shirts are optional

1. Snakes for the Divine
2. Frost Hammer
3. Bastard Samurai
4. Ghost Neck
5. The Path
6. Fire, Flood & Plague
7. How Dark We Pray
8. Holy Flames of the Fire Spitter

listen
buy

the production is much cleaner/tighter than we're used to but this album rips. definitely a grower as well. when i first listened to it i really didn't like Bastard Samurai and now it's probably my favorite track.

Charred Walls of the Damned

listen

buy

The album displays some good drumming from Richard Christy. I gravitated quickly to tracks 4 and 5 (Blood on wood, In a world so cruel). Tim "Ripper" Owens is on vocals. I think the album is well done, having heard it through twice at this point. Check it out.

Reviver - Versificator

1. Antennas
2. Bukowski
3. West on 66
4. Fortunes
5. Everywhere Leads Nowhere
6. Winston Smith
7. The Giver
8. Hollywood
9. 2012
10. Anthem

The fellas from Reviver sent me a link to what I'm assuming is their debut full length and I'm happy they did because it's actually pretty good. High energy melodic hardcore, but not the shitty kind... It really is catchy and fun to listen to. Sometimes the vocals are a little rough and there's a track or two I could do without (Bukowski), but overall it's a solid release in a genre that is flooded with bands that are doing it all wrong. I'd be interested to see these dudes live as well. My only complaint... the cover art.

They're going on a pretty extensive tour in March so go and check them out if you have the chance.

listen
myspace
buy it

Take As Needed For Pain

listen

helping make a good sunday morning into a great one.

Upcoming shows in Philly

Well, I should have been heading to Camden after the Villanova game today to see Slayer, Megadeth and Testament. But... the show got pushed back to August because Tom Araya headbanged too much and had to get surgery. Seriously.

Although that was disappointing, there are quite a few decent shows this spring. I'm hoping to make it to as many of these as possible. As more shows pop up (good ones at least) I'll try to keep this updated. Pretty pumped about HOF at the church!

Skeleton Witch, Iron Age
2/19 Kungfu Necktie

Coalesce, Harvey Milk, The Atlas Moth
3/6 Kungfu Necktie

Zombi
3/12 Johnny Brendas

Dillinger Escape Plan, Darkest Hour, IWrestledABearOnce
3/28 First Unitarian Church

High On Fire, Black Cobra, Priestess
4/6 First Unitarian Church

Acid Mothers Temple
4/9 Johnny Brendas

The Appleseed Cast
4/14 First Unitarian Church

Trans Am
4/16 Johnny Brendas

Lair Of The Minotaur
4/19 The M Room

The New Deal
4/24 Trocadero

Converge, Thursday, Lewd Acts
4/30 Trocadero

Jonsi (from Sigur Ros)
5/3 Electric Factory

Small Brown Bike
5/15 The Barbary

Torche, Coheed & Cambria, Circa Survive
5/22 The Electric Factory

Slayer, Megadeth, Testament
8/15 Susquehanna Bank Center

this thing is a beast....

James Hicks 2009 Bomb @ Shipstern from Andy Chiz on Vimeo.

These Mountains Are Safe

this is the first full length from the texas trio Shapes Stars Make, and it sounds a hell of a lot like the bands that have obviously influenced them... explosions in the sky, the appleseed cast, mono, etc...

it's a good album but so many people are tired of the same old post-rock bullshit that many won't give it a chance, and that is unfortunate. the first song sounds like it could be from the new EITS record, but after that it starts to take on a uniqueness of it's own with the help of vocals and some more appleseed cast sounding parts. it takes some patience but worth it if you can sit down and give it a full listen

Sufer Blood - Astrocoast

listen

This band was getting a lot of pitchfork hype so I checked it out figuring I'd hate it but it's actually pretty good. Been compared to Built to Spill, early Weezer and Dinosaur Jr.

(A) Senile Animal

listen

Stoner Witch is incredible...
Houdini is a classic...
pretty much everything they've done has been awesome but this one has been on heavy rotation for a while and may be their best.

fuckin a.