In case you missed my review, I am really, really into The Farthest Reaches, the debut album from Santa Cruz quintet Son of Aurelius. Proggy, techy, brutal and infectious in equal measures, The Farthest Reaches is the most assured debut by a metal band I’ve heard in some time – and SOA only just formed last year. Imagine what the future holds for them!

The Farthest Reaches will be the inaugural release from the newly-formed Good Fight Entertainment next Tuesday, April 13. On the eve of the album’s release, SOA co-guitarist Cary Geare took some time to get on the phone and tell me all about these incredibly promising young upstarts. Read the full transcript of our chat after the jump.

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I really, really thought that Arsonists Get All the Girls might break-up. They’ve been through so many line-up changes and hardships since the release of  2007′s The Game of Life that you hardly could’ve blamed them if they’d called it quits.

But AGATG ain’t quitters. The game of life is hard, but they know about it, they know about it, the game, the game of life. And so they’re releasing a new album, Portals, on July 14.

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As you’ve probably heard, All Shall Perish’s new album, Awaken the Dreamers, is slower and less brutal than its predecessors, Hate.Malice.Revenge and The Price of Existence – but it’s less brutal the way getting punched in the face is ultimately somewhat preferable to getting kicked in the nuts. This album is still heavy enough to make the listener feel like Billy Milano is sitting on his lap, and to bitch about its lack of br00tality is to be too close-minded for one’s own good.

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