Godsticks open 2020 with their new and most accomplished studio album, Inescapable. Their mix of heavy rock, progressive and alternative metal with a dynamic range of angular riffs and emotional depth will leave listeners reeling. The band’s sound has refined over their releases on Kscope, beginning with the technically astounding metal on Emergence to the more industrial and progressive-influenced Faced With Rage. Now, with Inescapable, the band have channelled their energy and technical ability into the melody, phrasing and vocal performance, allowing emotion to take centre stage.
The band found themselves wanting a definitive theme running through Inescapable, without turning it into a concept album, of being more open, more personal and ultimately one that shines an inquisitive light on Charles’s struggle with inner demons which gave the songs a new level of intimacy. “Lyrically, I’ve always shared personal thoughts, feelings and experiences but in a very ambiguous way. For Inescapable – in a conscious effort not to repeat ourselves – I thought I’d be a little more self-reflective and perhaps examine some of my inner demons. I have a strange relationship with music, and especially playing guitar. I would struggle to survive without either, but equally they have made my life mentally torturous because my own self-worth is completely wrapped up in them. I used to be very much a perfectionist in my early years, and whilst some people may wear that as a badge of honour, I eventually viewed it as huge heavy weight dragging down. It was a long time before I arrived at the realisation that perfection was impossible to achieve.” elaborates Darran Charles.
As a taster, they’ve released a video single for ‘Denigrate’. Watch it here:
Godsticks are supporting the new material beginning in April with a UK tour followed by summer festivals
After a spellbinding performance at The Cure’s Pasadena Daydream Festival this past weekend in LA, Chelsea Wolfe is just one week away from releasing her latest album Birth Of Violence via Sargent House on September 13th.
Birth of Violence is a return to the reclusive nature of her earlier recordings where we see Wolfe withdraw into her own world of enigmatic and elusive autobiography. But the album also exists in the present, addressing modern tragedies such as school shootings and the poisoning of the planet.
On the song Wolfe tells us “Deranged for Rock & Roll” is my love song to music. Every time I ever tried to walk a different path, music always called me back home to it. It’s in my blood; it’s my one source of true peace. I love its chaos and its rough edges, and I love the way it can bring understanding and comfort. I belong to music, and it to me. I feel Gilbert’s video illustrates that unnamed pull towards something so well. My character is destined to sing the same song over and over in this purgatory of a desert bar, while different people come through the town and begin to feel the pull as well, drawing them into this vortex to stay for good.”
Video director Gilbert Trejo (Pixies, DIIV) says “From the beginning we knew this video took place outside of society. The melody invokes compulsion, a certain type of purgatory, the inability to just buckle down and fly the straight path. Everyone’s purgatory exists side by side, and we affect one another without ever knowing.”
Chelsea Wolfe has returned with another stunning track from her forthcoming album, Birth Of Violence out September 13th on Sargent House. The song is accompanied by this video which Wolfe tells us is an “expression of freedom and beautiful humans being themselves.”
She continues, “It began as a sort of homage to a scene in the Paul Thomas Anderson film Magnolia, where the characters are singing along to the Aimee Mann song “Wise Up,” but I wanted our version to be explored through the lens of The Tarot. I’ve been reading tarot cards for myself for many years, and researching the symbolic expressions of the cards for this video made me want to dive even deeper. To represent that, I played both The Fool and The High Priestess cards in the video, to embody both the beginning of the journey, and the realization that the sacred knowledge I was seeking was inside me all along. We cast friends to play a few other tarot archetypes, and Karlos’ idea was to bring the symbols and signifiers into the contemporary; deconstructed, and made everyday – “the magical and the unexceptional.” I loved that. At the same time, we really wanted to challenge the binary of the traditional tarot cards, and give them more diversity, which is something important that many cool artists and witches are doing. I’m such a fan of Karlos Rene Ayala as a writer, director, documentarian and friend, and have looked forward to making a video with him for a long time.”
Watch the video here:
Wolfe will be embarking on an extensive, acoustic North American tour this Autumn starting with a special performance at Pasadena Daydream Festival with her full band. All tour dates are listed below.
Chelsea Wolfe Acoustic Tour:
31/08: Pasadena, CA – Pasadena Daydream Festival * (Non Acoustic Set) 18/10: San Diego, CA – Observatory North Park 19/10: Phoenix, AZ – Crescent Ballroom 21/10: Salt Lake City, UT – Metro Music Hall 22/10: Estes Park, CO – Stanley Hotel 24/10: Chicago, IL – Metro 25/10: Detroit, MI – Senate Theater 26/10: Toronto, ONT – Queen Elizabeth Theatre 27/10: Montreal, QC – Le National 29/10: Boston, MA – Royale 31/10: Philadelphia, PA – Union Transfer 01/11: New York, NY – Brooklyn Steel 03/11: Washington, DC – 9:30 Club 04/11: Charlotte, NC – McGlohon Theater 05/11: Atlanta, GA – Terminal West 06/11: Nashville, TN – Mercy Lounge 08/11: Dallas, TX – Texas Theatre 09/11: Austin, TX – Levitation 10/11: Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall 12/11: Santa Fe, NM – Meow Wolf 13/11: Tucson, AZ – Club Congress 15/11: Los Angeles, CA – The Palace Theatre 16/11: San Francisco, CA – Regency Ballroom 18/11: Portland, OR – Wonder Ballroom 20/11: Seattle, WA – The Showbox 21/11: Vancouver, BC – Vogue Theatre
* All dates with special guest Ioanna Gika except 8/31
The monolithic collaboration between industrial-noise post-everything bands Uniform and The Body continues with a second entry, Everything That Dies Someday Comes Back. Comprised of an amalgam of abrasive influence that spans Swans-y dirge and purge, Whitehouse’s clenched-jaw noise, middle-period Ministry’s penchant for metallic post-industrial everything, New Order’s nose for melodic emotionality, and Juicy J-inspired beats, Uniform and The Body’s approach delves deeper down the rabbit hole than before, igniting a sonic world of terror and bliss poised to grip the throats of fans yet again.
They’ve now shared the album’s lead track ‘Penance’, which Uniform’s Michael Berdan explains, “has to do with an ongoing attempt to hold oneself to a higher standard than you did yesterday. Human beings are bound to mess up as often as not, which can lead to either teachable experiences or nihilistic resign. I grew up surrounded by religious types who could act like monsters six days out of the week as long as they were willing to say ‘sorry’ to some priest and pray a rosary on the seventh. Continuing in malicious behaviour and demanding arbitrary absolution is a garbage way to live. However, if we take account of where we’ve done harm to others and ourselves and endeavour to learn and not repeat these actions, then maybe we can grow into empathetic and loving people.”
Listen to ‘Penance’ here:
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Uniform Live Dates:
06/07: Groningen, Netherlands – Vera
07/07: Leper, Belgium – Leper Fest
09/07: Malmo, Sweden – Plan B
10/07: Stockholm, Sweden – Hus 7
11/07: Anyksciai, Lithuania – Devilstone Festival
12/07: Kutná Hora, Czech Republic – Creepy Teepee Festival
13/07: St. Petersburg, Russia – Serdce Club $
14/07: Moscow, Russia – Pluton $
16/07: Bratislava, Slovakia – Protokultura
17/07: Kosice, Slovakia – Collosseum Club
18/07: Ostrava, Czech Republic – Colors Of Ostrava Festival
19/07: Berlin, Germany – Kantine Berghain
20/07: Den Haag, Netherlands – Grauzone Summer Festival
21/07: Bristol, UK – Crofters Rights +
22/07: Hull, UK – The Polar Bear +
23/07: Leeds, UK – Temple Of Boom +
24/07: Cardiff, UK – The Moon +
25/07: London, UK – Electrowerkz +
26/07: Paris, France – Espace B
27/07:Bamberg, Germany – Pizzini
28/07: Rokycany, Czech Republic – Fluff Fest
19/08: San Diego, CA – Casbah *
20/08: Phoenix, AZ – Valley Bar *
22/08: San Antonio, TX – Paper Tiger *
23/08: Austin, TX – Barracuda *
24/08: Denton, TX – Rubber Gloves *
25/08: Houston, TX – White Oak Music Hall *
26/08: New Orleans, LA – Poor Boys
27/08: Birmingham, Alabama – The Firehouse
29/08: Tallahassee, FL – Wilbury
30/08: Tampa, FL – Orpheum *
31/08: Gainesville, FL – High Dive *
01/09: Atlanta, GA – Masquerade *
03/09: Nashville, TN – Exit/In*
04/09: Asheville, NC – The Orange Peel *
07/09: Washington, DC – Black Cat *
08/09: Jersey City, NJ – White Eagle Hall*
10/09: Brooklyn, NY – Elsewhere *
11/09: Boston, MA – Paradise Rock Club *
12/09: Portland, ME – Port City Music Hall *
14/09: Toronto, ON – Lee’s Palace *
15/09: Grand Rapids, MI – Pyramid Scheme*
17/09: Chicago, IL – Lincoln Hall *
18/09: St. Louis, MO – Delmar Hall *
20/09: Denver, CO – Marquis Theater *
21/09: Salt Lake City, UT – Metro Music Hall*
23/09: Seattle, WA – Neumos *
24/09: Portland, OR – Doug Fir Lounge *
26/09: San Francisco, CA – Great American Music Hall *
27/09: San Jose, CA – The Ritz *
28/09: Camarillo, CA – Rock City *
29/09: Los Angeles, CA – Echoplex *
$ w/ Thou
+ w/ Bad Breeding
* w/ Boris
The Body Live Dates:
04/07: Roskilde, Denmark – Roskilde Festival #
05/07: Kassel, Germany – Goldgrube *
06/07: Leipzig, Germany – Conne Island *
08/07: Prague, Czech Republic – Modra Vopice *
09/07: Budapest, Hungary – Durer Kert *
10/07: Munich, Germany – Backstage !
11/07: Paris, France – Gibus #
12/07: London, United Kingdom – The Dome #
13/07: Dour, Belgium – Dour Festival #
15/07: Nijmegen, Netherlands – Valkhof Festival *
16/07: Berlin, Germany – Zukunft Am Ostkreuz *
17/07: Oberhausen, Germany – Drucklufthaus %
18/07: Crispendorf, Germany – Chaos Descends Festival
20/07: Birmingham, United Kingdom – Supersonic Festival
21/07: Sheffield, United Kingdom – Doomlines V 22/07: Glasgow, United Kingdom – Broadcast %
23/07: Manchester, United Kingdom – Soup Kitchen %
24/07: Bristol, United Kingdom – Rough Trade %
26/07: Moscow, Russia – Mutabor
27/07: St Petersburg, Russia – Opera
28/07: Rokycany, Czech Republic – Fluff Festival
29/07: Milan, Italy – Macao %
30/07/: Bologna, Italy – Freakout Club %
31/07: Linz, Austria – Kapu %
01/08: Kosice, Slovakia – Tabacka Kulturfabrik %
02/08: Katowice, Poland – OFF Festival
05/09: Salt Lake City, UT – Urban Lounge
06/09: Denver, CO – Denver Hex at Lost Lake Lounge
…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Dead have announced a European headline tour for September / October 2019. These shows will be in support of their as-yet-untitled new album, due out later this year. The full list of dates is as follows:
14th September – Leffingeleuren, Leffinge, Belgium
15th September – Le Petit Bain, Paris, France
16th September – Melkweg, Amsterdam, Netherlands
17th September – Doornroosje, Nijmegen, Netherlands
19th September – Stadtgarten, Cologne, Germany
20th September – Sommercasino, Basel, Switzerland
22nd September – La Santeria, Milan, Italy
23rd September – Strom, Munich, Germany
25th September – Festsaal Kreuzberg, Berlin, Germany
26th September – The Stage Club, Hamburg, Germany
27th September – Forum, Bielefeld, Germany
29th September – The Waterfront, Norwich, UK
30th September – The Deaf Institute, Manchester, UK
1st October – Oslo, London, UK
2nd October – The Cluny, Newcastle, UK
3rd October – The Caves, Edinburgh, UK
…And You Will Know Us By The Trail Of Deadrecentlycelebrated 20 years of the album ‘Madonna’ with a European tour in February, performing the album in its entirety.
Pelican, the instrumental quartet whose singular vision of heavy music eschews classification, recently announced their first full length in six years and today they’ve released a new song from it along with US and EU additional tour dates. ‘Cold Hope,’ the second track to be released from Nighttime Stories, due June 7th via Southern Lord Recordings, is an unrepentant crusher imbibed with moments of atramentous psychedelia and arguably the heaviest track on the album. With sold-out shows in Boston, Philadelphia, and Pittsburgh the band has also announced an additional batch of US dates that include Champagne, Cleveland, Columbus, and Grand Rapids along with an Autumn EU tour (full dates below).
Nighttime Stories marks the band’s first release written front to back with guitarist Dallas Thomas, who took over guitar duties upon founding member Laurent Schroeder-Lebec’s departure in 2012. In the process of writing the album, the quartet endured a slew of realisations, tragedies, and glimmers of optimism that guided the creative process to the most potent work of their nineteen-year career.
Nighttime Stories was an album title initially proposed for Tusk, the hallucinatory art-grind band that included Pelican members Trevor Shelley de Brauw, Larry Herweg, and Schroeder-Lebec, in addition to vocalist Jody Minnoch. The writing of Nighttime Stories was instigated shortly after Minnoch’s unexpected death in 2014, and some of the dissonant viscera and dark psychedelic structures that were characteristic of Tusk’s sound began to unconsciously inform the album’s direction. In homage to their departed colleague, Pelican applied the previously discarded title and pulled many of the song titles from notes Minnoch had sent to inspire the direction of the unrealised album. As the writing of Nighttime Stories progressed Thomas also experienced a heavy loss with the passing of his father, to whom the album pays tribute on opening track ‘W.S.T.’ (on which Dallas performed his guitar parts on his father’s Yamaha acoustic).
A new video for "Espirais da Loucura” from Brazilian trio DEAFKIDS has been shared this week. The song is taken from the band’s explosive third album, Metaprogramação, which was recently released through Neurosis’ label, Neurot Recordings.
The new video for for "Espirais da Loucura” was directed by Vitor Jabour. The band offers, “‘Espirais da Loucura’ illustrates the desperate layers of absurdist madness in its inner and outer aspects – cloistered witnesses in fields of agony – the inner war between our own personas and desires. In its outer aspects, it reflects the chaotic confusion of our daily struggles in socio-political realities, where present and future are being written in hopeless and dystopian lines by this fascist and corrupted misgovernment we are currently living in Brazil. The video was created through analog circuit-bending by the Brazilian VJ Vitor Jabour, collaborating with what we call the ‘Brazilian Lo-Fi Abuse,’ by creating violent synesthetic sensations through the abstraction of colors, lights and sensory movements."
Watch the video here:
With harsh noise and industrial elements seamlessly melded into a volatile and rambunctious hybrid of ethnic jazz/world music-influenced punk, DEAFKIDS thematically tackles existential socio-political topics and dystopian themes through their own artistic lens. Their singular sound and manic energy coalesce to form one of the most intriguing and challenging acts in recent years.
DEAFKIDS will tour across Europe in support of the album this Spring, leading with two sets at Roadburn Festival April 11th and 12th. These shows will be followed by several weeks of shows, the tour lasting into early May, and the band joined by Rakta for the journey. North American touring with Neurosis and Bell Witch has also been announced. Dates and details below.
DEAFKIDS w/ Rakta:
11/04/2019 Roadburn Festival 2019 -Tilburg, NL
12/04/2019 Roadburn Festival 2019 – Tilburg, NL w/ PetBrick
14/04/2019 – Amsterdam, NL
16/04/2019 D. K. Luksus – Wroclaw, PL
17/04/2019 Underdogs – Prague, CZ
18/04/2019 Urban Spree – Berlin, DE
19/04/2019 Merleyn – Nijmegen, NL
20/04/2019 The Lexington – London, UK
21/04/2019 Soup Kitchen – Manchester, UK
22/04/2019 The Hope & Ruin – Brighton, UK
23/04/2019 Moon – Cardiff, UK
24/04/2019 The Cluny – Newcastle, UK
25/04/2019 Rough Trade – Bristol, UK
26/04/2019 Olympic Cafe – Paris, FR
28/04/2019 SWR Barroselas Metalfest 2019 – Viana do Castelo, PT
29/04/2019 Mag4 – Bruxelles, BE
30/04/2019 Bar Hic – Rennes, FR
01/05/2019 Tri Martolod – Concarneau, FR
02/05/2019 Léo Ferré – Brest Espace, FR
03/05/2019 Les 3 Pieces – Rouen, FR
04/05/2019 Het Bos – Antwerp, BE
05/05/2019 Donau Festival 2019 – Donau, AT
w/ Bell Witch, Neurosis:
07/08/2019 The Masquerade – Atlanta, GA
08/08/2019 Cat’s Cradle – Carrboro, NC
09/08/2019 9:30 Club – Washington, DC
10/08/2019 Theatre Of Living Arts – Philadelphia, PA
Some press releases are special and uplifting and make our day when they land in the Aural Aggro inbox. This is one of those. Because news doesn’t get much better than this.
Hull Doom merchants, The Parasitic Twins today announce a lo-fi heavy cover of the 90s classic ‘Spaceman’ by Babylon Zoo, out on Friday, April 5, 2019 with all proceeds going to The Campaign Against Living Miserably (CALM). The single is taken from a split EP with York-based hardcore punks, The Carnival Rejects (released via Bandcamp on May 31st in association with Man Demolish Records). Artwork for the piece was made by Jess Zchorn.
Of the decision to record the cover, drummer Dom Smith comments: "Man, we love Babylon Zoo. This is a classic track that was way ahead of its time, and we just wanted to mess with it, and we’ll probably stress a lot of people out, but use it as a way to bring attention to an incredible cause in CALM."
Of CALM’s importance on a national scale, Dom adds: "Male mental health is becoming more spotlighted every day, and myself and Max [guitars and vocals] want to offer any support we can to spread the word."
For those interested in donating to CALM can do so here:
The Parasitic Twins will also head out to Europe and across the UK for a run of shows this April with grindcore mates, Boycott The Baptist and Clunge Destroyer:
Centuries have premiered a video from their second LP,The Lights Of This Earth Are Blinding out now through Southern Lord. Set to the album track ‘May Love Be With You Always’, the video was filmed and edited by Derrick Flanagin, and uses footage from Germany, Italy, Austria, India, Thailand, Vietnam, and Japan.
In the band’s words, "the video is about human movement and the constant inertia we experience, frequently without taking time to properly reflect on it. Things we see, people we meet, places we go, stories we are told; events that are so fleeting they often don’t become catalogued in our memory and will forever exist only in that moment."
Watch the video below – tour dates in full after.
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CENTURIES EUROPEAN TOUR WITH PORTRAYAL OF GUILT:
28/04/18 GER Greifswald Klex
29/04/18 SWE Gothenburg Sekten
30/04/18 SWE Stockholm Firestorm Fest
01/05/18 SWE Malmö
02/05/18 DK Copenhagen
03/05/18 GER Hamburg
04/05/18 NL Amsterdam/Utrecht Fest
05/05/18 GER Cologne Privat
06/05/18 BE Antwerp Kavka
07/05/18 FR Paris La Comedia Michelet
08/05/18 CH / FR
09/05/18 GER Stuttgart Juha West
10/05/18 GER Bielefeld/GER Weimar
11/05/18 GER Berlin Miss the Stars Fest
+ + +
12/05/18 CZ Prague **
13/05/18 AT Vienna Venster 99 **
14/05/18 HRO Zagreb AKC Attack **
15/05/18 IT Bolzano Bunker Youth Center TBA **
16/05/18 AT Innsbruck DeCentral **
17/05/18 GER Regensburg Alte Mälzerei **
18/05/18 GER Darmstadt Oettinger Villa **
19/05/18 GER Leipzig/Halle **
**Dates without Centuries. Portrayal Of Guilt only
Ahead of the release of their upcoming album I, Awake, progressive, post-rock and general riff-heavy outfit Upcdownc have shared a new video for the track ‘Adrift (Parts 1 & 2)’. At just 1 min 27 sec in length it’s a short and sharp blast of intense heavy music.
Watch the video here:
AAA
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Upcoming live shows:
15th Sept – Birthdays, London 16th Sept – Sticky Mikes, Brighton 20th Oct – Hijack, Bolougne Sur Mer 22nd Oct – Music City, Antwerp
Aural Aggravation 