Grindcore vets Pig Destroyer have announced a new EP, The Octagonal Stairway. In advance of its release, the band has shared the music video for the track “The Cavalry”, featuring fan-submitted footage from early on in the COVID-19 pandemic. The six-track EP, which arrives August 28th, collects previously released one-off singles and “B-side noise cuts.” The EP takes its title from the spiraling 2013 single “The Octagonal Stairway”, included here alongside 2019 songs “The Cavalry” (initially released via the Decibel Flexi Series) and “Cameraman”. The second half of the EP contains the previously unreleased songs “News Channel 6”, “Sound Walker”, and “Head Cage” (which shares a name with the band’s 2018 album, but was not on the LP’s tracklist). The EP also features former Sepultura drummer...
Japanese metal auteurs Boris have offered up the dystopian music video for “-鏡 -Zerkalo-”, the third single from the band’s latest album, NO. Much like the tracks cascading doom chords and passionate vocal rasps, the video for “-鏡 -Zerkalo-” is epic and transportive. Slow pans depict the barren rocks and surging oceans of a future, post-nuclear landscape. After traversing what looks like an alien planet, we’re taken to a dystopian cityscape. Created by CG artist Yoshiki Shimahara and directors fangsanalsatan and Ryuta Murayama, the video is like Philip Glass’ Koyaanisqatsi by way of Dark Souls. In a press release, Boris gave only this brief cryptic comment on the song and video, revealing that it’s not an alien planet, but our own: “The song as a mirror that reflects this world.” The video...
Doom metal act Pallbearer have announced their highly anticipated new album, Forgotten Days. To coincide with today’s announcement, the Arkansas quartet has also shared the music video for the title track in advance of the LP’s October 23rd release date. Pallbearer faithful have no fear: The band turns in a crushing track of vintage, riff-filled doom on “Forgotten Days”. The opening barrage of riffs, combined with singer/guitarist Brett Campbell’s slightly more nasal vocal delivery, make for Pallbearer’s most straight-up metal offering in years. A somber middle package recalls Jerry Cantrell’s melodic acoustic material, giving the track added depth and a musical reprieve from what is undoubtedly the band’s heaviest material since their now-legendary 2010 Demo. “Forgotten Days is us explori...
Danzig (photo by Heather Kaplan), Mercyful Fate’s King Diamond (photo by Kevin RC Wilson) Psycho Las Vegas has revealed its 2021 lineup, and it features most of the acts who were set to perform on the festival’s 2020 bill. Danzig, Mercyful Fate, and Emperor will headline, just as they would have done this summer if the fest wasn’t called off due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In essence, the 2020 edition of Psycho Las Vegas has been rescheduled for 2021. In addition to the three headliners, such notable acts as The Flaming Lips, Blue Öyster Cult, Down, Mayhem, Satyricon, Obituary, Warpaint, Blonde Redhead, Katatonia, Amigo the Devil, Thursday, Pig Destroyer, Watain, Poison the Well, and more have all committed to the 2021 fest. Among the acts who were scheduled to play in 2020 but are no ...
Clutch have announced that they’ll headline a full bill of rock and metal, albeit a streaming-only concert due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The veteran hard rockers will play a virtual show that will feature support from Crowbar, Blacktop Mojo, and Saul. For a ticket price of $9, fans will be able to enjoy four bands from the confines of their own homes. The May 27th concert begins at 4:00 p.m. ET with Saul, followed by Blacktop Mojo at 4:35 p.m., then Crowbar at 5:10 p.m., and finally Clutch at 5:55 p.m. A portion of the ticket proceeds will benefit the nonprofit organization Angel Flight West. The streaming show, dubbed “Live From the Doom Saloon Volume 1”, follows a series of informal mini-concerts that Clutch have been performing from their studio in Maryland. Those shows streamed live fo...
Mrs. Piss, courtesy of Grandstand Media Singer-songwriter Chelsea Wolfe and multi-instrumentalist Jess Gowrie have formed a new band, the sardonically dubbed Mrs. Piss. The duo’s debut album, Self-Surgery, is out May 29th, and they’ve shared two new songs, “Downer Surrounded by Uppers” and “Knelt”. Mrs. Piss reconciles a long musical relationship between Wolfe and Gowrie, who once played together in a band called Red Host in the early 2000s. The idea to form a new band came when the two were touring together for Wolfe’s 2017 album, Hiss Spun. The two singles showcase the duo’s sonic diversity and are more urgent and abrasive than Wolfe’s folk-tinged output. “Downer Surrounded by Uppers” is a ripping post-punk track while “Knelt” is a droning wall of sludge, slower but no less heavy. For Wo...
The Lowdown: Paradise Lost innovated goth metal in the late ’80s, and while that style remains has remained popular through the years (see: Type O Negative, Lacuna Coil, more), the pioneering UK act still flies under the mainstream radar in the United States. Part of that has to do with the fact that Paradise Lost has scarcely toured the States for most of their career, although two years ago they embarked on a 30th anniversary headlining tour of North America. The next step on Paradise Lost’s journey is Obsidian, their 16th studio album. While it might not be musically groundbreaking for the veteran metallers, the LP showcases their various strengths in a nearly flawless run of songs just as sharp and polished as the igneous stone for which it’s named. The Good: Obsidian caps off a partic...
Metal band Inter Arma have announced a new covers album, Garbers Days Revisited, featuring renditions of songs by Neil Young, Prince, Tom Petty, Nine Inch Nails, and more. The band has offered a preview of the record with their heavy take on Young’s “Southern Man”. Recorded between tours for their 2019 album, Sulphur English, the covers LP sees Inter Arma lending their crushing amalgamation of doom, death metal, and psych to eight songs that have influenced them. They turn “Southern Man” — already one of Young’s crunchiest and heaviest numbers — into a sonic colossus. “Inter Arma as a whole are massive Neil Young fans,” the band commented in a press release. “‘Southern Man’ has been a staple of our live set for over a decade and we finally got around to putting it to tape. We hope you enjo...