New Video From Evergreen Terrace - "Wolfbiker"

Showing some love for Metal Blade Records today, I wanted to share the new video from metalcore (and a little hardcore . . . wait for the breakdown) band Evergreen Terrace. The song is called "Wolfbiker" and all I can say is, I love the metal.


Evergreen Terrace "Wolfbiker"

Metal Monday (Post 666): Dillinger Escape Plan Tour Dates; Free Throwdown & 3 Inches of Blood MP3s; Concert Review: Hatebreed & Lamb of God

Dillinger Escape Plan tour dates begin to surface along with news of their forthcoming release, Ire Works, due November 13 on Relapse Records.

10/4 Cleveland, OH @ Peabody's Down Under
10/5 Pittsburgh, PA @ Rex Theatre
10/6 Chicago, IL @ Subterranean
10/7 St. Paul, MN @ Station 4
10/8 Papillion, NE @ The Rock
10/9 Denver, CO @ The Marquis Theare
10/14 Santa Ana, CA -Galaxy Concert Theatre
10/17 Spring, TX @ Java Jazz
10/20 Fort Lauderdale, FL @ Culture Room
10/21 Orlando, FL @ Backbooth
10/22 Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade
10/23 Baltimore, MD @ The Ottobar
10/25 Cambridge, MA @ The Middle East

So, in a somewhat unique milestone, this is the 666th post on Any Given Tuesday. Seems fitting that some metal would fall into this slot!



Some of you know that I'm really into hardcore. Throwdown are one of my newer favorite hardcore metal bands, with uplifting, positive lyrics a la Hatebreed (Read a review of Hatebreed's Supremacy). Check out "Holy Roller" and get blown away.

Free Metal Monday MP3: Throwdown - "Holy Roller"



And, in the final installment of the Metal Monday Post #666 extravaganza, my show buddy and I caught the Ozzfest off-date show of Lamb of God, Hatebreed, Canada's 3 Inches of Blood, and Poland's Behemoth at Ram's Head Live! last Thursday night. What a show!



3 Inches of Blood are Iron Maiden-influenced Canucks, blending New Wave of British Heavy Metal high-pitched vocals with fantasy-themed lyrics combined with growling backing vocals (often co-vocals as both styles share the spotlight) and a thrash/power metal musical run. The brief set by this band was efficient and fun, bringing some of the old school back and blending it with modern extreme metal trappings.

Free MP3: 3 Inches of Blood - "Goatrider's Horde"



Following up, Poland's Behemoth entered the stage in full death metal regalia, and commenced to unleash their furious black/death sound on this crowd full of hardcore and southern metal fans. The language barrier was minimal as Nergal's between-song commentary was in a moderately-accented English that only once left fans scratching their heads trying to find out just what he was saying. Musically, relentless and theatrical, Behemoth rocked their set with fast thrashed-out death metal in support of their latest album, The Apostasy.

By the time New England hardcore powerhouses Hatebreed took the stage, the whole place was whipped into a frenzy. Hatebreed is one of the hardest-working bands in showbiz, always touring, supporting and promoting their music and the music in their community (singer Jamey Jasta hosts MTV's Headbanger's Ball), and putting out quality music. Still out supporting the awesome 2006 release Supremacy (1 year old tomorrow), Hatebreed never fail to impress, both on record and on stage.

Unleashing "Empty Promises", the opening track from Satisfaction Is The Death of Desire (ten years old as of Veteran's Day this year) early in the set, the band sends a message of respect and appreciation to its older fans and a voracious hunger for new ones by destroying Ram's Head Live! with "Destroy Everything", "Never Let It Die", and the closing "Perseverance". Sweating with positive aggression, every member of this band makes a point to interact with their crowd, mouthing thanks to the adoring masses.

Read Any Given Tuesday's review of Hatebreed's last appearance at Ram's Head Live!



After Hatebreed left the venue in a ball of dust and positively sweltering with the body heat from a packed house of aggro pit people, Lamb of God made their rock star entrance and lived up to their title as Revolver Magazine's Best Live Band of the year. Blasting out the technical guitar riffs, Mark Morton and Willie Adler were blowing minds like shooting tin cans off a fence post, backed by Chris Adler's pounding double bass and echoing rimshots, with John Campbell laying down the groove for Randy Blythe's demon-summoning, menacing screaming and growling. Pacing the stage like a caged animal, Blythe stagedives into the crowd about a third of the way into the set, causing a crowd frenzy soundtracked by melting guitar breakdowns. Another set that runs the gamut, from Sacrament's "Redneck", "Pathetic", and the blistering "Walk With Me In Hell", to "Ashes of the Wake" and original Burn The Priest (Lamb of God's former moniker) material. As usual, closing the set with "Black Label" and the signature wall of death crowd antics, Lamb of God rocked the (almost) hometown show and left Baltimore regretting having to wake up on Friday morning.

Concert Review: Marilyn Manson, Slayer, and Bleeding Through - Merriweather Post Pavilion, July 30, 2007

Out came the metal this past Monday at Merriweather Post Pavilion in Columbia. Bleeding Through, Slayer, and Marilyn Manson joined forces to conjure up what Bleeding Through's Brandan Schieppati appropriately referred to as "a mother's worst nightmare."




This writer last saw Bleeding Through at Ozzfest 2006, from a slight distance and through a cloud of second stage dust. My #1 showmate and I remember being thoroughly rocked by their set that morning, but on this night we were essentially unmoved. Maybe it was the respectable vantage point, but the band just did not come off as convincing enough. Layers of distortion covered up bland power chords and a vague odor of fear that the audience might find out these hardcore metal kids are from Orange County. Image missteps aside, the band rocked hard enough on tracks like "Love Lost In A Hail of Gunfire", but they simply lack the credibility of Hatebreed or their showmates in Slayer. With all that, this band's drummer was a flurry of incredible fills and pounding bass. Definitely the driving force behind the sound of the band.



No identity crises for Slayer, however, who have not lost a step since Reign in Blood. The alternately dueling and supporting thrash guitars of Jeff Hanneman and Kerry King are, without hesitation, astoundingly ferocious in sound and exquisite in technique. Thrash and speed might be lost on a generation of metal fans, but this tour could breathe new life into the band's fan base, selling a lot of copies of Christ Illusion (read a review of Slayer's latest) or giving an astounding history lesson in American metal. Opening the dusty coffers to bring out "Mandatory Suicide" and the seminal "Angel of Death" (which really pleased a rabid fan behind me, who I think could not believe someone as nerdy as me was all that into the band) and exploding with current tracks including "Cult" and "Jihad", this was the loudest set I have ever heard (the bass from

Dave Lombardo's dual kick drums was blowing my hair back), and Tom Araya made it nearly communal in his affectionate thanks from the crowd. For a band with such vitriolic lyrics and furious sound, they seemed like pretty nice guys!



A different story for Manson, who, first of all, took way too long to come out on stage, and proceeded to engage in constant self-love (thanks, Ginger, for that phrase, and for encouraging me to believe that Slayer is iconic, not cliche) by sticking his hands in places I shudder to imagine, before wiggling his hands over the crowd in what struck me as the most awful of fluid-swapping experiences for the GA crowd. Regardless of his lack of consideration for sanitation concerns, Marilyn Manson is a top-notch showperson. The stage appears from behind the screen enveloped in fog, with electric candles all over, and an absolute rock star in full regalia, slinking up the stage and crawling before his worshippers. The costume and set changes between songs made the show feel like a rock opera, or at least a pop concert, as giant chairs, pulpits, and other objets d'art mingled into the milieu. Sticking to standards like "The Beautiful People", "Disposable Teens", and the current glam-rocked "Heart-Shaped Glasses", all renditioned fantastically, the back catalog stayed pretty much closed on this night, as only one song from Portrait of an American Family comes to memory, left behind for the call-and-response (Irresponsible Hate) anthems of MM's repertoire. Tiring was the penchant for dropping the microphone after every song (don't the sound guys know to turn the mic off as the song ends so we don't have to hear the thud?), but fascinating was the larger-than-life persona of a performer who should give a lot more credit to his band than they currently get. The man-droid poses took the attention off the band's capable performance and cast it upon the conceded star who, love him or hate him, cannot fail to mesmerize and enthrall.

Metallica and Philosophy: New Book by William Irwin

Have you heard about this book? It's called Metallica and Philosophy: A Crash Course in Brain Surgery (The Blackwell Philosophy and Pop Culture Series) and while the title almost sounds like it is an instruction manual for neurosurgery, it's by an author who connects philosophical topics to popular culture. William Irwin has also written Seinfeld, The Simpsons, The Matrix, and plenty other versions of this book. By linking classic Metallica tracks to philosophers such as Nietzsche ("The God That Failed"), Descartes ("One") as well as different schools of philosophy (existentialism, metaphysics, ethics, not to mention aesthetics), "Metallica and Philosophy" can prove that metal is not idiotic, but a cathartic experience as well as a platform for social discourse.

Sample the book and then go buy it. Philosophy is the most fascinating, mind's eye-opening discipline there is, and this book along with Dr. Irwin's others should be proof positive that it is intertwined in the social fabric. Philosophy exists in everything we experience, from our most comedic and tragic experiences down to the molecules of the chair you are sitting in while you read this. In the most fundamental sense, philosophy is the study of existence, of being. Forget anatomy and physiology, this is the study of what the more "real" sciences cannot, by definition, analyze. As a philosopher, you will search whether quantifiable science can really "know" what it claims to be natural law. And music is the perfect vehicle for philosophy. Through music, artists can expound on abstract notions of justice, morality, love, and dozens of other key concepts and human values that defy definition. And it can be done in an aesthetically pleasing way (which is philosophical in itself)!

Metal Monday: Since The Flood; Free MP3 - "Strength"

If you are down with Hatebreed, this newer addition to the New England hardcore scene, Since The Flood, should get you excited. Part of the Metal Blade Records family, Since The Flood have an anthemic sound with a surefire recipe for amping up a crowd and, from what I've been able to decipher, a positive message, much like Hatebreed.

Free MP3 Download: Since The Flood - "Strength"

Metal Monday: Ion Dissonance; Free MP3 - "Kneel"

Meet Ion Dissonance (whom I knew as ID357 for longer than I'd like to admit before I got a clue). These Canucks make brutal grindcore that will be visiting VA for the Summer Slaughter Tour and Allentown, PA for Infest 2007. I just listened to their latest track, "Kneel", and this is a preview of what I am convinced will be the band's most mature, technical album to date. As a huge fan of metal, prog, and so much more, I am thrilled to see heavier and heavier bands get more and more technical.

Ion Dissonance's new album, Minus the Herd, comes out on June 5.

Free MP3: Ion Dissonance - "Kneel"

Monsters of Mayhem Tour II: Hatebreed, Terror, God Forbid, The Acacia Strain, more

Ah, Hatebreed. They're touring with Ozzfest, doing shows on the side with Lamb of God, and headlining Monsters of Mayhem in its second running. Terror, God Forbid, The Acacia Strain, Evergreen Terrace and After the Burial will assist.

5/18  Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall (2 stage mini fest)
5/19  Hartford, CT @ Webster Theater (2 stage mini fest)
5/20 - Sayreville, NJ @ Starland Ballroom
5/21  Charlotte, NC @ Tremont Music Hall
5/22  Columbia, SC @ Headliners
5/23  North Myrtle Beach, SC @ House of Blues
524  Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
5/25  Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution
5/26  Lake Buena Vista, FL @ House of Blues
5/28  Knoxville, TN @ Blue Cats
5/29  Memphis, TN @ New Daisy Theater
5/30  Little Rock, AR @ Juanitas'Cantina Ballroom
5/31  Houston, TX @ Scout Bar
6/1  Dallas, TX @ Palladium Ballroom
6/2  San Antonio, TX @ White Rabbit
6/3  El Paso, TX @ Club 101
6/5  Tulsa, OK @ Cains Ballroom
6/6  Kansas City, MO @ The Beaumont
6/7  Omaha, NE @ Sokol Auditorium
6/8  Waterloo, IA @ The Pepsi Pavilion
6/9  Indianapolis, IN @ Emerson Theatre

Lamb of God, Hatebreed Tour Dates (side dates on Ozzfest tour)

Lamb of God and Hatebreed will be playing twenty off-Ozzfest dates this summer, with Behemoth and 3 Inches of Blood supporting:

7/13 Vancouver, BC @ Croatian Cultural Center
7/15 Eugene, OR @ McDonald Theatre
7/16 Sparks, NV @ New Oasis
7/20 Bakersfield, CA @ Stramler Park (Outdoors)
7/22 San Diego, CA @ Soma
7/23 Las Vegas, NV @ House of Blues
7/27 Boulder, CO @ Boulder Theatre
7/29 Wichita, KS @ The Cotillion
8/1 Houston, TX @ Verizon Wireless Amphitheatre
8/3 Lubbock, TX @ Lonestar Events Center
8/5 Dallas, TX @ Clear Channel Metroplex
8/13 Cleveland, OH @ Agora Theatre
8/17 Niagara Falls, NY @ The Dome Theater
8/19 Johnson City, NY @ Magic City Music Hall
8/23 Baltimore, MD @ Rams Head Live! (tix on sale tomorrow 5/19)
8/25 Toronto, ONT @ Kool Haus
8/29 Atlanta, GA @ Tabernacle
8/31 Lake Buena Vista, FL @ House of Blues
9/1 North Charleston, SC @ The Plex
9/2 Richmond, VA @ Toad's Place

See Any Given Tuesday's review of Hatebreed's last visit to Baltimore here.