Deez Nuts – Binge & Purgatory


Don’t let the name and the pink album cover fool you; Deez Nuts are out to stomp yours.

Originally a one-man band formed a decade ago in Melbourne, Australia—that man being JJ Peters, one-time drummer of I Killed the Prom Queen—Deez Nuts have spent the last ten years showing crowds and critics across the world that, despite their name, they are no joke.Continue reading


Every Important Record Store Day Black Friday Release For Rock And Metal Fans


 

alice in chains

 

Record Store Day continues to help lend support to small businesses and local music stores that keep the experience of artist discovery alive every April and November.Today’s Record Store Day Black Friday event will see releases from across rock, metal, punk, indie and pop music this year. More details and a full shopping list for the discerning fan can be found below:Continue reading


Record Store Day Black Friday Releases Include Alice In Chains, Soundgarden, Anthrax, Iron Maiden, Faith No More


records-store-day-black-friday-ghostcultmag

Record Store Day continues to help lend support to small businesses and local music stores that keep the experience of artist discovery alive every April and November. The upcoming Record Store Day Black Friday event will see releases from across rock, metal, punk, indie and pop music this year. More details below: Continue reading


This Is Hardcore 2016: Part 2: Live At The Electric Factory


Gorilla Biscuits, by Anne Spina Photography

Gorilla Biscuits, by Anne Spina Photography

Part 2

Saturday at This Is Hardcore was full of kick ass sets, to a “special” surprises. I gotta say check out Ten Ton Hammer as soon as you can. It’s a very heavy band who definitely slays at their shows. They just released an album on Harvcore Records.Continue reading


Sick Of It All Marks 30th Anniversary With New Album, Tour Dates


Sick of It All 30 years ghostcultmag

 

Legendary New York Hardcore band Sick Of It All are celebrating their 30th anniversary in 2016. Not ones to take a victory lap, they have announced a new album, When The Smoke Clears, releasing on November 4th from Century Media Records.Continue reading


Soundwave 2016 Canceled Due To Low Ticket Sales


Soundwave 2016

In a series of Tweets, festival manager AJ Maddah announced the festival canceled due to low ticket sales. Acrimony has already kicked up about who is responsible for refunds, with the ticket agency and the promoter in a public war of words. Fans have taken to social media to express their dismay, although the festival’s website has yet to be updated. Had it taken place Disturbed, Bring Me The Horizon, The Prodigy, Deftones, Bullet For My Valentine, NOFX, Refused, Hatebreed, L7 and others were scheduled to perform. This was to be the last year of the fest so with the latest events, it would seem the festival, once one of the best live music events in the world is over.

soundwave cancelled

Canceled Soundwave Dates

Jan 23: Brisbane, AU

Jan 24: Sydney, AU

Jan 26: (Australia Day Public Holiday) Melbourne, AU


On The Road… with The Ghost Inside


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Embarking on a month long U. S. tour known as the “Locals Only Tour” The Ghost Inside are traveling alone. Stopping in each city, they are playing with the opening support of bands native to the city they’re in for the day. TGI vocalist Jonathon Vigil has said that all bands started out as local bands, and being able to get to know them on each stop is a unique experience. In between TGI’s highly energetic songs, the frontman stops and talks , in detail, about each band, and what unique trait they bring to the stage. This is surely one of the most intimate tours that has taken place in he US this year. The band is out on the road supporting last year’s Dear Youth album (Epitaph), and the band is headed next to Europe this winter supporting Refused. At the tour stop in Birmingham at Zydeco, the locals brought a unique mash-up of sounds. From Tempter’s guttural deathcore sounds, to Noir covering Taylor Swift (‘Bad Blood’), and Veda’s technical riffs and wide vocal range. There is only about a week left on the tour, so check it out if you can.

 

The Ghost Inside, by Brent B Photos

The Ghost Inside, by Brent B Photos

 

The Ghost Inside, by Brent B Photos

The Ghost Inside, by Brent B Photos

 

Tempter, by Brent B Photos

Tempter, by Brent B Photos

 

Noir, by Brent B Photos

Noir, by Brent B Photos

VEDA, by Brent B Photos

VEDA, by Brent B Photos

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WORDS AND PHOTOS BY BRENT BUTTERWORTH


Faith No More – Refused: Live At Blue Hills Bank Pavilion, Boston MA


faith no more refused tour dates

August 4th, 2015 was a special day in Boston, MA history and not because of the freakishly sized hail and multiple thunder storms. This night was the return of the legendary Faith No More. The Blue Hills Bank Pavilion was packed in tight with fans (some still damp from the storms) ready to have memorable sing-a-longs with Mike Patton and company. Before they were to hit the stage, the crowd was warmed up by opening act, Refused.

Refused, by Meg Loyal Photography

Refused, by Meg Loyal Photography

Never having a chance to listen to them previously, I made sure I was right on time to catch the entire set from Refused. The lead vocalist, Dennis Lyxzen, was entertaining to watch as he danced around the stage and was literally oozing charisma. There were a few occasions where he even jumped down into the crowd, walking among the rows of seats filled with fans, and high-fiving everyone. As for the set list, they played three tracks from their latest release, Freedom (Epitaph Records), and then mixing in older material as well. One of the bigger pops of the set came during ‘The Deadly Rhythm’ when the band hit the interlude and busted out the intro section of Slayer’s ‘Raining Blood’. Overall, Refused did a great job in getting the Boston crowd pumped up and ready for Faith No More.

Faith No More, by Meg Loyal Photography

Faith No More, by Meg Loyal Photography

After what seemed like hours waiting for the set to start, Faith No More was on stage and delivering hit after hit. The stage was completely white outside of the large array of plotted flower arrangements all over the stage. The set list was stacked from the opener, ‘The Real Thing’, down to the closing encore tracks, ‘Motherfucker’ and ‘Just A Man’. Given that this tour was to promote the latest album, Sol Invictus (Reclamation Records), it did not surprise me that a majority of the tracks would come from this album. Some favorite new tracks played include ‘Separation Anxiety’, ‘Superhero’, and ‘Matador’. Since barring the recent show this spring, Faith No More had not been in Boston in a handful or two of years, it was imperative that the rowdy fans got to hear some old classics. ‘Be Aggressive’, ‘Midlife Crisis’, ‘Evidence’, ‘Epic’, ‘Ashes to Ashes’, and of course their cover of ‘Easy’ were some of the highlights of the set. During the last song of the evening, ‘Just A Man’, Mike Patton crowd surfed into the seated audience while still belting out the lyrics flawlessly. Certainly a first in my concert going experiences. After the encore ended, most fans stayed for a few extra minutes trying to work a second encore out of the band, but security unfortunately ended this quickly.

Faith No More, by Meg Loyal Photography

Faith No More, by Meg Loyal Photography

Overall this was everything I had hoped for and more for my first time seeing Faith No More after listening to their music for the better part of fifteen years. The openers, Refused, got everyone worked up and ready to go. Faith No More’s live presence, the set list, sound, really everything, was downright flawless. I could go on about how I really wanted a different song here and there, but I consider myself beyond fortunate to see this band play live since when I started listening to them, they had already broken up. It was an absolute pleasure watching this band live and I was not let down as these guys still bring it!

Faith No More, by Meg Loyal Photography

Faith No More, by Meg Loyal Photography

Faith No More, by Meg Loyal Photography

Faith No More, by Meg Loyal Photography

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WORDS BY TIM LEDIN

PHOTOS BY MEG LOYAL PHOTOGRAPHY


Video: Faith No More – Superhero, Tour Kicks Off Tonight


Faith No More, by Hillarie Jason Photography

Faith No More have released a live performance video of their track ‘Superhero’, from their recent album Sol Invictus (Reclamation Recordings). The clip was filmed on May 8th at The Fillmore, in Detroit MI. You can watch the clip at this link or below:

Faith No More is starting a second leg of a US tour promoting Sol Invictus tonight. Speaking about the reception the album has received from fans and critics, FNM founder and bassist Billy Gould has this comment:

 

What this tells me… is that there is a need out there; people want to hear things that exist outside the mold. It makes me feel grateful and it gives me hope.”

 

 

faith no more refused tour dates

Faith No More tour dates, with Refused:

Jul 30: Masquerade Music Park – Atlanta, GA
Jul 31: Red Hat Amphitheater – Raleigh, NC
Aug 01: Mann Center – Philadelphia, PA
Aug 02: Merriweather Post Pavilion – Columbia, MD
Aug 04: Blue Hills Bank Pavilion – Boston, MA
Aug 05: Madison Square Garden – New York, NY
Aug 07: Ricoh Coliseum – Toronto, ON


Refused – Freedom


Refused freedom

The hotly contested reunion or comeback album. Purists will bitch and list off 40 million reasons why a band should never re-enter the studio after calling it quits. They’ll tarnish their legacy. They can never re-achieve past glories. They’re too old. They’re not the same band anymore.

The list never ends.

And in a way, those points have some merits. After all it has been 17 years since Refused put out the revolutionary The Shape of Punk to Come. A recording that is universally considered classic and difficult to categorize. And shortly after the release of that record, the band imploded capped it off with a fiery press release stating “Refused are Fucking Dead.”

As new album Freedom (Epitaph) clearly points out, they were not fucking dead. After a series of reunion shows in 2012 and 2014, frontman Dennis Lyxzen, guitarist Kristofer Steen, drummer David Sandstrom and bassist Magnus Flagge still had some of that future punk left in them. Best of all, is that much like Carcass in 2013 and At the Gates last year, Refused sound as good and confident as they did in their 90s heyday.

Lead single ‘Elektra’ probably states it best: “Time has come, no escape.” It indeed is time for Refused’s left-of-center brand of noise. America at least, seems to be in an odd state of regression. We count corporations as people and have segments of the population that see the Confederate flag as “heritage”, and view same-sex marriage as a threat to their religious freedom. That’s without counting those denying global warming or the anti-vaccination movement.

And to show their discontent with the state of affairs, Refused keep the vitriol and attitude going in other punk scorchers like ‘Dawkins Christ’ and ‘Thought is Blood.’ And when they choose to turn down the assault it’s with tracks like ‘Old Friends/New War’ that while not as a raucous still keep a sharp edge as Lyxzen finds that “there’s no other choice but to create some noise and sharpen up my mind.” And we’re glad that you’re up to your old tricks.

Also, much like in The Shape of Punk to Come, these Swedes find room for eccentricity in Freedom. In the liner notes you’ll notice that both ‘Elektra’ and ‘366’ were produced by Shellback, the hitmaker known for his work with Adele and Taylor Swift. Once again proving that they are the most punk by following their muse rather than convention.

We need more records like Freedom. We need them because they remind us that certain genres are supposed to be the dangerous ones. I’m disgusted by the fact that the punk bands that prevail today happen to fall under the abomination known as “Pop-Punk.” A musical oxymoron whose practitioners are perfectly content to play arenas and extol the virtues of eating pizza and wearing fitted hats.

It’s nice to see that some are still choosing to live dangerously.

Refused, by Dustin Rabin Photography

Refused, by Dustin Rabin Photography

9.0/10

HANSEL LOPEZ