One of the most thrilling performances at this year’s New England Metal/Hardcore Fest came from a reunited Disembodied. Having arrived at the venue mere minutes before their scheduled start time, the Minneapolis band rushed their gear onstage and put on a cathartic, vicious performance of their savage, noisy brand of sludgy hardcore. I stood up front for the entire set, stunned and delighted by how intrinsically menacing they managed to be compared to the fest’s largely toughguy-heavy lineup.

After their set, I managed to get some time in with bassist Tara Johnson, who confirmed that they were working on new material. Finally, the first of these new tracks has been revealed, as the above exclusive video shows. Entitled “Caveat”, it wont come as any surprise to those familiar with Disembodied’s slow, crushing sound — and it gives a great deal of hope to fans that their next, as yet untitled album will slay. Perhaps this will be part of their set tonight at New York’s Mercury Lounge, where they open for the recently reunited hardcore act Strife.

-GS

Dio died. Isis broke-up. Bret Michaels is back in the hospital. And I just used Dio, Isis, and Bret Michaels in one thought-stream, which, I’m sure, offended somebody.

Luckily, we did manage to have some fun this week:

• Sick of it All’s Lou Koller is counting down his top ten hardcore albums, As I Lay Dying’s Nick Hipa is counting down to the end of L O S T, Batillus’ Fade Kainer is counting down ’til the band can get the fuck outta the studio, Agenda of Swine’s Pete Benumb is counting down to MDF, and Cynic’s Paul Masvidal is counting down to achieving a higher level of being.
• We spoke to Steve Joh from Century Media, Tara Johnson from Disembodied, Emil Werstler from Daath and Levi/Werstler, and Travis Stever from Coheed & Cambria.
• We checked out the latest release from Rosetta.
• Sergeant D. has new slamz 4 u.
• The best music video ever of the week is by… Goldfrapp?
• There are plenty of things we’d rather do than listen to a new Attack Attack! song.
• Endorsement of the new Avenged Sevenfold single = flame war.
• You guys are still arguing about my Korn review. Seriously?
• I’m still upset about John Bush leaving Anthrax again. Seriously.
• We used to love Sweden, but we had to kill it.

And hopefully no one awesome will die or break-up next week.

-AR

One of the interviews I’d managed to line up for this year’s New England Metal And Hardcore Festival was with Disembodied. But as the second day went on, it started to seem like I might not get that chance. Stuck in interminable traffic, the reunited metallic hardcore band was in danger of missing their set. Their publicist texted me updates from the road, and they literally arrived barely a few minutes before their scheduled headlining slot on the upstairs stage. I’d never seen Disembodied live before, so my basis for comparison didn’t exist, but I suspect the Minneapolis pioneers must’ve channeled their road rage into their churning, fiery, savage show. Afterwards, I let the group load out before walking over with bassist Tara Johnson to a quiet spot in the Worcester Palladium parking lot to chat.

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