Maniacs Aug/Sep 2014

AUGUST / SEPTEMBER 2014

LINKIN PARK MASTODON KING 810 BODYCOUNT SHIHAD

PALE COMMUNION

haunting white noise

BIFFY CLYRO back up sold out Soundwave side shows in Syd and Melb earlier this year with a tour in Sept.

They’ve just released b-sides album Similarities and the 2CD Australian tour edition of Opposites is out now.

THEORY OF A DEADMAN have just released fifth studio album Savages for those who like their rock a little dirtier.

UPON A BURNING BODY release The World Is My Enemy Now on Aug 15 through Sumerian.

It’s tracked, mixed and mastered by producer Will Putney (The Amity Affliction, Northlane).

CROWN THE EMPIRE have just released The Resistance: Rise Of The Runnaways via Rise Records. They took out best breakthrough band at the Alternative Press music awards.

Keep an ear out.

DARKEST HOUR released their selftitled new album via new label Sumerian on Aug 8. It’s their first with drummer Travis Orbin.

MAKE THEM SUFFER are about to start working on their second studio album following new single ‘Let Me In’.

New Roadrunner signing HEARTIST have just released their debut Feeding Fiction with producer David Bendeth (Paramore, Of Mice & Men, Bring Me The Horizon) Rich with hooks and chunky riffs!

SLIPKNOT have been posting some pretty crazy stuff on slipknot1.com over the last few weeks including new single, ‘The Negative One’… new album in 2014?

AVENGED SEVENFOLD fans! Waking The Fallen: Resurrected is released on Aug 29 and available as 2CD/DVD and vinyl/DVD.

GERARD WAY – frontman of MY CHEMICAL ROMANCE – will release his solo album Hesitant Alien on Sept 26th. First single ‘Action Cat’ is out now.

SLEEPWAVE (new band from Underoath’s Spencer Chamberlain) release debut Broken Compass on Sept 12 through Epitaph.

It’s produced by David Bendeth (Paramore, Bring Me The Horizon, Of Mice and Men).

SoCal punk legends PENNYWISE released Yesterdays recently via Epitaph. Jim Lindberg is back as the front man, and it includes songs written by deceased bassist, Jason Thirsk.

BETRAYING THE MARTYRS return with Phantom on Aug 22. A freight-train of aggression, Phantom will cement BTM as one of metal’s elite.

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JUST PRIOR TO LINKIN PARK RELEASING THEIR NEW ALBUM, THE HUNTING PARTY WE SENT LONG TIME LP FAN ROBERT GILES OVER TO MEET WITH MIKE SHINODA AND BRAD DELSON AT A STUDIO IN L.A. AND HEAR THE ALBUM BEFORE IT CAME OUT. WE FIGURED YOU’D RATHER HEAR ABOUT IT FROM A TRUE FAN THAN US, SO HERE IT IS! “At first, I didn’t know if I was more excited about a mini holiday or the fact that I was going to be of the first to listen to what Linkin Park had in store next. As soon as the album opens distorted; I am led straight into the fast and almost violent aggression of rock and Chester Bennington’s scream has once again shown why he is one of the best in the business.

production and lyrics with this album show how musically brilliant he really is.

With ‘Final Masquerade’ and ‘A Line In The Sand’ closing out the album, I can only imagine a live LP show set list with tracks only from this album being a perfect gig.

Drummer Rob (Bourdon) and guitarist Brad (Delson) have the biggest part to play in making The Hunting Party what it is; with it being one of the most guitar and drum driven albums I have ever heard.

If you are looking for an aggressive rock album full of energy and you love the old school Linkin Park; this is a must for you. This will truly take you back it the old school days where it all began; perhaps even a prequel to Hybrid Theory. The Hunting Party stands alone in being strong and raw. Aggressive now has a new meaning.”

With ‘Guilty All The Same’, I was very impressed but was hopeful that this album could deliver a number of singles like they have with their first 3 releases. I can assure you this is NOT a one hit wonder album.

My personal favourite ‘Until It’s Gone’ brings out a slightly slower feel to such an aggressive album with the guitar and drums toned down to truly highlight Chester’s vocal versatility.

As we near the end; I cannot fault a single track on this album. Mike Shinoda’s

Our winners with Mike Shinoda

Check out the video

The Hunting Party is out now on Warner and also available as a limited special ed CD/DVD and vinyl.

UNTIL IT’S GONE

THE AMITY AFFLICTION HAVE BEEN HITTING THE SEVEN SEAS WITH THEIR TOURING SCHEDULE THIS YEAR IN THE STATES, EUROPE AND THE UK AND ARE BUSILY PREPARING FOR THEIR LET THE OCEAN TAKE ME AUSTRALIAN TOUR . CLIMBING ABOARD FOR THE JOURNEY ARE ARCHITECTS, ISSUES, STRAY FROM THE PATH AND DEEZ NUTS . BELOW A MEMBER OF EACH CREW SHARE THEIR MEMORIES ON PLAYING TO THEIR LARGEST CROWDS SO FAR AS AMITY READY THEMSELVES FOR THEIR BIGGEST HEADLINE TOUR TO DATE. THE AMITY AFFLICTION – JOEL BIRCH “I think the largest crowd we’ve played to thus far would have to have been at Soundwave.

I don’t think nerves really play a part in our shows anymore to be honest, not at that level.

There is so much positive energy coming from the crowd when it’s that big, that it’s all too easy to get caught up in the moment and totally ignore the fact there are 8000+ people watching you play.”

ISSUES – TYLER CARTER “The largest crowd we’ve ever played other than various Warped Tour US stops, was in Michigan with Bring Me The Horizon and We Came As Romans, it was at some hockey arena… it’s more like going on a roller coaster, you’re just not sure how intense it’s gonna be but you’re excited as hell!”

DEEZ NUTS – JJ “We play to a lot of big crowds every year across the euro summer festival circuit.

Probably the largest to date was WITH FULL FORCE festival playing to around 40,000 people. I generally don’t get nervous no matter what the crowd, but I do start drinking when I wake up so perhaps that’s partly why.”

ARCHITECTS TOM SEARLE “The one that sticks in my mind was playing the mainstage at Sonisphere.

I didn’t deal with the nerves! My hands definitely did whatever they liked for the first couple of songs. I couldn’t compose myself or concentrate. I’m hoping to hold it together a bit better on this tour!”

STRAY FROM THE PATH - TOM WILLIAMS “We played Rock fest in Quebec Canada to about 4k people. It was a huge festival with bands like Incubus, and Marilyn Manson. These (LTOTM tour) will be by far the biggest shows we have ever played. I am not sure how nervous I will be until I am on stage - it’s our 2nd time in Australia with one of Australia’s biggest bands, so it is pretty intimidating!”

LET THE OCEAN TAKE ME TOUR 2014 ALL VENUES LIC/AA T OUAUDITORIUM LD PERTH - FRI 29 AUG SO RED HILL SO LD OU T THEATRE ADELAIDE - SAT 30 AUG THEBARTON T OU LD SOAUG FESTIVAL HALL MELBOURNE - SUN 31 LD OUT PAVILION SYDNEY - THU 4 SEPSOHORDERN BRISBANE - FRI 5 SEP RIVERSTAGE Check out the rest of our exclusive interviews with all the bands at maniacsonline.com.au

THE AMITY AFFLICTION HAVE PROVED LIGHTNING DOES STRIKE TWICE WHEN – WITH THE RELEASE OF THEIR FOURTH STUDIO ALBUM LET THE OCEAN TAKE ME - THEY ACHIEVED WHAT NO OTHER HARDCORE LOCAL ARTIST HAS IN AUSTRALIA : CONSECUTIVE #1 ARIA CHART DEBUTS. BUT THAT IS JUST ONE STEP IN THE BAND’S MASTER PLAN TO CONTINUALLY EXCEED EXPECTATIONS. AHREN STRINGER TALKS ABOUT WHAT’S STILL TO COME AND THE SURREAL FEELING OF HEARING THEMSELVES ON THE RADIO. “I guess it’s a bit odd that were getting played on Triple J and that we were feature album of the week and its getting blasted through peoples car stereos right now” Ahren Stringer, Amity’s bassist and ‘clean vocalist’ says affably of their success so far. “And it’s just such a non-mainstream form of music. It’s an odd feeling but we’re definitely attracting broader crowds.”

While broader crowds may not have changed them as individuals, it does put the spotlight of closer scrutiny on them as ‘role models’ especially considering the visceral nature of their songwriting.

“Joel (Birch – songwriter/heavy vocalist) has always written all the lyrics so I can’t talk too much about that” he explains. “But

like he’s always said, this record is a bit more personal and it’s cathartic to speak about how he’s feeling. People can take away from it anything they want really and still going to be fairly positive. He did that big open letter about (second single) ‘Don’t Lean On Me’ which was a disclaimer for anyone who may have taken things the wrong way but basically its telling the story of how he’s feeling the same way as some of these kids who are suffering depression as well, and just saying ‘take what you can from me but I’m not a guidance counselor.’

The album in a nutshell is saying that there is life out there and to never focus on the bad even though there are dark times, there is always a light and we’ve all got friends or someone to turn to.”

Things are about to get a lot more up close and personal for Amity fans as the band prepare a huge headlining tour of Australia with Architects (UK), Issues (USA), Stray From the Path (USA) and Deez Nuts (AU).

“It’s going to be our biggest tour of Australia ever.” He says with a slight mixture of awe and healthy trepidation. “It’s always a little daunting going into bigger venues. We’re fun loving guys and we make friends very easily and we just enjoy a good time… not taking anything for granted. Enjoying the journey and not the destination!”

Check out the video

DON’T LEAN ON ME

Let the Ocean Take Me is out now on Roadrunner Records.

Check out the video

PITTSBURGH

Check out the clip for

FAT AROUND THE HEART

King 810 are one of the newest members of the Roadrunner family, and likely the most controversial.

Hailing from Flint, Michigan AKA ‘Murdertown USA’, these guys are speaking from personal experience and they don’t sugar coat. The band dropped their first EP proem which “is an embodiment of King 810’s life within this pressure cooker, a glimpse into the personal account of this disappearing metropolis where tree branches live longer than the children do”. King810 are preparing to release their debut Memoirs Of A Murderer... This isn’t a gimmick – you’ll see soon enough.

Read our full interview with King 810 in the next Maniacs or online at maniacs.com.au

Memoirs Of A Murderer Out August 15 on Roadrunner Records.

Body Count are back, bitches…and in finest, brutal form. This is the group that dropped hip-hop attitude into heavy metal and hard rock before it became a scene, and new album Manslaughter is driven by the same iconoclastic, antiauthoritarian and pimp-turned-poet mentality Ice T and his crew had from the start.

First single ‘Talk Shit, Get Shot’ is CLASSIC Body Count, it could even be among their best.

Check out the video

TALK SHIT, GET SHOT

Manslaughter – out now through Sumerian Records.

SHIHAD

FVEY (pronounced ‘Five Eyes’) is Shihad ’s ninth studio album and their second collaboration with Killing Joke frontman Jaz Coleman who produced their 1993 debut, CHURN.

Check out the clip for

THINK YOU’RE SO FREE

FVEY is out Aug 15 on Warner (also avail strictly ltd spec ed and 2LP vinyl).

It was a natural move for Shihad to conjure up a brutal set of songs, then to the studio with Coleman for a fiery recording session to bring them to life.

FVEY is a beautifully raging and rumbling album laced with grooves, highlighted in first single Think You’re So Free.

Read our full interview with Shihad in the next Maniacs or online at maniacsonline.com.au.

THERE IS A REASON THAT MASTODON ALBUMS ARE OFTEN FOUND ON BROAD RANGING, END OF YEAR ‘BEST OF’ LISTS – THEY’RE INCREDIBLE AT WHAT THEY DO. THEIR STYLE IS ALMOST UNDEFINABLE, CONTAINING ELEMENTS OF METAL, THRASH, PSYCHEDELIC, ROCK, PROG… LAYERED WITH THREE DISTINCT VOCAL STYLES LIKE A CRAZY SCIENCE EXPERIMENT GONE RIGHT. VOCALIST/BASSIST TROY SANDERS DISCUSSES MASTODON’S ‘FOUR WAY MARRIAGE’ AND SIXTH ALBUM ONCE MORE ROUND THE SUN .

“When we stopped touring we gathered in our practice space in Atlanta Georgia, we said right were not going to do anything until we have something new.” Reveals Sanders slowly, like he’s beginning a dark bedtime story. “Nothing is predetermined between the four of us. We let the music reveal itself. The approach is quite simple but the songwriting and collaboration become more involved and layered and intense and beautiful.”

And that may be the closest you ever get to truly discovering the magic that Mastodon have woven between their stellar catalogue of releases.

“I realized when we first got together and formed in 2000, I knew there was an incredible potential just from the chemistry we possessed naturally. Ultimately it’s a relationship and we have what I consider a four way marriage of four guys. The personnel has gone unchanged

for 14 years and that’s very rare. Our band really thrives on the idea that our lyrics, our concepts they’re very open to the listener’s interpretation and I think that’s a wonderful thing. We believe that’s how it should be created because this music is our art and we need to love it completely because once a record is out it will live for eternity.”

No discussion would be complete without touching on the cover art created by Oakland ‘psychedelic nightmare’ artist Skinner .

“Album artwork has and always will be extremely important to us. We always release vinyl and we always give a lot of attention and energy to the artwork itself hoping that the artwork marries itself to the energy and the atmosphere of the music itself.” He asserts.

“Brann (Dailor – vocals/drums) spoke to him on a weekly basis as we were creating the music so it was very much collaboration between Brann and Skinner’s conversations. Skinner describes a lot of his work as psychedelic nightmare imagery. We pull a lot of our lyrical content from very dark places and that seems to be a match made in heaven.”

Australian audiences were blessed to see Mastodon tour twice with the Soundwave Festival lineup for The Hunter. But when will we see their own headlining tour?

“It’s on top of our priority list to come down in 2015 and do a proper headlining tour across Australia. That’s guaranteed in our plans for 2015. For the remainder of 2014 were booked solid but that’s what we do…were bulldogs!”

Check out the video

Once More Round The Sun is out now on Warner.

HIGH ROAD

THE AMITY AFFLICTION w/ ARCHITECTS, ISSUES, STRAY FROM THE PATH, DEEZ NUTS FRI 29 AUG: Red Hill SOLD OUT Auditorium PERTH Lic/AA SAT 30 AUG:OU Thebarton T SOLD Theatre ADELAIDE Lic/AA SUN 31 AUG: Festival SOLD OUT Lic/AA Hall MELBOURNE THU 4 SEP: Hordern OUT SOLD Pavilion SYDNEY Lic/AA FRI 5 SEP: Riverstage BRISBANE Lic/AA DEVILDRIVER w/ WHITECHAPPEL FRI 5 SEP: Hi-Fi BRISBANE 18+ SAT 6 SEP: Hi-Fi SYDNEY Lic/AA SUN 7 SEP: 170 Russell MELBOURNE 18+ BIFFY CLYRO THU 4 SEP: The Tivoli BRISBANE FRI 5 SEP: Enmore Theatre SYDNEY SUN 7 SEP: Palais Theatre MELBOURNE TUE 9 SEP: HQ ADELAIDE FRI 12 SEP: Metro City PERTH PROM QUEEN W/THE GHOST INSIDE, IN HEARTS WAKE, BURY TOMORROW + HELLIONS FRI 5 SEP: Magpies City Club, Canberra ACT AA SAT 6 SEP: The Cage PICTON NSW AA SUN 7 SEP: Cambridge NEWCASTLE NSW 18+ TUE 9 SEP: YAC BYRON BAY NSW AA WED 10 SEP: Kontraband TOOWOOMBA QLD AA THU 11 SEP: Coolangatta Hotel GC QLD 18+ FRI 12 SEP: The Arena BRISBANE QLD 18+

SAT 13 SEP: Oasis Youth Centre WYONG NSW AA SUN 14 SEP: UNSW Roundhouse SYDNEY NSW AA* TUE 16 SEP: Hotel Gearin KATOOMBA NSW 18+ WED 17 SEP: Neil Wilson Pavillion WODONGA VIC AA THU 18 SEP: Mechanics Hall FRANKSTON VIC AA FRI 19 SEP: 170 Russell, MELBOURNE VIC 18+** SAT 20 SEP: Phoenix Youth Centre MELBOURNE VIC AA WED 24 SEP: Karova Lounge BALLARAT VIC 18+ THU 25 SEP: Synergy Dance Studios MT GAMBIER AA FRI 26 SEP: HQ ADELAIDE SA (AA) SAT 27 SEP: Leederville HQ PERTH WA AA SUN 28 SEP: Capitol PERTH WA 18+ AN EVENING w/ DREAM THEATER WED 29 OCT: The Palais MELBOURNE Thu 30 OCT: The Big Top SYDNEY SOUNDWAVE 2015 WEEKEND 1: SAT 21 & SUN 22 FEB 2015 Bonython Park ADELAIDE Flemington Racecourse MELBOURNE SOUNDWAVE 2015 WEEKEND 2: SAT 28 FEB & SUN 1 MAR Olympic Park - SYDNEY RNA Showgrounds BRISBANE

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Opeth are preparing to release their tenth studio album Pale Communion on Aug 22.

Pale Communion was produced by frontman Mikael Åkerfeldt and mixed by longtime collaborator and Porcupine Tree frontman/ guitarist Steven Wilson.

The new material find’s Opeth once again challenging the boundaries of extreme music.

In a recent interview with Maniacs Åkerfeldt stated, “We’ve been doing this for such a long time before you start working on a new record you really don’t know if you’re going to come up with anything at all. We take it to a new level this time around in a way - the vocals carry the melody a bit more than what we’ve done before.”

Pale Communion is also available in very limited special edition CD/ Blu Ray with a 5.1 audio mix and 2LP gatefold vinyl. Read our full interview with Mikael in the next edition of Maniacs or online at maniacsonline.com.au