Here are the new and notable releases for this week, 26th January 2015:
From The Very Depths, Venom
Modern Nature, The Charlatans F.E.A.R., Papa Roach Matador, Gaz Coombes Juggernaut Alpha/Juggernaut Omega, Periphery Easy Meat, Napalm Death Only To Rise, Sweet & Lynch Songs People Actually Liked, Bowling For Soup Shanghaied, Ammunition Empire Of Sin, Impera Opus Aethereum, Ethereal The Revenant King, Visigoth
The generals of British grindcore, Napalm Death, have revealed the cover art and tracklist for their forthcoming new album.
Apex Predator – Easy Meat will be released in January via Century Media Records.
Says Napalm Death bassist Shane Embury: “There are many meanings that you could grab from the new album artwork, I think. But one is the representation of how our natural and most basic needs for happiness and communication are being stripped away by materialism and pre-packaged garbage – crap that we don’t need, filtered to us through the media via the mega-corporations with the goal to maintain the bloated bottom line of profit.
“It’s all just stuff that will be obsolete in six months time. And behind the scenes of course, modern day slavery is alive, well and obscured by this facade. It’s all an exercise in deceit to shower us with fake fulfilment, while the poor and underprivileged fall further by the wayside.”
Frontman Barney Greenway adds: “When you go into one of those places with nourishment in mind and you’re greeted with some miserable, artificially-enhanced foodstuff contained in a bleak little receptacle of industrial plastics, it doesn’t exactly inspire you.
“To then fill that plastic tray with the dregs of meat production, well, that is the ‘easy meat’ in the title – representing the people who suffer for burgeoning consumption degraded and dumped in the most pitiful way.”
The full tracklist for Apex Predator – Easy Meat is as follows:
01. “Apex Predator – Easy Meat”
02. “Smash A Single Digit”
03. “Metaphorically Screw You”
04. “How The Years Condemn”
05. “Stubborn Stains”
06. “Timeless Flogging”
07. “Dear Slum Landlord…”
08. “Cesspits”
09. “Bloodless Coup”
10. “Beyond The Pale”
11. “Stunt Your Growth”
12. “Hierarchies”
13. “One-Eyed”
14. “Adversarial/Copulating Snakes”
Joko Widodo, a dedicated fan of Heavy Metal music, has won the Indonesian Presidential election.
The Indonesia electoral commission announced that Joko Widodo had been victorious with a 53.15% share of votes cast. His rival, Prabowo Subianto, achieved 46.85%.
Joko is sighted regularly at rock and metal shows in Indonesia, and once owned a bass guitar that had been played and signed by Metallica’s Rob Trujillo. Unfortunately Joko gave up the guitar, in case it was perceived by colleagues and public alike as a bribe.
Indonesia’s metal scene is a burgeoning one, and you can only imagine that it will continue to go from strength to strength now that its President is a confirmed fan of Metallica, Napalm Death and Led Zeppelin.
Hold the horses! Stop the press! What the hell is all this then?!
A veritable feast of metal music stars, including members of System Of A Down and Fear Factory, have launched one of the most ambitious music-related crowdfunding campaigns ever seen.
Under the band name Project Rogue, the campaign aims to raise $70,000 (£40,000) to create an album called Titans, that will feature performances from Lamb Of God’s Chris Adler, Napalm Death’s Mitch Harris, Cannibal Corpse’s Rob Barrett, alongside Paul Masdival from Cynic.
System Of A Down bass player Shavo Odadjian and Fear Factory’s founding drummer Raymond Herrera are also involved, alongside various established and up-and-coming metal musicians.
Designated Project Rogue leader Herrera says: “Ive been looking into the crowdfunding aspect of the music industry and it’s been pretty interesting to see how people have taken to it. Something like this is very unique because it allows us to deal or work directly with the fans, where they actually invest or be involved in something that is direct with the artist.”
JD Schmidt of Nociceptor adds: “It’s awesome for a band to be able to seek out to a financial resource without having to sign their lives away to a bank to see a project through. And on the other side of the coin it’s great for fans to be a part of the music that they love in whatever way they can.”
“I was floored when they asked me to be a part of it. Deeply humbled and kind of overwhelmed. I think I peed a little bit.”
Odadjian describes crowdfunding as “the future” and says he will offer his bass playing skills as well as writing and arrangement to the songs.
Pat Lachman of Damageplan says he hopes the album will “scare the shit out of people.”
A host of funding options are available for investors, including a digital copy of the album priced at $10 (£6), up to $10,000 (£6,000), a level of contribution which will see your very own composition worked into the music of the album.
To find out more about the project, along with all the details of the levels of funding that are available, head on over to the Project Rogue IndieGoGo campaign page. The project has until the 8th of July to reach it’s target.
Watch the Project Rogue official campaign video below:
The result of metal masterminds, or a sizeable and grand folly? We’re hoping for the former and will be watching with anticipation. Let us know what you think about the news!
Skin Back Alley 