THIS IS HARDCORE (PLUS SOME OTHER STUFF)

The fine Deathwish Inc. label has put together a 2009 sampler, imaginatively titled MMIX (cover art at left), which is available for free download. It includes tracks from Coliseum, Converge frontman Jacob Bannon, and lots and lots of other folks. Click here to load yourself up with a megadose of hardcore, metal, art-noise, and other pleasing sounds. [Warning: File is over 200MB.]

MATTER VS. ANTIMATTER (PLUS DEATH METAL)

One of those tours you can't quite imagine really happening until you see it in cold black and white has been assembled. DragonForce is coming back around in April and May, and they are bringing with them...

...Cynic.

Yes, Cynic, the jazz-fusion-meets-arty-prog-metal philosopher kings, fresh off a phenomenal jaunt with Meshuggah and the Faceless, are now touring with (and let's not kid ourselves, opening for) the wanktastic masters of empty-calories power metal. A mind-shattering confluence of "This is so beautiful I think I just transsubstantiated in my pants" and "Are they kidding? They're kidding, right?", this tour (which also features sorta-underrated/sorta-overrated death metal band Dååth) will be hitting a "secondary market" somewhere relatively near to you...go ahead and check it out, if you dare.

WHAT DID JAZZ EVER DO TO THEM?

Today's mailbag brought a most welcome package: two CDs (one reissue and one new title) by Borbetomagus, one of the most awesome musical forces in all the world. Celebrating their 30th anniversary this year, this upstate New York trio (and sometimes quartet) has been a touchstone for me for over 20 years at this point; I first heard their Live in Allentown (cassette-only, back then, but reissued on CD with liner notes by me (which you can read here, if you're not of a mind to do what you really should do, and order a copy of the disc from Forced Exposure.)

Anyway, the Borbetos have been on somewhat of a reissue jag the past few years, digitizing some of their best early work (Barbed Wire Maggots, the aforementioned Live in Allentown), and they've added to that list with a digipak version of 1988's Snuff Jazz. Formerly two side-long slabs of ferocious blare, about 35 minutes of music in toto, it's been pumped up with the addition of two shorter, previously unreleased tracks (one just under eight minutes long, the other just under ten) from the same performance that yielded the first half of the original album. It's a fierce, howling storm of an album, featuring the core trio totally in command of their sound and their instruments, and highly recommended.

The other title is A Go-Go, recorded in 1998 but just released now. I haven't listened to that one yet, but like other Borbeto discs released in the post-vinyl era (Experience the Magic, Songs Our Mother Taught Us) it features a single half-hour-plus track bracketed by shorter pieces. So that should be fun for me and my neighbors.

If I had to rank the 10 Borbeto discs I own, here's how I'd do it:

1. Live in Allentown
2. Barbed Wire Maggots
3. Buncha Hair That Long
4. Snuff Jazz
5. Seven Reasons for Tears
6. Borbetomagus (1980)
7. Sauter, Dietrich, Miller ("the black album")
8. Songs Our Mother Taught Us
9. Experience the Magic
10. A Go-Go (because I haven't heard it yet)

VADER RISES AGAIN

Polish death metal gods Vader (whose 2008 release XXV, a double disc of re-recorded old songs, was better than most death metal bands' new material last year) are recording a new album, Necropolis, with a new lineup. They've released one demo track, "Rise of the Undead," and you can hear/download it by clicking here. I'm into it; it keeps the classic Vader sound, but also showcases new guitar player Vogg, formerly of the now-on-hiatus Decapitated (and brother to that band's deceased drummer Vitek).

THIS MONTH IN AP

I haven't written anything but CD reviews for Alternative Press in quite a while, but that's starting to change, by dribs and drabs, here and there: I contributed the following blurb to their annual "100 Bands You Need to Know" roundup:

EYES SET TO KILL
HQ: Tempe, AZ
CHECK OUT: Reach (Breaksilence/Koch)
FOR THOSE WHO ROCK: Thursday, Kittie, Walls of Jericho
"We have grown up and developed a better grasp on the sound we want to achieve," says vocalist/guitarist Alexia Rodriguez of Eyes Set To Kill, the melodic screamo-metal band she co-leads with her bassist sister Anissa. "Our last album was all about personal conflicts, so for this album we want to make sure we bring something new to the table." She promises the band's next album (still untitled at press time) will be "a lot darker and heavier but still upbeat and melodic." Rodriguez and her bandmates are primarily concerned with transcending the, um, visceral appeal of a group featuring two hot Latina sisters, and being appreciated as artists. "I think that when anyone looks into AP and views a band picture with a couple of girls in the band, they think to themselves, 'I wonder if they are any good?' There are bands like Eisley, Meg & Dia and Tegan and Sara who are amazing bands and still haven't gotten over the whole sister-gimmick thing."

I also wrote up the following three excellent CDs:

CATTLE DECAPITATION
The Harvest Floor
Metal Blade
Cattle Decapitation have been on a mission to promote vegetarianism through death metal and grindcore since 1997. Subtlety hasn't really been the band's thing - the original cover of 2004's Humanure, which depicted a cow defecating out a man, was banned. But their sound has evolved quite a bit from the 18 songs in 16 minutes of 1999's Human Jerky EP to this disc, which features guest appearances from Jackie Perez Gratz (of Grayceon and Amber Asylum) and Jarboe (Swans). Lyrically and musically, The Harvest Floor is an impressive work of art. The downtuned guitar riffs, barked/growled/shrieked vocals and frantic drumming are as brutal as ever, but there's a sophistication to every aspect of this album that wasn't present on earlier efforts. The Harvest Floor doesn't have the hooks of, say, Carcass' Heartwork, but it's a mature effort.

GOD FORBID
Earthsblood
Century Media
New Jersey's God Forbid have evolved from a metalcore band with a visual hook (four of the five members are mixed-race or African-American) to a melodic, mainstream metal band in the vein of Nevermore. Earthsblood is the group's second concept album in a row, shifting from the political allegories of 2005's IV: The Constitution Of Treason to environmental issues. Musically, the members have broadened their palette - guitar solos are more melodic and intricate, choruses catchier and more anthemic, rhythms more punishing, and the lead and background vocals alike are multidimensional and captivating. It's been four years since God Forbid released new music, and it's nice to see development in that time, especially on this level. With luck, Earthsblood will allow them to achieve the success they've long deserved.

SCALE THE SUMMIT
Carving Desert Canyons
Prosthetic
Carving Desert Canyons' CD booklet unfolds into a poster that captures the dichotomy of the group: On one side, it offers photos of the band members making dorky faces, while the flip depicts some breathtakingly glorious rock formations. That same mix of dorkiness and mind-crushing awesomeness defines this instrumental album. Guitarists Chris Letchford and Travis LeVrier play screaming, arpeggiated leads a la Coheed And Cambria, while bassist Jordan Eberhard holds it down and drummer Pat Skeffington goes wild on the cymbals and toms. All the tracks blur into one another, but let's use words like "song cycle" instead of "samey," shall we? This is instrumental hard rock that spares the listener Pelican-esque tedium, instead offering all the technical brilliance of Rush or Coheed, without the annoying helium vocals.