And now, another installment of the hardcore festival news round-up known as Pit Romney!

Over the weekend, the folks behind Seattle’s Rain Fest made their initial line-up announcement, being the first of the Spring/Summer season’s crop to do so. In addition to performances from 2011 fest alums Losing Skin, Oblivion, Rotting Out, Wisdom In Chains, Wreck, and Xibalba, 2012′s iteration will also boast sets from Backtrack, Clarity, CodeXRed, Cold World, Dead End Path, Earth Control, Expire, FocusedXMinds, Incendiary, Soul Search, Strain, Trapped Under Ice, and Twitching Tongues. So far a solid lineup, though noticeably missing legacy acts or headliners. (Last year’s fest featured 7 Seconds, for example.) Another round of acts will be revealed February 15, at which time the 3-day passes for this May 25-27 event will go on sale.

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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…

Two weeks ago, we not only revealed that this month’s dB flexi disc is Krallice covering Rorschach’s “Traditional,” but that the corresponding Hall of Fame would be the Jersey bruisers’ Protestant (order here). Krallice have been busy churning out covers both kick-ass and poignant lately, but today’s our day to tongue-bathe Rorschach for their influential 1993 ripper.

Resident dB workaholic Kevin Stewart-Panko wrangled Charles Maggio, Keith Huckins, Nick Forte, Thom Rusnak and Andrew Gormley for Q&As, and the guys were unsurprisingly down-to-earth, modest and hilarious. (“I’ve had people for years tell me about how Rorschach [were] responsible for metalcore, and I’m like, ‘Wow, people think I’m partly responsible for a genre, and that genre is only good part of the time.’” —Huckins.) Another thing about Keith, also of natural-born co-worker killers Deadguy: he joins a select group of artists with two HOF entries: Lee Dorrian, Bill Steer, Jimmy Bower, Nocturno Culto, Scott Ian, Danny Lilker and Sal Abruscato. I’d have to guess that out of all those guys, Bower or Lilker has the fastest potential track to three. But you tell us: what triple threat deserves it the most?

-AB

Decibel’s September 2011 issue also features Opeth, Toxic Holocaust, Sepultura, Cradle of Filth, All Shall Perish, Skeletonwitch, and that awesome Krallice flexi disc. That issue is available here, but why not get a full subscription to ensure you never miss an issue?

I haven’t a clue how the folks (folk?) at Blot Und Eisen convinced Sigh’s Mirai, Faith No More / Mr. Bungle’s Trey Spruance, Eyehategod’s Michael IX Williams, Agalloch’s John Haughm and Ghoul’s Digestor to submit to the Rorschach aka “ink blot” tests… but there you have it, and the results are fascinating! The Rorschach Test, for those unfamiliar, is “a method of psychiatric evaluation created by Hermann Rorschach in 1921. Psychologists use the test to examine the personalities of their patients.”

Here are just a couple of samples:

Spruance: “An orthodox church.”
Haughm: “The sky…as seen from inside a shallow grave.”
Digestor: “Hard to clean mess.”

Williams: “Beard of a sideshow pharmacist on display in East Cambodia.”
Mirai: “Two Rabbits In The Bush.”
Haughm: “Two siamese twin elephant embryos trying to escape each other.

Me, I just see a bunch of vaginas. I won’t ruin the rest for you; check it out at Blot Und Eisen.

-VN

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…

Krallice may be polarizing in the metal community at large, but both Decibel (9 for Krallice, 9 for Dimensional Bleedthrough, 8 for Diotima) and MetalSucks (Colin Marston placing #15 on The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists list) fall squarely on the positive side of that spectrum. Hence, we’re keeping the upward spiral spinning with this month’s Flexi disc, as the NY-based black-proggers deliver their distinctive take on Rorschach’s “Traditional” (order here). The timing’s particularly gnarly because—surprise, surprise—Rorschach’s 1993 crossover sensation Protestant is September’s Decibel Hall of Fame honoree. This gem’s in vibrant gold and white—not clear, as it may appear in the image—and unlike the other Rorschach in popular culture, it hasn’t been sullied by the dipshittery of Zack Snyder. Give it a spin.

Krallice “Traditional (originally by Rorschach)” (dB009) by Decibel Magazine

-AB

Decibel’s September 2011 issue also features Opeth, Toxic Holocaust, Sepultura, All Shall Perish, and Skeletonwitch. That issue is available here, but why not get a full subscription to ensure you never one of these awesome flexi discs?

“BIG PANTS WASTE PRECIOUS FABRIC”

Step into my Nocturnus time machine and take a magical journey with me into a time long, long ago, an excursion into a world that scarcely resembles our own. In this world — we’ll call it Moshtopia — hardcore kids are known for wearing giant, baggy pants, not skinny jeans; there are people under 30 that know who Black Flag is; and metalcore bands worship Krishna, not Christ. This is not a fanciful episode of Jojo’s Bizarre Adeventure fan fiction, my friends, — it is the strange and wonderful world of mid-90s hardcore!

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First things first: screamo is literally worse than the Holocaust in my book. With a few notable exceptions, I absolutely cannot stand this shit. That said, with bands like The Devil Wears Prada and Underoath selling out huge venues, putting out platinum-selling albums, and selling truckloads of cookie-cutter merch to every angsty suburban teen within driving distance of a Hot Topic, it’s hard not to pay attention to the genre. I might not like it, but Kids These Days certainly do. My biggest question: Where the fuck did this shit come from??

As someone who saw the birth of metalcore and “true screamo”/skramz firsthand in the 90s, I am highly confused when I listen to these bands. On the one hand, they are not so different from anything that could have been on Victory or Indecision in the 90s (Earth Crisis, All Out War, Bloodlet). Obviously there are some things that have changed over time, but the fundamentals of metalcore are still there (see my post “The 5 Kinds Of Music Teens Are Into” for more details). On the other hand, the kids in Alesana, August Burns Red, and possibly even As I Lay Dying have no fucking idea who those pioneering metalcore bands are, much less that screamy vocals were born in the tiny basement shows and vegan bakesales of the 90s DIY hardcore scene.

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So. Unless you live under a rock, chances are you’re aware that the movie adaptation of Watchmen opens tomorrow. The reviews are decidedly mixed and I’m still not convinced it won’t suck, but it’s already apparently making a ton of bank in ticket pre-sales, so, uh, yeah, people wanna see this bitch I guess.

Anyways, this week iTunes had some members of the cast do their celebrity playlist thing. A few actors chose a few metal songs – Patrick Wilson (who plays “Nite Owl II”) has some Van Halen and Extreme songs, Malin Akerman (“Silk Spectre II”) has some Nine Inch Nails, Jeffery Dean Morgan (“The Comedian”) was apparently pals with Layne Staley and included “Rooster” in his mix, etc.

But Jackie Earle Haley – the Oscar nominated actor playing the ultimate right wing sociopathic fascistic badass, Rorschach – created a list that is almost entirely comprised of metal.

Terrible metal.

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