Periphery II: This Time It's Personal, Review

For those of you who are not yet aware, Periphery helped to bring the style of metal known as "djent" into the mainstream. Their last full length featured many great songs such as "Icarus Lives" and "Jetpacks Was Yes!." Their latest effort has taken them to new heights. Periphery II peaked at #1 on the iTunes Rock charts and peaked at #8 on the overall iTunes charts. In my personal opinion they have also gone through an evolution as a band. Spencer Sotelo's vocals have very much improved since their debut album. I have often heard his vocals on Periphery II compared to Rody Walker of Protest The Hero.

The Contortionist Have Created An Intrinsic Masterpiece

(Album Cover)

From Indianapolis, IN comes a band that in this reviewers opinion is one of the best up and coming metal acts in the United States. The Contortionist wowed metal heads everywhere with their 2010 release Exoplanet.  Now I know what you're thinking. If Exoplanet was so amazing there is no way that they could make a better album, right? Wrong! The Contortionist new album, Intrinsic, is truly a thing of beauty. The core elements, while still present, have been slightly diminished in order to bring forth more progressive elements. Vocalist/Keyboardist Jonathan Carpenter's clean vocals, while taking a back seat to death growls on Exoplanet, are just as if not more prominent than death growls on Intrinsic. The keyboards, like the clean vocals, took a back seat on Exoplanet. This is not the case with Intrinsic. The keyboards are just as prominent as the guitars on Intrinsic. You can order Intrinsic here.
More after the jump!

Update On Yesterday's post!

This will be a short post because it's just an update on something I said yesterday. It seems that Relapse Records has discovered that "Yellow and Green" leaked because they have album is streaming in full now via NPR music!

-Jake

Baroness' new double album "Yellow and Green" has leaked.

Some of the cover art for Yellow and Green

The new Baroness double album "Yellow and Green" has leaked and it can be found on Demonoid. I can not personally verify that the download is good because I don't have an account on Demonoid. The album will be released for sale on July 17th and I highly suggest buying it when it comes out instead of just downloading it. One half of the album is supposed to have a heavier sound while the other side is supposed to have a mellow rock sound. If you aren't sure whether or not you want to download it or not you can totally legally give Take My Bones Away and March To The Sea a listen! I would provide links but my computer isn't letting me.

-Jake

Municipal Waste Remains Solid With The Fatal Feast

One of the best contemporary crossover thrash bands in the world, Municipal Waste stays strong with The Fatal Feast (released on April 10). Formed in Richmond, Virginia in 2001 Municipal Waste has became the face of modern day crossover thrash. Other than gore and violence the main lyrical theme of their music is alcohol. These guys love to party! No band is better at blending horror and gore with comedy than these guys. As with most bands that have been influenced by punk, these guys can get political when they want to as well! This is Municipal Waste's first release on Nuclear Blast Records. At 37 minutes this is the longest Municipal Waste album to date. More after the jump!

IWABO Singer Pregnant, Band Finds Replacement For Warped Tour

Today the metal world recieved some shocking news from iwrestledabearonce guitarist Steven Bradley.

From Facebook

The day before our Warped Tour show in Dallas, TX we had a day off in the DFW area. Krysta lives there now, so she went home to relax and do some laundry. The next day, we received word from her minutes before our set that she discovered she and her fiancé are expecting a kid and she would not be returning to finish Warped Tour with us. Obviously this is an insane curveball for everybody, but in typical IWABO fashion we will press on. And no matter what happens, Krysta has been our best friend for years and we want her to be happy.


So what the fuck is the plan then, you ask? Well on literally a few minutes notice, our friend Courtney LaPlante flew her ass down to meet up with us today so that won't miss a single show of this tour. Courtney is a beast in both the singing and screaming departments and is also an incredibly awesome person. We wouldn't tarnish the years of work that we've put into this band by having somebody half-ass it on stage with us, so please come to a show and give her a high-five and make her feel welcome for doing us this huge favor. It makes it feel even better and more natural since she has been a long-term fan of our band and already knows the material.
So long story short; Fear not friends and Bear Fuckers... We will continue to play Warped Tour and we hope that you will continue to support us. Getting to play for and talk to so many of you on a daily basis is honestly what we live for, and we will definitely continue with our plan to high-five everybody on Earth. We will update you with more info soon, including some new tour dates and info on our recently-finished full-length horror/comedy/whatever film A Beary Scary Movie!


And finally, thank you so much to everybody who has been so supportive of us for all these years and we hope to see you again soon!


Love,


- Steven / iwabo

Congrats to Krysta on her pregnancy and props to Courtney for being able to fill in for her on such short notice. The replacement appears temporary for now. We'll be watching to see if iwabo tours after warped tour They have 3 shows listed after warped so it will be interesting to see if they play those shows as scheduled and if Krysta returns after her pregnancy. Vans Warped Tour has started already but there are still many dates remaining. You can find tickets here.

-A.J.

Our First Post!

Our First Post!

We've started this blog because we love metal and we love to talk about metal. We'll be reviewing metal albums from multiple genres and we'll also be reviewing any shows that we catch so you can get an idea of what the bands are like live before you go see them.