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Featured, Music Premieres

EXCLUSIVE PREMIERE: BATTLECROSS, “BREAKING YOU”

Wednesday, July 6th, 2011 at 1:20pm by

Battlecross - Pursuit of Honor

Guitarists Tony Asta and Hiran Deraniyagala of Detroit’s Battlecross are childhood friends just like Axl and Vince — ain’t that cute? But for realz, there’s a certain kind of chemistry that comes with knowing someone for so long, and in the case of Battlecross, Metal Blade Records’ latest signees, you can hear it in the tightness, conciseness and stellar riffery of their MB debut Pursuit of Honor. In their more melodic moments Battlecross remind us a lot of another band started by a set of childhood friends, God Forbid (brothers are technically childhood friends, right?) — check out the song “Push Pull Destroy,” available for streaming here — although the song “Breaking You,” which MetalSucks is exclusively premiering below, is one of the fastest, leanest, thrashiest cuts of meat this album has to offer and represents Battlecross at their heaviest and most unique.

Pursuit of Honor comes out on August 2nd; pre-order the record here. Battlecross are definitely a band to keep your eye on… look for them all over the place very soon.

[this streaming promotion has ended]

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  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Joseph-Schafer/40902026 Joseph Schafer

    Hiran and Tony are two of the best dudes I know, and Battlecross are an absolutely stellar band.

    HAIL DETROIT! HAIL MICHIGAN

  • Douche baggins

    Pretty straightforward, generic metal. Nothing to jizz over. Surprised Victory records didn’t snatch these guys up first. That label is full of generic shit.

    • Prolifik

      If they sound generic, what other bands do they sound like? I think its a pretty refreshing sound with the blur of countless “metalcore” bands these days in metal. I personally think it sounds pretty damn good!

      • Blip

        Who do they sound like? Well, there was this band called Pantera in the mid-90s…

        • Prolifik

          I can definitely hear some Pantera influence in their music, as well as some hints of other great bands they obviously must’ve listened to while growing up that left an impression. I would be honored to be compared to Pantera, as they were a highly talented & successful band, but to say Battlecross is a generic version of Pantera?

  • James

    TBDM pointed me towards their self-titled which I thought was really good.
    Very technically proficient musicians with a great sound.

    On this song I wish there was less “start and stop”, right when they get going
    the tempo changes and stutters.

    Anticipating the album as a whole though.

  • d00shc00gr

    I’m just gonna say… I tried a few times in 2008-2009 to tell Vince and Axl that Battlecross were the shit and it was a travesty that they were unheard of… and vince scoffed at me from atop his high horse, declaring it was the most unoriginal, tasteless crap he’d heard that day. Now you love them because they’re on MB. Seriously fuck you guys. Battlecross has kicked serious ass for the past 4+ years

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Robert-Denner/509204684 Robert Denner

      Don’t you know that every music reviewer is a media whore sellout? they have no clear opinion on anything and only triumph that which goes big. Battlecross is an amazing band, and I’ve heard so much self-righteous bullshit from sites like this. They branded them generic and now they’re all on their dicks because they want to be able to score exclusives like this. There should be a new review site called “FuckMetalSucks.com”

      There are so many better metal review sites out there aside from these douchebags. Have some integrity for gods sake!

    • http://www.metalsucks.net Vince Neilstein

      LOL U MAD!!

      1. We regularly decline offers for exclusive premieres from Metal Blade and all the other labels. I can see why you’d think we’re jocking Battlecross’ nutz because they’re on MB now, but it just isn’t the case.

      2. Everyone is entitled to change their opinion, right? Especially when it’s a completely new album with better songs, better production etc. I do remember you pitching me on Battlecross a few years back. Also, I stand by my opinion that Battlecross aren’t the most original band on the planet.

      3. If you like Battlecross so much you should be happy they’re featured on MS now, not spiteful.

      -VN

      • http://www.metalblade.com/battlecross Your Mom

        1. This is true. I am vouching for that. We are pleased that MetalSucks decided to premiere Breaking You… it was uncertain that they would until today. We are honored to be among those awesome bands and friends like Woe of Tyrants, Chimaira, Sepultura, DevilDriver, Unearth and others who have had singles or videos launched on MetalSucks. If anything, we’re jockin’ MetalSuck’s nuts. Just kidding.

        2. Don’t forget, a new vocalist too. A much stronger Battlecross has evolved since the 3song demo.

        3. Very pleased.

  • REDSKY

    Battlecross and As They Sleep are the best rising Detroit bands since TBDM.

    That is all.

    • 3PDDrummer

      Slow your role there redsky!!! All 3 bands mentioned are great, but do NOT limit Detroit to just 3!!!! Are you crazy?!! I guess you don’t make it out much cuz I can run down a list of other GREAT Detroit bands that will probably never get any recognition aside from this right here. Anyone who really gives a shit should check 3 Parts Demon, Inhaling the Plague, Teratoma, Flesh Eating Flesh, The Devastator, and a whole shit ton more that I cant think of right now.

      P.S. Its been years since I even heard the name “As They Sleep”.

      • old guy

        what about I Decline?

  • http://www.alexmorganimaging.com ALEXMORGANIMAGING.com

    Hell yeah, those are our dudes. Best buddy band ever.

  • GuitarZan

    I’m happy for these guys. They seem to have come a long way since 3 months ago when we were playing the same dives together in Lansing in front of 15 people that couldn’t give a fuck less.

  • Curmudgeon

    I knew I would like them just from seeing the album cover.

  • http://facebook.com/burnthehearse Daryl

    Really great guys, great band and on a great label. For those that call them generic, really? You need to see them live. That’ll shut you up.

    Detroit has a wealth of metal talent. These guys have been at the front of it for several years now.

    And Hiran and Tony are great guys. I would have their babies. ;-)

    - Daryl

  • http://www.alexmorganimaging.com ALEXMORGANIMAGING.com

    Surprise Surprise. A new band gets signed and out come the people that are jealous and think their band is way more “original” or that this band isn’t “original” enough. I’m one of the biggest Pantera fans in the world, and I have played at least a dozen shows with Battlecross. I even toured with a band from LA…..played 25 shows across the entire country, and Battlecross was obviously the best band we played with. I bet that the people who talk the most shit on here have bands too that think they deserve to get “signed” or whatever. We all started bands to have a good time in the first place………it sure makes it fun whenever your surrounded by a bunch of jealous shit talking people that think their shit doesn’t stink. It seems to be the norm in this genre. And the best part is that the people who talk the most shit are always the people that stay anonymous on their forum posts.

    One more thing about the Pantera thing. If Battlecross is ripping off Pantera, that means that 90% of this genre is ripping off Pantera. People always say that if a band isn’t straight up deathmetal, then they sound like Pantera. I don’t hear any blatant pentatonic blues riffing going on. The drums are obviously more tech than mid 90′s Pantera……and Gumby isn’t singing in blues scales either. Your saying a thrash band sounds like Pantera?

    I’m looking forward to the anonymous douchebaggery that follows this comment. The fact is is that the people that talk the most shit are the people that are contributing the least to everyones cause in this genre. Just stay in your basement and keep the rest of us out of your shitty life.

    Saying a band sounds like Pantera isn’t “original” and neither is talking shit on a forum post. Just start your own website……….and get your own fanbase of assholes with shitty taste together…..and celebrate not having what it takes to be in the same class as the people you talk shit about.

  • TommytheGreek

    Seconded…wait..thirded? Fourthed? AT ANY RATE, HATERS GET FUCKED!

    I don’t need to divulge into how great or how hardworking or how genuine they are. Just go check them out live, and let them kick your teeth down into sacks!

  • Goribis

    When you listen to metal, you expect certain elements. Without them, it’s not metal, or it’s crappy metal. Battlecross has all those elements, and rock them in their own unique way, as different as you can. Just watch them live and you will understand.

  • G.W. Isenhath

    push pull destroy….never leaves my car deck !!!!!!! im a big fan now i just listened to
    Breaking You……..way to go guys love it love it love it !!!!!!!!!……….i believe BATTLECROSS is on their way to greatness…..hey guys…….its time to destroy the world !!!!!!!!!!!!!

    OLD METAL DUDE …..aka G.W. Isenhath

  • Douche baggins

    Ahhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!! Generic or not I’ll listen to this more often than any other bullshit on the radio or half the shit released on a daily basis. Take er easy fellas. Not tryin to shit in your grits. I’d go see these dudes play if they came to my city.

  • http://www.thebutchershopshow.com the “ButcherShop” Radio Show

    it’s about Freak’n Time! We’ve been crushing the heads of metal mainiacs in Michigan and all over the world (on the stream) with the brutal assault of BattleCross from the beginning on the “ButcherShop” Radio Show on WKUF-LP 94.3 FM in Flint, Michigan.

    Remember Stay Brutal, Rock hard…or don’t bother.

    Peace

    RT
    Producer/Host
    The “ButcherShop” Radio Show
    WKUF-LP 94.3 FM
    Flint, Michigan USA
    http://www.thebutchershopshow.com Friday nights from 9pm till 12 midnight (EST)

  • CUZ-O

    Woulda bought stock in Battlecross years ago. Best song drops next! All great songs, but Man of Stone…Hands down favorite.

    • JoshBtS

      Totally agreed with you there! Every song they have is nothing short of fantastic, but I could literally listen to just Man of Stone all day everyday, Don’s bass makes me wanna cream my jeans!

    • http://www.facebook.com/people/Rick-Titus/500036163 Rick Titus

      Right on Cuz-o, Great song!!! (and a local staple for the last 5 years) from ONE of the greatest metal bands that Michigan has produced in the last 10 years…BOTTOM FUCKING LINE. Also a band full of some of the hardest working & nicest people in this scene, a scene known for elitist attitudes and fucking asshole egos.

      I am happy to call them all personal friends of mine and they deserve EVERY bit of success that comes their way. As to the allegations of being “generic”, I want to know the type of “ground-breaking” stuff these people who say that are listening too, cause I haven’t heard it. I can’t name one fucking band in ANY genre who doesn’t sound a bit like their influences. I also can’t name one band who is doing something truly ground-breakingly different and yet creating a catalog of songs I’d want to listen to over and over again.

      Battlecross’ music itself, is intense and unrelenting, technically proficient…yet not in a “look what I can do” bragging kind of way, although they certainly COULD do that. That kind of blatant studio showboating is bullshit and doesn’t create GREAT well-balanced songs…save it for the stage!!! Which, coincidentally is what the guys in BX do. (I’m talking to you Don!!!…you show-off Bass playing phenom!!! LOL). They play the songs on the album the SAME way they do live…mostly, LOL. THAT to me is talent…not seeing how many notes a guitarist can stuff into 2 measures, but how good and memorable a song that a group of people can create.

      Battlecross is by far some of the hardest hitting metal music I have yet to hear from ANY scene, that I’ve had the privilege of listening to (which is ALOT scenes…from a great deal of states and countries). So you people who hate on their success and discount a band based on your own preconceived notions of what is “cool” can simply go fuck yourselves. Go listen to your YOUR favorite bands, and let us celebrate and inform the more open-minded metal listeners of something THEY might like to hear. Letting those who are NOT familiar with BX to take a listen and make THEIR personal determination.

      And if I hear one more person mention Pantera I am just going to snap. No band is “like” Pantera, influenced yes, but Pantera was influenced by Judas Priest among thousands of others before them…yet no one says a thing about that, I never hear them called a “priest” rip-off? So fuck your comparisons. Pantera is GONE!!!, OVER AND DONE WITH!!!. Deal with it and fucking move on. Pantera didn’t “invent” metal, they simply played THEIR vision/version of it. Just like Battlecross. THAT’S the only comparison that should be made.

      ~Rick T.
      As Empires Decay

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Dan-Roshin-Wolfson/557092638 Dan Roshin Wolfson

    i like how some other song starts playing at the end

  • Weed Smoker Mt Clemens

    Hey,..Shut Up….Its Metal.

    Just like in the “Jay & Silent Bob” movie, “Any loser with a computer can sit in the basement and bitch about whats on the internet”.

    This site should be called “Metal Poopshoot.com”

    Go outside and do something

    \m/

  • Hurrrrrrrr

    SO glad these guys got signed. They deserved it!

  • http://www.facebook.com/people/Josh-Hibbs/100000275198178 Josh Hibbs

    Already pre-ordered the album! I’m still baffled at people saying Battlecross is generic, to me they are taking something old (i.e. Trash Metal) and combining it with elements of Tech-Death, and maybe even a little bit of “Core” ;although I don’t know if I should really say that, because it seems to be such a taboo word amongst the metal genre. Which in my opinion, is something that is pretty rare, or at least hard to find it done up to snuff, and I for one absolutely love it. Plus I will say what everyone else is saying. They are some of the nicest people you could EVER meet, and totally humble about everything, and their live show is in-comparable to anything else I can think of, and I have been to a lot of shows, and bigger concerts. Don’t be surprised when these dudes are re-shaping the metal genre for the better!!! Hail BATTLECROSS!!!

  • http://www.themacuniverse.com TMU-Kelly

    The cover reminds me S.O.D.

  • http://www.themacuniverse.com TMU-Kelly

    The cover reminds me S.O.D.