Preview song from Broken Flesh spreads quickly, leaves many anxious.

Oklahoma City Christian Death Metal favorites 'Broken Flesh' released a new song, a sneak peak of their upcoming album. Shortly after its release it was floating around on several facebook circuits and pages. The youtube preview video has recieved over 1500 views already and countless comments, including a pretty enthusiastic endorsement from A HIll To Die Upon.

'Warbound' will be the bands third release. Their second release, 'Stripped Stabbed Crucified', came out early last year, and had Ricky Puckett on vocals. This one has Jacob Mathes doing vocals, and the vocals on the new song are very gutteral/pig squeal stuff, very brutal. I like the drumming on this new one better, it sounds more musical to me. The guitar riffs and interludes are already cooler than the last release. Not only am I expecting that this new album will be better than the last. If the rest of the album is anything like this new song, word of mouth promotion for this release will continue to be strong, and I expect that the Broken Flesh fan base will grow exponentially, locally and nationally.

Locals here in Oklahoma City will be lucky enough to hear a few more songs from this new album when they play at the Chameleon Room on April 21st, opening for a large bill of bands. I've never seen them live, so I'm really looking forward to the show and maybe sharing a few snapshots with the blog-o-sphere!

Click the new album cover to watch the video on YouTube!

Un-black Metal To Invade Oklahoma City! A Hill To Die Upon - New Single!

The amazingly wonderful music venue known as The Conservatory will be hosting A Hill To Die Upon at the end of April (tickets). Not being too familiar with their music, this type of un-blackened ultra-thrash death metal is one I couldn't possibly pass up live! They will be joined by a nice variety of local Okie metal, one thing which we DO have here in Oklahoma. More on that shortly!

The AHTDU facebook page has pictures that show the makeup and scary demeanor they bring to the stage. It also stays pretty active sharing releases from other bands of interest. The last output from this band was in the form of a single recently released called "Manden Med Leen". It has some really interesting keyboard and acoustic guitar work.

Even though they do draw similarities to Immortal, I think their guitar riffs are not as complex, but are actually a little bit cleaner and easier to follow. The vocals are also quite understandable for anyone that is used to the 'strong' vocals used in some metal. Although I have been to plenty of righteous metal shows in my time, I expect this one to be quite a bit different. I haven't seen any bands of the genre wearing makeup, bloody looking garb and putting on such a show for the crowd! Can't wait!

Romero is getting back together, but changing their name

About a month ago, Romero announced that they would make a comeback, after calling the band defunct about 3-4 months ago. They released an EP that gained favor in the local and national 'Christcore' circles, and they landed an opening spot for Impending Doom, which granted them many more ears to hear their music. It now looks like the only remaining members are the drummer Dylan and the guitarist Dakota. They have decided that they would get new members and change the name of the band, but keep the same facebook page, which is here. (bloggers note: actually they are going to change the page, and I will insert the link here)

The band is based out of Shawnee, OK which, for non-Okies, is not too small of a town to hope for a like minded musician to pop up. If they only need a guitarist and vocalist, then it shouldn't be too long before these guys are at it again. Keep up with their facebook, and until the new lineup hits, jam on this...

More free music! This Divided World new full length album!

My profile associated with this blog is pretty thin, but I should tell you, I am NOT rich! In fact I'm pretty poor. Thanks to bands like This Divided World though, I do not lack for great music! I'm pretty amazed that this band was willing to put together an album this solid, and then give it away for free download on Bandcamp. It does make sense though. In most recording contracts, a band wouldn't receive much of a cut from album sales anyway, so why not give away the music to attract more fans! Recording companies can really help you with touring, but if you get enough national attention through social networking like facebook, then you can have a fan base already implanted in certain places, and will probably find people willing to help you out with booking and running shows too.

Anyway, the new album from This Divided World is called When Darkness Reigns, and you can download it here on bandcamp. This album has really strong production, and the investment into this recording shines through it. Excellent audio inserts that enhance the album experience. The guitar work is pretty interesting, there is a sort of "Chelsea Grin-Human Condition" sweep arpeggio part on the snog "Redeemed". Lots of full toned chug-chugs and really deep brutal pig-squeal vocals. The lyrics are not too hard to follow along with. It is some heavy singing, but still fairly clear for the style. The drums sound great and are very solid, and they follow the guitar rhythms very well, and keep mixing it up a bit. Rhythmically it isn't as complex as some stuff I hear, not really any odd time signatures or extra beats added much. But they still utilize the music well and keep it interesting, especially for anyone desiring more of a pure deathcore sound.

The only member currently listed on their facebook page is Micah Brill. I believe the singer he was working with is gone, he mentioned that he got married. In an online Q&A session he did recently, he basically said he was being very casual about having new members join. He also said that the next album he is doing that he will try to have different guest vocalists on it. He did emphasize that this was a studio band, so I doubt you will be seeing them on tour much. The free album is definitely worth checking out though. Remember I don't like 1-5 or 1-10 type ratings, so...THUMBS UP!

The short lived wonder known as 'A Thousand Times Repent'

I found this band the same way I find many bands, surfing around on YouTube.Their old MySpace page says they were from Atlanta, GA. They did join facebook on March 16, 2011, but no information was inserted. I believe the last existing lineup was Darsem-vocals, Jeremy-bass, Dowd-guitar, Nate-guitar and Shannon-drums.

The band did have a lastFM page and the writings on it actually look like they were written by the band. The end of their 'bio' states...
"In the end every person’s freedom of will, escorts their choices… steers their heart. And for us, our will has ushered us into the arms of our God, the keeper of our hearts

No hidden agendas.
No grey matter.
Just our humble opinions.

A Thousand Times Repent"

They have an interesting outlook on what they collectively believe and are (were) about. I can't tell exactly when they broke up but, from what I gather, they lost a member or two and in 2011 they still had plans to find new member, or so it seems by starting their facebook page then. I thought at one time I had found another band the lead singer was in. I don't know how, but I lost track of that web page.

The clearest sounding video I have found of them live is here...

Curses! Another Shape Shifting Wraith!

Bloggers YouTube search doesn't work so well. This video is just the song. There exists other video where they talk a little bit about their faith and purpose. But I think the last song on the EP, Virtue Has Few Friends, says it all about that....

Could that be one of the most inspirational songs on a Christian deathcore album ever?! I was in complete shock when I heard that last song! I think it gained a bit of popularity on YouTube, some people even saying it was the best song on the album, and lots of 'covers' of it. 
I find this album amazing in musical value, as well as uplifting in nature. If anyone knows anything about what these members are doing nowadays, I would really be interested!

The Chariot, For Today, As I Lay Dying and The Devil Wears Prada Concert!!

MAAAAAANNN!!!!

Well, I have a few goodies in the way of pics and vids to share with blog land from this awesome awesome show!!! I had been anticipating this one for months, and almost was too defunded to get a ticket puchased! But all things were to be... and here is....  The Chariot video

First up is a snippet from The Chariot's set. I love this band, but I don't think most of this audience was ready for this type of chaotic orchestration! When they took the stage, there were some very odd recordings playing, of chickens and such. Some of the feedback segments were allotted too much time, and I even saw some young girls covering their ears...

and my best pic of the band...

Next up was For Today. I'll have to be honest, I'm not that familiar with their songs. My son has played me some of his favorite ones, and I have listened to their albums occasionally when I find them on YouTube. But, they were a very crowd involving act. This was probably the most visible band all night because they really came up to the very front of the stage. I think they felt too much separation from the crowd because at one point, the singer asked people to come over the barricade and up on stage with him, but I think that request was nixed by the security. The band proclaimed that they wanted to be the ones to "tell it like it is" before they began their 'witness' to the audience. While they were sharing their beliefs with the crowd, their statements were met with tremendous cheers. It was quite predominantly an audience with a faith aligned with theirs, which I was not sure to expect or not when I saw that the entire band list for the show was either Christian bands or just Christians in a band. I did manage a few nice snapshots...

So it was kind of hard to get a good picture. The pit was pretty heated and I couldn't get closer than the sound board for most of the night. 

As I Lay Dying was again just an awesome show, better than the Mayhem Fest show. They did a much longer set, with 2 encore songs. I am pretty familiar with their last 3 or 4 albums, and they did several songs I didn't know, so I can tell they didn't refrain from digging into the vaults for this setlist. The video I captured has fair sound, but once again I was drowned in the sea of slammers and moshers, and never got a great view. Here is the video...

As I Lay Dying - Condemned - Diamond Ballroom

 

The Devil Wears Prada is another band I haven't really listened to that much. The first thing I noticed about this band was the drummer, he was playing a jazz type kit with a super large kick drum! I thought it was kind of odd, and kind of cool! I really dug their show, even a little more than I did at their Mayhem Fest performance. I could tell a lot of people had listened to their music, and were really into it. I tried to get a picture of the cool drum set....

Not great shots, but you can see the enormousness of the kick drum! The light up symbol was pretty cool eye candy for those of us that couldn't actually really see the band. 

Well I have to rank that one pretty high in the 'fun' category. It's not often I get to see 4 bands I really enjoy in the same show, one right after the other. The Diamond Ballroom has gotten better at running sound, and running shows. Everything went fairly smoothly, and ended with a long night of streaming heavy music till I crash landed in bed, with visions of hair and fists banging in my head!

New Album from A Body Divided Out Now

February 23rd, Knoxville, TN band 'A Body Divided' released their first full length CD titled "(D)Elusion", celebrating with a live show including bands Adelaide, Dialects, The Human Condition and others. Their previous EP, "The Rescuer", has been out for a year or so and was put up for free download on their website a few months prior to this release. The band has been teasing its fans on its facebook page with single releases, leading up to the full album release party. A play-through video for the song "Bacon Slamburger" has been up on YouTube since last year, and has been renamed "Dis/Connect" for the new album.

Vocalist Samuel Stephens exhibits some deep, throaty growls and easily switches to a higher range that is abrasive like most high pitched screams but doesn't get into the piercing range. There is a lot of variance rhythmically, and the drums, carried by Cedric 'Blackhawk' White, accentuate the bands ability to change tempos and time signatures within just a few bars. Guitar enthusiast will have plenty to gawk about with this release, even though 'solos' are minimal. Guitarists Patrick Campbell and Richie Hicks show some great interplay, harmonizing together during the 'melodic' sections and bouncing harmonics and arpeggios off of each other.

The band has threatened to begin a U.S. Tour this summer. Meanwhile the new album is available at their merch store, and you can get the album on iTunes and Amazon. Here are some links...
Buy a hard copy of (D)elusion
A Body Divided Facebook
Download (D)elusion from Amazon