Landmine Marathon are a competent death metal band. To their fans, that may sound blasphemous; to casual admirers, it may sound like I’m underselling them. But, really, isn’t that a compliment? To be a band that a) can play their instruments, b) can play their instruments without Pro-Tools tinkering, c) leave something of an impression all while d) still playing ball in the rigid rules and orthodoxies of death metal is quite a feat; we’re so conditioned to seek out the BEST OF THE BEST that sometimes it’s easy to forget that there are competent bands out there doing great work. So while I don’t think the metal world would be any different if Landmine Marathon weren’t in it, I’m certainly glad they’re around to roundhouse kicking motherfuckers in the face. And Gallows, their latest, is a great front-to-back listen of gruff, unpretentious death metal. Nothing more, and that’s for the best.

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So Warbringer have a new album coming out, which means, of course, that it’s time for a tour! And while I feel like I’ve seen Warbringer live approximately eighteen gajillion times (is there any other band that tours as much as these dudes?), support is going to come from Lazarus A.D., who are great live, Landmine Marathon, who are GREAT GREAT GREAT live, and Diamond Plate, who I’ve never seen before but I know are beloved by our own Bob Cock.

So if you love Warbringer, you’re obviously going to this, but even if you don’t, I’d encourage you to check out Lazarus A.D., Landmine Marathon, Landmine Marathon, and Landmine Marathon. Stand near the front, and Grace Perry may even jump into the crowd and knock a few of your teeth out. That lady has force, dude.

Here are tour dates:

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After listening to Psycho’s female blowtorch, Penny Torture, and Ava Inferi’s haunting distaff elemental, Carmen Susana Simões, I realized it’s time we just chill and admit that women are all-around better at this metal-singing thing.

Is this mad exaggeration? It feels like that when I’m away from an MPEG player, but then I listen to those two radically different bands, to Psycho’s primal-scream old school death or Ava Inferi’s doomed-out, gothy whatsit, and it feels I’m not over-reaching, I’m underselling.

And it’s not just two superior releases (Ava Inferi’s Onyx and Psycho’s Pain Addict Pigs). It’s just become impossible to ignore the fact that females are not only doing equal or better work in the same genre jobs as male counterparts, they’re also making metal records that go places no male on Earth — none, nada, zip-ol-lina — could go. That 2011’s best metal so far — Subrosa’s No Help for the Mighty Ones — is an almost all-femme effort of relentless pan-genre awesomeness only adds arsenic and new lace to my argumentative cake.

All of which may have the reader thinking, “You do realize, you silly person, that you’ve just written off the work of one half the human race.”

To which I say, “Yeah, well, I guess I’m pimping a little irony here, since that’s business as usual with women and the metal press. But irony aside, please bear with me.”

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Landmine Marathon’s last album, 2008′s Rusted Eyes Awake, was the tits. It’s not like it was groundbreaking or anything – it’s just good, solid metal, y’know?

Now the band is signed to Prosthetic and vocalist Grace Perry has started to garner some attention, even appearing on the cover of Revolver’s latest “Hottest Chicks in Metal” issue.

So hopefully I’m not the only one excited to hear that the band has announced a March 16 release date for their new album, Sovereign Descent. I really have no idea what it’s gonna sound like, but I’m assuming it will feature more quality deathrash from this no-bullshit outfit.

Here’s “Skin from Skull” from Rusted Eyes Awake.

-AR

We loved the last tour blog that Bison B.C.’s Dan And did for us so much, we’re only all-too-happy to present another! Below, please enjoy part 2; you can read part 1 here.

Sep 28 ’09 (Albuquerque NM @ Launch Pad)

The first thing that struck me about this venue was the framed posters that line the walls… Melvins, High on Fire, Fu Manchu… some killer bands have been through here over the years. I was also struck by how nice and clean Albuquerque seemed. I would later find out that the town is ranked in the top five for violent crimes in the US. Okay then, never mind.

Played with a rad band called Roñoso. Weirdest guitar tone ever but it totally worked in their crust-saw sound. Kylesa sounds fucking huge tonight. Their (hilarious) sound guy Dave is working the system like it owes him money… and it probably does.

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