by: Rob Pasbani

I don't know how I missed this before, but holy fuck – if you are a fan of noisy metal and hardcore and fun times, do I have a tour for you! NORMA JEAN is heading out on their first headlining tour in a year. They have handpicked a roster of openers that will surely (who you calling Shirley?) appease any Norma Jean fan which includes: HORSE THE BAND, THE CHARIOT and ARSONISTS GET ALL THE GIRLS.

Yes, I know what you're thinking…THE CHARIOT?! The band featuring Josh Scogin, former frontman of NORMA JEAN? Yes! And guess what, Norma Jean announced they will perform their seminal record Bless The Martyr and Kiss the Child in it's (almost) entirety (minus a 15 minute instrumental), which is pretty much my favorite record by them! And, if you followed the Atlanta natives you know that Josh Scogin sang on that record. And, you're probably asking yourself if he will join his previous band on stage. The band puts questions to rest and addresses the situation in a press release: (more…)

Ever since TRENT REZNOR indicated that NINE INCH NAILS are taking a break after their current run of U.S. shows, the media has been yipping about the man who forced industrial music onto the radio, defied MTV with his videos and politics, thrust JOHNNY CASH and DAVID BOWIE back into the spotlight, infuriated labels and retailers by giving away his music (or encouraging fans to steal it,) and of course, won a Grammy for a song with "fistfuck" in the lyrics. Some even mentioned being one of the most innovative and influential songwriters of the past 20 years. All of which takes a backseat to the fact that Nine Inch Nails put on an unbelievably spectacular live show, and the final New York stop of their "Wave Goodbye" tour at Terminal 5 proved as much. (more…)

Oh fuck yes! One of the biggest shows of the summer (in NY at least) is happening this Friday night with the epic beginning of the Blackened Music Series which will feature REPULSION playing their Decibel Hall of Fame record Horrified in its entirety, plus PIG motherfucking DESTORYER and BRUTAL TRUTH. We really don't need to try to sell you on this, because the show fuckin' sells itself. One thing is for certain, we are definitely heading down there and we are bringing a shit load of cameras with us to tape every nugget of the Brooklyn Masonic Temple.

But, we don't want to go alone! The promoters of the Blackened Music Series were gracious enough to let us give away one pair of tickets to the show so that one of you junkies (and a friend) can have your minds completely blown.

How do you enter you ask? Just leave a comment with your full name AND the name of the bassist of Brutal Truth. We will randomly pick one name on Tuesday Night and announce the winner on Wednesday. UPDATE: TheLSDRaptor wins the tickets! Thanks for playing. Of course if you don't want to test your luck against other junkies, tickets are still available for purchase.

Well, this is awesome! GOJIRA of course is booked to do a bunch of dates on METALLICA's upcoming Fall tour. Being the rock gods that they are, 'tallica is only playing 3 dates in a row and then taking a week off at a time. A band like GOJIRA can't afford that sort of luxury so they are playing their own headlining dates. To make the deal even sweeter, they have announced two amazing bands: BURST and ZOROASTER as the openers. We post about a lot of tours on this site, but I have to say: THIS ONE IS NOT TO BE MISSED! Check out the full dates and a recent interview we conducted with the band after the jump.. (more…)

We have said it before, and I'll say it again right here: YOU NEED TO SEE THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN. Sure, we have a crapload of live clips, but it really doesn't do the chaos this band brings any justice. The band has lined up US dates and some European dates to hype themselves up before they enter the studio. You will not regret this purchase:

6/9 Farmingdale, NY @ Crazy Donkey
6/10 Philadelphia, PA @ First Unitarian Church
6/11 Washington, DC @ Rock & Roll Hotel
6/12 Raleigh, NC @ The Brewery
6/14 Manchester, TN @ Bonnaroo
6/16 Pontiac, MI @ The Pike Room
6/17 Chicago, IL @ Reggie's Rock Club
6/18 Columbus, OH @ The Basement
6/19 St. Catherines, ON @ L3 Nightclub
6/21 Toronto, ON @ Mod Club
7/1 Kristiansand, Norway @ Quart Festival
7/2 Malmo, Sweden @ Debaser
7/3 Munster, Germany @ Vainstream Rockfest
7/4 Weisbaden, Germany @ Vainstream Beastfest
7/5 Cergy, France @ Furia Sound Festival
7/7 Vienna, Austria @ Arena w/ Sepultura
7/8 Rimini, Italy @ Velvet
7/9 Basel, Switzerland @ Sommar Casino
7/10 Nijmegen, Netherlands @ Doornroosje
7/11 Nijmegen, Netherlands @ Fortarock
7/12 Krakow, Poland @ Knock Out Festival
7/14 Esch Sur Alzette, Luxembourg @ Rockhal
7/15 Stuttgart, Germany @ LKA Longhorn
7/16 Nurnberg, Germany @ Hirsch
7/17 Dour, Belgium @ Festival
7/18 Joensuu, Finland @ Ilosaarirock

A little off-topic, this recent tweet from guitarist Ben Weiman may just perfect sum up the band:

my life: make music that is the soundtrack for god beating the shit out of a pinata made of your face. Then i put fake butterflys in my tree

Oh my fucking Buddah! MASTODON absolutely destroyed the Music Hall of Williamsburg last night. Their 90 minute set started with the band plowing through their most recent prog-opus, Crack The Skye from beginning to end as advertised, and then played an additional 40 minutes of old classics in reverse-chronological order starting with tracks off Blood Mountain, then moving to a few from Leviathan and closing with today's wake up call, March of the Fire Ants. This band is too good for words to describe. If they are playing around your town, you need to go see them.

We got the chance to interview Brann and Troy before the show, so look out for that in the next couple of days. If this isn't enough 'don for you, check out a video we found after the jump… (more…)

MASTODON - March of the Fire Ants [4:26m]

 

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The increasingly popular trend of bands playing an album in its entirety can be an awesome way to hear their best songs, a confirmation of the band's current irrelevance or both. Ever the iconoclasts, THE MELVINS' recent performance of 1993's Houdini at Webster Hall was neither, and it set a high standard for every band that does this from now on. (more…)

Above you will find a making of video that the post-metal titans that go by the name ISIS have released unto the wilderness, for it is an ambient reflection of the smooth melodies and sheer awesomeness the band's upcoming CD, Wavering Radiant emotes. On the reals though, we love this band! Very chill. Tour dates after the jump… (more…)

Prepare for the imminent destruction of the cities listed below. That's right, after spending the past few stateside runs opening for LAMB OF GOD, BEHEMOTH and IN FLAMES, it looks like there's no one left willing to follow GOJIRA onstage. Metal's former best-kept-secret is finally taking the headlining jaunt that they've long deserved, and if you don't know what they've done to earn it, you obviously ignored just about every single "Best of '08" metal list and/or boycott all environmentalists. Neither reason being a decent excuse to miss out on the tour or the "Vacuity" video after the jump (more…)

OMFG! This is a tour not to miss. Two bands on the cusp of being really huge, really pushing the boundaries of just how awesome metal could be. WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM and KRALLICE, two bands all your friends will soon be talking about are going on tour together!. Don't miss these shows:

May 13 – Marquis Theatre Denver, Colorado
May 14 – The Picador Iowa City, Iowa
May 15 – The Triple Rock Minneapolis, Minnesota
May 16 – Bottom Lounge Chicago, Illinois
May 17 – The Casbah Hamilton, Ontario
May 18 – Wreck Room Toronto, Ontario
May 19 – Sala Rosa Montreal, Quebec
May 21 – Great Scott Boston, Massachusetts
May 22 – Europa Brooklyn, New York
May 23 – Maryland Death Fest Baltimore, Maryland
May 24 – Club Hell Providence, Rhode Island
May 25 – American Legion Wallingford, Connecticut
May 26 – The Studio @ Webster New York, New York

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM are also going to do a set of shows opening up for PELICAN, with TOMBS also on the bill. Those West Coast dates are after the jump. (more…)

In what will stand as one of the year's best tour packages, SOILWORK, DARKANE, WARBRINGER and SWALLOW THE SUN invaded the Highline Ballroom for a post-St. Valentine's Day asskicker, an excuse to blitz area headbangers with an overdose of melodic death metal and treat to those of us who didn't have to get up early for President's Day.

Last night, the entire Metal Injection crew came out for what may end up being the biggest show of 2009: Meshuggah, Cynic and The Faceless. It was truly place to be. Spotted in the crowd were members of GOD FORBID, A LIFE ONCE LOST and SUICIDE SILENCE. Everybody was there to see this killer lineup. (more…)

What you see above is the Dillinger Escape Plan playing a cover of Nine Inch Nails' "Wish" which was the last song of an evening of epic head banging. From openers Caverns and Knife the Glitter it was clear this would be a tech-heavy night. Both openers were instrumental acts, but Knife the Glitter came prepared, airing samples of actual Phil Anselmo stage banter in between songs. Whoever the researcher for that was, they deserve a raise because they found some gems!

When it was time for The Main Event, Dillinger Escape Plan did not disappoint using every inch of the basement of Webster Hall as their stage. The band were climbing on lighting rigs, jumping on the bar, going into the pit. It was absolute chaos. And it was awesome! The new drummer, Billy Rymer, did not disappoint. We can't say this enough times guys, when Dillinger Escape Plan is playing in your town GO! You will not regret it. In addition to Wish (above) we taped four other songs. Check them out:

- Milk Lizard
- Cult of Personality (Living Colour Cover)
- Sugar Coated Sour
- Sunshine The Warewolf

UPDATE: Our own Justina Villanueva was also in attendance and took some extremely sexy photos of Dillinger in action. Check them out over at BrooklynVegan.

So much about METALLICA is deeply ingrained into our consciousness that amidst all the CDs, documentaries, merch, hype, missteps, tributes, parodies, media, video games and radio dominance, you could almost forget why all those aspects exist in the first place: because JAMES HETFIELD, KIRK HAMMETT, LARS ULRICH and in this instance ROBERT TRUJILLO absolutely smoke as a live act. Anyone who skipped the Superbowl to catch the last date of Metallica's US tour, at the Prudential Center in New Jersey, can attest to this. (more…)

Suicidal Tendencies have gone through as many lineup and stylistic changes as anything this side of the James Bond series, but 25 years after Mike Muir first asked for a Pepsi, one thing has stayed the same–Suicidal Tendencies put on a killer show.

The sold out Irving Plaza crowd was an eclectic bunch. An dead-even divide of punk and metal t-shirts packed the venue's ground floor, and wide-eyed minors were almost as numerous as the 30 and 40somethings who looked like they'd arrived straight from their cubicles. The night's first and last low-key moment came around 10:30 with the first strains of "You Can't Bring Me Down" creeping over the PA but a mosh pit encompassed almost the entire floor the instant the band kicked in. (more…)

OK, get over your reservations about wasting your wallet for a ticket and go see AC/DC. Nothing from your CDs, DVDs or barroom shoutalongs can prepare you for how awesome this band really is live.

The lights at Madison Square Garden dimmed, giving way to a big screen cartoon with a vague story about Angus Young conducting a speeding locomotive. Two animated lovelies seduced Angus, knocked him out and hijacked the train, culminating in a high-speed wreck that flung five filthy-looking old men out onto the Garden stage. The opening chords to "Rock n' Roll Train," a new song that melds some of the oldest themes in rock history, assured you that the bedlam had barely even taken off. (more…)

We've all joked about it before, but what happens when someone actually tries to bring a "one-man band" to fruition? That someone is Via Vengeance's own Shane Ocell, and the answer is earth crushing riffage that gives a 5 piece a run for their money!

What seemingly began out of frustration for working with other members , Ocell harnessed the skill of simultaneously playing drums, and guitar while singing out of pure whim. Now I'll be the first to admit when I heard of a legit "one-man band" I had myself a chuckle that quickly subsided to amazement once I was introduced to the following live clip of Via Vengeance opening for Jesu in late 2007.

With the rising popularity of Via Vengeance's crushing doom debut "Dieography" (recorded by Matt Bayles – Mastodon, Isis), Ocell has announced more upcoming touring in the future. Do yourself a favor and check out the best one man band you'll ever watch in the flesh, don't believe me? Watch this live clip for "Vile Lie" off his debut LP Dieography. All live, no loops, one guy.

Last night, Frank and I attended the NYC stop of Opeth's headlining tour with High on Fire and Nachmystium. Unfortunately, we missed the opening two bands but everybody we spoke with said that we missed a hell of a show from both bands, and I believe it. We did watch Opeth and man, are they fucking great! Some serious rocking out went on last night. Tracks spanning their entire discography were played. As for tunes from the new record, they opened with "Heir Apparent", and mid-way through their set played "The Lotus Eater" which got an incredible reaction from the crowd. We had the chance to sit down and speak with Mikael and Fredrick before the show, and we should have that video clip up pretty soon.

If they are coming to your town (dates here) do yourself a favor and check out the show. You will not regret it. And, if you're still not convinced, check out one of the songs they played last night, "Deliverance"

OPETH - Deliverance [13:36m]

 

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