Australian progressive death metal behemoths XENOBIOTIC have released their new album ‘Mordrake’ via Unique Leader.
Following on from their well recieved record ‘Prometheus‘, the new record Mordrake delves deeper into the bands crushing technical abilities combined with atmospheric elements, creating a bleak and challenging musical landscape.
“For the last year, we have worked tirelessly to complete the next chapter in this bands journey. With new members, new influences and a refined vision, we strived to elevate our sound to heights unexplored by this band to date. Looking back on 2019 and what we have managed to create, we are extremely proud and hope this record connects with all of you the way it has with us.This album is more than just an arrangement of music. It is our darkest secrets, our worst fears and our most vivid nightmares. It is everything that casts a shadow over you and I. In an attempt to summarise this album before its release, we present to you the first instalment of a 3 part narrative. We hope you enjoy this glimpse into the hell we have created.“
THRASH BLAST GRIND is back in May 2020 to feed the bloodthirsty hunger of metalheads across Australia and New Zealand!
Melbourne’s KING PARROT will be headlining this year’s tour alongside ghastly gore-drenched death metallers EXHUMED. Also along for the ride will fellow Melbournites KING and Seattle’s finest THEORIES.
Proudly presented by Sound Works Direct, Tickets go on sale Thursday the 27th of February at 9:00am – get them here.
Check out the tour dates below and stay up to date with the bands on social media – KING PARROT – EXHUMED – KING – THEORIES
Check out our previous coverage of KING PARROT for their ‘Bite Your Head Off‘ show and when they supported the legendary DARK ANGEL.
I must admit when Within Destruction first started releasing images of themselves on a Tokyo Drift backdrop drenched in hype brands and cash, I was a little bit skeptical. Within Destruction are notorious for their sense of humor, yet when later teaser images were accompanied by the hashtag #trapcore I was not sure if this was some epic trolling or a legitimate change in the band’s sound. I will leave it up to you to decide!
Check out the video for “Hate Me” below and keep up to date with Within Destruction on social media.
Nothing gets you over the hump quite like some midweek metal at Max Watts in Melbourne’s city centre. Everyday Metal braved the recent spout of shitty weather to head down Swanston Street and get in line with the other keen metal fans to see the the sold out event of Cattle Decapitation’s Australian Tour with Revocation and special guest, Remains.
We rushed down the stairs and were greeted with a dense smoke as the Melbourne local band Remains blasted us with the first track from their set. The venue was quickly filling, so I found myself a good spot with a view and settled in to enjoy the old school metal feels of this newly formed grindcore supergroup with their short but savage tracks. They kept a really fun pace and I, and the crowd were enjoying it thoroughly.
The members of Revocation immediately scattered around the stage to ensure that their instruments were set up and tuned correctly so that we could experience their very technical metal in all it’s proficient glory. This took a while, but once they started playing I understood why it was necessary, and yes, it was definitely worth it. The first track began with a slow sci-fi style intro until they went ballistic with some fast and complicated riffs. Then it got a little doomy and both guitarists threw their growly vocals back and forth between them until they sang in unison creating a beastly sound. Each track took us on an in depth journey of all kinds of metal stylings, and just as soon as you thought the song was going to completely go off the rails, they would pull the reins back with masterful control. Lead vocalist and guitarist David Davidson leaned into the mic ‘What the fuck is up you sick cunts!’, David being another American who loves our bizarre aussie coloquialisms then said ‘We’re not here to fuck spiders. You are not here to fuck spiders either. So I wanna see a bunch of unfucked spiders, hahaha!’. They played some older tracks from earlier albums including Communion which David said was ‘the fastest shit we got’ as he conducted his final circle pit. I enjoyed watching the crowd get fucked up during this set and also enjoyed the wailing retro guitar solos that were wedged between the audible mayhem.
I Looked down on the crowd again and I couldn’t see a single space that wasn’t already occupied by a human body. This was indeed a sold out show. The stage was drenched in red light as four figures slowly made their entrance to the crowd, and only moments later, a roar of approval rose up as Travis Ryan lead singer of Cattle Decapitation entered the stage. Without hesitation, they launched right into it their first track bludgeoned our ears and igniting all our senses, this is exactly what we came for. I’m always impressed with veteran bands like Cattle Decapitation that have been on the scene for decades, their performance is never lacking and we are definitely not left wanting. ‘It’s good to be back. You guys are fucking awesome!’ Cattle Decapitation made sure to give a shout out to their mates King Parrot which got a cheer from the Melbourne audience (of course, we love our King Parrot). The night was over but we all left very satisfied and ready to tackle the rest of the shitty mundane week.
Cattle Decapitation are celebrating 24 years of melting faces and are touring in celebration of their 10th studio album “Death Atlas“.
Get out the Crayolas and colour me tickled pink! We finally got to see the infamous Ned Flanders themed death metal band Okilly Dokilly on their first ever Australian tour and it was even more fun than having someone zinc your sniffer! Our resident photographer Mitch and I headed out to The Corner Hotel in Richmond to a band room that was slowly being filled with a diverse mix of Simpsons fans, metal fans and the nerdlingers that fell comfortably in the middle of that Venn Diagram, the metal nerd fans. The crowd was dressed to impress with many wearing Ned friendly attire, some rocking Mr Sparkle tees and a few ladies with hair so blue it would make Marge Simpson jealous.
I found a spot for myself in front of the bar at the far end, got myself a cola (which was a bit thick but the price was right), and waited for the support band to start. I donut know if you’ve heard of them, but the band supporting Okilly Dokilly for the tour was Melbourne’s own Simpsons themed doom rock band, Dr Colossus! The room went dark and some ominous figures dressed in Stonecutter style robes walked out into the crowd single file in a very ritualistic fashion. They made their way on to the stage and launched into their set of obscure Simpsons references mashed with doom rock metal and spliced with sampled recordings from the famed cartoon sitcom. I noticed that most of the crowd were already fans and followers of Dr Colossus, but even the greenhorns nodded their heads like they were saying yes to every beat, yes, yes, yes, this rocks! Others switched it up, shook their heads like, no, no, no, don’t stop the rocking! After the first song, and a cool glass of turnip juice, the band played a track dedicated to Otto called ‘Holy Driver’ followed by the sing-a-long track ‘It’s Still Good’. But it was when they played ‘Stupid Sexy Flanders’ from their 2016 compilation Death Mountain Collection, that the crowd went wild as none other than Head Ned himself, the frontman from Okilly Dokilly came out onto the stage to draw us in with the beautiful siren song (that was very disturbing). The last song for the set ‘Excellent’ was lovingly dedicated to the bands late drummer who passed away in 2017.
As the crowd grew restless between the sets they began to chant ‘Flaaaaaaaande-errrrrrrrs…… Flaaaaaaaande-errrrrrs’, but we did not have to wait long for the reneducation to begin! Four steady Neddys graced the stage adorned with pretty nifty cookie dusters and nose neighbors, while Head Ned greeted us all warmly ‘‘Hi diddly ho neighborinos!’, that voice, oh my god, that voice! He practically was the incarnation of Nedward Flanders Jr a.k.a Old Painty Can Ned. We then received an onslaught of masterful metal and funky synth notes through the tracks When the Comet Gets Here, You’re a Jerk and what Head Ned quipped as their number one least requested song ‘Vegetables’ which was such a treat to see being performed live. The crowd loved it too with everybody in the mosh kicking and screaming! There was even a guy in a full Ned face mask and giant yellow foam finger thrashing to every beat. Although the band were pretty gosh darn disappointed that no one in Australia had challenged them to play knifey spooney or that they hadn’t seen any Chazwazzas, they were however satisfied that no one had disparaged the ‘Boot’ flag that hung as their backdrop as that, as Head Ned put it ‘would have been a bootable offense!’.
The set continued with a mix of old and new tracks, Slaughterhouse, All That Is Left and Purple Drapes and with a thanks to the Band Member of the Week ‘this inanimate carbon rod’ which was held up and hurled into the audience ‘Thank you little doodle!’, they played one more tune, Donut Hell. To test the effectiveness of the Reneducation, the band offered up to the mosh a giant inflatable donut to destroy. Once it landed in the crowd it was gone, gone-diddily-on.
Okilly Dokilly must have felt a great sadness in their bosom as they returned to the stage with their new neighborinos Dr Colossus to take a photo of the momentous last night of the tour. The band raised their glasses and toasted the night with a White Wine Spritzer, Spritzer, Spritzer. Head Ned then slipped off stage to change into a very snug and revealing outfit that looked like he was wearing Nothing at All, nothing at all, nothing at all!
I can tell you that nothing about the performance was pre-diddly-ictable and I think Okilly Dokilly did their best shodaiddily iddily diddily to give us a memorable night, I’m not just being nice, hostidididildilidilly. They are excellent neighbor-eenos that rock out like a son of a diddly, and sure are fun to watch. Mmm! Satisfying! If you don’t agree, I’m gonna run you down with my car.
Self-described as Crass, vulgar and dissonant The Melbourne four-piece known as KNTare coming in hard with their latest single ‘Trippin’.
Recently featured on Triple J’s Short.Fast.Loud, KNT’s latest song sticks true to the band’s mantra of “striving to appease the millennial attention span by not writing songs more than a minute long”.
Check out the video below and make sure you follow KNT on social media.
Sydney’s POLARIS are unstoppable at the moment, not only are they selling out shows across Australia, they have dropped a new track ‘Landmine‘ in the lead up to the release of their second studio album The Death Of Me (out Feb 21).
“I think we all reach a point sometime in our late adolescence or early adulthood where we finally realise the world doesn’t just exist to serve us as individuals, and never did. A realisation that maybe you’re not as special and unique as you were made to feel as a kid – you’re not the star of everyone’s movie, only your own little life. Ultimately no one else cares if you succeed or fail, and no one is going to keep picking you up and dusting you off and pointing you in the right direction when you screw up. “Landmine” is a nihilistic, sarcastic celebration of accepting all of that.” Explains Daniel Furnari
Check out the cinematic video for ‘Landmine’ below and keep up to date with POLARIS on social media.
Melbourne’s VENGEANCE are coming in hot with their debut single and video ‘ANGUISH‘. Shot and Edited by 104 Creative, this video shows that VENGEANCE are a force to be reckoned with and they will no doubt be ripping up stages very soon!
Check out the video below and keep up to date with VENGEANCE on social media.
This March Brisbane rockers WAAX will be hitting the road for their biggest tour yet. With support from BUGS, Waxx will be touring their debut record ‘Big Grief‘ in Freemantle, Sydney, Dee Why, Chelsea Heights, Geelong, Melbourne, Maroochydore, Brisbane, Kingscliff, Hobart, and Byron Bay!
Presented by Triple J you can get your tickets here and don’t forget to follow WAAX on social media.
Adelaide rock outfit Alt. are back with their latest single ‘Chasing Safety‘. This track takes a darker approach and delves into some very personal topics, vocalist Daniel Richards talks openly about the meaning behind this new song:
“Someone very dear to me was in an abusive relationship and feeling very helpless, lost, and alone and I was so moved to hear about what she was going through.I’m so grateful that she had the strength to open up and allow me to have a hand in helping her get out of that situation and into a happier, safer life.“
“The message in chasing safety is that no matter how hopeless a situation feels, there will always be someone to support you and care about keeping you out of harm. I hope we can all get through the fear of reaching out and accept help when we don’t feel safe.”
The track is accompanied by a new music video shot by award-winning cinematographer Benjamin Powell (Days Of Deceit, Across The Atlas), you can check it out below.
Alt. will be touring in support of Void Of Vision on their ‘Hyperdaze tour’ – get your tickets here.
