Special Event with a Shaolin Master in Irvine, California…

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Learn Ancient Qi Gong from a World Renown Shaolin Master!

 

2 Classes: Limit 20 People Per Class
Class #1: 4-4:45pm and
Class #2: 5-5:45pm
Cost: Pre-Sale $42.99
Day of Event (Space Permitting) $49.99
Buy Tickets NOW

Select Your Class

MASTER SHI YANQING

Master Shi Yanqing was born in Handan, China. He began practicing Chinese martial arts in the Shaolin Temple at the age of nine. He was elected to the Shaolin Kungfu Monk Corps, in which he became a devout disciple to a Shaolin monk. Under the mentoring of Abbot Shi Yongxing, he learned traditional Shaolin Kung Fu, Chan Wu culture, and the practice of Yi (medicine).

Shi Yanqing won multiple Boxing Champion titles in the national Shaolin boxing contest. In 1999, he was selected to carry out cultural exchanges among the world. In 2003, as one of the Shaolin Kung Fu Monk Corps members, he visited Korea and the Philippines and various other countries, and won first place at the Korean International Kung Fu Tournament. He also toured with Abbot Shi Yongxing to Australia, the United States, Italy, Thailand, Japan, Brazil, Bulgaria, Germany, Austria and many other countries for cultural exchanges.

He was appointed by Abbot Shi Yongxing to come to the United States to promote Shaolin Chan Wu culture. He is passionate about sharing his knowledge to help others gain strength and balance.

 

 

About Qi Gong:

This class teaches you controlled breathing, stretching of the torso and limbs in order to strengthen tendons and ligaments throughout the body. Compared to YOGA, Master Yanqing brought Ancient Shaolin YIJIGJIN & XISUIJING into QI GONG. You will learn “STAND” BADUANJING, “SIT” BADUANJING, “SHIERDUANJIN” and others. It’s higher level of YOGA – SHAOLIN YOGA!

It will improve one’s general well-being and help balance one’s emotion. It will develop your inner peace and wisdom to enjoy daily life.

Domkraft “Flood” Album Review + Stream…

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Domkraft

Flood – Limited Vinyl // CD // DD

Blues Funeral Recordings – releases October 19, 2018

Reviewed by Ric “Suisyko” Dorr

 

Location:
Stockholm, Sweden

Band Members:
Martin Widholm – Guitar
Martin Wegeland – Bass & Vocals
Anders Dahlgren – Drums

Previous Releases:
‘Domkraft’ EP (2015)

‘The End Of Electricity’ (2016)

 

 

Review:
OK, I’ll admit it… the first question I had was what does the name Domkraft mean?? Translated from Swedish to English, it simply means ‘screw-jack’ like what you would use on a larger vehicle or a house foundation. Hmmm… this can ONLY mean that this is going to be some ultra-heavy shit I am about to immerse myself into. I had not heard of this power-trio until I was handed the album and told to give it a listen. Little did I realize just what awaited me on this true-sophomore effort from this band that describes themselves as simply, “Organic, electric, hypnotic and loud.” And, engage………

Opener “Landslide” wastes no time in getting right down to the heavy riff that knocks you over, complete with the soaring vocals that cascade over the staggered tempos that keep your feet moving during the almost ten minutes.  “Landslide” sets the tone for the rest of the record to follow with a slow fade out, leading right into “The Watchers” with another lead you slowly follow along until the full body of stoner-might pops you in the jaw this time.  Making sure you feel the reeling as you spin in amazement at the sheer force pumping out of this three-man machine that keeps the slice-and-dice routine swirling around you, even as the last chord strings in sustain.

“Flood” is more even tempered and keeps the air shimmering with a bass tone that is ALL enveloping and shows zero sign that it will relent anytime soon, and why would you want it to??

Domkraft….The Calm before that Tsunami!!

Gear Picture

 

“They Appear To Be Alive” comes out nice and sedated and is the sole instrumental contained on this slab of intensity and then after a half second space, “Sandwalker” hits hard again, maintaining the stature of a giant that looms above and beyond as the musical winds whip the air around with a fury not witnessed since, well, the LAST Domkraft record!!

“Octopus” is one of the harder-hitting compositions with the bass-slides and power chords encasing a drum line that fits like a ‘magnum’ and serves ‘this ride’ well. The stand-out track, in MY opinion, “Dead Eyes Red Skies” wraps this masterful-morsel in the perfect foil of musical precision that in it’s HUGENESS of mix, towers above the rest of the album and promises so much yet to come from this triad of mega-power.

I believe this release will be making a lot of ‘best-of’ lists for 2018 and does indeed indicate that Domkraft is set to be in the leagues of their peers with bands like Monolord and Neurosis to name a few.  If you don’t believe me, get your copy, share it ALL around and see what those around you are saying.  Support / witness these guys in a live format if you are given the opportunity and above all else, keep it LOUD!!

High on Fire “Electric Messiah” Review + Stream…

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HIGH ON FIRE

Electric Messiah – Limited Vinyl // CD // DD

eOne Heavy Records – released October 5, 2018

Reviewed by Ric “Suisyko” Dorr

 

Location:
Oakland, CA USA

Members:
Matt Pike – Guitar / Vocals
Des Kensel – Drums
Jeff Matz – Bass Guitar (ex Zeke, member since “Blessed Black Wings” tour)
George RIce – Bass Guitar (ex-Dear Deceased, on :”Art Of Self Defense” / “SUrrounded By Thieves”)
Joe Preston – Bass Guitar (ex Melvins / Thrones, on Blessed Black Wings)

Previous Releases:

“The Art of Self-Defense” 2000

“Surrounded By Thieves” 2002

“Blessed Black Wings” 2005

“Live from the Relapse Contamination Festival” 2005

“Death Is This Communion” 2007

“Snakes For The Divine” 2010

“De Vermis Mysteriis” 2012

“Spitting Fire Live Volume I” 2013

“Spitting Fire Live Volume II” 2013

“Luminiferous” 2015

 

 

Review:

Way back in 1998, Matt Pike was deep in the band SLEEP as guitarist and when the other guitarist quit, Matt began inviting people to come to his garage to jam.  This led to Matt deciding to work in a power-trio again.  Within 6 months, the jams led to the formation of HIGH ON FIRE, allowing Matt to keep his tone similar while his playing style was becoming faster and more aggressive in delivery and structure and taking over vocals and writing the bulk of the new material.

As of 2007, the current and most prolific line-up solidified into the unit that is getting set to take the new release to the world. Having toured endlessly with a wide variety of acts from GOATWHORE to CONVERGE, including a stint on MEGADETH’s “Gigatour”.

Band Pic

With the release of “Electric Messiah” Pike & Co. are not trying to re-invent the wheel; FAR from it. Nine tracks and 59 minutes later, HoF have delivered what can only be described as the quintessential definition of what High on Fire has come to demonstrate;  aggressive precision seasoned perfectly with Matt’s lyrical creations.  This fits seamlessly into his 6-string myriads of hyper-aggro masterpieces. Tracks like ‘Spewn From The Earth’, ‘The Pallad Mask’ and ‘Freebooter’ show that the might is still intact and the longer compositions are still present as ‘Steps Of The Ziggeraut/House Of Enlil’ and ‘Sanctioned Annihilation’ show clocking in at over 9 minutes plus. ALL factors that encompass High on Fire are present and even the title track belies that they are even more cohesive and just flat-out IN YOUR FACE than ever before, using power-chords, bombastic bass tones and drum-attacks that ring in sheer might.

Matt Pike

The standout on this record, for ME, is the closer ‘Drowning Dog’.  I hear the culmination of the best of each previous release, all winding into this diatribe that allows Matt to give it all and offers what can only be HoF at it’s absolute top-notch performances.

If you don’t have it yet, GET IT asap. If there is any in your circle that may not yet be aware of what High on Fire entails, force-feed them until they know, support these guys live if you get the chance and above all else, KEEP IT LOUD!!

High on Fire Tour Dates

Tour Dates

Ethereal Riffian start Crowdfunding Campaign for 3rd Full Length…

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Crowdfunding Campaign for Ethereal Riffian’s 3rd LP

 

One of our favorite bands here at Taste Nation, Spiritualized rockers from Ukraine, Ethereal Riffian are launching a crowdfunding campaign via Indiegogo to support their 3rd full-length album which they plan to release next year and we couldn’t be happier!!

With all Ethereal Riffian’s previous releases their intention was to make people realize their true potential via different spiritual traditions, but with the third album we want to bring the wisdom from the Himalayan Caves to the streets of big cities and radio stations. Eight years since the inception of the band, we have refined our musical language to be able to produce the songs which talk directly to the Spirit and now we’re finally ready to record the album which will shake you to the core.

We’ve been creating psychedelic rock music with a message since 2010 and are now ready to record our 3rd full-length album. We have started working on the new album in the beginning of 2016 and it took us a little more than two and a half years to write 10 new songs full of energy and purpose.

Collage

“Since 2010, we have produced 6 releases and never before in our history we have asked our fans to contribute,” comments Val Kornev, frontman of the band. “This situation is very different, because we have many ambitious plans for this album and we’re looking forward to your contribution. Musically it’s a much more straightforward work compared to our previous efforts and ideologically, it can be described as bold as Rage Against the Machine meets the Dalai Lama.”

You can follow the process of album’s recording via Ethereal Riffian’s YouTube channel.

Contribute to the crowdfunding campaign: https://igg.me/at/erthird

Follow Ethereal Riffian on social media:

 

Max Tovstyi “Mesmerize” Album Review + Stream…

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MAX TOVSTYI

Mesmerize – Vinyl // CD // DD

Clostridium Records – released May 21, 2018

Reviewed by Ric “Suisyko” Dorr

 

 

Location: 
Kyiv, Ukraine

Other Projects:
The Heavy Crawls
Lucifer Rising
Turnaround
The Red Sterns

 

 

Review:
While most of us have taken the summer to live life, the way we do, soaking up all of the joys life offers us while taking a break from the ‘every-day’ as it were. Max Tovstyi is the exception to the rule here. Having completed another tour with The Heavy Crawls and their rotating cast of members, he completed his Broken Bricks Studios project, including getting the right building and equipment, and doing most of the work himself. During all of this he had going on, Max was able to complete a series of 12 songs that tend towards a more blues-feel record, complete with faster tempo tracks interwoven with the slower, and Max does it ALL on this album. Previously, he seemed to concentrate on the space-rock type of structure and letting his guitar work speak for itself while sitting at the helm of his creative juggernaut, steering into the world.  This time, it is just him, no pretense, no other minds involved so we get PURE Max, claiming responsibility for every nuance and note.

I had been contacted directly by Max to review this solo-outing, the day before it’s release and upon initial listening, I was floored with the simple purity of each track, surprised with the dozen compositions that sound very little like anything I had heard before from…

Pro Shot

From the power chord intro of ‘Rising Sun’ through to the phased-out beginning of bonus track ‘So Unfamiliar’ and it’s slow-cascading tempo, there is just so much to ingest here. While ‘Wait Till Tomorrow’ comes out of the gate relatively quick, he slows to a mid-tempo pace that allows him to flex his muscle, including harmonizing alongside himself in the chorus and you can hear some multi-layered soloing as it permeates the air around. ‘Interstellar Girl opens with a jazzy drumline that leads right into some funky 70’s sounding keyboards that follow the pumped-up bass line and is jaunty enough to keep your head moving along, and ‘Feel Like Dying Now’ keeps that feel but is a diatribe in sadness as Max describes what took him there, all frosted in some of his most-personal soloing he has done yet.

‘From The Blues To The Funk’ sounds like something lifted directly out of Mississippi mud and by the time you have reached the three minute mark, the funk has overtaken the bass and the ‘funk’ is all over the place, replete with some sassy horn work for good measure. ‘Yesterday’s Blues’ is more traditional in arrangement and delivery but still containing his heart on his sleeve, much like the token ‘heartstrings-puller’ delivery of ‘You Have To Make Up Your Mind’ that includes some female back-up vocals to compliment the chorus here.

‘Show Me The Way’ maintains this feel and does not disappoint while tracks like ‘World Of Sin’ give you something to chew-on with the lush mix that manages to convey a little of the previously mentioned space-rock’ feel and still feeling heavy as fuck, where ‘You Know That I Know’ is one of the faster tracks offered and keeps it moving as much as any other from this album. ‘Show Me The Way’ sums up the rest of the record in keeping with that standard 3/4 time sig that is so prevalent with the blues overall.

Painting_Album Cover

The one that stands out and away from the others on this in I didn’t just want, I NEEDED to listen to this one over and over, that being the title track ‘Mesmerize’ with what can only be described as fuzzed-out, punch you in your chest hard rock brought perfectly into this century by Max’ own hand. The structure/arrangement/delivery is flawless and FOR ME, is the best I have heard from Max to this point.

Having watched this all develop has been fascinating and I can only hope for more, including a tour to the USA. Get it if you haven’t already, share it with ALL that surround you and when all else fails, keep it LOUD!!

Legend Of The Seagullmen “Self Titled” Album Review + Stream…

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They Ain’t No Flock Of Seagulls

They are the

Legend of the Seagullmen

“Self Titled” – Vinyl // CD // DD

Dine Along Records – released February 9, 2018

By Terry ‘The Ancient One’ Cuyler

 

Legend of the Seagullmen are
Danny Carey – drums (Tool)
Brent Hinds – guitars (Mastodon)
Jimmy Hayward – guitar (Director – Jonah Hex)
David ‘The Doctor’ Dreyer – vocals
Zappa Meets Zappa’s Peter Griffin – bass
Chris DiGiovanni – synth // keys

 

 

Hello friends this is the Ancient One and recently I found myself having a flashback to some of the crappy music that MTV tried to force feed music fans in the 1980’s. Specifically the music of A Flock of Seagulls.  Yes I hated that band. So when my friend “Matthew Thomas” Messaged me and said “Hey Ancient One you gotta listen to these guys called Legend of the Seagullmen.” I had a name association flashback and like a punch drunk boxer that hears a distant bell, I flew off the handle and responded with a stream of profanity in all caps about how I despised that band. Thankfully I kept my cool and looked up their website…

When I eyeballed the Legend of the Seagullmen’s  website I was still a little hesitant but the Ancient One isn’t one to knock any music till he hears it first. While some may automatically look into who a band is before listening I try not to do that so I can keep any personal bias out of my listening experience so I skipped looking up the press release that was used to hype the band to the audience, and instead followed the link I was given by “Matthew” to the album. From the moment I hit play to the end of the album I found myself entertained by the Legend of the Seagullmen’s with some amazing, eclectic rock.

Hooked like a fish, I had to know more about this band that calls themselves Legend of the Seagullmen. In their description on Bandcamp and their band page  Legend of the Seagullmen states “ Legend of the Seagullmen is a genre destroying super-group crafting conceptual rock ‘n’ roll hymns of epic proportions.”  What I managed to learn from their Bandcamp page is the band is made up of   Tool’s Danny Carey on drums, Mastodon’s Brent Hinds on guitar, the director of films such as Jonah Hex  Jimmy Hayward on guitar, Zappa Meets Zappa’s Peter Griffin on bass,  Chris DiGiovanni on synth/keys &  David ‘The Doctor’ Dreyer on vocals. Seeking more info about the front man I searched the web until I came across an article in the  The mighty Rolling Stone Magazine that said “The Seagullmen concept is the brainchild of three brothers, Frank, Chris and David Dreyer, who have put on appropriately theatrical concerts and made movies about the band’s long-running legend in recent years”  Which is as far as I could seem to get with details about him. Well no matter I loved the music.

 

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I could easily heap praise upon Legend of the Seagullmen’s Danny Carey, Brent Hinds, and Peter Griffin because they are the three  most well known musicians but would be unfair to the band as a whole. They also have a guitar playing film director Jimmy Hayward, a keyboard playing Production Manager from Blue Sky Animation Studios Chris DiGiovanni and a mysterious vocalist David ‘The Doctor’ Dreyer are able to take their place on stage and in the studio with them and not embarrass themselves is quite a feat in itself.

If I were to describe the music I’d say it’s a wonderfully cheesy Rock ‘N’ Roll meets, Spaghetti Western meets, Nautical Adventure movie. Some of my favorite tunes on this are…all of them!!  I recommend listening to this gem straight through like being at a Drive-In Movie Theater watching a double feature of kick ass B movie re-runs. This is definitely an album I’d recommend.

Earthless “Black Heaven” Album Review + Music Video + Links…

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Earthless

Black Heaven – Vinyl // CD // DD // Bundle Packages

Nuclear Blast Records – Released March 16th, 2018

Terry “The Ancient One” Cuyler

A Journey into Black Heaven

Line Up:
Mario Rubalcaba (drums)
Isaiah Mitchell (guitars & VOX)
Mike Eginton (bass)

Review:
Greetings music heads this is that old sonic wave rider The Ancient One and I want to tell all of you about  San Diego’s heavy psyche rock trio Earthless and their upcoming album Black Heaven. Originally signed to the independent record labels  Gravity Records  and then Tee Pee Records, Earthless has been Blowing minds since 2001 with their own brand of almost entirely instrumental heavy-psych rock that many of other great musicians/bands credit as inspiration in their own music. To date they have released a slew of split albums with the likes of Witch, Danava, Lecherous Gaze, Premonitions 13, Radio Moscow, and Harsh Toke. This is accompanied by 2 live albums and 3 studio albums with their 4th “Black Heaven”, the subject of this review.

Band Pic

Released on March 16th, 2018 on the Nuclear Blast record label with songs that have more vocals than all their previous releases combined, Black Heaven is a leaner meaner Earthless album . Though I cannot be certain because I don’t have any contacts in Nuclear Blast Records or Earthless  I suspect the band’s association with the Rock Giant is why the bands latest album have significantly shorter songs.  Is this a bad thing, absolutely not!!  Isaiah has a fantastic bluesy voice that is also on display with his other band Golden Void.

 

While the 40 minute album is broken into six tracks, to me it all seem to blend together into two parts with interlude track “Voit Rush” acting as sort of a road sign telling me were I am at in the journey. What catches my attention most about Black Heaven is that more than half of the songs have guitarist Isaiah Mitchell also taking up the microphone as vocalist. Which I think he does a bang up job at. Yet for all that has changed Earthless has remained true to their original mind-bending blend of krautrock and Japanese heavy-blues rock with still some of the freshest and finest Riffs, meanest basslines and Cosmic Drumming on this great Universe!!

Link to buy Album, Bundles and more…

http://shop.nuclearblast.com/en/products/sound/cd/cd-digi-ts-xxl/earthless-black-heaven-baseball-shirt-cd-digi-poster.html

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Neurosis “The Word As Law” Album Review + Stream…

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NEUROSIS

The Word as Law – Limited & Black Vinyl // CD // DD

Neurot Recordings – Released – August 25 2017

Reviewed by Mike Hackenschmidt

 

Line Up:
Scott Kelly / Lead vocals, Guitar
Steve Von Till / Backing vocals, Guitar
Dave Edwardson / Backing vocals, Bass
Jason Roeder / Drums
Noah Landis / Keyboards (Noah did not perform on The Word is Law)

 

Review:

Just this weekend, Neurosis has re-released their 2nd album, “The Word as Law”, originally released June 1st, 1990 through Lookout! Records. The album has been out of print since the 90’s so fans who didn’t get the chance to buy it up 20+ years ago should be chomping at the bit to sink their teeth into this classic. Since 1990 a lot has happened to Neurosis including a major change in sound which includes the addition of a keyboardist. One fact that’s worthy of note; “The Word as Law” was released in 1990 with 8 tracks. It was re-released with 7 additional bonus tracks in 1991 with Simon McIllroy on Keys. This 2017 re-release exclusively contains the 8 original tracks, remastered. No keys.

The 2017 re-release also has new cover art. It’s simple and elegant. The main image to the bottom right, rule of thirds applied, shows a framed mouth, tongue outstretched and pierced with a nail. To this old metal head, the purplish background looks like battle-worn leather. The image is completed with the band logo in the top left corner.

The album opens with 4 slow, gentle strums of an electric guitar followed by a quick riff and into ‘Double-Edged Sword.’ Neurosis is currently labelled as Avant-Garde metal and early influencers of post-metal  but in the early 90’s they had a much different sound. Their website indicates their early albums are a product of their punk roots. Wikipedia talks about them starting out playing hardcore. I honestly don’t know a whole lot about punk and hardcore, but yeah, I can hear the punk. However, when this old metal head listened to ‘Double-Edged Sword’ for the first time I also heard heavy influence from a very certain other California band. Fair warning: if you’re a fan of punk and hardcore, this might piss you off. I will concede that maybe this band didn’t influence Neurosis, maybe they just share the same influences, being from the same area. In fact, the band I hear influencing Neurosis has identified as former, skate-board-riding punks. The band I’m referring to is none other than thrash legends, Slayer.

Scott Kelly sounds remarkably like Tom Araya on this album. Many of the guitar breakdowns and lead breaks reek of Kerry King BUT with a punk flair. Considering their influence in sludge, it really shouldn’t be too unrealistic to believe Neurosis have some metal roots. The 90’s were a very strange time in heavy music. Many, many bands started off with a particular sound and then went off in a completely different direction, Neurosis included. As a metal head teen in the 90’s, I read a lot of metal zines where I often encountered the term “Slayer Babies.” At the time, Slayer was claiming that too many new bands were copying their sound. I’m sitting here wondering if that was truly the case, or maybe hard music had just reached a point where there wasn’t much variety. Maybe the term Slayer Babies was really the industry crying out for something new and fresh and exciting which Neurosis delivered as early as their next album, “Souls at Zero”. But it’s not 1990 anymore so let’s not kid ourselves, sounding like Slayer-does-punk isn’t a terrible thing. In fact, I rather like it.

Track 4, ‘To What End?’ is more what I expect traditional hardcore to be. The vocals are screamed (still sounds like Araya) in a different manner. The distortion is more hardcore. Lyrically, the whole album is more punk than metal. I particularly enjoy ‘Tomorrow’s Reality’ lyrics and my comparison to Slayer completely breaks down for this track where I could compare them more to Macabre than anything else. I’m not sure whose backing vocals resemble Nefarious but damn, that’s a tough sound to generate. My throat hurts just thinking about it.

The album closes with ‘Blisters’ which gives us a hint of the sludge to come. It’s slow, thick to start and bass-y.  It’s almost as if they knew where they were going next and saved this track for last as a hint for the listener.

Neurosis Lineup during “The Word As Law” Era!!

NEUROSIS_The_Word_As_Law_era

All-in-all, the re-release of “The Word as Law” should be viewed as a second chance, of sorts. Neurosis fans of new should rejoice at a rare chance to pick up an album off their back catalog that might not have been readily available in recent years. Fans of hard music who aren’t familiar with Neurosis get the opportunity to experience the band starting from their early work. And fuck, Neurosis get another shot at making a few well deserved bucks off their early work. For a band who have been at it for decades, it’s crazy when you realize that these guys still have day jobs. So let’s get out and support them.

Xanthochroid “Of Erthe and Axen” Album Review + Video…

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XANTHOCHROID 

Of Erthe and Axen – Act I (of 2) – CD // DD

Self Released – August 22nd, 2017

Reviewed by Ric “Suisyko” Dorr

 

 

Born:  January 2005

Location:

Lake Forest, California USA

Previous Releases:

“Blessed He With Boils” (2012)

“Incultus” (2014)

Disc I [Act I]
01. Open the Gates, O Forest Keeper
02. To Lost And Ancient Gardens
03. To Higher Climbs Where Few Might Stand
04. To Souls Distant And Dreaming
05. In Deep And Wooded Forests Of My Youth
06. The Sound Of Hunger Rise
07. The Sound Of A Glinting Blade
08. The Sound Which Has No Name

 

Review:
Listing influences from ALIEN ANT FARM to Opeth, Moonsorrow to Wintersun and even DIMMU BORGIR, this three piece has no compunction about letting you know that this is not your average ‘every-man’ style of music but geared more towards the intelligencia among us and have all of the tools in their possession to show you why. They are self-described as ‘an Epic Black-Metal band that strives to produce the most sophisticated and enthralling compositions’, further citing that Xanthochroid is ‘not for the casual listener, but for the true connoisseur who demands more depth, more detail, and more musicality than what is out there presently.’

Pro Band Pic

From the winding recesses of the mind of Sam Meador, the focus of the band came together through combining the desire to create moving stories with a love for pagan mythology into an ever evolving mythos, the music tells a story of a long power struggle between Thanos and Ereptor, two brothers who are heir to a deceased king fighting over the rightful kingship of the land of Septentria. This release and Part II (due Oct 17 2017) are being touted as a prequel to the two previous releases, further filling in the missing from the tales as woven to this point.

Xanthochroid offers up 8 tracks totaling 43 minutes and each is presented in the full cinematic method this trio has established to be their norm. Even the names of the individual tracks invoke a feeling of more than just another song title, from opener ‘Open The Gates O Forest Keeper’ which immediately popped Opeth in my brain, to ‘In Deep and Wooded Forests of My Youth’ that has all of the flourish of any black/folk song out there with the added panache of vocals that come out of the surrounding mists you can smell as the music flows across and underneath you. Operatic at times, multi-layered harmonies and instrumentation executed with bravado in precision-filled performances.

The last three tracks I would presume to be a three-part tome as each has a specific ‘Sound’ reference, ‘The Sound Of Hunger Rises’, ‘The Sound of a Glinting Blade’ and ‘The Sound Which Has No Name’, all strung together. Flowing one to the next and wrapping this with the darkest track musically, almost sounding as if Dany Filth himself had a hand in the writing.

The anticipation for Part II is already building and with this release, the scope widens even further! If you are not a fan yet, get this as a perfect starting point and if are already ‘aware’, continue the voyage adding this release to your library, share those that do not know and witness the spectacle LIVE if you are granted the chance… keep it LOUD!!

Pro Band Pic

Collide “Color of Nothing” Album Review + Stream…

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COLLIDE

Color Of Nothing – CD // DD

Self Released + Crowdfunded – released May 25, 2017

Album Reviewed by Ric “Suisyko” Dorr

 

Formed – 1992

Location – Los Angeles, California USA

Members – kaRIN – vox / Statik – sounds

Previous Releases – “Beneath The Skin” (1996), “Distort” remix collection (1998), “Chasing The Ghost (2000), “Some Kind Of Strange” (2003), “Vortex” remix collection (2004), “Like The Hunted” DVD/Live CD (2005), “Two Headed Monster” (2008), “These Eyes Before” (2009), “Counting To Zero” (2011), “Bent And Broken” (2012)

COLLIDE is a duo founded in 1992 incorporating elements of electronica, trip hop and synth-pop combined with a darker edge to create something esoteric in nature and ethereal in execution, delivering a hybrid that is like nothing before. They have worked with artists of the highest esteem during their existence including the likes of Charlie Clouser, Dean Garcia (CURVE) and Danny Carey (TOOL), and they keep pumping out their own flavor of music to the masses.

“Color Of Nothing” is the first offering in almost five years and kaRIN and Statik decided this time out to fund the album publicly, citing this move as a way to gauge if anyone still cared… with this release, the answer is a resounding YES and the result is amazing!!

 

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Eleven tracks clocking in at just over an hour, this collection of songs represents the BEST yet to come from this powerhouse and shows they are in top form and ready to take their place in your library. From the opening track ‘Wake Up’ through to closer ‘Pale Blue’, the edge is right there with all the ‘fixings’ to make this a feast for your auditory senses, including twists and turns to keep you moving all along. Flavorings of bands like KMFDM and MY LIFE WITH THE THRILL KILL KULT are sprinkled throughout with a splash here and there of LORDS OF ACID type progressions all serving kaRIN’s existential voice that cuts through with razor-precision and hits you between the eyes with her haunting delivery. ‘Soul Crush’ is a great example as she reminds us that “We are all human” in her signature siren-song voice.

‘Fix’ shines extra bright for ME, as the standout track from this album. Soft and slow for the first 40 seconds before the drum line hits between your eyes and then kaRIN grabs hold and drags you along, willingly through the guitar lines and floating hypnotic melody of the rest of the body of the song.  Even as drum fills jump out at you here and there, making the flow seamless as you traverse along Statik’s masterful arrangement. I could go on and on about each track here as they are each as strong as every other composition brought together here, but the BEST way for you to understand this record is to go GET IT, share it with every pair of ears you come across.  Support Collide in the live format if you are blessed with the opportunity and most importantly, keep it LOUD!!

Band Pic