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Incantation Casts A Spell Over The Underworld

It feels like a while since we presented a review of a death metal show on Metal Underground. Of course, some bands from the sub-genre have been covered in the 70000 Tons Of Metal recaps, but as a whole, it's been almost two months since the report on the Frozen Soul show at The Underworld in Camden, London. Speaking of which, the topic of this report comes from the same venue, where only two days before, I was lucky enough to witness a great display of power metal courtesy of Firewind. This time, it was full on death metal, as Pennsylvania based death metal squadron Incantation kicked off their headlining run of the UK and Ireland, following a trek of mainland Europe as main support to Decapitated.

Opening the show was local lads Mutagenic Host. Featuring two members of atmospheric black metal band Archierophant, this outfit is a more straight forward death metal affair. While not winning any points for originality, Mutagenic Host are a decent group, offering old school riffing and grisliness which will get your head moving, even if you try to resist. They wear their influences on their sleeves and it seems the mission statement is to replicate the old school death metal they love, something increasingly common nowadays with the likes of Frozen Soul and Baest. Mutagenic Host needs some work to match the quality of those bands, but the potential is there for sure. A solid opening act. More...

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Illusious Premiere Guitar Playthrough Video

Miami, Florida-based progressive death metal/tech death band Illusious premiere their guitar playthrough video for their latest single “Inexorable”, streaming via YouTube for you below.

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BoneClaw Premiere New Lyric Video

Rockford, IL-based deathcore quartet BoneClaw premiere a new lyric video for their single "Baptized In Oblivion", both of which streaming via YouTube and Spotify for you now below.

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70,000 Tons Of Metal 2024 (Day Four)

The last day of any music festival is always bittersweet. In the back of your mind, you know it’s inevitable, but you do your best to distract yourself. Today was our last chance to see as many bands as possible and enjoy every moment like it was our last. Death by 70,000 Tons of Metal was our objective and we were going to meet it at any cost to our bodies.

The final day on 70,000 Tons Of Metal has always been by tradition a mini-Halloween of sorts. Survivors will dress in costumes of all types ranging from funny to crude to basically nude. I noticed some costumes being worn during every day of the festival, but the majority still garbed up on the last day.

There were some great getups this year. One of my favorites was a stormtrooper from the Star Wars movies. We saw him meandering the boat on several occasions but once I saw him checking out the merch selection, I had to tell him/her that I hoped their aim of picking out the correct shirt was better than their marksmanship with their laser gun. They turned towards me and just stared me down. They obviously were not amused by my snarky comment.

Stormtrooper Is Not Amused

The first band on the list today was Einherjer. Einherjer has been part of a few 70k line-ups, but I’ve never actually stopped and watched them. That changed today. I can honestly say that they were very good for the style they played, old school Viking metal. It’s really not my thing, but at least I could finally check that box of finally seeing them.

Einherjer

One of the festival’s most looked forward to attractions is the belly flop contest. By the time we arrived at the Solarium Pool, there wasn’t any open spots on the top deck to watch, we had to squeeze in from below. All shapes, sexes and sizes participate in this immensely popular and traditional event. The judges are always members of the bands and it’s a fun time for everyone involved. We were able to watch a few flops before grabbing lunch. It should come as no surprise that the person with the most body mass ended up with the highest score and winning the contest.

Sunblocked!

Another one of the highlights of the cruise is the Jamming In International Waters All Star Jam. It’s basically members of different bands getting together to cover classic metal songs. Many of the members have never played with each other before so there are some glitches here and there, but it’s worthwhile going to at least once if you’re a 70k newbie.
My Dying Bride was next on the day’s list and this would be our first time seeing this historic English doom band. As the crowd waited for them to take to stage, the fog machines were putting in some overtime. From my vantage point in the photo pit, I couldn’t even make out faces a couple rows behind me because there was so much fog. This is the ambience that great doom metal bands strive for and it worked out beautifully for My Dying Bride. Their gothic style of doom still holds up to this day and vocalist Aaron Stainthorpe is in a class all by himself not only in the classic doom genre, but for all heavy metal itself. More...

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Bleed From Within Premiere New Music Video

UK metalcore band Bleed From Within has unveiled a new live themed music video for their song “Killing Time,” streaming via YouTube below.

Drummer Ali Richardson shared his thoughts on this track, featured on their current album, “Shrine”. More...

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Black Tusk Premiere New Single & Music Video

A new official music video for Black Tusk's new track "Breath Of Life" has premiered online, both streaming via YouTube and Spotify for you now below. The release of this song precedes the forthcoming album "The Way Forward" from the Savannah, GA-based sludge metal band, set to release on April 26th. Alexandra Petrovich directed this new clip.

Guitarist/vocalist Chris "Scary" Adams shared his thoughts: More...

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