So thanks to a crazy amount of traffic and hotel getting to most of Saturday was missed. When got there in time for most of CAGE THE ELEPHANT on the Fuel stage. Then it was time to head to the Damage Inc. stage for SUICIDAL TENDENCIES! I’ve NEVER seen them before and holy hell, were they good! Everyone in that band is a beast! Especially the rhythm section of drummer Eric Moore (T.R.A.M.) and bassist Tim Williams. Kicking it off with “You Can’t Bring Me Down”, they set off a steam rolling crushing set, playing hit after hit up until it was time for an INFECTIOUS GROOVES mini-set with Robert Trujillo on bass. It made the hassle of getting there well worth it!
Over thirty years in the game and Mike Muir of S.T. and INFECTIOUS GROOVES still rules.
I got to check out KIRKS CRYPT. A little museum of Kirk Hamments’ horror memorabilia collection. From vintage posters to painting and full sized costumes and masks. It made me very jealous! It To top it off, Linda Blair was there as well! I look forward to October for the release of his book, TOO MUCH HORROR BUSINESS about this collection. I caught most of ARCTIC MONKEYS headlining set on the “Fuel” stage, and boy are they very British! Granted they are, but still, they reminded me of BLUR and OASIS mainly. A good chunk of the crowd dug them a lot.
Then it was time for METALLICA on the “Orion” stage….
Whaddya mean no “Orion” at Orion Fest?
Starting with “Hit the Lights” they ran through four more songs as the warm up to playing the entire Ride the Lighting album. After a brief and kick ass intro video, they came out ass backwards! No, really! They started with“The Call of Ktulu” all the way to “Fight Fire with Fire”. I Enjoyed “Fade to Black” and “Escape” the most. They came back with a nice three song encore of “Battery”, “One” and “Seek and Destroy”. To much grief from a lot of people about no “Orion” The song, famously attached to the late CLIFF BURTON, for which this fest is named for. I guessed they’d save it for tomorrow.
Kirk shared his horror collection and then some guitar solos.
Set List:
Hit the Lights
Master of Puppets
The Four Horsemen
Sad But True
Hell and Back
The Call of Ktulu
Creeping Death
Escape
Trapped Under Ice
Fade to Black
For Whom the Bell Tolls
Ride the Lightning
Fight Fire With Fire
Nothing Else Matters
Enter Sandman
Encore:
Battery
One
Seek and Destroy
DAY TWO:
THY WILL BE DONE tore it up early on day two.
Now due to a lil health issue, I had a short visit to the ER that morning. As a result I missed GHOST, Oh well, would’ve been weird to see them in the daytime anyway. Some bands just work better at night. I was really bummed to miss LANDMINE MARATHON. I’ve wanted to see them for awhile.
Bummed I missed this band. I heard they were awesome.
So when I finally arrived I caught BEST COAST, like with ARCTIC MONKEY’S it was nice to hear something a little different and mellow. I got to see this cool new band called THE TRUJILLO TRIO, on the “Vans Skate Ramp”. Robert Trujillo & Family put on a dirty, crusty, grindy, punk rock show. I hope something gets released soon!
Robert Trujillo was a triple threat this weekend.
It was good intro to the insanity for THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER! I ended up pitting my ass off throwing crowd surfers left and right. Haven’t really done that a in awhile, holy cardio workout Batman! It felt great!
Ripper Owens and CHARRED WALLS OF TH DAMNED were amazing!
I had to sprint across to the “Frantic” stage to catch the first show of the year for CHARRED WALLS OF THE DAMNED! Ripper Owens’ and Richard Christy’s unstoppable juggernaut! They were awe-inspiring to watch. Then back to “Damage Inc.” for the headlining set from SEPULTURA! They are in the midst of a tour over in Spain, but flew in just for this. The pit felt like a UFC match and some douche was decked out in gloves and a mouth guard. It was a rough pit. Now musically, this band is amazing! DERRICK GREEN has been in this band long enough that I forgot someone else used to sing for them. New drummer Eloy Casagrande, that kids a monster! He even broke a bass pedal. after that I checked out the sick car show there while AVENGED SEVENFOLD closed the “Fuel” stage. They like fireworks and pyro just at much as METALLICA does.
AVENGED SEVENFOLD likes to blow shit up!
After a cool video intro, METALLICA started of the set with “Hit the Lights” and “Master of Puppets”, like last night, then went to “Fuel”, “For Whom the Bell Tolls” and “Shortest Straw” before starting “The Black Album” (Metallica) in reverse. I don’t know what it was, but “The Black Album” just sounded better then Ride. Mind you I haven’t heard this about in over ten years. They just sounded tighter on this material. The encore this time consisted of “Blackend” and “One” and then a James spoke about the festival and dedicated the last song to Cliff, “Seek and Destroy” wait what!? Not “Orion”!? What the hell!? This is bullshit! That’s some of the comments I heard around me. My best guess as to why no “Orion”: maybe it’s kind of a bummer to play it and they didn’t want to end the festival on a downer.
Set List: Hit the Lights Master of Puppets Fuel
For Whom the Bell Tolls
The Shortest Straw The Struggle Within My Friend of Misery The God That Failed Of Wolf and Man Nothing Else Matters Through the Never Don’t Tread On Me Wherever I May Roam The Unforgiven Holier Than Thou Sad But True Enter Sandman Encore: Blackened One Seek and Destroy
Day two was more enjoyable than Day One, overall.
All in all, it was a great family festival. It was really good seeing kids there. I’ll most likely bring mine next year. There was enough different musical styles to keep everyone happy and it was worth the long trip to Atlantic City. I want to go back again so lets hope for an Orion fest in 2013!
I first encountered Landmine Marathon at a small subterranean club in NYC called Lit where every Monday curator (and Today is the Day drummer) Curran Reynolds puts on a series of gigs called “Precious Metal”. The female-led Phoenix five-piece was at home ripping up the cramped basement space like the bastard daughter of grindcore, and crustpunk. Suffice to say they impressed the shit out of me.
Gallows, Landmine Marathon’s fourth album, doesn’t deviate much from that manner of aural evisceration. It’s also pretty fucking good. The sound is unmistakably theirs: a collision of metal, crust, doom and thrash that eschews death metal’s technicality to flex their straightforward holy muscles of hate. Ergo: for all its great, thrashy riffs and grim interludes, it’s still pretty damn punk. But that’s punk in the way of Tragedy: deathly in the way of Obituary. Opener “Three Snake Leaves” yanks you in and within seconds is accelerating like that dimension-ripping rocket car in Buckaroo Banzai on an expressway to your skull. “Cutting Flesh and Bone”, the album’s second sermon, starts to confirm something that might get the Landmine faithful to raise a welcome eyebrow and rock out a little harder. This eight-songer has actual hooks.
That’s not to mention the fact that razor-gargling frontwoman Grace Perry is playing with a thicker deck of cards than she has on Landmine records past. Truthfully, that’s long been needed. There’s genuine dynamics in her anti-melodic screeds: they’re slower and lower than the puke of the priests when “Knife From My Sleeve” slides into low gear. One song later, she’s verging on the sort of audibility you’d never expect to hear from metal’s most unlikely librarian (apparently an off-the-road vocation) while still snarling like a cat in a hot tin microwave. Think Bolt Thrower’s Karl Willets meets Angela Gossow dueting ‘round the good ol’ Cenotaph.
This is whilst guitarist and producer Ryan Butler with fellow axeman Dylan Thomas play at a bit of King/Hanneman guitar-derring-do. It’s the acidic icing onto of “Beaten and Left Blind” that also benefits mightily from bassist Matt Martinez and new drummer Andy York’s (who vastly steps things up) stampede of riff n’ rhythms. Butler’s production is vastly sharper than on prior albums, lending the Gallows a vicious clarity. That allows the band to pile on the muck as the album slo-mo wormcrawls to its conclusion on “Mobidity” with degenerating into a pile of audio-dirt. It all leaves you with the distinct feeling that as good as Gallows is, it certainly isn’t all the Landminers have in their arsenal.
The faithful need not worry. A Revolver cover and plenty of “Hottest Chicks” accolades for Ms. Perry aren’t about to elevate Landmine Marathon to quasi-semi-kinda-sorta mainstream-ish status. They’re still making making an ugly bastard noise, it simply that Gallows steps the band’s game way up to and makes them a genuine contender. Phoenix’s bastard sons and daughters have clearly moved beyond the basement.
Just a reminder to all of you guys, the Metal Army sponsored ‘America Torn Asunder’ Tour will kick off tonight in Los Angeles! WARBRINGER will be out on their first headlining run in support of their latest bruiser ‘Worlds Torn Asunder’ and they will be accompanied by some of our favorites: LAZARUS AD, LANDMINE MARATHON and DIAMOND PLATE. Go and rock the fuck out!
WARBRINGER have unveiled a lyrics video for “Shattered Like Glass” and, damn, how good is that song? WARBRINGER are most certainly a cut above all of the other modern thrash bands that have risen over the past few years. Check out the video above and check out their headline dates below for their upcoming, Metal Army sponsored ‘America Torn Asunder’ tour!
WARBRINGER are getting very close to releasing their monstrous new album, ‘Worlds Torn Asunder’, and we will be sponsoring the band’s first trek in support of the release (The ‘America Torn Asunder’ Tour with Lazarus AD, Landmine Marathon and Diamond Plate). Now, WARBRINGER has posted behind-the-scenes footage from their recent video shoot for “Shattered Like Glass”. Really stoked to see that the band went in a different direction and turned their new clip into a horror film thanks to director Dave Vorhes (great last name, btw) and actor Don Danielson.
‘Worlds Torn Asunder’ will be released on September 27th via Century Media Records.
This artwork made me go what the f$% is that when I first saw it. It is by Rob "Mid" Middleton
Famous author Oscar Wilde once remarked that “Ambition is the last refuge of failure.” I often find myself reminded of this quote (an all other things Wilde) when thinking of bands with sky high expectations. As humans we foist unrealistic demands on each other, only to be crushed and left angry later. This is no different for artists as well (Wilde was likely addressing them directly). Sometimes groups live up to the lofty bar we wish them to reach and sometimes they die trying. Lucky for LANDMINE MARATHON death is off the table when it concerns their career or their terrific new album Gallows. Not only dies it live up to the hype, it will cement their status act as one of the best groups in modern metal.
Right from the first second of the album when a whammy-bar horse squeal in the style of DIMEBAG DARRELL/EDDIE VAN HALEN announces the opening track “Three Snakes Leaves”, they are not playing around. A death and blackened thrash metal workout of a song follows and I couldn’t help but head bang along to the furious beat. As always Grace Perry’s insane death metal snarl buoys the track. Her voice is razor sharp to match her lyrics and delivery. Andy York, the newest member of the group just beats the piss out of his drums with blazing double kick-work and super fills. Halfway through the song dueling guitar solos of Ryan Butler and Dylan Thomas (I was just talking about writers a minute ago, right?) are melodic, tight and full of fire. Butler produced the album which speaks even more volumes about his talent. With no let up in their sights, “Cutting Flesh and Bone” is another slab of outrageous riffitude and histrionic screaming. Perry’s voice is very consistent and while she doesn’t display a huge variation in her movements, she is crisp and deep with her growls at all times. The coda of the song has a bit of a Chris Adler/LAMB OF GOD feel to that I rather like. “Knife From My Sleeve” starts with a chilling death march beat and an equally deadly yowl from Perry. I can’t say enough times how she has topped all of her previous work on this record. Slow and hypnotic at the start, only the harmonizing of the guitar leads provides any hint of light in the dampened, grim mood. Then the song is set off with the whip crack beat and back to the furious tempos. Then in the perfect throwback to old-school death metal (think OBITUARY, MALEVOLENT CREATION and LM heroes BOLT THROWER) we return to the doom riffs of the intro for guitar hero worship time before fast forwarding to a blast beat tornado of an ending. “Liver and Lungs” is also chock full of speedy chord changes and aggression. Firing on all cylinders seems to be the speed the band shines brightest, so why not keep going to the well? I say do it! Perry takes on a higher pitch scream at length for the first time on the record here and then downshifts back to the guttural bellows for contrast. The breakdown riff is pure SLAYER circa 1985, which I personally would never complain about. “Dead Horses” might be the top track on this album after “Knife…”. They just kill it in every facet of the song that is possible. York might really have been the missing link for the band, judging from his unconscious performance. I can’t wait to see him live. Every single cut has something ear-catching and impressive. The riffs are rough enough for the tough-guy mosh ninjas, but tech enough for the nerds yet still true enough for purists to like them. “Cloaked in Red” is another song bowing at the altar of SLAYER by way of modern European blackened death metal. Further sonic assault and battery comes by way of “Beaten and Left Blind”. Another killer breakdown is sure to signal the point in their show after which soft kids can pick their front teeth off the floor. I would also be remiss to mention this song has by my count the fifth or sixth awesome guitar solo. Yep, you have received confirmation that lead guitar is still cool and not just for the neo-thrash kids. The last track “Morbidity” is a fitting title for the closing out an album like this. More classic sounding motifs crush your head in their vise-like grip of awesomeness. One grip I have is the brevity of the album, at a touch under thirty minutes. That and I’d like to hear the bass work from Matt Martinez higher up in the mix. Still, it’s nice to see this band live up to and catapult over the bright shine of attention’s spotlight.
LANDMINE MARATHON: meeting and defeating high expectations.
Although Arizona’s Landmine Marathon have had a solid buzz on them going for a few years now, the overall feeling here with the quintet is one of anticipation; waiting for that one album to truly capture the band at their unequivocal best, and shoot them into the extreme metal stratosphere.
While Gallows still isn’t it, the band is getting ever closer to their goal of death/grind supremacy. Landmine Marathon haven’t released a bad album to date, luckily enough, and Gallows displays a marked improvement from last year’s Sovereign Descent in the songwriting and execution department. The eight songs contained here creak and lurch with malicious, old school death style and substance, bringing it back to the Stockholm sound of Entombed and Dismember with a thrashy-ass Americano twist.
If anything, it’s that elusive production value which has eluded Landmine Marathon thus far, with each LP-going back to their Wounded debut and Rusted Eyes Awake shotgun blast from 2008-failing a bit in capturing the band’s frenetic live presence. While this may seem like a backhanded compliment (and it is), the fact that Landmine have seen such positive, steady growth from album to album is a sure sign that the future looks bright for these menacing metal men and woman.
Speaking of which, kudos should indeed be tossed towards guitarists Dylan Thomas and Ryan Butler, and their honest sounding homage to that classic Bolt Thrower grind. There’s a palpable feeling of love and appreciation lurking within the grooves, anchored by the psychotic howling of front-crazy person Grace Perry. While it’s been endlessly noted by any straight dude with a pulse how drop dead Perry is to look at, we wouldn’t be talking further about Landmine if the vocalist couldn’t deliver the goods live and on record…which she certainly does, in spades.
Landmine Marathon remain, for better or worse, a live act at this point; a very strong metal band whose studio output is slowly but surely catching up to their manic ‘n electric presence on stage. That being said, Gallows is by far their most definitive metal statement to date, bringing the band that much closer to their ultimate goal of total destruction.
Well, today is New Music Tuesday once again, so it’s time to run to the record store and pick up all of the cool, new shit that is coming out today! I’m going to quickly run through a list of stuff that I’m excited about, if I missed something you’re excited for, tell me about it! Here we go….
TRIVIUM – ‘In Waves’: I know that a lot of people don’t like TRIVIUM because they aren’t kvlt or trve enough. However, I have always enjoyed the band because they are ferocious and they are one of the few metalcore bands that can hold a melody while still sounding like a metal band. I like these guys for the same reason that I like KILLSWITCH ENGAGE. If you are also a fan of TRIVIUM, come out to METAL ARMY NIGHT tonight for the official ‘In Waves’ release party!
FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE – ‘Agony’: This is one of the best new bands to hit the American scene. Italy’s death metal darlings have finally teamed with a label that can get them the distribution and press that they need so it will be exciting to watch these guys blow up. I am beyond stoked to hear this modern extreme metal masterpiece!
That’s right, one of the coolest tours of the fall is being brought to you buy METAL-ARMY.COM and GUITAR WORLD. Whenever I talk to anyone in our industry – the press, the fans, the bands – they are all beyond excited to for WARBRINGER’s new album and this tour. Certainly the band’s most mature release to date, WARBRINGER has lost all sense of retro, 80′s rethrash. They are something much more than that. Honestly, they’re the best damn thrash band in the modern metal scene.
So, we are beyond excited to bring you this package of awesome metal bands. Headlining the bill is, of course, WARBRINGER. This will be a great opportunity to see the band’s full set including new songs from ‘Worlds Torn Asunder’. Then we have an incredible lineup of young, hungry bands like LAZARUS A.D., the mighty LANDMINE MARATHON and DIAMOND PLATE rounding out the bill. It’s an epic night for metal fans to see so many powerful, young bands on one bill.
Not only that, but all of these bands have brand new offerings for you to check out. LAZARUS A.D. just released ‘Black Rivers Flow’ back in the early half of 2011 and DIAMOND PLATE will release their Earache debut, ‘Generation Why?’, on Tuesday (August 9th). Then there is the mighty, brutal LANDMINE MARATHON who have finally completed work on their latest effort ‘Gallows’ and will be releasing it just before this tour kicks off on September 27th via Prosthetic. So, to put it more simply, make sure you have a ton of cash for the merch booth!
WARBRINGER are my favorite of the current thrash scene, a dominant force who will be the biggest in the game once they release their new record this fall. The other bands on this bill make the show an even more exciting show. Seriously, there is not one bad band on the bill so get there and get there early.
You’re fucking moshing!
Oct. 3 – Key Club – W. Hollywood, CA
Oct. 4 – Chain Reaction – Anaheim, CA
Oct. 5 – Cheyenne Saloon – Las Vegas, NV
Oct. 6 – Clubhouse – Tempe, AZ
Oct. 8 – Pour House – Oklahoma City, OK
Oct. 9 – Emo’s Alternative Lounge – Austin, TX
Oct. 10 – The Hangar – New Orleans, LA
Oct. 11 – Brass Mug – Tampa, FL
Oct. 12 – Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
Oct. 13 – The Casbah – Charlotte, NC
Oct. 14 – Sonar – Baltimore, MD
Oct. 15 – Krug’s Place – Frederick, MD
Oct. 16 – The Basement – Kingston, NY
Oct. 17 – Championship Bar – Trenton, NJ
Oct. 18 – The Gramercy Theatre – New York, NY
Oct. 19 – Bogie’s – Albany, NY
Oct. 21 – Montage Music Hall – Rochester, NY
Oct. 22 – Broadway Joe’s – Buffalo, NY
Oct. 23 – Wreck Room – Toronto, Ont.
Oct. 24 – Peabody’s – Cleveland, OH
Oct. 25 – Vaudeville Mews – Des Moines, IA
Oct. 26 – Station 4 – St. Paul, MN
Oct. 27 – Reggie’s Rock Club – Chicago, IL
Oct. 28 – Blondie’s – Detroit, MI
Oct. 29 – The Firebird – St. Louis, MO
Oct. 31 – Marquis Theatre – Denver, CO
Nov. 1 – The Complex – Salt Lake City, UT
Nov. 4 – Funky Winker Bean’s – Vancouver, BC
Nov. 5 – El Corazon – Seattle, WA
Nov. 6 – Hawthorne Theatre – Portland, OR
Nov. 7 – Thee Parkside – San Francisco, CA
Recently, we spent some time talking about how awesome LANDMINE MARATHON are and how you should do everything in your power to go see them on tour with WARBRINGER, LAZARUS AD and DIAMOND PLATE in September. I also mentioned that I was highly anticipating a new album from the band and, guess what, now we have a cover, title AND release date for the record.
‘Gallows’ will be out on September 27th via Prosthetic Records. The cover is posted above and it’s fucking awesome. There are two horses that seemingly have no flesh and then there’s a little girl, who looks like Linda Blair in ‘The Exorcist’ who is hanging from the gallows. What does this mean? Who the fuck knows… Maybe she skinned the horses and was hung as punishment or maybe I’m completely off base here. However, one thing is for sure, when LANDMINE MARATHON release a new album, it’s something to get pumped about.
Don’t forget to check out the band live this fall on tour. Dates here.
