HELLO, HEAVY METAL MANIACS!!
If you missed out on last month’s Breezer’s Top Ten Metal Digs, take a listen. And if you have Spotify, check out my Top Metal Digs Playlist. Another month brings another slew of new tunes! Let’s go!
1) GHOST ~ “Rats”
I’ve been a huge fucking GHOST fan since they still legally had the B.C. attached to their name. If you follow my blog, this fact should come as no surprise. I am a sucker for theatrics (Thanks, Alice Cooper), and have basked in the gloriousness of their satirical salutations to Satan twice.
Papa is no more. Cardinal Copia leads the group of ghouls now. GHOST will drop the follow-up album to Meliora this Summer–Prequelle. Like most theatrical bands, they delve into themes which can stand alone while also presenting social commentary. This album will provide loose Medieval imagery, such as the Black Plague, which can also relate to social mannerisms presenting themselves in today’s society.
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2) Knocked Loose ~ “Deadringer”
HEAVY as FUCK. If you need a new pit-slamming tune to get through your day in a cube, this is the one.
As lead vocalist Bryan Garris divulges, this song reflects on envious emotions, especially in the case of coveting what your mentors experience. “Deadringer” references Garris’ grandfather, a musician of 60+ years. Rumors say the sample at the end of the radio track is from one of his grandfather’s songs. The word itself denotes two different objects sharing extremely similar qualities. Max Moore directed/produced the music video. His resume is long and includes acts such as Code Orange, Stone Sour, Miss May I, and Harm’s Way.
Knocked Loose are in the early stages of their career…a baby metal band, if you will. If you enjoy hardcore and metalcore, pay attention. They’re just getting started.
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3) Earthside ~ “A Dream In Static”
Djent work friend turned me onto Earthside…and these prog grooves blew me away.
The Connecticut group primarily focuses on instrumentals, but they feature acclaimed singers on a number of their songs. These musicians are professionals with academic degrees, three of them with B.A.s in Music from esteemed Universities and conservatories. This reminds me sooo much of the members of Dream Theater.
A Dream In Static features TesseracT’s Daniel Tompkins on vocals. He showcases his vocal range with a plethora of whimsical mid-range melodies and high notes hit with ease. No less, the band’s compositions range from classical complexity to harsh Metal grooves. If you need new prog tunes, explore this band’s entire album before they gear up for album number two.
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4) Burn The Priest ~ “Inherit The Earth”
This new band that LOOKS A LOT LIKE LAMB OF GOD AND SOUNDS JUST FUCKING LIKE THEM…covers The Accused’s Inherit the Earth.
Burn The Priest’s singer who bears a striking resemblance to Randy Blythe shared “I’ve been an Accused fan since I was 14 when they were on the Thrasher Skate Rock Volume 3 compilation with C.O.C. and all these amazing crossover bands. Their singer Blaine Cook was a huge influence on me, vocally.”
Burn The Priest releases Legion: XX in mid May 2018, a cover album full of hardcore and thrashy punk favorites. A Melvins song is on there and a member of the Butthole Surfers even joins in on Ministry’s “Jesus Built My Hot Rod.”
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5) Turnstile ~ “Real Thing”
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I’m not sure what the hell I just watched, but this song sounds like someone dropped acid and started giddily throwing shit off a tramopoline in just about two minutes.
Here, we have a fairly new hardcore punk band from Ohio tapping into the soul of youthful discontent complimented by a music video reeking of 90’s mise-en-sentiment. #BlindMelon
I don’t know what it is about these damned hardcore bands, but they’re truly drawing in my inner grunge punk. Either hardcore is evolving or my old Metal soul is softening up to this genre integration. Congrats, Turnstile!
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6) Parkway Drive ~ “Wishing Wells”
Parkway Drive bring us a highly intense and furiously intimate song.
If you know anything about cinematography, you already knew this before the thunder deafens your doomed eardrums. And rightly so.
According to a statement made by Winston McCall on Instagram the song “is about dealing with grief & loss in the aftermath of losing a loved one. Searching for a reason & a way of computing losing part of your life you will never get back. Looking for something to blame as a way of coping with the unthinkable.” True grief encompasses the deepest sorrow and the fiercest rage. Parkway Drive nailed it.
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7) At The Gates ~ “To Drink From The Night Itself”
At The Gates comes back with their punching Swedish death metal melodies. This eponymous single will set the mood of the album. The band chose Patric Illaeus, who worked with In Flames, Arch Enemy, Dimmu Borgir in the past, to direct the music video. The record will again feature conceptual artwork by Twilight 13 Media’s Costin Chioreanu
“We live through our art, and the whole album deals with the concept of art. Art as a tool either for revolution, or suppression. To drink from the night itself is just that, a metaphor for living and breathing through art,” clarifies frontman Tomas Lindberg.
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8) Bad Wolves ~ “Better The Devil”
Here we fucking go. Some new Metalcore djents. Blended with some…poppy, catchy riffs to grab at a wider audience for their debut album (See: Zombie). Whether its their style or its strategy, I’m intrigued. I keep hearing this tune on SXM Liquid Metal, and the more I hear it, the more I love it.
These are seasoned Metal musicians, most current or ex members of well known bands, including DevilDriver, Vimic, In This Moment, and Five Finger Death Punch. Tommy Vext vocalizes from hard rock croons to core screams. So dreamy. Oh, and I see Ibanez guitars everywhere in the music videos.
So, yeah…I’ll probably buy this album in a couple weeks. My panties are impressed.
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9) Bleeding Through ~ “Set Me Free”
After taking a break, this Cali band is back in action. Sometimes a healthy band marriage needs to refocus on the needs of the individual.
The guys took the metaphor feeling chained up in a desolate situation to a literal place in the music video as it portrays a man literally chained up attempting to break free from captivity.
Bleeding Through consider themselves just hardcore, not met…or at least used, to…but…I’m seeing a trend of these two worlds colliding. And the keyboards in this song set a particularly Blackened tone. Either way, this song is great mood music for knocking someone’s teeth out. With pit consent, of course.
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10) Allegaeon ~ “Subdivisions”
I fucking love RUSH. I grew up to my Mom & Dad’s tales of “2112” being played on a continuous loop among the friend group outings. You could leave one friend’s car and get into another’s listening to practically where you left off.
For my Undergrad graduation party, I sang in the short-lived, one-gig RUSH cover band called “The Bangkoks” consisting of my Dad on bass, my ex the Guitar Hero, and “Neil Peart” Kurt Foz. And, yes, had I not come down with the plague crud, my voice would’ve been even more on Geddy Lee point than it already is.
So, when I heard this cover, I about shit my pants.
A melodic death metal band adding their originality to a beautiful, classic work of epic prog rock.
Just…Somewhere out of a memory…{SUBDIVISIONS}
Gonna give all of these a listen