The Press Release:
Legendary bay area thrash metal giants TESTAMENT are proud to announce their North American 2020 tour. The 30-date trek will kick-off in Phoenix on April 20th and will make stops in Austin, Mexico, and Toronto before concluding in Anaheim on May 28th. Joining them on the tour are THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, label mates MUNICIPAL WASTE and MESHIAAK.
“I’m super excited about TESTAMENT’s tour with THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER and MUNICIPAL WASTE” states Alex Skolnick. “As much as we’ve enjoyed touring with bands who emerged before us, from our own time period and slightly later eras, it will be a fresh experience to share the bill with these two, both of whom formed in the new Millennium, each with a unique perspective and a sound unlike anyone else. It’ll be a fun night of music. Don’t miss it!»
Continue reading Testament Announces North American Tour →
Fans of the music of the legendary Death and the memory of Chuck Schuldiner will be prepping their circle pit best as the next go round of touring was recently announced by the musical project known as “Death To All”. Yes, the Death To All Tours experience has informed us all that the “Swamp Leper Stomp ‘14” will not only bring you back to the greatest tunes from this much revered Death Metal band but also do so with support from the mighty Obituary, Massacre and Rivers Of Nihil. Whew is all I can say. Check out the poster below and then we can discuss this a little more based on the press copy that I received last night.
Press Release: DEATH (DTA Tours) has announced the Swamp Leper Stomp ’14 North American tour, a month long run with fellow death metal legends Obituary and Massacre plus up-and-comers Rivers of Nihil. A fitting tribute to the music of DEATH mastermind and extreme metal pioneer Chuck Schuldiner, the DEATH (DTA Tours) lineup consists of former DEATH members Sean Reinert (Cynic) on drums, Steve Di Giorgio (Control Denied, Autopsy, Sadus) on bass, and Bobby Koelble on guitar. Max Phelps (Cynic) who has been touring with DEATH (DTA Tours) will be once again handling the vocal and 2nd guitar duties. The Swamp Leper Stomp ’14 tour, which also features support from Untimely Demise on select dates, kicks off in Los Angeles, CA on November 14th and runs through December 13th in Tempe, AZ.
Continue reading Death To All Tours Unveil “The Swamp Leper Stomp ’14” →
Artist: Testament
Title: “First Strike Still Deadly” (reissue)
Label: Prosthetic Records
Release Date: 3/18/2008
Genre: Thrash Metal
Rating: 4/5
You have to admire a band when they set out to re-release classic tracks from early in their career but instead of delivering something which you are long familiar with on a compilation release decide to go through the painstaking process of re-recording and producing the songs with today’s available technology. I say this with a wry sense of sarcasm because it’s all too often when bands choose to do something of this type and the listener ends up receiving stuff that sounds so far off the mark of what you once knew and loved. One such example was with the dreadful “re-do” of Twisted Sister’s “Stay Hungry” where the guys re-recorded the classic album and delivered it to their fans as “the way it should have sounded” – spare me guys, that was not necessary. Fortunately this would not be the case with the release of Testament’s “First Strike Still Deadly”, a 2001 album that has been picked up and re-issued by Prosthetic Records for us all to enjoy in 2008. “FSSD” offers the diehard Testament loyalist the best of the tracks from their first two albums as far as its band members were concerned. The tunes while re-recorded using the technology of the time come off as not having one ounce of over-cleaning done, nor being too produced to be able to enjoy the rawness and brutality that Testament so often delivered during this time. From beginning to end this is a powerful listening experience that makes a Metal fan wonder how this band took a little longer in reaching some of the heights enjoyed by the first wave Thrash Metal bands.
Continue reading “First Strike Still Deadly” (reissue) by Testament →
Artist: Painmuseum
Title: “You Have The Right To Remain Violent”
Label: Independent
Release Date:
Genre: Heavy Metal
Rating: 3/5
The Mighty Metal Mike Chlasciak and his bringers of the mayhem “Painmuseum” have returned with an EP of material to whet the palette for Metal just a little more. The EP is a nice treat for fans of the shredder who are waiting for another full-length album from the band but yet I was a bit surprised that there was only one new tune included on this disk. “Scars In Black” is a thriller of a Metal track with a pounding display by drummer Bobby Jarzombek along with the six string insanity that is Metal Mike at his best. Given the CD includes three previously released tracks from “Metal For Life”, this CD might have only a small amount of appeal to existing fans of the band and quite personally I think Mike should have waited a little before releasing this on the world. He does give you the “Speak The Name” video and a bunch of bonus features but those implements would be best suited for a DVD release than on a CD. The band is also comprised of Tim Clayborne (Hatred) and Steve DiGiorgio (Sadus, Testament) and considering the busy touring and recording schedule it is most probably the reasoning behind limited material from this excellent Pure Metal outfit. Jarzombek and Mike now are part of Sebastian Bach’s band and have worked extensively with Rob Halford and at last mention would be working on the Metal God’s third album.
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Artist: Artension
Title: “Future World”
Label: Lion Music
Release Date: 3/15/2005
Genre: Power Metal
Rating: 8/10
Artension is a Progressive Metal fans dream for they truly move above the typical expectations of the genre. Yes there are many groups that perform Prog-Metal but instead of established formulas I found this group leaning a little more towards the Progressive heavies of old and bringing their influencial sounds into the 21st Century. As soon as the album begins you are kicked in the teeth by the driving beat of “Dark Before The Dawn” which not only possesses a throttling double bass drum run but is led by some heavy duty keyboards. The Neo-Classical Metal is delivered by members Vitalij Kuprij (keyboards), Roger Staffelbach (guitar), John West (vocals), Mike Terrana (drums) and Steve DiGiorgio (bass) and going over their individual accomplishments shows why this album sounds as good as it does. As a fan of this kind of Metal, I was amazed to see the keyboard work introduced by Kuprij for not since Derek Sherinian had I heard such a perfect use of the instrument in heavy music. “Federation” is a great example of this delivery and I think as a result this is one of my favorite tracks on the album. Singer John West also shines across the record for he is in possession of the pipes of Hard Rock greats as well as Traditional or Old-School level bands you loved back in the day. His very melodic vocal style covers the record and I think I preferred him with Artension than the music he recorded with Rock Feinstein. Whenever you have Mike Terrana on an album you can count on that area to be well addressed for Terrana is a Power Metal drummers, Power Metal drummer. He reminds me a lot of Bobby Jarzombek at times, although I feel he gets a little more technical during his playing than we see Bobby do.
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Where Heavy Music & Pop Culture Collide
