MARCH IS METAL MONTH 2012

EMI Music Label Services/Caroline Distribution is celebrating its fourth year of bringing metal to the masses with the March Is Metal Month (MIMM) retail campaign which kicks off in physical and digital music stores around the country on March 1.   LoudTrax.com is proud to be taking part and are offering some great metal albums, new and classic at this location.

To celebrate the "March is Metal Month" initiative, fans who download any featured album, or pick up any of the t-shirts included in the promotion will receive a Free March Is Metal Month 2012 CD sampler mailed to them.   The track listing is stellar and continues the tradition of working with the best rock labels to showcase top tracks from their roster of talent.  This year's sampler includes the tracks 'Undaunted' from Adrenaline Mob's upcoming album 'Omerta'; Swedish extreme metal band Meshuggah's 'The Demon's Name is Silence' and Five Finger Death Punch have added their previously digital-only release 'The Tragic Truth'. Fans of Southern hardcore metal band Corrosion Of Conformity are in for a treat with their track 'The Money Changers' also included - their first release in 25 years.   See full track listing below.

MARCH IS METAL MONTH CONTEST!

In addition to the sale items, Free CD, the kind folks at EMI USA sent us a truly metal package, full of prizes.  Contest ends March 31, and the lucky winner will receive:

Suicide Silence - Autographed The Black Crown 11x17 posters
Warbringer - signed Worlds Torn Asunder 11x17 posters
Winds Of Plague - signed 18x24 Against The World posters
Vampires Everywhere! - signed 18x24 Kiss The Sun Goodbye Posters
Five Finger Death Punch - War Is the Answer skate decks (obama art)
Five Finger Death Punch - mechanics shirts
Motorhead - The World Is Yours Blk T-Shirts
Eluveitie - autographed 35in (height) x 23in (width) Eluveitie posters 
(EXCLUSIVE for MMM!)

Enter contest here!

TRACK LISTING:

1.  Adrenaline Mob – Undaunted (2012 Elm City Music, LLC)            
2.  Lacuna Coil – Kill The Light (2011 Century Media Records Ltd.)                   
3.   Five Finger Death Punch – The Tragic Truth (© 2011 Prospect Park)                        
4.   Meshuggah – Do Not Look Down (2012 Nuclear Blast GmbH / Warner Chapell Publishing)               
 5.  In Flames – Where Dead Ships Dwell (2011 Century Media Records Ltd.)      
6.   Corrosion Of Conformity – The Money Changers (Abstract Sounds Ltd & Tanglade Ltd.)               
 7.  Iced Earth – Anthem (2011 Century Media Records Ltd.)             
8.   3 Inches Of Blood – Leather Lord (2011 Century Media Records Ltd.)                    
9.   Woods Of Ypres – Lightning & Snow (2012 Earache Records Inc)               
10.   Epica – Storm The Sorrow (2012 Nuclear Blast GmbH / Prophecies Publishing)                   
11.   Savage Messiah – Plague Of Conscience (2012 Earache Records Inc)                      
12.   Rise To Remain – The Serpent (2011 Century Media Records Ltd.)           
13.   Vildhjarta – Dagger (2011 Century Media Records Ltd.)                
14.  Sophicide – The Art Of Atrocity (Willowtip)                        
15.   Terrorizer – Subterfuge (2012 Season of Mist)                  
16.   The Devastated – The Devil’s Messenger (2011 Century Media Records Ltd.)    
17.   Insomnium – Meandering Through The Shadows (2011 Century Media Records Ltd.)    
18.   Lord Mantis – Perverter Of Will (Abstract Sounds Ltd & Tanglade Ltd.)  

British band Enter Shikari combine hardcore metal, complete with riffs that make you want to jump up, memorable choruses, and unlike most metal bands, a large dose of Electronica, trip hop elements.  Their new album "A Flash Flood of Colours" is released Jan. 17 and their first single "Sssnakeput" is already gaining them much deserved attention and praise. 

Crank it up!  Here is the video of "Sssnakepit" by Enter Shikari  



Download their album for only $7.99. 

We caught up with lead vocalist Rou Reynolds for an interview.  Hope you enjoy.

The single Sssnakepit is gaining lots of momentum and well received by fans.  Tell us about how the song came about and what it's been like playing it live so far.

Sssnakepit was one of the last songs to be written for the new album but it felt right for the first song to be released. It's obviously a real fast moving, feel good song, and hopefully an injection of positivity for any listener. The song came from feeling down in some sort of dip in your life, feeling like your surrounded by snakes only caring about making money or material things etc, it's about concentrating on compassion and treasuring friendships and bouncing back. It's been great to play live, not only for it's ferocity but it's a very visceral track lyrically too, so it's a great outlet.

There are 2 remixes of Sssnakepit on the release.  How much control do you give the remixers?  

If someone's remixing one of our tracks they have total control. I think it's quite important to let go at that point. Obviously we'll tell them if we aint feeling something but at the end of the day we only pick producers/DJ's that we respect anyway so they usually come up with the goods without any debate.

Has the band ever been asked to remix songs from other bands?  Would that interest you?

Well i have my side project 'Rout' which is more straight up Drum & Bass and Dubstep. I've been lucky enough to remix a whole host of bands and other producers/DJ's. I really enjoy it, there's obviously a little less pressure with things like these.

What other songs on the album are you expecting a crazy reaction on the live set?

I really can't wait to play every song on this album live. I think with a bit of work they're all going to translate really well to a live show. I think 'Gandhi Mate, Gandhi' will particularly send the crowd nuts though, as well as 'Hello Tyrannosaurus, Meet Tyrannicide'.

You have been touring with bands that have a slightly different sound and feel than Enter Shikari.  Can you describe the reaction of the fans between
yourselves and the other bands?

We've always felt slightly out of place on almost every bill we've played!

That's not something that's ever really bothered us though.  The reactions usually the same from the people that are there to see us, heaps of enthusiasm and energy. If people are watching us for the first time though it usually means a sea of confused faces almost to the point that they look slightly constipated, but we can deal with that now, it was a little strange at first. And if they truly were constipated, it's nothing a little of our sub bass couldn't help 'free up'.

Personally, I am a fan of certain electronica and acid jazz artists.  Can you touch on some of those artists that have influenced your sound, or that you simply enjoy listening to.   

Well obviously there countless artists but at the moment i'm listening to a lot of more chilled out stuff being at home and relaxing...
The outstanding progressive classical guitarist Erik Mongrain, some delicate clever electronica from Alphabets Heaven and some truly inspirational awesomeness from our favourite producers Noisia.

Every once in a while, we offer the chance for fans to discover new talent in the metal community.  This time around, the band Thousand Year Rain is the featured artist.  We hope you enjoy the music, and the introduction to the band!  AM

Thousand Year Rain's Witchery and Bloodshed - song by song desciption.
By Thomas Sankt of Thousand Year Rain

When music is written with careful purpose, the meaning won’t be obvious; it will just be absorbed. That’s what transforms chords into moods. But when music is written with visceral abandon, the meaning can’t be denied. That’s what turns anthems into lifestyles.

For me that anthem was (and is) Slayer’s “Raining Blood.” There’s just no way to argue its homicidal magnetism. When Tom Araya barks, “Now I shall reign in blood!” you actually believe him. You’re not quite sure how he’s going to do it, but you know it won’t be pretty.

Pound for pound, no one else has been able to channel that kind of savagery with the same degree of blunt force. Which is what makes the precedent of Reign in Blood so significant. In the 70’s, Black Sabbath brought a sludgy horror-laden groove to the disaffected. In the 80’s, Slayer sped it up, fed it some Anadrol, and made it angry — really, really angry. And the only band that’s even come close since then is Lamb of God. Though just between you and me, Slayer is still way heavier \m/. Unless, of course, Randy Blythe is reading this right now; in which case, Resolution is a goddamn masterpiece!

That said, rage isn’t the only thing that inspires sweaty little outcasts to pick up Flying V’s. Sadness can be equally powerful, and the beauty is that it’s far more confessional — sometimes disturbingly so. Alice in Chains captured it brilliantly in the 90’s, and given what became of Layne Staley, it’s clear they weren’t faking.

So that’s where my second album, Witchery and Bloodshed, ultimately falls — someplace between Reign in Blood and Jar of Flies. Does it sound exactly like them? No. But that’s because I draw on influences, not formulas. And besides, it would probably make for one hell of a weird mishmash. Slayer in Chains doesn’t really roll off the tongue very nicely.

Or does it?

Either way, the following song-by-song breakdown gives a glimpse into the making of Witchery and Bloodshed. The actual stories behind the riffs and/or lyrics might take too long because I’d have to dial up the social lepers I call friends and ask them to remind me what I was thinking between gut-churning swigs of Boone’s Farm. And since I’ve yet to fully recover from the hangover, that kind of thing is going to have to wait until the next article.

So without further ado, here are my favorite tracks from the album:

Pale Morning
The first song I wrote for Witchery and Bloodshed. Knew right away that I wanted to start with something deceptively calm. At 2:05, I think it fits the bill without drifting aimlessly into self-indulgence.

Inherit Death’s Machine
Recorded a few days after the untimely death of a close friend. Helped to assuage the pain.

Contortion
Re-written several times before the final version materialized. As always, I was won over by the juxtaposition of driving rhythms and overstated guitars. Kind of reminds me of Nile for some reason.

Eyes Closed Under A Cold Grey Sky
Swaying acoustic melodies, intricately woven orchestral adornments — what’s not to love? Could’ve easily been written by The Cure. In fact, it probably was. I’m not all that original. But the harsh reality is that I lost another friend to cancer shortly after Witchery and Bloodshed was released; and this song reminds me of him. Rest in peace, K.D.H. You will be missed.

A Shadow No Longer Cast
The only thing I like more than grim, hard driving death metal is grimmer, harder driving death metal. Amon Amarth will be proud.

Courtesy of Nuno Ribeiro of HeavyHardMetalMania

Australian Blackened Metallers MEMORIA have today released their third full-length album entitled “Death Calls The Islands”, which the band describes as a “a guitar-driven album that is simultaneously beautiful and ugly”, via Daniel Vrangsinn’s Misantrof ANTIRecords.    The album will be available both in physical format as a CD, and, in keeping with Misantrof’s philosophy, as a high quality MP3 download , which can be downloaded free from the Misantrof website.

Following 2008’s experimental noise album “Memorioquia : Auradeutung”,  MEMORIA have prioritised the heavier aspect of their sound,  and “Death Calls The Islands” is a stunning, moving mix of black metal, death metal and classical guitar traditions.  Founding member Jonathan Carroll (guitars, vocals, sound design, synthesiser) says of the release: “I see this album as the very unique product of having immersed ourselves in European underground music… letting these influences exist in our minds and then creating without trying to emulate anyone or anything”. MEMORIA draw on a vast range of influences, from EMPEROR, ULVER, DHG and MINISTRY to the sound designs of DAVID LYNCH and the modernist fiction of CORMAC MCARTHY. The abstract, surreal lyrical content of “Death Calls The Islands” deals with isolation and alienation, themes which also find themselves manifested in the album’s unique artwork. Created by Australian artist Danielle Freakley from moulded octopus tentacles, the piece represents “the strange beauty and ugliness that reside within us as human beings, and the primal world from which we are not too far removed”.

The partnership with Misantrof ANTIRecords, founded in 2007 by Daniel Vrangsinn (VRANGSINN, CARPATHIAN FOREST, SECHT etc.) was a logical one for MEMORIA. Given that the band is experienced in producing its own material, Misantrof’s approach of letting the bands have full creative control of their own work proved to be a great fit.  “To be part of an evolving, independent artistic entity such as Misantrof fits perfectly with our values and was not a hard decision,” says Jonathan, “We create music because we love this art form and no one in MEMORIA wanted this tainted by the nastiness of financial or commercial considerations.  Misantrof surpasses pathetic considerations about how to sell things that are genuinely different”.  For his part, Vrangsinn is extremely pleased to be releasing “Death Calls The Islands”, and has high hopes that it will be received with as much acclaim as 2010’s breakaway Misantrof release, “Death Reclaims The Earth”, by Turkish Black Metallers EPISODE 13.

Guitarist Dave Bates and vocalist Margarita Monet formed Edge Of Paradise in 2011, while working on another musical collaboration "for hire" with a producer in Los Angeles.  Dave has been writing music for some time, collaborating with talented songwriters, Robin Mcauley (MSG, Survivor) and Ryan Jones, which left the two with a vast library of music to pull from. With a little creative magic between Dave and Margarita, the sound of Edge Of Paradise was born.

We have the pleasure of being the only place online where Edge Of Paradise will be releasing their debut album entitled "Mask".  Below is an interview with Monet and introduction to the band. 

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 Tell us about the band.

We are metal. The music is aggressive, guitar driven, with powerful, melodic vocals. We like odd time signatures, but don't make it too obvious because we focus on the groove and catchy hooks. We call our sound, "industrial melodic chaos". The first CD "Mask", sets our soundscape. 

You guys formed in 2011, not very long ago.  How did you manage to get the album ready in such a short time?  Were the songs already written before the band formed?

Yes, we jumped right into writing and recording "Mask" after we played a couple of shows together, and decided that we want to take this band as far as it can go. "Mask" came together so fast because Dave has a huge collection of musical choices. He was writing material for a while, with Robin Mcauley and cutting edge songwriter, Ryan Jones. We  picked a bunch of songs that we liked and rewrote most of them to give them our feel. Then I had a lot of ideas that I wanted to contribute, and the process moved along very smoothly once the sound was established. 

Any tour plans?  

Yes, performing the music live is what we love to do! Right now we're playing shows locally till the end of the year and promoting the album. We're planning a US tour for the beginning of 2012,  and look to expand to Europe and other parts of the globe from there, we want to play as much as physically possible. 

Will you be playing keys live or just lead vocals?

Mostly lead vocals. The only song I will be fully playing keys on is "Shredenstein", the others, not so much. I originally wanted to do it, but it would be physically impossible to play the keyboard and do everything I want to do while singing the songs. We might feature the keyboard more in the future, but for now, it was primarily used to give us the industrial edge. 

The song "Thrown It All Away" has a very sing along catchy chorus to it.  Tell us about that song, how it came about, etc…

Thank you! Dave had a riff to the song for a while,  him and Robin wrote the song together, tweaked it a lot and eventually came up with the right melodies. There was a lot of work and time put into this song, so when i came along, it was already complete.  It was actually the first song we recorded, and was the easiest to finish,  all we had to do was record the vocals, and just really polish the mix to get the sound that we wanted out of the song.

The album, in my opinion, is well produced and contains some solid tracks.  It has potential to make some noise.  What are your expectations for the band in the next 6-12 months?  And in the next 2-3 years?

Thank you! We worked hard on the CD. We spent a lot of time producing the tracks and making sure they are represented in the best possible light. We wanted this album to introduce the band and establish the sound. So in the next 6-12 months, we expect to play a lot, promoting the CD, and to release more material that we are already writing. In the next 2-3 years, we look to play and spread our sound globally, we hope to be an established band, like the big bands we grew up listening to, and continue to release more music! 

We really like Loudtrax, it's really cool that it specializes in our type of music! We look forward to releasing the music video for Mask in the next couple of weeks and are excited to see where this album takes us!

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Download the debut album "MASK" exclusively on LoudTrax.com at this location

Dream Theater: A Dramatic Turn Of Events

BY JAMES BINGHAM – SEPTEMBER 11, 2011. Courtesy of MetalBuzz.net

Download the album at LoudTrax.com

Dream Theater has got something to prove. They – and a million other bands – will swear up and down that everything they do they do for the fans. And while that’s true to an extent, "A Dramatic Turn of Events" (and how dramatic they’ve been) has got to be about more. With the departure of Mike Portnoy – who’s arguably been running the band for some time now – Dream Theater has got to prove that it can hang tough, that it’s not going disappear into the ether along with Betamax, the new Coke and other obscurities people only reference in reviews like this.

Haling from California by way of Georgia, up-and-coming metallists Brute Forcz are multi-faceted headbangers – in addition to rocking furiously on their new, Bob Kulick-produced debut EP, 'Kick Ass Heavy Metal,' two of their members are former professional wrestlers.

Jammer and Slammer (a pair of twins who handle vocals/bass and drums, respectively) have wrestled alongside Jake "The Snake" Roberts and Abdullah the Butcher, and have won first tag-team belts at Georgia All-Star Wrestling. Also, the pair are known for landing acting gigs, their latest being a part in the upcoming Adam Sandler movie, 'Jack and Jill.' Rounding out the group is guitarist Will Wallner, and as far as future plans, Jammer already has some ideas. "To go as far as we can, to tour as much as possible, and to hit you with BRUTE FORCZ!"

The band's debut E.P is out now on Rock, Metal, Punk download site LoudTrax.com.  Click Here to download.

The band offered us a track by track description, here is it below.

LIVE FOR SPEED:THIS SONG IS DEDICATED TO ALL THE HEAVY METAL FANS WHO LOVE AND KNOW ONLY ONE WAY- FAST, HARD AND  LOUD !!!!

THIS SONG IS ABOUT REALLY LIVING, BREATHING AND LOVING THE HEAVY METAL LIFESTYLE. FROM THE CLOTHES YOU WEAR, TO THE BIKES AND WOMEN  YOU RIDE, TO THE HELL YOU RAISE, YOU DO IT ALL IN  LEATHER N CHAINS. 

SEX MACHINE

WHEN YOU SEE THE ONE GIRL WHO YOU KNOW WILL GIVE  YOU THE NIGHT OF YOUR LIFE, THIS SONG IS ABOUT THAT PARTICULAR TYPE OF GIRL. WE ARE ALL LOOKING FOR HER  AND HOPE THAT WE CAN RUN INTO ONE MORE THAN ONCE IN OUR LIFE. EVERY WEEKEND WOULD BE GREAT!!!  SHE WILL BLOW YOUR DOORS OFF AND KEEP CUMMING BACK FOR MORE, LIKE A MACHINE-A SEX MACHINE. 

THRILL QUEEN:

THIS SONG IS DEDICATED TO ALL OF THE BEAUTIFUL WOMEN IN THE ADULT MOVIE INDUSTRY. THEY ARE THE ONES WHO WORK TO MAKE US HARD, SO THAT WE  RISE TO THE OCCASION AND THEN EXPLODE IN ECSTASY. THANK YOU  FOR THE WORK YOU DO.......