Meshuggah: Koloss (Nuclear Blast, 3/27/12)
It’s been a little over a year since the blast of atomic rage that is Meshuggah’s Koloss, and things haven’t slowed down for the band. In addition to touring at home and overseas, the band has dropped a video for “I Am Colossus,” and it’s a reality-twisting piece of stop-motion animation that simultaneously evokes Tim Burton and Tool‘s entire music-video catalog.
Tool has announced a special-edition reissue of its debut EP, Opiate, for the album’s 21st anniversary on March 26, 2013. Named after the famed Karl Marx quote, the original album was released in 1992 on Zoo Entertainment.
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Marriages: Kitsuné (Sargent House, 5/1/12)
“Ride in My Place”
Emma Ruth Rundle has a belated Christmas gift for you. While most of us braved awkward reunions with relatives last winter, the guitarist/singer and her new band Marriages were cooped up in a studio, challenging the very notion of what it means to be “post-rock.”
Indian Handcrafts: Civil Disobedience for Losers (Sargent House, 10/30/12)
“Red Action”
Indian Handcrafts: “Red Action”
If one is company, two is an all-out riot. That’s the reigning message championed by this newest effort from Indian Handcrafts, the Ontario-based duo of Brandyn James Aikins (drums) and Daniel Brandon Allen (guitar).
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Puscifer: Conditions of My Parole (10/18/11)
“Man Overboard”
While the world’s been caught up with his musical prowess, Maynard James Keenan — the essential vocalist for Tool and A Perfect Circle and the creative lead for Puscifer — has spent the past decade teasing secrets from the soil of Verde Valley, Arizona, bottling stories squeezed from the vine.
Months in the making and years in the waiting, ALARM Magazine is back! We’ve been quiet on the publishing end since our release of Chromatic: The Crossroads of Color and Music last year, but we’re happy to announce the bimonthly return of the mag, now with an increased focus on rock-’n’-roll culture and lifestyle.
Marriages: Kitsuné (Sargent House)
“Ride in My Place”
[audio:http://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/Marriages_Ride_in_My_Place.mp3|titles=Marriages: “Ride in My Place”]Though their union is new, the members of Marriages are veterans of post-rock experimentation, and their self-titled debut challenges the very notion of the sub-genre.
Scott Morrow is ALARM’s music editor. Patrick Hajduch is a very important lawyer. Each week they debate the merits of a different album.
Beastwars: s/t (5/9/11)
Beastwars: “Damn the Sky”
[audio:http://alarm-magazine.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/BEASTWARS_Damn_the_Sky.mp3|titles=Beastwars: “Damn the Sky”]Morrow: Hailing from New Zealand, Beastwars is a four-piece stoner/sludge-metal outfit that specializes in down-tuned guitars, deep grooves, and gruff wailing. The group remains unsigned for now, but after hearing this self-titled album (which you can do for free at Beastwars’ Bandcamp page), it’s only a matter of time before an indie label picks them up. (Hello, Tee Pee?)
The music isn’t groundbreaking, but it’s a fist-pumping, head-banging good time — part Unsane, part old-school Soundgarden, and part High on Fire.
Hajduch: There is a major, major grunge influence at work here. “Lake of Fire” sounds a whole lot like a burlier “School” by Nirvana. The way the vocals interact with these huge riffs carries a definite Pacific Northwest influence. There’s also something about the riffs that remind me of Undertow-era Tool but with more of a classic-metal gallop to them.
I’m definitely shocked at how little exposure this band has gotten. This is a really solid stoner-metal album that should appeal to everybody who even slightly likes this kind of thing.