JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Metallica’s Kirt Hamett’s 62nd birthday.
Tag: metal
New Video: Sheer Division Shares a Bruising Ripper
French metal outfit Sheer Division — Xavier Chaquet (guitar), Simonian Jérôme (vocals, guitar, programming) and Marie Helene Rattin (bass) — formed last year in Valence, where the band’s Jérôme worked as a sound engineer at the city’s concert venue, Mistral Palace.
The French trio describe their sound a mix of of stoner rock, punk, grunge and metal paired with lyrics inspired by sci-fi and fantasy writers like Asimov, Lovecraft, Drullet — with a bit of black humor and nihilism.
Their just released EP Saalammbö, features EP title track “Saalammbö.,” a blistering and forceful ripper that sounds like a gritty synthesis of Deftones, Queens of the Stone Age and Soundgarden, anchored around enormous, arena rock friendly hooks and choruses. Play at eardrum shattering volume.
The accompanying animated video is fittingly a dystopian and apocalyptic sci-fi visual that’s captures a world on fire and in endless war, almost like ours.
Throwback: Happy 70th Birthday, David Lee Roth!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates David Lee Roth’s 70th birthday.
Initially started as a solo electronic/indie sleaze project out of an Atlanta dorm room, Gothlantastan grew into an indiecore/alt rock band featuring brothers Ethan and Colin Schnapp, before expanding into a quintet with the additions of Spencer Mjehovich (baas) and Gianni Summa (guitar) and Aiden Prince (guitar).
The Atlanta-based outfit’s latest single “Life’s Misery’s Pain” is a pummeling, eardrum shattering, abrasive and forceful ripper featuring scorching riffage, thunderous drumming and howled vocals paired with mosh pit friendly hooks and choruses. While sounding as though it could have been released through RidingEasy Records, “Life’s Misery’s Pain,” is a howl into an indifferent and unceasing void, with the band explaining that the song is about helplessness and aging.
Throwback: Happy 78th Birthday, Freddie Mercury!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates the 78th anniversary of the birth of Freddie Mercury.
Throwback: Van Halen’s “Hot For Teacher”/Happy First Day of School!
Today is the first day of school for New York City Public School students. I’ve already seen some photos of friends’ kids that have made me feel very old. In two instances, I remember when […]
Throwback: Happy 66th Birthday, Vernon Reid!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Vernon Reid’s 66th birthday.
Throwback: Happy Belated 61st Birthday, James Hetfield!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Metallica’s James Hatfield’s 61st birthday.
New Video: London’s The Fire Belows Share Bruising “Too Far To Reach”
London-based metal outfit The Fires Below — Smithy (vocals, guitar), Si (bass), Del (drums) and Sam (guitar) formed back in 2021. The band quickly established a sound that draws from punk rock, metal, stoner rock, desert rock and djent, a sub-genre of progressive metal named after the onomatopoeia of the guitar sound that characterizes it.
The London-based quartet’s debut EP, last year’s Masquerade was released last year to critical acclaim and received quite a bit of radio airplay. Building upon a growing profile in the British metal scene and elsewhere, The Fires Below released their highly-anticipated sophomore EP Thorns last month. The five-song EP sees the British quartet firmly establishing a melodic and punishing sound rooted in their penchant for blending punk, desert rock, alt-metal and djent. “With more experience, we’ve pushed ourselves creatively,” The Fire Below’s Smithy explains. “This EP really plays to our strengths that we discovered playing live. We mix elements of punk, desert rock, alt-metal and djent for an intense yet melodic cocktail of riffs and emotion. Blast it as loud as you can until the neighbours complain!
The EP’s first single “Too Far To Reach” is a bruising and grimy ripper that sees the band seamlessly — and effortlessly — meshing elements of metal, stoner rock, desert rock and punk anchored around pummeling drumming, scorching riffage and howled vocals in a way that will bring Songs for the Deaf-era Queens of the Stone Age, Kyuss and others to mind.
Directed by David Smith, the accompanying video for “Too Far To Reach” is shot in black and white, and features the band performing the song in front of a projections of gorgeous natural phenomena, interspersed with the brutality of the human world. The video channels the fiery hellscape of our contemporary moment.
Throwback: Happy 75th Birthday, Roger Taylor!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Queens’ Roger Taylor’s 75th birthday.
Throwback: Happy 59th Birthday, Slash!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms celebrates Slash’s 59th birthday.
New Audio: Brooklyn’s DAD Shares Furious and Sludgy “Snake Handshake”
Brooklyn-based outfit DAD — James Watson (vocals), Jon Murphy (guitar), David Flick (bass) and Jeremy Duvall (drums) — specialize in a doom-drenched, sludge metal sound and lyrical approach that draws from an eclectic array of acts that include Slayer, The Jesus Lizard and Big Black among others.
“Snake Handshake,” the Brooklyn-based outfit’s second release this year through Fear Icon Records sees the band’s sound shifting from full-tilt face melt rippers to a furious and sludgier wall of sound paired with thunderously pummeling drumming and Watson’s Henry Rollins-like howls. At its core, the song expresses the sort of righteous and expected distrust of handshake-driven business deals, rooted in the shadiness of corporate types — in all industries. But interestingly, the song’s narrator invites doubts into his own integrity. Perhaps it’s all just bullshit, huh?
Throwback: Happy Belated 60th Birthday, Chris Cornell!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Chris Cornell’s 60th birthday.
Throwback: Happy Belated 77th Birthday, Brian May!
JOVM’s William Ruben Helms belatedly celebrates Queen’s Brian May’s 77th birthday.
New Audio: Autumns Eyes Shares Brooding and Pummeling “Betwixt Wind & Water”
New England-based multi-instrumentalist and singer/songwriter Daniel Mitchell is the creative mastermind behind Autumns Eyes, a goth metal solo project inspired by a range of dark and goth-like sources ranging from Tim Burton to Type O Negative. Since starting the project back in 1999, Mitchell has released 12 albums of Halloween-themed and inspired material that reminds those who love the darkness that it can be fun to live in the shadows.
Earlier this year, I wrote about the ear drum shattering, early Metallica-meets Bauhaus-like, mosh pit friendly “Faith In Cycles,” which featured pummeling Headbanger’s Ball-like riffage, thundering drumming, Mitchell alternating between crooned-vocals for the verses and howling for the choruses and a scorching guitar solo. Play loud — and open up that pit!
Continuing to cement his reputation for being remarkably prolific, Mitchell recently released his 13th album Grimoire of Oak & Shadow. The album’s latest single “Betwixt Wind & Water” is a slickly produced ripper that sonically and thematically nods at Headbanger’s Ball-era metal and Tool — but with a cinematic quality.