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Pit Stories: Booze And Blood

We've had some great Pit Stories lately about teaching a student the way of the mosh, a trailer park show with some dubious offers for merch, and some hardcore dancers who can't sling insults for shit.

For this week's entry, we again hit up Virgin Steele, who previously gave us a baffling story of a kid who managed to take a nap in the bass bin during a Manowar show.

Today the Steele gives us another rousing metallic tale of just how crazy things can get at a GWAR show:

One night I wandered into a Rock Club that was quite famous here in New York at one time, called Sundance. I played there with Virgin Steele quite often, also Manowar played there, Guns & Roses, Megadeth… everyone. Anyway… one night I wandered or rather stumbled in blind drunk, crashed my way to the bar, ordered another drink, looked around, and there was GWAR onstage wearing these reptile suits.

They were roaring away, the music was deafening, and pounding, and the vocals were low, snarling and well…reptilian… and then quite suddenly the song ended and the head reptile spoke to us in a very human, soft rather cultured voice and I was riveted, shocked & startled by the juxtaposition of visual and aural strangeness and the next thing I knew, the entire audience seemed to have flown through the air and imbedded themselves on the stage!

They were flailing about, leaping off then back on the stage, jumping forwards, sideways, and backwards and generally running around wildly. There were so many people up there that you couldn’t see the band anymore… it looked, sounded and felt quite insane! I had no idea what was happening and thought I was in a Hieronymus Bosch painting or Dante’s Inferno. This was my first experience with moshing and wild over the top audience participation. When I finally stumbled out of there much later, I was covered in a nasty mixture of beer, booze, blood, both real and fake, and other assorted liquids that emanated both from the band and the audience that I would not care to remember or identify…

What's your favorite memory for a GWAR show? Let us know in the comments below! Virgin Steele's "Nocturnes of Hellfire & Damnation" dropped last month and a song off that album can be heard here: More...

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Pentagram Posts Entire New Album Online

Pentagram just made all of upcoming album "Curious Volume" available online before it releases this Friday, August 21 via Peaceville. Listen in below.

Featuring 11 classic heavy metal compositions with catchy hooks from core band members Victor Griffin, Greg Turley, and Bobby Liebling (Pete Campbell on the drums completes the band's line-up), "Curious Volume" was recorded with Swedish producer Mattias Nilsson at studios located in Maryland and Virginia.

Additional recording took place in Tennessee with Grammy-nominated producer, Travis Wyrick, who also produced Pentagram's previous album, "Last Rites." The album's cover artwork was provided courtesy of Richard Schouten. Pre-order "Curious Volume" online at this location. More...

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Crest Of Darkness To Support Marduk On Tour

Veteran Norwegian black metal group Crest Of Darkness is set to support Sweden's Marduk on the "Frontschwein 2015 – Europa Part III" tour, which will take place over 18 dates in October in Europe and the Balkans.

Also on the bill will be France's Svart Crown and Greek band Bio Cancer. Additionally joining for parts of the tour will be Slovenia’s Cvinger (from the 8th to the 16th) and Poland’s Saratan (from the 17th to the 25th).

Routing for the tour is as follows:

08 Oct: Mega Club, Katowice, PL
09 Oct: Barrocko, Trinec, CZ
10 Oct: Nova Chmelnice, Prague, CZ
11 Oct: Club From Hell, Erfurt, DE
12 Oct: Bikini Test, La Chaux-de-Fonds, CH
13 Oct: Grillen, Colmar, FR
14 Oct: Komplex 457, Zurich, CH
15 Oct: Traffic Live Club, Rome, IT
16 Oct: Elyon, Rozzano, IT
17 Oct: OKC Palach, Rijeka, CRO
18 Oct: Kaktus, Sarajevo, BA
19 Oct: Havana, Skopje, MK
20 Oct: Kyttaro Club, Athens, GR
21 Oct: Eightball, Thessaloniki, GR
22 Oct: Mixtape 5, Sofia, BG
23 Oct: The Quarter, Novi Sad, RS
24 Oct: Escape Metalcorner, Vienna, AT
25 Oct: Blue Hell, Budapest, HU More...

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Doomshine Announces New Album

Doomshine's third album "The End Is Worth Waiting For" will be released on August 31, 2015 via Metal On Metal Records. A promo clip featuring music from the album is available below, and the full "The End Is Worth Waiting For" track listing is as follows:

1. Celtic Glasgow Frost
2. Witchburn Road
3. Third from Inferno
4. The Alchemist of Snowdonia
5. Moontiger
6. Shelter of the Beast
7. Shipwrecked at Doom Bar

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Act Of Defiance Streaming Full Debut Album

Act Of Defiance just posted the band's entire debut album online - listen in below, and look for the group to embark on a first-ever national tour, co-headlining with Allegaeon, starting Oct 22. The album itself officially drops Aug 21 through Metal Blade.

Shawn Drover (drums) states: “We are all so proud for everybody to finally be able to hear 'Birth and the Burial' streaming in its entirety!!!! We worked extremely hard to make the best HEAVY METAL record we could, and we are all beyond excited for to sink your teeth into this record!!!! We said from the get-go this record is 100% uncompromising Heavy Metal, and now you can hear it for yourselves! With the release of 'Birth and the Burial,' we as Act Of Defiance can now at last announce our first co-headlining tour with our new Metal Blade label mates Allegaon! This tour will be 100% complete HEAVY METAL and we cannot wait to see you all there!"

Chris Broderick (guitars) further adds: "We spent a lot of time and effort on 'Birth and the Burial' to get it to sound as good as it possibly could, and we are not only excited for it's release this Friday August 21st and the fact that everyone can stream it, but also to announce that we will be heading out on tour to support it in October!!! It's one thing to get a CD to sound great, but now we have to live up to that sound live as well, and I know from talking to Shawn, Henry, and Matt that we are going to bring it!!! The tour will be with our Metal Blade record label mates Allegaeon. I urge you to pick up the CD and then come see us live to compare and contrast Hahahah." More...

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Blinding Sunrise Posts "Lonely Sailors" Clip

Italian six piece Blinding Sunrise is gearing up to drop debut album "This World Won't Listen" on September 9, which follows the "Cold Like Winter" EP.

The album also features guest vocals from Dani Nelli of Upon This Dawning, and today a lyric video from the release comes online. Check out "Lonely Sailors" below.

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Coal Chamber Releases New Lyric Video

Returning after a 13 year hiatus, Coal Chamber has been busy supporting comeback album "Rivals," and today the band drops a new lyric clip for the song "Another Nail In The Coffin."

If you missed them, check out the previously posted clips for the title track and "I.O.U. Nothing." You can also see Coal Chamber on these tour dates:

8/18: Lincoln, NE @ Bourbon Theater
8/19: Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall
8/20: Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex
8/21: Las Vegas, NV @ Brooklyn Bowl
8/22: Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory

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Death Toll Rising Posts New Music Video

Coming off a performance this past weekend at Metallion Festival in BC, Edmonton, Death Toll Rising has released a new video for "Scorched Earth Policy" in support of latest album "Infection Legacy." Guitarist Drew Copland comments:

"We are beyond excited to be releasing our first ever music video! This is one of the thrashers off our most recent album, 'Infection Legacy' and always proved to be a fan favorite, so it was a no brainer to do this track.

"We were lucky enough to work with our good friend and director Lindsay Robinson on this project and he pretty much nailed everything we had in mind, it looks sick! It was great experience and we were able to have a ton of our friends out to party and be in the video, which made it all the more motivating for us. It was cold, it was late, and it was exhausting, but in the end completely worth every minute!" More...

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BTBAM Announces Tour With Enslaved

Between the Buried and Me will return to the road this fall to headline North America with support from Norway's Enslaved plus progressive masters Intronaut and prog newcomers Native Construct.

Between the Buried and Me's Dan Briggs comments: "This is a package that we handpicked each band, which doesn't always happen. It shows off the diversity of the progressive music universe and we couldn't be more excited to have a young band like Native Construct, Intronaut who are great friends of ours already, and the legends in Enslaved, along with us."

Ivar from Enslaved offered the following statement: "When we ended our highly successful tour just this March, it was with an outspoken 'we sure hope there's another trip across the pond already this year.' And wouldn't you know it; there IS going to be just that! The gods heard our call. OR; it could have been the booking agents and Between the Buried and Me - this tour coming up from November 18th 2015 will see us supporting them on a trek throughout USA for the following month. We will add our extreme flavour to the prog-metal package; to make sure our own faithful American fans (which we will never be able to thank enough for their relentless support), as well as the new listeners we'll meet on the way gets the full-blown Enslaved-experience!"

To know what you're getting into, check out our reviews for the latest albums from Native Construct, Enslaved, and BTBAM. More...

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Reflections Posts "Actias Luna" Video

Reflections has debuted an all-new music video today for the single titled "Actias Luna," which can be seen below or over at Substreammagazine.com here.

"We chose this track because we feel that it shows our true sound and direction," says vocalist Jake Wolf. Directed by Max Moore, this is the first piece of music we're hearing from the band off a recently completed LP.

Wolf continues, "It's a sound that was found while writing 'The Fantasy Effect; and lost in the midst of writing and recording our album 'Exi(s)t.' For those who were expecting something a bit different sounding from us, rest easy knowing that our new album goes through stages. There really is something for everyone. For those of you that have been keeping up with us until now, thank you for being patient."

Reflections will release "The Color Clear" on Friday, September 18 via eOne / Good Fight Music. The track listing is as follows: More...

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Maserati Releasing "Rehumanizer"

Maserati will release new album "Rehumanizer" on October 30 via Temporary Residence Ltd. and the closing track "Rehumanizer II" can be heard below. You can also pre-order your copy of this rocking record right here. The following press release was also issued:

"Maserati is a band obsessed with process. Specifically, obsessed with the process of marrying the past to the future - retro futurists hellbent on forging Krautrock and classic rock into one motorik, monolithic vehicle. 'Rehumanizer' is the most accomplished product of that process to date, a marriage of man and machine that plays like a supergroup comprised of Gary Numan,
Cluster, and Pink Floyd.

"Recorded and mixed by drummer Mike Albanese - and produced entirely by the band in its own studio - this is the first Maserati album completely devoid of outside collaboration or interference. Building songs up bit by bit - and breaking them back down to their barest elements - Maserati fully embraced technology as a songwriting tool. The band takes greater risks than ever, sonically experimenting on the fly and incorporating unprocessed vocals for the first time ever." More...

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Exxasens Posts New Video

Originally formed as a solo project by guitarist Jordi Ruiz and now expanded into a foursome, Exxasens takes inspiration from the study of space and particularly those that have voyaged heroically into its heart of darkness.

For his first release Ruiz set up a home studio in April 2007 to compose songs that sought to explore this subject. Uploading one song a month online, after a year he had amassed an army of supporters, assembled his first full-length album and gained interest from the then newly formed label ConSouling Sounds who went on to release it as "Polaris" in May 2008.

"Beyond The Universe" followed soon after, featuring thirteen songs – each more elaborate than the last – and Ruiz’s hard work caught the ear of Barcelona label Aloud Music Ltd in 2011 where "Eleven Miles" (released that same year) and 2013’s "Satellites" turned Ruiz’s solo project into the fully-fledged band it is today.

"Back To Earth," the fourth Exxasens album, arrives this September 7 and today a video for the track "Hugeness" comes online. More...

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Danzig Announces Tour With Superjoint, Prong

Danzig's "Blackest Of The Black" tour dates this coming October will feature Superjoint, Veil of Maya, Prong, and Witch Mountain.

The trek runs from October 2nd through Halloween and will hit the following cities and venues:

10/2 Sat - Phoenix, AZ Marquee Theatre
10/5 Mon - Austin, TX Stubbs Waller Creek Amphitheatre
10/7 Wed - Memphis, TN Minglewood Hall
10/9 Fri - New Orleans, LA Civic Theatre
10/11 Sun - Birmingham, AL Iron City
10/12 Mon - Orlando, FL Hard Rock Live
10/14 Wed - Charlotte, NC The Fillmore
10/16 Fri - Philadelphia, PA Electric Factory
10/17 Sat - Worcester, MA 'rock & Shock' The Palladium
10/18 Sun - Montreal, QC Metropolis
10/20 Tues - Portland, ME State Theatre
10/21 Wed - Nyc, NY Best Buy Theatre
10/23 Fri - Cleveland, OH Agora Theatre
10/24 Sat - Milwaukee, WI The Rave
10/25 Sun - Omaha, NE Sokol Auditorium
10/27 Tues - Boulder, CO Boulder Theatre
10/29 Thur - San Jose, CA City National Civic
10/31 Sat - Halloween Los Angeles, CA Microsoft Theatre

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Extinction A.D. Streams Full Album

Extinction A.D.'s debut full-length "Faithkiller" comes out Friday, August 21 on Good Fight Music and today the full album can be heard online. Listen in below, courtesy of Metal Injection.

Built on a love of old Testament, Metallica, and Slayer, Extinction A.D. takes the best elements of the old-school and synthesizes a new strain of 2015 thrash metal. Sweet riffs and blazing leads are delivered with futuristic precision and power, while frontman Rick Jimenez (ex-This Is Hell) calls out political corruption and hypocrisy in the tradition of the greats.

"Faithkiller" was recorded and mixed by Brett Romnes (I Am the Avalanche, Anthony Raneri), and mastered by Brad Boatright (Nails, Noisem). You can also see Extinction A.D. slaying audiences live on these dates:

Aug 22 - Amityville, NY @ Revolution w/ Suffocation
Aug 26 - Brooklyn, NY @ The Acheron
Aug 28 - Atlantic City, NJ @ Boneyard More...

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Napalm Death Announces New Tour Dates

After having just supported Faith No More on a U.S. run, and in addition to the previously revealed European dates for the "Deathcrusher Tour" 2015, Napalm Death will continue touring by joining up with Carcass, Obituary, Voivod as well as Herod on a string of U.K. and Ireland dates of the "Deathcrusher Tour."

An announcement from Napalm Death about the tour can be seen in the video below, while a full list of upcoming dates is available after the jump.

More...

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GWAR Gears Up For North American Tour

The 6th Annual GWAR B-Q was held this weekend in Richmond, Virginia and the Bohabs lucky enough to survive the event are in agreement; this was the best GWAR B-Q ever! Fans from across the globe made their way to Hadad's Lake in Richmond to celebrate the 30th birthday of the intergalactic shock rock giants.

Riding high on the momentum from The GWAR B-Q, your intergalactic overlords are set to hit the road next week. The tour begins August 25 in Millvale, PA and ends September 19 in Toronto. Support on the tour will come from Butcher Babies and label-mates Battlecross, and this run will see the band playing all three Riot Fest dates (Denver, Chicago, Toronto) and the Befuddled Fest in New Albany, IL.

Following an appearance at the final Riot Fest in Toronto, GWAR will return to arctic slumber for less than a month before finishing the desecration of the North American continent. This time, the band will be joined by Born of Osiris and once again Battlecross. This leg of the tour kicks off October 7 in Cincinnati, OH and wraps up November 28 in Orlando, FL. For the Canadian dates on the tour direct support will come from Cryptopsy. More dates will be added in the coming weeks, so don't worry if your intergalactic rock gods have yet to announce a date in your town. More...

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Teramaze Details New Album

Teramaze today releases details on upcoming album "Her Halo," which is due out October 30, 2015. Pre-orders are online now at this location, and the "Her Halo" track listing is as follows:

1. An Ordinary Dream (Enla Momento)
2. To Love, a Tyrant
3. Her Halo
4. Out of Subconscious
5. For the Innocent
6. Trapeze
7. Broken
8. Delusions of Grandeur More...

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Lychgate Streaming Full New Album

If you dig creepy, atmospheric black metal, you will want to hear this: all of Lychgate's new album "An Antidote For The Glass Pill" has now been made available online via YouTube.

Listen in below, and while it's playing be sure to check out our in-depth interview with Lychgate all about the album right here, and give our review a read and let us know what you think of the release.

The album features Greg Chandler (Esoteric) and V. (The One) and drops today via Blood Music. The track listing is as follows:

1. Unto My Tempest
2. Davamesque B2
3. I Am Contempt
4. A Principle on Seclusion
5. Letter XIX
6. Deus Te Videt
7. The Illness Named Imagination
8. An Acousmatic Guardian
9. My Fate to Burn Forever
10. The Pinnacle Known to Sisyphus More...

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Faith No More To Play Jimmy Kimmel, Posts Footage

Faith No More just released a live video for the song “Sunny Side Up” filmed at The Filmore in Detroit on May 8.

Check it out below, and if you missed it, footage from that same show for the song "Superhero" can also still be seen right here.

These live clips come online as the band announces a Sept. 3 performance on Jimmy Kimmel Live.

Faith No More recently wrapped up four months of international tour dates following the release of a first album in eighteen years, "Sol Invictus."

The album debuted at #6 on the Billboard Top Albums chart with numerous top ten entries across the globe (including #2 in Australia, #4 in Germany and #6 in the UK). Upcoming Faith No More tour dates include:

September 6 Seattle, WA Bumbershoot
September 8 Denver, CO Red Rock Amphitheatre
September 11 Chicago, IL Riot Fest
September 15 Guacima, Costa Rica Parque Viva
September 18 Bogota, Columbia Royal Center
September 20 Buenos Aires, Argentina Luna Park
September 24 Sao Paulo, Brazil Escpaco Das Americas
September 25 Rio de Janeiro, Brazil Rock in Rio
September 27 Santiago, Chile Get Louder
October 25 Sacramento, CA Aftershock Festival More...

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VI Streaming New Song

The French black metal newcomers from VI - featuring current and ex-members of Aosoth, Antaeus and Aborted - today premiere a brand new song titled "Par le jugement causé par ses poisons."

This track available below comes off debut album "De Praestgiis Angelorum," set to drop on September 25 via Agonia Records. The full track listing is:

1. Et in pulverem mortis deduxisti me
2. Par le jugement causé par ses poisons
3. La terre ne cessera de se consumer
4. Regarde tes cadavres car il ne te permettra pas qu'on les enterre
5. Une place parmi les morts
6. Voilà l'homme qui ne te prenait pas comme Seigneur
7. Il est trop tard pour rendre gloire. Ainsi la lumière sera changée en ombre de la mort
8. Plus aucun membre ne sera rendu More...

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Blistered Premieres Entire New Full-Length

Tampa metallic hardcore warriors Blistered premiere their upcoming new full-length "The Poison of Self-Confinement", which is set to drop August 21 via 6131 Records.

Check it out now below.

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Opeth Streaming W:O:A Pro-Shot Video Footage

Opeth is streaming pro-shot live video footage of the band's July 31 performance at the Wacken Open Air festival in Wacken, Germany.

Check it out below (courtesy of Wacken TV).

The long running Swedish band is also commemorating 25 years of prog metal and retro rock with a new coffee table book exploring all of Opeth's history. Details available at this location.

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