Lantern - Burned Youth (2012)

Request from Pigeon Row, Canada.

Here is their press release:

Philadelphia's Lantern returns with a second tape release for Night-People, this time in the form of a reissued tour only cassette that highlights the band's evolution over the course of 2009-2011. Despite being a bit of a retrospective, Burned Youth feels very whole, considered and complete. Overall, the fidelity of these recordings is a bit more hi-fi than the band's recent Night-People tape Stranger I Come/Stranger I Leave. The destroyed, psyched-out proto-punk (Stooges/Denudes) inspired squall of that release isn't really present on this more archival material. For these recordings Lantern seemed to be approaching things from a more Texas/Delta blues and Their Satanic Majesties era Stones influence with a good bit of Texas garage psych thrown in the mix a la the Elevators and Parable of Arable by Red Krayola. This is really fun music regardless and feels like its own take on classic rock and roll aesthetics.

This is lo-fi rock'n'roll that has an almost weary country rock feel to things,

with acoustic guitars being at the front of things but when the fuzz comes in

you get a taste of Mazzy Star and hints of the Velvets at their most reflective.

You get laid back tunes with a 60's garage vibe - what's not to like?

Buy from Bandcamp

Band info Here

Mastodon - Leviathan (Piano version!)

First of all, kudos to Metal Sucks blog for bringing this

to everyones attention. I would not normally just rip

off from a blog but this is a Soundcloud clip with a share

/embed option so here we are.

Some guy (jsabbottO) has recorded the entire Mastodon

album "Leviathan" on the piano in one take! While this

is an incredible feat of virtuoso playing and is definitely

worth a listen, if I had the skills to learn, notate and perform

like this, I sure as fuck would not be doing cover versions!

The Next Hundred Years - Troppo (2012)

Band request from Canada.

The Next Hundred Years have featured on this blog

before but now they have a new album out.

This time around the production is of a much higher

quality which makes for a wider, bigger sound.

The stoner/metal sound is still very evident but

there is a definite groove to the already complex

song arrangements which remind me somewhat

of Alice In Chains.

The guitars have retained their warm, fuzzy tones

but the tracks have more urgency to them and there

seems to be a tension to the riffs that builds up before

being allowed to burst into a heavier passage.

This collection of tunes shows the band have matured

as song writers and have honed their craft. If you want

some good solid rock to bang your head to - Listen

Free download from Bandcamp

Comity - The Journey Is Now Over

French heaviness that defies genre tagging.

Comity play a brutish but thrilling brutal mix of hardcore,

sludge and post-metal but keep things dark and dank with

descents into crust.

The four tracks are long and epic with a crushing feel to the

atmosphere. Extreme sonic noise is suddenly brought to

a stillness with piano notes echoing in the silence until

the chaos explodes - this reminds me of when Neurosis

still termed themselves as hardcore but were plainly

mapping new territory into post-metal.

The intensity of these songs seem impossible to keep up

but Comity play the tension out with an ease that is

helped with sudden bursts of Dillinger Escape Plan type

guitar riffs spewing out over the schizo tempo changes.

If you are not aware - I really like this - despite the fact that

it was released in December 2011, this goes onto my album

of the year list for 2012!

Listen

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Pay what you want at Bandcamp on Throatruiner Records -

one of my favourite labels out there at the moment.

Antares/Seditius European Tour 2012

Italian record label Rancore have asked me to post these tour

dates for Antares and Seditius. I have featured Seditius before

Here - they play some excellent rock'n'roll hardcore.

Two of the best underground bands in Italy are going to tour Europe this April.

We're talking about italy's finest rock n roll act ANTARES and Milan's hardcore-rock band SEDITIUS.

Check the dates and be there!

TOUR SCHEDULE:

23 mar @ LOCHNESS PUB, RIVA DEL GARDA, ITALY
http://www.facebook.com/events/253698191385644/

3 apr @ T.N.T. CLUB, MILANO, ITALY
http://www.facebook.com/events/317077858353747/

4 apr @ ROTER GUGL, BAD WALTERSDOLF, AUSTRIA
http://www.facebook.com/events/190592731045492/

5 apr @ VENSTER 99, WIEN, AUSTRIA
http://www.facebook.com/events/229582250468199/

6 apr @ CAFE' NA PUL CESTY, PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC

7 apr @ BOZAK CLUB, TEPLITZ, CZECH REPUBBLIC
http://www.facebook.com/events/272181036177525/

8 apr @ KOEPI, BERLIN, GERMANY

13 apr @ SWAMP CLUB, MASSA, ITALY

• ANTARES || turbo rock n roll from Italy
http://www.facebook.com/AlphaScorpiiRocknroll
http://www.myspace.com/antarespeedrock

• SEDITIUS || hardcore rock n roll from Italy

http://www.seditius.com
http://www.facebook.com/seditius
http://www.seditius.bandcamp.com/

Supported by: www.lapaguis.com, www.rancore.it, www.tornadoriderecords.com

If you are able to - check them out.

Nonogon - People Live Everywhere (2012)

Band request from Chicago, USA.

Nonogon are a post-hardcore trio who have a mathy sound

but without being tied down to the sometimes mechanical

playing that robs the human touch from the "math" tag.

Cleanish vocals are yelped out over the tracks which benefit

from having organic song structures which still pack a punch

despite no obvious verse/chorus motifs.

Technical skills are on show here with great interplay between

all instruments which, thanks to the production, are crystal

clear.

The band have requested that I only put up their own links -

as a DIY affair, they are handling all aspects of promotion etc.

Purchase from Bandcamp

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Listen to the stream - I would put them between Fugazi or

Don Caballero - better still, make your own mind up!

The Melvins - The Bulls & The Bees

The Melvins have just released this EP as a free download

from Scion.

Whadda need to know? 5 new Melvins songs - heavy as

fuck and sounding all melvinny ....... I would say very much

in the style of (A) Senile Animal.

You still here? - get over to Scion and Check out @ScionAV's The Melvins - The Bulls & The Bees on scionav.com!

Kustodian - Dusted Emperor (2012)

Kustodian seems to be a one-man project from New York

but as the bandcamp page I found this on has almost no

information, this is a guess on my part.

Anyway, the music speaks for itself. Experimental sludge

that is played so fucking heavy that I keep going back to

it, just to see if it still sounds the same. Massive riffs are

hammered out over a drum machine (or robot drummer?)

that are heavily processed to give an industrial percussion

that clatters and thuds.

The tracks are largely instrumental but there are spoken

word samples played with distortion and bursts of shouted

vocals drift in and out of the mix. The whole album drips

with atmosphere and is certainly not your standard macho-

grunt fest.

"Adapters" has a echoed piano riff looping while

snatches of police radio and telephone conversations are

played over drones - kinda like the Butthole Surfers song

"22 going on 23"...... this interlude sets up the next track

to sound even more brutal.

"Commuters" is almost 10 minutes long and the last thing

I expected to hear was the guitar solo - a distorted blues wailing

along to the riff - which is probably why it is there.

This is excellent stuff and nicely heavy.

Listen

Free download from Bandcamp

Obstacles - Oscillate

Band request from Copenhagen, Denmark.

Here is their press release:

Having perfected the controlled, well-structured output on

Dividual – a relentless musical assault of tightness and timing

- the band felt an urge to tackle the song-writing in a completely

different way. Loosing up, Letting go. Trying to make the impossible,

possible by making complex music flow in a more free form. After a swift and spontaneous writing-process, 4 tracks were ready to be captured.

Obstacles teamed up with their friend Sune Kaarsberg to begin the

recordings of Oscillate in their studio. This was a very dynamic process filled with experiments in sound and form. The result is breathtaking.

Like being caught in a beautiful storm where chaos and energy reigns.

While still somewhat futuristic in its aesthetics, Oscillate can also be

considered a nod back to a hazy forgotten past, paying homage to

legends of prog-rock and jazz-fusion whilst still maintaining the

punchiness and vigor of their previous releases.

Obstacles are a 3 piece instrumental band who have combined

Space/prog-rock with some Math-rock and come up with some great

sounding tracks. Frantic playing makes sure all the tracks hurtle

along without losing the flow and there is some excellent guitar

riffing and solos that are boosted with the addition of some

un-hinged sax playing. This is pretty hard to describe - play the

stream below and make your own mind up!

Listen

Name your price from Bandcamp

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Bubonic Bear - Fleshworld

Band request from Philadelphia, USA.

This duo play a mixture of hardcore and sludge with

brutal effect. Dirty distorted riffs hammer away as

the vocals vie for levels against the noise rock

type song arrangements.

Hard to believe that two people can make such

a fucking racket but hey, here is the evidence.

The songs speed along leaving you no room to

catch a breath and the aggression shows no sign

of flagging by the end of this eight track album.

This is no mindless thrashing though, they display

intricate arrangements among all the chaos which

should please anyone into Botch etc.

Highly recommended - Listen

Bubonic Bear play at the Kungfu Necktie Club at

1248 N Front Street, Philadelphia on Monday 23rd

April with Racebannon & Bardus.

Purchase the album - Here

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