Metal Injection

By Ryan Buege

After being held off of the MAYHEM's Metal Injection-sponsored Blackenedfest tour due to visa issues last year, MARDUK finally returned to North America last month for a Metal Injection-sponsored tour of their own! Now coming to the country under the banner of their U.S. Plague Tour, the conditions in Minnesota have turned much colder, snowier, and harsher since those scheduled dates in July – yet I guess the frigid atmosphere is all the more appropriate for a show featuring some of the some of the finest names in modern black metal. The recent release of MARDUK's bleak and bludgeoning new album Wormwood was surely a drawing point for most of those in attendance, and there's no doubt that everyone who attended left satisfied by the loud, oppressive explosion of hate that MARDUK unleashed. (more…)

Metal crowds don't get much rowdier than they do for a MUNICIPAL WASTE headlining gig. I suppose songs like "The Art of Partying", "Thrash? Don't Mind If I Do", and "Drunk as Shit" say it all. Then again, considering they put together a three band gig opened by the crusty grind of PHOBIA and the Epitaph worthy punk of OFF WITH THEIR HEADS for their Minneapolis audience, they clearly ain't tryin' to be an orthodox metal band of any sort anyway. On their recently released Massive Aggressive, they also made no attempt to hide their affinity for the manic punk rock that fuels the insanity behind their thrash, and this performance in MN was a clear indication their diverse fanbase couldn't be happier. Any photographer expecting to grab some quick captures was in for a terrible surprise, as the crowd eagerly fed off crossover instinct: thrash, circle pit, stage dive, repeat. At one point, the entire floor – from the front of the stage to the edge of the back staircase – was absorbed into gigantic cyclone as WASTE vocalist Tony Foresta stared on from the front of the stage and muttered "holy shit, now that's a fucking circle pit"! Massive aggressive, indeed.

Luckily I was able to secure a stable spot above the floor for the first few songs of the bands set and was able to capture some solid video of it for you all. As the show continued, I too felt the need to thrash alongside the rest of my fellow heshers, and eventually made it to the front with my camera strapped to my wrist as I held on for dear life and took a few quick photos and a candid video of the front-of-stage action during "Guilty of Being Tight". Enjoy all the exploits below…

Additional videos:

- MUNICIPAL WASTE, "Beer Pressure"
- MUNICIPAL WASTE, "Thrasin's My Business..And Business is Good"
- MUNICIPAL WASTE, "Guilty of Being Tight"

Keep reading to take a look at all the photos that were snapped that night and see more videos from OFF WITH THEIR HEADS and PHOBIA… (more…)

Last Friday (Nov. 27), the Metal Injection-sponsored tour featuring BARONESS, EARTHLESS, and U.S. CHRISTMAS played at the Triple Rock Social Club in Minneapolis, MN, and your faithful MI contributor (Ryan Buege) was in the crowd and able to capture some video and photos throughout the concert. All bands killed it, and though the refined epics of BARONESS and the manic shred of EARTHLESS definitely turned the most heads, the show-starting set of smoky Americana meets suffocating doom from U.S. CHRISTMAS was what really had my jaw on the floor. Long story short, it was a good idea arrive early(, and considering that DARK CASTLE, GAZA, and IRON AGE will be supporting on tail-end of the tour, I know this won't change as BARONESS travels on into the west and the south). Keep reading to enjoy the sights and sounds of this night of glorious psych-metal from the perspective of my trusty camera.

Video: BARONESS "Steel That Sleeps the Eye/Swollen & Halo" live @ the Triple Rock in Minneapolis, MN 11/27/2009

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Video: WITH DEAD HANDS RISING (feat. Colin and Burke on vocals) – "Distress Patterns"

When Minneapolis-based metalheads WITH DEAD HANDS RISING began their foray into a devastatingly brutal style of contemporary hardcore in 2001, the word "deathcore" was little more than whitty quip on par with the likes of "jockcore" or "lumberjackcore". THE RED CHORD still had to get another year of practice under their belts before Fused Together Through Revolving Doors would see the light of day, and the members of  future local deathcore Sumerian-signees AFTER THE BURIAL were most likely drawing band logos on the backs of their algebra notebooks while WDHR were playing their pioneering blend of Meshuggah-esque death metal and emotional hardcore in clubs around the MN area. Though their early albums Behind Inquisition and The Horror Grows Near earned the band a small-yet-rabidly devoted fanbase in the U.S. underground,  their career never sky-rocketed off in the way that their peers' would half a decade later. Over the years, as the world of "deathcore" rose up around them, numerous lineup changes and stylistic shifts morphed them into an almost entirely different band, and eventually the once-revered group became just another face in an overpopulated scene diluted by tired, emotionless cliches. Hindsight shows that the band may have been just too far ahead of their time to be wholly appreciated.

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3 INCHES OF BLOOD, SAVIOURS, and HOLY GRAIL pillaged their way through Minneapolis, Minnesota's Triple Rock Social Club on Friday last week, and Metal Injection contributor Ryan Buege was on hand to snap a few candid closeups of the bands during their respective sets. The bill was extremely solid, especially if your thing is no-frills Valhalla-worthy heavy metal, and each band pulled their weight to give the crowded venue of fist-pumping, denim 'n' leather wearing MN metalheads what they came for – battles, heavy metal riffs, and brotherhood. Oh, and a few beers as well! Continue to the next page to gaze upon all of the visual goods..

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I'm just going to preface this post by saying that catching pneumonia in the summer fucking sucks – especially when you come down with it on the day of a show you've been looking forward to seeing for literally months.

(Buried Inside photo via Evan Hunter)

Dragging myself down to the 7th St. Entry in Minneapolis, MN (against the stern device of my trusty doctor) wasn't easy; but while laying in bed, pondering the fact that BATTLEFIELDS would soon be plugging in their equipment in to prepare for their first appearance in the metro since the release of this year's stellar The Thresholds of Imbalance opus (on Translation Loss Records) AND that BURIED INSIDE would be headlining, I let my excitement get the better of me. Needless to say, I pulled my weary ass together and was there at the 7th St. Entry, assuming my position stage left as the curtain was pulled back to reveal one of the most exciting doom metal shows in recent memory.

Slowly,  BATTLEFIELDS descended into an expansive journey through their new album, and all the symptoms of my illness seemed to melt away as their calculated, proggressive dirge carried my mind off into psychedelic abandon. After months already spent on the road, honing these new songs, the band was locked into an incredibly strong groove during this performance in front of their friends and the hometown crowd, and it showed.

By the time the raging crush of BURIED INSIDE took center stage, I was at the front banging my head with the rest of the beardos and had totally forgotten about my formerly miserable state of mind. The band's new album Spoils of Failure (released on Relapse Records) is an amazing, mind-numbing, torrential package when you're listening to the massively heavy Kurt Ballou-produced recordings, but HOLY SHIT, these are songs that need to be heard live. Twisting and turning seamlessly through every nuanced sound – both the beautifully serene and the disturbingly cataclysmic – the quintet's incredible (and long-awaited) performance commanded the strict attention of the audience for all the best, most satisfying reasons.

And the best part? I had the sense to capture some videos from the show, and I'm posting them here for your viewing pleasure. Continue browsing below to watch live videos of "II" and "III" from BURIED INSIDE and "Disacknowledge" from BATTLEFIELDS. Lucifer only knows how many times I've already replayed these videos from my sickbed while I try to relive the night and ignore my persistent phlegmy cough…

VIDEO: Buried Inside, "II" (live at 7th St. Entry in Minneapolis, MN on 7/16/2009)

VIDEO: Battlefields, "Disacknowledge" (live at 7th St. Entry in Minneapolis, MN on 7/16/2009)

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As Mayhem brought Blackened Fest to St. Paul, MN on June 9, 20009, the vibe was unexpectedly and unfortunately even more somber than one would have hoped for the return of some of Norwegian black metal's reigning elite. After already suffering the crippling blow of a late visa-related cancellation from Marduk before the tour began, the rest of the lineup except for Mayhem (Cephalic Carnage, Cattle Decapitation, and Withered) were forced to cut the trek short the night before St. Paul due to a variety of complications described by Justina V. already. Whether or not Justina's indictment of Mayhem's responsibility for the festival's implosion is accurate or not, I'm not here to argue. However, I certainly can understand her resentment as a fellow Metal Injection reporter (non-roving, based in MPLS) and someone who was on the opening band's guestlists that never arrived. To put it shortly, it was a huge bummer to be greeted with the cancellation announcement sign as I walked in, and it made me skeptical I'd even enjoy what was now becoming an expensive evening for me (although, I must admit, the ticket price was actually slashed to 1/2 the original cost for those who bought advanced tickets, and refunds and free tickets to next week's Absu show were being offered to attendees – in other words, the venue was graciously being overly apologetic for the unfortunate circumstances).

While performances from Cattle Decap, Cephalic Carnage, Withered, and Marduk would never occur, Mayhem pushed on alone, against the odds and advice of financial experts, carrying the torch of blackness alone on the remaining dates of a now-solo headlining tour. Playing to a crowd of devoted Twin Cities extreme metal faithful, Mayhem's blistering, theatrical black metal combined with a choice selection of local supports bands eventually succeeded and won over the dejected. (more…)

(Destruction)

DESTRUCTION and KRISIUN played a show at Station 4 in St. Paul on Friday, March 13th, a small festival of all things metal. Unfortunately, I missed MANTIC RITUAL and a whole slew of awesome local thrash, grind and death metal due to a prior engagement, but the show that Krisiun and DESTRUCTION put on to close the night made my trip to St. Paul from Minneapolis more than worth it. The Brazilian death metal trio of brethren known as KRISIUN played their revered brutal death metal to perfection, drawing material mostly from their newest high quality albums. Songs such as “Bloodcraft” & “Combustion Inferno” threw the tight knit crowd into a frenzy that was very deserved, given the massive, spectacular sound coming from the stage. While I admit I’m not as familiar with the German thrash legends in DESTRUCTION as I am with many 80s thrash acts, their show was very, very awesome; no frills thrash metal at maximum headbanging velocity. Dates are remaining on this tour, and everyone is in top form; get out to it if you can, because these band’s deserve to be seen. Anyway, on to my brief set of photos from both the band’s performances.

(Krisiun)

The rest of the gallery and the remaining tour dates are all waiting for you after the jump! (more…)

It's unlikely many metal fans know it, but I want to go on record and say that the small independent Translation Loss Records label is home to two of the most noteworthy progressive metal albums that are being released this winter/spring. On February 17th, IREPRESS will begin selling, Sol Eye Sea I, their 1st album in six years, and BATTLEFIELDS will be welcoming their second album, Tresholds of Imbalance, on March 31st. Luckily for those of you may be unaware, both bands have already posted music on their websites from their releases for you to preview. One can only hope that these awesome songs are accurate representations of the rest of the material: IREPRESS's "Cyette Phiur" is a stellar production of adventurous polyrhythmic progressive metal and hardcore wrapped in post-rock and shoe gaze, and BATTLEFIELDS' "Quake and Flood" is a hard-charging, many-layered epic of vicious hardcore-infused-doom metal and heady psychedelics.

Thanks their new connection trough Translation Loss, they will be soon setting out on a massive North American coheadlining tour through the Midwest to SXSW to the Pacific and back across the country to support these new releases. So far, it's not even clear where and when the tour is even going to stop; be on the lookout for a show in your area, because seeing either of these bands right now would be worth the ticket price (and the conjoined ticket makes it impassable).

Here are the tour dates we've received: (more…)

This year's release schedule is coming together very nicely. According to their website, Sweden's post-metal leaders Cult of Luna are releasing a feature DVD entitled Fire Was Born as a part of a redux release of their much-heralded recent album Eternal Kingdom (which even appeared on my 2008 recap..) on March 23rd, 2009.

Fire Was Born will focus on a gig recorded at the Scala in London on the tour last July 2008 (featuring the extended lineup of the band – including two drummers) playing a 1 hour 30 min set. It will also include an interview with Johannes and Anders answering questions from fans all around the world and the videos for "The Watchtower", "Leave Me Here", and "Back to Chapel Town" and will be available for sale on March 23rd. For now, check out the following preview clip:

To some, they may be known as HENNES SISTE HØST – the North Dakota based underground USBM band whose brilliant new album of frostbitten black'n'roll progressive metal, Høst, broke new ground with its fusion of the band's blackened Norwegian traditions and a variety of other abstract and punk oriented influences. Last week, they made the trip from Fargo to Minneapolis for the second time in as many months, and are now performing under the simpler moniker HØST. The turnout was meager, however the show was incredible – their dynamic songs playing with an exceptional clarity and evoking psycotic, psychedelic madness through their relentless riffage, chaos, and rhythm. Here are some photos:

HØST were preceded by a showcase of some of the most innovative and promising Minneapolis' acts: doom-gaze metal band VERNAL POOL (photos), techmetal from SAID THE SHOTGUN TO THE HEAD (photos), crusty grind'n'roll from AMBASSADOR GUN (photos), and dirty, sludgy thrash from Eau Claire, Wisconsin's DESOLATE VOID (photos).

If you have no idea what I have just been talking about, do yourself a favor and visit them online now.

Hot on the heels of last week's announcement of the "Best. Tour. Ever!", Gothenburg's THE HAUNTED have organized a show that is sure to fill the North American metal clubs in the early part of the year. For the month of April they'll embark on their first U.S. tour in support of the blistering new album Versus, and they have revealed they will be joined by none other than some of the best metal bands America could possibly offer - NACHTMYSTIUM, KYLESA, and INTRONAUT (UPDATE 3/6/09 – INTRONAUT and KYLESA dropped off to do a tour with MASTODON. THE AGONIST and MERAUDER will be replacing them. More info here). .. Holy shit. Be there early; there's no excuses for missing any of this party! Dates are below:

April 02nd Pomona, CA – The Glasshouse
April 03rd Hollywood, CA – The Key Club
April 04th San Francisco, CA – Slim's
April 05th Portland, OR – Hawthorne Theater
April 06th Seattle, WA – Neumo's
April 07th Vancouver, BC – Commodore Ballroom
April 08th Edmonton, AB – Starlite Ballroom
April 09th Calgary, AB – The Warehouse
April 11th Winnipeg, MB – Royal Albert
April 12th St. Paul, MN – Station 4
April 13th Mokena, IL – The Pearl Room
April 14th Detroit, MI – Majestic Theatre
April 15th Toronto, ON – Opera House
April 16th Montreal, QC – Club Soda
April 17th Worcester, MA – The Palladium
April 19th New York, NY – BB King's Blues Club
April 21st Millvale, PA – Mr. Small's
April 22nd Springfield, VA – Jaxx
April 23rd Raleigh, NC – Volume 11
April 24th Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade

Visit everyone online: The Haunted – Nachtmystium – Kylesa – Intronaut

The MELVINS are fresh off their unbelievable ATP Winter festival showcase that they curated with Mike Patton. If you missed it, too bad; for three nights the UK was home to an unbelievable lineup that included MASTODON, ISIS, BUTTHOLE SURFERS, THE DAMNED, FANTOMAS, MELVINS, SQUAREPUSHER, THE LOCUST, BIG BUSINESS and tooooo many more amazing artists to name. Now King Buzzo and friends are turning up in the unlikeliest of places – namely performing a set with a puppet on the Pancake Mountain children's show. Needless to say, I don't really mind knowing there's a kids show out there that's letting the MELVINS teach America's children about music. Enjoy!

If you're cooped inside tonight, tune to UK's BBC Radio 1 to hear the recent in-studio performance by Philadelphia's unpredictable electroprogcore scientists in GENGHIS TRON. Their set will air tonight (Monday, December 15) at 12 midnight GMT (6:00 p.m. CST) on Radio 1's "The Rock Show with Daniel P Carter". The program will also be available for seven days at this location.

Just last week, GENGHIS TRON released volumes 3 and 4 of their amazing new 5 VOLUME SERIES(!) of limited edition remixes, and it features some of the brightest underground musicians retouching songs from the band. Artists involved include JUSTIN K. BROADERICK (JESU, GODFLESH), ELUVIUM, ROB CROW (PINBACK, DRIVE LIKE JEHU), STEVE MOORE, TOBACCO (BLACK MOTH SUPER RAINBOW), DNTEL, SCOTT HULL (PIG DESTROYER, AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED), DANNY LOHNER (NINE INCH NAILS, A PERFECT CIRBLE), ULVER, TELEFON TEL AVIV, ODD NOSDAM, TIM HECKER, NADJA, and many, many more. Before the show starts, I recommend headng to their special myspace remix site to listen to some of these unbelievable remixes if you haven't already; Volume 5 is now up for preorder here.

Podcast: Download

The thrash masters in KREATOR have been working on their new album for many months, and today they have posted the first music to be leaked from the release. The song is "Warcurse", a massive beast of hate-fueled thrash that has the band sounding more pissed off and defiant than ever! By January 13th, U.S. headbangers should have their hands on a full album of deadly new German thrash when Hordes of Chaos hits shelves and download sites everywhere. KREATOR will be on the road for a gigantic 4 month live stint (with other greats such as EXODUS, BELPHEGOR, WARBRINGER, CALIBAN, ELUVEITIE, EPICUREAN, and EMERGENCY GATE) soon, and so far it looks like the new album will definitely add to the insanity in the pits this time around. Click below to check out "Warcurse" and keep reading to see all the dates for KREATOR's spring tour.

"Warcurse" – LISTEN HERE
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