Author: Sam Martinez

THE SECRET: Revolver Reveals “The Sorrowful Void” By Italian Metal Cult; Lux Tenebris EP Preorders Posted By Southern Lord

Posted on: June 22, 2018
Revolver Magazine is now streaming “The Sorrowful Void,” the first song to be revealed from THE SECRET‘s scathing EP, Lux Tenebris, their first new material in six years, due out in August via Southern Lord.
THE SECRET ends the extensive period of decay since their 2012-released Agnus Dei LP, emerging with their first studio material in almost six years. Following three years without communication between members, the band regrouped under the same roof for the first time since 2015 to record Lux Tenebris, a three-song act in sonic exploration of the theme of the sepulchre.
The band offers with the new song’s debut, “The Sorrowful Void’ is a song that develops from the obsession for a riff and its repetition. It’s the very first riff that has been written for this new EP and that single riff constitutes the majority of the song. This type of density and repetition makes the riff turn almost into a texture that my mind visualizes as a sort of vortex or a magmatic eruption. It’s a riff that is meant to get lost into. The writing process for this song influenced the overall sound of the rest of the EP.”
Revolver declares, “Italy’s THE SECRET have washed away any sign of hardcore for their latest track ‘The Sorrowful Void,’ a black-metal burner propelled by HM2 and a heaping spoonful of vitriol. Efficient whether at full assault or half-speed, THE SECRET‘s dark atmospherics help guide the song, leaving a brooding and fog-ridden aesthetic from under which vocalist Marco Coslovich unleashes his bellowing cries.”
Expose THE SECRET’s “The Sorrowful Void” at Revolver HERE.
Southern Lord will issue THE SECRET‘s Lux Tenebris as part of the label’s special twentieth anniversary subscription series on August 31st with a small portion of the pressing to be available via label direct mailorder. The 12″ vinyl pressing bears the three tracks on the A-side, with a silkscreened B-side; the EP will also be released on all digital platforms. Find preorders at the label webstore HERE, European store HERE, and Bandcamp HERE.
THE SECRET Tour Dates:
8/12/2018 Cudi Purci Festival – Budapest, HU w/ High On Fire, Pillorian
8/18/2018 Frantic Festival – Francavilla al Mare, IT w/ Sadistic Intent, Bolzer, Enslaved
 
The twenty-minute Lux Tenebris EP sees THE SECRET abandoning the minimalistic approach of the previous two albums, the band expanding its sound by adding more layered and textural guitar work to the primordial destructive aggression that distinguished the Solve Et Coagula and Agnus Dei LPs. While still physical and confrontational, these songs show no concern for mortality and forget time and decay, creating new room for resonation and atmosphere. Lux Tenebris is an ode to the eternal night suspended beyond life and death. The signature sound of the band is pushed to its extreme by further developing the black metal and doom influences reminiscent of Southern Lord mid-2000s catalog, showcasing THE SECRET as one of Italy’s undeniably darkest bands in existence once again. Lux Tenebris was recorded by Steve Scanu and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege and completed with a cover illustration and layout by View From The Coffin.
Review copies of Lux Tenebris will be released shortly. For coverage of THE SECRET in The Americas contact dave@earsplitcompound.com, in Italy contact luca.pessina@anubipress.com, all others contact lauren@rarelyunable.com.

VITAMIN X: Age Of Paranoia Now Streaming; Album Out Today Through Southern Lord

Posted on: May 18, 2018

Age Of Paranoia, the new album by Dutch hardcore punk kingpins VITAMIN X, is out today via Southern Lord.

 
Recorded by Igor Wouters at ARC Studios in Amsterdam, and including special guest guitar solos by J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr., Witch), and Bubba Dupree (Void, Soundgarden, Dave Grohl’s Probot, Brant Bjork). Age Of Paranoia offers sixteen volatile tracks, packed into a succinct, white-knuckled twenty-eight minutes. The album surges with rapid-fire punk angst, replete with ripping rock leads and raised-fist, group-chanting anthems. The cover artwork was created by Marald (Baroness, Kylesa, High On Fire).
 
Stream VITAMIN X’s Age Of Paranoia now at THIS LOCATION.
 
Age Of Paranoia is out now on LP, CD, and digital formats; find physical bundles HERE and digital at Bandcamp HERE as well as through all digital providers.
 
VITAMIN X will be performing the material from Age Of Paranoia at fests and shows throughout 2018, including a newly-confirmed release show for the album on June 22nd. Check out the listings so far below and stay tuned for more tour dates to be announced throughout the year.
 
VITAMIN X Tour Dates:
6/15/2018 TBA – SP
6/16/2018 Valles Escrema Fest – Montornes del Valles, SP
6/22/2018 – OCCII, Amsterdam NL *Age Of Paranoia release show
7/06/2018 Flugplatz – Zwickau, DE
7/07/2018 RIIP Fest – Tours, FR
7/14/2018 Woodstick Fest – Lage, DE
8/03/2018 TBA – Wroclaw, PL
8/04/2018 Novy – Jicin, CZ
8/05/2018 TBA – Bratislava, SK
9/07/2018 Chimpyfest – London, UK
9/14/2018 Punk Rock Weekend Fest – Stockholm, SE
9/15/2018 TBA – Troisdorf, DE
 
“Fast, furious, overflowing with energy and slam happy anthems, Age of Paranoia is a heavyweight, Hardcore monster that should, and deserves to, find a home in every HC kids, both young and old, record collection and on every single punk rock stereo in scene-land. Welcome to the Age of Paranoia. It’s time to take your vitamins…” – Mass Movement
 
”One of the best and most important hardcore bands today” – Profane Existence
 
”Excellent and addictive, gathering the best of punk and metal: one part hardcore punk, another Motörhead” – Metal Advisor
 
“the supreme thrash band in all of current rock ‘n’ roll” – Maximum Rocknroll
 
For review copies of Age Of Paranoia and interviews with VITAMIN X in The Americas contact dave@earsplitcompound.com and elsewhere contact lauren@rarelyunable.com.
 

BAPTISTS: Title Track To Beacon Of Faith LP Streaming On All Platforms As Album Nears May Release Via Southern Lord

Posted on: May 8, 2018
“Beacon Of Faith,” the title track to the impending third LP by Vancouver, British Columbia-based metallic hardcore punk outfit, BAPTISTS, is now available on all digital platforms ahead of the album’s release through Southern Lord later this month.
Beacon Of Faith was recorded at Godcity in Salem, Massachusetts with Kurt Ballou in July 2017, and mastered by Brad Boatright at Audiosiege in Portland, Oregon.
Stream the BAPTISTS track “Beacon Of Faith” via iTunes HERE and Spotify HERE, as well as all other digital providers.
Southern Lord will release Beacon Of Faith on all formats on May 25th; the vinyl has been slightly delayed. Find preorder bundles – including reissues of the band’s prior albums, Bushcraft and Bloodmines – at the Southern Lord webshop HERE, and digital preorders and stream the track “Capsule” at Bandcamp HERE.
Watch for BAPTISTS tour dates and more on Beacon Of Faith to be announced shortly.
Though the Beacon Of Faith album is densely-packed, yet BAPTISTS‘ sound is far from claustrophobic. There is melody amongst the dissonance, as the band more deeply explore the noise rock vistas that have always underpinned their sound. The album broadly follows the same trajectory as its predecessors — Bushcraft (2013) and Bloodmines (2014) – combining the style of raw adrenaline-fueled emotion, venomous vocal delivery, gigantic guitar sound, and a visceral rhythmic propulsion; a sonic manifestation of desolate rage, bolstered by a palpable sense of urgency.
The lyrics on Beacon Of Faith are drawn from the members’ direct experience of a broken society and general discontentment with everyday life. A multitude of issues are in the firing line, from the Canadian court system, issues surrounding substance abuse, mental health, and how the more fortunate tend to dismiss people who have been dealt a less-fortunate hand.
For review copies of Beacon Of Faith and interviews with BAPTISTS in the Americas contact dave@earsplitcompound.com and otherwise contact lauren@rarelyunable.com.

VITAMIN X: Revolver Magazine Premieres “Flip The Switch” Featuring J Mascis Of Dinosaur Jr.; Age Of Paranoia LP Nears May Release Through Southern Lord

Posted on: April 27, 2018

Southern Lord will issue the Age Of Paranoia LP by Dutch hardcore punk kingpins VITAMIN X in less than a month, the band’s first title for the label. As the release date closes in, the newest single has been released in the form of a Revolver Magazine premiere of “Flip The Switch,” which features guest guitar work by J Mascis.

The newest chapter in the VITAMIN X lineage, Age Of Paranoia, was recorded by Igor Wouters at ARC Studios in Amsterdam. Packing sixteen volatile tracks into a white-knuckled twenty-eight minutes, Age Of Paranoia surges with rapid-fire punk angst packed with ripping rock leads and raised-fist gang-chant anthems. The album includes several special guest guitar solos by J Mascis (Dinosaur Jr., Witch) and Bubba Dupree (Void, Soundgarden, Dave Grohl’s Probot, Brant Bjork), and is completed with cover artwork by Marald (Baroness, Kylesa, High On Fire).
New single “Flip The Switch” features an empowering solo by J Mascis which spans the entire track. Revolver states of the song, “It’s a very Annihilation Time, mid-period Black Flag-y ripper that’s perfect for the pit or washing down a cold one with another cold one (sorry, straight-edge homies). Either way, don’t miss Mascis tearing a hole in the universe with a solo over the entire thing.”
Stream the raging VITAMIN X anthem “Flip The Switch” with J Mascis at Revolver Magazine RIGHT HERE.
VITAMIN X guitarist Marc Emmerik recounts the experience: “We had this song with a Dinosaur Jr. type of intro. I thought it’d be perfect to let J Mascis do the solo. My friends Graham Clise (Witch, Lecherous Gaze, Annihilation Time) and Dave Sweetapple (Teepee, Witch) got in touch with him and he agreed to do it, he actually had one of our albums because John Brannon (Negative Approach) sang on it.
When J passed through Amsterdam he played the solo on my 1980 Gibson SG. He said he never plays Gibson but it has J Mascis all over it and it’s one of his most furious solos ever in which he seems to revisit his hardcore roots, as he was in hardcore punk band Deep Wound before Dinosaur Jr.
The funny thing is, J’s solo runs from beginning to end, more than two minutes! When he started he didn’t stop and ran his solo through the entire song, even over the vocals. After that first take I told him, ‘You only have to do the intro,’ to which he replied, ‘No, I’ll do the whole song; just take out whatever you want.’ When I came home and listened, we didn’t take out anything and kept his whole original solo since it’s insane and rips so much! I think this is the only song in hardcore punk with a two-minute solo from start to end!”
Southern Lord will release Age Of Paranoia on LP, CD, and digital formats May 18th; find preorder bundles HERE and digital at Bandcamp where you can stream “Modern Man” at Bandcamp HERE and through all digital providers.
VITAMIN X will be performing the material from Age Of Paranoia at fests and shows throughout 2018, having already announced a spread of performances through late summer. Watch for more tour dates to be announced throughout the year.
VITAMIN X Tour Dates:
5/03/2018 N8 Lounge – Bonn, DE
5/04/2018 TBA – Antwerp, BE
6/15/2018 TBA – SP
6/16/2018 Valles Escrema Fest – Montornes del Valles, SP
7/06/2018 Flugplatz – Zwickau, DE
7/07/2018 RIIP Fest – Tours, FR
7/14/2018 Woodstick Fest – Lage, DE
8/03/2018 TBA – Wroclaw, PL
8/04/2018 Novy – Jicin, CZ
8/05/2018 TBA – Bratislava, SK
9/07/2018 Chimpyfest – London, UK
9/14/2018 Punk Rock Weekend Fest – Stockholm, SE
9/15/2018 TBA – Troisdorf, DE
 
VITAMIN X has unloaded their energetic brand of rock and thrash-soaked hardcore punk since the late 1990s. Having operated through diehard DIY efforts, the band has amassed an arsenal of albums, EPs, singles, splits, and more across a wide array of underground labels, including Havoc Records, Tankcrimes, Underestimated, AgiPunk, Refuse Records, and many others. Their most recent two LPs were recorded by Steve Albini (Nirvana, Iggy Pop, Neurosis), and their 2016-released ”About To Crack” video went viral and reached more than a million views.
Well-known for their energetic and explosive live shows which attract fans from across the metal, punk, and rock spectrum, VITAMIN X has toured around the world several times, from Japan to the United States, from South America to Southeast Asia, and beyond. The band has played on MTV and many large fests including Hellfest, Maryland Deathfest, and many others, and recently toured with Baroness and Harley Flannagan’s Cro-Mags.
For review copies of Age Of Paranoia and interviews with VITAMIN X in The Americas contact dave@earsplitcompound.com and elsewhere contact lauren@rarelyunable.com.

Southern Lord Mark Their Twenty Year Anniversary with a Limited Edition Silver Vinyl Subscription Series & Silver Vinyl Reissues of Essential Back Catalogue

Posted on: April 17, 2018

In the mid-90’s, in the cold, bleak north of Seattle, Washington, two friends in their mid-20’s, Greg Anderson and Stephen O Malley, were wading deep in the behemoth dirge of the Melvins, and melting into Earth‘s expansive, glacial-paced, guitar-based soundscapes, heavily influenced by these sounds. Greg and Stephen were playing together in Thorr’s Hammer and Burning Witch, and tread their own paths after the demise of those bands, only to be brought back together in Los Angeles in 1998. In a new city, at the dawn of a new decade, the two went on to form a new band sunn O))) and launch Southern Lord Recordings with the vision of releasing recordings of these works.

On the 1st of April 1998, Southern Lord Recordings was officially established, and put out their first CD release by Thorrs Hammer, Dommedagsnatt.  20 years later, the label are marking this milestone year with the release of a limited edition, silver vinyl subscription and reissue series, which launches today. 
The label are releasing 10 records as part of the series, eight can already be revealed, The Want – Greatest Hits Vol.5 LP, Toadliquor – Discography 2xLP, Thorr’s Hammer – Live at Roadburn 2010 LP,  sunn O))) – Downtown Rehearsal/Riff Tape March 1998 LP, The Secret –Lux Tenebris LP, Rein Sanction– Black album, LP. The bundles include T-Shirt, slipmat and download code with each record – find out more on the Southern Lord Store. 
Label owner Greg Anderson comments “Over the years Southern Lord has the incredible honour of releasing albums from cult legendary bands: Electric Wizard, Sleep, Magma, Unsane, Darkest Hour, Grief, Saint Vitus, BL’AST!, Winter, Wolfbrigade, Poison Idea, & Pelican as well as iconic, monumental artists: Dylan Carlson (Earth), Wino, Dave Grohl (Probot), Zakk Wylde (Zakk Sabbath),&  Josh Homme (Desert Sessions). We are extremely proud to have been a part of the developing rise of several bands who are now part of the essential fabric of the underground: Wolves In The Throne Room, Nails, Boris, & Power Trip.”
Greg continues…”It is our mission to create a sanctuary for bands/artists/musicians to have their creative works released exactly as their vision was intended.“

VITAMIN X: “Modern Man” From Age Of Paranoia LP Streaming At No Echo; Album Set For Late May Release Via Southern Lord

Posted on: April 12, 2018

Long-running Amsterdam hardcore punk outfit VITAMIN X has issued the first single from their upcoming sixth LP, Age Of Paranoia, the band’s first release for Southern Lord. The album-opening “Modern Man” has been unleashed through a premiere at No Echo alongside a brief interrogation of the band.

The newest chapter in the VITAMIN X lineage, Age Of Paranoia, was recorded by Igor Wouters at ARC Studios in Amsterdam. Packing sixteen volatile tracks into a white-knuckled twenty-eight minutes, Age Of Paranoia surges with rapid-fire punk angst packed with ripping rock leads and raised-fist gang-chant anthems. The album includes several special guest guitar solos by J. Mascis (Dinosaur Jr., Witch) and Bubba Dupree (Void, Soundgarden, Dave Grohl’s Probot, Brant Bjork), and is completed with cover artwork by Marald (Baroness, Kylesa, High On Fire).
No Echo is streaming the lead track to Age Of Paranoia, “Modern Man,” of which the band states, “The lyrics are the starting point of a bigger theme; the age we’re living in, is an age of confusion and paranoia… More than ever, we’re controlled and affected by media, technology, mobile devices, Internet, social networks, governments, politics, climate change, pollution, fake news, etc. ‘Modern Man’ is a sarcastic song in which we wonder if our so-called ‘progress” isn’t actually ‘regress.'”

Stream VITAMIN X’s “Modern Man” at No Echo RIGHT HERE.

Age Of Paranoia will be released on LP, CD, and digital formats May 18th through Southern Lord; find preorders HERE. 

Watch for additional audio and video previews from the album and more to be released over the next several weeks.
 
Age Of Paranoia Track Listing:
1. Modern Man
2. Rollercoaster Ride
3. Age Of Paranoia
4. Human Plague
5. No One
6. Flip The Switch
7. Short circuit
8. Speak No Evil
9. Deranged Degenerate
10. Revers Midas Touch
11. Media Messiah
12. Road Warrior
13. Bounce Back
14. Leave Me Alone
15. Rock N Roll Destroyer
16. Shock Value
 
VITAMIN X will be performing the material from Age Of Paranoia at fests and shows throughout 2018, having already announced a spread of shows through late summer. Watch for more tour dates to be announced throughout the year.
 
VITAMIN X Tour Dates:
5/03/2018 N8 Lounge – Bonn, DE
5/04/2018 TBA – Antwerp, BE
5/10/2018 Mondo Bizarre – Rennes, FR
5/11/2018 Unies Sont Nos Cultures Fest – Lorient, FR
5/12/2018 TBA – Le Havre, FR
6/15/2018 TBA – SP
6/16/2018 Valles Escrema Fest, Montornes del Valles, SP
7/06/2018 Flugplatz – Zwickau, DE
7/07/2018 RIIP Fest – Tours, FR
7/14/2018 Woodstick Fest – Lage, DE
8/03/2018 TBA – Wroclaw, PL
8/04/2018 Novy – Jicin, CZ
8/05/2018 TBA – Bratislava, SK
9/07/2018 Chimpyfest -, London, UK
9/14/2018 Punk Rock Weekend Fest – Stockholm, SE
9/15/2018 TBA – Troisdorf, DE
 
VITAMIN X has unloaded their energetic brand of rock and thrash-soaked hardcore punk since the late 1990s. Having operated through diehard DIY efforts, the band has amassed an arsenal of albums, EPs, singles, splits, and more across a wide array of underground labels, including Havoc Records, Tankcrimes, Underestimated, AgiPunk, Refuse Records, and many others. Their most recent two LPs were recorded by Steve Albini (Nirvana, Iggy Pop, Neurosis), and their 2016-released ”About To Crack” video went viral and reached more than a million views.
 
Well-known for their energetic and explosive live shows which attract fans from across the metal, punk, and rock spectrum, VITAMIN X has toured around the world several times, from Japan to the United States, from South America to Southeast Asia, and beyond. The band has played on MTV and many large fests including Hellfest, Maryland Deathfest, and many others, and recently toured with Baroness and Harley Flannagan’s Cro-Mags.
 
Review copies of Age Of Paranoia will be released in the coming days. For interviews and coverage of VITAMIN X in The America contact dave@earsplitcompound.com and elsewhere contact lauren@rarelyunable.com.