Metalocalypse
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Metalocalypse

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RAWR!


There comes a time in every aged band’s life where it’s time to shut up shop and call it a day. Give yourself a good few years to make a decent enough impression that you could legitimately call yourself ‘recognisable beyond the walls of this comparatively tiny, meaningless country’s concept of what’s what’. If the real world consistently fails to give a fuck, stop. Why? Because to persevere is to dickishly blockade everyone else. You get good gigs and supports by default, simply because you’ve been around for ages and have loads of dated EPs out and you’ve been networking long enough that getting those spots is simply a matter of calling a bro. Those are good gigs and supports that could go to a promising younger band who will actually really benefit from them, rather than propping up yet another excuse for Dazza and Wazza and Gazza to come up from Franga on the weekend and help you keep your dead fantasy alive with their front-row trio of pissed mateship. Strayan metal’s circle of life labours hard enough without the self-denial of its old guard.

 

 

NEW GOJIRA


The mighty Gojira are rearing their environmentally-aware heads once again – and a little belatedly, I might add – to release a new EP. It’s not just any EP, mind. While all proceeds go to anti-whaling organisation Sea Shepherd (they’re like the Scientology of environmentalism, in that they’re collecting notable rock musos to spruik their cause… never, ever ask new Pennywise vocalist Zoltán Téglás about Sea Shepherd), the metal on board’s set to be stunning. Case in point: YouTube ‘Of Blood And Salt [HD]’. Yes, that is Devin Townsend and Fredrik Thordendal guesting. There’s no release date for the finished product yet… hurry the fuck up.

DEAD LETTER CIRCUS DONE GOOD


I’m still finding it astonishingly hard to believe, but there you go: Brisbane’s own Dead Letter Circus have found their way onto a massive North American touring bill with the likes of Evan Brewer (?), Last Chance To Reason (??), Animals As Leaders (!), and Intronaut (!!). The tour will be going hard all along the West Coast throughout July, and is a very impressive and well-deserved feat for the guys. Good work, sons; no quitting time for you.

RED SKY BURIAL

Ya’ll remember epic locallers Tailbone from a coupla years back? Good stuff, them guys. They folded way before their time, but their big-lunged frontman Jay Richmond and bassist Richard Stafford-Bell have hooked up with former .hinge drummer Kristian Popczyk and Swidgen guitarist Fred Zerner, collectively returning under the guise of Red Sky Burial. They haven’t got anything online yet, but the deadly curious can catch ’em tearing The Prague (High Street, Thornbury) a new muffintube on Sunday, June 12.

 

MASTODON IN THE STUDIO

This here’s a picture of Mastodon nutting out whatever’s next for them in the studio. The most interesting part about it is the guy on the left of Brent, which is their producer for this record, Mike Elizondo. He’s been behind the desk for the likes of… Alanis Morissette, Pink, and Maroon 5. Huh, maybe commercial radio’s about to get a whole lot shitting better.

 

SLOW SOUTHERN STEEL

Love your sludge and your bongish hillbilly heaviness? You clearly love Crowbar and Kylesa and even Down and, possibly, Rwake. That last one’s telling, ‘cos Rwake throat C.T. has put together a greened-out doco on this very subject. Entitled Slow Southern Steel, check out the monolithic movie’s trailer on PooLube by keying in ‘Slow Southern Steel Movie Trailer.’

 

EMBRACE THE DJENT

Like what dubstep is to electronic music, djent is to metal: an oddly definable metagenre – and not a sub-genre, the difference is bizarrely crucial here – within a sub-genre. Named for the onomatopoeia of the chunky thwack a low-tuned guitar receiving a downward pickstroke makes, ‘djent’ arguably started with Periphery (and their fans, more accurately) and has since become a force all its own. The intelligent revolution inside deathcore and relentless silly tech-metal, expect to see a lot more of this excellent and unlikely movement in the future (trust me, you’ll want to). For now, YouTube ‘Om Mani “ajna”‘ to get a feel for what’s up and where it’s going. Metal rules again.

 

TRIPLE TOBES UNEARTHED

Khann (myspace.com/khannn) are headed up by Andrew LaCour, who is Steve LaCour’s (y’know, of Trap Them) brother. Seems like big-minded metal ideals runs in the family, ‘cos Khann are all over it with their post-hardcoreish new disc, Erode. Dig into Downward now for immediate evidence (it’s playing on noisecreep.com, check it).

FEEDBACK (as always, as they appear in the inbox – spelling and all)

 

Oi did I just see your Seggers intview in Blunt? Then I open up hysteria mag and your in there too. Fuck off THEN my mate sees your PICTURE in the front of her triple j magazine.. are you following me around mate

  • Wayne Cunt

 

And everyone said I’d never be anything more than a filthy man-sluzz. Oh wait on.