Scott Morrow, Author at ALARM

ALARM’s 50 Favorite Albums of 2012

Another year, another torrential downpour of albums across our desks. As always, we encountered way too much amazing music, from Meshuggah to The Mars Volta, Converge, Killer Mike, P.O.S, and many more.

Back under the bridge: Finntroll begins recording seventh LP

Holy prog-metal heaven: Meshuggah brings Animals as Leaders and Intronaut with ’em back to States

Free iPad download of ALARM #40 w/ Soundgarden, Refused, Converge

ALARM is back in print, and being the shameless self-promoters that we are, we’d love if you bought a print subscription. But let’s say that you have one of these newfangled “iPads.” Let’s also say that you like free things, particularly those that pertain to awesome music and cultural stuff. In that event, might we direct you to download ALARM #40 (Nov/Dec 2012) for free?

Go here to read about and see what’s inside #40, which includes interviews with and stories on Soundgarden, Refused, Converge, Melvins, Dirty Projectors, Bloc Party, P.O.S, Squarepusher, Fang Island, and more.

Then go to bit.ly/ALARMiPad and click on “view in iTunes” to download that bad boy for $0.00. Mom might not love loud music, but she digs thriftiness. Make mom proud.

Blood on the danse floor: The Faint hits the road with new, tour-exclusive music

The Faint: Evil Voices 12-inch (Saddle Creek)

Dance-punk quartet The Faint recently started touring in support of Saddle Creek’s deluxe reissue of 2001 classic Danse Macabre. Though the tour is ostensibly to perform that album in its entirety, the band has announced that it’ll be performing new music as well.

And if you can make it to a show, a limited-edition tour twelve-inch will be for sale with the band’s first new tunes since 2008’s Fasciinatiion. Check out a stream and download of “Evil Voices” below.

ALARM is back in print! Subscribe and get Nov/Dec w/ Soundgarden, Refused, Converge

After relaunching for free this summer on the iPad, ALARM Magazine is back in print with more awesome shit. We’re psyched to have the mighty Soundgarden on the cover of our Nov/Dec issue, which includes interviews with and stories on Converge, Refused, Melvins, Dirty Projectors, Bloc Party, P.O.S, Squarepusher, Fang Island, and more.

Soundgarden’s fantastical video for “Been Away Too Long”

Sole’s Ruthless Criticism and fearless witticism

Review: Grails / Pharaoh Overlord’s Black Tar Prophecies, Vol. 5 / self-titled

Grails/Pharaoh Overlord: Black Tar Prophecies Vol. 5 (Kemado, 10/30/12)

Grails: “Wake-Up Drill II”

Tied together by a mutual appreciation of psychedelia, this split record by Portland’s Grails and Finland’s Pharaoh Overlord is a fitting introduction to each obscure group.

Review: Neurosis’s Honor Found in Decay

Neurosis: Honor Found in Decay (Neurot, 10/30/12)

“At the Well”

Neurosis: “At the Well”

Twenty-five years after the influential sludge- and post-metal band issued its first LP, Neurosis remains as stark and dichotomous as ever with its 10^th studio full-length. Again led by guitarists/vocalists Scott Kelly and Steve Von Till, Honor Found in Decay pushes and pulls between anguish and ascension — between darkness and light — sometimes within the same passage.

Hear Devotchka backed by 60-piece Colorado Symphony

Review: P.O.S’s We Don’t Even Live Here

P.O.S: We Don’t Even Live Here (Rhymesayers, 10/23/12)

“Fuck Your Stuff”

P.O.S: “Fuck Your Stuff”

Though fans may be satiated by a new Doomtree album and a bevy of side projects, it’s been three-and-a-half years since any solo output from Stefon Alexander, a.k.a. P.O.S, the punk-spirited rapper/producer and cofounder of the aforementioned hip-hop collective.