EP REVIEW: American Nightmare – Dedicated to the Next World


 

Existential dread, class war, and alienation? Seems like a great time for some new American Nightmare. The storm clouds of tomorrow loom over this fantastic new EP from the beloved hardcore (with post-punk sprinkles) institution on their latest release Dedicated To The Next World (Heartworm Press).

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NEW MUSIC FRIDAY: May 15th New Music Releases


Purchase And Stream All The New Music Released Today!

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Wrecking Ball: Day 2 – The Masquerade, Atlanta GA


 

wrecking ball atl

Day 2 of Wrecking Ball didn’t start until after 1 PM, so people had ample chance to recover in spite of the after parties. The early day belonged to bands on the outdoor Music Park Stage and the Heaven Stage. Early bands such as Yuck, and and Basement woke kids out of their stupors. Fans who showed up early got a treat seeing Mutoid Man’s Stephen Brodsky pull double duty later on with legends Cave In. Another highly anticipated group was the return of Glassjaw in only their second show back in action. They really brought it back with their set chock full of hits. Other early bands of note included Girlpool, the excellent Appleseed Cast, and screamo legends Thrice. Later on Desparecidos and American Nightmare brought the swelling crowds at witnessing their respective sets to their knees. American Nightmare in particular has been killing it live and tonight was no exception. Finally Coheed And Cambria closed the night in epic fashion. Wrecking Ball, we are already looking forward to next year. Thanks again to Boston Chuck Photograpy for the great shots from a packed photo pit!

Basement, by Boston Chuck Photography

Basement, by Boston Chuck Photography

Mutoid Man, by Boston Chuck Photography

Mutoid Man, by Boston Chuck Photography

Foundation, by Boston Chuck Photography

Foundation, by Boston Chuck Photography

 

Glassjaw, by Boston Chuck Photography

Glassjaw, by Boston Chuck Photography

Thrice, by Boston Chuck Photography

Thrice, by Boston Chuck Photography

Coheed And Cambria, by Boston Chuck Photography

Coheed And Cambria, by Boston Chuck Photography

Coheed And Cambria, by Boston Chuck Photography

Coheed And Cambria, by Boston Chuck Photography

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Wrecking Ball: Day 1- The Masquerade, Atlanta, GA


wrecking ball atl

The crowd outside Wrecking Ball, by Boston Chuck Photography

The crowd outside Wrecking Ball, by Boston Chuck Photography

With destination concert events being the next big thing, every city is trying to come up with an even to put them on the map. Atlanta has pulled off an impressive start with the first annual Wrecking Ball at the venerable Masquerade venue. Judging by the success with the lineup and the response from the crowd, we have every reason to believe this fest will be a round for years to come. Even though if you Google the fests name, you still get that silly girl Miley and her video, the fest unironically had their own wrecking ball too, with people doing the Miley pose in jest. And the bands on day one wrecked the stage and had fans from all over wrecking their bodies in the Atlanta summer heat to the mostly punk rock extravaganza. Descendents may be long time veterans of the scene, but they performed with more energy than most bands half their age. Judge brought the old-school beatdown sensability. The heady minds in Failure were an anomaly on the bill, but a welcome one that added to the diversity of it. Their new album The Heart Is A Monster (InResidence) is killer. Back to the punk side of things Modern Life is War, The Get Up Kids, TheMovieLife, SamIAm, and Title Fight all brought it big time. Pianos Become The Teeth is another band that had their own crowd on hand for this show. The outdoor stage added a real specialness to this event, and those bands seemed to really relish the true fest feels. Shot here for Ghost Cult by Boston Chuck Photography, day one of Wrecking Ball more than set the tone for the rest of the weekend. Day 2 coverage coming soon!

 

Descendents, by Boston Chuck Photography

Descendents, by Boston Chuck Photography

Failure, by Boston Chuck Photography

Failure, by Boston Chuck Photography

Judge, by Boston Chuck Photography

Judge, by Boston Chuck Photography

Modern Life Is War, by Boston Chuck Photography

Modern Life Is War, by Boston Chuck Photography

Pianos Become The Teeth, by Boston Chuck Photography

Pianos Become The Teeth, by Boston Chuck Photography

TheMovieLife, by Boston Chuck Photography

TheMovieLife, by Boston Chuck Photography

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Coheed and Cambria, Thrice, Descendents, Glassjaw On Wrecking Ball ATL


wrecking ball atl

The Wrecking Ball ATL has announced their lineup, taking place on August 8-9, 2015 at The Masquerade in Atlanta, GA.

Coheed And Cambria
Descendents
Thrice
Desaparecidos
Glassjaw
The Get Up Kids
American Nightmare
The Lawrence Arms
The Movielife
Title Fight
Judge
Basement
Samiam
Braid
Yuck
The Appleseed Cast
Modern Life Is War
Cave In
Knapsack
Blacklisted
Pianos Become The Teeth
Frankie Cosmos
The World Is A Beautiful Place And I Am No Longer Afraid To Die
Small Brown Bike
Their/They’re/There
You Blew It!
Foundation
Girlpool
Old Gray
The Coathangers
Make Do And Mend
Beach Slang
Cayetana
Brick + Mortar
Criminal Instict
Superheaven
Pet Symmetry
Somos
Mutoid Man
Sorority Noise
Bellows
Adventures
Microwave
Big Jesus
The Weaks
Told Sland
Spraynard
Petal
Slingshot Dakota
Free Throw
Blis.
Halfling
West Point
Northbound

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Welcome to The Wrecking Ball. Join us in celebrating The Masquerade’s 25th anniversary on August 8th and 9th at the…

Posted by The Wrecking Ball ATL on Wednesday, April 1, 2015


Miles Away Releasing Tide On May 5th


miles away

Australian hardcore outfit Miles Away will be releasing their brand new album titled Tide, out May 5, 2015 via Six Feet Under Records in North America and Europe, and Resist Records in Australia.

Band guitarist Adam Crowe wrote this record from his now Berlin, Germany base with Cam Jose via email, and enlisted former Defeater drummer Andy Reitz and bassist Jared Crowe of Perth, Australia based The Others to play on the record. Together they entered Getaway Studios in Boston with producer Jay Maas during July/August 2014, with the end result then mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege.

The artwork for Tide reflects the bands coastal West Australian roots with a sobering photo based insert brought to life by fellow sandgropers Mike Maxted & Adam Borello, with Tom Sweetman & Dick Smith handling layout duties.

miles away tide sixfeetunderrecords_MAAdSmall_2

The band has booked an upcoming Australian tour with Blacklisted.

May 08: Margaret River Footy Club (18+)*
May 09: Rosemount, Perth (18+)
May 10: HQ, Leederville (AA)
May 13: Enigma, Adelaide (Lic/AA)
May 14: Northcote Social, Melbourne (18+)
May 15: Red Rattler, Sydney (Lic/AA)
May 16: Small Ballroom, Newcastle (18+)
May 17: Upstairs 199, Brisbane (Day AA)
May 17: Brightside, Brisbane (Night 18+)

miles away australian tour 2015

Miles Away on Bandcamp


Deathwish Fest Day 2: Live At The Middle East, Cambridge MA



deathwish fest

 

The first annual Deathwish Fest was met with a ton of enthusiasm from hardcore and metal fans far and wide. Set in Cambridge MA, at the legendary Middle East Night Club over two days, near the home base of Deathwish Inc. (Records), it was a near immediate total sell out, before changing venues. Headlined both days by Converge and Trap Them, Day One also featured Cult Leader, Doomriders, Blacklisted, Modern Life is War, Self Defense Family, and Harm Wulf. Picking up on Day Two with the review is our own Sean Pierre-Antoine.


I was almost certain I wouldn’t make it to Deathwish Fest since tickets kept selling out mere minutes before I could get online to buy them when I had the money to. And by the time tickets had run dry, I was too financially disadvantaged to even fathom attending, and thus I thought my life was spared from the madness sure to unfold during this showcase of the best that Deathwish Inc. -run by Jacob Bannon of Converge- has to offer to our perpetually rotting world of pain. Luckily, a friend/musical collaborator scored a couple of extra tickets from someone at non-extortion prices, and long story short, I didn’t have to see Devourment instead that night. I hear they were kind of disappointing anyway, but we’re not here to discuss the merits of something I didn’t attend. These are the facts.

Unfortunately I ended up missing the first handful of bands because I was not in possession of my own ticket. Poor planning on my part, and my benefactor being a little later than planned factored into my not catching Boston’s most negative wrecking crew in New Lows, Harm Wulf, a project run by George Hirsch of Blacklisted (celebrating the birthday of Robby Redcheeks), and what I have heard described as “Deafheaven if they were hardcore”, the angular Oathbreaker. No matter, as I have seen and caused my share of mayhem during NL, am unfamiliar with Harm Wulf and Blacklisted, and I’m sad to admit, but Oathbreaker just doesn’t pique my interest.

I was, however, quite interested in catching North Carolina’s YAITW (mercifully short for Young And In The Way), a mixture of Cursed style hardcore/crust/sludge and the most cruel black metal their side of the Mason-Dixon Line, drawing from the legendary Mayhem, among others. For three years they have done this, and for three years it has been good, for there was equal amounts headbanging to the sections that were reminiscent of Norwegian masters, and hardcore pit thuggery that reminded you of their Deathwish heritage. With Black Metal and Hardcore imagery becoming ever more intertwined in a morass of inverted crosses, endless images of our beloved moon in varying states of decay and occult significance, and desolate wastescapes dispensing of all colour schemes in favour of nihilistic monochrome, is it any small wonder that a band like YAITW is here to fill the void our souls once inhabited before we picked up out first Misfits record?

 

 

Next up were the Louisville delegation, Coliseum, fronted by artist extraordinaire Ryan Patterson, who has penned album and merchandise designs familiar to anyone into hardcore with a sludgy bent, which is, coincidentally, the kind his crew plays. I really do want to like this band more; they simply fall into the same camp as their peers in Doomriders, who have killer imagery and a respectable mix of sludge, hardcore, and good old fashioned home-cooked rock’n’roll -I call it ‘rock’n’core’, spread that term if you want-, but unfortunately the music just doesn’t get me excited in that visceral way, and I see that as a huge impediment to their appeal. It’s no fault of theirs, as they do wield riffs massive as the hands of a bearded giant, and their tempos are certainly foot-tapping enough to keep them out of the ‘smoke break band’ category for me, but even during their most rousing songs, the crowd moved nary an inch except to either nurse their drinks or socialise while the band dutifully chugged away on stage for the whole of their set.

 

Trapthem (6 of 21)


Blood stayed at a low boil until hometown heroes of Boston Hahdcoah, Shipwreck Ad took the stage for what was one of the shortest but also more fulfilling opener sets of my show-going career. Packing in only three or four songs of intense East Coast hardcore the way only witnessing Lansdowne Street on Game Day can provoke, this rare but special appearance was quite a treat for those both familiar and not. Being gentlemen and not overstaying their welcome, they allowed Salem, NH/Seattle, WA hardcore polymaths in Trap Them to perform their evil works unimpeded. For an unlucky 13 years, Trap Them has been a caustic fusion of face-fucking grind, low-fi crust, and dizzying metalcore, topped off with that infamous murky Swedish deathsludge guitar tone. Consistently potent and amusical in its hateful delivery. Opening with a new track entitled ‘Salted Crypts’, which is just as negative as the material before, this band shows no signs of ever brightening their musical worldview, and perhaps it’s best/worst if they keep it that way. Whether their assault is a dirgey 3-4 minute long breakdown interspersed with ear-piercing feedback, or tumbling down a mountain of human skulls at breakneck gallop speed, I felt my lips peeled back in a perpetual, hateful snarl that just wouldn’t disappear until each song, or rather, nihilistic sermon, was over. Is it really true what your parents say about rock’n’roll making you evil?

 

Converge (10 of 14)

 

By the time the night’s honorees in Converge made it onstage, you can guess I was already a little tired from the earlier acts, because one has to get their money’s worth. It is with great pleasure that I may now announce that I survived Deathwish Fest without injury. The boys opened up with ‘Dark Horse’, and comboed immediately with ‘The Broken Vow’ and ‘Aimless Arrow’, which ensured that few lungs were left unshredded even in their first few minutes. The nightmare in summary; ‘All We Love We Leave Behind’ roared past in what seemed like merely a minute when in reality it is four; ‘Axe To Fall’ crushed like a fallen monument upon the helm of a once grand civilisation; ‘Drop Out’ crept in and out of the shadows before disappearing in a flurry of semi-melody; ‘Trespasses’ and ‘Last Light’ reached out to crush the exposed and wounded hearts of all who can identify with the countless disappointments that Converge’s lyrics detail in resplendent tortured aesthetics. Joined onstage by Stephen Brodsky of like-minded metalcore pioneers Cave In, the band ended their set with a special encore of ‘Plagues’ leading into their celebrated 9-minute epic from No Heroes, the coveted ‘Grim Heart/Black Rose’, for a rare performance. God, if you exist, cross out my curséd soul; it would bring me to tears were I hydrated enough.

 

Converge (1 of 14)

 

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Deathwish Inc on Facebook

WORDS: SEAN PIERRE-ANTOINE

PHOTOS BY MEG LOYAL PHOTOGRAPHY