In case my oh-so-witty headline didn’t give it away, Corrosion of Conformity are hitting the road for a U.S. headlining trek. I haven’t seen the reunited CoC, but I’ve heard some people say they’re great and some people say they’re not so great… I guess this will be my chance to finally find out.

Support on most dates is coming from Torche, Valient Thorr, and A Storm of Light, so that’s a pretty nifty line-up — regular MS readers will already be aware that we’ve very sweet on Valient Thorr. But the first show of the run, on January 22 in Asheville, NC, will have support from Hail!Hornet — okay whatevs — and a screening of Slow Southern Steel, the documentary about southern metal that CT from Rwake made. That could be pretty sweet, too.

Here are all the dates:

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Kenneth Thomas, in a tunnel.

If you care about heavy music and still believe that art should trump commerce every time, you owe it to yourself to check out Blood, Sweat & Vinyl: DIY in the 21st Century. I’ve written about Kenneth Thomas’s music documentary in these e-pages before. After watching the film a second time, I’m even more convinced of its importance as both a document of bands that you rarely (if ever) got to hear from outside of the concert hall, and argument for the importance of underground music makers, making music underground. Thomas chose to keep the focus tight, centering on the musicians, artists and label heads associated with three independent labels that are doing things their own way: Hydra Head, Neurot Recordings and Constellation. While there are certain characters that emerge as the spiritual ballast for the film – Aaron Turner of Isis & Hydra Head, Steve von Till of Neurosis & Neurot, and Efrim Menuck of Godspeed You! Black Emperor, in particular – the overwhelming sense is of a giant inter-connected family of passionate people, united by nothing other than a desire to pursue truth and clarity through music.

Aside from a couple off-camera giggles during an adorable scene with Justin Broadrick (Jesu/Godflesh), Thomas himself doesn’t show up in his film. So we figured we’d find out what the director had to say about his opus.

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New releases from A Storm of Light, Anaal Nathrakh, Arsonsists Get All the Girls, Nader Sadek, Scar Symmetry and more; a good day for metal! Check out Vic Vaughn’s thoughts on today’s new albums after the break.

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Vince and I both have framed posters from the Neurosis/Mastodon shows in Brooklyn a few years back, which means we both have the words “A Storm of Light” on our respective walls. But that’s really incidental, ’cause they were one of the support acts for those shows. I’d be lying if I said I was an active fan of A Storm of Light; honestly, I don’t have very many feelings about them one way or the other.

But I guess Kim Thayil, a.k.a. The Coolest Member of Soundgarden, digs ‘em. ‘Cause he plays on a new track by the band, “Missing,” which is now streaming here.

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With Christmas nearly upon us, and “Best of 2009″ lists thankfully behind us, many people are hoping to ride out the rest of the year quietly without getting into arguments with their respective families. Due to the obligations of the holiday season and a general desire on the part of folks to do fuck-all, the final week of a given year typically doesn’t offer music lovers much in the way of live shows, unless you’re the type of degenerate willing to pay an inflated ticket price to watch a band play a truncated set with drunken, amateurish New Year’s Eve revelers hellbent on making monumental asses of themselves. And while I have every intention of honoring my New Year’s Eve tradition of locking myself in my panic room with a case of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Whiskey and several tins of Vienna Sausages, it would be impossible for me to pass up the chance to catch Coalesce, who are headlining a rare, one-off date on December 30th at Club Europa in Brooklyn, NY.

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The title of this post is intentionally sarcastic, so please don’t get cranky or confused! Still, I think we all can agree that the traditional single has become ever rarer with the rise of digital downloads. Though still in circulation, 7″ singles maintain a tenuous, uncertain existence even in the punk and hardcore scene. Clearly the demand for vinyl exists in the metal community, as savvy indies large and small produce (sometimes limited) wax versions of their releases. This, then, is why I anticipate at least some of you will be happy to hear that The End Records will release a 7″ of brand-new music from Brooklyn noise rockers Goes Cube.

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A Storm of Light, the post-Neurisis band fronted by Neurosis art collaborator / visual mastermind Josh Graham, have a new album called Forgive Us Our Trespasses that comes out today. Our friends at Brooklyn Vegan are streaming the video for the song “Tempest,” and unsurprisingly the video is really fucking cool-looking. Watch it at Brooklyn Vegan [pardon my earlier embed gaffe. -Ed.], and stream another brand new track called “Midnight” on ASOL’s MySpace page.

Brooklyn Vegan also tells us that so far A Storm of Light has only one US date on their calendar, a FREE album release show at Ace of Clubs on 10/12 joined by the always excellent Biclops and Naked Heroes. Following that the band will play at the Damnation Festival in the UK, after which they’ll head out on a full European tour with Minsk.

-VN

“Highly anticipated” does not even begin to describe the hype surrounding Shrinebuilder’s debut album. The doom supergroup features Saint Vitus / Obsessed / Spirit Caravan / Hidden Hand guitar hero Scott “Wino” Weinrich, Neurosis / Tribes of Neurot leader Scott Kelly, former Sleep and current Om bassist Al Cisneros, and Melvins drummer Dale Crover… basically THE definitive who’s who of doomo all-stars. Roadburn.com is now reporting that the album is finally coming this autumn via Neurot Recordings, and they’ve posted the breathtaking artwork by A Storm of Light’s Josh Graham (a small portion of which I’ve posted above). They also report that the band will play several gigs in the U.S. later this year with European dates to possibly follow.

Speaking of A Storm of Light, they’ve got a crushing new track called “Midnight” streaming on their own website (take that, MySpace!). The track comes from the new double-disc record Forgive Us Our Trespasses, due in September via Neurot as well.

Thanks to MS Maniac Charlie F. for the tips.

-VN

The lack of new music from New York’s noise rock royals Unsane has been a source of sadness for me considering the vicious and vibrant Visqueen record on Ipecac a few years ago. Every few months, I find myself visiting their MySpace page in the hopes that we might get a news of another album or even some tour dates. Thankfully, as I learned today, its members have gone on to new and interesting projects. Vinnie Signorelli drums for the talented post-metal combo A Storm Of Light, while bassist Dave Curran is making some cool shit with his fellow Pigs. I already knew about those two, but I was especially pleased to discover that Unsane’s founder Chris Spencer has a new project called Celan, which unsurprisingly bears a sonic semblance to the project he’s been toiling in since 1988. Check out tracks like “One Minute” or “All This And Everything” from the band’s upcoming album for Germany’s Exile On Mainstream Records and tell me they wouldn’t be out of place on an Unsane album. Other members of the band include Niko Wenner from Oxbow, so needless to say, I’m pretty fucking pumped for the forthcoming debut Halo, which will hit America officially this coming September.

If anyone needs me, I’ll be watching the Lambhouse bonus DVD from Relapse and laughing my ass off at the abundance of SKATEBOARD FAIL in the classic “Scrape” video.

-GS

I am currently in the midst of a signing tour for my latest book, PURE MURDER. Nothing helps me keep my sanity more when I am on the road paying outrageous sums of money for gas, dealing with complete fucking morons behind the wheel, and trudging through Texas-sized traffic jams than listening to heavy metal at full volume.

Here are some quick reviews of some of the metal I cranked on my recent trip to the Texas Prison Museum in Huntsville, Texas, home of “Sparky” the out-of-service electric chair, for a booksigning.

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