SickDrummer.com, Perseverance Holdings and our friends at Relapse Records are among the sponsors of the DEATH TO ALL TOUR which kicks off tonight in that most metal of cities San Francisco, CA. The tour celebrates the life and music of CHUCK SCHULDINER of DEATH. With DEATH and later CONTROL DENIED Chuck blazed an innovative trail in music and has been followed by nearly every death metal that followed in his shadow. This is not an exaggeration, but widely acknowledged and not just by his peers and loved ones, but by many bands both from yesterday and the present. Performing music from a career spanning set list with be an all-star group of Chuck’s former band mates and giants of death metal like GENE HOGLAN (Individual Thought Patterns/Symbolic), SEAN REINERT (Human), STEVE DIGIORGIO (Human/Individual Thought Patterns), Scott Clendenin (The Sound of Perseverance), PAUL MASVIDAL (Human), Shannon Hamm (The Sound of Perseverance), and Bobby Koelble (Symbolic). Handling vocal duties will be by Steffen Kummerer of OBSCURA and Charles Elliott of ABYSMAL DAWN/BEREFT who are both greatly influenced by Chuck. Some of the guest artists who will join certain shows are RICHARD CHRISTY of CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED (ex-DEATH), Alex Skolnick and Chuck Billy of TESTAMENT, Paul Ryan of ORIGIN, Craig Locicero of FORBIDDEN, Travis Ryan of CATTLE DECAPITATION,Trevor Strnad and Ryan Knight of THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and Emil Werstler of DAATH/CHIMAIRA. GORGUTS will open most of the shows.
Not only will this be a celebration of Chuck’s life, but will help make a lasting impression for the future at every show. Each night is a benefit show to raise awareness for the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund which provides support to career musicians in need of support while facing illness, disability or age related issues. This cause hits especially close to home for Chuck’s family and friends and one he’d gladly support. Please come out to this rare opportunity to pay tribute to a legend, see an amazing collection of talent and hear some songs that haven’t been performed anywhere since DEATH was active as a band. Please come out to support this tour and support live music, especially underground bands.
DEATH TO ALL 2012 TOUR DATES:
6/22/2012 – The Regency Ballroom – San Francisco, CA
6/23/2012 – House of Blues – Los Angeles, CA
6/26/2012 – House of Blues – Chicago, IL
6/28/2012 – Irving Plaza – NYC, NY
6/30/2012 – The Beacham – Orlando, FL
*Postponed until 2013* 7/01/2012 – The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
*Postponed until 2013* 7/03/2012 – House of Blues – Dallas, TX
A brand new CHIMAIRA video has made its way online and it’s called ‘The Year of the Snake’. This comes from the new album, ‘The Age of Hell’, that will hit stores tomorrow courtesy of eOne. The song is certainly one of the best track on the effort and I would even venture to say that this is one of CHIMAIRA’s best songs of their career. It’s absolutely crushing!
Other good news coming out of the camp is that CHIMAIRA has announced tour plans in support of the new album. The band will hit the road to headline throughout North America with support from IMPENDING DOOM, REVOCATION and RISE TO REMAIN. That is 50% of awesomeness that, for me at least, outweighs the 50% of bands I don’t care about on the tour. No dates are announced yet, but when they are we will let you know!
CHIMAIRA is one of the more interesting cases in modern metal. They have had a modicum of success, stayed righteous and put out a string of strong albums in a row. Somewhat like a modern ANTHRAX, CHIMAIRA has been the victim of bad luck at times, but never complained much while perhaps not getting the all of the breaks that say, a LAMB OF GOD or a SHADOWS FALL have had. Despite the departures of half of the band, the core remains strong and new members have joined the fold. The CHIMAIRA phoenix is poised to rise. Nonetheless, they have been bloodied but remain resolute in their their mission to churn out crushing metal albums year after year. Not too mention for my money they are one of the top live bands in the scene today. Hopefully, with the eOne Metal label people getting their collective backs, they can take this record to the level it deserves. The band is all about moving forward and The Age of Hell is the proof.
As they have many times before, the lead-off track of this album is really powerful. Encompassed in the title track are all the things you expect from this band: slamming rhythms, terrific riffs and great vocals all in the mix. As he has done for the last few releases in a row vocalist Mark Hunter has tempered the high range screams with some amazing low-end bellows. The results are chilling to say the least. As always guitarists Rob Arnold and Matt DeVries drop all kinds of crazy licks and riffs on your ears, trade blistering solos and manage to up their game again. Arnold also played bass on this record and he does a fine job. His warmer tone and better writing contributions are surely a step forward for the band. Live the bass job will fall to DAATH shredder and Metal Army blogger Emil Werstler. In place of departed drummer Andols Herrick album producer Ben Schigel played the drums and he was a more than a capable replacement. “Clockwork” is a thrashy jam and reminds me a lot of the songs on The Impossibility of Reason album. There is a cool break in the middle of the song that is more like a soundscape piece and builds up a lot of emotional drama. Since programmer/keyboardist/ vocalist Chris Spicuzza also departed the group, the entire band stepped up to continue to incorporate those type of “musique concreto” parts. The overall sound of the band is unchanged much. As excellent as Hunter’s deep metal growls are, he has brought back his melodic singing voice in force and all done without sacrificing the heaviness. When the band plays live, Werstler’s band mate from DAATH, Sean Zatorsky should be able to handle all of the clean singing if needed. “Losing My Mind” also uses this technique again to great effect in the chorus and some tribal drums add a killer feel too. The huge beatdown/mosh part is filled with subtle bass and guitar ear candy that lifts the track beyond the typical. “Time is Running Out” is another crusher with an even better sense of melody and vocal harmony than the band has ever shown. They definitely spent their time crafting the songs to be a step over their past efforts. The refrain of the chorus is one of the most harsh and still memorable ones of this entire year. A nasty bass distortion effect punctuates the start of the chaotic “Year of the Snake” which has the straight up speed and brutality of their last few albums. The breakdown is more evidence of Arnold’s love of PANTERA-esque grooves. It is definitely the hardest cut on the album and sure to be a circle-pit starter if they play it live. “Beyond the Grave” is more in line with the atmospheric and sinister like tracks off the bands’ very first efforts. It is definitely the most doom influenced song the band has ever done and again features terrific singing from Hunter. Other top tracks among this deep release of twelve songs are the complex and grindy “Born In Blood”, “Powerless”, “Scapegoat” and the stunning instrumental, “Samsara”. By boldly trying some new things, but keeping the essence of their sound intact they have made one of the best albums of their career.
Just as a note, I LOVE DAATH! They are one of my favorite American metal acts currently but I also have a sense of humor and thought this was pretty entertaining. Shout out to our pals over at MetalSucks, much like the shout out they get in this video!
Atlanta’s Daath came out of existence from seemingly nowhere-kinda like Tyler Perry or the Patriot Act-in 2003, offering a workmanlike, if a bit manufactured, metal sound, similar to a more organic, death/thrash Fear Factory hybrid.
Enter 2010: Daath is enjoying a fairly substantial fanbase, with their latest, self-titled record enjoying a release on Century Media Records. So is the album anything to write home about, or is the band yet another in the line of same, assembly lined, cookie cutter music currently enjoying Mall Metal touring and success?
Well, the truth is somewhere in that grey middle area; a little from column A and a little from column B. You see, Daath as a collective are very good at playing their instruments–guitarists Eyal Levi and Emil Werstler released a tech/shred instrumental effort earlier this year-but only mediocre at composing diverse song material. This curse has haunted the band throughout its career, and continues to hamper the efforts of Daath, the band’s fourth full length overall.
Though the band have their axemanship down to a science-there are some admittedly catchy riffs to be found here-the album experience is something which eludes them; in other words, an awesome collection of licks do not a piece of art create, no matter how adept the efforts. When Daath is on-see opener ‘Genocidal Maniac’ or ‘Indestructible Overdose’-they’re on, but Daath the album fails to muster up enough energy to really hammer home the goods for anything other than a brief head-nod or two. It’s just too precise, clinical and Pro-Tooled to capture any sort of visceral, heavy metal reaction.
Shame, really, because both Levi and Werstler work extremely well with the driving drum work of journey-skinsman Kevin Talley, and the vocal patterns of Sean Zatorsky are better than average for the style. Daath is simply a victim of its own inability to be anything other than this nebulous neo-metal which possesses a limited shelf life, and ultimately doesn’t have anywhere to go at the end of the day, other than the history books.
DAATH is one of the best modern death metal bands to come along in the last few years and hope to convert more metalheads into believers with the release of their upcoming self-titled full length. Out October 26, Metal Mark (of Skulls N Bones) recently spent some time in the studio with DAATH and captured footage of the Earth shattering drumming performance by Kevin Talley. Check it out and make sure you pick up DAATH’s third full length next month!
Another extreme band who is gearing up to unveil a highly anticipated album is non-other than Mesopotamian monsters MELECHESH. ‘The Epigenesis’ is also scheduled for release on October 26 and is the long-awaited fifth album from these black metal pioneers.
Extreme metal at its very best, plain and simple, is what the Atlanta based quintet DAATH delivers. The group’s highly anticipated third full-length release is going to be self-titled and is set for an Oct. 26th North American release. The disc is a face melting masterpiece that was co-produced by the renowned Mark Lewis (Trivium, Devildriver) and Eyal Levi (guitars).
Metal Mark from Skulls N Bones recently spent some time in the studio with the band and compiled a video series documenting the recording process, so click on the link below now to check out the fourth installment featuring guitar tracking sessions.
Emil Werstler (guitars) states: “I’ve been listening to the final master of this record for a couple of days now. It is hard to believe that the task has been in process since March. In retrospect, I will say that more sacrifice was put into this record than anything I’ve ever been involved in. The content is EXTREMELY dark, distraught, and completely honest. The timing is appropriate as well considering how lacking music has been in the creative department for the last year or two. I’m not hinting that we are going to become some pop culture phenomenon. We have no interest in that. As long as someone completely hates it, loves it or is moved in anyway be it positive or negative, our job is done. We have no interest in middle ground. You would have to be deaf to not hear that.”
Sean Z. (vocals) further states: “This album will definitely be the most real thing this band has put out to date. It’s on a level everyone can relate to. The lyrics have taken a brand new direction and the music compliments the insanity creating a fucking masterpiece of a way different kind.”
Currently the group is more determined, energized, and focused than ever before and is continuing to expand upon their unique, uncompromising and dynamic sound. For those previously uninitiated, feel free to head over to www.myspace.com/daath to see what they are all about.
