vBoogieman Rock and Metal News

Progressive metal giants DREAM THEATER have released the following statement regarding the departure of the band’s drummer, Mike Portnoy:

“To all of our loyal fans and friends: It is with profound sadness — regret — we announce that Mike Portnoy, our lifelong drummer and friend, has decided to leave DREAM THEATER.

Dementia/Dyslexia starts like a usual technical death metal album, with “Mental Illness” delivering blast beats, intensity and growling vocals. Things get more interesting on “Inner Thoughts,” with progressive parts alternating with crushing death metal. Then toward the end, there’s a saxophone solo, not something you usually hear on a death metal album.

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PANTERA found its growl and groove on “Cowboys From Hell”, a landmark album whose bone-powdering intensity, razor-sharp riffing and pummeling rhythmic assault represented a turning point in modern metal when it was released in 1990.

Between all of the busy things I’ve had to do this week, I thought that I would squeeze a review in there somewhere, so I popped in some sludge, which I do enjoy, but I heard something very different from The Violence Beneath by Mouth of the Architect. I have mixed feelings…

I’m just gonna cut right to the chase on this one, and I know I’m gonna hear some real nasty comments for my response on this album, but so be it… I really didn’t dig this album as much as I thought I was going to. I just didn’t feel the connection to the music like I feel from other sludge bands, and I was prepped for something good, especially with some of the other talent I’ve heard recently…But alas, Mouth of the Architect didn’t pop at me.

When I think of sludge, I think of bands like Down, Black Cobra, Acid Bath and Om. Not that Mouth of the Architect isn’t in some ways sludge metal, but they don’t show a lot of it on this album, IMO. Their previous works show a lot more of what sludge sounds like, and the vocals have more intensity to them. I feel the sound in the instrumentals for sure. It’s all in there, with the dark and the gloom, and the horror-mystery of a dark alley, but the vocals didn’t speak quite the same. They spoke a hardcore/metalcore drag, and I got a different feel from them, that again, wasn’t all bad, but it wasn’t what I was hoping for in the songs… And speaking of the songs, the first song, which is a cover of Peter Gabriel’s In Your Eyes… Um… I got nothin’. It’s not what I would have chosen for an attempt at grabbing you by the balls, and dragging you into the crackhouse, so to speak.

All in all, I just didn’t get the full vibe from The Violence Beneath. I’m not saying that I didn’t see some sludge in there, and I’m also not saying that I’ll never listen to another shred of note from them again, but I will have a better understanding for what they are. I’ll have to pick up their earlier stuff, and have a good listen, just to see what I can get. They’ve caught me by the chest, so now they just need to get me the rest of the way down the alley!

NOT BAD

Similar Artists: Om, Mastodon, Acid Bath, Black Cobra

1.    The Violence Beneath
2.    Buried Hopes
3.    Restore (Live)
4.    In Your Eyes (Peter Gabriel Cover)

Jason Watkins – Vocals, Keyboards, Samples
Alex Vernon – Guitar, Vocals
Steve Brooks – Guitar
Kevin Schindel – Bass
Dave Mann – Drums

MOTA Home

Translation Loss Records

http://www.myspace.com/mouthofthearchitect

When it comes to melodic and mature 80s metal, progressive icons Fates Warning seem to eternally be cast in the shade of their peers in Queensryche, while also being forced to rail against the stylistic clichés of the genre as a whole. 1991′s Parallels seemed to change all that for the Connecticut quintet, however, bursting through preconceived barriers of style versus substance, and running with the marked ‘n measured intensity showcased on the album’s 1989 counterpart (pun intended), Perfect Symmetry.

Enter 2010: Metal Blade Records does fans the service of reissuing this classic piece of cerebral metal to the masses, complete with copious demo tracks, live footage, and an additional DVD, further driving home the point of how classically excellent Parallels still is, almost twenty years later.

Read the complete Fates Warning – Parallels Re-Release Review

(CD cover courtesy Metal Blade Records)

Fates Warning – Parallels Re-Release Review originally appeared on About.com Heavy Metal on Tuesday, March 16th, 2010 at 06:44:04.

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Whether he’s touring with JANE’S ADDICTION, hosting his radio show “Dark Matter”, or posing nude for PETA, guitarist Dave Navarro does it with the style and intensity befitting a rock star.

Shrapnel Records has set a January 26, 2010 release date for “Instrumental Intensity”, a new compilation from Michael Schenker (MICHAEL SCHENKER GROUP, UFO, SCORPIONS).

A night where legendary punk legends return to the road after a 15 year layoff, the atmosphere was all hardcore, all punk, intensity growing as each of the five bands took the stage. Naked Raygun were more lean and settled into a set filled with midtempo to fast numbers from their earlier catalog.

Representatives from the time-honored DC punk and hardcore scene were on-hand (it was cool meeting John Stabb of Government Issue on the floor) in a venue-packed Ottabar to pay witness to one of the greats, who gave a pretty solid performance and kept the air of nostalgia swirling about the club. Old meets new on a memorable evening filled with passion and respect.

Paint it Black nearly stole the show as you’ll see by these action-flailed shots, and Naked Raygun’s John Pezzazi even stepped out with them for their closing number, a moment which Paint it Black’s Dan Yemin noted before leaving the stage as being “the greatest moment of my adult life.”

Paint it Black:

with John Pezzati of Naked Raygun:

Naked Raygun:

EARTHEN GRAVE, the new six-piece doom/thrash metal band featuring Mark Weiner on vocals, Ron Holzner on bass, Jason Muxlow and Tony Spillman on guitar, Scott Davidson on drums, and Rachel Barton Pine on an extended-range electric violin, will unleash its dark intensity on Chicago’s Nite Cap on March 27 at 11:00 p.m.

MUSHROOMHEAD have locked themselves in their private studio at the Filthy Hands compound in Cleveland Ohio to begin work on their 7^th studio release which is due out summer 2009 via Megaforce/Sony Music.  It is being produced by co-founding member and drummer Steve “Skinny” Felton, who states:

“Hell yeah, let’s go. After producing the last 6 albums I know what these guys can do and once again they are killing it!  The cool thing about working with Mushroomhead is that there is always an idea on the table and someone brings it to the next level.  Everytime someone tracks they raise the bar for the rest of the records,  Thank God!  They call each other out, they play each others parts they even fist fight!  Their passion is undeniable and that is what Rock & Roll is all about!  The sound is super dark and creepy and even violent at times.”

Keyboardist Shmotz added:

“the new album is off to a great start and is full of aggression and intensity, although it is tough to be creative and keep a solid drug habit with all of the illegal downloading and file sharing these days!”

MUSHROOMHEAD will also be performing at their upcoming Weekend of Horrors conventions in Chicago, Los Angeles, and New York City this year.