photo by Jon Wiederhorn
If you didn't catch the last "Headbangers Ball," you missed video debuts by Static-X, Lamb of God and These Arms are Snakes. Whether you were there or not, here's your chance to vote the best of the batch back for next week's show. Choose ONE video and please include a comment about why it deserves the honor of returning to the ball. Remember, past winners of "Your Vote Counts" are ineligible, so only pick from our list. One vote is allowed per IP address. Polls are open until 3 p.m. Wednesday. Click more to see this week's choices and watch the videos. Read more...
By now you've seen all those top ten rock and metal lists featuring Metallica, Guns N' Roses, AC/DC, Gojira, Nachtmystium, Enslaved, Opeth, Amon Amarth, All That Remains, Trivium, Meshuggah et al. So here's a list of ten slightly more indie acts that might not be on your radar yet, but which you owe it to yourself to check out:
10. Arsis - We Are the Nightmare (Nuclear Blast)
Technical death metal is rarely this inspiring. A breathtaking blend of speedy unconventional guitar work, abrupt rhythm shifts, double-bass drum thunder and real honest to goodness hooks.
9. These Arms Are Snakes - Tail Swallower and Dove (Suicide Squeeze)
Post-hardcore insanity merges with strong songwriting on this Seattle band's third full album. Direct and uncompromising, TS&D blasts through challenging math rock progressions, battering ram rhythms and bizarre grooves that'll remind you equally of Fugazi and Blood Brothers. But what else would you expect from former members of Botch and Kill Sadie?
8. Abigail Williams - In The Shadow of a Thousand Suns (Candlelight)
Honestly, we're not sure why this modern black metal album didn't crack more critics' year-end lists. The band even has a super-cute chick on piano/orchestration -- and the girl knows how to compose better than a lot of classical musicians. In The Shadow of a Thousand Suns is epic, brutal and shudders with horrific beauty -- like a haunting blend of Cradle of Filth and Immortal. (Click "more" to see our seven other choices.) Read more...
On their MySpace, These Arms are Snakes write, "People call us a lot of things. most of them are inaccurate." At the risk of being wrong, we won't call them one of the most exciting post-hardcore bands since Fugazi, or say their combination of terse, scratchy guitars, unsettling rhythmic undulations and emphatic vocals are as exciting as they are harrowing. And we won't praise their mathematical tempos, electronic embellishments or dynamic sense of disdain. We'll just ask you to pick up their new album Tail Swallower and Dove, which came out October 7. And we'll suggest you read the following guest blog from frontman Brian Cook, who calls it like he sees it every time:
"I hate the kids."
Thanks, Rick Froburg. I'm glad somebody had the balls to say it. While the Descendents didn't want to grow up and Minor Threat were minors at heart. Hot Snakes had the balls to own up to adulthood.
I turned 31 in July. In punk years, that's old. As someone that grew up in the hardcore scene and has spent considerable amounts of time working with youth, I feel both indebted to youth culture and
intrinsically a part of it. Yet I don't want to be a poster boy for suspended adolescence. I'm perfectly content with growing up.
The issue of age gets tangled when I start to evaluate its roll in the music community. Being cognizant of one's demographic is, to some degree, an acknowledgement of the audience's age. Music is ultimately another language, another way to convey a thought or emotion. Every song, on some level, is a statement. And, ultimately, I want my music to communicate to my peers. And my peers happen to be other older dudes that grew up listening to punk and hardcore but have learned to
expand their musical horizons beyond "loud and fast rules." I don't want to be Blink 182. I don't want to be well into my adulthood writing songs about hating parents and how high school sucks. That's not my life. (click "more" to read the rest of Cook's guest blog and stream six songs by These Arms Are Snakes). Read more...
