The Human Abstract let the greatness that should have been theirs elude them on their last album Midhaven. They were the band that should have carried the torch from the likes of Thrice. They were Avenged Sevenfold’s ultra-nerdy brothers. They were heirs to the tech-metal throne. Here’s a couple reasons – guitarist and founding member AJ Minette had quit the band before the album was written, leaving a gaping maw in The Human Abstract’s sound: a battery of sweeps, arpeggios and a technician’s toolbox of six string heroics. Also, it had also become very clear that vocalist Nathan Elis was on “the outs” with the band. By all rights, The Human Abstract should have called it a day as the likes of Protest The Hero and Between The Buried and Me overtook their status as North American progressive metal major domos.
Now, witness the return of AJ Minette. Swoon guitar geeks. Swoon.
Thankfully The Human Abstract kept it together. Minette returned to the fold with new vocalist Travis Richter (ex-From First To Last) in tow and the Los Angeles band continued to make beautiful and often confoundingly complex music. Digital Veil is eight songs. The whole thing clocks in at just under forty minutes. At long last, The Human Abstract has made its statement. What was hinted at on their 2006 debut Nocturne is finally delivered upon. This thing is fucking epic.
The opening instrumental begins to tell the tale. It’s a quiet classical piece swells into something straight out of the Queen songbook. This is music that’s literally designed to be analyzed in guitar tabs by drooling Musician’s Institute students. That said, by the title track the meaty riff that drives the song does bring us back to the notion that The Human Abstract is indeed a metal band.
“Faust” does come off like its titular deal with the devil as it moves from section to section, overture to overture, piece to piece with little effort. The Digital Veil is quite the opposite of the Strum Und Drang the “C” word usually entails.
By the album’s final track, “Patterns”, The Human Abstract have more than made up for the sins of a sophomore slump. They’ve come together as a unit and aren’t merely trying to hold it together as they were on Midhaven. Now that we’ve given Minette more than his credit due, let’s not overlook Travis Richter. He not merely outbarks his predecessor but acrobatically jumps to a Matt Bellamy – esque croon that is new to the band’s arsenal. It’s clear that after a record their fans swore off and membership changes that would have sank lesser bands, The Human Abstract turned that chaos to their favor and have come with a record that is sure to hit year-end Top 10 lists. That’s a pretty mean feat considering it’s the beginning of March.
With a history dating back to the 90s melodic death metal boom, Italy’s Scarlet Records came in on the tail end of Sweden’s Gothenburg scene, releasing a number of quality stylistic counterparts, both Swedish (Blinded Colony and Helsingborg’s Terror 2000, a Soilwork side project) and non (Hatesphere and Invocator from Denmark).
Additionally, the label made it a point to support their own, homegrown Italian artists, releasing stellar albums from the likes of Node, Necrodeath and Disharmonia Mundi, to name a few.
These days, Scarlet Records has branched out aesthetically, releasing their fair share of power metal, thrash and stoner/doom releases, all with the label’s reliable sense of quality.
METAL ARMY AMERICA:How’s everything doing with Scarlet Records these days! What are you most excited about?
Enzo Mazzeo (A & R/Promotion): We always had a positive approach towards everything we’ve ever done and in this moment we are thrilled about starting this new venture with Entertainment One in the United States. They are the one of the biggest and most reliable distributors over there and together we can finally make our products available in the entire territory as they deserve.
I’ve followed Scarlet since the very early stages of the label’s releases, and I was wondering what your overall thoughts were on the label’s evolution over time? Did you ever think you’d arrive at the point Scarlet is at now?
Enzo Whatever you do, you never know what future holds. Scarlet started as a small label led by music fans. And we have been in existence for over 12 years now. That means we’ve done something good I suppose, especially if we consider how bad the music business in its entirety suffered in recent years… We still are big music fans and we love our job. And that is the most important thing.
Could you fill our readers in on the original idea of the label and how it all came together? What were your initial goals and how did you get started?
Filippo Bersani (label manager): Scarlet started with no particular goal in our mind. We were all very young and had some previous experiences in the business so… we gave it a try! We started with small releases and got bigger from time to time, with lots of passion and hard work combined!
Was there any clear vision at first as to what you wanted Scarlet to be? What were the biggest obstacles you had to overcome at first?
Filippo: Starting a label, as it happens with similar businesses, is not an easy task and of course is not just about music. You need to set up a good distribution network, find the right partners and gain a reputation. It takes time and a lot of hard work.
The early Scarlet releases very much seemed to follow the Gothenburg/melodic death metal and thrash scenes, which was fine in my book! Was this something you very much wanted to release at the time, and were you ok then with the label being known for releasing melodic death/thrash records like Disarmonia Mundi, Node, Hatesphere, Blinded Colony and Invocator?
Filippo: We never really wanted to be labeled in a certain way and we signed all those bands because we really liked the music. The Scandinavian scene has always been very strong and we are proud to have discovered some of its gems. But even in this case there was no plan. It just happened that a lot of good death metal bands came and still come from those countries; that’s all really…
Scarlet also supported and gave a new home to Necrodeath, one of Italy’s most respected thrash/black metal acts. Is supporting the homeland something which also made you happy and satisfied with the label, especially considering Scarlet also released fellow Italian bands Node, Cadaveria and Labyrinth?
Enzo : We are definitely proud to have supported the Italian metal scene when not many labels out there weren’t doing it. Mater Of All Evil was Necrodeath’s first album in a long time and still one of our best selling releases ever. Since then Italian bands have done a lot better than they used to and we like to think that we were able to give a good contribution to this process. And we still do. Let’s not forget that until recently we’ve released albums by Bulldozer (their first one in over 19 years), Sadist, Aborym, Schizo, Extrema and lots of other excellent Italian bands.
Has the Italian metal scene recognized Scarlet for its contributions? What are your thoughts on the scene? Are Italian metal bands close-knit and a work-together sort of bunch?
Enzo: I think and hope we have been recognized for our contributions, because indeed we did give our contribution. What are my thoughts on the scene? Unfortunately I don’t think that Italian metal bands are close-knit, neither are a work-together bunch. There are many good bands but I don’t see them cooperating as they should do, like it happens, for example, in countries like England or the Scandinavian ones… Italians, in general, tend not to cooperate with each other…(laughs)
Are there any criteria for signing new bands? What are some aspects of how a band works which might make you interested in signing?
Enzo: First of all they have to catch our attention musically. This may sound obvious but is not if you consider how many bands record their songs nowadays and how many promos we receive daily to check out. But also, and this is no less important, we like to work with people that we respect also on a personal level. And that’s just the beginning… Many bands think that when they sign to a label they can just sit back and wait for the record to sell. Huge mistake! All bands, specially new bands, need to present themselves in a professional way, they need to be active in terms of their live activity and on every other aspect of their career! Bands need to cooperate with their label! This business is tough and only tough bands (and labels) can survive it!
What are five of your favorite Scarlet releases and five which you felt could have used more attention? I felt Node was very underrated for one…
Enzo: Each one of us would give you a different answer… Personally, and in no particular order, I would say The Defaced ‘Karma In Black’, Kayser ‘Kaiserhof’, Spice And The Rj Band ‘The Will’, Extrema ‘Pound For Pound’, Hatesphere ‘Ballet Of The Brute’… There are many others really, this list is way too short …
If we have to talk about underrated bands Node is one for sure, but Bokor… both their albums are real masterpieces in my opinion and they deserved so much more attention… Extrema is another very underrated band… they’re quite big here in Italy but not as much abroad and that’s a shame…
Filippo: My favourite Scarlet releases? That’s a difficult one… let’s try… Necrodeath ‘Mater Of All Evil’, Terror 2000 ‘Slaughterhouse Supremacy’, Skyclad ‘In The… All Together’, Dark Moor ‘Tarot’, Royal Hunt ‘X’… As for the underrated albums… I would say Nightshade ‘Wielding The Scythe’ and Scamp ‘Mirror Faced Mentality’…
When was the point where you realized people were starting to listen and that Scarlet was beginning to make headway? Are you happy with where the label has gone, and what continues the keep you inspired and challenged these days regarding business?
Filippo: Necrodeath’s ‘Mater Of All Evil’ and Terror 2000’s ‘Terror For Sale’ (both albums came out in 2000) represented a major turning point for us. Since then the label has grown consistently and we hope there will never be an end to this process. That’s what keeps us challenged regarding business.
You’ve also released a number of stoner/doom bands like Kayser, Allhelluja and Spice and the RJ Band-is having this variety something important to you, so that Scarlet won’t be pigeonholed as any sort of ‘niche’ label?
Filippo: Yes, it’s very important. We are very open minded regarding music and, as I said before, we don’t want to be categorized in any way.
What do you feel you can best offer a band as a label? What have been some of your closest working relationships amongst your bands?
Enzo: Having been in the business for such a long time, we offer experience, reliability and a long-term commitment to each one of our bands. We have a close relationship with all of them and we promote them all year round, not just during the weeks following the release, as many labels do nowadays. We strongly believe that record labels need to work in strong connection with the bands in order for both parties to succeed.
What are your thoughts as to how the scene has changed since Scarlet first started? With the internet, downloading, lack of CDs sales currently affecting the industry, how do you deal and where do you think things are going?
Enzo: Nobody knows where things are going but we strongly believe that those who work harder will always find a way to succeed… Record sales are much lower than they used to be, that’s definitely true, but is also true that all these new technologies are offering new ways to promote and sell music. It’s still too early to predict what the future will bring but we are already exploring new areas…
What else lies ahead for the future of Scarlet? Are you happy with how the label has done outside of Europe here in the States, and what do you think could bring it more attention amongst fans? Do you work a lot with American websites and zines?
Enzo: We are very excited to be starting this new professional partnership overseas. As I said before, Entertainment One will distribute our products in North America and we’ve also signed a deal with Freeman Promotions for all the US marketing and promotional activities. Together we will make sure that American fans will give more attention to our releases and Scarlet, as a brand, will become a notable presence in the country as we are here in Europe.Thank you for the space you’re giving us, and make sure you check out our new releases and re-releases on www.scarletrecords.it
On March 22nd 2011 we will release prog rockers Odd Dimension’s ‘Symmetrical’ and Finnish Power Symphonic metallers Dotma’s ‘Sleep Paralysis’ albums, both in Europe and US. Also, our plan is to make available in the US part of our catalogue that never received an American release. We’ve already started in February with Timo Tolkki’s ‘Saana’ rock opera and The Defaced’s ‘Anomaly’ but soon we will re-release albums by Skyclad, Dark Moor, Labyrinth, Vision Divine, Bulldozer, Shaman, DGM, Necrodeath and many others. Stay tuned!
1. Agalloch – Marrow of the Spirit (Profound Lore): The choice popular amongst fans, critics, pundits and the general hiperati. In other words, you’re a dipshit if you don’t love this record. Chief ‘loch, John Haughm has delivered a haunting album of Black Metal informed Post-Rock, the scope of which stretches from Emperor to Godspeed You Black Emperor!. This year’s hands-down classic.
2. Letlive – Fake History (Tragic Hero): So-Cal’s letlive take the post-hardcore ball from the likes of Thursday and Glassjaw and run with it. They already signed to Epitaph, who will re-release this album in 2011. Simply, letlive dodge all the usual cliches on their way to household-name success. Mark my words!
3. Dillinger Escape Plan: – Option Paralysis (Season of Mist): Benjiman Weinman gets the Thurston Moore Lifetime Achievement Award for looking at chaos as a valid part of pop songwriting. Possibly their finest, angriest and most career-defining moment. I still hear stuff in this one that eluded me the first 25 listens or so.
4. Watain- Lawless Darkness (Season of Mist): With the power of their onstage stench and mighty death-riffs, these Swedes ascend to Black Metal’s highest peaks. Whether they take the throne from the commercially aspirant Dimmu or the crash n’ burnt Gorgoroth remains to be seen. At the rate they’re going…
5. Tryptkon – Esparistera Daimones and Shatter EP (Century Media): Tom Fischer picks up where Celtic Frost’s brilliant and final death-grunt, Monotheist left off. Then exceeds it. I’ve included the Shatter EP as it feels like a natural part of the proceedings.
6. Ghost – Opus Eponymous (Rise Above/Metal Blade) Jimmy Page bought Aleister Crowley’s house. The Stones came with Goat’s Head Soup. Now Ghost take on three decades of hard rock and metal, offer it up to Satan and come up with a record already set to be the first metal “name-drop” for 2011.
7. Bad Religion –The Dissent 0f Man (Epitaph): The SoCal punks continue to craft paeans for the intelligensia with three chords and amazing three part vocal harmonies.
8. Cradle of Filth – Darkly, Darkly Venus Aversa (Nuclear Blast): Oh, darker my love! Dani’s dark mob strips things down to basics and have made their most lethal concept record since Cruelty and the Beast.
9. Dimmu Borgir – Abrahadabra (Nuclear Blast): The equivalent of any Michael Bay movie with a dark metal soundtrack. It’s big, cinematic and has little to do with conveying anything like plot or storytelling (like Transformers). Dimmu have survived and surpassed recent lineup changes only to make an album that comes closest to a bit of semi-Black Metal for the mainstream.
10. Fear Factory – Mechanize (Candlelight): Dino and Burton kiss, make up and make a classic Fear Factory album. Easily the one that should have been slotted right between Demanufacture and Obsolete.
11. Enslaved -Axioma Ethica Odini (Nuclear Blast)
12. Shining – Blackjazz (Indie/The End)
13. Black Breath – Heavy Breathing (Southern Lord)
14. William Control-Noir (Victory)
15. Demiurg – Slakthus Gamleby (Cyclone Empire)
16. Underoath – Disambiguation (Solid State)
17. Deftones – Diamond Eyes (Warners)
18. Danzig – Deth Red Sabaoth (The End)
19. Overkill-Ironbound (E1)
20. Integrity-The Blackest Curse (Deathwish)
And a record I spent a ton of time working on that came out earlier this year….
Mutiny Within – Mutiny Within (Roadrunner): Dream Theater played by Killswitch Engage with a singer that stomps all over James LaBrie in the passion department. Why this New Jersey sextet (with a couple members by way of the UK) hasn’t connected yet is beyond me. Of course, the record is just a few months old. Popular opinion’s still out on this one.
And of course…..
Kanye West – My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy (Def Jam): If you don’t like this, then you’re one of “douchebags” he sings about.
2011 looks like it will be one of the most exciting years for heavy music in recent memory. No, we’re not expecting albums from the likes of Slayer or Metallica like we were back in ’09 ,but we do have an incredible lineup of records on the way! Here are my Top 20 Most Anticipated for 2011:
20. Cave In – ‘White Silence’ (Hydra Head)
19. Amon – ‘Liar in the Wait’ (Season of Mist): What can I say, it will certainly be interesting to see just what the Hoffman bros have been up to since they left Deicide. Plus, I have to believe that this release will trigger some kind of public feud between Amon and Deicide, which I’m always a fan of…
18. Autopsy – ‘Macabre Eternal’ (Peaceville)
17. Gallhammer – TBA (Peaceville) – One of the bands that ushered in the new breed of blackened crust punk. These girls are one of the best exports in Japanese history… and, yeah, I’m looking right at you Playstation…
16. Loss – ‘Despond’ (Profound Lore)
15. Backstabber Incorporated – ‘MIA’ (Deathwish) – For those who don’t know who this is, fuck off… This is the band that ultimately led to Trap Them. Now, Brian and Ryan are no longer in the fold, but the band was always fun so I’m excited to see what they’re bringing now!
14. Pig Destroyer – TBA (Relapse)
13. Gorgoroth – TBA (Regain) – One of the best Norwegian black metal bands of all time. Sure, they’ve been overshadowed by a metric shit ton of controversy over the last few years and kicked everyone out of the band at times, but they still manage to pull it together and make sick, visceral records. Going to be awesome!
12. TesseracT – ‘One’ (Century Media)
11. Owen Hart – ‘Earth Control’ (Vitriol) – This band has started to get some heat on them but they’re still relatively unknown. However, 2011 is going to change that. Clever, harsh and hailing from the great metal state of Washington, Owen Hart are going to bash your fucking brains in this year!
10. Disma – TBA (Profound Lore)
9. Primate – ‘Pull Back A Stump’ (Scion A/V) – What really needs to be said other than this is Kevin Sharp (Brutal Truth) and Bill Kelliher (Mastodon). It sounds like a mash-up of their two bands and I’m beyond excited to hear the full outcome of their work together.
8. Altar of Plagues – ‘Mammal’ (Profound Lore)
7. Wolvhammer – TBA (Profound Lore) – One of my favorite new bands from last year is back with a vengeance. Seriously, go back and listen to ‘Black Marketeers of World War III’ and tell me that your mind isn’t blown. The band is incredible and hopefully going to be on display for a much bigger audience thanks to their association with Profound Lore.
6. Crowbar – ‘Sever the Wicked Hand’ (E1)
5. Dragged Into Sunlight – ‘Hatred For Mankind’ (Prosthetic) – This record would’ve been higher if it wasn’t a re-release. Not to say that you shouldn’t check it out, but I got this record a while back when it was originally released in the UK. Now the band has teamed up with Prosthetic and this nasty Eyehategod-meets-Godflesh masterpiece will finally be available in the states. It’s truly a sick and disturbing look at just how dark metal can be! Please bring them over here to tour NOW!
4. Krallice – TBA (Profound Lore) – Krallice has quietly become a household name in the world of extreme metal. They took over the hipsters and then the underground and I think most people would agree that they are one of the best American purveyors of Black Metal these days. ‘Dimensional Bleedthrough’ was a huge breakthrough for them and got them a lot of attention, this will be the record that pushes them over the top!
3. Nachtmystium – TBA (Century Media) – Everyone knows why Nachtmystium made the list. Simply put, everything the band has touched over the last 5+ years has been stunning and brilliant. This will be no different. Although, hipsters may want to take notice that master mind Blake Judd says this record will be a raw, old school black metal record. Not for the faint of heart!
2. KEN mode – ‘Venerable’ (Profound Lore) – KEN mode (short for Kill Everyone Now mode, thanks Henry Rollins) is one of the coolest bands in the scene right now. Borrowing the best moments from noise rock and incorporating them within a massive avalanche of hardcore animosity, KEN mode has made a brilliant new offering. Plus, ‘Venerable’ was produced by Kurt Ballou (of Converge) and added Mares of Thrace ass-kicker Therese Lanz to the fold…. This will be a breakout record!
1. TRAP THEM – ‘Darker Handcraft’ (Prosthetic) – Easy choice for me. This is simply the best band working in modern metal these days. Effortlessly combining black metal, hardcore, Wolverine Blues-esque death metal and grind into one of the darkest (yet accessible) sounds of the 2000s. Trap Them has taken the throne as the new kings of the underground. I’ve been lucky enough to hear ‘Darker Handcraft’ and it’s easily the best thing the band has ever done. It’s vicious, blazing and all the while it maintains a sense of groove and catchiness. This is the album to beat in 2011!
TRUST COMPANY were good back in the day. I remember thinking that “Stronger” was a solid alternative metal track. However, I haven’t gotten into their sound at all on this new record. It kind of seems like they’ve gotten soft in their older years or something. What do you guys think of “Heart In My Hands”
I love CROWBAR – one of my favorite southern metal bands of all time. Now they are gearing up to release a new album in 2011 via E1 and they happened to unveil a new song this weekend at Emo’s in Austin. Check it out and smoke a fat one to celebrate!
“Overlord” is taken from BLACK LABEL SOCIETY’s new album ‘Order of the Black’, which is out now via E1! BLACK LABEL SOCIETY is also on a fucking epic headlining tour right now with CHILDREN OF BODOM and CLUTCH in tow for support!
As if we needed more proof that the apocalypse is upon us, TRUST COMPANY is back and has now inked a deal with E1 – who signs every band who has ever released a record and can’t get a new deal. Not that it’s a bad thing… it’s just factual.
Anyway, TRUST COMPANY is putting out another record for you to ‘jump da fuck up’ to (I know, I know, wrong band). So check it out now or you can ‘die, motherfucker, die’! (If you know that’s not the same band, you should be sad)
One of the OGs of the sludge scene, CROWBAR is back and more disgusting than ever! The band recently inked a deal with E1 for their next full length and now the label that seems to be signing EVERY heritage act in metal will also reissue the band’s three most influential records: ‘Crowbar’, ‘Live+1′ and ‘Time Heals Nothing’.
Kirk Windstein and co. are also going to do a brief jaunt through the south, playing two shows in Texas and two in their home state of Louisiana. Hopefully we get a proper tour soon, but for now: catch ‘em if you can!
Comeback Thrashers FORBIDDEN have unveiled a new track, “Forsaken at the Gates”, at their official MySpace. The track comes from ‘Omega Wave’, out October 26th via Nuclear Blast.
UK titans ARCHITECTS are back with a new effort. “Day In Day Out” comes from ‘The Here and Now’, which is expected in early 2011! The band is planning a European tour with BRING ME THE HORIZON and THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA. Check MySpace for the new single and tour dates!
Perennial Mario Cart champions POWERGLOVE have also unveiled a new cut from their newly released ‘Saturday Morning Apocalypse’. “Transformers” is now available on MySpace and the album is available everywhere!
Windy City Warriors OCEANO have unveiled “Weaponized” on their official MySpace. The track is taken from ‘Contagion’, the brand new album to be released November 9th via Earache Records.
