You can’t blame me for being wary of a solo project by Kevin Hufnagel, the guitarist for Dysrhythmia and the revived Gorguts. To kneejerk cynics like yours truly, it spells disaster: a clusterfuck of riffs and solos too noodly for either of those bands would be saying something. And the other end of the spectrum could be worse: an acoustic project that’s 40 minutes of empty, gnarled arpeggios reverberating off of nothing but the listener’s dwindling patience. Good guitarists left to their own devices run a higher risk of getting lost so far up their own asses that their spines snap like popsicle sticks. So thank our goddamn lucky stars that Hufnagel (a man who’s name seems to be destined to be shouted by Jerry Lewis) chose to instead make a beautiful album filled with lush, amorphous textures in Transparancies. A far, far cry from the dissonant prog/avant-metal of his most well-known bands, it’s just shy of forty-five minutes of densely textured abstractions that wander back and forth through emotional residencies, but never definitively landing in one. But it’s the ambiguousness that drives Transparencies, often reaching for a point that may or may not be there.

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Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…

Decibel Deleted Scenes time. We couldn’t quite cram this into the splattered entrails of January’s Cryptopsy HOF, but Adrien Begrand compiled some stirring None So Vile testimonials from the technical death metal legends’ peers. Here are those musicians’ choice cuts on our latest inductee.

John Longstreth (Gorguts, Origin)

“Slit Your Guts”—what an amazing death metal song, right? That screamy, shrill intro piece—it sounds like they were paying homage to a drill press. The stop at 0:25, the solo is beautiful, the opening lyrics are “Pardon, please…” Holy cow, what went wrong with these guys? Some sort of rotten black brilliance was causing some serious torment in these dudes’ heads. How else could it be written? Definitely a poignant and early representation of how nail-biting, nervous and strung-out death metal would come to sound. A definite influence for me and Origin. Thank you for this song and album! Congratulations, gentlemen! You deserve it!

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Kevin Hufnagel, the guitar player from Dysrhythmia and Gorguts, is releasing his second solo album in January via his own Nightfloat Recordings imprint. And, really, the phrase “Kevin Hufnagel is releasing an album” should prompt nothing from you but a response of “Where can I pre-order it?” ‘Cause that dude rules.

And the answer to you very appropriate question is: you can pre-order Transparencies, the second solo album Hufnagel, right at this web page, where you can also stream two songs. Everyone who pre-orders Transparencies with receive a digital download a month before the album’s official release date, plus immediate downloads of the aforementioned streaming tracks. Of course, you need to pre-order nothing to watch the above trailer for the album — which was done by Romanian artist Costin Chioreanu using photographs by Hufnagel himself — but after watching the trailer, you should go ahead and pre-order it like I was just telling you too a second ago.

Hufnagel will also be hitting the road later this week for a brief tour in support of Transparencies. You should really go see this fella live… he’s so good fingers, he makes me feel like a total Labonte. Here are dates:

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MetalSucks recently polled its staff to determine who are The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists, and after an incredible amount of arguing, name calling, and physical violence, we have finalized that list! The only requirements to be eligible for the list were that the musician in question had to a) play metal (duh), b) play guitar (double-duh), and c) have recorded something in the past five years. Today we continue our countdown with Colin Marston from Krallice and Behold… The Arctopus…

Colin Marston is one of the youngest guitarists on our list, and his primary creative outlets (Krallice, Dysrhythmia, Behold…the Arctopus) haven’t yet reached the legendary status of so many of the other bands graced by the other 24 inductees. But in terms of his stylistic breadth and the scope of his abilities, Marston is in a league of his own.

There isn’t a signature Colin Marston guitar sound or style. Instead, Marston expertly adapts his talents to fit the project in question. On one end of the spectrum is Byla, the ambient guitar duo that Marston shares with Kevin Hufnagel; the project is all about abstraction and texture. On the other end is Behold…the Arctopus, a band that thrives on over-the-top virtuosity, deployed in the wackiest of ways – and let’s not forget that Marston executes all of Behold…’s atonal tone rows on a 12-string Warr guitar, which means he’s essentially shredding on two instruments at once. Somewhere in between those two poles is Krallice, in which Marston’s guitar lines intertwine with Mick Barr’s, creating ever-shifting harmonic patterns that tickle the ears like few black metal bands do. No matter what the guitar idiom, Marston has mastered it. No wonder that Luc Lemay asked him to join Gorguts as bassist. By the looks of the live footage from Gorguts’ 2010 mini-tour, it would seem like Marston’s fitting in just fine.

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Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…

And now, it’s the time of the week you’ve all been waiting for: the three-hour window your folks are out of the house, allowing you to jack off comfortably Decibel’s monthly Guess Next Month’s Cover and Win a Decibot Shirt Contest! I’m going to predict this will be the first “FIRST” to get the answer right —provided, of course, that the band/musician/farm animal we’re spotlighting is in fact typed out below the “FIRST.” Unless the first person who sees this types in “System of a Down,” just to be a dick/radical. That said, it’s been a few years since System of a Down proper existed — although who hasn’t enjoyed the “Five Serj Tankian Solo Albums Nobody Cares About/Bassist ‘n’ Friend Randomly Beating the Shit Out of Brent Hinds Era” — so they could ostensibly be rocking spiked wristbands now.

But no, it’s not System of a Down. There’s your hint.

-AB

Decibel’s June 2011 issue, which features Ghost, Killing Joke, Mastodon, Hate Eternal, Gorguts, Protest the Hero, Born of Osiris, and Scale The Summit is available here, or make your mama proud and just get a full subscription.

Before there were blogs there were these things called magazines, and the only metal magazine we still get excited about reading every month is Decibel. Here’s managing editor Andrew Bonazelli…

There’s been a lot of buzz about remaking The Crow with Bradley Cooper. Because, you know, nothing conveys goth-punk flair, existential angst and an unyielding appetite for vengeance like the frat guy who probably stuffed fans of the original into lockers. The producers should’ve just gone to Killing Joke mastermind Jaz Coleman. Not only would it at least be novel to see a 50-year-old Crow, but he’s been dressing the part for years.

In 1980, Coleman and his band were bloodthirsty rebels in spirit, not image. Their eponymous E.G. Records debut careened unpredictably between post-punk, metal, prog, disco and what we now know as industrial. Killing Joke influenced, well, pretty much everybody in the interior and exterior of Decibel and MetalSucks’ Venn diagram. (If you’ve never heard them, somehow, drop a jaw at the third paragraph of their Wiki page.) Add incendiary, prophetic, political screeds to taste, and you’ve got a recipe for a wicked Hall of Fame, appearing in our Ghost issue.

As usual, author Chris Dick went above and beyond to make this HOF one of the most thorough Killing Joke interviews ever; hence, we have reams of bonus content. Here’s a little bonus bloodsport to whet your appetite.

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The last time Gorguts released an album was in 2001, during my very extended break from metal (which lasted from roughly 1996 through 2003). Much like with those Dying Fetus reissues Relapse is putting out, the band’s recent activity has been an impetus for me to listen to what I’d missed during all those years I was rabidly collecting live Pink Floyd bootlegs (#srsly). And as all of you who are tr00er than me and who came out of the womb listening to metal and never once stopped surely know, shit is mad sick bro. For once, the hype is justified; I was floored when I witnessed them crush Brooklyn last year with Portal and Krallice… must… have… more… immediately. Death metal wins. This is the band whose album tech-death titans Obscura named their own band after, for chrissakes.

Perhaps no death metal record is more anticipated in 2011 than the one Gorguts are working on now, save maybe Morbid Angel’s return. Various Internet chatter over the weekend steered me towards Gorguts’ MySpace page, where the band has posted a pre-production demo of a new song (appropriately titled “New Song (pre-production)” at the bottom of the player). I’m not sure how long this track has been posted so I’m not sure how new it is, but it’s there now, and it rips. There’s also a new material sampler track (called “New Material (sample)”!) with clips from various other pre-pro demos including “Number Three,” which they debuted live last year. Start your Monday off on the right foot and go check these tunes out now. No word yet on when the album will be released or what it will be called.

-VN

Colin Marston of Behold… The Arctopus, Krallice, Gorguts and Dysrhythmia is one of those incredibly talented dudes who does it all and makes my jealousy bones fill with tension. Aside from being an incredibly accomplished guitarist and bassist and a member of FOUR (!) sweet bands that are all active, he runs his own studio in Queens, NY where he and his Newsted have recorded, produced and mixed countless metal albums. Whatever assclown is on the cover of your favorite guitar magazine this month, he probably isn’t half as talented and versatile as Marston.

The Deciblog has premiered a video of Marston taking Scion A/V on a tour through his studio, and since we delight in this kind of nerdery and know you will too we figure it’s highly worthy of a re-post. Colin talks about his guitars (look at that Warr!), his amp setup, how his studio is set up and his thoughts on the digital vs. analog recording debate. I recommend full-screening this video for maximum dorkery.

-VN

Once upon a time in the magical land of Roadrunner, there was a sweet death metal band called Gorguts. While the gods did not smile upon them enough to make them very popular, their first two albums were masterpieces of 90s death metal– especially their second LP, Erosion of Sanity. Nobody would accuse them of being the most original band, but all of the good people throughout the land of Roadrunner agreed that these albums were full of sick pitt riffment, and we asked the Lord to bless them for providing us with these two archives of brutality.

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I was catching up on my Deciblog today when I came across the below video for “And Clash and Clash of Hoof and Heel,” by Sailors with Wax Wings. The outfit is apparently a side-project for Pyramids’ R. Loren, so I now have to admit that although our friend Corey Mitchell is a Pyramids fan, I really don’t know much about the band and can’t comment on them. But I can say that between the quality of the below song and the list of guests who apparently appear on the Sailors with Wax Wings album (including but not limited to Katatonia’s Jonas Renkse, Swans’ Ted Parsons, My Dying Bride’s Aaron Stainthorpe, and Colin “Best Haircut EVER” Marston from Krallice, Dysrhythmia, Gorguts, Behold… The Arctopus, and a million other bands), I plan to check this record out ASAP.

As for the video itself, well… it’s pretty bizarre. I kept expecting there be some kind of “twist” or whatever, but, nope. Just pure, unadulterated strangeness. Still, I was never able to take my eyes off of it… I find it oddly compelling. Hypnotic, even. And, like I said, I dig the music.

Check this out, then weigh in with your thoughts in the comments section below.

-AR

YouTube user SoulsideJourneySucks may have a dumb name (it is the only good Darkthrone album, back when they still sounded like early Gorguts), but when it comes to making tutorials on metal subgenres that have no currency despite being incredibly obscure, he really knows his stuff.

I think he meant this video as a joke, but the truth is that it’s pretty accurate. I think you will agree that with this tutorial and a few hours of work, with your mom’s laptop you could be next Cemetery Rapist!

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Footage from last night’s show courtesy unARTigNYC

Before Portal took the stage at the Knitting Factory in Brooklyn last night, some variation of the same phrase was on pretty much everyone’s lips: The singer had better be wearing a clock on his head. I heard at least one person threaten to riot if the performane was clock-less, and another drunken dude simply shout “THE CLOCK!” as we waited for the performance to begin. I mean, everyone has obviously seen the live videos, and as if Portal’s totally original, completely bizarre brand of metal didn’t distinguish them enough from the rest of the pack, well, the whole clock-mask thing certainly helped push them that extra mile.

Shame on us for making any comments that might have been interpreted as having a laugh at the band’s expense. Portal put us in our place.

For the singer – he goes by the moniker “The Curator” – was not wearing a clock on his head. Instead, he was basically dressed in an all-black Pope costume, while his bandmates – guitarists Horror ILLogiuM and Aphotic Mote, bassist Omenous Fugue, and drummer Ignis Fatuus – wore their traditional executioner’s masks and, in one case, a noose. (Oddly enough, Bloody Panda did not wear their executioner’s masks. I heard a rumor that Portal’s masks couldn’t get a work visa, so Blood Panda donated theirs instead. No idea if there’s any truth to that.*) But  this in no way way diminished the impact of the band’s performance, which was totally unique, unsettling, and challenging.

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So Vince and I checked out Gorguts, Portal, and Krallice (and, yes, some of Bloody freakin’ Panda) last night… needless to say, it was an all-around excellent experience. I’m gonna try and get a review of Portal’s performance up later today, because I think they specifically deserve some attention, so unique is their stage show. But I’d be remiss if I didn’t show Gorguts and Krallice some love, too, ’cause those bands kill.

The good news/bad news of the evening was that Gorguts mainman Luc Lemay announced from the stage that while he and the rest of the group’s current line-up (which includes Dysrhythmia’s Kevin Hufnagel on guitar, Krallice/Behold… the Arctopus’ Colin Marston on bass, and Origin’s John Longstreth on drums) are working on a new album (as expected), they won’t hit the studio until “late fall” or “Christmas,” which means this release obviously won’t see the light of day ’til 2011.

But they did perform a new song, which, for now, is simply called “Number Three;” and they’ve been performing it this entire tour, I guess, ’cause our buddies over at Metal Injection have some righteous footage of the band playing it in Boston earlier this week. Check it out:

Gorguts, Krallice, and Portal all play Philly tonight and Maryland Deathfest this weekend. You absolutely should not miss them.

-AR

Tonight Vince and I are hitting up one of those nifty pre-MDF shows, this one with Gorguts (YES!), Krallice (YES!!), Portal (YES!!!), and Bloody Panda (whatever). And as stoked as I am to see Gorguts and Krallice, for me, personally, the expected highlight is Portal. Listening to Swarth for the first time is still one of the biggest “What the fuck is this?” moments of my life. And the readers who have e-mailed us about the previous stops on this mini-tour have all raved. And, to my surprise and delight, tonight’s show is already sold out.

The trek hits Philly tomorrow, and then MDF, of course, is this weekend. Here’s some footage of Portal playing Outre‘s “Black Houses” last night night in Allston, MA.

-AR

Krallice blew my mind when I first saw them at the 2009 incarnation of Scion Rock Fest in Atlanta, and since then I’ve been fighting to re-live that very special performance. When they played Union Pool in Brooklyn a couple of months ago the venue was so packed that I was essentially just listening to them play from outside; not a good experience. And though I missed their recent April 18th performance with Ludicra at Club Europa in Brooklyn, I’ll have a chance to see them again with Gorguts and Portal when they come back to Brooklyn in May. If it’s even close to as epic as the April 18th video below, I can’t wait.

-VN

Krallice | NYC @ Europa | 18 Apr 2010 from (((unartig))) on Vimeo.

Not Krallice. I don’t want you to be confused, because I start this blog by talking about Krallice.

Krallice live is truly something to behold. After checking them out at the inaugural Scion Fest last year, Vince wrote the following about them:

Krallice’s intense psychedelic black metal had me captivated with every turn after twisted turn their music took. Most of the time there weren’t any vocals, which placed the emphasis squarely on the epic, monstrous, riveting compositions. All I could do was stand and watch as each moment was more grand than the last… Krallice are a band with zero pretention and no corpsepaint; just killer, awesome black metal. And fucking INTENSE… that’s the word I keep coming back to. The band played the shit out of their instruments with a passionate fervor you just don’t see in most bands.

If you haven’t seen these dudes live before, well, you should soon get a chance; not only are they spending the second half of April on the road with Ludicra, but now they’re committed to a (too-) brief tour with the reunited Gorguts, Australia’s incredible Portal, and Bloody Panda.

That’s quite a line-up! GORGUTS!!! And who knows when the hell Portal will make it back to the States. Apparently their live show is really something to behold. I don’t know about you guys, but I fully intend to go the show with a clock on my head.

Get dates on Krallice’s MySpace page.

-AR

So I was working on the proper follow-up to my article “Anatomy of a Record Contract,” which, for all you aspiring bands out there, will be an in-depth guide to self-releasing a metal album.  I was finishing up a section listing effective methods for shipping merchandise, and I wrote a sentence that made me pause and realize how incredibly fortunate I am:

“To aid with packaging orders, your own family is potentially a valuable resource.”

Now family is a delicate subject for some, as it is for me on my father’s side.  But overall in Cormorant, we’ve all been blessed with family members supportive of our music.  While we were holed up for two weeks recording Metazoa, Matt Solis’s father visited us brandishing a mighty cauldron of chicken mole, and his brother Andrew contributed the album’s awesome keyboard tracks.  We’re very grateful for the horrible racket Brennan Kunkel’s poor grandparents were kind enough to endure when we practiced in their living room or garage, and all the beautiful operatic female vocal work on our albums comes courtesy of his sister Deborah Spake.  Nick Cohon’s dad actually tracked the rain stick parts on our song “Ballad of Beast” and did a hell of job of it.  On my end, my aunt Deborah Tibbetts contributed her significant graphic design skills to fashion the look of our EP The Last Tree, and my grandmother, despite being in her 70s (but still spry), comes to rock out at most of our shows.  My girlfriend Amber’s parents Alison and Greg Nelson and brother Ben have backed us for years, and her father not only helped us construct the sound-proof practice studio where we composed Metazoa, but he actually built the bass and one of the primary guitars you hear on the album.

And then there’s my mom.

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Italian experimental metallers Carnal Rapture sent us their latest 5-song EP several months ago, and though I only just got to listen to it recently… HOLY SHIT!

The first good sign was the design of the CD itself: one side is completely silver and one side is completely black (but not silkscreened — the plastic is actually black). After inserting the CD into my computer silver-side down as I would most CDs, my computer spit that shit right back out at me. Having the black side be the side with the audio on it? METAL!

But most importantly, Carnal Rapture’s style of metal is like nothing I’ve ever heard before. Seriously. And you know we hear a LOT of shit (I mean that in both senses of the word “shit”) here at the MS Mansion. Carnal Rapture certainly take inlfluence from progressive extreme metal bands like Cynic and Gorguts, but theirs is a much more modern, refined, completely new, and yes, much heavier sound. And while their music is certainly “technical” to be sure, it doesn’t veer anywhere near the modern tech-death “weedily weedily” fests that newer bands like Gorod and Obscura peddle (I love these bands too, but I’m just sayin’). Carnal Rapture take things way more in a decidedly jazzy direction… heavy as fuck jazz, naturally. The only current band I’d even moderately liken them to would be Intronaut, specifically that band’s early material. This is music that’s heavy, heady, progressive, technical, jazzy, artful, concise… pretty much everything I look for in a new band.

So upon opening and listening to this stellar gem of a record, I emailed the band’s vocalist and guitarist Emilio Trillo to ask his permission to post a track. Here it is, “Precious Time,” the EP’s opening number. I hope you like it as much as I do. If you’d like to hear more, visit Carnal Rapture on MySpace.

Carnal Rapture – “Precious Time”

-VN

Dysrhythmia are the Kevin Bacon of metal. The band’s connected to Behold…the Arctopus, Krallice, Spastic Ink and Gorguts within one degree of separation, Cannibal Corpse, Origin, Bloody Panda, The Red Chord, Orthrelm and Watchtower by another. Guitarist Kevin Hufnagel and bassist Colin Marston both have solo projects, and play together in the ambient guitar duo Byla. Try to draw a Dysrhythmia family tree, and you’d end up with a massive tangle of nodes and lines that resembles one of those three-dimensional diagrams of a complex molecule. Converted into notes, it would probably sound like the music on Dysrhythmia’s fifth album, Psychic Maps.

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