! For tours it's also hard to say, we had lots of fun with many bands, so it would be also kinda not fair to mention just one and i couldn't even actually…
 but the tour which helped us a lot in our career was the machine head tour like 6 years ago! 7 weeks long and all were huge!

What bands would you like to tour with? How would your favorite tour would look like?
 We played with so many bands already, so many we wanted to play with, we already did for example "in flames" "machine head" …. if you mean it this way.
 otherwise i think we have a really cool lineup for our upcoming tour in February!

Any messages to your friends, families or fans left?
I hope everybody is gonna check out our upcoming album "I am nemesis" we are gonna release actually 3 different versions, including a very nice collectors box!
 and thanks to all our fans for your undying support!!!
It means the world to us!!


Interview #23: Madison Affair


First Interview to come for my big X-Mas Special!
Madison Affair are a band, that kinda blows everything away.
Coming from Germany's capital and sounding as big as stuff from the United States.
These guys bring together Metalcore, Post Hardcore and Dubstep in a really unique way. Recently they released their final Debut entitled "Teenage Time" which is one of my favorite releases of 2011.
Massive and solid sounding band!

Seriously, check out Madison Affair!

Tell us about you, where are you guys from and what brought you guys together?
We're all from Berlin and we got to know each other through friends and other bands.

 During the years, your sound grew bigger and better, how would you describe your sound and do you think it's the most final sound from you guys?
 Yeah our style changed a lot since we started the band, but thats the way its supposed to be we guess.
and yes we think we're on a point where our style is kinda mature but we will always do our best to keep it developing!

 Are there bands that influenced your sound?
 We all listen to recent records that come out in the US, but we're also in a lot of other styles. Some bands that influenced us are woe is me, Attack Attack, Of Mice and Men, The Devil Wears Prada, ADTR and much more!

 What does your band name mean?
 It has no deeper meaning. Its just like Madison is a girl that lives in our society and the affair is her connection to the world.

 Since it's kinda typical to categorize music, which genre(s) defines your band the most, though stereotyping is crap?
 Don't know, something between Post-Hardcore, Breakstep and Autocore

 Have you known what kind of music you want to play, before starting the band?
Not really, but we liked the same bands. So it was easy since the first jam.

 What do you want to say with your music? Is there a message to the listeners?
Check it out, give us a chance, be aware of everything that happens

 What are your favorite bands?
 Woe is me, Motionless In White, Of Mice & Men, ADTR, This Or The Apocalypse, Periphery, Substructure, Protest the Hero, and soooo much more…

 Where do you get your inspirations, beside to other bands, especially for the lyrics?
When you watch for what is going on on this planet, you gotta have a lot to say.

 What are your interests beside the band? Do you guys just do the band or do you work/go to school/study?
The band is a like a full time job for all of us now. Some of us are working beside the band.

What things are coming up? News about new releases, new Merch, line up changes?
You`ll see Were looking forward to 2012

 Do you guys have played in other bands before?
 Yes we all had other bands before but MA is the first we all take very serious.

 Are there any bands you would like to see on this page in future? Are there bands you would recommend for taking a listen?
Listen to: Periphery, Motionless In White, Born Of Osiris

 What are your favorite places to play shows at? And where and what was your sickest show?
If the crowd is alright, it doesn`t matter what club you play!

 Which bands would you like to tour with and how would your favorite tour look like?
VansWarped – Tour with Asking Alexandria

 Any messages left to fans, friends or family?
We want to thank all the people that supported us since MA was founded. It was a great start 2011 with our new constellation!

Sunday, December 4, 2011

Interview: #22: Locusts


My dude, Matt Burridge from Ex-Still Dreaming wrote me, he started a new band. 
These guys are playing kinda heavy shit. This is what they like, this is what they do, no compromise.
Dark and heavy Deathcore
Check out Locusts, from UK!

Where do you come from?
 We are all from the southeast of Kent, United Kingdom

 What music do you make? And what makes your sound, being your sound?
 We are primarily a metal band with a lot of Deathcore influences in our sound. We don't necessarily sound like, but take influence from bands like Whitechapel, Oceano and Postmortem Promises.

 Tell us what you are currently doing, in reference to your music. Any upcoming albums, ep, songs, new merch?
 We haven't been around long so at the moment we're just focusing on getting shows and writing songs to fill out our set. We recently recorded 2 demo tracks which are on our Facebook page, and we had our first show a few days ago which was great. We'll be looking to record an EP by March next year.

 What does your band name mean, to you and to others, and where does it come from?
 We just wanted something that sounded a little different from your average Deathcore band name. We thought 'Locusts' had an imposing image and was a fairly original name within the genre. It doesn't have any real significance for us, but we just like how it sounds.

 Which bands are your influences? / Which bands are your personal favorites?
We all have fairly similar tastes in music which we like to think is an advantage because we have a very clear idea of how we want to sound. As a band i'd say our favourite bands are Oceano, Whitechapel, Molotov Solution, Viatrophy, As You Drown and Catalepsy.

 Do you guys have a message, which shall be said through your music?
Not really, we're just all about writing and playing heavy music, and at the moment we're just enjoying it. I dare say we'll have some sort of lyrical focus when we begin writing an EP, but i couldn't say what it'd be right now.

 What was your sickest/best show, whats your dream venue and which band would you like to tour with and why?
We've only had one show so far, but it went very well for us. The turnout was far better than expected and we felt we got a good response and plenty of positive feedback. It was definitely the best 'first show' we've each of us played.
Our dream venue would be somewhere like Brixton Academy, and if we had to tour with one of our favourite bands it would have to be Whitechapel or Oceano, because those bands live are simply unreal.

 Any messages left to fans, friends, family?
Just a thank you to anyone who's taken time to check us out, i know those numbers are few at the moment, but we're working hard to change that!

Saturday, December 3, 2011

Review #33: Across The Obsession - We See What We Want


Album: We See What We Want
Year: 2011
Origin: Russia
Genre: Melodic/Post-Hardcore/Instrumental/Metal/Hardcore/Progressive/Technical/Metalcore
(Just undefinable good!)
For fans of: Between The Buried And Me, Adept, 

Tracklist:
1. Trails (feat. Anatoly Borisov from Sarah Where Is My Tea)
2. Bleeding Inside
3. To The Stars
4. All That Becomes Us (feat. Pasha Shipilin)
5. Dreams
6. Closed
7. Between The Words
8. Eternally Awaiting Dawn
9. Home
10. Captive Of Bondage
11. The Letter
12. We See What We Want

>> Download <<

Review:

Across The Obsession only do what they want!
These guys have fun in what they're doing and they are showing this at their best, at their Debut Album
entitled "We See What We Want"! 
Hailing from the Country of the most surprising bands, these young Russians really created everything new and brought the heavy scene to a new era!

Starting as a instrumental band in lack of a singer, just to show what is possible as a band with incomplete line up. Yet a singer, wasn't missed on the old records, now they just perfected what they were working at. Also they're giving out the instrumental version of the album, for those who like to enjoy the musical side of them.

We See What We Want contains 12 captive songs of emotion and creativity.
Looking back to their old instrumental EP "The Road", these guys just changed the instrumental work a little bit, to come together with the vocals.
Melodic and technical guitar licks all over the songs. Progressions in vein of BTBAM and showing a softer side of putting breakdowns into the rhythm guitar, these are only some words to describe the sound of them.
The vocals are neither screamed, nor shouted or growled. They sing - in their own way. Emotive, yet angerfilled yelling could explain it a little.
All in all, this Album must be heard, to say you like it or not!
A catchy band and the most original sound/music i've ever heard. One of the most talented and hard working bands i know. Get them bigger and show some love at Facebook, Myspace or anywhere else!

Links:



Thursday, December 1, 2011

DIY Review #1: Finisher - Doomsayer EP (2011)

Here's something special for you!
Hope you can read this.
Finisher are such a great band, you should all support and love them!


Tracklist:
1. Ragnarok
2. Doomsayer (feat. Aaron from Postmortem Promises)
3. Waste Of Space
4. Rhino

>> Download <<