Swedish melodic death metallers Amon Amarth have debuted a new track from their forthcoming album Surtur Rising. The track ‘War Of The Gods’ was premiered on the US radio show Full Metal Jackie and can be heard below.
Not unlike the last album Twilight Of The Thunder God, ‘War Of The Gods’ is heavy on the melodic front, perhaps even more so. Johan Hegg’s death vocals are still a persistent presence but are wholly complemented by the dizzying hook laden guitar work.
Surtur Rising is released March 25th via Metal Blade and Amon Amarth play Dublin’s Vicar Street on April 5th with Children Of Bodom.
Sunday, January 30, 2011
Saturday, January 29, 2011
News round-up
Plenty happened this last week or so and here’s a look at some of the highlights.
According to Devin Townsend’s twitter, he will be releasing a free digital live EP next week through Century Media. With Ghost and Deconstruction almost upon us this release will likely document his hefty touring throughout last year in support of Ki and Addicted. More details have yet to surface about the EP.
Judas Priest have announced that while this summer’s tour is a “farewell tour”, they are still working on new material. Glen Tipton commented: “To put every ones [sic] mind at rest this is by no means the end of the band, in fact we are presently writing new material, but we do intend this to be the last major world tour.”
Finally, Protest The Hero have confirmed March 22nd for the release for their third album Scurrilous, check out the rather spiffing artwork below.
According to Devin Townsend’s twitter, he will be releasing a free digital live EP next week through Century Media. With Ghost and Deconstruction almost upon us this release will likely document his hefty touring throughout last year in support of Ki and Addicted. More details have yet to surface about the EP.
Scale The Summit has announced the title of their new album as The Collective, the follow up to 2009’s breathtaking Carving Desert Canyons. They’ve set the release date as March 1st and can be pre-ordered now via Prosthetic Records. Check out the artwork HERE and view the salivating studio update below.
Judas Priest have announced that while this summer’s tour is a “farewell tour”, they are still working on new material. Glen Tipton commented: “To put every ones [sic] mind at rest this is by no means the end of the band, in fact we are presently writing new material, but we do intend this to be the last major world tour.”
Finally, Protest The Hero have confirmed March 22nd for the release for their third album Scurrilous, check out the rather spiffing artwork below.
Friday, January 28, 2011
Ulcerate - The Destroyers Of All
One of New Zealand's finest death metal exports Ulcerate have dropped a stellar third album in the uncomprising The Destroyers Of All. Click HERE for the review.
Defiled - In Crisis
Japanese death metal outfit Defiled have released their first record in eight years, and also with a line up. Click HERE for the review.
Thursday, January 27, 2011
Owensie - Aliens
Today is a busy day with reviews coming in thick and fast, the latest is Aliens by Dublin singer/songwriter Owensie. It's his debut full length album and a stunning one at that, click HERE for the review. 
Times Of Grace - The Hymn Of A Broken Man
Former and current Killswitch Engage members Jesse Leach and Adam D have reunited in spectacular fashion for Times Of Grace, and The Hymn Of A Broken Man is their first offering. Click HERE for the review.
From The Bogs Of Aughiska – From The Bogs Of Aughiska
Dark ambient music inspired by the old Irish folklore and the landscape of the West of Ireland - From The Bogs Of Aughiska. Click HERE for the review.
Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Deathspell Omega - Paracletus
This review is coming a little late, considering Paracletus was released on November 8th of last year. But you know, some things are worth waiting for, and should you not have heard this latest album from Deathspell Omega yet... Click HERE to read more. 
Sunday, January 23, 2011
Overhead, The Albatross - Lads With Sticks EP
Dublin post rock band Overhead, The Albatross have released their debut EP Lads With Sticks. It's an impressive debut to say the least, click HERE for the review.
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Into The Void Records
Into The Void Records is a new indepedent record store opening in Dublin next month. It is a collaborative effort of various Irish metal labels. Click HERE for all the details!
Classic album: Yes - Close To The Edge
It's another new feature on Drop-D! 'Classic albums' will take a retrospective look at some defining records from years past so click HERE for the latest piece on Yes' jaw dropping Close To The Edge.
Friday, January 21, 2011
New Blackfield samples online
Blackfield, the collaborative project of Steven Wilson and Aviv Geffen, have posted a teaser clip of material from their new album, Welcome To My DNA.
Despite the briefness of the clip, it’s enough to incite interest in the new record, as if there wasn’t enough already. Welcome To My DNA is Blackfield’s third album and the follow up to 2007’s Blackfield II.
Click HERE to listen to the samples on Kscope's Vimeo page.
Welcome To My DNA is released March 21st via Kscope.
Despite the briefness of the clip, it’s enough to incite interest in the new record, as if there wasn’t enough already. Welcome To My DNA is Blackfield’s third album and the follow up to 2007’s Blackfield II.
Click HERE to listen to the samples on Kscope's Vimeo page.
Welcome To My DNA is released March 21st via Kscope.
Blackfield - Welcome to my DNA (Album Montage) from Kscope on Vimeo.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
New Krallice track
US avant-garde black metallers Krallice have released a new track for streaming – ‘The Clearing.’ It is taken from their forthcoming album Diotima, released on April 26th through Profound Lore.
At a sprawling twelve minutes, ‘The Clearing’ delivers the darkened experimentalism and journey-esque grandeur you would expect from Krallice at this stage. It erupts with a knife-edge riff, and skirts through with devastating drums and wretched vocals. Here is the tracklisting for Diotima:
01."_" - 02:07
02. Inhume - 06:51
03. The Clearing - 12:11
04. Diotima - 12:27
05. Litany of Regrets - 13:40
06. Telluric Rings - 12:09
07. Dust and Light - 09:33
Click HERE to listen to the track and check out the provisional artwork below:
At a sprawling twelve minutes, ‘The Clearing’ delivers the darkened experimentalism and journey-esque grandeur you would expect from Krallice at this stage. It erupts with a knife-edge riff, and skirts through with devastating drums and wretched vocals. Here is the tracklisting for Diotima:
01."_" - 02:07
02. Inhume - 06:51
03. The Clearing - 12:11
04. Diotima - 12:27
05. Litany of Regrets - 13:40
06. Telluric Rings - 12:09
07. Dust and Light - 09:33
Click HERE to listen to the track and check out the provisional artwork below:
Click to enlarge
Monday, January 17, 2011
New Devin Townsend track
Devin Townsend performed a new track at the recent NAMM convention in Anaheim, California. Entitled ‘Fly’, it is from Ghost, the next instalment of The Devin Townsend Project. It will be the mellowest of the four album series and will be released in accompaniment with Deconstruction, the heaviest record.
‘Fly’ is greatly characterised by the flute playing, which creates the serene mood with the gentle acoustic melody. Devin’s voice is once again, at its velvet soft, proving his true worth a great clean vocalist, as well as deafening screamer. There are some parallels between ‘Fly’ and the more delicate moments of previous Townsend solo records, particularly Ki or tracks like ‘Nobody’s Here’ from Terria.
Watch the performance of the song below:
‘Fly’ is greatly characterised by the flute playing, which creates the serene mood with the gentle acoustic melody. Devin’s voice is once again, at its velvet soft, proving his true worth a great clean vocalist, as well as deafening screamer. There are some parallels between ‘Fly’ and the more delicate moments of previous Townsend solo records, particularly Ki or tracks like ‘Nobody’s Here’ from Terria.
Watch the performance of the song below:
Alright The Captain - Snib
Remember Alright The Captain? Of course you do! Snib is their debut full length album and is released on February 7th through Field Records. But how does it fare? Click HERE to find out.
Saturday, January 15, 2011
Refraction - Refraction
Dublin instrumental band Refraction have released their debut self titled album. It's a storming debut release. Click HERE for the review over on Drop-D.ie now.
Thursday, January 13, 2011
New Wormrot track
Yes, Singapore’s finest grindcore band Wormrot have released a new track, ‘Manipulation’. Unsurprisingly, it’s short, violent, utterly brutal and doesn’t fuck about in the slightest. At only one minute, it might not seem entirely worthy of its own post but it also comes with the news that their new album Dirge is scheduled for a May 3rd release, via Earache records.
2010 was a great year for the band, seeing their 2009 album Abuse reach huge audiences. The album has been lapped up and rightfully so, being one of the finest grind albums for a while and the subsequent touring proved to be massively successful.
Dirge’s release should see Wormrot commence more and more touring and hopefully they’ll be in your proximity before long.
2010 was a great year for the band, seeing their 2009 album Abuse reach huge audiences. The album has been lapped up and rightfully so, being one of the finest grind albums for a while and the subsequent touring proved to be massively successful.
Dirge’s release should see Wormrot commence more and more touring and hopefully they’ll be in your proximity before long.
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
New DevilDriver track
DevilDriver have released a free MP3 of ‘Dead To Rights’ from Beast, released next month. You can download the track from Roadrunner HERE now.
‘Dead To Rights’ is typical DevilDriver. There doesn’t appear to be too many steps taken further from 2009’s Prey For Villains album. It very much treads the same waters, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. DevilDriver write for the pit and that’s what ‘Dead To Rights’ is.
The riffs ooze the modern metal sentiment, in that they’re strongly melody driven, something that DD have heavily embraced since The Last Kind Words.
‘Dead To Rights’ is typical DevilDriver. There doesn’t appear to be too many steps taken further from 2009’s Prey For Villains album. It very much treads the same waters, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. DevilDriver write for the pit and that’s what ‘Dead To Rights’ is.
The riffs ooze the modern metal sentiment, in that they’re strongly melody driven, something that DD have heavily embraced since The Last Kind Words.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
New Deicide track
The equally loved and criticised death metal veterans Deicide have released, ‘Hang In Agony Until You’re Dead’, a new track from their upcoming album, To Hell With God.
The track certainly hints at a step up from Till Death Do Us Part, the majority of which was rather poor. ‘Hang In Agony Until You’re Dead’ is doused in a crystal clear production sheen that may be slightly unwarranted given that it’s death metal but it places some nice emphasis on Steve Asheim’s intense drumming here. It’s something that has remained unspoiled in the Deicide camp.
To Hell With God is released next month, click HERE to listen to the track, or listen below.
The track certainly hints at a step up from Till Death Do Us Part, the majority of which was rather poor. ‘Hang In Agony Until You’re Dead’ is doused in a crystal clear production sheen that may be slightly unwarranted given that it’s death metal but it places some nice emphasis on Steve Asheim’s intense drumming here. It’s something that has remained unspoiled in the Deicide camp.
To Hell With God is released next month, click HERE to listen to the track, or listen below.
Hot for 2011: Drainland
Drop-d's Hot for 2011 features are continuing and the latest is HERE on Dublin's sludge beasts Drainland.
Monday, January 10, 2011
New Funeral For A Friend track
Funeral For A Friend have released the video, ‘Front Row Seats To The End Of The World, from their forthcoming album, Welcome Home Armageddon.
One of the many criticisms that have plagued FFAF is that they’ve failed to match the quality, vigour and energy of 2003’s debut album, Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation. After some lacklustre follow ups, radio rock follies and the occasional golden fragments, the Welsh band may be returning to a sound of yore for album number five.
Drummer, Ryan Richards is delivering his screaming again and coupled with frontman Matthew Davies’ clean vocals, the shadow of Casually Dressed…’s post hardcore is a palpable presence. Watch the video below.
One of the many criticisms that have plagued FFAF is that they’ve failed to match the quality, vigour and energy of 2003’s debut album, Casually Dressed And Deep In Conversation. After some lacklustre follow ups, radio rock follies and the occasional golden fragments, the Welsh band may be returning to a sound of yore for album number five.
Drummer, Ryan Richards is delivering his screaming again and coupled with frontman Matthew Davies’ clean vocals, the shadow of Casually Dressed…’s post hardcore is a palpable presence. Watch the video below.
Thursday, January 6, 2011
Hot for 2011: sleepmakeswaves
Drop-D are running a series of articles of bands and artists to keep an eye on in 2011. The latest instalment features Australia's sleepmakeswaves. Click HERE to read.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
New Children Of Bodom track
Children Of Bodom have released a new track, ‘Was It Worth It?’ from their upcoming record, Relentless Reckless Forever, coming on March 8th.
‘Was It Worth It?’ opens with a very typical Bodom riff but does come equipped with a little more aggression than previous album Blooddrunk. There was a lukewarm feeling within Bloodrunk, being more irritated than infuriated. That may have been rectified now but what remains unchanged is their overall formula. ‘Was It Worth It?’ sounds like Bodom, and it appears (very much so by now) that they subscribe to the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” ethos. Listen to the track below.
Children Of Bodom play Vicar Street on April 5th with Amon Amarth, Ensiferum and Machinae Supremacy.
‘Was It Worth It?’ opens with a very typical Bodom riff but does come equipped with a little more aggression than previous album Blooddrunk. There was a lukewarm feeling within Bloodrunk, being more irritated than infuriated. That may have been rectified now but what remains unchanged is their overall formula. ‘Was It Worth It?’ sounds like Bodom, and it appears (very much so by now) that they subscribe to the “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” ethos. Listen to the track below.
Children Of Bodom play Vicar Street on April 5th with Amon Amarth, Ensiferum and Machinae Supremacy.
Tuesday, January 4, 2011
New year, new music on the horizon
This marks merely the second post of 2011 on The Grind That Annoys and it’s only appropriate that we get things rolling with a quick look at some of the latest goings-on with regards to upcoming releases and some new tracks that have surfaced online.
Firstly, acoustic singer/song writer Owensie has announced an album launch show for his album, Aliens on January 21st in The Back Loft, La Cathedral Studios. Also playing is Amber Wilson as well as a solo set by Enemies’ Eoin Whitfield.
Instrumentalists Halcyon are preparing the release of their new EP, Pastures and have released a five minute teaser clip on their Soundcloud page, HERE. They were included on the recent Honor Thy Drummer tribute compilation to Mike Portnoy.
Refraction have announced an album launch show on March 4th in Fibbers with a line up that also includes Parhelia, I’ll Eat Your Face, Countervela and Ropemaker. You can listen to two tracks, ‘Into Nothing’ and ‘The Final Shadow’, from the forthcoming record, HERE.
Finch have broken up once again, originally parting ways in 2006. The break up came not long after the sublime Say Hello To Sunshine record, which was actually a commercial failure and saw them leave their home on Geffen records. They reformed than in 2007 releasing a new EP and sporadically dropping new tracks for a new record. Much of the new material was conspicuously more in the vein of their original post-hardcore and somewhat pop punk material opposed to the schizophrenic experimentation of Say Hello….
Their second curtain call has come in shape of a brief EP Epilogue, which is available digitally on their bandcamp. It features two tracks and comes with the note; “these are the last two Finch songs. ever. enjoy.” Also released has been a cover of Far’s ‘Bury White’.
Nottingham based badgers Alright The Captain have finally scheduled a release for their debut full length, Snib for February 7th.
Two Tales Of Woe have a clip of rough new material too and can be heard HERE. They will be supporting Entombed on January 29th in The Village. Dublin post rock band Friend? have also a very brief clip of their EP, still a work in progress, available on their soundcloud.
Finally, Tesseract have announced an Irish tour for next month with the following dates 18/02/2011 - Fibbers, Dublin, 19/02/2011 - An Cruiscan Lan, Cork, 20/02/2011 - Bakers, Limerick. Their debut album One is released soon, the follow up to 2010's truly stunning EP Concealing Fate.
Firstly, acoustic singer/song writer Owensie has announced an album launch show for his album, Aliens on January 21st in The Back Loft, La Cathedral Studios. Also playing is Amber Wilson as well as a solo set by Enemies’ Eoin Whitfield.
Instrumentalists Halcyon are preparing the release of their new EP, Pastures and have released a five minute teaser clip on their Soundcloud page, HERE. They were included on the recent Honor Thy Drummer tribute compilation to Mike Portnoy.
Refraction have announced an album launch show on March 4th in Fibbers with a line up that also includes Parhelia, I’ll Eat Your Face, Countervela and Ropemaker. You can listen to two tracks, ‘Into Nothing’ and ‘The Final Shadow’, from the forthcoming record, HERE.
Finch have broken up once again, originally parting ways in 2006. The break up came not long after the sublime Say Hello To Sunshine record, which was actually a commercial failure and saw them leave their home on Geffen records. They reformed than in 2007 releasing a new EP and sporadically dropping new tracks for a new record. Much of the new material was conspicuously more in the vein of their original post-hardcore and somewhat pop punk material opposed to the schizophrenic experimentation of Say Hello….
Their second curtain call has come in shape of a brief EP Epilogue, which is available digitally on their bandcamp. It features two tracks and comes with the note; “these are the last two Finch songs. ever. enjoy.” Also released has been a cover of Far’s ‘Bury White’.
Nottingham based badgers Alright The Captain have finally scheduled a release for their debut full length, Snib for February 7th.
Two Tales Of Woe have a clip of rough new material too and can be heard HERE. They will be supporting Entombed on January 29th in The Village. Dublin post rock band Friend? have also a very brief clip of their EP, still a work in progress, available on their soundcloud.
Finally, Tesseract have announced an Irish tour for next month with the following dates 18/02/2011 - Fibbers, Dublin, 19/02/2011 - An Cruiscan Lan, Cork, 20/02/2011 - Bakers, Limerick. Their debut album One is released soon, the follow up to 2010's truly stunning EP Concealing Fate.
Monday, January 3, 2011
Honor Thy Drummer, A Tribute To Mike Portnoy
A dedicated team of likeminded Portnoy fans? Check. A whole host of bands? Check. Click HERE for the full review of Honor Thy Drummer, A Tribute To Mike Portnoy.
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