Artistes
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Unpredictability drives progression.
When art can’t be pigeonholed or pinned down, it elevates the very medium itself. Bad Wolves thrives on that sort of unpredictability, standing confidently at a crossroads between anthemic hard rock infectiousness and thought-provoking technically-charged heavy metal. Think a cross between the mind-numbing musical malevolence of Meshuggah and Sevendust’s timeless irresistibility, and you’re halfway there…The vision of ex-DevilDriver co-founder and previous driving force John Boecklin [drums, guitars] and vocalist Tommy Vext [Snot, Westfield Massacre] as well as Doc Coyle [guitar], Chris Cain [guitar], and Kyle Konkiel, the group’s full-length debut represents metallic evolution in its purest form.
The result of a musical journey he kicked off in 2014, Boecklin describes the style best.
“We sound like a heavy-slightly prog rock band that tunes low and cuts off most of the fat,” he explains. “Watching Faith No More on the reunion tour made my thought process change. I was standing there, and it hit me that I don’t want to be in a metal band with screaming all the time. We’re heavy, yet from track-to-track, things change quite a bit.”
“More was revealed, so more was required,” adds Vext. “The overall tonality and approach resonated with me as an opportunity to challenge myself and grow as a vocalist. I was given a platform to tap into some musical influences I hadn’t yet explored in previous bands. All in all, it was some of the most diverse, original material I’ve gotten to wrap my hands around.”
“In no rush to put together something reminiscent of [his] musical past,” Boecklin quietly wrote over the course of 2015. During summer ‘16, he entered Audio Hammer Studios with longtime collaborator Mark Lewis [Trivium, All That Remains] and tracked what would become the group’s debut album.
“Starting from scratch is never easy,” admits Boecklin. “Many musical roads were traveled before getting to what you hear today—it’s trial and error. I kept reminding myself not to do what I’ve done before. Eventually, we started to hear what we wanted.”
Now, the first single “Learn To Live” snaps from a chugging polyrhythmic riff into a hummable bridge before colliding with an undeniable refrain that’s impossible to shake and the final scream, “You’d better learn to fucking live.”
“The aim of the song was to basically challenge listeners to ask themselves, ‘Am I willing to take personal responsibility for my own happiness?’,” says Vext. “It’s a concept I use in my day-to-day life as a sober life coach. It’s meant to address situational depression, anxiety, and the disconnect from interpersonal relationships as a byproduct of social media addiction.”
Album opener “A Toast To The Ghosts” delivers a searing gut-punch punctuated by sharp succinct fretwork, smart-bomb precise percussion, and another searing vocal performance. Everything culminates on the pensive and punishing “Blood and Bones.” Vext adds, “It’s like an open letter to an abusive relationship partner that no longer serves you or the opposing counterpart. It’s left open to interpretation.”
Defined by a push-and-pull between incalculable instrumentation and soaring melodies, Bad Wolves will keep listeners guessing and thinking on their path to hard rock and metal supremacy.
“This is something new for me,” Boecklin leaves off. “It’s the most unique drumming I’ve ever done. Tommy has never sounded so good. The songs are much more diverse than anything from our collective past. I’d love for people to take away some sort of connection emotionally. That’s what all of the bands who inspire me do. Everything else doesn’t really matter.” – Rick Florino, March 2017 -
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Formed over a combined love of the early UK math rock scene and garage rock in America, Brighton based trio Gender Roles have been making waves in the DIY/Punk scene for the last year.
After vocalist/guitarist Tom Bennett moved back to his hometown of Northampton, out of boredom he experimented with warped guitar segments and recorded them into rough demos, laying the basis for songs that were shaped into four tracks found on their debut EP ‘Planet X-Ray’.
In 2017, Gender Roles embarked on playing relentless shows in the UK and across the pond in the US in support of the release: dishing out a brutal blend of fuzz laden guitars, racing cymbals from Jordan Lilford and Jared Tomkins’ droning bass, that melds together to form a hazy blend of slacker rock vs. gritty punk.
Their marriage of influences is an imperfect formula that works, approached with a devil may care attitude without taking themselves too seriously. With the imminent threat of releasing new material, expect Gender Roles to be in your face more than ever; an evolving force that is forward thinking both lyrically and melodically on its surface, with an underlying essence of playfulness at its core.
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LINE UP
Pierre-Brice - Lead Singer, Guitar
BIOGRAPHY
Robin - Bass, back vocals
Nico - Drums
Simon - Guitar, back vocalsFuriapolis is an alternative rock band from Marseille, formed in 2009. With a sharp and percussive style, Furiapolis wants to be anchored in a modern artistic approach to rock by bringing a Frenchy touch to their big, powerful and melodic American riffs. Their inspirations come from bands like Nickelback, the Foofighters or Blink182 but impose their own style by signing some of their lyrics in French.
Sometimes engaged, sometimes sentimental, the universe of Furiapolis refers to a wide range of emotions that will speak to the majority of you.
What is Project Goddesses?
It's been almost ten years that Furiapolis has been doing real Rock singing in English and we realized that it wasn't us!
We needed to sing in our native language to get our messages across! Especially if they are understood during our concerts!!
The lyrics of our songs speak about the environment, love between people, life! These are important messages! and it has no interest in expressing yourself if you can't understand us! (yes, in France we're last but not least in terms of English proficiency...)
Let's be more real!!
Moreover, French rock is really lagging behind, no Rock band singing in French succeeds in overcoming the boundaries of amateurism or even the doors of production companies! We are convinced that we (the bands in general) have a know-how 'Made in France' in Rock as well as French electro which is exported all over the world.
So it is by betting on projects like ours that you will help us to restore the French Rock's reputation!!
So fire, with this project Furiapolis launches itself in the realization of an album with 80% of songs sung in French and the Rock for God's sake of the real thing!!
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LINE UP
Carley Coma: Vocals
Michael MacIvor: Bass
John LaMacchia: Rhythm / Lead Guitar
Danny Grossarth: Drums / Percussion
Julio Arias: Rhythm Guitar
BIOGRAPHYBorn in Brooklyn, NY, the name Candiria is synonymous with the kind of experimentation and genre-bending more often associated with freeform jazz and progressive rock than hard/metalcore music. Their original fan base, predominantly rooted in the well-knit NYHC second wave (Merauder, Madball, Burn, etc.), took to Candiria's balanced integration of aggressive unusual time signature'd dissonance with hip-hop, jazz (early bop as well as late period fusion), dub, and abstract psychedelic experimentation straightaway, a testament to the band's skillful musicianship and intelligent sonic aesthetic.
Releasing four critically acclaimed and fan adored albums over the course of six years, the band would in 2002 face its biggest challenge, as both band and individuals. While driving through Batavia, NY, touring in support of their latest release, their van was subject to an accident whose physical and psychological repercussions deeply informed each of their decisions to follow. Upon recovery, their appropriately titled 2004 release 'What Doesn't Kill You…', retained components of the band's earlier fractal aesthetic while introducingmelodic choruses and clean singing alongside the guttural and triple-timed vocalizations the band historically employed and perfected.
Candiria would spend the years following 'What Doesn't Kill You…' recovering from their injuries, losing and replacing personnel, tied up in legal disputes, and individually engaging in new musical projects that would serve to enlarge the creative scope of each band member. In retrospect, this period should be regarded as a phase of reconsideration, realignment, and renewal. It is with this perspective in mind that Candiria has written and recorded their latest album, 'While They Were Sleeping', a concentrated demonstration of their relentless desire to explore and expand upon an aural palette whose depth and breadth has always challenged the complacency of remaining static in an ever-changing world.
'While They Were Sleeping' is a concept album conceived by the band's lead vocalist Carley Coma. Telling the tale of a failed musician who rises up against a monarchy in New York City, 'While They Were Sleeping' aims to encapsulate a vision of the contemporary world, in all of its riotous and tech-driven complexity. Ambitious as such an idea may seem, it is part of Candiria's natural development, and has given birth to some of the band's proudest and most challenging moments.
One of those moments comes early on in the album, just prior to the halfway mark of 'Mereya', when the band deftly shifts gears from a pummeling assault of well-knit propulsive rhythms into tenor sax-laced jazz percussion patterns heightened by Coma's introduction of a scat-singing that skillfully combines the styles of world renown vocalists Jon Hendricks and Jimmy Scott. Bassist Mike MacIvor recalls it as an experience wherein the history of the band's determination to push themselves beyond their known limits crystallized: 'At first, I wasn't a fan of the idea, but as we went through the recording process, I realized that if you're doing something that makes you uncomfortable, strikes you as weird, or even induces nausea, then you have to do it. That is what Candiria is all about.'
And so much more, as the conception and formation of 'While They Were Sleeping' would prove. 'I was unafraid to be completely honest, and approach the band as a new entity', says Coma. It's with this kind of openness that for the first time he created songs centered on character development, a notion he became interested in and studied with the aid of Robert McKee's classic book 'Story: Style, Structure, and the Principles of Screenwriting'. Spending just over a year working on the story, prior to the consideration of its musical accompaniment, Coma states: 'I wanted to learn about creating characters. and how one could make that happen.' This thoughtfulness would be fusedto current events, as the song 'The Whole World Will Burn' demonstrates. Written both as a response to the Ferguson riots,and as a means of propelling the story's plotline, it serves as an example of Coma's extensive aspirations for this project.
'I had some skepticism', says guitarist John LaMacchia, in reference to the idea of a concept album. A completely new idea for the band, he was unsure of how to approach the writing of music whose main goal is to serve a narrative that had been carefully contemplated and constructed. Encouraged by Coma's spirit of unguarded writing, LaMacchia notes that the foundation of the recording process was rooted in a feeling of union: 'Having faith in one another, giving each other space to present and pursue individual ideas, then uniting them into a whole.' Adding to this already healthy dynamic is the inclusion of new drummer Danny Grossarth, and new rhythm guitarist Julio Arias, both of whom bring a fresh fire and energy to stage and studio alike.
Recorded at Spaceman Sound by Tom Tierney and Alex Mead-Fox, it was of primary importance to Candiria that they retain a distance from the compartmentalized, disinfected, and essentially whitewashed production qualities heard throughout much of contemporary music. As a band that has always operated from a working class perspective, capturing an organic aesthetic was essential. The proof of this can be heard on tracks as dissimilar as 'The Cause', an experiment in electro-discordancy that lures the listener in with a seemingly innocuous riff whose rhythm coils in on itself until stuttering to an end, and 'Opaque', a track of transcendent significance for both this album and the band.
'Opaque' was conceptually intended as a sparsely decorated composition. However, its fruition took on auditory dimensions Candiria had heretofore never investigated. If the song has a point of reference in the band's canon, it is an oblique one that MacIvor deftly elucidates 'In the same way that our fans weren't ready for a song like 'Observing Highways' (from their debut album 'Surrealistic Madness'), they won't be ready for 'Opaque'. What we're always trying to do as a band is paint a picture that hasn't been seen; looking for a sound that hasn't been heard.' This emphatic ambition, coupled with an unwavering confidence in one another, has allowed them to create a concept album that is completely off the musical grid, will defy expectations, and establish a new standard in Candiria's willfully driven evolution.
Throughout 2016, Candiria have played several shows in the New York City area with musical compatriots and veterans of the scene such as Sick of It All, Poison the Well, and Killswitch Engage, as well as more recently formed boundary pushing outfits like Death Grips, Shabazz Palaces, Netherlands, and Moon Tooth. 'While They Were Sleeping' will be released on October 7th, 2016, with a full U.S. tour to follow.
Bio by Aaron Gettler
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LINE UP
Jamie Stewart: Vocals
Jeramie Kling: Drums/Backing Vocals
Joey Concepcion: Guitar
Taylor Nordberg: Guitar
Mike Leon: Bass
BIOGRAPHYThe Absence, throughout three releases for Metal Blade Records and several years of touring in support, have been carried by an enormous swell of ups and downs in the extreme. Those who remain to begin the next stage of this voyage have grown stronger both as a group, and individuals as they have ridden the ebb and flow. There is a new dawn on the horizon for The Absence, a chance to head in new directions with fresh philosophies, music, and a renewed commitment to cause a blinding wake that will cut through the storm, which threatens to capsize even the bravest of ships.
After laying waste to an unsuspecting metal community with From Your Grave in 2005, the band's debut full length for Metal Blade Records, Riders of The Plague followed two years later as their sophomore release on the same label and had critics hailing The Absence as 'Testament for the 21st century, bound to begin another thrash revolution!' Enemy Unbound, released in 2010, is full of the band's signature brand of high flying guitar histrionics and melodies, while Jamie Stewart's vocals are more aggressive and punctuated than ever before. The band released a single, 'Oceans' which featured Per Nilsson on guitar.
With a new label, new management and worldwide booking... They will be embarking on the next chapter.
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LINE UP
Einar Solberg - Lead Vocal, Synth
Tor Oddmund Suhrke - Guitar
Øystein Landsverk - Guitar
Baard Kolstad - Drums
Simen Daniel Børven - BassIn a scene where it's rare to stand out and make something truly unique, sometimes a diamond shines. The latest diamond to shine on the international prog-scene is the Norwegian band LEPROUS.
After paving the way with three studio albums: “Tall Poppy Syndrome” (2009), “Bilateral” (2011) and “Coal” (2013), LEPROUS’ latest musical endeavours on “The Congregation“ - the title of the new album - marvelously emphasize the amount of maturity the band has gained, also thanks to relentless touring activity across several continents in the lasty years. The attention that LEPROUS grip pinpoints the very unique spot in a variety of progressive music nowadays...
Their last album from May 2013 created a strong platform for LEPROUS, be it towards the press, the fans or live promoters, and showed an immense step upwards for the band on various levels. It virtaully seemed as if everyone woke up to smell the coffee when the “Coal” album was released. And as everyone knows, coal turns to diamonds in time...
Having steam-rolled all over Europe on a massive 7-week headlining tour in the fall of 2013 in support of ”Coal”, and also playing numerous European and US festival shows, LEPROUS paved the way for a die-hard fan base, that couldn't wait for more, new material. LEPROUS kept the fans eagerly waiting, spending two years writing what is to be their 5th and absolute finest work to date, while continuing playing shows on tours in the USA, Canada and the UK throughout 2014 as well.
“The Congregation”, the newest album by LEPROUS on InsideOutMusic, is expressive, dark and catchy in a way that crawls under skin and overcomes all the senses, so that I most certainly has to be a magnificent dessert for open-minded progressive music lovers. Deep lyrics that shade serious matters of a modern life are masterly threaded into sharp, clear and tremendous musical arrangements. Developed and advanced in comparison to any of the band’s previous releases, “The Congregation” still keeps the authentic identity and recognizability. Moments when LEPROUS surprise, experiment and freely explore within their music are the ones that build their strength, fuel their power and make them so special. They band never had any tendencies of imitating other artists, and more importantly, their latest release shows the courageous act and art of not even copying themselves. “The Congregation” has given a fresh, innovative and new tone to the musical sphere of LEPROUS.
From the sharp and concise opening track “The Price”, through the omnipresent and über-exciting “Rewind” (a track that will surely be an audience favourite in a live situation) to the moody “Moon” and the strong but at the same time saddened “The Slave”, LEPROUS takes the listener through all corners in the room of emotion. These young Norwegians are an extremely diverse act, who cite influences ranging from Massive Attack, Radiohead, Arvo Pärt to even extreme contemporary acts like Gojira, as fine ingredients of their unique and versatile stylistic longdrink.
“This has without doubt been the most challenging album to write so far, if you count the amount of hours, blood, sweat and tears behind it”, stated LEPROUS vocalist, keyboardist and composer, Einar Solberg, and continued: “It makes me extra proud to have delivered what I consider to be the most daring, technical, fresh and mature album we've ever done. The music of ’The Congregation’ is mostly written by me on my computer, so that I this time around could use my ears instead of my knowledge as the main writing tool. If you use your knowledge and your usual methods to write every album, you will eventually find yourself stuck in a quagmire of old habits. Lyrically ’The Congregation’ covers the dangers and consequences of blindly following the flow, thus the album title will speak for itself.”
After more than a year of devoted and highly fine-tuning work on the album, while still at the same time touring and enthusing both new and old listeners around the globe, LEPROUS chose to do the recordings for “The Congregation” in the Fascination Street and Ghostward Studios in Sweden as well as in Mnemosyne Studio in Norway. Jens Bogren (Opeth, Devin Townsend, Katatonia, etc.), who already did sonic magic on the band’s both previous albums, managed to take things one step further as well in terms of mixing on “The Congregation” too.
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ARTERIALS is a punk rock band from Hamburg, Germany. Around since early 2017.
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Arising in mid-2003, Abraskadabra is a seven-piece band from Curitiba/Brazil. The influences are diverse, intercalating mainly melodic hardcore and third wave ska, they make it clear from the first moment their tastes for melodies: evident in their vocal trios and horn section.
Abraskadabra has created a solid fan base and have played all around Brazil. In the US, their first tour happened recently. This tour stretched from coast to coast, passing through 13 states and 21 cities shortly after releasing a version of 'Not Your Savior' (No Use For a Name’s song), which ended up in a documentary about the legendary American label, Fat Wreck Chords.
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What started as an idea between vocalist Tom Kiely and guitarist Dylan Bond in their parents garage, has grown into an idea and force beyond even their own expectation.
With no real prior experience in the music industry, no connections and no idea of what to expect - the pair pitted their own ideas together to form Patient Sixty-Seven. With the ultimate hunger to create heavy music with meaning, the band officially formed in early 2015 shortly after releasing the band’s debut single ‘Gustavo Bling’ - the song rocketed into number 2 on the iTunes Metal charts, garnering interest and support from metal lovers across the globe.
This was followed up by the release of the self-produced EP ‘Imbalance’ which despite being independently recorded and distributed - moved to #4 on the metal charts for several weeks due to the strong local and national fan support.
With the acts intense approach to ensuring as many people hear their music as possible - the group built attention across social media while continuing to refine their sound and push themselves heavily through the Perth music scene.As the band formed and finalised a full lineup, opportunities to play with the countries premier heavy acts (including Capture the Crown on several occasions, Buried in Verson, Confession, Belle Haven, Hand of Mercy, Iconoclast and more) presented themselves quickly - as the group quickly garnered a reputation for their energetic and passionate live performances.
As Patient Sixty-Seven have released the follow-up single ‘Callous’ to a strong reception (mixed/mastered by Cory Brunnemann) as preview of their new material, lineup changes followed which saw the band seek out former To Catch a Fox guitarist/clean vocalist Rory Venville as a stepping stone to a more rounded sound, completing the band alongside Tom Kiely and lead guitarist Declan Le Tessier.
Combining the bands brand of passionate metal core and orchestral/electronic influences with melodic choruses and soaring guitar leads, a sophmore EP beckons as the group hopes to continue establishing themselves.
With the release of the groups new single and debut music video for Before You Go - the band saw success with radio play on Triple J's Short Fast Loud programme, to go with their appearance on Apple Music's A-List Metal playlist.
Recorded locally with fast rising Perth producer Ryan Botha (Audax Studios) while being both mixed and mastered by Texas based juggernaut Cory Brunnemann (Upon a Burning Body, Backwordz, Everyone Dies in Utah), Before You Go offers both the bands most melodic and hard hitting effort to date.
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A Dog Named Bob is a one-man-band led by a Venezuelan punk rocker in Toronto, Canada. Martin Perez’s upbringing in South America and move to Toronto influence his lyrics which are inspired by the simpler things in life and the ridiculousness of human nature.
A Dog Named Bob’s music deals with topics such as sudden infatuation, public transportation and everyday frustrations.
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