So, the site will change.  The layout, the ideas and the bullshit I post.  I can’t wait.  It’ll be, for me, the best way to start and end a day.

Until then, check out Necroblaspheme.

Guess what?  Gorgoroth are in the news again.  Seriously, I saw this on CNN!  No, I didn’t.  But, I did read a story on the Blabs about the re-recording of Under the Sign of Hell being delayed because Regain Records is broke as fuck.  Sucks for Gorgoroth and Regain.  Hopefully, the re-recording does get released before too long.  Honestly, I’m not sure why Gorgoroth is redoing Under the Sign of Hell and not a Gaahl fronted re-recording instead.  I’d love to hear Pest doing Twilight of the Idols.  The quote from Gorgy’s site is as follows:

Infernus and Gorgoroth were informed this weekend by Regain Records that because of Regain’s current financial situation, it will once again be necessary for the label to postpone the release of Gorgoroth’s upcoming album “Under the Sign of Hell 2011″, which was scheduled for release on 29. August 2011. The master tapes were handed over to Regain by the band in April this year, and so it is of course very disappointing for the band that the label for the second time is not able to meet the set release date. Therefore, to avoid this happening again, no new release date will be given by the band until Regain can sort out their problems and provide a new date with 100% certainty.

Definitely a bummer, but not the end of the world.  Their new album should be out before too long along with a probable lineup change.

Musically, Mareis what you would expect from Kampfar or most black metal bands. Throat rasping vocals, icy cold riffs and tremolo picking galore, but all the songs are about famous women in ancient culture or about the plight of women. I think it is great that a metal band has shown interest in this while reaching out to a new audience and displaying some social awareness and intelligence.

Kampfar - Mare

I must say that I rather enjoyed Mare. It is a quality black metal release from one of the few, non-satanic black metal bands that exist. Kampfar seem to prefer the description of “pagan”. The album itself is about 49 minutes long across 9 tracks. All of the tracks are in Norwegian except two; Mare, and Blitzwitch. Both of which are in English and both are among the best tracks on the album. Kampfar play a slightly different form of black metal, in that blast beats are rare and the pace is usually mid to slow, but I think most black metal fans will enjoy the music
on this release as the riffing is excellent and has that wind-blown, tundra coldness that we so enjoy.

The production is another highpoint on Mare. Vocals, guitars and drums all shine through as clear as Finnish vodka, a rarity among black metal releases. I attribute this to the fact that the album was recorded at Abyss studios in Sweden and produced by none other than Peter Tagtgren. Tagtgren is an excellent musician himself…anyone heard of Hypocrisy or Pain? He has produced albums for other excellent black metal acts like Immortal and Dimmu Borgir. All and all, Mare is a great album full of awesome, frigid black metal and a nice message.

Overall 8/10

Mare is available now from Napalm Records.

Awesome news for Gorgoroth fans!!!! Just the below release alone is exciting enough, as it was an awesome album already but now re-recorded with better production and with the AWESOME line up from 2009′s Quantos album. I am really looking forward to this, as a tour this big will likely produce a DVD too. The info below was all swagged from Gorgoroth’s site, so go check it out and don’t give me credit for the stuff below. 

The Sign of Hell Tour 2011 – Tour Dates

In autumn 2011, Gorgoroth will embark on the band’s longest tour yet, namely “The Sign of Hell Tour 2011″ of Europe, to promote the band’s latest recording, “Under the Sign of Hell 2011″. This album, a complete re-recording of the band’s 1997 album “Under the Sign of Hell”, was recorded last year with financial support by Bergen Kommune, and is scheduled for release on 29. August 2011 by Regain Records. Accompanying Gorgoroth on the tour is Vader and Valkyrja. The tour is arranged by Massive Music.

At the moment, the tour consists of the following dates, but more dates are likely to be added:

03.11.2011 – Denmark, Copenhagen @ The Rock
04.11.2011 – Denmark, Aalborg @ Aalborg Metal Festival, Stadthalle
05.11.2011 – Sweden, Gothenburg @ Musikens Hus
06.11.2011 – Sweden, Stockholm @ Klubben
09.11.2011 – UK/England, Manchester @ Moho Live
10.11.2011 – UK/England, Liverpool @ The Masque
11.11.2011 – UK/Northern Ireland, Belfast @ Spring & Airbrake
12.11.2011 – Ireland, Dublin @ Button Factory
13.11.2011 – UK/Scotland, Glasgow @ Classic Grand
14.11.2011 – UK/England, London @ Camden Underworld
15.11.2011 – UK/England, Bristol @ The Fleece
17.11.2011 – Holland, Amersfoort @ De Kelder
18.11.2011 – Holland, Rotterdam @ Baroeg
19.11.2011 – Belgium, Louvain-la-Neuve @ Mass Deathtruction Festival, La Ferme du Biéreau
20.11.2011 – Germany, Essen @ Turock
24.11.2011 – France, Savigny-le-Temple @ L’Empreinte
25.11.2011 – Switzerland, Dietikon @ Sounddock
26.11.2011 – Germany, Lichtenfels @ Christmas Metal Festival, Stadthalle
29.11.2011 – Austria, Vienna @ Szene
30.11.2011 – Hungary, Budapest @ TBC
01.12.2011 – Romania, Cluj-Napoca @ Euphoria Music Hall
02.12.2011 – Bulgaria, Sofia @ Yubileina Hall
03.12.2011 – Greece, Thessaloniki @ Eightball Club
04.12.2011 – Greece, Athens @ Gagarin 205
07.12.2011 – Croatia, Zagreb @ TBC
08.12.2011 – Slovenia, Ljubljana @ Menza Pri Koritu
09.12.2011 – Italy, Rome @ Init Club
10.12.2011 – Italy, Pinarella di Cervia @ Rockplanet
11.12.2011 – France, Montpellier @ Secret Place
13.12.2011 – Portugal, Porto @ Hard Club
14.12.2011 – Portugal, Lisbon @ Cine-Teatro de Corroios
15.12.2011 – Spain, Seville @ Sala Custom
16.12.2011 – Spain, Valencia @ Durango
17.12.2011 – Spain, Barcelona @ Mephisto
18.12.2011 – France, Grenoble @ TBC

I need to live in a town that has not only better opportunities for me as a professional (insert profession), but as a metalhead with a hankerin’ for some live, mosh-inducing calamity.  Enter Tucson, Arizona.  This city is one that could most likely be my next residence.  My fam and I have friends there and are looking for a change of scenery.  Don’t get me wrong, I love WV, but it’s not really the land of open doors.

The average WV metal show

Good jobs don’t fall like rain ’round here.  Not that jobs are jumping out in front of oncoming unemployed folk anywhere in the country, but it’s fairly bad here.  Anyway, fuck talking points that border on politics.  I was talking about metal.  Tucson has this venue called The Rock.  In doing a little research on the town, I clearly had to see what the metal scene was like.  If you check out their site, you’ll see that there are fuckloads of awesome shows there in the next few months.  Devildriver/Skeletonwitch, Periphery/The Human Abstract/Textures, Underoath/Chariot/Comeback Kid/This is Hell (actually, they’re playing here as well…and j/k, that show is going to suck balls), Black Dahlia Murder/All Shall Perish/Cannabis Corpse and Chimaira/Impending Doom/Revocation are all going to be at The Rock between now and the end of October.  That may not seem like a lot of awesome shows for someone who lives in NYC or L.A., but that’s fucking HUGE for someone like me.  We’ll probably get a lot of insertcore shows, but nothing that I could put myself through.  We had some great promoters in this town once upon a time and still have one guy who really does a great job in getting metal(ish) bands that appeal to a huge audience…just not me.

So, despite opportunity and pro-family reasons, moving to a town where a metal show could simply be a night out and not a voyage is something that would really be awesome.  This post is now over.

Wait, I could always hit the Behemoth/Cannibal Corpse tour…in Europe.  Assholes.

Today, this story was broken on Reuters.  The Three’s attorneys have been trying to get a retrial for ages now and after years of attempted appeals, new DNA evidence being entered into court and the insane groundswell of support from folks like me and celebrities like Johnny Depp, Eddie Vedder, Henry Rollins and Metallica, it looks like they could be on their way home for the first time.  I couldn’t be more pumped about this.

Zao did this…

Fleshgod’s latest album Agony is a triumph of epic proportions; so many wonderful elements of metal’s best acts blended together in an amalgamate of perfection. Agony will soothe you with its majestic, symphonic beauty while simultaneously smashing your face with non-stop, sweltering double bass runs and deep, grinding riffs, and that is just the music itself.

AGONY!!!!

The vocals from vocalist/guitarist Tommaso Riccardi will remove what is left of your body like a warp speed katana. Guttural growls and roars are abound in the vein of Nergal of Behemoth, and just when you can’t take anymore bassist Paolo Rossi will shatter your psyche with his wine glass breaking, power metal high notes. Yes, this album contains all of this and it is awesome! I dare say I have not heard such technical mastery since the last Nile and Behemoth releases. It is that good, as I hold Nile and Behemoth in the highest regards.

Fleshgod Apocalypse hail from Italy and this is their third release. They have one previous LP, Oracles and one EP, Mafia. All of their material is excellent but Agony is in a class of its own, or sub-genre, I should say. Looking for something unique? Something brutal? Something majestic? Something that is just plain, fucking awesome? Then pick up a copy of Fleshgod Apocalypse’s Agony. I can’t imagine how you would be disappointed and, if you are…you aren’t metal; I suggest you pickup the latest offering from Nickelcrack, or Gagsmack.

Overall 9.5/10

Available now from Nuclear Blast Records.

This epic, dooming, atmospheric piece of blackened crust drops in a little over a week (8/24) from Seventh Rule Recordings and is a massive achievement in the ambiance that many blackened artists attempt, but just can’t quite grasp.

Atriarch - Forever the End

It’s part Batillus, part Burzum, part Ahab and all fucking awesome.  Slow riffs morph into powerful marches which slow to almost chant-worthy, spine chilling dissonance.  For four tracks, Atriarch dominate what should be a huge subgenre with as much power as the legions of painted, lo-fi black metallers.  This is the stuff of overcast skies and bleak futures.  It’s slow driving and haunted forests, painstaking survival through decimating circumstance and a triumphant upheaval of metal standards.

Buy this shit right now.  You can get it here on August 24, 2011.  It’s a solid, as Decibel previously said, 9/10.