I haven’t been publishing a lot of metal lately, which is too bad. There were some real gems featured earlier this year plus a few tunes that just came in recently. Here is the Top Metal Music of 2007, as selected from the ([HearingTest]) audio archive. ([More →])

Residents and visitors of the Haight/Golden Gate Park area of SF should make some effort to secure fragile objects and batten down what needs secured this Sunday, October 14th. I don’t anticipate an earthquake, although that is always a possibility, but I do anticipate some serious seismic activity in that neighborhood on that day. See, I just got word that OM and Boris will both be performing live, for FREE, at the Amoeba Records at the tip of upper Haight Street. This is a monumental event, even by Amoeba’s free shows standards. Never before have 2 bands of such heavy sonic history played in-store on the very same day. I can’t wait! Finally a great reason to be in SF instead of London or NYC… ([More →])

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Wolves In The Throne Room – Two Hunters

“I Will Lay Down My Bones Among the Rocks and Roots”
More album and band info on their Southern Lord page
You can also download this song from the WITTR page on Southern Lord

I have a review of the Wolves In The Throne Room/Ludicra/Graves At Sea concert in SF that I will be posting this weekend, so check back!

We have newly updated tour dates for Wolves In The Throne Room plus the flyer and info for their all-ages show this Tuesday in SF with Graves at Sea and Ludicra. ([More →])

Today’s theme is tenner anniversaries. Next up is veteran sludge-metal band, ISIS. They’re celebrating their 10th anniversary of creating heavy music together and preparing for a few live shows in the US and one in BC this November. 27, longtime collaborators with ISIS, will open the shows. ISIS and 27 will be joined at different shows by different bands, including Oxbow, Big Business, and These Arms Are Snakes. In addition to the handful of live shows, ISIS will be widely releasing a few singles from their 2006 album, In The Absence of Truth. ([More →])

So many bands and music fans are concerned about the future of the Manium – an all ages venue in downtown Olympia that the city is trying to shut down. If you have ever been involved with an all-ages venue in any city in the US, you know the kind of problems they face. Instead of being appreciated for getting kids off the streets and away from the television, they are viewed as sources of illegal activities and the corruption of society. Maybe there are a few rare cases where this happens, but usually the venue is a boon to society, especially a culture that neglects its youth more and more and fails to provide healthy gathering spaces. ([More →])

Experimental electronic noise scientists – Nate Young, John Olson and Mike Connelly, aka Wolf Eyes – added new tunes to their music $pace page plus new tour dates through Europe. Before they leave the US though, they will play four shows in northeast US: Buffalo, Brooklyn, New Haven and Cleveland. So, check out the new music, and look out for your chance to catch them live. Wolf Eyes’ live shows are fascinating crosses between metal, punk, noise, and guitar destruction. They have so much fun on freaking out on stage and they are so much fun to rock out to.
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Jesu has added experimental metal band Yakuza to a few of their US shows in support of the new Yakuza album, Transmutations. Yakuza’s music is described as “a metal base with progressive flair, while somehow also incorporating elements of jazz, world beat, and post-rock ambience” and “psychedelic elements alongside stretching, doomy movements and the band’s trademark jazz-influences, while also incorporating breakneck grind riffs and grooves at the same time.” With that many different elements coming together in such a fluid and evolving sound, you can see why I would refrain from trying to describe them in my own words! This one place where I will let the PR people figure it out… I really like their music though. It’s extreme to say the least, but with very classical elements. Almost like post-rock band Do Make Say Think if you played their music at 78 rpm… ([More →])

Yet another update to the Jesu, Sunn O))) and now Wolves In The Throne Room Tour! That’s right, Wolves In The Throne Room will be joining the heavyweights of experimental metal for half of their tour as well as playing numerous shows with Ludicra this Fall. The only down side is that Wolves will no longer be playing the shows with Asunder that were accidentally announced last week. But playing with Jesu more than makes up for it, I think! ([More →])

Mastermind of experimental metal, Justin Broadrick (founder of Godflesh, Napalm Death and Jesu) recently relaunched his web label Avalanche Recordings. He started the label in 2000 with limited release CDRs and has returned with limited release CDRs that were intended for sale at concerts Broadrick is involved in. But now Avalanche Recordings has its first full release to offer: an album of unreleased Jesu material titled Pale Sketches! Jesu is set to release their newest album, Lifeline, on Hydra Head in October and Justin Broadrick will perform with both Sunn O))) and Jesu for a short tour this Fall! ([More →])

We’ve got two grand tours by Ipecac artists: The Melvins with Big Business and Otto Von Schirach with The Locust! The Melvins have announced a jam-packed tour of the US from mid-September to mid-October where they will be screening the new DVD they created with hipster cartoon toy designer Dalek – “Purge of Dissidents” at each show! Big Business will be opening the shows, but first The Melvins play one show with Mudhoney in LA (which will also screen the new DVD). If sludge rock isn’t your mug o’music, but weirdness is, you might want to check out the Otto Von Schirach tour with analog afficionado insectoids The Locust that is winding around Europe! Ahhh, I remember when Otto was just a lad, playing underground warehouse shows in SF and The Locust were scaring kids at The Gilman… ([More →])

Steve Albini strikes again! As a recording engineer, he is one of the few who can be trusted with the task of recording extreme music that has a long history of being improperly mastered and mixed-down. He has made all the difference in the world on recordings with Neurosis, Fugazi, Gogol Bordello, The Stooges, Mono, Godspeed You! Black Emperor and many more. Well, it’s no wonder then, that OM trusted him to record their third full-length album at Electrical Audio studio in Chicago. The album will be titled Pilgrimage and it is due to be released on Southern Lord (OM’s first album on this label) on October 2nd. ([More →])

Black Metal Updates Abound! Boris will again tour the US, but not with Sunn O))) this time. The tour begins in Chicago on September 30th, and features the japanese metal outfit playing collaborative sets with Michio Kurihara! They will play material off their most recent release, Rainbow plus many surprises! ([More →])

Environmental campaigns seem to go hand-in-hand with music events. Live Earth is a fine example. Many bands are using their tours as platforms for environmental education and recycling programs, like Linkin Park, Cheryl Crow and the Beastie Boys. But nothing sings about environmental doom and destruction like a carefully chosen documentary soundtrack. Finally, someone has matched planetary doom with the perfect soundtrack of doom metal and dark ambient electronica! I feel I have finally found a single category of music to describe many of my favorite bands – a class of music that I haven’t been able to summarize with a single name until today – Music For Environmental Doom! It’s perfect! What other category could so perfectly link Khanate with Gas, Brian Eno with Arve Henriksen, and Mogwai with Sigur Ros or Lamb? I’d love to own a soundtrack with this music, especially if it were on gatefold double vinyl! ([More →])