Mixed Feelings About Bleeding Through's "The Great Fire" [Updated]

Because I like to over analyze tiny details, here's my two cents about the new Bleeding Through album The Great Fire. In short: I don't think people will really notice it, but I have hopes that it might sound pretty good. [A new song has been released, and my thoughts have been adjusted accordingly.]

On the Death of Jonas Bergqvist, and Why I'll Never Judge Another Book by its Cover

This morning I read that some dude named Jonas Bergqvist died. "Big whoop," I said to myself. At first. One of the news posts I read on his death also had a youtube clip of a song from Bergqvist's band Lifelover. I checked it out and holy crap I was blown away.

A Bone to Pick with the Music Industry and Release Dates

It's one of the most important parts about an album's release: the release date. But in many ways, the music industry (both on the label's end, and the media's) can't even get this right.

This Is Hell to Release "Black Mass"

This has been one of the worst kept secrets in indie music in the last few months: This Is Hell will release their fourth studio album titled Black Mass on October 11, 2011.

The Devil Wears Prada Becoming Increasingly Tolerable

My thoughts on another surprising release for 2011: The Devil Wears Prada's Dead Throne. I've always hated this band, but this album I like.

I Never Thought I'd Actually Be Excited for a Jane's Addiction Record...

Jane's Addiction has always been around, and I've always never cared. But the two songs they've released thus far have definitely captured my attention...

Y NO COVERZ???

What better way to pay tribute to a highly influential band than to cover one of their songs. They can either completely destroy the song or really highlight what we all loved about it to begin with. Either way, it's (usually) a great honor to have one of your songs covered. But there's one group of bands that I've NEVER seen a single cover from.

Jesus Christ People, Stop Burning Everything Down!

I was blown away by some of the pictures of the riots in Vancouver, Canada following the Canucks' loss of the Stanley Cup just two months ago. Something like ten city blocks were set on fire in that incident, and that was just over a game. Now in London, an on going (as of this post) riot has been taking place resulting in a pretty good chunk of the city getting burned. One building in particular caught media attention in the states today: a warehouse owned by Sony and PIAS records was burned TO THE GROUND.

Let's Start a Rumor: Deftones Have a New Song Titled "Chillers" Floating Around

In my free time (which I seem to have a lot of lately) I love to mindlessly surf the web as many bored Americans do. Generally I end up a lot more bored than I started out, but yesterday I may have discovered a little gem. Supposedly there's a studio recording of a Deftones song out there called "Chillers" from the group's mysterious unreleased album tentatively titled Eros. [Update: It's fake.]

2011 is an Epic Year for Hardcore Reunions

A bunch of old school hardcore punk bands decided 2011 would be the best year to reunite, and who would I be to argue with them? Get excited people!

Germs: The Missing Link

As I've been researching the history of punk and metal, I find that many publications spew out the same history word-for-word. But after doing some digging of my own, I find a few anomalies that don't quite fit the chronology I've been told. The biggest one that comes to mind is an LA punk band called the Germs.

Prurient's 'Bermuda Drain'

I'm always amused when I discover a talented artist who's been around for over a decade, yet I've never heard of them. Apparently there's this guy named Ian Fernow who performs under the name Prurient and plays noisy electronic music. I've been a fan of noisy music for a while, so I'm surprised I've never heard of this solo artist before now.

Ship of Theseus: An Identity Crisis

As I amuse myself with this little blog, I notice that, while reading back, some of my posts incorporate a bit of philosophy. I'm a huge fan of philosophy and thought puzzles, so I thought I'd continue posting things like this. In this blog, I'll explore the classic Greek paradox known as The Ship of Theseus, and how it may related to listening to metal and punk music. When many founding members of a band leave, is it still the same band?

Great Music Brought to You Today by... Car Makers and Television Networks?

A new/old Mastodon song was released today. Old in that it's a B-side from Crack the Skye, but new in that it's previously unreleased. But it wasn't released by Mastodon or even Reprise/Warner Bros. (their label), it was released in a joint venture between Adult Swim and the new Kia Soul.

New Find: Old Man Gloom

I've been aware of the band's name for a long while now, but I never really checked them out. Now that I have, I'm totally in love!

I finally got around to Cave In's 'Until Your Heart Stops'

It's considered a landmark album in the late 90s hardcore scene. I'm a huge fan of everything else Cave In has done, in addition to all the other bands from the same era, so it's almost a crime that it took me this long to pick it up. I'm still trying to decide if I like it or not...

Best Year for Deathwish Inc to Date?

The year 2011 is shaping up to be a really great year for the indie hardcore label Deathwish Inc.

Red Fang's Milky Music Video for "Wires"

Very rarely do I watch a music video anymore. They had their time and place, but they just seem pointless now. Most of them are terrible and completely irrelevant to the song, when they should be visually complimenting the song in some way. I can't even remember the last time I sat through a FULL music video... years, maybe. But Red Fang's video for "Wires" absolutely made my day.

I Feel Like I'm the Only One Looking Forward to the Smashing Pumpkins Remasters

I know the theme of this blog is supposed to be more punk/metal driven, but I fucking love The Smashing Pumpkins, and this is huge news for anyone who's a fan.

I've Got a Bone to Pick with "Mathcore"

People like to categorize things, plain and simple. When left in the hands of scientists, we get properly organized lists such as the periodic table of elements and the taxonomic ranking system. When left up to children with an internet connection, we get a collection of totally made-up musical genres such as mathcore. This article also features a special guest appearance by the proverbial fourteen-year-old dude.

Looking Forward to Some "White Silence"

Most nights insomnia is the bane of my existence. I toss, I turn, I do a whole lot of not sleeping. Most night's I'll reach around in the dark for my laptop and make my eyes mad at me with it's blinding light, and make my brain mad at me for reading the same news posts I've already read the day before. BUT THIS MORNING I finally love my insomnia, because I happen to have stumbled upon Amazon.com's listing for Cave In's much anticipated White Silence!!!

The Bald Headbang.

I have my fingers crossed for a revolution in headbanging as we know it. Enough with the hair already!

Best of Q1 2011

Most first quarters are slow. The music industry seems to go dormant mid-November through mid-February. I had a really hard time coming up with a top ten list, so this is just my top five list of releases from the first quarter of 2011 in the punk and metal vein. They're in no particular order. Comments are welcomed. What did I miss out on?

Bands I've Always Wanted to Get Into: Between the Buried and Me

As someone who has been an active listener within the independent music scene, naturally over the years I've become familiar with dozens of bands that I don't know a lot about. Dozens of bands that I've been exposed to in small doses, I hear tons of people hyping, and yet I'm sad to announce that I know next to nothing about these bands. One of these bands is Between the Buried and Me.

A List of Other Things That Reznor Isn't Doing

So Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails isn't going to be in an Abraham Lincoln vampire film. Neat. Well guess what else he's not doing...

The Future of Hardcore is... Ambient?

So I decided that this blog would originally be about reviewing albums and posting news updates, but I'm having far more fun posting my own original research on trends, past and present. One trend I noticed late last year was an increasing interest in ambient music side projects from members of heavy and hardcore bands.

The 90s Part Two?

Is anyone else noticing a huge wave of 90s bands making a major comeback?

Album Holes.

I notice an odd phenomena when buying a new album that I've been wanting for a long time and following the promotion very closely. Since I've never heard anyone bring up this complaint before, I'll call them "album holes" for the sake of giving it a name.

A Brief Look into the History of Punk, and Where I See it Going

Part of what I wanted this blog to become is a place where I can post my own original research and conjectures about punk and metal. From there I hope to either come to the conclusion that I am correct or way off in my beliefs, which will at least somewhat stem from comments. Or perhaps I will come back to this posting a year from now and alter my views based on new discoveries. Anyways, this is what I have come to accept as the history of punk rock as of 2011, my prediction of where it will be in three years, and why everyone will need to buy a copy of Thursday's new album.

A Big Year for E1 Music

It's only February, but it's already shaping up to be a great year of heavy metal from major label E1 Music.

A Little Vampire-Themed Punk Band Named Ink & Dagger

So after my discovery of Refused back in high school I became increasingly open minded about exploring older bands through newer bands. One of the next bands (I don't have an exact chronology, but I don't think they immediately succeeded Refused) that I began to explore was seemingly a minor blip on the mainstream punk radar. It's a little vampire-themed hardcore band named Ink & Dagger.

Metacritic Megafails

A blog on why the critical review aggregator Metacritic fails the music world, and why it needs to step up to the plate.

The Wave -- Everything "Hardcore" of the 2000s Was Supposed to Be

Some of my more recent explorations in discovering new music have lead me to a group of five bands that call themselves The Wave.

Refused -- The Shape of Punk to Come

My visions for this blog were to document my experiences of music through time, mostly after acknowledging the number of fun experiences I've already had. So while I wait for the next big thing to melt my face off, I'll work backwards and start at the beginning. My musical genesis, if you will.

Darkest Hour - 'Savor the Kill'

Earlier today, Darkest Hour released a new song via Noisecreep titled "Savor the Kill." And if you were like me, you saw the band's Tweet from this morning and waited oh so patiently for 1PM EST to arrive.

My First Blog Post Colon Right Parenthesis

That little "About me" box is really tiny, so I'll use this space to tell you who I am and what I'd like this blog to be.