Reviews

CD Review: ATHEIST – Jupiter

by: James Zalucky

ATHEIST has a history that is both triumphant and frustrating. Triumphant due to their glorious artistic feats and enormous influence. Frustrating due to their all-too-short run as technical death metal visionaries. Aside from various early demos, their catalog consists of three genre-defining classics: the raw, blistering debut, Piece of Time; the brilliant, essential masterpiece, Unquestionable Presence; and of course the mind-blowing jazz-metal of Elements. They only went on a few tours, and lost founding bassist Roger Patterson relatively early in their career. Misunderstood in their own time, ATHEIST has since become a favorite for many fans who never had the chance to see them in their original form. However, in 2006, Kelly Shaefer and Steve Flynn reformed the band for a few shows and soon enough, they began work on a new album.

So here it is: Jupiter. (more…)

Upcoming Releases

Early impressions of first new ATHEIST songs in 17 years

atheist jupiterIf you're lucky, you've caught their reunion shows. If you're web-savvy, you've seen the badass artwork for their upcoming album. And if you're a metal blogger, you may have heard a two-song sampler from Jupiter, the first new album from Florida tech death pioneers ATHEIST since Elements, which hit stores when Jurassic Park was still in theaters.

Oh, so you want to know how it sounds?

First is "Second to Sun," reportedly the kick-off track on Jupiter. It rushes from a herky-jerky opening riff into a siren-esque scale, the latter guitar line being the closest thing that this song has to a main riff. It's almost unexpectedly straightforward, until a breakdown worthy of Unquestionable Presence swarms in. We knew they were back, but know we know that they're back.

The next track, "The Fraudulent Cloth," is a heavily chaotic song with now-you-hear-it-now-you-don't progressions. KELLY SHAEFER emits CHUCK BILLY-like screams while STEVE FLYNN sounds like he's trying to run the guitarists off course. Whether you're trying to figure out the time signatures or wondering if the lyrics are about a pedophile, this one deserves repeated listens. For all we know, the rest of Jupiter could sound like GODSMACK, but first impressions make me believe in Atheist.

Jupiter is out November 8 on Seasons of Mist.

- Ben Apatoff

Upcoming Releases

PESTILENCE Posts New Track on Myspace

By: Navjot Kaur Sobti

Igniting the legendary death and thrash sectors of metal in 2010, a seeming period of nonstop metal resurrections, is the re-emergence of Pestilence. Set to hit the stages this coming summer, after almost 15+ years of silent repose– zero tours or releases – the group broke their silence with 2009’s Resurrection Macabre, and just recently, with a new track, entitled “amGod.” An early rehearsal recording, featuring just “drum and guitar parts,” the band wished to share a small piece of their upcoming release, which is due later this year.
(more…)

Metal Up Your Ass

METAL UP YOUR ASS: Metal Heads Are Everywhere I Go

At the Metal Injection Blog Factory, we are all preparing for our road trip to Worcester for the annual NEW ENGLAND METAL AND HARDCORE FESTIVAL. And by preparing, I mean doing mediocre research to interview bands and downloading old school hip hop to blast at 3am to piss of Rob and Frank. Oh, and getting my car checked out to make sure we have a smooth ride (yes, I know that is what she said). So at about 2pm I went to the local Express Lube place down the street from me. After telling the dude who was checking my car that I was going on a long trip and just wanted to make sure everything was safe to go, he confesses that he's a HUGE Sabbath and Venom fan. So I let him in on the new Heaven and Hell album and charges me $0. I win. Now you can read all the news you have missed and catch up on who is releasing new tunes. Click away. Click away.

Black metal's version of Hot or Not. Thanks to Jeanne Fury for initially finding this and then Metal Sucks for reblogging it.

Two days after NoiseCreep posted this feature, FACT vanflipped.

You can now pre-order the new Gwynbleidd album, "Nostalgia."

Landmine Marathon's Grace Perry blogged about bat wings and drunkenly telling off cab drivers.

Some Crust dude offered a metal history lesson last week. If you like or want to learn read this brief history of Sunn 0))).

Metal Sucks learned a lesson on Atheist versus Atheism. You can learn it too.

So secret shows are never really secret, unless–no its just never really a secret anymore. And in saying so, I'm going to blab about a secret show in Albuquerque. Get a preview of that show here.

Speaking of cool tour packages, every so often two tours are simultaneously traveling the U.S. And every not so often they cross the same city/venue on the same day. If you live in the Detroit area, you are one lucky metal head.

If you life in Philly or St. Paul you can meet Lamb of God.

new. Nachtmystium. ep. <--Proof that everyone is stoked.

Bodom's new setlist is as follows: 'Silent Night, Bodom Night', 'Hellhounds On My Trail', 'Living Dead Beat', 'Angels Don't Kill', 'COD / BBQ', 'In Your Face', 'Blooddrunk', 'Downfall'.

There is NO group therapy in this doc. NOCAREEVER! Sike. I can't not dig that they included Metallica's Moscow footage, but it does suck that there was barely a mention of the bassist situation. It goes from Burton to Newsted to Trujillo in a breathe, if that.

Hammerfall destroyed a hotel room. Read about it here.

An Emmure rumor is posted on Lambgoat.

News About New Releases

Darkest Hour. Municipal Waste. Marilyn Manson. Behemoth. Brutal Truth. Binary Code. Vader. Pestilence.

Maudlin of the Well is releasing their fan-funded album through a bit torrent. I'm fucking speechless.

Billboard Reports

Oceano. Queensryche. Satyricon.

Album Streams

Agoraphobic Nosebleed. Brutal Truth. CHIMAIRA.

Tour Dates

THE FACELESS, PSYOPUS and motherfuckin' ATHEIST line up tour dates

So far this year THE FACELESS have toured with CYNIC, MESHUGGAH, CANNIBAL CORPSE, and LAMB OF GOD, so it makes sense that they find one of the most obscure yet super respected tech-prog bands around in ATHEIST and take them on the road for a limited run. Also on the tour will be our bros from PSYOPUS as well as THE AGONIST and GNOSTIC (which features members of ATHEIST. Catch the pun?). Here is the current itinerary:

July 08 – Atlanta, GA – Masquerade
July 09 – Raleigh, NC – Volume 11 Tavern
July 10 – Springfield, VA – Jaxx
July 11 – Allentown, PA – The Sterling Hotel
July 12 – New York, NY – BB King's Blues Club
July 13 – Cleveland, OH – Peabody's
July 14 – Mokena, IL – The Pearl Room
July 15 – Nashville, TN – The Muse

If you have been living under a rock, you should check out this live clip of THE FACELESS.

Tour Dates

Maryland Death Fest daily lineups revealed, start planning your trip to Baltimore

For once, a series has made it to the seventh installment without sucking. Maryland Death Fest has announced this year's daily lineups, with over 50 bands in three days. Any self-respecting headbanger better start calling up those long-lost relatives in the Baltimore area and asking for a place to crash from May 22-24.

MAYHEM, CEPHALIC CARNAGE, CATTLE DECAPITATION, NAPALM DEATH, ATHEIST, PIG DESTROYER, THE RED CHORD, TRAP THEM, MISERY INDEX and SIGH are just some of the big names appearing, plus a shit-ton of potentially awesome bands from all over the metal scale. Tickets are already on sale, and the complete lineup (plus footage of DYING FETUS from last year's fest) are after the jump for your viewing pleasure. (more…)

Latest News METAL Injection

MARYLAND DEATH FEST Announces Second Stage; First Bands Announced

File this under: Best News Ever.

The madmen behind Maryland’s goriest, circlepittiest, most blastbeat-engulfed metal festival have announced plans to include a second stage, featuring a proposed lineup of fifty (count ‘em, fifty!) crazy-awesome bands. Ten have already been announced, with many more to come.

Worried about being forced to make that agonizing choice between your favorite band and your other favorite band that the conflicting time schedules at so many festivals thrust upon us poor patrons? No worries, Ryan and Evan’ve got your back.

According to the festival organizers, “Bands that will perform on the second stage will not be scheduled to start until a band finishes playing on the main stage. This will allow every band on the second stage to play for at least 15-20 minutes when no other band is playing, not to mention many of the bands on the second stage won't need much more than 20 minutes to play.”

The first ten second stage acts will include:


Kill the Client (Texas)
Grief (Massachusetts)
Magrudergrind (Washington DC)
Lair of the Minotaur (Illinois)
Unearthly Trance (New York)
The Endless Blockade (Canda)
Maruta (Florida)
Car Bomb (New York)
Weekend Nachos (Illinois)
Drugs of Faith (Maryland)

More bands and ticket prices to be announced soon!

Already confirmed:

PESTILENCE - Netherlands
MAYHEM – Norway
ATHEIST – Florida (!!!!!)
ASPHYX – Netherlands
IMMOLATION – New York
BRUTAL TRUTH – New York
ABSCESS - California
HAIL OF BULLETS – Netherlands
GENERAL SURGERY – Sweden
TODAY IS THE DAY - Tennessee
PHOBIA – California
SAYYADINA – Sweden
FLESH PARADE – Louisiana
JIG-AI - Czech Republic
ANTIGAMA – Poland
CROWPATH – Sweden
GNOSTIC – Georgia
MAN MUST DIE – Scotland
ENTRAILS MASSACRE - Germany
TRIAC – Maryland

Pig Destroyer - Virginia
Splitter - Sweden

Tour Dates

ATHEIST, PESTILENCE, MAYHEM & three more bands confirmed for Maryland Death Fest '09

more bands soon
(SWEET MERCIFUL CRAP, DO YOU SEE THIS LINEUP?!)

To reiterate: HOLY FUCK! One of the best lineups I've ever seen, and they're sure to add at least a dozen more bands over the next few months. I swear, every Maryland Death Fest is better than the last. The fest has been grinding away since 2003, and I had the pleasure of having my guts punched in and face ripped off at the 2007 & 2008 editions. This year had Anaal Nathrakh, Nuclear Assault, Grave, Hellnation, Disfear, Coffins, Blood Duster, and Macabre; the year before featured the likes of Extreme Noise Terror, Zyklon, Ghoul, Cripple Bastards, Misery Index, Flagitious Idiosyncrasy in the Dilapidation (best all-female Japanese grind band ever) and tons more. This year? Man oh man, this year…well, read for yourself. So far, Ryan and Evan (i.e. the dudes who plan this madness) have confirmed the following bands for MDF VII:

PESTILENCE - Netherlands (!!!!)
MAYHEM – Norway (one of only three US shows! if they don't play "Chainsaw Gutsfuck," someone's gettin' smacked)
ATHEIST – Florida (!!!!!)
ASPHYX – Netherlands (words can't express how much this band rules)
IMMOLATION – New York
BRUTAL TRUTH – New York (grindgrindgrind)
ABSCESS - California (yessssss)
HAIL OF BULLETS – Netherlands (old school death done right)
GENERAL SURGERY – Sweden (FUCK YEAH!)
TODAY IS THE DAY - Tennessee (strange. very strange)
PHOBIA – California (LOUD, PROUD, AND PUNK AS FUCK! this band destroys all. poser-stomping glory)
SAYYADINA – Sweden
FLESH PARADE – Louisiana (YES)
JIG-AI - Czech Republic
ANTIGAMA – Poland
CROWPATH – Sweden
GNOSTIC – Georgia
MAN MUST DIE – Scotland
ENTRAILS MASSACRE - Germany
TRIAC – Maryland (HELL yeah)

And many more to come! Now, we all know that half of these bands might drop off in the nine months 'til the fest (considering the recurring trend that MDf's been plagued with since its inception), but goddamn is that list a beautiful sight. There's a good mix of old-school death, tech death, gore, and grind so far, with Mayhem playing the wild card. They definitely need to bring the splatterthrash and add Ghoul (come on, you KNOW they're gonna play this, just like they do every year). I'm hoping that they'll add in some more powerviolence/crusty stuff (psst, bring back Skitsystem!); I know Hellbastard's supposed to tour this spring, so I'll be crossing my fingers for that. Also, more old-school death and black metal, please!

No matter which way you slice, dice, or hack it with a chainsaw, Maryland Death Fest '09 is going to rule just as hard, if not way fucking harder than it has in previous years. It ain't called "North America's Biggest Heavy Metal Party of the Year" for nothin'! Anyone who's witnessed the crusty fights, blow-up dolls, chicken suits, fake (and real) blood, endless circle pits, Creepsylvanians, and 24-hour-blastbeat-a-thons set against the seedy Red Light background of downtown Baltimore knows what I'm talking about.

MDF VII is being held at Sonar in Baltimore, MD, May 22 – 24, 2009. No word on pricing or running order yet, but we'll keep ya posted. Check out MDF's official forum here.

Be there or you're officially fired from metal. Forever.