Mastodon

Mastodon

Video: Mastodon’s “Dry Bone Valley” (live)

Atlanta’s Mastodon took its melodic sludge metal across the pond this past winter with Red Fang and The Dillinger Escape Plan. Along the way, it sold out London’s Brixton Academy to make it the largest UK headlining show in the band’s touring history. Catch a glimpse of the night’s action with a clip of Mastodon performing “Dry Bone Valley.”

The Secret

The Metal Examiner: The Secret’s Solve Et Coagula

Every Friday, The Metal Examiner delves metal’s endless depths to present the genre’s most important and exciting albums.

The Secret: Solve Et CoagulaThe Secret: Solve Et Coagula (Southern Lord, 9/28/10)

The Secret: “Double Slaughter”

The Secret: “Double Slaughter”

When Goodfellow Records folded this year, Italian grindcore/black-metal quartet The Secret found itself momentarily without a label following a pair of raging, nihilism-fueled full-length albums.  Those releases suggested (if not insisted) that the group had something new to bring to European metal’s increasingly crowded table.

In the wake of the former label’s dissolution (and the band’s countless lineup changes since), The Secret attempts to regain its footing on Solve Et Coagula, its first outing for Southern Lord and an album almost workmanlike in its sound, structure, and unwavering metal attack.

Converge: Rules Were Made to be Broken

Jacob Bannon, lead singer and founding member of Converge, is a man who likes a challenge. In fact, “challenge” seems to be his favorite word; it crops up again and again—how Converge seeks them out, how the band provides them, and how we need them as human beings. Ease is a dirty word in Converge’s universe.

The band’s music is, of course, challenging. Not content to be just fast, brutal, and dark, Converge has consistently, and successfully, pushed every boundary in any category you wish to place it: hardcore, metal, thrash, punk. None of these will fit neatly on Converge.

Pages: 1 2

Dysrhythmia: Hyperactive Technicality

Strip down, way down, the layers of the moody energy of Brooklyn post-rock metal trio Dysrhythmia’s fifth album, Psychic Maps, and you can hear an indication of the agility responsible for the band’s deep intensity.

What We’re Seeing This Weekend: Mastodon, Converge, Peanut Butter Wolf

It’s a great few days for metal in Chicago as Mastodon, Converge, Kylesa, and Russian Circles each performs new material.

Fans of softer fare have great options as well as hip-hop producer Peanut Butter Wolf, chicha enthusiasts Chicha Libre, and post-jazz/jam guitarist Charlie Hunter hit town.

The Art of Screaming!: Total Training for Vocalists on the Edge

Renowned singing teacher Susan M. Carr‘s technique for The Art of Screaming! was first developed in 1978 and has since been refined during the grunge music scene. Since then, Carr has worked with bands such as Minus the Bear, Mastodon, and Sunny Day Real Estate.

Ten Albums to Anticipate This Spring

As the weather stops being oppressive in the Northern Hemisphere, a number of potentially great albums from countless genres are on the way.  Here’s a list of ten that have us excited, including efforts from Isis, MF Doom, Coalesce, Prefuse 73, Mr. Lif, and more.