What unites Pillars of Ash and Invisible Birth of Death? One is straight-ahead, the other a more varied metal palette. One band is little-known on a small label, the other Relapse road warriors. But both bands are from Georgia, they’ve shared the stage, and coincidentally their promos appeared in my email inbox around the same… Continue reading Split Review: Black Tusk’s Pillars of Ash and Savagist’s Invisible Birth of Death
Tag: thrash
Album Review: Vile Display of Humanity (Self-Titled)
Seattle-by-way-of-Chicago punks Vile Display of Humanity released their self-titled debut album this May, unleashing a twenty-song tribute to the ideals of brotherhood and social justice. The whole thing was recorded on lead guitarist Dave Foster’s laptop, and honestly the production quality is better than you’d imagine for “punk band’s DIY recording” — a little vocal-heavy… Continue reading Album Review: Vile Display of Humanity (Self-Titled)
Album Review: S.N.A.F.U.’s Present Day Plague
In authentic punk fashion, Detroit-based S.N.A.F.U. (Situation Normal All Fucked Up) offers nineteen songs in forty minutes on their upcoming album Present Day Plague. And in testament to the blurred sub-genres that thrash/hardcore/hardcore-punk have become, their songs are punctuated with ripping guitar leads, upbeat riffing, and anthemic choruses that rail against The Man. Have a… Continue reading Album Review: S.N.A.F.U.’s Present Day Plague
Shred Until Dead: A Review of Eyes of the Dead’s The Sum of All Your Fears
It’s strange to review an album from a local band that sounds this produced. I feel that Eyes of the Dead has come away from this fooling people into thinking they’re a national act with a big budget. And why shouldn’t they? They’ve been around for over ten years, working fervently in that timespan to… Continue reading Shred Until Dead: A Review of Eyes of the Dead’s The Sum of All Your Fears
Emails from Near and Far: Reviews of Unscarred and Valence
You never know what you’ll find in ol’ inbox. Recently we received review inquiries from French thrashers Unscarred and New York instrumental prog band Valence. It took me awhile to get the downloaded tracks into Alternative Control’s Music Review Machine, er, my car’s CD player — but at long last I’ve listened to both bands’… Continue reading Emails from Near and Far: Reviews of Unscarred and Valence
Interview with Todd Evans of Mobile Deathcamp
Editor’s Note, 2/20/2015: Scroll all the way down for updated 2015 tour dates! Ohio thrash band Mobile Deathcamp is playing two Connecticut dates on their current tour: 3/8 at Cherry Street Station in Wallingford and 3/10 at the Downtown Café in Bristol. Alternative Control talked with guitarist and frontman Todd Evans, formerly Beefcake the Mighty… Continue reading Interview with Todd Evans of Mobile Deathcamp
Payday Downloads: Dream of Scipio, Barn Burner, and David Kaye
This is the first in a new bi-weekly series about music we’re finding on the web. Many of the reviews on Alternative Control are intended to be at least somewhat in-depth, but this is quite the opposite: download on Friday and post a short, conversational review by Sunday. It’s all about finding new music we… Continue reading Payday Downloads: Dream of Scipio, Barn Burner, and David Kaye