2020 has been a year of surprise releases, especially when it calls for it, and just in time for Halloween, Danny Elfman releases a surprise video for his single “Happy”. We been looking for an official theme song for the crapshoot of the year 2020, and it’s safe to say we found it. Danny Elfman is no stranger to creepy aesthetics, and this is no different. Though it’s hard to pinpoint the most disturbing aspects...
Thomas Crane, formerly Marion Crane, now killDevil Films, an independent film production company in Florida, is an artist in a class all his own. His dark visions and horror aesthetics literally bleed from the screen post-production. The immense catalog of music videos and artists he’s worked with has only grown exponentially year by year, with absolutely no signs of slowing down. Being a former Art Institute student myself, I can truly relate to this man’s...
Before you even read this article, stop. Stop whatever it is that you’re doing, and just sit back, and reminisce on the last live show you attended, what was it? For yours truly it was sharing the stage with PGH Power Ska Bandits, iNCO FIdo! I could go on for days and days about how much of a spectacle these guys are to see in person, I mean come on? Where else are you going...
I’m gonna be honest, when I was first approached about reviewing Iron Brigade‘s self-titled debut album I had no idea what to expect. I was handed a home pressed copy of a CD, with a five track listing, and a basic black and white printed label on it. I really didn’t have high hopes for this one initially whatsoever; but this is a prime example of how you should never judge a book by its...
It’s always tough to review work from people you know, people you love. You vacillate between wanting to shower them with compliments from the perspective of what you know of them as good human beings, and what you’ve seen them do in the past, and also wanting to see clearly what’s in front of you; to be fair and balanced, as the saying goes. I always aim to give people their due, sure, but also...
“Nothing screams horror more than real life.” – Zach Wager (vocals) The apocalypse has begun. The world is rust. We are nothing but rot, and God has left us to decay in our ignorance. Enter: Dead Animal Assembly Plant. Imagine Mad Max meets Marilyn Manson in a barren desert junkyard. The plague has come and gone; the government ceases to exist. The last remining survivors scavenge through the rotting carcasses, and band of warriors emerges....
Metal music in Brazil may not be the first thought for metalheads, but the Brazilian metal band, StormSons is working to rock a storm around the world, starting with their latest release “Black and Grey”. The band takes influences from southern and stoner metal. Their sound is raw and heavy with hits of harmonic melodies over top. It’s definitely a sound that combines old roots of metal with the new twists being heard today. It’s...
As I pull out of my driveway on a sunny June afternoon in my black and gold 1985 Camaro IROC-Z, T-top open, cruising down to the high school to grab my buddies for another Friday night back road party, case of Pabst Blue Ribbon on the passenger seat, and a pack of Marlboros in my t-shirt pocket, I grab my cassettes and pull out my favorite; Corners of Sanctuary: Heroes Never Die. Coming in with...
Oh my God… no, that was Clapton, right?! Remember that story, how a wall in 1960s London was spray-painted with the meme-worthy line, “Clapton is God.”? This was during Clapton’s Yardbirds, John Mayall & Bluesbreakers time, and every guitar player after, including Eddie Van Halen, followed the man and his smooth riffs and blues runs, for years later. Until, of course, Jimi Hendrix entered from stage left, or as we like to call it, Seattle....
Feast of the Fallen is back on the Pittsburgh Zombie-core scene with their E.P, S.C.A. and the release of their single “Wastemorland”! The teaser for the five track album was released on the 14th and had all of us Feast fans famined for more. I was personally first introduced to Feast when they performed for the Depression: The Nightmare Before Christmas, a benefit show that I attended with First Angel Media in December, 2019. I...
When a musician has a tale to tell, they do it in the ways they know best, and Johnny Grhymes knows hip-hop and the ways soul music samples can fit to enhance the feel of his art. His most recent release God Save the King is a compilation of unapologetic modern rap and its roots, utilizing the flow of lyrics to drive home his stories of life, love and kingly duty. Released through Brutal Business...
Whom The Gods Wish To Ruin, They First Drive Mad, released earlier this year by Red Lokust, is the second album by this industrial duo composed of Jim Semonik (Distortion Productions, Electronic Saviors, Rein[Forced]), and Lee Lauer (X-Aslan Faction). Having seen Red Lokust perform several times, and knowing how much heart and soul Jim pours into virtually every endeavor he pursues, I knew pretty much what to expect. This album is a culmination of many...
Musical mastermind, head of Brutal Business Entertainment, Patrick McElravy brings another trap metal bombshell with his latest upcoming album “Abstract Thoughts” under his project Seethe. Imagine if you will, taking the love child of Marilyn Manson and Phil Anselmo, sledge hammering it through a cybernetic meat grinder, all while maniacally screaming into the void, and that’s still not as twisted and gnarly as what you’ll hear on this release. One thing is for sure, this...
Folk music is the eternal sonic vehicle, for not just stories about our ancestors; if we’re smart enough to look closely, we will often find ourselves in there too. Essentially, within the quaint shanties about fishing villages, and tragic storms that may have taken away a sizable chunk of the men-folk, one discovers, they are all songs about working people; tales of working people with soil, salt from the sea, and grease from factory machines...
LA and proud, Ethan Thompson, AKA Alt Bloom, teams up with rapper gnash, to produce a mild-mannered sizzler, “text talk touch” through Big MTN Records. An unabashed summer love song that deserves to live well beyond the warmer months of any year, it becomes the video metaphor for “this” particular summer with it’s socially distanced romantic leads courting through their phones. Checking through some of Bloom’s past acoustic performances, one can see him at times...
It’s gritty, grungy, and gloomy. Australian industrial metal band No Names latest release titled “I Surrender To The Void As Of Now I Am The Void” is just that. Reminiscent of a cross between early 90’s grunge rock and industrial metal from the same era, this album literally sounds like a couple guys hammered it out in an abandoned manufacturing plant, and hated the entire experience. And that’s not a bad thing at all honestly....
Brad Abbott has been on the local western PA music scene for roughly ten years. I’ve had the opportunity to watch him perform the last three years at various music venues in the area. Upon hearing he was working on a new EP, I was excited to find out that the first song “Arson” was released. Brad was inspired in his musical journey by music artists Neil Young, Elton John and rock band Augustana. While...
We all find times we must forgive the ones we love, and ask for forgiveness in return. “Forgive Her” from Gods and Aliens explores to the very depths of what that means. The video displays togetherness and all the goodness we share with our fellow friends, romantic partners, and families. And it really says it best with the lyrics that go “Because the good things, Outweigh the bad things.” So if you find yourself in...
