It seems like every day we get a press release here at the MS Mansion announcing that some respectable metal band has signed to Koch Records. High On Fire, Satyricon and Throwdown are the latest crop, having all signed to Koch within the past few weeks. Add that to the already formidable metal roster of In Flames, Otep, Hatebreed and Straight Line Stitch… despite a couple of admittedly terrible bands in that bunch, from a business perspective that’s some serious fucking firepower there, all added within the last year, give or take.

So what the hell is going on over there?

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As I mentioned earlier today, we saw Gojira live Sunday night, and they decimated Terminal 5 here in Manhattan. But seeing as they were sandwiched in between Alaskan metalcore masters 36 Crazyfists and Gothenburg gods In Flames, I thought I should share some not particularly well organized thoughts on those bands’ sets as well.

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From the event listings in this week’s issue of The L Magazine:

Now obviously this was written by someone who is anti-metal, or at least extremely un-metal — for those of you not “in the know”, Vampire Weekend is a super-buzzy indie-rock band from NYC that recently blew up (pretty sure one of their tunes is in some boppy commercial or another) — but for realz, it’s like comparing apples n oranges…the fact that a self-respecting journalistic rag could make reference to a metal show but describe under a clearly “indie” lens seems to miss the point of having show listings in the first place.

I am not only offended as a fan of aggressive music (duh), but also as a music lover and show-goer of all different genres. If I were genuinely curious about this show (and rest assured, I already have a ticket, natch), a description such as this wouldn’t help in the least.

Word to the un-wise, L Magazine: Gojira’s new album is among the best of the year, and perhaps you ought to employ a “metal” aficionado that can accurately report on “earsplitting” shows/albums. The truly hep kids know how cool and “cool” metal is, especially in our current musical climate. You also might wanna stop pretending to be anything more than a softie one-dimensional ‘zine.

After the jump, a much more reputable (and diverse) NYC publication’s blurb on the same show…

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In Flames have made the A Sense of Purpose b-side “Tilt” avail for free download. I think a lot of IF fans probably already got this track when it leaked some time back, but in case ya didn’t, here’s your chance. And it’s totally legal, so you don’t feel guilty about the download! Kinda like the reason you fly to Thailand once a year to fuck a little boy.

ANYWAY, this isn’t the greatest In Flames song ever, but I think I actually dig that pounding riff more than anything that ended up on the final version of Purpose. How about you?

In Flames – “Tilt”

In Flames are about to hit the road with All That Remains, Gojira, and 36 Crazyfists. Get tour dates here.

-AR

Even though I’m not such a fan of In Flames’ latest album A Sense of Purpose, I will always love this band to death. The album wasn’t bad by any means, but it definitely falls well below the level of metal the band are capable of making, and ultimately when I’m fixin’ for the kings of Swedish melodeath I’m gonna grab Clayman, Colony or even Come Clarity before I grab this one.

But anyway, the band just released a video for the song “Alias” from that album; like the song itself, the video gets a solid “meh” from me. But like I said, I love this band, and I’ll listen to/watch anything they do. Including going to see them live; for my money they’re one of the best live bands of the past 15 years, hands down. You can bet your ass I’ll be rockin’ out hard fan-boy style when they tour the U.S. with All That Remains, Gojira, and 36 Crazyfists this winter (full list of tour dates after the jump).

-VN

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I mean, come on. There is no WAY this thing got through several rounds of drafts, approvals, and record company folk without anyone noticing. I mean, seriously?? It’s a giant pussy (insert joke about Kirk Hammet here), complete with pubic hair. Even more so than In Flames’ blatantly psycho-sexual A Sense of Purpose album cover. Just what are Metallica trying to say here?

-VN

There must be something in the water in Sweden. Metal is just ingrained in their culture. I was hanging out drinking with a major label pop band last night, five of whose six members are Swedish and at least three of whom were longhairs that I figured might be into metal given their appearance and heritage. Metal is a always a great way to bridge slightly awkward conversation with complete strangers, so I figured why not try? I swung and missed with the keyboardist, more of the jazz type, who nodded politely but seemed otherwise not to give a shit when I tried to slip “In Flames” and “At the Gates” into the conversation. Strike one. I would’n't even need a strike two, ’cause the minute I mentioned Soilwork to the guitar player his hand went up in the air for a high five. We were in full agreement that Stabbing the Drama is one of the best records of the past five years. And it went on from there down familiar paths like “Meshuggah” (he loves obZen), Refused and more.

This story seems way less compelling now that I’ve actually written it down. But, um, it was, like, really cool or something. Kind of like the time I ended up hanging out with Phil Anselmo’s Aunt and Uncle (a story for another time). That red wine / beer combo didn’t hurt either.

-VN

I really can’t take credit for this one. But “Death Jovi” really is the perfect way of describing Scar Symmetry’s new record Holographic Universe (thanks: Metal Injection). Never before have hooks so big, sugary and sweet been combined with this kind of punishing death-influenced metal. While yes, the “Gothenburg” sound is definitely running its course (thanks to the thousands of American imitators), you just can’t knock the Swedes who know how to do it best. And based on just a couple of listens, this is one of the most delicious slices Gothenburg has had to offer in the past couple of years, easily beating out the recent releases by In Flames and Soilwork.

First single “Morphogenesis” on Scar Symmetry’s MySpace page is just the tip of the iceberg. Holographic Universe has so much to offer in the way of hooks, brutality, and astonishing musicianship. It drops June 20th on Nuclear Blast in Europe and July 8th in North America.

-VN

Axl and Vince recently had the opportunity to sit down with In Flames bassist Peter Iwers hours before the second of two Gigantour shows at New York City’s Hammerstein Ballroom (also featuring Megadeth, Children of Bodom, High on Fire, and Job For a Cowboy). Peter shared his thoughts about In Flames’ new album A Sense of Purpose, its success in America, the band’s writing and recording process, and the band’s mysterious guitar-tech/personal assistant Biffin (the truth is shocking!). Read the entire chat transcript after the fold.

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There’s been much argued over and said about the new In Flames record A Sense of Purpose, but until now not much has been said by us; better late than never. I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a bit disappointed by A Sense of Purpose, In Flames ninth proper album. It’s not that the band haven’t moved forward — they have — or that I feel they’re “selling out” — I don’t. It’s just that A Sense of Purpose feels like In Flames settling into a groove, getting a little too comfortable, and not pushing themselves to write an amazing album. Rather than opting to push the envelope, the band seem content to do what’s expected of them. The bottom line: A Sense of Purpose sounds like In Flames trying to write In Flames songs, or songs in the style of In Flames… as opposed to In Flames just writing songs.

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Another fine metal Tuesday of new releases is upon us.

The most talked-about release today is In Flames’ controversial new album A Sense of Purpose. Does it represent a step towards current trends or the next logical evolution of the band? Read Vince’s Sunday Spotlight feature on In Flames for a career retrospective of the band up until this point.

Sevendust release their seventh record Chapter VII: Hope & Sorrow today, less than a week after announcing the return of original guitarist Clint Lowery, making this album kind of irrelevant. It’s the third Clint-less album, and hence the third to sound exactly the same. But it’s Sevendust, and there are a few gems within. Read Vince’s long review and short review.

Dream Theater release the aptly titled Greatest Hit and 21 Other Pretty Cool Songs 2-disc retrospective set. Ironically, the one “greatest hit” has been remixed and robbed of its originality.

Retro-Sabbathian metallers The Sword release their new one Gods of the Earth today; Kip W. will have a full review shortly, but preliminary reactions have been so-so.

Elsewhere, Ministry finally release their covers album Cover Up after embarking on their farewell C U LaTour with Meshuggah. Apparently Joe Satriani has a new album out, and though we haven’t heard it we’re pretty sure we know what it sounds like. And experimental art metallers Nadja have a new one too; color me interested to hear it.

So hit your local record store (at least one city, Seattle, still has an awesome one called Everyday Music that I visited this weekend), iTunes, or your favorite torrent legal music download service and get these new jams.

The influence and importance of Gothenburg, Swedish’s In Flames is familiar to devoted metalheads but bears repeating to the rest: along with At the Gates and Dark Tranquillity, In Flames pioneered and refined the sound that would later become known as melodic death metal (or “The Gothenburg Sound”), directly influencing hundreds of bands from their genesis in the early ’90s to the myriad metalcore bands that walk the planet today. By combining death metal with Maiden and Judas Priest-influenced guitars and their own astute songwriting sensibility, Stromblad and co. hit a chord that still rings loud today. The band is now nothing short of an international metal sensation and they continue to take their blistering live show on the road year after year. I’d venture to say to that In Flames, through their unique sense of melody, aggression and songcraft, are more directly influential on today’s metal scene than any other band, even the much-celebrated At the Gates.

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Thanks to Crustcake for posting this awesome live video of vintage In Flames — featuring pre-dreads Anders — performing the classic “Behind Space.” The song first appeared on 1994′s Lunar Strain, a landmark melodic death metal album that pre-dated At the Gates’ Slaughter of the Soul by a year but doesn’t seem to get 1/10th of the credit that album does, perhaps because In Flames never broke up. “Behind Space” was later re-recorded for 1999′s Colony with new vocalist Anders Friden.

The Lunar Strain version of “Behind Space” was performed by session vocalist Mikael Stanne, the Dark Tranquillity guitarist (later vocalist) who Jesper Stromblad tapped to do vocals on the album since In Flames didn’t yet have a vocalist. A year later Stromblad tapped another Dark Tranquillity member, this time their vocalist proper Anders Friden, to join In Flames as a full-time member, resulting in the landmark album The Jester Race. The band re-recorded “Behind Space” for 1999′s Colony, resulting in the version seen here, which is still a staple of their live set even today.

In Flames new album A Sense of Purpose (Koch Records) comes out next week on April 1st. Check out the video for the first single “The Mirror’s Truth.”

-VN

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Sweden’s reigning kings of metal In Flames have a new EP out today — The Mirror’s Truth EP — which, of course, takes it’s name from the first single of their upcoming album A Sense of Purpose, due April 1. The EP features the title track in addition to 3 others; “Abnegation,” which was previously available on Bam Marger’a Viva La Bands: Vol. 2 compilation released Fall of 2007, and the previously unreleased tracks “Tilt” and “Eraser” which are not part of the track listing for A Sense of Purpose.

You can buy the 4-song EP on iTunes, or you can buy only the two unreleased tracks if you already have the others. Also be sure to check out the video for “The Mirror’s Truth.”

-VN

Monsieur Axl Rosenberg said it best when he stated that Switzerland’s Eluveitie are like In Flames only sexier; I’d add to that “only decidedly more medieval.” While it’s true that Slania might remind us of the best of In Flames from time to time, to make that comparison would be to rob Slania of its originality. With violins, bagpipes, a hurdy gurdy, and flute juxtaposed with death metal growls and classic twin-lead guitars, Eluveitie have created a near seamless blend of Celtic folk and Gothenburg metal. If a non-metal friend of mine asked me what the fuck Pagan Metal is I might just play them this album, and I might just don my knight armor for affect. “Primordial Breath” is the perfect album opener, both brutal and truly pagan-riffic in composition. First single “Inis Mona” (video here) makes me want to head to the hills of Scotland for a frosty pint in an old bar on a cobblestone lined street. The non-English female vocal lead in “Slania’s Song” courtesy of hurdy-gurdyist Anna Murphy fits perfectly, complimenting the brutal guitars and growls in a way that’s not corny in the slightest. The violin and Gregorian chant that comprise all 3+ minutes of “Anagantios” are a chilling, haunting, and perfectly beautiful match for the brutal metal you know is lurking right around the corner in “Bloodstained Ground.” And there it is, like a sledgehammer of thrash waiting to pummel you into sensibility before opening into a surprisingly brutal flute-led chorus (who knew there could be such a thing?) that leads into a syncopated cacaphony of orchestral goodness. And it’s this mix of orchestral goodness with neo-classical death metal that makes me feel like I’m galloping on my horse, spear in hand, shield raised high, charging towards an angry herd of invading barbarians. Or at least I’m at a Renaissance festival full of people who like to play dress-up on the weekends. But either way, boy is it fucking fun, and shit, this album absolutely slays — dragons, that is.

-VN

(four out of five horns)

Slania comes out today on Nuclear Blast. Be sure to catch Eluveite this Spring on the Paganfest USA tour. Full dates are listed here.

[Eluveitie on MySpace]

In Flames’ new single, “The Mirror’s Truth,” debuted on the radio last night. If you missed it, there are decent quality radio rips floating all over the internet, although Nuclear Blast is pulling ‘em down just as quickly as they can (one of the reasons I’m not even gonna bother posting a link here).

Now, Vince and I love, love, LOVE In Flames, but – and I can’t speak for Vince, only for myself – this song does not immediately make my ears perk up. It just seems kinda… blah. But then, I wasn’t that into “Take this Life” when I first heard it, either, and now I think it’s a pretty good song (for the record, yes, I agree that old In Flames is superior to new In Flames, but no, I did not think Come Clarity sucked – actually, I thought it was a really good album). I hope this song grows on me, too, because I’d like nothing more than for this new offering, A Sense of Purpose, to be good (well… maybe I’d like a bj from that chick from In This Moment more, but that’s neither here nor there).

So for those of you that have heard the song, time to weigh in: what do you think of it?

UPDATE: The new single “The Mirror’s Truth” is now available on In Flames’ MySpace page.

-AR

These cheaply made webisodes chronicling a band’s time in the studio sure are popular these days… so I guess it’s no big shock to see Mercenary giving fans a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the making of their new album, Architect of Lies. Still, I wish this was a little lighter in tone, like those In Flames thingers. Hey, Mercenary: why so serious?

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-AR

I swear this isn’t just an excuse to post anything related to No More Tears-era Ozzy Osbourne; but this photos from the recent In Flames video shoot for “The Mirror’s Truth,” from their forthcoming album A Sense of Purpose, gives the “elderly babies” of Ozzy’s classic video for “Time After Time” a serious run for their money in the “creepy-as-all-fuck” department.

[Photo by Västerbottens Folkblad]

OK, so maybe I did I just want an excuse to post something about No More Tears-era Ozzy. You didn’t seriously think I wouldn’t post the “Time After Time” video, did you? This one could be the creepiest video (and least-PC: Ozzy air-guitaring with midgets!!) the Ozzman ever made. Plus, vintage pre-beard Zakk.

-VN

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Heretofore mostly urban/hip-hop label Koch Records solidified its foray into the world of metal this week by signing the legendary Swedish metallers In Flames for their forthcoming album A Sense of Purpose. In Flames is signed to Nuclear Blast for most of the world, but typically licenses each album out for American release. I’m interested to know why the band opted not to re-up with Ferret who did a fantastic job with their previous release Come Clarity, rescuing the band from critical oblivion. Ferret pushed the release past the 100,000 sales mark in America, a first for the band, and Anders vocally thanked Ferret for doing such a great job on multiple occasions.

Koch has gradually ventured into metal over the past couple of years, but previous signings included mostly b-rate retreads or otherwise unknowns, such as Otep, Within Chaos, Circus Diablo and Straight Line Stitch (the one exception being Horse the Band, who, for better or worse, are pretty fucking original sounding). But the signing of In Flames represents a serious push forward and something of a badge of legitimacy for Koch; In Flames will be their marquee metal band, to say the least.

How did they do it? I’d have to guess they ponied up a much larger advance than Ferret or anyone else was willing to offer, whatwith Koch’s bigger corporate infrastructure as backing. From the band’s standpoint this makes sense, but I’m hard pressed to figure out how the label is going to best the sales numbers of Come Clarity. I can’t imagine Koch’s marketing machine is — for a metal release — as finely tuned and well-oiled as Ferret’s. On the other hand, the groundwork has already been laid on someone else’s dime. I guess we’ll see?

-VN

So I was totally kidding when I said that In Flames calling their album A Sense of Purpose is a reference to Steve Martin’s nickname for his dick in The Jerk. But looking at the album’s cover art now, I have to wonder if maybe I wasn’t onto something:

I mean, does that thing at the end of the corridor look like a giant vagina with teeth or what? And those psychedelic weeds coming out of the ground are least a little phallic. Maybe our favorite Swedes got to see this movie at Sundance last year:

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-AR