Gorguts - Colored Sands is Here!

Gorguts has returned!!!!! After a 12 year absence, the Canadian tech-death maestros have returned to pummel our faces and confound our sense of what death metal is. Luc Lemay has written another masterful batch of head spinning death metal that hundreds of tech-death-core 22 year olds could only wet dream about. His songs have a way of combining technical virtuosity of not just guitar work but every instrument in the band with astounding song writing. Too often bands simply try to write the most complex riff or drum pattern that basement dwelling music elitists try to spend hours emulating while forgetting there is this little thing called a song that the majority of people actually like to listen to. The songs tend to travel from mind bending guitar work to ultra-brutal death metal that is enough to start a pit in the middle of Sunday’s farmers market. Take “Forgotten Arrows” for instance, the song moves from frenetic riffs with hyper speed drums underneath to moody, slowly lumbering pacing that quickly moves back to the brutalness. The album takes the listener on a journey, expands their minds with the technical expertise, yet allows the non-music playing folk out there (cough-me-cough) to truly enjoy the songs themselves. Colored Sands is a fantastic comeback album that will truly stir up mixed emotions from across the underground. But the bottom line is this is damn fine death metal.

Stream the album here or go to http://www.revolvermag.com/news/exclusive-gorguts-premiere-new-album-colored-sands.html to check out this amazing mélange of metal madness!

What Have We Been Up To? (Concert Pic Edition)

Its been a long time since we've last chatted. Many different excuses can be made for the absence but fear not, we have returned! And I have one question for you all, would you like to see what we have been up to in picture form? I'm assuming you all screamed a resounding "Yes! Yes! Oh Lord Yes!" Well your wish is my command! Here you go, I present  to you some of the best photo captions that we here at NW MetalHead Productions have to offer from this Summer's concert season!

                                                                             Absu

YouTube Wandering - Thrash Edition

One of my favorite past times these days is to look up one particular song that I like on the Youtubes and from there click on songs from bands that I have never heard of. This is a great way to discover solid new bands as well as find some crap that you will gladly avoid in the future. Let me take you on one such journey beginning with the technical stylings of Voivod and their classic track “Killing Technology”

May's Metal Playlist

Spring time is here and the sun is finally coming out in the great Pacific Northwest! It is a time for rejuvenation, life renewal, and, more importantly, more METAL!!! I have served up your way some tasty tunes to cure whatever ails you. We have some death, some thrash, some prog/folk, and so much more. So sit back, relax, and bang your fvckin head off!


Orphaned Land - Our Own Messiah

Jeff Hanneman: Riff In Peace

It is not often that I continue to listen to bands that initially started me on this long winding road to metalness that has consumed my life. I started my path similar to other folks around my age and listened to the more mainstream stuff (Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, etc.) before my brain was fully covered in the filth that is underground death, thrash, and black metal. Throughout my years I have listened to countless bands and witnessed more shows than I can even remember (thank you alcohol!). As a result of these adventures my tastes in music have grown and changed many times over giving me so many different experiences that I am forever grateful for. There are, however, a few bands that started me on this journey and continue to guide me along, one of those is the almighty beast Slayer. These legends have been a shining light for metal since 1981 and have been in the spotlight since Show No Mercy shredded the collective assholes of listeners everywhere. And the reason I bring up this band that undoubtedly just about every person is aware of, metalhead or not, is because another legend of music has passed on, guitar great Jeff Hanneman. This mythical guitar hero succumbed to liver failure and the world of music will never be the same because of it. Hanneman was the writer of some of the greatest riffs and songs that the metal world has ever known and it is truly sad news that we will no longer hear any new music from this genius. The man helped put the thrash genre in the world’s collective ears and continued its legacy for new generations year after year. So today we pay tribute to a great musician, and from what I read, away from the stage a truly great man.

Kill With Hate cover Shiny Happy People

I was in the need to hear some ridiculously br00tal music lately because I have been listening too much to the fuzzed out stonery sounds of Orange Goblin, Clutch, and many others. I have nothing against those bands, I absolutely love those bands and their groovy sounds however every metalhead needs some time to sit back and get blasted by some blast beats and guttural growls the likes of which the conservative right wing has never even imagined. Enter Hungarian band Kill With Hate. Judging a book by its cover, which is a terrible thing to do, I figured that this band would satiate by blood lust in a furious form. And to a certain extent they did!

Black Sabbath Returns!!!!!!!

The news of Black Sabbath returning to the scene with the original band mates (sadly without drummer Bill Ward) sent shock waves through the music world when it was first announced. And now, we have the first song! A true doom song, slow paced and heavy, it is only a taste of what is to come.



In addition to this great news, the announcement of a tour has come about with only a select number of dates

Nails - Abandon All Life

When one thinks of brutal music, death metal is probably the first subgenre that would pop into your tar sludged minds. However, at first listen to the latest long player (and I use that term lightly because the entirety of the 10 songs only takes up 17 minutes) by grindy heathens Nails, Abandon All Life is exactly the definition of brutal. This album is savagely violent, harsh, and unrelenting (synonyms stolen from various internet dictionaries). The songs move from the frenetic pace of a cat hopped up on coke being chase by a vacuum cleaner to the mid paced headbangers that will surely cause you to buy stock in Advil the next day. The “slow” movement of "Wide Open Wound” is the soundtrack to you leaving a hooker’s hotel room at 3 in the morning and you can hear footsteps walking behind you. Its just terrifying enough to make you sweat and slowly pick up your pace. However “Cry Wolf” is that intense moment when the crazed meth head that has been slowly following you starts to run with a fecal encrusted screwdriver gripped tightly in his hand. These guys have the ability to expertly combine grind, crust, hardcore, and death metal into something that will completely drain you of all essential fluids. The LP is so damn heavy and hits from all fronts that you would think that the singer’s fist are punching you through the speakers.  It is no wonder that these gents were able to pen such hatred when all you have to do is turn on the TV to understand. However, not just anyone could encapsulate that hatred into something so morbidly beautiful. This is grind done right.

April's Metal Playlist

You know what this world needs more of? It needs more nameless people on the interwebz giving people music advice! And since that is the case, we here at NW MetalHead Productions are going to be posting the latest and greatest of what we have been spinning on our record players. It might be new music, it might be old, it might be a band we discovered or it might be someone very popular. Regardless of all that, it will be guaranteed to be awesome. So check out April's playlist and tell us what you are spinning right now!

Pure Molten Metal: What Makes A Band Metal?

After reading a short article on Metal Undeground about metal and image, then debating people in the comment section, I decided to make my opinions fully known here on my own personal soap box. The author brought up 2 up and coming bands that are flown under the metal flag, Ghost and Ancient VVisdom, whom are not the typical metal band that would fit a bill with Sodom or Autopsy. They have the look, they have the lyrical inspiration, but do they have the sonic capabilities to be considered "metal"? In that line of thinking, what does it actually mean to be metal? Is it being fast and furious? Is it soaring vocals? Is it twin guitar harmonies that shred the living daylights out of mere mortals? Is it corpse paint that brings to mind the living dead? The answer............who the hell knows!?!?!

 

Ancient VVisdom – “The Opposition”

 

Favorite Metal Albums of 2012

Well hi there folks! It’s been a long time since you all have been privy to my delicate words of wisdom, my insightful bits of astuteness that stick to your brain like a gallon of sugar drenched in pancake syrup. In my long absence the human race has survived the impending Mayan apocalypse, the majesty that is the holiday season, and we look forward to maniacs hording guns and trying to hold off the gummement from stealing their assault rifles. In the midst of all this fun, the year of 2012 ended and 2013 is now in full swing. And what does that mean for all us keyboard bandits? YEAR END ALBUM LISTS!!!!!!!^%!&$!^%!!!!&^%!(&*!!!!! Who else could be more excited than metal enthusiasts spending all their time looking for the latest and greatest bands that no one else has heard of?! Now I know that this is a little later than most other sites, hell this is probably the latest one on the interwebz, but that doesn’t mean that my list is not chock full of metal goodness. It may not be the most underground list but damned if I did not enjoy the hell out of these albums. So please enjoy, debate, tell me I’m wrong, and then we can all get on with our lives. Peace out homies.

A View from the Pit: Black Breath and Red Fang

When I found it about this show a mere week before the event, I was in shock that I had not realized two amazing bands were going to be gracing the same stage with their beautiful presence. Two bands diverse enough to keep the venue full and keep the crowds attention for the duration of the night. Hipsters and heshers alike filled the floor and participated valiantly as if this were the last show that one would ever be witness to. Local black/death/thrash/crust/whatever other label you want you add on brought in the locals and new found riff master generals Red Fang brought the name recognition now that their latest album, Murder The Mountains, had decimated the underground. With the venue opening an hour and a half before the show even started (!) it was a little unnerving at the low attendance at first, but after local openers Brokaw lit a fire under everyone's asses, the crowd filled in and the bloodshed was ready to begin!

Allegaeon Formshifter Review

WHY U NO LISTEN TO ALLEGAEON?!??!?!?! Is it because their name is almost impossible to read? Is it because you don’t like awesome music that is capable of setting your balls on fire!?!? Whatever your reason is, you need to settle in and listen to these melodic-tech-death maestros. Their previous album Fragments of Form and Function was one of my favorite albums of 2010 and I have been eagerly awaiting their next opus.  Welcome 2012 when the Fort Collins, CO band released Formshifter, another grand piece of melodic death metal. Combining death metal with classical guitar interludes and mind bending solos that make the Haldron Collider seem like a 6^th grader’s science project, the band seem to have elaborated on their previous album and expanded their horizons to new reaches.

Mid-Week Br00tal Break: Cerebral Bore

Relatively new to the scene, Cerebral Bore out of Scotland have seen much success after only one full length album, 2010’s Maniacal Miscreation. With new track “Horrendous Acts of Inequity” released in February of 2012, we can only hope that a new album is right around the corner. And with a high profile spot on the Summer Slaughter Tour alongside heavyweights Cannibal Corpse, Between the Buried and Me, Goatwhore, and Exhumed, Cerebral Bore are set to bore (pun intended) their brutal death metal straight into the minds of thousands more heshers.

New Band Spotlight: Balescream

We here at NW MetalHead Productions are always looking for new bands to put into the spotlight. Today we spotlight Balescream, a melodic death/groove metal band from Newcastle. Getting ready to put out their first album, they have released a couple demo songs to get their name out there. For fans of Devildriver, As I Lay Dying, and In Flames, they play a chunky style of melodeath that has grooves for days. The talent in this band is very evident and I cannot wait to hear more from these guys in the future. If they move more towards the melodic death metal side of their sound big things could be in their future. So for now check out their 2 songs "Cyclonic Terror" and "Kusanagi" and raise your horns up high!

Mid-Week Br00tal Break: Skinless

Beginning their br00tal journey way back in 1992, Skinless have been grinding out brutal death metal longer than most of you have even been alive! Even though they have been around for so long, though recently split up in April of 2011, only 4 full lengths were ever released. However there were several demos, EPs, and splits released to give even the most heartless beasts enough to bash their faces into the wall with. And today we praise the work of these soulless harbingers of gore, enjoy!

A View From The Pit: Municipal Waste and 3 Inches of Blood

With new albums from crossover giants Municipal Waste and power metallers 3 Inches of Blood recently being released, this is a tour that was meant to grab you by the short hairs. Both of these beasts are known for their live shows so it was guaranteed to be an excellent night of wailing vocals, wailing guitars, and more stage diving than the Obese Child’s Choir of Milwaukee on bacon grease night at the local VFW hall. And when you bring along underground sludgsters Black Tusk, it is going to be a booze-soaked fun filled evening!

Mid-Week Br00tal Break: Cattle Decapitation

Here’s a new feature of NW MetalHead Productions. We all need to take a little break during the week and what better way to take a break than listen to some br0000tal metalz?!?!?!?! Some of it will be brand new, some of it will be the clichéd blast from the past. There will definitely not be any ballads or ambient passages here, just the heaviest of the heavy. Let us get this ish started!


“With every life I take, an ecosystem I create. Blood and guts consume my life! I am the ‘brutal gardener’, I – ‘quantity controller’, no more insane than Jesus Christ!”

Never one to disappoint, Cattle Decapitation play grindcore; technical, progressive, and br00tal grindcore. Monolith of Inhumanity is the newest album from these wily vets and it follows the lineage of previous albums The Harvest Floor, Karma. Bloody. Karma., and Humanure. And even though there is a little bit of GASP! clean singing, it is not done in a way like all the craptastic metalcore clones out there.  It is sure to get all the diehards and new fans moving in the pit when they start touring with Voivod, Havok, Misery Index, and Fear Factory this summer on the Shockwave touring festival. But in the mean time while they are not bludgeoning your skull in, have a listen and get ready to get br00000talized!

Marduk - Serpent Sermon Streaming In Full

Black metal these days seem to be all bogged down with ethereal moments, drawn out keyboards that try to be "atmospheric", or clean singing, GASP!, Marduk is continuing their mission continue what black metal was to begin with and do not fall into the trend of hipster douches trying to be trve. With their new album Serpent Sermon coming out and a tour beginning now, Marduk are ready to take over the black metal world that Watain have been ruling as of late. The good news here is that CVLT Nation are streaming the entire album in full here. Go listen to it because the album is a very good followup to Wormwood and Rom 5:12, their most recent releases that were lauded by critics and fans around the underground. So be sure to check them out on the tour where they will definitely be playing some of these tracks and here is Seattle get there early to see local black metal beasts Funeral Age.

A View From The Pit: A Tale of Two Pits - Behemoth and Demon Hunter

A mere 7 days apart at the same venue were two shows that, while both containing bands of the heavy variety, they could not have been more different. The styles of the music that was played at the shows were different, one being of a black, death, and doom variety and the other lending more toward the melodic side of the metallic spectrum, they both brought the heavy with diverse methods. The first show was billed to be one of the most anti-religious affairs to ever cross this great nation with Behemoth, Watain, In Solitude, and The Devil’s Blood, and the ceremony that ensued more than lived up to its reputation. The second show was a send-off for Christian band Demon Hunter before they set off for a headlining run in Europe, and the atmosphere was starkly different from the week prior.