thePULSEBy Jillian Locke, Pulse Music Editor
August is jam packed with shows of epic proportions ~ what better way to end the summer? Let’s take a look at some end-of-summer releases and amaaaazing shows that these final sweltering months have to offer!
Brutality becomes them…The Acacia Strain is once again paving another slab of brutastic highway through the world of doomtacular sludge metal. With their fourth Prosthetic Records release Continent, due for an August 19 release, the Woo-Town heroes are spreading their rage to an ever-growing fan base while keeping the old timers satisfied. According to vocalist Vincent Bennett, “‘Skynet’ is a band favorite. We figured we should debut some of our ‘different’ tracks so when people pick up the album they aren’t totally confused.” To promote the album, the band is hosting a pre-sale at www.prostheticrecords.com/TASsplash.html, where fans can choose among five different packages including five different t-shirts and either the CD or LP. The first 400 orders will also receive a complimentary 11”x17” autographed poster of the new album’s artwork, masterfully executed by Paul Romano, known for his work with Mastodon and The Red Chord. Get over to the Prosthetic Record’s site and order. NOW! www.myspace.com/theacaciastrain
Solid State Records is proud to announce the debut release Back Breaker from Tennessee’s The Showdown, also due out on August 19. The quartet has managed to mesh the tough-guy hardcore sound with some serious splishes and splashes of root-down metal. The sound is high energy, ever-changing and, although The Showdown pulls from the most popular genres of rock and metal, they still seem to put a unique spin on each song. Not bad. Not bad at all. Especially since they openly admit to ripping off Pantera. You have to appreciate their honesty. Go check these Southern slayers out at www.myspace.com/theshowdown &
www.theshowdownmetal.com. Also check out the Live, Loud, Rude! @ Gatsby’s album. “From the Mouth of Gath” seriously made me wanna make love to the metal, like only good Southern metal can!
Our favorite masked marauders Slipknot are unleashing their newest album, aptly entitled All Hope is Gone, on August 26. Check back for more on their first release in two years.
Clutch is releasing a live DVD/CD entitled Full Fathom Five, Audio Field Recordings 2007-2008 on August 12. It’ll be released on the band’s label, Weathermaker Records.
As I’m listening to Dethklok’s “Go Forth and Die” on the Music Choice Channel on Comcast, I am reminded of how seriously pissed I am for missing Dethlok with Chimaira and Soilent Green at The Palladium Tuesday, June 24. How many times in your life will you see a cartoon band come to life? I have my P.O.S. car to thank for that missed opportunity.
The Dropkick Murphys and The Mighty MightyBosstones came to LaLacheur Park in my hometown of Lowell, MA Thursday, July 10, and I missed them AGAIN! Since I have yet to see the Dropkicks, I’m a little more pissed than usual that I missed this show …
The Cavalera Conspiracy gathered their minions at The Palladium Friday, July 18 along with Bury Your Dead, Dillinger Escape Plan, and Incite. Nature called that weekend…meaning I had some serious camping to do. The madness and mayhem had to ensue without me.
The title track for The Thin Line Between, the first Prosthetic Records effort from Montreal thrash masters Neuraxis, growls some great lines. Most notably, “Thirst for knowledge/Insatiable desire to comprehend/This quest for truth leads a path unsecured/Dangerously stands at the border of chaos.” I find this ironic, considering my first thought whilst listening to the album was “Wow, this is complete and unadulterated controlled chaos.” The lyrical content screams of the outward projection of deceiving conformity and the veil of deceit we, as humans, are constantly projecting. You really need a developed metal-ear to decipher through the guttural assault of vocalist Alex Leblanc. But if you sit down and read the lyrics, this really is an incredibly profound effort. Not surprising, considering the band has been pumping out the fury since 1994. The 10 track collection boasts all that is metal ~ serious riffage, pinnacles of rising and falling symphonic pressure, and the all-out heart-exploding climaxes. The Thin Line Between is extremely well thought out, masterfully orchestrated and ONLY meant for the truest of true metal fans. Check out a three-track sampling via the band’s online e-card at www.prostehticrecords.com/ecards/neuraxis/ and for more info, hit up the MySpace www.myspace.com/neuraxis.
Anyone who reads this column knows of my undying obsession with Baltimore, MD’s Clutch, playing August 2 in Atlantic City, NJ. Anyone down for a road trip??? If you can’t catch them in NJ, then keep an eye out August 12 for their live DVD/CD “Full Fathom Five, Audio Field Recordings 2007-2008,” which will be released on Clutch’s label, Weathermaker Records.
SO, here are the shows coming up this month!!!! Tuesday, August 5 The Mayhem Festival is coming to the Comcast Center featuring such destroyers as Machine Head, Walls of Jericho, Black Tide, MASTODON!, Dragonforce, and headliners Slipknot and Disturbed. Why do they have to schedule such shows on a weekday? In Worcester, August 14 and 15 may just reshape and annihilate The Palladium as Testament blows through on Friday, making way for…wait for it…MOTORHEAD on Saturday! You’ll regret it for the rest of your life if you miss the legendary Lemmy pummel the crowd with the Ace of Spades! August 26 at The Palladium is hardcore heaven as The Warriors, Death Before Dishonor and Terror visit their old stomping grounds, just as Nightwish and Sonata Arctica will do the same Saturday, August 30. Your wallet’s are gonna be a helluva lot thinner at the end of this month!
The Thrash and Burn Tour features an air-tight combination of metalcore, tech/death metal and straight-to-ya-face hardcore, with Darkest Hour, Misery Signals, Parkway Drive, Stick to Your Guns, Winds of Plague, Abigail Williams, Arsonists Get All the Girls and After the Burial. With two stages oozing with thrash and sweat, Motorhead should have a suitable opening, especially from tech/death metal steamrollers Arsis. Since 2003, vocalist/guitarist/composer Jim Malone has been producing all the vocals, guitars and bass lines in the Arsis discography, consisting of A Celebration of Guilt (2004), A Diamond for Disease (2005), United in Regret (2006) and their 2008 Nuclear Blast slice We Are the Nightmare, for which guitarist Ryan Knight contributed.
“Ryan wrote three songs and played solos in every song,” Malone said. “It was a welcomed change.”
Malone attended Berkeley College of Music for two years, where he studied Music Theory and Composition. The inspiration for the band’s name came for one of his conduction classes.
“It’s actually the silence in a musical measure. It’s not accented ~ there’s a slight pause.”
Originally signing with Willow Tip Records, a tech/death metal underground label, Arsis has seen lineup changes and an evolving sound. We Are the Nightmare, according to Malone, is “more accomplished in the tech/death style. I actually think this album has more of a black metal influence. We’re bringing it back around.” With guitarist Ryan Knight, bassist Noah Martin and brand-spanking new drummer Shawn Priest, Arsis is hitting the road with a tumultuous lineup of brothers in arms that just may transform The Palladium into the Thunderdome. www.myspace.com/arsis
Switching gears completely, I’ve got some additional shows to tantalize the cheesiest of cheese heads. I’ve had this unnatural obsession with former NY cop turned 80s pop star Eddie Money lately… the 80s have been calling me and demanding their music back! Anyone who wants to see the classic “Shakin’” live can get their fix August 22 at the Hampton Beach Casino Ballroom. The original female badass of the 80s Pat Benatar herself will be performing the following Saturday.
Ok, so maybe the 80s haven’t been calling your name, and you’re leaning towards something more tantalizingly brutal. Check out Bullet for My Valentine with Bleeding Through and the Cancer Bats August 9. Go to www.casinoballroom.com for tickets and more details. And now I’m going to throw a curveball at you ~ Aesop Rock (hell yeah I like hip-hop!) is going to sell the hell outta the Roxy August 15, but if that means missing Motorhead, then the decision is clear…
That’s it for me guys! Party on!
pics: (top to bottom) The Acacia Strain, Neuraxis, The Showdown, and Arsis
