Monte Pittman - Metal Blade Signs Madonna / Prong Guitarist // Solo metal album recorded with Metallica / Evile producer Flemming Rasmussen

I can't imagine anyone having the musical background and/or tastes to work with both Madonna and Tommy Victor but guitarist Monte Pittman has both composed for and played with Madge and Prong.

Metal Blade Records is pleased to announce the signing of Monte Pittman, the guitarist known for his work with metal legends Prong and the illustrious pop-star Madonna. A release date for the new solo album will be announced shortly.

Metal Blade Records founder and CEO comments: "We are so happy to welcome Monte Pittman to the Metal Blade Family. He is a tried and true metalhead and has recorded a crushing album! Metallica producer Flemming Rasmussen produced a devastating metal record with Monte and we could not be happier that we are working together on this!"

Guitarist and mastermind of the band, Monte Pittman adds; "I'm beyond excited to be working with Brian Slagel and all of the wonderful team at Metal Blade. I can't think of anyone I can put my faith and trust in more with my new album and where my career is headed. Metal Blade's track record has stood the test of time. Brian has been responsible for a majority of bands that have influenced me and gotten me to where I am now. It's been a dream come true making this album with Flemming Rasmussen. Flemming is a Master at recording a band playing together and capturing the sound in the room of everything musically working together. After we finished tracking, the first person I wanted to play it for was Brian Slagel. Here we go!"

Fans in California will have the chance to catch Monte Pittman live as the he brings his acoustic show to Hotel Café in Hollywood and two stops on the Vans Warped Tour 2013 including Mountain View and Ventura (performing on the Acoustic Basement Stage).

Monte Pittman solo acoustic shows:
06/21 Hollywood, CA Hotel Cafe (on @ 8pm)
06/22 Mountain View, CA Warped Tour - Acoustic Basement Stage
06/23 Ventura, CA Warped Tour - Acoustic Basement Stage







Links:
Monte Pittman

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Sacred Reich - 'Live at Wacken' CD/DVD Review (Metal Blade)

STREAM: Sacred Reich - "Surf Nicaragua" (From Live at Wacken)

It has been 15 years since Arizona political-thrasher Sacred Reich released their last disc but that changes on November 20th, when Metal Blade releases a DVD/CD of the band’s performance at Wacken in 2007. Live at Wacken was recorded on the band’s very brief 20th Anniversary tour with this show taking place at the Waken Open Air festival on August 4, 2007, in front of 60,000 metal fans.

Sacred Reich’s last studio disc, Heal, came out in 1996 and AllMusic called the disc the “finest Sacred Reich offering of the '90s, if not their entire career”. Unfortunately, like a lot of bands of that era – Sacred Reich seemed to get lost in the grunge-induced major label feeding frenzy (the band recorded Independent for Hollywood Records) and the post-grunge collapse. When asked about the band’s post-reunion set list and future plans, vocalist/bassist Phil Rind said in a interview with Lords of Metal “We will focus on the older songs. We don’t have any new material, so sorry, no new songs. Hopefully we won’t suck! (laughs)…We have all moved forward from the band days and Sacred Reich is not the priority it once was. I really don’t see a new record in the future.”

To Phil’s point, the set list from Live at Wacken comes primarily from the band’s first three discs – Ignorance (1987), "Surf Nicaragua" EP (1988) and The American Way (1990). The band sounds in great form at this show and sound like they are enjoying themselves. Phil gives a shout-out to thank the fans for their support and to Destruction, who were also on the bill at Wacken in 2007 and had played with Sacred Reich on their first trip to Europe. Highlights of the show are guitarist Wiley Arnett's shredding guitar work, the slow burning "Who's To Blame", "War Pigs" - where the audience sings the first verse and the blistering show finale "Surf Nicaragua".

Live At Wacken track listing:
01. The American Way (from The American Way)
02. Administrative Decisions (from Ignorance)
03. One Nation (from "Surf Nicaragua" EP)
04. Love… Hate (from The American Way)
05. Ignorance (from Ignorance)
06. Crimes Against Humanity (from The American Way)
07. Who's To Blame (from The American Way)
08. State Of Emergency (from The American Way)
09. War Pigs (Black Sabbath cover) (from "Surf Nicaragua" EP)
10. Independent (from Independent)
11. Death Squad (from Ignorance)
12. Surf Nicaragua (from "Surf Nicaragua" EP)





For anyone looking to catch up on Sacred Reich’s back catalogue, Metal Blade Europe issued Sacred Reich’s first two discs as a 3CD set entitled Surf Ignorance, which includes bonus tracks (including a cover of Judas Priest’s “Rapid Fire”, with Rob Halford on vocals). American Way was reissued on Displeased Records a few years back and this reissue also has bonus tracks.

While Sacred Reich is only playing sporadic live shows, the band played a short run of shows in Europe earlier this summer as part of a brief 25th Anniversary tour. The band also has a few US shows scheduled over the next few months.

Sacred Reich Tour Dates
11/30/12 -- HOUSE OF BLUES, HOLLYWOOD CA
12/03/12 -- BARGE TO HELL, MIAMI FL
O2/23/13 -- KEY CLUB, HOLLYWOOD CA

Links:
Sacred Reich

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The Foreshadowing - 'Second World' CD Review (Metal Blade)

Update: The Foreshadowing have been added to Marduk & Moonspell's "Voices of the Dark" North American co-headlining tour in February/March 2013 and these shows will mark the band's North American debut.

The Foreshadowing's third disc, Second World, takes me back to the last (Brooklyn) incarnation of L'Amour as I can still remember seeing bands like Lacuna Coil and Moonspell sometime around 2002-3 and The Foreshadowing would have fit well alongside either of these bands. The Foreshadowing are an Italian atmospheric goth-metal band that has been playing high-profile festivals and generating a buzz in Europe but is just now breaking into the US market after signing with Metal Blade. To add some additional color to the 'goth-metal' label - The Foreshadowing sound something like Some Great Reward-era Depeche Mode (less the industrial clanking) meets Woods of Ypres.



The Foreshadowing formed in 2005 and released their debut disc, Days of Nothing (Candlelight Records), in 2007. This first disc was a concept album about an imaginary apocalypse wished by an insane ordinary man and this new disc continues this apocalyptic vision. Second World is guided trip through this post-apocalypse world where the listener gets pulled in by the densely atmospheric and cinematic melodies, which are complemented by singer Marco Benevento 'new romantic' baritone, but there is a dark melancholia in the music that creeps up out of the darkness. The music consistently stays close to its slow-burning 'gloomy' core and, while there are some moments of aggression from the guitars and drums, never reaches the crushing epic doom of some of the band's contemporaries. Second World is more about 'painting' a bleak aural landscape than crushing the listener with waves of despair.

The disc starts off on a strong note with "Havoc", which opens with the sounds of rain and fire before the down-tuned guitar riffs and pounding beat kicks in. Nothing is 'by-the-books' in this universe as the band strips back the pounding rhythms mid-song for a chanted snippet of "Gloria in excelsis Deo" before building back the rhythmic pulse of the song beneath the chant. One of the other standout tracks in the front-half of the disc is "The Foresaken Son", which has a harder-edged guitar sound than its predecessors. The band's sound all comes together on the back-half of the disc with swirling "Reverie is a Tyrant", which ends with the clanging church bell over the chanted "Lord's Prayer" and the world-weary "Colonies", which has a brilliantly executed acoustic opening and closes with an acoustic guitar outro.

The Foreshadowing haven't yet made it to North America but my guess is that the band's signing to Metal Blade and the label's reissue of The Foreshadowing's last two discs will see this changed in short-order.

Links:
The Foreshadowing

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Fates Warning - "Inside Out" Reissue CD Review (Metal Blade)

Two years after Metal Blade issued a deluxe 3-CD reissue of Fates Warning’s 1991 CD Parallels, the label has followed this up with a three-disc reissue of 1994’s Inside Out.

On the bonus CD are five tracks that were recorded live in Germany when the band was opening for Dream Theater along with seven demos/unreleased tracks. The live show consists of three tracks from Inside Out and two tracks from Parallels. The demos present early versions of five of the studio disc’s ten tracks along with a rough mix of “Monument” and the previously unreleased track “Circles”. The demos are great as they show a rawer edge to the songs than what ended up on the final studio disc. Particularly delectable is the instrumental version of "Face the Fear" and this demo version runs almost two minutes longer than the studio version. "Circles" is a solid track and it sounds completely produced so this song would have been a welcome addition to the original issue of Inside Out. On a humerous note, there is a 20 second snippet of an aborted take at the end of "Circles". (Note: For any completists out there – three of the five demos were previously released on a 2006 reissue of Inside Out).

Review copies of bonus DVDs rarely seem to circulate for review so I haven’t seen “Inside Out Live”. Based on the track list, I’m assuming these are various live tracks from different shows (in comparison – the bonus live DVD included in the Parallels reissue was a complete show). What is interesting is that “Island in the Stream” appears to be from the Parallels-lineup reunion tour in 2010.

Kudos to Metal Blade for keeping this reissue affordable as Amazon is selling the 3-disc set new for $15.92.

CD2 – LIVE in DÜSSELDORF, GERMANY February 11th 1995
Outside Looking In
Down to the Wire
The Eleventh Hour
Point Of View
Face The Fear

DEMOS/UNRELEASED
Outside Looking In (demo)
Pale Fire (demo)
Shelter Me (demo)
Island In the Stream (demo)
Face The Fear (demo)
Monument (rough mix)
Circles (unreleased)

DVD – INSIDE OUT LIVE
Outside Looking In 1994/95
Pale Fire 1993/94
The Strand 1994
Shelter Me 1993
Island In The Stream 2010
Down To The Wire 1994/95
Face The Fear 1994/95
Monument 1994/95
Afterglow Slide Show
Extras
Live In Still Water 1994
Through Different Eyes 1995
Guardian (Mike Portnoy drums) 1994
Shades of Heavenly Death 1995
MTV Europe Interview 1995
Eye to Eye 1994/95
Face The Face Of Fear 1994
Don't Follow Me 1994
Shortest Fates Warning Show Ever. 1994
Guardian (Arch/ Alder duet) 1994



There are days that I can be too much of a purist as, while this is a great package at an affordable price point, there are some aspects of this reissue that I was disappointed with. To start – Fates Warning was playing seven-eight song sets when opening for Dream Theater. I don’t know whether this was just a short set or songs were cut from this reissue – I’m guessing the later as the band seemed to consistently close their set with “Monument” for this run of shows. Here is the set list from another night on the German tour:

1. Life in Still Water
2. Outside Looking in
3. Down to the Wire
4. The Eleventh Hour
5. Point of View
6. Face the Fear
7. Eye to Eye
8. Monument

When reviewing reissues, I generally don’t attempt to review the original studio album but…I don’t think I heard this disc when it originally came out. This is a decent disc but it is quickly noticeable that it is missing the “wow” factor that made Parallels great. “Face the Fear”, “Monument” and “Down to the Wire” are memorable and strong tracks but the rest of the disc goes by in a pleasant blur without leaving a lasting impression. You have to wonder if the band was suffering from fatigue as guitarist Frank Aresti and bassist Joe DiBiase left the band after this disc’s release. In a 2001 interview with FatesWarning.com, DiBiase said “Parallels…was our peak as far as being a cohesive unit, musically and personally. For what ever reason after that album it started to become more like a job and not as much fun.”

Links:
Fates Warning

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Grand Magus - "Iron Will" CD Review (Metal Blade)

Metal Blade is re-issuing Swedish “traditional metal” band Grand Magus’ 2008 CD Iron Will (originally out on Rise Above) on June 5th. This is my first exposure to Grand Magus so I can’t compare the music on this record to any of the band’s other discs. I’ve read though that Grand Magus started out as “doom” but this disc predominately sounds like Ian Gillan fronting early Iron Maiden.

Grand Magus is a power-trio that was formed by vocalist Janne "JB" Christoffersson and bassist Fox Skinner. After his tenure in Spiritual Beggars, Christoffersson’s vocals are immediately recognizable but his stellar guitar playing comes as a pleasant surprise. I guess it is hard to get noticed as a guitar player when you are playing alongside Michael Arnott. Iron Will was the band’s fourth disc and the lineup this time out includes newcomer Sebastian "Seb" Sippola on drums. For most of the last decade, Christoffersson split his time between Spiritual Beggars and Grand Magus but decided to focus on Grand Magus exclusively after the release of 2010’s Hammer of the North.

While Spiritual Beggars is more groove-based stoner rock, Grand Magus emphasizes driving guitar riffs and melodic leads overtop of a galloping rhythm section. There isn’t a lot of ‘excess’ (guitar heroics, vocal histrionics) on this disc as the songwriting emphasizes the powerful guitar riffs and Christoffersson’s bluesy vocals. The lyrics mostly seem to be focused on pagan/sword-in-stone imagery (the problem with digital promos is one can never be completely certain of the lyrics) which drive to fist pumping, sing-along choruses.



The songs on the first half of the disc are all epic ‘tradition metal’ tracks – in the middle of these songs is a short (under a minute) rumbling bass track (“Hovding”) which serves as an intro. to the grinding riffs and anthemic choruses of “Iron Will”. Starting with “Silver into Steel”, the tone of the disc becomes a bit darker. This track starts with strings playing overtop of a brooding undertone and the track hits full-steam when its grinding Sabbath-ish riffs kick in. The guitars seem to have been “turned up to 11” for “The Shadow Knows”, which brings in more of a thrash/punk sound that is comparable to the sound of Iron Maiden’s first disc. “Self Deceiver” is full-out epic doom number that features down-tuned riffs, a heavy bass line and pounding drums. The band then takes a step back from the darkness with the Alice in Chains sounding “Good and Evil” and the disc ends with the morose “I Am the North”. (Note: this last track runs 5 minutes, not the nine minutes listed. There is a ‘hidden’ minute-long guitar riff at the end of the song.)

Grand Magus' new album, The Hunt, is due out on June 5th on Nuclear Blast.

Links:
Grand Magus

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Cattle Decapitation Release In-Studio Video for "Monolith of Inhumanity" (Out May 8th on Metal Blade) / Show April 24th at Club Europa

California progressive grind conquerors Cattle Decapitation reveal the first of three in-studio video segments from their Monolith Of Inhumanity recording sessions. Set for North American release on May 8, 2012, the record was produced by Dave Otero of Denver's Flatline Audio and sees the band exploring innovative new techniques in song writing without abandoning their signature formula of confrontational audio wreckage and self-loathing lyrical content.

Check out Dave McGraw’s drum demolition and behind-the-scenes studio footage as well as first single “A Living, Breathing Piece Of Defecating Meat”.



Monolith Of Inhumanity is an achievement that stands out as one of the most volatile, ambitious, and impossible to aptly categorize records you will hear in 2012. Dragging their ever-evolving deathgrind sound kicking and screaming into the epic territory inhabited by the likes of Dimmu Borgir and Anaal Nathrakh, the quartet redefine all perceptions of what Cattle Decapitation is. With their seventh full-length, the band have never sounded more focused, aggressive, or manically determined to get in the faces of those who erroneously believe they’ve already experienced the band at their extreme best.

The 11-track Monolith Of Inhumanity features a host of guests including Mike Majewski of Devourment (guest vocals on "Projectile Ovulation"), Lenard Leal of Cephalic Carnage (backing vocals by on "A Living, Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat"), The Cephalic Carnage Community Men's Choir, consisting of all current Cephalic members and alumni Jawsh Mullen and Zac Joe (gang choir vocals on "The Carbon Stampede"), and ambient and noise interludes by Los Angeles' most extreme decimator of sound, John Wiese, as well as another strikingly brutal cover by Wes Benscoter.

In addition, Cattle Decapitation collaborated with famed pop culture artist Tom Bunk, best known for his work for the 1980s Garbage Pail Kids trading cards and MAD Magazine, for a very special art project. Bunk was gracious enough to create individual pieces of art for each member of the band, heavily influenced by and practically just as they appeared in the Garbage Pail Kids series of the ‘80s! A GPK-inspired Cattle Decapitation trading card set and T-shirts are included with special limited pre-order packages and collector’s bundles.

Cattle Decapitation recently returned from the successful Reborn of Death European Tour with Suffocation, Blood Red Throne, Cerebral Bore, Adimiron, Sadist and Ulvedharr and will take a short break before heading out on the Occupation Domination 2012 with Origin, Decrepit Birth, Aborted, Rings Of Saturn, Battlecross and more!

CATTLE DECAPITATION - Occupation Domination 2012
w/ Origin, Decrepit Birth, Aborted, Rings Of Saturn, Battlecross
4/14/12 - Forum 619 – Cheyenne, WY
4/15/12 - Budd Ugly's – Rapid City, SD
4/18/12 - Blackened Moon – Lansing, MI
4/19/12 - Lansing Elementary Community Center, Lansing OH
4/20/12 - Sonar – Baltimore, MD
4/21/12 - Mojo 13 – Wilmington, DE
4/22/12 - Champs Backstage – Trenton, NJ
4/23/12 - Railroad Tavern – Keene, NH
4/24/12 - Club Europa – Brooklyn, NY (Advanced Tickets are $20)
4/25/12 - Harpos – Detroit, MI
4/26/12 - Brass Rail – Peoria, IL
4/27/12 - Mojoe’s – Joliet, IL
4/28/12 - Camelot Arena – Portage, IN
4/29/12 - Fubar – St. Louis, MO
4/30/12 - The Rogue – Fayetteville, AR
5/02/12 - El Rey Theatre – Albuquerque, NM
5/03/12 - Cheyenne Saloon – Las Vegas, NV
5/04/12 - Ruby Room – San Diego, CA
5/05/12 - The Clubhouse – Tempe, AZ
5/06/12 - The Whisky a Go-Go – Hollywood, CA
5/07/12 - Slidebar – Fullerton, CA
5/08/12 - DNA Lounge – San Francisco, CA
5/09/12 - Plea For Peace Center – Stockton, CA
5/10/12 - The Alley – Sparks, NV
5/11/12 - Branx – Portland, OR
5/12/12 - Studio Seven – Seattle, WA
5/13/12 - The Venue – Boise, ID
5/14/12 - In The Venue – Salt Lake City, UT
5/15/12 - The Summit Music Hall – Denver, CO
5/16/12 - People's Court – Des Moines, IA
5/17/12 - Station 4 – St. Paul, MN
5/18/12 - The Granada Theater – Lawrence, KS

Links:
Cattle Decapitation

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Cannibal Corpse: "Torture" Interview with Guitarist Rob Barrett, March 29, 2012

DOWNLOAD: BrooklynRocks Interview with Cannibal Corpse Guitarist Rob Barrett

Long-running band Cannibal Corpse is back with their twelfth disc, Torture (released March 13th on Metal Blade). This new twelve track disc combines the raw thrash of the band’s early works with the technical precision of the band’s later works and complements this with clear production from (Hate Eternal/x-Morbid Angel) Erik Rutan. This new disc is the band’s third with Rutan and it follows in a similar musical vein as Kill (2006) and Evisceration Plague (2009).

I had the pleasure of talking with guitarist Rob Barrett last week about the making of the new disc and the band's upcoming tour. Check out the interview - the link is posted above.

Cannibal Corpse Tour Dates
Apr 05 - Jacksonville Beach, FL, Freebird Live
Apr 08 - Huntington, WV, V Club
Apr 13 - Rochester, NY, Club @ Water Street
Apr 14 - Cincinnati, OH, Bogart's
Apr 15 - Phoenix, AZ, Rhythm Room
Apr 16 - Des Moines, IA, People's Court
Apr 21 - Grand Junction, CO, Mesa Theater
Apr 25 - Houston, TX, Jake's
Apr 27 - Columbia, MO, The Blue Note
Apr 28 - Oklahoma City, OK, Diamond Ballroom
Apr 30 - Nashville, TN, Exit/In
May 01 - Birmingham, AL, Zydeco (Upstairs)
May 02 - Pensacola, FL, Vinyl Music Hall
May 03 - Gainesville, FL, Double Down Live

Links:
Cannibal Corpse

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Cannibal Corpse - "Torture" CD Review (Metal Blade)

Long-running band Cannibal Corpse is back with their twelfth disc, Torture (released March 13th on Metal Blade). This new twelve track disc combines the raw thrash of the band’s early works with the technical precision of the band’s later works and complements this with clear production from (Hate Eternal/x-Morbid Angel) Erik Rutan. This new disc is the band’s third with Rutan and it follows in a similar musical vein as Kill (2006) and Evisceration Plague (2009).

Torture is everything that you would expect from a Cannibal Corpse disc – brutal riffs and technical solos, throat-shredding guttural vocals and pounding blast beats. To mix things up, the band slows down on a couple of numbers (“Scourge of Iron” and “Sarcophagic Frenzy”) for some down-tuned, slow burning dirge. Rutan’s clean production gives the band’s music an ‘accessibility’ that really wasn’t heard on previous discs as each song has room to breathe and stand on its own. The production also highlights the band’s maturing songwriting and brings out the razor-tight interplay between the members. In an interview with ThisIsNotAScene, guitarist Rob Barrett said “we have got to a point where the chemistry has developed to its best point, now we’re all writing songs to a point where we’re keeping each individual in mind, as opposed to before where perhaps we were writing whatever we wanted to play and weren’t really keeping into consideration what anyone else was going to play”.

Some of the standout tracks are the Barrett-penned “Sarcophagic Frenzy”, “The Strangulation Chair”, which has a killer bass solo from Alex Webster and “Intestinal Crank”, with its chugging bass and tightly integrated start/stop riffs.



With track names like “As Deep as the Knife Will Go” and “Followed Home Then Killed”, one can see that Cannibal Corpse’s lyrics continue in the same horror/gore vein as past releases (…as if anyone would have expected differently). Going back to the This IsNotAScene interview, Rob Barrett said “When we were thinking about potential album titles and ended up agreeing on the ‘Torture’ title that pretty much gave us a focus of what we were going to write all the lyrics about, each song deals with some sort of form of different torture.” Adding to the overall experience is a return to the horror/gore art of the band’s early days with carefully packaged gruesome album cover by artist Vince Locke.

Cannibal Corpse Tour Dates
Apr 05 - Jacksonville Beach, FL, Freebird Live
Apr 08 - Huntington, WV, V Club
Apr 13 - Rochester, NY, Club @ Water Street
Apr 14 - Cincinnati, OH, Bogart's
Apr 15 - Phoenix, AZ, Rhythm Room
Apr 16 - Des Moines, IA, People's Court
Apr 21 - Grand Junction, CO, Mesa Theater
Apr 25 - Houston, TX, Jake's
Apr 27 - Columbia, MO, The Blue Note
Apr 28 - Oklahoma City, OK, Diamond Ballroom
Apr 30 - Nashville, TN, Exit/In
May 01 - Birmingham, AL, Zydeco (Upstairs)
May 02 - Pensacola, FL, Vinyl Music Hall
May 03 - Gainesville, FL, Double Down Live

Links:
Cannibal Corpse

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Church of Misery - "Master of Brutality" Reissue CD Review (Metal Blade/Rise Above)

Church Of Misery "Megalomania (Herbert Mullin)" by Metal Blade Records

While waiting for the Black Sabbath reunion album, Rise Above/Metal Blade’s reissue of Church of Misery’s full-length debut, Master of Brutality, should be a good holdover. Master of Brutality was Church of Misery’s first full-length and the disc originally came out on Southern Lord in 2001. This new reissue adds three bonus tracks which extends the total running time by an additional 33 minutes.

While a lot of bands were inspired by early Black Sabbath, Church of Misery is the first band that I’ve heard that writes songs that sound like they came straight out of the Sabbath catalogue. Guitarist Tomohiro Nishimura lays down chunky, blues-based, doom riffs on top of an ultra-heavy rhythm section and the only noticeable differentiation from Black Sabbath’s sound is that vocalist Yoshiaki Negishi has more of a Lemmy/Roddy Stone (Viking Skull) rasp. A quote that was included as part of the packaging with the disc’s original issue tells you everything that you need to know about Church of Misery: “We hate trend. We hate corporate attitude. We hate the word ‘stoner’. Death to false stoners!! Let there be DOOM!!”



Six of the disc’s nine tracks are about famous serial killers (Peter Sutcliffe, John Wayne Gacy, Albert de Salvo, etc.) and, for anyone who can’t understand the band’s disturbing lyrics; the tracks include voice-over sound bytes from the killers themselves. The remaining three tracks are a Blue Oyster Cult cover “Cities on Fire”, a (brief) instrumental “Green River” (4:30 minutes – which is one of the shortest tracks on this disc), and a 17+ minute live version of “Lucifer Rising” (which I presume is a cover of a portion of the Kenneth Anger film soundtrack). In keeping with the band’s obsession with serial killers, prior to the Masters of Reality tribute cover on this reissue, an earlier cover showed John Wayne Gacy’s face covered with blood spatter.

Church of Misery didn’t play outside of Japan prior to 2005 and this band is finally making their US debut, which will take place at the 2012 edition of Maryland Death Fest.

Links:
Church of Misery

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Jim Florentine - "Cringe and Purge" CD Review (Metal Blade)

Jim Florentine "Kids" by Metal Blade Records

Wikipedia defines cringe comedy as “a comedy genre that uses awkward and embarrassing situations to cause audiences to feel uneasy”. The problem with this definition is that uber-PC folks need to realize that everyday life has a large number of “awkward and embarrassing situations” and Florentine touches on a number of these situations over the course of his new disc.

While Jim Florentine is well-known for his "Special Ed" and "Bobby Fletcher" characters, Cringe and Purge (Metal Blade) is straight-forward stand-up comedy delivered in a matter-of-fact tone similar to Richard Pryor’s Live on the Sunset Strip. It should be fair warning to the easily offended that Florentine recently opened up for the Big 4 tour (Metallica, Slayer, Megadeth and Anthrax) but for those who didn’t get the hint, he starts his show with the comment “if you DVR the show “Glee”, this is going to end badly for you”.

This 45 minute disc is divided into nine tracks and Florentine’s subject matter ranges from the inanity of modern life (“Superstitions”, “Old School Parents”) to the potentially inflammatory (“Gay Guys”, “Religion”, “Hip-Hop Sticks”). Florentine takes on each of these topics with well-developed stories and anecdotes which allow the audience to relate to his feelings and observations. Some of his funnier narratives touch on parents, sex and Catholic priests, the typical angry meathead fans at a Slayer show, and the stupidity of today’s “matching bling” hip-hop culture.



While there are shocks, surprises and stepped-on toes over the course of Florentine’s delivery, his stories and the rhythm of his delivery separate him from comedians who use “shock for the sake of shock”. Florentine will drop a bomb in the middle of one of these narratives and nonchalantly move on to the next topic.

For anyone who appreciates stand-up comedy, Florentine’s social commentary on Cringe and Purge is funny, poignant and most often dead-on.

Links:
Jim Florentine

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Austrian Death Machine - "Jingle All The Way" CD EP Review (Metal Blade)

Austrian Death Machine "It's Turbo Time" by Metal Blade Records

When Austrian Death Machine’s (ADM) first disc came our in 2008, Tim Lambesis describes it as "a tribute to the great Arnold movies. It is a band fronted by Ahhnold with music I wrote and recorded in my free time. But, most importantly, I had so much fun!" Tim and the boys are back with a new three-song EP where the songs are based on Das Ahnold’s 1996 (very painful) holiday movie Jingle All the Way.

Similar to ADM’s earlier releases, all three tracks “I’m Not a Pervert”, “It’s Turbo Time” and “Who Told You You Could Eat My Cookies” contain dialogue related to Arnie’s pursuit of a Turbo Man doll in Jingle All the Way. Given the problems that Arnie ran into earlier this year with his love child and messy divorce from Maria Schriver, you can’t help but chuckle embarrassedly when you hear Das Ahnold roar on the first track “I’m not a pervert – I was just looking for a Turbo Man doll”. The last track, “Who Told You You Could Eat My Cookies?”, was first heard on 2009’s Double Brutal and Das Ahnold sets the stage for the death metal growls that follow by saying “If you're going to sound like Cookie Monster, then we might as well write a song about cookies”.

Musically, ADM play thrashed-up metalcore which utilizes a mix of chugging guitars, technical death metal solos and mosh-ready blast beats and breakdowns that are “totally brutal”. Ahnold calls for the solo at the end of “It’s Turbo Time” with the comment: “What the hell's the matter with you? You totally forgot the guitar solo, you idiots! Play it...Play it now!" As you can gather from all of this, the vocals are a mix of Tim’s Cookie Monster death metal growls and Das Ahnold voice-overs.



While this release doesn’t break any new ground, it is simply a fun disc…and a great counterpoint to sappy Xmas discs like Scott Weiland’s cringe-inducing disc It’s The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.

Links:
Austrian Death Machine

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