Polyphia Supporting Dance Gavin Dance On Upcoming Tour


Polyphia-CaseyLee2015-bw-web

Dallas instrumental outfit Polyphia will be releasing a remastered and repackaged version of their debut album Muse on April 21, 2015 via Headphone Music/Equal Vision Records. The album was produced by Nick Sampson [Of Mice & Men, Asking Alexandria]. Stream the music video for “Finale” here.

The band says:

“We’re very excited to be re-releasing our debut, Muse, through Headphone Music / Equal Vision Records! The re-release features 11 remastered tracks with all new artwork designed by our very own Tim Henson,” shares the band. “We’re stoked to be on the EVR roster with the likes of The Dear Hunter, and alumni such as Circa Survive, Coheed and Cambria, and Portugal. The Man.”

TRACKLISTING: Muse
1. 87
2. Sweet Tea (ft. Aaron Marshall of Intervals)
3. Champagne (ft. Nick Johnston)
4. Aviator (ft. Jason Richardson of Chelsea Grin)
5. The Jungle (ft. Jakub Zytecki of Disperse)
6. Memory
7. Mood Swing
8. Hourglass (ft. Nick Sampson of I Am Abomination)
9. James Franco
10. Baditude (ft. Mario Caramena & Erick Hansel of CHON)
11. Finale

Polyphia_muse_cover-web

This Spring, Polyphia will perform as direct support to Dance Gavin Dance, with additional support from Hail The Sun and Stolas. All upcoming tour dates can be found below.

TOUR DATES
Polyphia – festival appearances
Mar 20: South By So What?! – Grand Prairie, TX
Apr 10: Texas Independent Fest – Austin, TX

Dance Gavin Dance w/ Polyphia, Hail The Sun and Stolas
Apr 14: Chain Reaction – Anaheim, CA
Apr 15: Nile Theatre – Mesa, AZ
Apr 17: Korova – San Antonio, TX
Apr 18: Red 7 – Austin, TX
Apr 19: The Rail Club – Fort Worth, TX
Apr 20: Scout Bar – Houston, TX
Apr 22: Backbooth – Orlando, FL
Apr 23: Culture Room – Ft. Lauderdale, FL
Apr 24: The Orpheum – Tampa, FL
Apr 25: The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
Apr 26: Empire – Springfield, VA
Apr 28: Baltimore Soundstage – Baltimore, MD
Apr 29: Union Transfer – Philadelphia, PA
Apr 30: Middle East Downstairs – Cambridge, MA
May 01: Webster Hall (Marlin Room) – New York, NY
May 02: GameChangerWorld – Howell, NJ
May 03: Mr. Smalls Theatre – Millvale, PA
May 04: Majestic Theatre – Detroit, MI
May 05: The Bottom Lounge – Chicago, IL
May 06: Vega – Lincoln, NE
May 08: Jub Jub’s – Reno, NV

dance gavin dance polyphia tour

Polyphia on Twitter
Polyphia on Tumblr
Polyphia on Youtube
Equal Vision Records on Facebook
Equal Vision Records on Twitter
Equal Vision Records on YouTube


Slipknot, Faith No More, Korn, Lamb Of God On Heavy Montreal 2015


heavy montreal 2015

The 2015 Heavy Montreal Festival has confirmed their lineup, which will be happening at Parc Jean-Drapeau in Montreal, QC from August 7-9, 2015. For those speculating about who will be on this year’s Summer Slaughter Tour, check out the post below.

Slipknot
Faith No More
Korn (performing “Korn” in full)
Alexisonfire
Lamb Of God
Iggy Pop
NOFX
Billy Talent
Mastodon
Bullet For My Valentine
Meshuggah
Within Temptation
Gojira
Testament
Arch Enemy
Lagwagon
Lita Ford
Marky Ramone and Andrew W.K. (performing a Ramones set)
Warrant
Dokken
Rocket From The Crypt
Asking Alexandria
Periphery
Deafheaven
Coal Chamber
Nuclear Assault
Dying Fetus
Glassjaw
Ihsahn
Pentagram
Gorguts
B.A.R.F.
Motionless In White
Moneen
Lofofora
Small Brown Bike
Pig Destroyer
Anonymus
The Flatliners
The Agonist
Fozzy
Upon A Burning Body
Nothing More
Jasta
Battlecross
Insomnium
Slaves On Dope
Ominum Gatherum
Wilson
Dead Tired
Toyguitar
Intervals
Dig It Up


Protest The Hero – Battlecross – The Safety Fire – Intervals: Live at the Middle East, Cambridge MA


pth btx

It was a chilly night in a quieter than usual Saturday in Cambridge Massachusetts. The Middle East nightclub sits on a welcoming strip of culturally diverse shops and restaurants. A perfect location for Protest the Hero’s Volition (Razor & Tie) tour; a multi-national and eclectic metallic offering.

For all of the shows I’ve been fortunate enough to attend in the New England area, this marked the first time I’ve attended a show downstairs at the Middle East. A basement venue that resembles the ultimate metal mancave or what Rocko’s in Manchester New Hampshire could have been if the staff actually cared. An hour between doors and the opening band afforded me ample time to down some economy brews and admire the not particularly well-lit, but intimate locale.

IMG_0815 (1)

First up were Protest the Hero’s Canadian brethren in Intervals. For an unsigned band they’ve garnered lots of attention in progressive and tech-metal circles, especially with their latest release, A Voice Within. With the room starving for some live volume, the boys in Intervals were happy to oblige. Heavy 7-string palm muting was underway with tunes like ‘Alchemy’ and ‘Ephemeral’ starting the evening’s first mosh-pits. It was modern tech-metal or djent through and through; Tesseract shirts and Ibanez/Steinberger guitar interplay aplenty. Obviously talented players with a lot of stage energy, the only problem being the repetitive nature of djent. Midway through the set the songs began to feel repetitive. However things livened up again at the end of the performance when they jumped into songs like ‘Automaton’ and ‘Moment Marauder’ which featured some catchy melodies and riffs not unlike Periphery’s.

IMG_0891

London England’s The Safety Fire sieged the stage next with their frenetic, noisy art-metal. Since I had missed out on their last North American trek, it was very satisfying to finally catch them tearing into live numbers from last year’s sublime Mouth of Swords (Inside Out). To the best of my knowledge The Safety Fire is considered progressive metal, but to be honest I wouldn’t know what to label them as. As evidenced by live flow of offerings like ‘Red Hatchet’ and ‘Huge Hammers’ their sound is metal one second and sometime that you’d find in Spin magazine the next. And I liked that. A lot, actually. Now that I had gotten a taste of their live sound, I’m ready for a proper headlining turn from these British upstarts.

IMG_0936 (1)

At this point the Middle East was a sweatbox and I needed some more Pabst Blue Ribbon relief in order to properly enjoy the awesome that is Battlecross live. After refueling at the bar I took a spot front and center to take in Battlecross’ brand of “Blue Collar Thrash Metal” as close and loudly as possible. The bearded Michigan metal warriors did not disappoint. Guitarists Tony Asta and Hiran Deraniyagala traded off blazing riffs and searing leads effortlessly. What I thought would be a very pro-progressive metal audience ate up Battlecross’ savage thrash stylings. Sure the argument can be made that they only have one speed (a very brisk one, thanks to former Black Dahlia Murder drummer Shannon Lucas holding down on drums), but is that really an issue when you’ve got most of the crowd buying what you’re selling? If you weren’t headbanging you were in one of the various circle pits that would break at the drop of a hat or raiding their merchandise booth. Audience reaction to pit-churners like ‘Kaleb’ and ‘Flesh and Bone’ was so raucous that frontman Kyle Gunther declared Cambridge to be the best crowd of the entire tour.

IMG_1124 (1)

Protest the Hero faced the stiff challenge of following up Battlecross’ assault, but the Torontonians were up to the task. Armed with some truly respectable facial hair, Protest served their Dream Theater by the way of Botch sonic cocktail to a crowd that hung on to every word. The young Canadians burned through 12 songs in the span of an hour and ten minutes, ranging from Kezia era anthems like ‘Blindfolds’ to more recent stompers like ‘Underbite.’ Midway into their effort the many fans had forgotten about the “No Crowd-Surfing” policy and were attempting to join the band onstage. Having the best live-sound on the bill paid dividends as it showcased the band’s technical mastery and vocalist Rody Walker’s pipes. And speaking of Walker, his witty lyrics are only matched by his onstage banter. Walker maintained an easy charm with the crowd even though most in attendance were Bruins fans while he’s partial to his Toronto Maple Leafs. I mean if we can’t agree on how much The Montreal Canadians and Max Pacioretty suck, then what can we agree on really? Conversations on hockey and the integrity of modern Star Trek movies is how you make inroads to great international relations. They capped off their set with crowd favorites ‘Bloodmeat’ and for my money is their best song, ‘C’est La Vie.’

IMG_1187 (1)

It was good night in Cambridge. Overall we got quality sets from great bands at a good price. If I had my way, Protest the Hero would have played for a little longer than an hour and ten minutes. And maybe I should’ve gotten a couple of more economy suds from the bar before calling it a night. But all things considered, a highly enjoyable time.

[slideshow_deploy id=’5899′]

Protest The Hero on Facebook

Battlecross on Facebook

The Safety Fire on Facebook

Intervals on Facebook

Words: Hansel Lopez

Photos: Chris Small of CWS Photography


Protest The Hero – TesseracT – The Safety Fire: Live at Sheffield Corporation, UK


The Safety Fire 4Early door times for gigs inevitably result in the first support being missed and that’s what happened to my viewing of Intervals, as I arrived to a venue looking surprisingly sparse in numbers. The Safety Fire was an interesting proposition adorned in white shirts and looking rather posh to me as they hit the knowledgeable audience with a progressive set of math structured rock and metal with songs like ‘Glass Crush’ and ‘Old Souls’ showcasing some versatile guitar playing and vocal adeptness. There was a pleasant charisma to this bands music though at times it felt like each member was playing something totally different to the rest of the band, though it still meshed nicely together.

Seemingly from nowhere people arrived and filled the front of the stage ready for Tesseract, this UK outfits’ reputation has garnered exponentially though this was my first time seeing the band live. Unfamiliarity with a bands material produces anticipation and an air of nervousness, making the adrenalin kick in, hoping for something special and Tesseract didn’t disappoint as their mammoth sound erupted from the venues PA like the sound of a freight train going past your window. The down-tuned aural thuggery whilst not fast was ultra heavy, creating an impenetrable wall of sonic thunder from the bass and drums. Very few song titles were announced during their 45 minute set which saw vocalist Ashe bellow his way through the riff infested djent swamp but also add some deft clean tones occasionally to the set. ‘Of Matter – Proxy’ was a beast as a shoeless Amos on bass strummed, plucked and gouged deep caverns of dense and rich bass work throughout this song and the set as a whole. The straight ahead death metal aspects of the bands set were enough to set the pit off randomly making ‘Of Energy – Singularity’ seem that much more violence even though their whole performance had an atmosphere of sophistication through the playing ability of all the guys on stage.

Tesseract1

Arriving on stage five minutes earlier than planned, yes a headliner starting early, Protest The Hero must have had a premonition considering the bass issues Arif had about four songs in, but more on that later. I caught this Canadian band some years back on one of the ‘Never Say Die’ tours that also had Parkway Drive, Unearth, Architects, Despised Icon, Whitechapel and Carnifex on the bill. With everyone taking about four steps forward as they started the Canadians flew on stage and bombarded the listener with their unique brand of riff saturated rock and metal that opened with ‘Underbite’ from last year’s Volition (Razor & Tie) album. Immediately the energy was amplified on stage from this bunch of Canuck crazies as the riffs, hook and melodies honed in on the senses with surgical precision. ‘Hair-Trigger’ followed in similar fashion with Rody working the audience superbly. The guys voice is unbelievable, his tone and range were faultless throughout and added to that his stage charisma and banter make him the perfect front man and many would-be and so called established people fronting rock and metal bands could learn a lot from him. As the band went into ‘Clarity’ and ripped through it bass problems ensued though I think only the band realised, meaning that Rody had an extended period of banter with the crowd which he unduly did, with much laughter including a session called “Hunk Of The Day” where he picked some dude from the crowd he thought was a hunk, brought him on stage and gave him a beer. Bass problems resolved produced a round of applause and straight into ‘The Dissentience’ with some outlandish guitar work covering multiple genres flailing the audience and creating a small but reasonable pit for some energy to be expended. ‘Bury The Hatchet’ from the band’s debut was followed by ‘Mist’ from the last album and the seamless flow from each song to the next was excellent. With each between song break giving Rody more opportunity to demonstrate his stand up routine I was thrilled to get ‘C’est La Vie’, a tune steeped in death metal in places but no less absorbingly catchy with riffs being flung far and wide. Early doors means curfews for venues like this and the bands performance had soon hit its finale point with ‘Tilting Against Windmills’ being a demonstration in guitar wizardry and vocal acrobatics. The other acts were good on this tour, but no match for Protest The Hero, and I suspect massive things await this band very soon.

Protest The Hero5

Protest The Hero4

Protest The Hero on Facebook

Tesseract on Facebook

The Safety Fire on Facebook

Intervals on Facebook

Words: Martin Harris

Photos: Adrian Wheeler