Review: ALBUM: 'Beyond The Pale' by Shields

If you like crippling down-tuned riffs, growling bass lines, pummeling drums and emphatic, triumphant vocals then I direct you to this blistering debut album by Leeds medieval power rockers SHIELDS.

'Beyond The Pale' emits a monstrous signal reaching far back to ancient realms where pillaging and other primitive acts scorn the earth. A grave reminder that when four individuals come together to play music, it can be ultimately magical. Yes this band are unsigned and yes this band are local, which pains for me to say it. It pains me because there are so many other bands in Shields' situation; recording music that deserves more attention. However, that aside, Shields are a band on the rise and one can only hope that this album gets the reception that it deserves.

The album kicks in with the creatively named 'My buddy went to Azeroth & all I got were these lousy arrows' which is a whip cracking track on your quest through 'Beyond the Pale'. it features plenty of heavy, in-your-face transitions that strip and then dress right in front of your ears.

BS GIG: Telepathy / Himself / Cattle

Big Spaceships Presents...

It would appear that we may have smashed this gig together, sourcing four completely different bands as the main ingredients to some kind of riff soup, accompanied by a bread roll, buttered in a musical spread, churned in the mill of Rock.

So come join us aboard the Big Spaceship, spoon in hand, and prepare yourselves to enter a void of arcane vibrations....


TELEPATHY

These four gentlemen will be travelling light-years to come fourth and play this gig, from the distant land of Colchester. Bringing with them a metallic instrumental, prog offering of their own interpretation. Their EP, Fracture (available for free download from their bandcamp) is a culmination of mellow, dreamy prog crecendoes, some solid grooves and some spectacular fist in the air headbanging moments. It would be pretty daft to pass up a free download of this magnitude.

HIMSELF

And now for something completely different... 5 dudes from YORKSHIIIRE known as Himself, each member contributes to the vocal arrangment as well as playing an instrument, which lends itself kindly to the bands erratic pop sensibilities and comedic narrative. It would seem that some of the best bands around are the ones that don’t take themselves too seriously and effortlessly achieve a sound that many try very hard to accomplish. A few guys having a laugh + Talent = Awesome band. Its for that reason that you will see Himself playing gigs with bands of completely different stylings, regardless of whether you think they fit on the bill or not, this is because, all sub genres aside, they’re just really fuckin good.

CATTLE

Cattle are not your average 4/4 rock 'n' roll band. They formed earlier this year with nothing and everything in mind. Their music is a wobbly wheeled shopping trolly laden with noisy jazz and question mark ending riffs, taking influence from each aisle of the supermarket and producing a chunky stew soaked in a base of rhythmic precision and heavily seasoned with screaming feed back and fuzz groove.

First band around 8pm

400p

HAMMERS - 'Vardogr' (2012) : A Review

HAMMERS are a group of musicians hailing from Manchester with an original approach to creating brutal crust-laden hardcore. I wanted to include 'metal' in the synopsis, but as soon as I use the words hardcore and metal together my whole body cringes. It is crusty in that it projects gritty bass, low guttural voice and stampeding tempos.. all driven along in an adventurous early Dischord-era style where technical prowess and unpredictable structures aren't sneered upon.

The first track 'Casting Spells' oozes dark feedback(y) mess all over my ears, before spitting out a pristine sounding riff that instantly cuts through the layers of vicious feedback...From black metal to early Baroness in the flip of a switch. The titles of this album almost remind me of the chapter names of some prophetic book out of the middle ages; encouraging a bewildered sense of awe. A similar feeling most have experienced through attempting to read 'Dante's Inferno' when they were 17...intriguing nevertheless.

The kind of head-nodding (cause there are 'kinds') it gets out of me is a kind of blend between the focused jarring approach induced by math rock and the head-down-to-the-ground shake techniques regularly seen at your local thrash gig. Its easy to say Hammers envelop many styles in their music, it is hard to determine exactly how due to the fluency of it. A track that sticks out to me lasts a timely :23 secs named 'Endoteric'. Mainly because I have a great big mushy soft spot for grimy doom but secondly for that chord at the end of the riff; sounds like an orchestra of electric bass guitars all playing the same note in a massive expansive auditorium.

BS GIG 07/07/12: CANAYA // EL SCHLONG // BEARS KILLING BEARS // SEVEN HEADED COBRA

CANAYA

Leeds groove metallers Canaya return to the ship's helm for a night of pure, adrenaline fueled music. Steadily chipping away at the UK's metal scene, they have built a solid undercurrent of buzz with their self-produced EP 'Alignment of Dying Planets' including a melee of live shows, some of which are attainable online; check this feed out hosted by eccentric rockers HIMSELF in an undisclosed venue....
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/himselflive
The debut EP, 'Alignment Of Dying Planets' was released in 2010 to great reviews in Rocksound (8/10), Big Cheese (5/5) and received heavy rotation on Total Rock Radio.

'What the industry has it's sights on' - Metal Hammer

'Alignment Of Dying Planets' is twenty minutes of unremitting ferocity. It’s an aggressively potent EP, the kind of record that will have you smashing yourself across the temple with a hammer afterwards for relief.' - Szikora Press

'Combining a voice with the caustic power of Norma Jean with some seriously Mastodon-esque riffs, Canaya’s EP is a violent twenty-minute pole-axe to the temple.' - Heavy Blog Is Heavy

www.facebook.com/canayauk
www.myspace.com/canayauk
www.youtube.com/canayauk
www.twitter.com/canayauk
www.canaya.bandcamp.com

A couple of Big Spaceship gigs coming up: run,WALK! & Wet Nuns

run,WALK! (Holy Roar)
http://runwalk.bandcamp.com/album/peekay
Noisey hardcore band run,WALK! have been soldiers of the riff for quite sometime and have maintained an experimental and brutal approach to their music since their formation. These guys are no strangers to Leeds but if you have yet to see them play then be sure to check them out.

ANTARES (Holy Roar)
http://www.facebook.com/enjoyantares?sk=app_178091127385
These monsters of physical technicality will warp your fragile mind with their chaotic battery of progressive hardcore from the unfathomable realms of confusion. One sentence. That is all.

WE'LL DIE SMILING
http://welldiesmiling.bandcamp.com/
Awesome Leeds based 3 piece of the progressive hardcore persuasion, We'll Die Smiling have been around for a while and every now and again releasing an absolute fuckin' gem, never failing to impress with a creative streak that is apparent in many aspects of their music.

NO COAST
http://www.facebook.com/nocoastband?sk=app_178091127385
No Coast are a relatively new band but have set their standard from the very start. Their music is a cocktail of brutal punk hardcore grind and aggressive as fuck. Only one song available on their facebook page but be sure to give it a listen and make sure you come and see them play.

Review: "Regress" by Slabdragger

A review of "Regress" by Slabdragger (Holy Roar)

If you were to delve into the apocalyptic womb of Heavy Metal, “Regress” is the colossal beast that you would find. It is summoned here in a valiant crusade to save Heavy Metal, its leaders and its adversaries.
This beast will tear off your balls, replacing the contents of your scrotum with swollen spheres of steel and like a dwarf afoot a mountain, you shall stand in awe. Slabdragger strike upon various nuances of stoner, doom, sludge and groove awesomeness throughout this entire album, while forging a sound of their own. It leaves you with a recognisable sense of fatigue after the whooping you have just subsequently received.

BRUTAL DAY OUT 1

Big Spaceship & Low Culture Presents…

BRUTAL DAY OUT
Saturday 4th June @ Santiago’s, Leeds

Big Spaceship, Low Culture and Godisdad have joined forces in an effort to blow your face clean off!

A day of savage riff worshiping bands displaying all forms of brutality that will lacerate you mental den and leave you bleeding from every orifice while still begging for more. If loud, heavy and reasonable priced is your kind of deal then this is the event for you.

Throughout the day we will be showcasing 8 bands followed by a DJ set from Milky boy Matt Reid (Hawk Eyes) as well has black metal face painting and homemade confectionery in the form of death metal cupcakes.

Please note: due to the limited capacity of Santiagos we will be using a ‘one in one out’ policy later on in the day.

Tickets a bargainous £5 adv, £6 on the door.

Available from Jumbo records (leeds) and Crash records (leeds) or from We Got Tickets

WE GOT TICKETS LINK

Blast Off @ 2:30

HEY COLOSSUS (riot season)
The headliners of the day will be traveling to Leeds for the first time in light years to grace the stage with their monolithic evil drone. Hey Colossus are not your average doom band, they seem to have re-crafted the genre into the darkest psychedelic sound art you could possibly imagine, Ostracised from structure and form, but. If you listen carefully beneath the saturated malice of their music you will find a groove that will leave you rocking backwards and forwards in a puddle of your own piss.

listen to Hey Colossus here

BLACK MASS (holy roar!)
In 1983 Thrash Metal jumped in to a Delorian, travelled to the future, combined the best of extreame music from both times and created Black Mass. This four-headed bastard child of Metal is everything that Grind/Hardcore should be! Chaotic shouting vocals, hard hitting blast beats with riffs and beat downs a plenty. These guys have the aggression of Slayer and the party vibes of Municipal Waste, if you think you can handle that, I am sure they would like to see you try.

listen to Black Mass here

CASTROVALVA (brew)
If you ever have a party then you should definitely hire these guys to play. Their cocktail of hip-hop breaks, mental vocals, electronic madness and possibly the phattest bass guitar you’ve ever heard, sounds like the residents of a mental asylum who have been let loose in a Whacky Warehouse armed with synthesised explosives and a dosage of mind altering narcotics that could kill a mule. Castrovalva’s unique musical battery will keep you dancing for a week.

listen to Castrovalva here

ANTARES (holy roar!)
In order to comprehend this band, one must posses the mental composition of an astral being; these guys could bench press the solar system with their fingertips while completing algebra equations with their guitars. “I’ve heard this fiddly fret wanking before” I hear you cry. Bullshit! I guaran-damn-tee you haven’t witnessed technical ability being executed like this. Antares will rock your tits off and scatty vocalist Steve Watts will make damn sure you get involved.

listen to Antares here

WIZARDS BEARD (PsycheDOOMelic)
Wizards Beard have just released their debut album on PsycheDOOMelic appropriately entitled ‘Pure Filth’, which just so happens to be the only way to describe this band; Pure in a sense that their music remains uncontaminated by the usual swill you find in Metal these days and Filth in every sense of the word, like you just got brutally fuct in every hole by the arch angel of doom and shamelessly loved every minute of it. If you are unsure of the meaning of Riff, then make sure you come down and see Wizards Beard showing you how its done.

listen to Wizards Beard here

APPLE CANNON
There is no roll here, just rock n riff. You will be inevitably sucked into their fierce groove and cosmic intensity, and without realising it you will find yourselves amidst a crowed of drones nodding along in unison to the cannons beat. The unanimity of this friendly scouse two-piece is not to be questioned as they bestow you with an energetic performance of tailored riffage and inexorable stoner groove.

listen to Apple Cannon here

ETAI KESHIKI
The solidarity of this band is contagious. Etai Keshiki will terrorise you in utterly unfathomable ways, leaving the words ‘Etai or Die’ etched into the back of your mind. These guys care not of your judgement or approval, you will simply be presented with a ghastly display of power and seismic waves of pandemonium that reach deep into your conscience an remove anything that doesn’t need to be there.

listen to Etai Keshiki here

MOTHER/DESTROYER
If you haven’t already witnessed the splendour of this fine new band of riff merchants then make sure you get down early. Mother/Destroyer have recently pounced upon the city of Leeds without warning to give a swift dosage of freshness. Its difficult to pin these guys down they kinda have everything you needs. Riff, groove, funk, good vibes it’s all there. Mother/Destroyer will be the perfect unit to cut the ribbon and open the gates on Brutal Day Out.

listen to Mother/Destroyer here

Dan
BS