New Wildildlife Single... Volcom Debut out SOON!

So I'm trying to find out when the fuck my band's split with Wildildlife is coming out and I happen to run into this little gem on their label's website. Here is a link to the smoking hot new title track off their new album, "Give In To Live," which is due out October 26 on Volcom Records.

http://www.wildildlife.com/

Reissue Redux: Refused "The Shape of Punk To Come"

Along with Neurosis's "Enemy of the Sun" Refused's "The Shape of Punk To Come" was one of the first album's that confused the fuck out of me. I didn't know how to approach it. It was heavy for a bit, then it'd break into some electronic jam. The album would never settle one just one idea and let the listener to just it in. Instead it gracefully bounces around several different moods. The album truly stands a whole, not as separate songs. "The Shape of Punk to Come" is truly a work of art. Thankfully, they re-released it and included some extra goodies, too.

The powers that be packages this deluxe edition with not only TSOPTC, but a live album from the band's last active year AND a freakin' documentary telling the story of their demise. I won't talk about the album because, if you haven't heard it yet, you're missing out, and I feel that deluxe editions are more about the extras than the album itself.

The live disc, from Umeå Open Air, showcases almost the entire TSOPTC album, which would seem a bit tricky seeing as how conceptual the album is. There's elements from that album that I imagined wouldn't translate well in a live setting, but they did it, and very well! The band's energy is on high. I would have killed to be at this show.

The third disc is a DVD documentary entitled "The Refused Are Fucking Dead." The documentary tells the story of the band's last year or so together. If anyone reading this is a fan of Scandinavian film, you'll know what I mean when I say this documentary is Swedish as fuck. It's an work of art on its own. The photography is outstanding and really captures a feeling of the end. The focus of the story seems to rely mostly on the relationship and accounts of Dennis Lyxzén and David Sandström, who helped form the band. They tell a story of a band struggling to continue after outdoing themselves for seven years. The sections on their last American tour is told by a fan who really captures the mood of a band on the brink of demise with such poetry that it made me cringe at times. Although the story doesn't spend much time talking about the actual making of the album (Decibel Magazine does a great job with that in their 'Hall of Fame' segment), the director does a great job of storytelling.

Time Travel: AC/DC "Powerage"

I'm 25. To most people my age AC/DC was a band you dabbled in until you discovered Black Sabbath and Led Zeppelin. "Back In Black" was the most rockin' album we knew of. All other albums were these obscure gems that we'd listen to, but never talk about. This band eventually became the favorite music at college bro-parties and strip clubs. Most of my friends could care less about them (prove me wrong?), and an ex-coworker would throw fits every time I'd play their albums. In short, AC/DC has gotten a bad rep from my generation.

"Powerage" has not only rekindled my love for these ol' fashioned rock n rollers, but it's something that most people in their twenties listening to old school revival hard rock should really take into consideration. Without this album, I don't think a lot of bands might have the sound we know them for today. It doesn't posses the typical AC/DC format, well okay, it does, but they somehow manage to do it so much better on this album than the others.

Songs like 'Down Payment Blues' laid out a blueprint for Nashville Pussy to strut their Southern sleaze, while 'Riff Raff' might as well have written Annihilation Time's First album, if not at least played a major role in it. And we cannot forget one of my favorite songs of all time, 'Gone Shootin', which also served as the theme song for "Beavis and Butt-Head," so you know it's got to be good. This album as so many unsung gems, you wouldn't know what to do with them. The most famous jam on this album is 'Sin City', and even that is a distant classic to my ears. 'What's Next to the Moon' has probably some of the best lyrics I've read, and some of the rhythm patterns that band has ever done.

If you really wanted to go back and look for some vintage jams, "Powerage" is readily available for a good price.

Two For One: Twilight & Lightning Swords of Death

There have been several 'all-star' ensembles that have surfaced over the past few years and Twilight certainly falls into that trend, but with an interesting twist. For starters, this is their second album, and with a more street cred-worthy line up. Originally, this band consisted of members of Xasthur, Nachtmystium and Leviathan before anyone gave a shit about any of these bands. Their first release was strictly for nerds. Now, Nachtmysitum is big, Aaron Turner is finding stuff to do now that Isis is kaput, and you can't throw a stick without finding an album Sanford Parker didn't produce. I'm not saying any of that is a bad thing, but these factors help carry the weight of the band's name this time around.

The first track right away sounds like Aaron Turner has his hands all over it. This sounds like if Isis wanted to write some folky black metal riff, but really it's just an Isis song with some black metal vocals over it, and it ain't too shabby. The track later comes through with some epic black metal blasts. This definitely sets the tone for the rest of the album. The rest the album twists and turns through a great blend of post-metal psychedelia along with classic late 90s black metal. 'Convulsions in Wells of Fever' definitely hearkens back to Judd's kvlt days. It's nice to see that especially Blake Judd hasn't forgotten how to write a black metal album. When hearing this album you wish this was the album Nachtmystium put out instead of that crappy "Black Metal Pt. 2".

This album is exactly what you'd expect from some of today's heaviest and grimmest. This also exemplifies the current trend of heavy music today: black metal and sludge/noise/psych metal joining forces to capture the best of it all. Definitely a must buy!



While most of SoCal's metal bands are concerning themselves with ruining death metal, Lightning Swords of Death seem to be more concerned with writing some of the rawest and primal black metal this side of the world. While I have great enjoyed Wolves in The Throne Room and Krallice (aka Wealking 2.0), "The Extra Dimensional Wound" is a breath of fresh air.

The album's opener and title track wastes no time cutting your throat like a rusty blade. The guitars on this album are raw as fuck. The entire time I hear this album cannot stop thinking about Watain. Make no mistake, these guys are not a Watain knock-off, but it's safe to say they achieve the same raw energy that only Watain can do in this day of black metal. The album as a whole kind of blurs from start to finish, which steers you away from skipping through tracks. What really sets this band's sound apart is how it manages to capture the early 90s sound that also very close to when Dark Throne was transitioning from death to black metal. I think most black metal bands these days are concerned with capturing an atmosphere, but Lightning Swords of Death wants to bash your heard in. They don't want you to think, they want you to destroy!