Some people told me I was crazy when I decided I was going to go to the Sick New World Fest, a debut Metal and Rock Festival in Las Vegas. In the month of May. I hate to sound like a boomer and complain about the heat in Las Vegas, which is an actual desert, but the bottom line is I knew in advance it was going to be hot as hell, and it certainly lived up to that prediction. That being said I was really excited to come to the festival enjoy a day with my metal community and see some incredible bands; some I had never seen ever, and some I had not seen in a long time.
I don’t want to speak too early or jinx anything, but this Heavy Metal idea has been in a resurgence as of late. Bear in mind that a lot of the old promotional tools have been inactive for years. MTVlost its ass and stopped using the first letter of its acronym long ago and whatever is left of commercial rock radio is perfectly content to spin the same Stone Temple Pilots singles until the sun or Clear Channelfinally burn out. Yet here we are in the age of streaming and shortened attention spans with several young acts making headway. Continue reading →
System Of A Down, Incubus, Korn, Evanescence and Deftones will headline Sick New World Festival this weekend, a new music festival featuring some of the biggest names in Nu-Metal, Goth Rock, Industrial Metal, and some modern bands as well! Among the dozens of bands on the bill, it will mark the reunions of both Flyleaf with Lacey Sturm and Coal Chamber. Other bands are promising some surprise sets as well as Ice-T’s Body Count might be joined by Ice’s daughter, Chanel Nicole! Tickets are totally sold-out, but you can join the wait list at this link here. The event will be held on Saturday, May 13, 2023 at the Las Vegas Festival Grounds in Las Vegas, Nevada. Check out the stage spits and set times below!
Brooklyn, New York trio Spotlights (Sarah Quintero – bass/vocals, Mario Quintero – guitar/vocals/keyboards and programming, and Chris Enriquez on drums/percussion/vocals) have been releasing music since 2016 when they debuted with the Tidals album. Since then they have garnered fans such as Chino Moreno and have toured with the aforementioned’s band Deftones as well as Refused,Quicksand, and Mr. Bungle.
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.
Deftones played a special free concert in New York City last night (3.2.23) at the Music Hall of Williamsburg. They played a full concert, including four songs not often heard since the bands’ return to touring: “Feiticeira” – “Elite” – “Mascara” and “What Happened to You?” The band will launch their clothing collaboration with fashion designer Marc Jacobs’ Heavn, launching this weekend. The band will also host an event in Los Angeles starting this weekend and running for the next month, with merch, art, and memorabilia “from the first decade or so of the band”. Watch fan-filmed footage and photos of the concert, some shot by Chino Moreno’s wife Risa.
Deftones have announced a new clothing line in collaboration with Heavn, the clothing brand from designer Marc Jacobs. The band will play a secret show this week at an undisclosed location, joined by “special guests” tbd. Get on the wait list for tickets below. Deftones are still supporting their album Ohms (Warner Music) from 2021.
Palms just dropped two previously unreleased songs, their first new music since their self-titled debut album 10 years ago. You can stream and purchase “Opening Titles: and “End Credits” right now from Bandcamp. The post-Rock, post-Metal band is compromised of Chino Moreno of Deftones and Crosses, along with Aaron Harris, Jeff Caxide, and Bryant Clifford Meyer who were bandmates in the much-missed ISIS, as well as Red Sparrowes (Caxide and Meyer) and Zozobra. The band also has a brief message on their page with the hashtag #palms10, hopefully indicating further activity from the group this year.
Budapest-based experimental post-hardcore quintet Shell Beach merges dreamlike ambiance with hardcore heft in Solar Flare (Wild Thing). As a well-respected and admired underground Hungarian group within the rock scene, the band has expanded and honed its talent and lineup.
With their third outing Texas-based Narrow Head have created a body of music that if you were there, will well and truly spin you back in time to the mid-nineties. And if you weren’t there but nonetheless love the alternative rock sound of the time, then you’ll also find yourself intriguingly transported back to the era when baggy clothes and dirty scuzzy guitar riffs were the sign of the times. And on top of that Moments Of Clarity (Church Road Records) may well be considered a classic today, was it released some 25-30 years ago amongst the influences that it clearly wears on its sleeve.
And the record stands out today, as it lulls you into a sense of security before changing style and introducing heavier elements where the band sounds on their peak for me, before then throwing in a highly experimental closer. So the album opens with ‘The Real’ and a fuzzy grunge riff, with the vocal of Jacob Duarte sounding somewhere between an early Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, and an early Smashing Pumpkins’ Billy Corgan. There is a lighter nineties indie alternative rock style to the sound, which continues into ‘Moments Of Clarity’ invoking memories from the likes of Weezer, Placebo, and The Lemonheads. It’s clear from the first couple of tracks that Narrow Head can write one hell of a catchy riff with highly engaging vocal hooks, and then on ‘Sunday’ they introduce a Deftones-esq riff which more than hints at what’s to come.
‘Trepnation’ kicks like a mule with dirtier down-tuned guitars and a heavy chugging bass, and my attention has well and truly been captured by the change in tone. ‘Breakup Song’ is melancholic with a lovely entwine between the main riff and a rolling bass, while ‘Fine Day’ is another sweet heavy cut with crunching guitars.
On ‘Carline’ Narrow Head reverts back to the more melodic feel of the album’s first quarter, but from here it changes tact once again with the darker muddy sounding ‘The World Sunday’ and the explosive ‘Gearhead’, which slams into a late-nineties era Deftones style, with Duarte channeling a shoe-gaze Chino Moreno vocal. And with the first screams on the album laid down before a furious outro of impressive drumming and heavy distortion … More of this, please!
And the band delivers on ‘Flesh & Solitude’ with the further subtle use of screams in amongst the heavy intoxicating music with a beautiful outro of avant-garde percussive cacophony. The aptly titled ‘The Comedown’ follows with lush strumming and kind of a Pearl Jam flavour, which gradually builds to the climax of ‘Soft To Touch’ where a mischievous guitar line perfectly plays over electronic beats. I love the way this album twists and turns from the indie rock style into a heavier alternative beast, before turning full circle and then going completely leftfield with the use of electronica. And these changes in tone create a real album experience which should definitely be absorbed as one. This is where rock music needs to be, for me, in 2023.
