MetalSucks

February 19 can’t come soon enough. I just can’t believe how many potentially awesome albums are come out that day (see our sidebar for a complete list!); but the two I’m most excited about are Hate Eternal’s Fury and Flames and Genghis Tron’s Board Up the House.

So glory be to GT, who just posted another new song from that forthcoming album, entitled “Things Don’t Look Good,” on their MySpace page. And like the other two songs from the album on said MySpace page – the title track and “City on a Hill” – it’s absolutely stellar.

So head over there, already. If you’re not listening to Genghis Tron, you’re denying yourself one of the 21st century’s great pleasures.

-AR

Between Windstein and Jasta’s commitments to Down, Crowbar, Hatebreed, Icepick, and writing a friggin’ coffee table book, I had kind of assumed that Kingdom of Sorrow would be one of those supergroups that never actually played live. But, lo and behold, the band has begun to announce some tour dates:

Feb. 27 – Palladium – Worcester, Massachusetts
Feb. 28 – Ottobar – Baltimore, Maryland
Mar. 01 – Valentines – Albany, New York
Mar. 02 – Knitting Factory – New York, New York
Mar. 04 – El Macombo – Toronto, Ontario
Mar. 06 – Reggie’s Rock Club – Chicago, Illinois
Mar. 07 – Magic Stick – Detroit, Michigan

No word on whether or not the band will be traveling on that scary looking horse from their cover art.

Kingdom of Sorrow’s self-titled debut comes out February 19, a.k.a. the same day as half the other exciting winter metal releases (Genghis Tron, Hate Eternal, etc.). Relapse’s small and probably overworked PR department is about as dependable as a rumored release date for Chinese Democracy, so I guess I’ll have to wait for the frickin’ thing to leak just like the rest of you before I can judge the final product. In the meantime, I know where I’ll be on March 2.

-AR

UPDATE: Hey, look at that! The band just posted a new track, “Lead into Demise,” on their MySpace page. Suh-weet. 

Electrogrind masters Genghis Tron gave their fans a holiday gift in the form of posting another new song, “City On A Hill,” on their MySpace page. The track will appear on their forthcoming opus, Board Up the House.

The phrase “city upon a hill,” for those of you who didn’t complete the 8th grade, comes from John Winthrop’s 1630 sermon entitled “A Model of Christian Charity,” and was intended to suggest that America should act as the ideal template for all the people of the world: “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us.” Ronald Reagan later used the phrase in his farewell speech after leaving office in ‘89. So while I can’t exactly understand what GT front man Mookie Singerman is yelping about, I have to imagine it has something to do with how very, very disappointed he feels in the U.S. of A. these days.

Board Up the House was produced by Converge’s Kurt Ballou, and hits stores February 19.

-AR

HOLY. FUCKING. SHIT. Those were the only three words I could manage to conjure immediately following the insanity that was last night’s Dillinger Escape Plan show at the Blender Theatre here in NYC. And rarely has the word “show” so readily applied to a concert. DEP live inhabit a plane somewhere between the brutal, take-no-prisoners all-out-war of Henry Rollins-era Black Flag and the pyro-laden theatricality of Kiss in their prime. Put more simply: YOU HAVE TO GO SEE THIS BAND LIVE.

Click to read more…

Kory Grow’s Sadness is Delicious might have the best name of any blog on the web – except the darn thing hasn’t been updated since August. Luckily for fans of his writing, Mr. Grow continues to be prolific elsewhere, including a recent, brief interview he conducted with Genghis Tron’s Mookie Singerman for Paper Thin Walls. The interview sheds some light on the concept behind the band’s forthcoming album, Board Up the House, and, as bonus, there’s a high quality mp3 of the title track available for download. In case you somehow still haven’t heard this song on Genghis Tron’s MySpace page, well… let me just put it this way: I spent a recent Thursday night playing it on repeat for about an hour. It’s that fucking good.

Head over to Paper Thin Walls to check it out.

-AR

Genghis Tron have posted the title track from their forthcoming Relapse debut, Board Up the House, on their MySpace page – and I gotta say, it bodes really, really well for the album. Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou’s production is EPIC, and the song continues GT’s tradition of artfully blending grindcore with elements of electronica.

The difference between this and other Genghis Tron tracks, then, is the major leap forward in terms of songwriting – the track is somewhat more accessible than we’re used to from these guys, but I’d like to go on record right now as saying that any cries of “sell outs” are bullshit. Dark, moody, chock full of screeches and gothic choruses – GT are still in no danger of getting radio play anytime soon.

If all goes according to plan, Board Up the House will be released in February ‘08. We can’t wait.

-AR

When we’ve spoken about electro-grind act Genghis Tron in the past, at least a few of you have expressed a complete lack of interest in this band and anything they do; that’s too bad, because you’re missing out on one of the most creative bands out there right now – and they’re just hitting their stride.

Now they’ve completed what will be their Relapse debut, Board Up the House, with producer/Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou. In a press release, the band stated:

“After well over a year of very hard work, we’re incredibly happy and relieved to announce that we’ve finally finished our second album… The album sounds… huge. I’ll leave it at that. We’ve never been prouder. However, in lieu of spouting some self-serving hyperbole about achieving our twisted vision and/or making the best and most unique GT album to date, we’ll let the tunes speak for themselves. Keep your eyes and ears open for a preview track in the near future.”

The album won’t drop ’til February of next year, but you won’t have to wait that long to see these dudes live: they hit the road with Dillinger Escape Plan in December. Check out their MySpace page for tour dates.

-AR