Americore Media

POLKADOT CADAVER
PURGATORY DANCE PARTY
ROTTEN
Salvaged from the wreckage of the enigmatic metal clan Dog Fashion Disco, Polkadot Cadaver pretty much picks up where DFD left off in terms of giving the listener the feeling of being in attendance at an amusement park with a heavily throbbing soundtrack underneath. Tracks like “Deathwish” could be mistaken for Marilyn Manson, while “Sole Survivor” takes one of those patented System of a Down-esque weird beat with a Stephen Lynch-like lyrical stance and some strangely endearing pop bubbling up from the depths of the insanity. There’s a lot of bells (literally, there are bells chiming on this disc everywhere) and whistles running amuck on this 12-track affair to warrant repeated listens to get it all down and the electronic music and acoustic instruments used here are plentiful, but fear not, these dudes are still as weird as ever judging by the evil disco found on “Bring Me the Head of Andy Warhol” and the quirky “Wolf in Jesus Skin” for fans of their past project to fully embrace. If you dig Mike Patton, Dillinger Escape Plan, or miss Dog Fashon Disco, PURGATORY DANCE PARTY delivers the offbeat crush you crave. www.rottenrecords.com -Mike SOS

RISE TO ADDICTION
A NEW SHADE OF BLACK FOR THE SOUL
MAUSOLEUM
U.K. metal act Rise to Addiction send mixed signals throughout the course of their scattershot 12-track release A NEW SHADE OF BLACK FOR THE SOUL. While these guys undeniably rip, it’s hard to ascertain a distinct identity from this quintet, as their voracious versatility hampers the music’s flow across the duration of their album. Does a merger of Thumb, Skid Row, and Pantera work? In the case of “One Sweet Minute” it happens to do quite well, but how many people are actually fans of all three bands? Sometimes going full metal throttle (”To A God Unknown”) and at others holding back for dramatic flare (”The Hive”), everything from Scorpions, Savatage, and Dio to Love/Hate and Alice in Chains shows up on this release. This band is definitely unique, well-versed in the heftier end of the hair metal spectrum and can kick some ass like a modernized version of any of the harder Sunset Strip groups with a bit more of the LA underground scene bite intact (”Fessonia”, “I Follow”) “. Rise to Addiction aren’t afraid to groove out like it’s 1989 (”Low”) and made special mention that they share a hometown with Def Leppard, which is probably how they initially learned all those arena-rocking choruses and hearty hooks. If you’re digging on bands like Protest the Hero and don’t mind a multitude of genre-hopping in your metal, take a gander at what this British outfit is cranking out. www.risetoaddiction.com -Mike SOS

THE EXPENDABLES
THE EXPENDABLES
STOOPID
Meshing the wares of Pepper, Authority Zero, and Sublime, the veteran troupe The Expendables bring their island rock sounds to life on their eponymous 16-track collection. Infusing dub, reggae, and ska with a big rock backbeat, songs like “Take a Ticket” and “Paper Chains” provide a laid-back atmosphere while “Not Gonna Fade” takes it up a notch with a punk rock feel. If palm trees, white sand, and rock ‘n roll are all included in your dreams and you dig bands like 311 and tourmates Slightly Stoopid, The Expendables convey the sound and vision your seeking. www.theexpendables.net -Mike SOS

IGNITOR
ROAD OF BONES
CRUZ DEL SUR
Hailing from Austin, TX, the classic metal revivalist outfit Ignitor unleash their traditional metal wares on ROAD OF BONES, an 11-track affair that is metal down to the core. Shredding guitars, fantasy-style lyrics exalting metal and all of its excess, and lots of spikes and leather suits this female-fronted quintet best on tracks like “God of Vengeance” and “Phoenix”. There’s no question that if you like Helloween, Iron Maiden, and Primal Fear that there’s something on this disc that you’ll find to your liking, especially if the mid-tempo Priest-esque epic vibe of “Broken Glass” is right up your alley. www.cruzdelsurmusic.com -Mike SOS

LIMBONIC ART
LEGACY OF EVIL
CANDLELIGHT
The dastardly duo known as Limbonic Art return after a five-year hiatus with LEGACY OF EVIL, a blistering symphonic black metal offering in the vein of Dimmu Borgir, Emperor, and Old Man’s Child. Relentless percussion leads the menacing assault of your senses on tracks like “Twilight Omen” while the majesty of the title cut and the rapid-fire guitarwork found on “Infernal Phantom Kingdoms” gets the blood pumping and the fists banging with malicious intent. Scathingly heavy and potentially dangerous, this Norwegian tandem has concocted quite the dark and stirring metal endeavor. www.candlelightrecordsusa.com -Mike SOS

ORANGE MAN THEORY
RIDING A CANNIBAL HORSE FROM HERE TO…
SUPERNOVA
Bringing their quirky brand of metal to the dance is The Orange Man Theory, an Italian extreme metal unit whose nine-track presentation RIDING A CANNIBAL HORSE FROM HERE TO… unfurls a vicious yet experimental sound. Taking liberal influence from acts ranging from Snapcase and Refused to Today is the Day (this disc is produced by Steve Austin), tracks like “Merendina Will Have His Revenge On Capeside” and “Vortex Of Cows Into The Sweet Tornado” may seem to have whimsical titles, but be warned, these tunes are not for the weak of heart or musical taste. Angular and dissonant yet refreshingly intriguing, throw in a smattering of garage rock swagger and hardcore heroics (”Biollante’s Dawn”) along with a few metalcore tricks from the title track and you’ve got an eclectic array of songs from a band who’ve seemingly threw all their heavy music collection in a centrifuge and set it on warp speed, ending up with this self-detonating release that references everything from Coalesce to The Hives. www.supernovarecords.net -Mike SOS

DARK THE SUNS
IN DARKNESS COMES BEAUTY
FIREBOX
Finnish Goth metal troupe Dark the Suns really pour the piano and keyboards on throughout the duration of IN DARKNESS COMES BEAUTY, making the instrument the foundation to build around this act’s formulaic yet dynamic brand of metal. Tracks like the whispering vocal-led “Alone” conveys a Katatonia meets Paradise Lost vibe, while the synth gloss meets guitar crunch found on “Away” and “Ghost Bridges” sounds like Anathema and Opeth joining forces. Despite an overwhelming use of piano, these tunes are well-crafted and move at a surprisingly upbeat pace for a Goth band, as cuts like “Black Sun” could also be considered somewhat danceable, almost stripping the melancholy off straight away. However, there’s still plenty of metal nuances from the gruff death metal growl to the rousing guitarwork here to give this 10-track disc a majestic might and murky aura perfect for the passionate Euro metal contingent. www.firebox.fi -Mike SOS

BLOOD RED THRONE
COME DEATH
EARACHE
Norwegian metal purveyors Blood Red Throne mix in the classic ’90s style with a very new death metal approach on their latest release COME DEATH. This grueling nine-track exhibition of carnage harkens back to the swampy Florida days on tracks like “Rebirth in Blood” while “Guttural Screams” implements touches of thrash metal riffing for a nice change of pace. There’s no shortage of guttural grooves here, as this quintet really showcases its sufficient awareness of Suffocation and Obituary on cuts like “Taste of God”, but it’s the relentless ferocity that ultimately propels this album and makes it a must have for death metal enthusiasts young and old. www.earache.com -Mike SOS

SEAR BLISS
THE ARCANE ODYSSEY
CANDLELIGHT
Complex and brooding, the latest eight-track offering by Hungary’s Sear Bliss displays this act’s multi-textured black metal attack in full regalia. Summoning the use of brass instruments only accentuate the sheer power and overall imperial feel on cuts like “Omen of Doom” and “Somewhere”, while the band goes for the jugular in true form on tracks like “The Venomous Grace”. Distinctly different from the usual gore and corpsepaint crowd, the classical music instrumentation and the progressive thought demonstrated across THE ARCANE ODYSSEY sets this band above way above the average black metal set. www.candlelightrecordsusa.com -Mike SOS

LOSS OF INERTIA
LOSS OF INERTIA
SELF-RELEASED
Queens, NY quartet Loss of Inertia pull their modern metal out for a spin on this three-song disc. “Bless Your Heart” is a dark and throbbing affair, juxtaposing Danzig and Deftones, while the other two tracks follow suit, maintaining the shadowy atmosphere with hunks of metallic brawn coming from the guitars and dynamic rhythm section intertwined. If you dig bands like Thrice, Chevelle, and the like there’s a spot for Loss of Inertia on your shelf. www.lossofinertia.com -Mike SOS

ELECTRIC WIZARD
WITCHCULT TODAY
CANDLELIGHT
Veteran doom metal merchants Electric Wizard return with a fresh batch of stoned out jams for Satan on WITCHCULT TODAY. This eight-track offering finds this British quartet encrusted in clouds of smoke and riffs of doom, as songs like the lava-entrenched “Satanic Rites of Drugula”, the slow-chugging madness of “Torquemada 71″ and the Sabbath-esque fluidity of “Dunwich” blast holes through your speakers from the genuine heft of the music. Trippy effects, mammoth drums, and layers of distorted guitars and bass bearing foreboding riffs all assist in making this psychedelic excursion the perfect disc to turn on when you want to tune the rest of the world out. www.candlelightrecordsusa.com -Mike SOS

COLOSSEUM
CHAPTER 1: DELIRIUM
FIREBOX
Depressive and poignant, Finnish troupe Colosseum (not to be confused with the hardcore punk band Coliseum) bring it slow, deep, and hard on their debut six-track six-pack. Laden with gloom and chock full of doom, the downtrodden dirges delivered by this unit are definitely far from uplifting and would probably be best served with a warning label. Ominous and foreboding yet grandiose in design, this near 65 minute affair may not move with great alacrity, but what this disc lacks in speed it more than makes up for in excruciatingly measured audio bliss. Draw the shades, pour the absinthe, and cry your eyes out to this one, folks. www.firebox.fi -Mike SOS

ZOLOF THE ROCK & ROLL DESTROYER
SCHEMATICS
FLIGHT PLAN
Sticky sweet pop rock from Philadelphia, PA comes courtesy of the squeaky clean quartet Zolof the Rock & Roll Destroyer on their 10-track release SCHEMATICS. If you love bouncy keyboard and Moog driven melodies that teeter between rocking out and breaking America’s Top 40, then songs like “Can’t Stand It” will be your new hairbrush anthems. Giving props and taking hints from everyone from Weezer and Veruca Salt to The Go-Go’s and New Found Glory, this female fronted troupe have got the baby girl vocal meets brawny party rock band act down solid and with friends like Motion City Soundtrack and Reel Big Fish in their black books, it’s pretty safe to say you’ll see much more of this unit in the near future. www.zoloftherockandrolldestroyer.com -Mike SOS

ASHES OF YOUR ENEMY
THE UNDYING
CRASH
The members of New Jersey hybrid metal squad Ashes of Your Enemy are seasoned vets who have spent time on the local circuit with other bands before joining forces in this project that mixes modern thrash with metalcore ruggedness.THE UNDYING, this quintet’s 10-track debut, heavily borrows from the Pantera/Lamb of God playbook for much of the disc, but does make some interesting diversions along the way to keep tracks like “Living Sacrifice” away from being labeled as a mere copycat. Projecting a Propain-like cadence (”Age of Suffering”) while channeling the type of aggression reserved for bands like Soil and Sevendust (”Surrender”), this one is for dudes and chicks that enjoy modern hard and heavy metal with a melodic twist and tons of memorable hooks. www.crashmusicinc.com -Mike SOS

TOO PURE TO DIE
CONFIDENCE AND CONSEQUENCE
TRUSTKILL
The metal acumen of Too Pure to Die starts at Pantera and travels up to today’s metalcore heroes on this quintet’s 10-track offering CONFIDENCE AND CONSEQUENCE. Sounding like a mix between Bury Your Dead, The Warriors, Sepultura, and your hometown favorite metalcore unit, this Des Moines, IA outfit’s well manicured riffs, rote breakdowns and steady yet unoriginal overall sound is perfect for the throngs of mosh metal kids to lash their teenage angst out to (”Bad Luck”, “Blame No One”) but sticks to the paint by numbers formula a bit too much to be considered something worth fawning over. www.trustkill.com -Mike SOS

COURSE OF NATURE
DAMAGED
SMG
Holy rock cliche! Course of Nature have stolen Nickelback’s playbook on DAMAGED, this squad’s debut 10-track affair. Well, Three Days Grace’s too, and if you’re counting at home, parts of Our Lady Peace’s at times, too. Get the picture? Big hooks and bigger heartbreaks over loud guitars and finger-pointing lyrics with chest-thumping vocals propel tracks like “Forget Her” and “Anger Cage”, while “Gone” showcases the tender side of this quartet, which features the husband of Sabrina the Teenage Witch. White bread all the way, sanitized for mass appeal, and glossier than a supermarket tabloid, this band is perfect for those that play it safe when they rock out. www.silentmajoritygroup.com -Mike SOS

OH SLEEPER
WHEN I AM GOD
SOLID STATE
Oh Sleeper is a Christian metal band whose Norma Jean meets Thrice stance manages to pound out 11 cuts of God-fearing tunes on the curiously titled WHEN I AM GOD. Seemingly on a Samaritan mission to bring metalheads happiness while throwing down breakneck breakdowns (”The Charlatans Host”), this Texas-based quintet are as heavy on the preachiness and they are on the double bass pedal on tracks like “We Are the Archers” and the screamo-esque “The Siren’s Song”, while the righteous chug of “Revelations in the Calm” atmospherically displays this group’s alternative metal majesty. Rocking for God with odd time signatures and dissonant riffs galore, the metal glory Oh Sleeper demonstrates should sit well with those who worship a bit louder than the others. www.solidstate.com -Mike SOS

TOILET BOYS
SEX MUSIC
DEAD CITY
Echoing the final remnants of the CBGB’s spirit and the revered NYC punk scene of days gone by, the latest Toilet Boys does the legacy right with SEX MUSIC, the groundbreaking troupe’s 11-track closet clean-out. Featuring the kind of excessive ass-shaking grooves (”Gimme Everything”) with that big city stomp which kept the Bowery buzzing (”Gods & Monsters”, “Nothing to Lose”) and help from friends such as Debbie Harry and John Waters, this fiery disc succinctly ties the loose ends up and documents this storied party punk band’s frenzied existence. Blending remixes, b-sides, and rare stuff that fans of the band should own into one commemorative package, think about throwing this disc on if you want to rock ‘n roll all night. www.deadcityrecordsamerica.com -Mike SOS

HELLOWEEN
GAMBLING WITH THE DEVIL
SPV
Incendiary power metal band Helloween strike back with full force on the 12-track GAMBLING WITH THE DEVIL, the German quintet’s latest showing. Despite the band falling off the metal map in previous releases, songs like “Heaven Tells No Like” and “The Saints” sharpen their metal focus and find the unit sounding as strong as ever. Reverting back to the power metal devices that brought them the accolades and praise from the metal community, not to mention had a hand in creating, have made songs like “Kill It” a kick ass power metal anthem as well as a nice addendum to the Helloween catalog. If you still play KEEPER OF THE SEVEN KEYS or dig Blind Guardian and Hammerfall and have shunned Helloween, now’s the time to reacquaint yourself with this trailblazing group. www.spv.de -Mike SOS

SICK CITY
NIGHTLIFE
TRUSTKILL
Canadian quintet Sick City step up to the pop punk platform on the 12-track album NIGHTLIFE. While this band offers very little that immediately jumps out amongst the plethora of other bands in their boat, their heartfelt melodies and contagious choruses are solid, are innocuous enough to rally the junior high school crowd, and could easily be mistaken for Fall Out Boy, The Used (especially vocally) or Taking Back Sunday by clueless parents. If you dig Hoobastank, Senses Fail, or Jimmy Eat World, songs like “In The Millions” and “The Heist” will be pretty easy to digest. www.trustkill.com -Mike SOS

XASTHUR
DEFECTIVE EPITAPH
HYDRAHEAD
The prolific one-man black metal machine Xasthur has unleashed another grand opus shining a light on the darker side of life with DEFECTIVE EPITAPH. Now including real drums into the lethal lo-fi mix for an added sense of dread and organic decay, tracks like “Legacy of Human Irrelevance” demonstrates Xasthur’s sound at its most dank and doom-laden, while “Funeral Drenched in Apathy” use waves of guitar and cello dissonance to summon the hair-raising and unsettling feelings of turmoil and despair. Channeling the bleak underbelly of life into songs such as “Oration of Ruin”, every measured drum hit and haunted shriek emanating from this 12-track offering sends chills down your spine and implements a true sense of disturbance that will resonate in your head long after the final strains of “Unblessed Be…” ring out. www.hydrahead.com -Mike SOS

THE OCEAN
PRECAMBRIAN
METAL BLADE
German metal merchants The Ocean, never ones to rest on their laurels, have truly outdone themselves this time around on the outfit’s uber-ambitious twin disc set PRECAMBRIAN. Naming each of the album’s 14-tracks after an era or period from the Precambrian (a geological timeframe when the Earth was going through its earliest stages of evolution for those scientifically un-inclined) while matching up the period in history with the proper blend of aggression, beauty, brutality, and musicianship, this -concept may seem far-fetched and perhaps a bit too scholarly to be taken to the masses. Despite the album’s overall grandiose design (clocking in at a whopping 83-minutes), the immediately deserved elevated status received doesn’t hinder The Ocean from flexing its hardcore muscle or prevent this band’s molten metallic might to ooze across cuts like “Paeoarchaean”. The brazen opener “Hadean” ostentatiously demonstrates its oblique heaviness from the mechanized Meshuggah-esque stomp, while a rotating cast of revered underground metal vocalists such as Nate Newton. Caleb Scofield, and Dwid lend their talents on the vocal end. From there, The Ocean weaves an intricate tapestry of sound, venturing into the vast galaxies of progressive metal, complete with lush orchestral arrangements sandwiched between the grating metal foundation laden with massive shifts of dynamics and adventurous instrument choices on tracks like “Calymmian”. Culminating to create a stunning endeavor that invigorates, captivates, and stimulates any fan that enjoys hearty helpings of brain power in their brawny music, this disc’s painstaking attention to detail and utter brilliance easily makes PRECAMBRIAN an early front-runner for top metal album of 2008. www.metalblade.com -Mike SOS

COPELAND
DRESSED UP AND IN LINE
THE MILITIA GROUP
Indie rock troupe Copeland has been digging through the vault to come up with the material found on the 16-track DRESSED UP AND IN LINE, an odds and sods collection detailing the Florida outfit’s career thus far. Adorned with alternative versions, reworked covers of well-known tunes, and a slew of “slower” and acoustic versions of the group’s work, this disc is far from essential but does play out nicely if you’re in the market for background dinner music with a slight edge. www.thecopelandsite.com -Mike SOS

MARTRIDEN
THE UNSETTLING DARK
CANDLELIGHT
Technically proficient blackened death metal with modern elements best describes THE UNSETTLING DARK, the 10-track offering by metal marauders Martriden. This powerful Montana-based troupe somehow blended Killswitch Engage, Opeth, Dark Tranquility, and Death to make a stirring concoction that sounds familiar at times yet refreshingly unique throughout. Carving out a place where pummeling double bass, shimmering acoustic guitars, and feral vocal shrieks link arms to join the aural onslaught, forming an impenetrable metallic chain strengthened by this band’s lethal combination of grandiose musicianship and savage brutality. www.candlelightrecordsusa.com -Mike SOS

MAGNET SCHOOL
TONIGHT WE DRINK…TOMORROW WE BATTLE THE EVENING AT HAND
ARCLIGHT
Heavily steeped in the indie rock of the ’90s, the Austin-based quartet Magnet School’s debut 10-track offering echo the sentiments of the era’s most beloved unsung bands who, despite barely recognized by the mainstream at the time, are very much emulated today. From the dense swirls of guitars on “Angeldust” to the post-hardcore gaze cast by “Sweetheart in German”, this outfit adamantly stakes its claim to merge Foo Fighters, Swervedriver, and Hum into a massive beast with block rocking arena rock drums and slightly psychedelic leanings peeking through catchy refrains and contagious hooks. With a prolific arsenal of rock music comprehension in tow this act whips up a batch of smartly dressed yet refreshingly jagged tunes where the deliberately delectable feedback and dynamic yet somber overtones reign supreme . www.themagnetschool.com -Mike SOS

A WILHELM SCREAM
CAREER SUICIDE
NITRO
Shooting off rounds of rapid-fire melodic punk rock, A Wilhelm Scream’s latest endeavor CAREER SUICIDE contains all the speed you need while unloading hooks that will stay in your head for days on end. This Massachusetts quintet, having endured runs on the Warped Tour and beyond, continue their path towards punk rock enlightenment with lightning fast guitars, quickened tempos, booming basslines, and an intense vocal performance complete with kickass gang vocals that when blended together form a speed freak’s wet dream. Emblazoned by 13 tracks of cathartic punk rock combining Thrice, Hot Water Music, Rise Against, and All, the latest release by this modern punk rock unit raises the bar musically while instantly increasing the listener’s pulse rate on cuts like “These Dead Streets”, the title track, and “Die While We’re Young”. www.nitrorecords.com -Mike SOS

GWEN STACY
THE LIFE I KNOW
FERRET
Christian metalcore quartet Gwen Stacy may have taken their name from the Spiderman comic book (apparently Gwen Stacy was Spidey’s first girlfriend), yet there’s little on THE LIFE I KNOW to qualify as super. Following metalcore by numbers with screamy vocals seething with aggression, chugging low-end guitars, and mid-paced rhythms all leading up to the almighty breakdown, this Indiana unit rarely stray from the Underoath/Norma Jean template (sans the electronically-tinged “Sleeping in the Train Yard”) long enough to register a distinct dent in the genre. Competent yet all too familiar for those who reside in the pit, this far from groundbreaking 12-track endeavor has its moments, yet ultimately falls victim to being a bit too similar to countless groups in their genre. www.ferret.com -Mike SOS

GERMZ
THINGZ 2 SAY
SUPERNOVA
Hailing from Germany, hardcore hip-hop artist Germz brings his flavor to Steve Austin’s Supernova Records on the 13-track THINGZ 2 SAY. Chock full of collaborations and brimming over with street rhymes and an old school vibe that sidesteps rap’s current commercial and material obsession, chances are if you dig the sounds from back in the day, there’s something on this disc to bob your head to. www.supernovarecords.net -Mike SOS

STONERIDER
THREE LEGS OF TROUBLE
TRUSTKILL
If Stonerider ever decides to hang it up, this quartet have a bonafide career in recycling in their future, as all they do on THREE LEGS OF TROUBLE is rehash Skynyrd, AC/DC, Kid Rock, and Sunset Strip cock rock ad nauseam. Insipid lyrics, blatantly ripped-off riffs, an earsplitting excessive use of the wah pedal, and uninspired cover tunes (Nazareth’s “Hair of the Dog”) aside, this disc is steeped in cliches and is unabashedly painful to listen to even if you can remotely muster an appreciation for the type of mind-numbing combination these guys attempt. Scraping from the bottom of the southern rock/hair metal/arena rock barrels to comprise this hot mess of an album, only if your penchant for pain is set to high would you be able to endure this abominable impression of muscle car mullet-fed hard rock. www.trustkill.com -Mike SOS

NATION BEYOND
AFTERMATH ODYSSEY
SENSORY
Powerful progressive metal with a discernibly darker edge can be found on the debut 13-track affair from Sweden’s Nation Beyond. This act employs both a male and female vocalist, a setup which yields many intriguing dimensions to the quintet’s music on tracks like the heart-tugging ballad “Soulmates”. Swapping symphonic metal with straight up theatrical devices (”A Rainy Day in Hell”) while blasting out full power metal might when the time is right (”In the Ashes”), this concept album has its share of peaks and valleys to overcome, but after a few listens, anyone that enjoys the grandiose level of histrionics associated with the power metal genre would be hard pressed to not keep this disc in heavy rotation. www.lasersedgegroup.com -Mike SOS