THE HARD R: DALLAS GIVES AWAY FREE MUSIC, DISCUSSES THE COMING YEAR

Friday, January 15th, 2010 at 4:45pm by

The Hard R with Dallas Coyle

I really hate the end of the year during Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Years. I don’t know what it is. Maybe it’s seasonal depression, or maybe it’s because I’m still coming to grips with the fact that Satan Clause doesn’t exist. I always get loopy during that time of the year. My last two blogs were extensions of that, and if I offended any of you guys, I apologize. I really appreciate every person who comes to MetalSucks and contributes to making this place the best metal site on the interwebz. When I called some of you “faggots” and “assholes” it was out of love. Honestly!

I’ve been an angry, bitter fuck these last couple of months. I don’t need to tell you guys. And I appreciate you being good sports throughout this whole ordeal. It’s 2010 and it’s time to move on.

From leaving God Forbid to my personal life completely falling apart, I’ve been dealing with some wild bullshit. I’m thirty years old now and for you young bucks out there, take it from me: life gets harder. But that’s okay. It has to get harder, or else we wouldn’t get stronger.

In 2010 I’m wishing my bros in God Forbid the best. I’m amped as hell that Matt Wicklund is the new official guitar player because he’s a cool dude and a much better guitar player than I could ever be. That’s the God’s honest truth. Doc and Matt have given me the privilege of hearing some of the new material, and it’s bad ass. It made me realize that I wasn’t the right fit for GF anymore. In some respects I’m sad about the changing of the tide, but for the most part I feel it was the right thing to do.

In the next couple of weeks I will be giving a full explanation for my departure from GF. Not the circumstances of how I left, but my inner feelings about why I left.

I’m starting a new band this year. The name of the band was called Soul At War but I’ve decided to change the name and start from scratch with all new songs. So in light of that decision I’m going to give you guys all the songs I’ve done so far [this download is longer available] that would essentially be the ‘direction’ I’m going in with my new project that used to be Soul At War.

I want to give you guys the run down of these songs so you can I understand the tone and point of view I’m establishing.

“I’m An Animal” – This song was the first song I wrote for my new project. It’s all about the primal instinct.

“King Deathdog” – This song is about power from a woman’s perspective. Women have it tough in this world. They have to be tough but not be a cunt at the same time. When I sing “I Am The King Of The Bitches” imagine a woman in a board room having to be King Bitch.

“Swallow The World “- This song is about the disease within yourself that doesn’t allow you to move forward.

“The Crossroad” – This song is about me feeling lost. Do I go the way of darkness or light?

“Push, Shove” – This song was an expirement for me. I wanted to have a Queen sort of structure with the classical element along with a bit of electronics. This song lyrically is about pushing yourself to the limit and losing your mind because of that decision.

“I’m Going Away Now” – This song is a personal song about a tragedy a friend of mine had. The only way to shake the feeling was singing this song.

I will be recording the album over the next four months and mixing in May for a summer release. I already have a label lined up based on the strength of what I’ve been producing so far.

Keep note: All of the stuff you’re hearing is done by me and me only. I really hope you enjoy it!

I do have one question for you cats though. After you listen to the stuff I’m going to post, let me know what new music you’re interested in this coming year. Also, let me know where you think the genre of metal is going to go. What’s going to be the new thing? What’s going to be the big story in 2010?

Keep it real!

-DC

Download Dallas’ new songs here!

  • Byron W.

    Uhhhhhh, link’s no good….

  • LordAssenfroth

    same on my end, bad link

  • Me

    link doesn’t work.

  • Me

    http://coylemedia.ning.com/

    you can listen to some here.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mathew-James-Saunders/1153389571 Mathew James Saunders

    Same…that sucks, I want to hear the new direction you will take with your playing. The album I’m stoked the most for has to be Devin’s new album, because it is the one which will sound closest to SYL. I was excited for Fear Factory’s new shit too, but I downloaded the leak and only a few of them are really memorable while the rest are meh. I don’t think there will be too much boundary breaking material this year due to the fact that so much of it has been done in the past 3 years alone. Especially with the Meshuggah style bands that have flourished (Sumeriancore stuff with strange time signatures). All we can do is hope for select bands to step up to the plate!

    • Nick B

      Pretty sure i’ve disc golfed with you before.

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mathew-James-Saunders/1153389571 Mathew James Saunders

        haha, no shit!? I go to Stoney Creek religiously when it’s nice out!

        • Nick B

          Yeah lol that’s where I always go. Pretty sure i was with some people when you, Collin and Spark hurd showed up.

  • metal as fuck

    links fucked plz fix

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Mathew-James-Saunders/1153389571 Mathew James Saunders

    Some of the electronic intro portions almost sound like Linkin Park in their early days, definitely see that you’re going industrial with some of them (I.E. Death Dance) It’ll be nice to hear a perfectly mixed and engineered version of some of them.

  • Biff Tannen

    Dallas- No one cares about you dude. Shut the fuck up.

    • Michiel

      This is untrue.

    • meat mincing machine

      This is true

      • Matthew Grant Anson

        As if anyone cares about you?

    • nick

      Biff- No one cares about you dude. Shut the fuck up.

      • Fufkin

        Biff, why do you always have to be so cold?

    • John

      Guarantee 100 percent more people care about Dallas than you. Don’t know this for a fact, but I have a hunch. If you made a list about the people who cared anything about you, versus the people who cared about Dallas, it would be quite lopsided.

      • aids robot

        plz dont feed the trolls

        • John

          well, sometimes it’s hard to tell who’s a troll and who’s just a dick.

          • BTK666

            No one cares about ….. Oh, we’re not playing anymore?

    • West Virginia

      go over to blabbermouth with the other kiddies

  • djabthrash

    Still downloading the .zip file now.

    In 2010 i’m looking forward for those :

    Glassjaw
    Vision of Disorder
    Covenance
    Misery Index
    Morbid Angel
    Down
    Sick Of It All
    Soilwork
    my own stuff
    Aborted
    Decapitated
    Pofony
    Stone Sour
    Will Haven
    Exodus
    Dead Shape Figure
    Nevermore
    Madball
    Freya
    Incubus
    Keren Ann ?
    Anthrax
    Suffocation DVD
    Gojira ?

    • orbital

      Vision of Disorder is putting out new shit?? fucking fuck yes!

      • djabthrash

        yup

        (by the way the 2d Bloodsimple album, “red harvest”, was killer)

        • orbital

          Yeah, I have some Bloodsimple in my collection too. Hoping they return to Imprint era form, although I wouldn’t be particularly disapointed if they carried on where From Bliss ended. That was catchy as hell.

          • djabthrash

            “Hoping they return to Imprint era form, although I wouldn’t be particularly disapointed if they carried on where From Bliss ended. That was catchy as hell.”

            +1 to that.

            Regarding Bloodsimple, the first album sounded very average to me, but Red Harvest is totally killer.

    • Kill All

      including Misery Index and Stone Sour on the same list is very…interesting. Freya, Madball, Aborted, Glassjaw, Nevermore, Incubus…very interesting list.

      • djabthrash

        lol

        i like all those bands really,

        some of them i dig all the way (misery index, VOD, glassjaw, madball, covenance, incubus), some others i love some stuff they do but not 100% (stone sour, nevermore, soilwork)

        good music is good music, period :)

        • Kill All

          i agree, and I’m stoked for 90% of those bands to release new material, especially VOD, Misery Index, Glassjaw, and Aborted. A good list indeed.

        • msv81

          ” good music is good music, period :) ”

          Indeed, sir. Very true statement. I’m looking forward to a bunch on your list. Question for you though, why are you excited about Incubus? I love their older material (Fungus through Make Yourself), but their newer material has been a major disappointment for me. What I loved about them was the funky, experimental, intelligent aspect that drove their music in the early days. Now, it just seems like they want to make albums where every song is a radio single, so boring and bland, even if there is a gem or two per album. Oh well.

          Misery Index, Glassjaw, and Exodus are my top three thus far. I’m curious to hear the new Korn record, though I have plenty of doubts about that. Stone Sour should be interesting as well.

          • djabthrash

            I also like and started to enjoy/discover the band with the early Incubus stuff, loved the evolution from Science (masterpiece) to Make Yourself (different, more mainstream, nice evolution and still a masterpiece), enjoyed the older stuff (enjoy incubus, fungus amongus) but found it a bit “immature” songwriting-wise and too much like “Zappa meets RHCP meets metal” rip-off.

            Then came Morning View and i started to dis the band the way you describe : more radio-friendly, acoustic guitar ballad, etc. That’s also when the bands started to explode commercially btw.

            Then couple of years after i listened back to their stuff from Morning View till’ Light Grenades, and i found out those albums are killer also. More mainstream but still interesting song-wise, diverse, catchy, still “crazy-sounding” at times (one song in “light grenades” sounds as pissed-off and crazy as some songs on Science).

            To me they’re like the new POLICE : a killer mainstream blend of rock, reggae, pop, fusion, jazz, metal…

          • djabthrash

            i would compare the evolution of Incubus with the evolution of Pearl Jam : sounds kinda unexciting/too mainstream at first sight, but in the end it’s mature and killer music. And if i wanna listen to the old Incubus or PJ, i just switch back to the old albums. It sounds different, but still like the same band, which is great.

          • Dallas

            I agree. I felt Incubus pulled a Pearl Jam after Make Yourself. The music just became too sappy. Sometimes bands lose their angst and it kills the vibe.

          • msv81

            Morning View isn’t horrible, it’s got some good songs on it. A Crow Left To The Murder and Light Grenades just don’t do it for me, at all. As I said, one or two tracks per album and that’s it.

            I guess what really killed them in my mind was the last show of theirs I went to. I used to regularly hang out with the band anytime they came to Philly when they were unknown, they would always open up for or play with the likes of (hed)p.e., Fear Factory, SOAD, Korn, etc. from about 1996 to 1999; all of them were really down to earth, nice guys who liked to smoke a lot of weed haha. Hell, I even remember moshing with Brandon in the main stage pit at Ozzfest in 1998.

            Then, Make Yourself came along and they got super big and essentiallly sold out afterwards. I didn’t have any interest in seeing them live for a good while but decided to go for it in 2005. Dude, it was horrible. Talk about a fucking Abercrombie and Finch catalogue! Everyone in attendance (besides myself and my three metal head friends) looked like they belonged to frats/sororities (mind you, a fuckload more hot chicks than you’ll find at any given metal show, but still….). Brandon came out onstage with his shirt unbuttoned, exposing his chest like some pretty boy asshole. The band didn’t play one old song, nothing from SCIENCE, nothing from Enjoy Incubus, certainly nothing from Fungus. If I recall, they only played one song from Make Yourself, if that. Horrible. We literally left halfway through it, once we realized they no longer want to be associated with any of their older material. Blech.

          • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jason-John-Crispen/100000169530540 Jason John Crispen

            i think morning view is a fantastic album. after that though, i kinda moved on to other things.

          • http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/62449cbe5ea8d22bcc2e76890fceaa37.png Lord Bling

            I’m not a huge Incubus fan by any stretch (I, like many others, got into them on Make Yourself, but that album sounds a bit dated now). However, I really liked Light Grenades a lot.

    • Freedom35

      +100 for Will Haven. A criminally underrated band!!

      • djabthrash

        yup

  • Nick B

    Haven’t listened to your stuff yet but I plan on it. I’m mainly looking forward to the new album (well two) by The Ocean… Precambrian still blows my mind and i’ve owned it for over 2 years. If anything has the potential to be groundbreaking i feel it will be this. I have faith that Robin Stapps (primary song writer) will not dissapoint.

    • Nick B

      Oh and possibly anything new by Cult Of Luna. I heard something about a music and book combination release they’re doing but i’m not sure.

  • Kill All

    I checked out the coylemedia page, and I’m not really a fan of the direction DC is heading in. The music has some strong points, some decent guitar riffs and interesting drum ideas, but the vocals kill the momentum all the songs have.

    With that said, it’s not my place to pass judgment on anyone’s artistic expression. I wish DC the best of luck with his new music and all of his upcoming ventures.

    As for the next big thing in 2010, Necrophagist’s new album will once again put the metal world on it’s ass and will be greatly emulated come 2011. Necro will redefine the tech/death genre once more and show all the poseurs how it’s done.

    Also, if Decrepit Birth puts out any new material this year, I’m certain that will be earth-shattering as well.

  • http://schenkeltown.blogspot.com SchenkelTown

    ross robinson is producing the new korn album. looking forward to hearing it!

    • Kill All

      is it 1994?

      • Geekbeater

        I am actually motivated to hear a new Korn song. I fucking hate them now and I will leave the Rockstar fest this summer early so I dont have to suffer but I do love their first album as much as I did the first day I heard it. I am still waiting for the return of that.

  • djabthrash

    Listening to the Doc Coyle tracks now… sounds very experimental (and now i understand more the slight experimental side of Earthsblood), not bad but i don’t find much excitement listening to it.

    Maybe it takes a lot of listens or something.

    • Dallas

      Hey bro,
      I’m Dallas. LOL

      • djabthrash

        Sorry i mixed up :)

        You bro’s have the same initials FFS !!! :) DC !

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jorge-R-Valverth/521246222 Jorge R. Valverth

    The Link doesnt work, Youre fucking with us right!?

    This year Im looking forward to:
    Devin Townsend Project
    As I lay Dying
    Machine Head
    Nine Inch Nails
    Protest the Hero?
    Gojira?
    Sikth?
    System of a Down?
    The Dillinger Escape Plan
    The Human Abstract?
    Unearth?

    Tool´s new album will be out on 2011 so…. I have to wait…

    • msv81

      TOOL > GOD

      HAHAHAHAHA. I would do almost anything to hear new material by them. Best. Band. Ever.

      Machine Head isn’t releasing an album in ’10, though. 2011 for them as well.

      http://www.ultimate-guitar.com/news/interviews/machine_head_no_album_until_2011.html

      • http://www.facebook.com/people/Jorge-R-Valverth/521246222 Jorge R. Valverth

        FUCK YEAH!!! BEST BAND EVER!!!

        • msv81

          I wish Maynard would stop with the Puscifer silliness and just get back to writing material for Tool. I understand the need to get away from writing stuff that intense, I can only imagine how difficult it must be even though all four guys are musical geniuses, but this whole 5 years in between albums is starting to kill me.

          Last time I checked, at least Adam and Danny were writing some new stuff and essentially waiting on Maynard to get sick of his winery/Puscifer. Ugh, goddamn you, Maynard. I suppose it’s ok, though. He is responsible for writing what I consider the best music ever created :-)

    • djabthrash

      For the Doc Coyle songs link just copy paste it and remove the beginning (leave the http…. toward the end) :

      http://www.circuitbreakermedia.com/audio/soulatwar.zip

  • Ziltoid

    It sounds unique-ish, but not very good at this early stage. Your vocals sound like you’re trying to rip off Garm. But with refinement, this could actually be decent. Well, it’s better than God Forbid.

    • msv81

      Holy christ. That’s the first time I’ve ever seen you even remotely/sorta/kinda like something on this site that wasn’t your own suggestion. Are you feeling ok? What did you do with the real Ziltoid?

      • Ziltoid

        Where did I say that I liked it? Just because it has potential of some sort doesn’t mean that I like it. These are just demos, so it would be foolish to judge them as they are now, but I mostly didn’t like it. But there were some bits that could be good with refinement.

        • Flava Flav

          JUDGE THEM AS THEY ARE NOW

          • Flava Flav

            DO IT

          • Ziltoid

            THEY ARE ALL FALSES AND MUST BE BURNED AND DIED!!!!!

            (are you happy?)

  • http://thenumberoftheblog.wordpress.com/ groverXIII

    What am I excited about in 2010? Well, I can’t say for later in the year, but for early 2010…

    Finntroll – Nifelvind
    Eluveitie – Everything Remains As It Never Was
    Mutiny Within – Mutiny Within
    Arsis – Starve For The Devil (Actually got my hands on this… I’ll have it reviewed later tonight.)
    High On Fire – Snakes For The Divine

    Also psyched about the eventual new Powerglove, Wintersun, Devin Townsend Project, and who knows what else.

    • Ziltoid

      You’re forgetting the new Morbid Angel and Atheist albums. Those have the potential to be awesome.

      • http://thenumberoftheblog.wordpress.com/ groverXIII

        Forgot about both of those. Then again, I’m not really sure when a lot of the new planned albums are coming out, so I tried to keep it to the near future with albums with more solid release dates (well, except for the Wintersun album, of course).

        I believe Cynic is going to be working on a new album too, which should be fucking great.

        • Ziltoid

          I’ve heard both rumors of a new album, and a new EP from Cynic. They were signed to Season of Mist for a 2 album deal, so something will happen sometime. And that Wintersun album is taking too much time to be released. OH SNAP! SICK PUNS! C wut I did thar?

          • http://thenumberoftheblog.wordpress.com/ groverXIII

            Wintersun is the Duke Nukem Forever of metal.

      • Matthew Grant Anson

        ATHEIST

      • http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/46e389eb8b79606050d3d447431ff6ac?s=80 Nate

        Wait… how is Atheist releasing an album? Doesn’t one of their guitarists have like, paralysis or arthritis or something? I mean, I’d totally be stoked for that, Atheist is amazing, but I’d be skeptical if they had someone other than the line-up that wrote Piece of Time or Elements in there.

        Also, did you notice that the album titles of Morbid Angel has an alphabetical progression?

        • Ziltoid

          Atheist signed a deal with Season of Mist to release a new album. It’s a mostly new lineup, unfortunately, but it’s Atheist (awesome), and it’s on Season of Mist (awesome as off late), so I have high hopes. They even said on their website awhile back that it would have a cover of Rush’s “YYZ.”

          And everyone knows that about Morbid Angel!

      • Hand Banana

        Atheist have never disappointed me.

    • melissa

      Wow all great bands! Just caught Eluveitie at Heathenfest and saw Korpiklaani last night in NYC! two very great shows.

  • Kevin Salinas

    i really like killer deathdog, that song is awesome. why change the name? soul at war sounds perfect.

    i really dont know where metal is headed, thats actually something i asked u a few months ago. its hard to tell.
    metal having more keys seems to be on the rise and symphony sounds

    lookin foward to a lot this year.

    -ofcourse the new gf
    -new protest the hero
    -definitely stone sour
    - yea soil work
    - was really interested in what avenged sevenfold was comin up with, wonder what there plans are now.
    -interested to see what slash and friends is going to sound like.
    - i know trivium is working on new stuff, cant wait to hear that
    - that god of war metal ep sounds awesome.new trivium, killswitch, dream theater, and opeth, that could be bad ass. (taking dawn is also gonna be on it)
    - taking dawn has a few good songs. lookin foward to hear the rest of their album
    -actaully enjoyed a few songs off my chemical romances last release, wonder how their new cd will sound, hopefully heavy
    -definitly dillinger escape plan
    - deftones got some new shit commin
    - interested in what bullets for my valentine new stuff is going to sound like

    wow lookin back at the list this may be a very good year for metal

    what are you lookin foward to Dallas?

    • Dallas

      I’m looking forward to the new Mutiny Within record. I hope System Of A Down comes out with a new record. I LOVE that band. Some other long shots.

      Soundgarden
      Rage Against The Machine
      Glassjaw
      Dillinger Escape Plan

      I can’t think of anymore. It would be pretty cool if Rage and Soundgarden made a return the way AIC did last year.

      • http://thenumberoftheblog.wordpress.com/ groverXIII

        New System Of A Down would be fucking great.

        • Dallas

          I was watching live footage of them performing “War?” on youtube last night and it made me want to kill m’fers!

          • Kevin Salinas

            i was gonna put system, especially after shavo wrote those mesg on his twitter. that would be freakin sweet. i went to their unannoucnedl 3 hour set in san francisco it was fuckin amazing.

            same with sound garden, i saw their website said they may be getting back.

            and if rage comes back, 2010 good be mind blowing.

            that was another amazing show. i saw audioslave a few years ago and they played 3 full sets, audioslave than soundgarden, than rage. man the crowd went apeshit for rage.

      • http://schenkeltown.blogspot.com SchenkelTown

        I heard a rumor about a possible Soundgarden / Alice in Chains tour. That would give me a boner

      • Hand Banana

        What about Atheist? Piece of Time is the best Thrash/Death/Jazz time signature opus ever!

    • Utmu

      I knew Trivium and KSE were on the God of War EP, but Opeth and Dream Theater? Didn’t see those two coming… I love Trivium and Opeth… so I guess I”ma have to buy a game in a series I don’t care much about for a console I don’t have for a freakin’ EP… it’s worth it right? Right?

      • Honeynutzz

        I”m sure you will be able to download it and save the $60 on a game.

    • http://www.gravatar.com/avatar/46e389eb8b79606050d3d447431ff6ac?s=80 Nate

      Taking Dawn’s album is already out, has been for a few weeks. Go listen to it, it’s worth the buy.

      • Kevin Salinas

        not until jan 26th, atleast were im at.

        yeah isnt that crazy Utmu. thats got the potential of being a killer ep. i think its all going to be instrumental however, hopefully they include 2 version of each song.

        im pretty sure ud be able to get it without getting hte game. the specail edition is going to be $100

  • Ziltoid

    Oh yes, as for what I’m interested in for 2010:

    Anubis Gate – untitled
    Morbid Angel – untitled
    Atheist – untitled
    Heathen – The Evolution of Chaos
    Overkill – Ironbound
    Myrath – Desert Call
    Ihsahn- After
    Symphony X – untitled
    Kamelot – untitled
    The Absence – untitled
    Dark Tranquillity – We are the Void
    Devin Townsend Project – all of it

    I haven’t heard about too much, though, especially about death and black metal.

    • http://thenumberoftheblog.wordpress.com/ groverXIII

      MOAR LIEK DARK TRANQUILLITY WE ARE TEH GOATSE

      • Ziltoid

        I LOVES ME SUM GOATSE!!! You should make a parody of this album, with songs all about goatse, and make the album cover a goatse pic. You’re one of the top experts in the goatse field, so this would be easy for you.

        • http://thenumberoftheblog.wordpress.com/ groverXIII

          Heh… I’m not an expert, by any stretch of the imagination. (See what I did there?)

          • Ziltoid

            Haha, I certainly do see what you did.

          • gibberish

            It’s gonna take me awhile to UNsee what you did there

    • orbital

      New Absence, stoked as shit for that!

    • Matthew Grant Anson

      HEATHEN

    • aids robot

      yeah what BM is coming out this year? does anyone know?

    • Nick B

      Upsets me to see no mention of The Ocean anywhere on this thread :(. I’d suggest that anyone who hasn’t heard them try to get a copy of precambrian as they’re the only good band i’ve heard with “Ocean” in their name. Nice list though.

      • Ziltoid

        They have a new one coming out this year? Whoa, nice. Precambrian is pretty damn good, especially for a type of sound that I’m generally not fond of.

        Also, it seems like Borknagar have a new one to be released! Add Borknagar’s “Universal” to my list.

    • Trux

      +10000 about Kamelot and Symphony X

      • Ziltoid

        Damn straight! With all of the mediocre/horrible power metal out there, it’s good to see two great bands finally release another album.

        • leroydragon

          faith no mores new album.. will be a masterpiece.

  • BEHEMOHAWK

    Well he did apologize…

    So props for that.

  • cougar party

    I’m pretty stoked for Early Man’s new release. Which should be coming out next month. Also, High on Fire’s will probably be great.

  • Reznik

    I wanna hear new stuff from Jesu & shining

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Colin-OConnor/1491245262 Colin O’Connor

    Dallas my man this is gonna sound harsh but you have to be used it by now. Matter fact you seem to fiend
    for it. See I’m gonna say something negative about you despite the fact I know you want it. Why?

    I don’t know. Some people can’t break the code of how to not have everyone hate them and sometimes will find themselves intentionally pissing everyone off if only to trick themselves into thinking it was all intentional all along.

  • melissa

    Good to hear your playing and writing again. That makes me happy! The link worked fine for me…Like it! Different! Your singing brings me back to Alice in Chains :) Miss the good old times, but happy to see your doing your thing and what fits for you!

    • djabthrash

      melissa like melissa cross maybe ?

  • http://www.ftsmetal.com James

    The music sucks and you won’t amount to anything other than being the ex-guitarist for God Forbid.

    • Dallas

      I went to your website and checked out some of your songs. I know you don’t want to hear this but I’m going to say it anyway. You’ve got a good voice and I dig some of the stuff you’re working on.

      Concentrate a bit more on structure and writing songs as opposed to riffs that go in succession. You really only need three arrangements to make a song that hits home so don’t blow your load on one song. Out of the 4 songs I checked out so far, they each had a good enough part in each to make one bad ass song.

      Listen to some other music besides metal for a while. You get predictable with your vocal phrasing and breakdowns. I suggest Bjork and some Zeppelin. Some of the riffing is overly generic and the artificial harmonics should be played a bit smoother or dropped altogether.

      I would suggest putting a band together and playing this stuff live because only in the live setting do you see how your material stacks up. I’m sure if you played most of this material live you’d see the crowd underwhelmed. That sucks cause it happened to us all over the Determination touring cycle.

      You should change the name because From The Shadows sounds like everything you’ve ever heard and didn’t like. It has that ‘local’ feel to it. Be ambiguous. From The Shadows just makes people think of kid touchers, goblins and generic brand orange juice.

      You should get hour bio written up by a professional writer. This just doesn’t fly, “The fall of 2009 will mark the debut FULL LENGTH LP of From The Shadows and a new wave of melodic death metal that unlike many labeled acts, shows absolutely no writing restraint.”

      That’s not clear. What is showing writing restraint?

      You aren’t being honest about what the music is either. What you are presenting isn’t progressive metal so you should change that description. Only because you want to know who you’re selling to. Do you think a person who searches Progressive Metal on Soundclick and loves Opeth is going to feel you are offering them something similar? I’d bet my money on them going away from your page and never listening again because it’s not progressive metal and you’re misleading them.

      I’ll become the 3rd fan on your soundclick page cause I would like to keep track of your progress and post my criticism here in the comments section as you put up new material.

      • aids robot

        Dallas theres a vid of this guy here
        http://www.collegehumor.com/video:1926079

      • FGM

        Damn man, what a mature way to shut a mouth.
        I really really mean it.
        I’ll try and check your new stuff, keep it up man

      • http://myspace.com/bennymasonband Brock Mason

        Hey Dallas, my band’s better.

      • orbital

        nice dude.

  • West Virginia

    new system would be cool

    but top of my list so far

    new arsis – which so far sounds killer
    new ff- same
    down IV

    and the biggest

    Karma to Burn – Fuck Yes! Been waiting for these guys to get back togehter and make new tunage. should be killer

    if you havent heard i highly recomend

    • http://thenumberoftheblog.wordpress.com/ groverXIII

      New Arsis and Fear Factory are pretty good.

  • skip crackers

    dallas…shit is very cool…i’m glad it doesnt sound like good forbid….keep on kicking ass

  • Malacoda

    To those who said the link didn’t work, you’re correct. However, there are two links to the link. Go to the second one.

  • skip crackers

    god forbid even

  • Utmu

    I’m looking forward to:

    Rotting Christ
    Sigh
    Admittedly- KoRn
    Whitechapel
    Trivium
    Rob Zombie
    Opeth (if it’s released in ’10, hopefully they don’t take too long a break after this tour)

    Some other releases I’ll be paying attention to are gonna’ be Morbid Angel and Aborted. Also I wonder when DragonForce is releasing a new album.

    • Utmu

      I’ll also be taking a peak at the new Disturbed stuff coming out, I haven’t really listened to them in a while, so it might be a refresher…

    • http://MySpace.com/NeverStopThis NeverStopThis

      Cannot fucking wait for WhiteChapel.

  • Frampler

    New Dillinger, new Morbid Angel and new Pig Destroyer will do nicely for me.

    And more from Hevy Devy, naturally.

  • Honeynutzz

    Down
    Acacia Strain
    Morbid Angel
    DTP
    Pig Destroyer
    After the Burial?
    Veil of Maya

    That’s some stuff off the top of my head that I’m definitively excited about.

    • http://www.myspace.com/btchtits BobFish

      + 1 Veil of Maya.

      Also Periphery. I want to see where Summeriancore goes before its inevitable slow, drawn out decent into mediocrity. I hope it doesn’t happen, but it could go the way of so many sub genres.

      Dear Dallas,
      Sadly this is not for me, the samples and electronic side is not fully developed yet, it feels like it should be bigger (its a bit like half finished Aphex twin ambience atm), and the sludgy riffs work in the context of the songs, but they do nothing for me. It sounds more like a film soundtrack where I should have an identifiable character to reference the feelings in the songs to, but without them I just struggle to connect.

      What the heck do I know, I make shit music and jump on the latest hot sub sub genre-core.

      Good move on using you connections to get feedback on the tracks though, I wish I could do that.
      And finally, thanks for the gigs with God Forbid. I went to the UK gigs you did in the Gone Forever and Consitution days, and got to metal out. You guys were awesome.

  • Dallas

    Thanks for checking out the tracks and commenting!

    • Dilznoofus

      I dig what you’re doing. It’s very unrefined and it seems to be the product of more experimentation than anything else. I can see your new direction is a work in progress and I’m excited to hear what you come up with as you move off on your own. Keep doing what you’re doing, for sure.

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Matt-Elstone/617574068 Matt Elstone

    I really like the tunes… it kinda has a industrial AIC feel…

    What I’m about to compare it to is going to make me sound like a total nerd, but I’m already posting on a message board anyway, so fuck it. It keeps reminding me of that game The Darkness for Xbox.. the vocals are just creepy, and i like it. It’d be easy for me to work and tattoo to, and that kind of music is always hard to find for me.

    as for music this upcoming year– im eager to see what metal’s going to do with itself. i’d like to see something new come out to blur the boundaries again. it seems like every 6 or 7 years, a band finds the spotlight and kinda opens up a whole new bag of tricks for other musicians to use and feed off of. metal, and otherwise.

    can’t honestly say im looking forward to another system album though… by hearing the first one, it turns out i’ve heard all 32490823509864097 of the albums they made in the same year, they could probobaly benefit from a new bag of tricks themselves.

    dillenger would be great, and i wouldn’t mind some new acacia strain either.

    • gibberish

      I still crack up when I remember that Mike Patton does the voice of the Darkness

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Keith-Brown/537636633 Keith Brown

    About the Soul at War stuff: I hella dug I’m an Animal and I’m Going Away Now. King Deathdog is okay, too, but the rest of it I’m not enjoying as much.

    For the New Year, I have only three bands that I am really paying attention to for releases:

    Arsis
    Down
    Periphery

    I mean, the other stuff is exciting, too, but those three are my tops, hands down

    • http://thenumberoftheblog.wordpress.com/ groverXIII

      Arsis is really good, although it’s pretty thrashy. Kinda similar to Skeletonwitch in some respects, actually.

  • WowWee!

    Can’t wait for da new limp bizket album brah!!!

  • LULWUT

    Is it just me or does this REALLY just seem like a cheap way of saying “Oops, I fucked up when I used slurs to describe my fan base and may have offended them, let me throw them some shit I wasn’t going to use anyways”

    I’m not sold Dallas, I don’t preach political correctness but words based solely on hate and discrimination don’t exactly come through as with “love”. I spend a good portion of my professional life putting a stop to hatred, and to see someone in a position of influence such as yours to just write off homophobic slurs as “out of love” or because you were “dealing with weird bullshit” isn’t acceptable. I appreciate what you may be going through, but that doesn’t excuse your actions.

    Best of luck with whatever you’re dealing with behind closed doors, just be sure to leave it behind those doors

  • uLy

    2010 is going to be a bad year for metal. no major releases are planned this year really. 2009 was just so fantastic with all the tours and everything how can this year match up?

  • Dysenteric

    The only releases with confirmed dates I’m looking forward to are the Phlegethon demo compilation and the new Immolation. The Pig Destroyer should be good too. That’s it.

    I don’t really like looking forward to the year ahead, if I did, I would either find myself counting down the days until something good gets released (that’s already happening with the Phlegethon), or a release date may get pushed back etc. I prefer to have the year give me stuff I didn’t expect.

  • Facebook User

    Definitely looking forward to Devin Townsend’s new release. And anything Scott Hull is involved with.

  • ChowNasty

    All I want in 2010 is the new Agalloch album.

    • http://www.omimetal.wordpress.com The Greys

      Amen to that.

  • SP420

    I’m really hoping Sabbat comes out with a new album. There has been rumors of it since 2008 and it’s just so painful for it to continue and meander in purgatory like this.

  • joshkid

    Pumped for some new Disturbed music. Indestructible was awesome, and they’re getting better every album, so this should be a good one.

  • http://www.easttexasunderground.net DaylightReckoning

    Sounds good, and it only took me a day to get around to listening. lol
    Hope you can get a good group together and get some releases and some shows.

    I’d suggest hitting up East Texas for some shows, you would be surprised how many fangirls you have around here (if you’re into that kind of thing. Hah!)

  • Rachel

    Opeth, Wintersun, Cynic, Devin Townsend, and I have a soft spot for SOAD and I am really hoping they get back together and make an album. Good year in my books. Dallas, I respect anyone that can write down what they hear in their head, so keep up the good work!

  • DEATHFUCKINGMETAL

    OK posers and children. Forget about next year. If you’re that excited about a new SOAD record, you have some catching up to do from ’09: Obscura: Cosomogensis, Funebrarum: The Sleep of Morbid Dreams, Faust: From Glory to Infinity, Fleshgod Apocalypse: Oracles, Gorod: Process of a New Decline. Oh yeah, there was some good thrash and black too if you decide you still like “metal” after listening to the listed albums. Now go reconsider that Incubus debate, you hardcore headbangers.

    • http://thenumberoftheblog.wordpress.com/ groverXIII

      I’m excited about a new SOAD album, and I loved the Obscura, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and Gorod albums you mentioned (with Obscura and Gorod both making my top 25 list and Fleshgod Apocalypse was an honorable mention.

      I like to keep an open mind. And SOAD has been a favorite of mine for a long time.

  • dadie_killforweed

    i don’t like Dallas Coyles face nor do i care about his hardships.

  • Hammer_Smashed_Hurtt

    Apology Accepted.

  • Kevlard

    your music sucks and you’re still a douchecanoe. now go die in a fire dallas.

  • Me

    I don’t like the sludgy guitar riffs you have going in the heavier songs. Music doesn’t work for me. I do like the more experimental type songs (Push, Shove and I’m Going Away Now). Those songs, if well-produced, would sound cool with the sinister, layered clean vocals.

  • http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A43JOxLa5MM Some Random Dude

    this decade is gonna fuckin rock! I predict the extinction of the emo, shitloads of killer chronic, and most likely quite a few good albums. Unless the world ends in 2012. that’ll put a stopper on shit.

  • large jockstrap

    you’re all sucky up now, cos you’ve been a dick recently, and you want us to give a shit about your new music

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Brandon-Black/100000083959317 Brandon Black

    im lookin forward to new music from

    parkway drive
    the ghost inside
    the acacia strain ?
    hed p.e.
    most precious blood
    remembering never
    stick to your guns
    suicide silence dvd
    terror
    this or the apocalypse
    through the eyes of the dead

    thats all i can think of right now oh and as always a new kottonmouth kings album

  • Trux

    Orphaned Land and Nevermore !!!!!!

  • chtimixeur

    I’m really liking the new songs. The riffs definitely have a GF feeling (im loving I’am an animal and king Deathdog), and I always felt clean vocals would suit your music better. All the best for the next future !

    By the way, when you sang “I Am The King Of The Bitches”, I really thought you were talking about this Metal Sucks blog.

  • Elektrikg1

    NEW for 2010? There is this band that claims they are from unknown Kadaath by the name We All Have Day Jobs. My friend played me their EP from a year ago and I can’t get enough. I must have listened to it like, 500 times by now. It’s soooo heavy, and I think they have a new one coming out next month:) Here is a link to their myspace page—http://www.myspace.com/bluecollarbrutality.

  • Mike

    James: solidly put in his place. Well-played, Dallas. I like this polite version of you.

  • http://www.mypropane.net Pauly

    Yo Dallas,

    I just love it man!
    Awesome vocs on crossroads.

    Shit man…inspiring stuff

    Good luck!

  • http://www.myspace.com/rebirthofhumanity James

    Dallas,
    You can say whatever you want about my music(although, openly, I do admit that I appreciate you being honest) but remember this,

    The name “From The Shadows” is no better, or worse than “God Forbid”. Don’t act like you spent weeks on end thinking of some incredible band name, because God Forbid is EQUALLY as good/bad as “From The Shadows”. There’s no doubt about that.

    Secondly, I could write something up much more professional but at the time I was in a pretty big rush to get things up and going. I didn’t bother(although when I get more free time i’ll write up something much better, thank you).

    Third, I do need to work on my writing. I ALWAYS do. I’ll never be a good enough writer and I hope one day to be able to write better and better music. However, I work full-time and I have a mortgage, bills, etc and I unfortunately can’t be in a band and I can’t play guitar 24.7(because I doubt even being in a SUCCESSFUL band such as Trivium or Unearth could pay my mortgage).

    Finally,
    Thanks for adding me to Soundclick. I just uploaded a new song called “The Heart of Blackness”. You can tell me how bad I suck because you know i’d tell you!
    -James