We’re Back!

ITE: Metalscape Episode 136 Indeed, Double the Audience, Staying Still, Staying Alive, My No Longer Place of Business, Coops, All Metal Dogs go to Heaven, “I saw Inception”, Boring fucking songs, “I like dancy stuff”, Let’s go get drunk at Burger King and some fast drumming metal songs urgh!

Playlist:
Justice – Stress
Immortal – In my Kingdom Cold
Dahmane Ei Harrachi – Ya Rayah (Sonar Remix)
Gwar – Baby Raper
Karunesh – Alibaba
Absu – Skrying in the Spirit Vision

The guys over at Vice Magazine have posted another excellent thrash playlist with lot’s of ’80s thrash goodness.

Entitled “Thrashing Rage Vol. II” it features Sabbat, Heathen, Znöwhite, Sadus and a bunch of other cool stuff.

Download it for free here.

Absu is without a doubt, one of my favorite bands of all time. I like pretty much everything they’ve ever released, including their “comeback” album, 2009’s “Absu”. But with this, the second in the new trilogy, Absu seems to be lacking some fire. I don’t want to say they’ve lost it yet.

In one word I would have to call the album, unimaginative. All the elements of Absu are there but nothing really stands out, it almost feels like these are songs they cut out of the 2009 release because they simply weren’t all that good.

Every Absu release has at least a few sections where to this day but I can’t help but grin and get all giddy because of the sheer brilliance that is blasting through my ear holes. This is usually due in a big way to Proscriptor’s drumming. Syncopated drum patterns driving under a sky of solid of wailing leads with a carfull of solid riffs.

This time around there doesn’t seem to be much off-the-wall or out-of-the-box drumming like we’re used to. It’s just standard fare played at hyper speeds. This only draws attention to the mediocrity of the rest of the arrangement. There’s no cool fusion-y stuff going on and the album as a whole sounds very “Vanilla”.

The ambiance of the album is also lacking. Other Absu releases truly earned the “Mythological Occult Metal” moniker. They sounded as if some ancient Celtic beast had been awakened and was creating music via three guys from Texas. This album sounds like three guys from Texas with great musical ability got together to sing about some ancient Celtic beast. Similar, but in no way the same.

2.5 out of 5

Check out Zach’s personal site

Some of you may know this episode was recorded some weeks ago, but due to some life shit I couldn’t get it up until now. After talking Ron into letting me handle this one, I go and screw it up. O swells.

I don’t even remember what we talked about, but I know it get’s a little ridiculous so I guess you’ll just have to listen and find out.

Playlist:
Enslaved – The Sleep
Primordial – No Grave Deep Enough
Powerglove – The Real Adventurs of Johnny Quest
Wardruna – Bjarkan
Will Smith – Wild Wild West
Deep Purple – Never Before
Emperor – Ye Entrancemperium
Yngwie Malmsteen – Overture 1622
Xerath – False History
Dalriada – Tavaszköszöntõ
Otyg – Vilievandring
The Muppets – Bohemian Rhapsody

Bed Music:
Mumford and Sons – Sigh No More

Metalscape – Episode 135

Simple as that. I fucking hate them. And most of the time they turn out to be either assholes or complete fucking morons. This is 100% accurate. Want to identify the asshole/moron at your next gathering? Look for the dipshit wearing the cap.

The hat, cap or whatever other device worn on the head to protect your face from the sun is a utilitarian one. I’m not saying they can’t be aesthetically pleasing, but you never do see some dude wearing his motorcycle helmet to frat parties. And you will never catch me with my fucking hard hat on at Wacken. Although if I put some horns on that shit that would be kinda cool. Construction Viking? Think about it. They had to build ships and shit.

Back to the point: I hate these bastards. Fucking caps are now a fashion accessory. It’s even worse when they wear them at night. Indoors. THERE’S NO SUN MOTHERFUCKER TAKE IT OFF! “nah bro is cool ma caps is dope”.

Everytime you wear a cap indoors, or at night, or both, a homeless child in Nicaragua gets skin cancer in the face by the relentless third world sun. He wishes he had a cap. Because he needs one. Not just to put it on his head because it “looks cool”.

Fuckers.

The band has just debuted the video for “Hollow”, from the upcoming album ”Cursed”.

It’s certainly entertaining, with legions of cheeseburgers doing that choreographed drumming the chinese like so much. And participating in a variety of olympic sports. I’m sure there some overstated hippy message about consumerism or some shit, but the song does make me want to rawk.

The album comes out on March 15th.

Due to a torn ACL Destroyer’s K.K. Warslut will be going into surgery and they have dropped off the Destruction tour starting in April. Bay Area thrash band Heathen has been announced as their replacement.

DESTRUCTION wishes Keith a safe and quick recovery!  In the meantime, we are really happy to announce their old friends HEATHEN as a replacement for Deströyer 666!  These Bay Area thrashers are one of my favorite thrash bands of all time and we will be sharing the European stages with them in some weeks on the Killfest tour.  It’s fantastic to have an opportunity to tour with old friends on both sides of the globe! German & Bay Area Thrash together on tour – how much more kick-ass can it get?!  I can’t wait to hit the road again now, hope to see you all out there!

Argentinian Folk Metal band DOLMEN have made their debut release, Anhelos Ancestrales, available as a free download through their label, ANCESTRAL TUNES.

The album is a fairly refreshing folk metal with some prog elements and some light synth work. The female vocalists voice is beautiful and since everything is in Spanish, I can pretend she’s singing about having sex with me. It’s free and certainly worthy of a download.

Get it here

3.5/5

http://www.ancestraltunes.com/

Moonsorrow is back, thank the earth and sky. The album is dubbed, true to the band’s grey lyricism, Varjoina Kuljemme Kuolleiden Maassa (As Shadows We Wander In The Land Of The Dead), and it’s to be released on the 21st of February. The album will have seven tracks, four long, three short (i.e. long short long short long short long) – a cool recasting of the short ‘intro track’ (which has so far been an institution in Moonsorrow’s music) as the ‘interlude track’.

The preview is exciting. There is a real vitality to be heard here, which is welcome in a genre which currently lacks strength. Expect a full review when its released.

For now, listen at their myspace.

http://www.myspace.com/moonsorrow

Some of you may have seen my fantastic Metalscape lettering above my Nicaraguan Podcasting Setup, but for those of you who havent,

BOOM!:

Metalscape lives on. Expect some new content by the end of the week.