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Unearthing The Metal Underground at ProgPower USA
Each week, carrying on faithfully in the tradition of bringing the bands that are currently simmering in the underground up to a rolling boil, we feature several quality underground bands in their respective genres. With the 'power' side of the ProgPower USA XIII festival already unearthed in October, the 'prog' side remains unspoken for.
The ProgPower USA festival has taken turns at skewing the balance toward one genre, but has been notorious for bringing in bands who straddle the line between both in the eyes of those with a more liberal view of things. The lines of demarcation are not very clear and the next year's roster often ends up surprising many. Fortunately, many prog bands are able to weave their way into the system and capture some attention. One such band hopped the ocean to pre-empt their 2nd album release, unveiling that they would be selling the CD months in advance at the show.
Haken
Few bands brought the prog with such unabashed love as Haken in the festival's history. As the openers of Day Two of 2011, a spot happily filled this year by fellow prog-heads Beyond The Bridge, the boys of Haken unleashed a set list that included one song from their upcoming album, "Visions" (reviewed here,) but focused mostly on the first album, "Aquarius." Multiple melodic themes are developed throughout the albums, with expert re-interpretations for emotional impact linking up with the storylines. Both albums are concept albums, and both involve songs that go beyond the 20-minute mark, showing their prog side.
Haken is a five-piece, with keyboardist and Haken main brain Richard Henshall performing both keyboard and guitar duties. Henshall and Diego Tejeida both focus on crafting synthesizer sounds not heard elsewhere, which often makes for multi-faceted lead tones. Haken bassist Tom Maclean heads a prog metal sideproject by the name of To-Mera with Henshall assisting, as well.
Sunday Old School: Soundgarden
Since Sunday Old School almost always finishes it's month of sundays with a column about a group from the glam metal scene, it always seems so natural to kick the next month off with one of the so-called "grunge" acts, given it was the next stage in popular rock music. And who better to start November off than Soundgarden, whose reunion has been of the most anticipated in recent times? Soundgarden was formed from the ashes of a band named The Shemps, which featured singing drummer, Chris Cornell and bass player Hiro Yamamoto. The two kept in contact after The Shemps’ demise and were soon joined by guitarist Kim Thayil, who moved to Washington with Yamamoto and future Sub Pop founder, Bruce Pavitt, from Park Forest, Illinois. The trio adopted the name, Soundgarden from a sculpture next to Magnuson Park, Seattle and soon became a four piece, when they hired drummer Scott Sundquist in order for Cornell to focus on his vocals. This lineup would continue for around a year and make the first Soundgarden recordings, which surfaced on a compilation album named, "Deep Six," before Sundquist left to be replaced by Skin Yard drummer, Matt Cameron. The band’s live performances made them one of the stand out groups in an area which had many quality bands, and it was thanks to their blistering presence that KCMU DJ Jonathan Poneman offered to contribute twenty thousand dollars to Sub Pop Records, in order to fund a Soundgarden release, which came in 1987 in the form of the single, "Hunted Down," which also featured a highly regarded b-side in, "Nothing To Say."
The band released two further EPs, "Screaming Life" and "Fopp" through Sub Pop before deciding to sign with SST Records for their first full length effort, snubbing the interest of major labels in the process. They then released their first LP, "Ultramega OK" on Halloween, 1988, and soon found themselves regularly on MTV, thanks to the music video for "Flower," as well as eventually being nominated for a Grammy award for Best Metal Performance 1990, in addition to touring overseas for the first time. Following the "Ultramega OK" tours, the band got to work on their second album, during which they claim ideas weren’t flowing freely from all members, leaving Cornell to write the bulk of it. The second album surfaced in September 1989 as, "Louder Than Love" and would prove to be their last record with Yamamoto, who left to go back to college after he felt he was unable to contribute to the band anymore. He was replaced by former Nirvana guitarist, Jason Everman, and the band hit the road again, this time in support of Canadian progressive metal act, Voivod, with Faith No More opening the shows. There was initially some problems with the distribution for "Louder Than Love," with some retailers taking umbrage with the lyrics to the songs, "Big Dumb Sex" and "Hands All Over," but nonetheless, it became the band’s first record to hit the Billboard 200, peaking at number 108. More...
Unearthing The Metal Underground In Kenya
Recently, Kenya celebrated 49 years as a nation independent of colonial rule. In the subsequent times that they have found themselves once again as an autonomous country, several bands have similarly exerted their creative independence. As can be expected, some of those bands are metal - since metal is a worldwide phenomenon. Heavier music has had a rough time in Kenya and in other African nations and cultures due to skepticism and the general belief that it is inherently satanic in nature. In a recent conversation I had with the congenial metal guitarist Christopher Lilako 'Yagami' of In Oath, he says that people are slowly growing accustomed to heavy metal in his country.
Christopher's band has teamed up with members of Kenyan alternative rock bands Void Of Belonging and Nightshift Theory, along with its own members, to help create In Oath's new harder sound. That rock/alternative sound has been more the norm in terms of popularity in Kenya for a while, a sound reflective in the newer metallic sounds emerging from the Eastern African nation. People are more likely to embrace the local favorites RSK, Dove Slimme, Murfy's Flaw or Parking Lot Grass in terms of musical sound, but there is a growing movement of bands prefering a heavier style.
African metal has its own distinctive sound, which scene producer Chris 'Sarcophagus' Marx conveyed with his 1994 compilation "The Death of Africa, Volume I." While that classic anthology contained many bands from the metal powerhouse of South Africa, there were also bands from other parts of the continent. In fact, Marx is putting out a Volume II sequel to that release, which will undoubtedly feature a Kenyan, Botswanan or maybe even an Angolan band. Check out the Facebook page for news on this compilation over at this location. Possibly the one documentary streaming now on Kenyan metal is Rock Scene Kenya, which features many of the musicians we will explore for you today on Metal Underground. Get a glimpse into the Kenyan scene of African metal through its participants as we unearth three bands from Nairobi today.
In Oath
This combo is one of Kenya's newest entrants. Formed in 2009 and initially influenced by metalcore, these five guys decided to hone their sound into more of a death metal style. Just this year they released their debut EP "Eulogy," four songs of Christian-themed extreme metal. "Eulogy" in its remastered form is available to stream over at bandcamp. In Oath is already recording a full-length album scheduled for 2015 release, which the band says will be its 'defining memento.'
Bassist Steve 'Gitau' Smalls from the band, formerly of Narcissistic Tendencies With Delusions Of Grandeur, made a splash five years ago with his acting debut as the character DJ in the independent film "The Knife Grinder's Tale." That award-winning short film, which received honorable mentions at fourteen foreign film festivals, told the story of a father's journey to uncover the senselessness of his son's murder in the slums of Nairobi.
In Oath - "Eulogy"
Sunday Old School: Warrant
Few bands will ever sniff the success Warrant had in 1989-1990: two multi-platinum albums, a Rolling Stone chart number one single, and a headlining tour. The band created a song named “Cherry Pie” and sold millions of more records because of it! (True story.) Then they were off the radio, then conflict, and then finally abuse and the death of their lead songwriter. The band continues to carry on, but it will never be the same as the summer of ‘89. More...
The Rockstar Ramblings: Appetite For Democracy
While Guns N’ Roses is set for their 12 show - Las Vegas residency at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino. The Hard Rock Casino isn’t missing a beat on “cashing” in on this event, producing 2,500 $25 commemorative chips to be distributed this Friday. More...
Sunday Old School: Vision Of Disorder
There’s probably no hardcore scene more famous than the one in New York. It’s produced legendary bands that have been going steadily for decades, such as Sick Of It All, as well as bands which have gone away, only to come back stronger than ever such as Agnostic Front. Another band that fits in the latter category is Long Island suburbanites, Vision Of Disorder. Vision Of Disorder was formed in 1992 by guitarist Mike Kennedy and Matt Baumbach, along with vocalist Tim Williams, drummer Brendon Cohen and bassist Mike Fleischmann, who left the band shortly after they formed, only to return a short time later. Following the release of numerous demos, the band got to work on an EP entitled, "Still," that proved to be something of a breakthrough release for the band, garnering a strong underground fan base. It was also while recording, "Still" that they partook in the documentary, "N.Y.H.C." alongside such bands as Madball, Crown Of Thornz and No Redeeming Social Value. The buzz around the group and their, "Still" record led them to sign a deal with Supersoul Records, a subsidiary of Roadrunner Records and they released their self-titled debut album in October 1996. The album was an underground hit, with many fans still considering it to be their best work to date and praising it for the innovative approach to traditional hardcore music.
The band then moved to Roadrunner Records itself, through which they released their sophomore effort, "Imprint" in July 1998. The album marked an important moment in the history of the group, receiving favourable reviews and becoming their best selling album to date, but alienated many of their old fans who were less than impressed with their new sound. Vision of Disorder were forced to record the album in only two weeks by Roadrunner, a move which did not sit well with the band and led to them leaving the company. Instead of working on new material, the quintet decided to re-record nine songs for their next CD, "For the Bleeders," which was released in 1999 through Go Kart Records. More...
The Rockstar Ramblings: Unplugged Glam
This week a mixed bag of unplugged, budget indie videos, old school glam, and an interesting wardrobe decision.
Former Motley Crue and The Scream vocalist John Corabi has released a video for the song "If I Had A Dime." The song will be featured on Corabi's upcoming "Unplugged" CD, scheduled for release in November in the UK and sometime around February 2013 in the USA.
We begin with a concert promo poster showing Corabi opening for Cinderella. The camera then pans through road crew, fans, and others that have many tattoos, bandanas, or are holding acoustic guitars (in some cases – all of the above). Most of the video is just a recorded live performance mixed with “tour bus” video. My favorite is the shot on the highway which shows two exits, one for Detroit and one for Flint, Michigan. Tough choice, do you want to get shot in the face or stabbed in your back?
Pit Stories: Germán Pascual Braves The Elements
Tuesday has rolled around again and that means its time for more Pit Stories taken from directly from the musicians who keep the metal world running. Normally the mosh pit is where all the action is at, but sometimes just getting to the venue can be quite the ordeal all on it's own. Today Germán Pascual (Divinefire, ex-Narnia) shares the following story about an "act of God" nearly stopping the band from performing during a Brazilian tour:
After a great gig in Sao Paulo and a decent good night sleep we headed for Curitiba. The trip was estimated 5 to 6 hours, so we would have plenty of time to rest before next show. The weather broadcast was looking good and all of us were in great spirit.
Then it all started to go wrong BANG, a flat tire! Imagine 10 hungry metal heads in 40C = to about 110F degrees in the middle of nowhere. Thank God the chauffeur took hold of the situation together with the roadies. The rest of us started a long walk to the nearest restaurant. Drained in sweat we finally had lunch and later on met up with the others. Still on time we continued our trip south.
After half an hour the traffic started to get crowded. Very slowly but still in motion we noticed that the sky went darker. It started to rain. For all of you who haven't been in a tropical country I must mention that when it rains, IT RAINS! The traffic stops and we don't move for hours. Now we are getting the picture of a wrecked schedule, but still in a hopeful mood. We start to move, slowly, and now we can see what made the traffic jam. The road is totally flushed away, gone, zero, nothing! With heavy heads we almost gave up. But still we were moving forward and we saw cars that crossed to the other side. High up in the mountains with just a tiny string left of the road, we too took the daring and insane decision to move on. Safe on the other side and half way there we were late. Okay, Sound check: no time, a refreshing shower and change of clothes: no way.More...
Unearthing The Synth Metal Underground
Every week in Unearthing the Metal Underground, we take a look at three quality bands that haven't gotten as much exposure yet as they should. This week, we will be taking a look at three bands who mix hard rocking sounds with synthesisers. Those of you who have read my posts in the Now Playing threads in our forums will probably be aware by now that I'm a big fan of synthpop and electronic music, particularly the likes of New Order and the Pet Shop Boys. So with this in mind, I went in search of bands that combine these digital sounds with the aggression of heavy metal. As it turns out, there’s quite a few bands out there melding the two, and it’s not a brand new experiment either. In 1998, nu metal outfit, Orgy covered one of the biggest hits by New Order, "Blue Monday" for the second single from their debut album, "Candyass." Make of it what you will.
Orgy aren’t the first band of more modern times to cover a classic synthpop track, most of us have heard Lacuna Coil's rendition of the Depeche Mode staple, "Enjoy The Silence," and even the old guards of heavy metal have taken a stab at paying tribute to their eighties contemporaries. For example, below we can hear German power metal kings Gamma Ray performing a cover of the haunting Pet Shop Boys track, "It’s A Sin." More...
Sunday Old School: Tad
Tad - such a little name for such a large and imposing guy. But Tad always kept it short, even in his song and album titles. Back in the early eighties, the former 300 lb. butcher/lumberjack was a big fish in the small town of Nampa, Idaho. Even Boise was overwhelmed by him, so he took his love of underground music even further westward and settled in Seattle. By 1987, Thomas 'Tad' Doyle helped pioneer the pacific northwest grunge genre. Creating his eponymous band Tad, Doyle's interpretation of grunge had more in common with the metal side of things like the Melvins, whereas his cohorts in the scene like Cat Butt or Mudhoney took the more garage/punk approach.
Tad Doyle had assembled his veritable grunge band from guys he knew in the scene. His band H-Hour had played with bassist Kurt Danielson's group Bundle Of Hiss, and he knew drummer Steve Weid from Skinyard and guitarist Gary Thorstensen from Treeclimbers. The 1987 debut Sub Pop single "Daisy/Ritual Device" by Tad was one of the earliest singles on that label. Produced by Jack Endino, it helped usher in an era of those classic singles on that label. Back in the day, it was an event to see which single Sub Pop would release every month. That release was followed by Tad's debut album (eventually called "God's Balls") in 1989, also produced by Endino. The great cover shot of the band shows Tad sporting a wristwatch, and if you look closely at that Texas Instruments styled timepiece you can distinctly see that it says "Tad." More...
The Rockstar Ramblings: Six Feet Under
This week our video journey begins in Germany (Kissin’ Dynamite), then heads to Sweden to check out Dirty Passion, and finishes up in the UK where Heaven’s Basement have released a new single/video. More...
Unearthing The Metal Underground At ProgPower USA
Each week in Unearthing the Metal Underground, we'll be putting a few quality underground bands in the spotlight in an attempt to get the word out about them. With the ProgPower USA festival still fresh in my mind, this week I will take on the festival's “power” metal side.
Most people think that the majority of what you see and hear at ProgPower USA is just the bands on stage. Of course, this is true, but there are also many other avenues at the festival in which the metal connoisseur can explore and discover new bands. For one, the merchandise area at "Vinyl" is just about the greatest record store you can ever find in the world (see my first reaction to that in my op/ed piece “The ProgPower USA Experience From The Eyes Of A Newbie” over at this location). However, there are times where this is almost too much to take in, so while you are at the festival its best to make time for many trips to the merch area.
Despite the onslaught of material at the merch area, the first place any attendee should check is the free promotional CD that the festival itself gives out each year (see full track listing at this location). For 2012, the giveaway was expanded to three CD’s and all are chock full of power and progressive acts from all over the world. Now I pride myself on knowing thousands of metal bands, but I was shocked at how many I hadn’t heard of on this triple CD. The bands showcased here all appear on the promotional CD, though did not perform at the festival: Seven Kingdoms (USA), Siren’s Cry (Austria) and Draekon (USA). More...
Sunday Old School: My Dying Bride
To paraphrase an old joke, there was once a band with a sound so loud you could hear them over three fields; Sheffield, Huddersfield and Wakefield. They were formed in another area of Yorkshire named Bradford in 1990 and would become one of the most influential groups in death/doom metal, and they are called, My Dying Bride. The genesis of the band began when guitarist Andrew Craighan and drummer Rick Miah left their previous band, Abiosis and joined forces with singer Aaron Stainthorpe and another guitar player named Calvin Robertshaw. After six months of writing material, they recorded their first demo, "Towards the Sinister," which led them to release their first official single, "God Is Alone" through a French label named, Listenable. The single was limited to one thousand copies, which sold out extremely quickly, and the buzz around the band saw them begin a love affair with Peaceville Records, a company which had previously specialised in anarcho punk bands but had now decided to expand their horizons by signing metal acts such as Paradise Lost, Darkthrone, Anathema and of course, My Dying Bride, who have been loyal to the label ever since signing.
After recruiting a new member in bassist, Adrian Jackson, the band released their first EP, "Symphonaire Infernus et Spera Empyrium" in March of 1992, and two months later released their debut full length, "As the Flower Withers." The album saw the band team with artist Dave McKean, known for his work on the legendary Batman graphic novel, "Arkham Asylum: A Serious House on Serious Ground," and most recently for his work on the Richard Dawkins book, "The Magic of Reality," but more importantly, it saw the band begin to break through into the modern metal consciousness, allowing them to perform in mainland Europe, as well as embarking on a big tour in their native, Great Britain. The band then decided to broaden their sound by hiring Martin Powell as their keyboardist and violinist. Powell made his recording debut with the band on their next EP, "The Thrash of Naked Limbs," which was released in February 1993. While filming a video for the title track, Miah had a nasty fall which forced the group to cancel their tour in support of the record. Instead, the band got to work on their second album, "Turn Loose the Swans," which was met with a very strong response, with Rolling Stone describing it as, "Bram Stoker’s ‘Dracula’ for the ears." They continued to tour Britain and Europe and released another EP named, "I Am the Bloody Earth" in January the next year. More...
The Rockstar Ramblings: From Slash Till Dawn
Slash is back into the animated video world, this time for his song “Bad Rain”, the latest single from his album ‘Apocalyptic Love.’ More...
Pit Stories: Slayer Stops For Nothing
Every week we scour the metalverse to get the best and most memorable mosh pit stories from musicians, and this week we have a tale of all-out war that didn't end well for one show-goer's car.
The antics of Slayer shows are no stranger to the Pit Stories column, and today guitarist Paul Coleman of Connecticut act Graven Image adds the story below to the ever-expanding "Slayer has insane pits" category.
Let us know if you remember this show, and feel free to share your favorite Slayer live memory in the comments section below.
If you want to catch Graven Image live, the band will be opening for Anthrax, Testament, and Death Angel at The Webster in Hartford, Connecticut on October 4th, 2012.
WEST HARTFORD BALLROOM: SLAYER/OVERKILL/MOTORHEAD...Slayer is on and the place goes absolutely into a frenzy man, I mean the pit is going out the door into the parking lot. Never seen anything like it, there were some words exchanged outside and like a 30 on 30 war started right there man.
I remember a Volkswagen got flipped right over on its roof...people drinkin, fightin, fuckin right out in the open...crazy, crazy night! Slayer never stopped playin, the shirt sale booths got trampled, all the merch taken! Just insane!
For more info on Graven Image, head over to the band's official Facebook profile here. Check back in again next Tuesday as we share more pit stories from the metal world. More...
Unearthing The Metal Underground: Simon Oberender
Once in awhile, select troubadours of the heavy metal genre burn hot and bright, much like super-massive stars, and die by exploding in spectacular supernovas well before their time. They never quite make it out of the underground into wider fame, but end up touching quite a few projects in their lifetimes and leaving their mark in unique ways. Optimistically continuing with the astronomical metaphor, the stellar winds and supernovae from the explosion seed space with elements for future stars, fittingly paralleling the life and death of these musicians. Few, however, are accomplished audio engineers as well. This week, we commemorate the underground projects of one such engineer and musician, recently deceased: Simon Oberender.
Audio engineers don’t get half as much credit as the musicians they record for making heavy metal sonically live up to the first half of its title, though they’re ultimately responsible for making sure that the music translates to “heavy” on record. Moreover, as time goes by, they’re being asked to perform increasingly difficult tasks, like “give us a 30-part choir, Gregorian chant section, ethnic hand percussion, and a big organ” while also dealing with the traditional metal rhythm section. As an engineer at Sascha Paeth’s famed Gate Studio in Wolfsburg, Germany, Simon tackled the aforementioned tasks and also performed on an impressive amount of projects, including 4 Epica releases, 3 Kamelot releases, 3 Avantasia releases, 2 Edguy releases, Mayan’s debut release, and 2 Rhapsody of Fire releases.
Aside from these main projects, Simon had also worked on other lesser-known projects. The first of the ones we will spotlight this week is his most recent band, Beyond The Bridge.
Beyond The Bridge
Based out of Germany, Beyond The Bridge is a progressive metal band with a bafflingly impressive debut album (reviewed here) centered on a lofty concept summed up in the title, “The Old Man and the Spirit.” The band recently played their third-ever show at the ProgPower USA festival, making their USA debut just two weeks and two nights ago. Not only was Simon double-slinging instruments with the band live, playing two keyboards and electric guitar, but he was also singing in the choir on the album and served as the albums’s mixing and mastering engineer.
Sunday Old School: Great White
Great White started as a standard lipstick and big hair glam band before evolving into one of the best blues hard rock bands of the eighties. Great White had amazing highs in the eighties, but nothing matches their tragic low in 2003. Today (as is the current trend with eighties bands) the lineup is a mess; with two bands touring as Great White. A made for Hollywood story from a band formed in Los Angeles. More...
The Rockstar Ramblings: Rockin with Dokken
Dokken has released a brand new music video for the single "Empire", taken from the band's 11th studio album 'Broken Bones.’ For serious Dokken fans, there is a DVD, which features a comprehensive "Making of the Album" documentary. This begs the question, are there non-serious Dokken fans? More...
Unearthing The Powerviolence Underground
If you ever wondered where much of the hardcore and some of the punk scene went in the past couple of decades, the answer is it went even more underground. Back in the early nineties, when hardcore and metal came together to create the wildly popular thrashcore movement, a lot of the true hardcore punks in the scene remained disenchanted. They identified with the metallic element but wanted the music to remain distinct and focus on ideals and themes of socio-political decay.
No better was this driven home more than by the act of several commercial bands loosely labeled 'punk' by the airwaves, like Green Day or Sublime, that made the true denizens of hardcore create an even more underground niche of brutality in their musical style - thus giving rise to the powerviolence movement. The origin of the term is disputed, but is mostly attributed to Infest guitarist Matt Domino, at the time in the band Neanderthal with Eric Wood, who blurted out 'power fuckin violence' in an interview on alternative Californian station KXLU. The term stuck and was first mentioned in the song "Hispanic Small Man Power (HSMP)" by pioneering genre band Man Is The Bastard. More...
Sunday Old School: Sick Of It All
This week's edition of Sunday Old School is a slightly strange one, in that we've already covered our focused band before, in one of the very first Sunday Old School columns. However, given that it only looked at one song, it seemed unfair to give so little attention to one of the greatest hardcore bands in the history of the legendary New York hardcore scene. So this week, we'll be taking a closer look at Queens' own, Sick of it All. Sick of it All were formed around 1985 by brothers Lou and Pete Koller, who sang and played guitar in the band respectively, along with bass player Mark McNielly and drummer David Lamb. They began performing regularly in the local music scene, where they rapidly improved their sound and demonstrated their ability to write memorable hardcore tunes. After Lamb and McNielly left the band, the Koller brothers recruited bass player Rich Cipriano and former Rest In Pieces drummer Armand Majidi to record their first demo in 1987, with a self-titled seven inch record following later the same year. In 1988, the band signed to In-Effect Records and released their first full length album, "Blood, Sweat and No Tears" in the summer of 1989.
The album was a hit in the hardcore scene, and received favourable reviews from music critics, and led them to tours with other highly respected hardcore bands such as Gorilla Biscuits and Agnostic Front. They followed, "Blood, Sweat and No Tears" with an EP named, "We Stand Alone" in 1991, which featured two new original recordings, as well as a cover of the Minor Threat song, "Betray" and nine live tracks, before releasing their second full length album, "Just Look Around" in 1992. "Just Look Around" was another success for the band and this time allowed them to tour internationally, taking them to South America, Europe and Japan. More...
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