Exploding in Free Music

My good friends at Exploding in Sound have released their new compilation Future Legendary and it is available for free! The compilation features songs from 19 up-and-coming bands including a great track from Boston's Junius. Speaking of Junius, their new album The Martyrdom of a Catastrophe which features such incredible songs as "Shoegazers & Gravediggers" has also generously been made available for the price of nothing! Who said people aren't generous these days?

A message from the band...

New Track Rundown

It's been awhile but it's time for another installment of the new track rundown. There's a lot of good stuff floating around the ol' 'net and this is the best of it. This time around I'm including a bunch of music videos because there are a lot of memorable ones such as the overtly psychedelic video for "Tooth Decay". The above image is the cover of the upcoming album by Converge entitled Axe to Fall which is due out on October 20, 2009.

Local Spotlight: Roman Traffic at the Middle East

On August 28, 2009, I had the pleasure of catching Roman Traffic (formally Gravehaven) at the Middle East Upstairs in Cambridge, MA. I had known the guys in the band for awhile and while it is strange to think of them as anything but Gravehaven, the music is quality nonetheless. I first met the group when I did a review of their debut EP Perceptions for the Colorblind for Decoymusic which you can read here. After that I was fortunately enough to produce a track with them called "Breach" as a recording project for a class I took at Northeastern University. The guys were super nice as well as easy to work with and I am proud to say that the track came out great. As a little shameless promotion, I am including a link to it below. Be gentle, it was my first attempt at producing.

Local Spotlight: We Met Aliens at the Middle East

On August 25, 2009, I visited the Middle East Upstairs in Cambridge, MA to check out a showcase of local metal bands. It's been awhile since I've been to a metal show and it is always nice to check out what is going on at the local level. Unfortunately, I missed the first band The Arkham White but from what I've heard on their myspace, they seem like a solid mix of death metal and thrash. The first band that I was actually able to see was The Bathory Silence. The band played a very technical leaning combination of death metal and hardcore that contained some excellent breakdowns and guitar soloing. The drums were solid and kept the songs chugging at breakneck speed. The only complaint I had was that the songs sounded like more of a jumble of parts than cohesive structures. In this way, they reminded me a lot of Glass Casket.

The Suicide File Reunion Show at ICC

It's time to play catch-up on some shows I missed covering from August. The first and most significant would be The Suicide File reunion show with Bane that I was able to catch on August 13, 2009 at the ICC in Allston. I have been a fan of The Suicide File since their 2003 debut album Twilight and I never thought I would get a chance to see them live. I was stunned that they were playing a show and with Bane no less so I jumped at the opportunity to see these two classic hardcore bands on the same bill. The show was put together at the last second but they did a great job getting the word out because the place was absolutely packed. I guess in the rare instance that a great hardcore show does occur in Boston the entire community comes out to witness it.