It’s time for another new topic. This one will feature great music videos. There are so many great videos out there that deserve to be showcased. So, that’s what I’m going to be doing with this topic.
First up is the video for the Deftones song “You’ve Seen The Butcher.” This is seriously one of the coolest videos I’ve ever seen and it’s damn sexy too!
Killswitch Engage frontman Jesse Leach always seems to be doing something to keep his musical appetite wet. In addition to Killswitch he also is a part of Times Of Grace and this new project called The Weapon. The Weapon is a straight forward hardcore/punk band. This “new band” seems more like a fun project and pays homage to all their influences from the early hardcore/punk era. Check out the 2 song EP.
The Weapon:
Last year Black Mare released one of my top 25 favorite albums of 2017. The sheer brilliance, beauty and devastation that emits from Sera Timms is astounding. The album Death Magick Mother is draped in gothic sounds, dark poetic lyrics and vocals that draw you into a trance. Black Mare is a side/solo project for Sera, and a bit of a departure from the other bands she is a part of like Ides of Gemini, Black Math Horseman, and Zun. Musically Black Mare will draw you in like a Type O Negative album would. There are subtle nuances to each song that strike a chord while listening which takes your further down the rabbit hole. Songs like “Death By Desire,” “Ingress To Form,” “Babylon’s Fold,” and “Inverted Tower” all posses these qualities and then some. Sera’s songs “traverse hidden realms, fragments of dreams, submerged memories, and mythical imagery” which leaves those who listen completely entrenched in her psyche. Do yourselves a favor and listen to Black Mare and get lost amongst the beauty.
One band that I’ve always thought of as totally underrated is Will Haven. They never fully got their due when they came out. Hailing from Sacramento just like thier friends in Far and Deftones, Will Haven took a more aggressive approach to their music. I truly thought that when their landmark album Carpe Diem was released in 2001, they would have finally got their due but, sadly that didn’t happen. Though that album is widely accepted today as one of the most underrated and influential albums since the turn of the century.
Today Will Haven released the first song from their upcoming album Muerte (out March 23rd… PRE-ORDER HERE). This song entitled “El Sol” is blistering, epic and features Stephen Carpenter from Deftones.
Will Haven- El Sol (featuring Stephen Carpenter):
Will Haven- Winds Of Change:
Upcoming Will Haven Dates:
03/23 Sacramento, CA – Holy Diver (album release show)
05/04 Fullerton, CA – Programme Skate & Sound
05/05 San Diego, CA – Brick by Brick
05/06 Hollywood, CA – The Viper Room
06/23 Portland OR – Star Theater
The 80’s and synth driven music is coming back in a huge way. With the success of things like Stranger Things and EDM culture, it’s not surprising to see this new wave of 80’s influence peaking through. Let me introduce you to Wolf & Raven, a very 80’s synth driven group that seems perfectly stuck in the early mid 80’s. Their dreamscapes and pop sensible sound is reminiscent of something you might recognize from a movie like Real Genius or even Cloak and Dagger and dashes of the early era of M83. Wolf & Raven is made up of two brothers Chris and Anthony Greninger, who make up this dreamy synthwave group. Their new album Ace of Space, “was written with the idea to create a soundtrack that could have been used in an 80’s anime space opera; inspired by cartoons, video games, and movies, it has a wide array of influences to create an audible escape into a multi-layered musical world.” After hearing a few of the songs, this is a perfect description for what they are unleashing to the world. You can pre-order the album on vinyl HERE via Sofa King Vinyl.
I was going through my CD collection the other day and realized how many albums A.F.I. had. So naturally, I went on a listening binge of the ones I’ve always dug. Thus we are now at the point where I have made a ranking of all their albums (I’m not including EP’s or live albums) from worst to best. Let me know what your order would be.
I’m genuinely unsure as to what to think about any of the new songs from A Perfect Circle. This new song “TalkTalk” off their upcoming album Eat The Elephant (which comes out April 20, 2018), sounds like a rehashed song from Mer De Noms and a Puscifer song. The more I think about the return of the band, the more I think it took way too long for them to come back, granted this is just my opinion. I’m sure many people out there that listen to this song and all the others off their new album will really enjoy it.
What do you get when you cross 80’s metal a la Iron Maiden, Metallica and Megadeth and 90’s rock in the vain of Nirvana and Soundgarden? Well I’ll tell you, Void Vator is the end result. This four piece Los Angeles based band, is a melodic heavy rock group that is really starting to leave their mark on the scene. Their debut EP Dehumanized, was produced by Ulrich Wild (Deftones, Pantera, Static X, OneSideZero). The five songs on the EP, especially “Time Has Come” and “No Return,” are chock full of rock, riffs, and melody, which is exactly what this band is all about. Check out Void Vator for all your melodic heavy rock needs.
Stone Temple Pilots have released another new song from their upcoming self titled album due out March 16. It’s very well known that no one will ever come close to Scott Weiland and his talent, melodies, and lyrics, that’s just irreplaceable. Stone Temple Pilots seem to have found the right guy for the job though. On the two songs released so far, “Meadow” and the new one “Roll Me Under” Jeff Gutt fits the profile of what the next singer of STP should sound like. He’s right in the range vocally of Scott so it won’t be a stretch for him to sing the older songs. The new song “Roll Me Under” sounds like a classic STP song. At least it’s not anything as bad as their work with Chester Bennington.