Though hailing from Chicago, Illinois, the doom metal of Rezn displays a touch of East-Asian mysticism about it, on Solace – the band’s self-released fourth full-length. Slow-to-mid-paced, hypnotic riffing goes from nimble and floating to heavy and crushing (and back again) all fluidly and with an altogether gorgeous production that makes this metal album akin to some exotic sweet that still delivers satisfying, crushing heaviness.
For the second time in his career, New York bassist Frank Bello steps into the studio without the help of his Anthrax bandmates to record something a little different. Whereas previous side project Altitudes and Attitude was a collaborative affair with Dave Ellefson of Megadeth and Jeff Friedl of A Perfect Circle, six track EP Then I’m Gone (Rare Bird Recordings) is a much more personal affair with Bello playing almost all of the instruments himself.
Ghost Cult caught up with Billy Howerdel (also of a perfect circle) to discuss his new solo album – What Normal Was (Alchemy Records, Rise Records, BMG). Billy discusses his career up to now, the choice to use his own name instead of Ashes Divide, letting his 1980s influences fly on the new album, his upcoming tour dates, and some plans for a perfect circle too. Continue reading
Billy Howerdel is best known as the songwriter and guitarist for A Perfect Circle, the band he created with his good friend James Maynard Keenan (Tool / Puscifer) after they met when Tool were supporting Fishbone for whom Howerdel was a guitar tech in the early nineties, before sharing a house together in the Hollywood Hills. Howerdel would work on his early material while also engineering for the likes of David Bowie, Guns n’ Roses, and Nine Inch Nails.
On the right night, if you walk out from North Quincy Station, past the “brutalist McDonalds,” following the funk towards Wollaston Beach, you might come across a house that seems to be pulsing. On a night like that, if you fight your way through the mass of burly beards, skateboarders, and pitbulls and take a sonic blast to the face, you’ll find yourself in Ugly Robot Studios, and if you’re lucky, you’ll be treated to a front-row performance of Fracture Type. Continue reading
This weekend Maynard James Keenan’s (Tool, a perfect circle) band Puscifer will host a livestream event in which they will perform all of their 2016 Money $hot album in full. Enter to win tickets from Ghost Cult at this link! This weekend’s activities follow their first livestream for their Existential Reckoning album release event last fall. In a new interview with Revolver, Kennan revealed since the band doesn’t know when touring will resume for them, they expect to do more livestreams and mentioned both the Conditions of My Parole and V is For Vagina albums as examples. He also discusses his recovery from COVID-19 (twice), his love of Lucha Libre Wrestlers, some of the storyline behind the ongoing characters in the music of Puscifer, and much more.
Music legend Maynard James Keenan (Tool, Puscifer, a perfect circle) appeared on STROMBO’s show on Apple Music Hits to reflect on Puscifer’s most recent album, share stories about his peers, mental health, and his experience getting COVID-19 twice. Listen to STROMBO interview MJK at Apple Music and read select quotes from their chat below.
Deftones had a banner year in 2020, dropping their impeccable Ohms (Reprise Records, review here) and celebrating the 20th anniversary of arguably their best album, White Pony. Unbeknownst to fans, and music journos, there is an entire secret history of White Pony the band revealed this year. For years we had been hearing that the band was interested in a remix album, either of an entire past release or perhaps a new album. It turns out, the band always intended White Pony to have a companion album or EP of remixes, called Black Stallion. Among the fanbase, this potential release lived in the lore of their minds, as much or more than the Eros sessions we may, or may not ever see the light of day (and we understand why guys). Now the band has capped off their year with the fleshed out and realized Black Stallion release (also Reprise).
Rock supergroup Gone Is Gone has shared a new video for their latest single “Death of a Dream” from the upcoming If Everything Happens for A Reason…Then Nothing Really Matters at All via the Clouds Hill label on December 4th. The video for, “Death of a Dream” was created by longtime collaborator Freangel Pacheco who has worked with the band on the socially distanced videos for the album during the pandemic and features additional footage by Troy Sanders capturing shots of him in the ‘dream-like’ video. The band includes Sanders (Mastodon) Tony Hajjar (At The Drive-In), Troy Van Leeuwen (Queens of the Stone Age) and Mike Zarin (Sencit Music).
