In Flames
“Come Clarity”
Ferret Records
48:06 – 13 Tracks

Some say In Flames sold out. True, their sound has “evolved” or changed over the years, but since I first heard “Whoracle,” I was hooked, then it only got better with “Colony.” Since “Colony,” they have been put down a lot because each album isn’t as good. Well, every band has their “Reign in Blood” or “Led Zep IV” etc. So here we arrive at the long awaited “Come Clarity” album from In Flames. Still has the fast melodic death metal-esque elements. I think In Flames has maintained their sound and well, they seem to be overshadowed by a lot of bands that took their sound and added on it. This new album is powerful, has some catchy parts and just makes you want to get in the pit and stir things up. Their new label, Ferret Records usually has metal/hardcore bands, but I guess you can’t blame a band like In Flames to want to be the top dog at their label, and they’ve paid their dues and hopefully Ferret can give them what they need to get to the next level. Since we’re fans of In Flames, and well, this is a darn good CD, you’ll hear this on the Mosh Pit. 🙂

Bullet For My Valentine
“The Poison”
Trustkill Records
55:00 – 13 Tracks
This long awaited release from the “metalcorers” has finally come to the inbox. I guess I can’t say this sounds much different than my of the other “metal-core” bands out there. Solid production, the good loud mean growls, heavy guitars, major riffage, good double bass parts… but then the clean vocal choruses. So yeah, good then that singy stuff. It’s good, but more of the same. You’ll probably hear this on the Mosh Pit for a bit, moreso if there are requests.

Devin Townsend Band
“Vampira” Single
SPV Records
3:27 – 1 Track (Single)
Devin never stops. He toured with Strapping Young Lad almost constantly last year, stopped that, worked on the DTB album, that’s out, going on tour with that, then back in for a new SYL album. Anyways, this song is pretty cool. Good solid hardrock/metal track with an almost singalong chorus and eerie keyboard base. Devin’s got talent and it’s great that he shares it with the world. 🙂

There are a few other relases that should be in the mail soon or already at the station:

Drawn And Quartered, Hail Infernal Darkness (Moribund Cult)
Falkenbach, The Fire Blade (Napalm Records)
Seven Witches, Amped (Candlelight Records) Drawn and Quartered

Playlist for January 23, 2006

Here’s what we played from 11p-2am on The Mosh Pit on January 23rd, 2006

ARTIST — TRACK — ALBUM — LABEL — NEW — REQ
Slipknot — The Blister Exists — 9.0 Live — Roadrunner — Y — N
Chimaira — Severed — Chimaira Re-Issue — Roadrunner — Y — N
Korn — Liar — See You On The Other Side — Virgin — Y — N
Himsa — Anathema — Hail Horror — Prosthetic — Y — N
Bleeding Through — Confession — The Truth — Trustkill — Y — N
Waterdown — Sleep Well — All Riot — Victory — Y — N
Horse The Band — Taken By Vultures — The Mechanical Hand — Combat — Y — N
Demiricous — Withdrawl Divine — One — Metal Blade — Y — N
Slayer — Stain of Mind — Diabolus In Musica — American — N — Y
Slayer — Post Mortem — Reign In Blood — American — N — Y
Slayer — Raining Blood — Reign In Blood — American — N — Y
Biohazard — Punishment — Urban Discipline — Roadrunner — N — Y
Testament — Trial By Fire — Live In London — Spitfire — Y — N
Overkill — Thanx For Nothin’ — Horrorscope — Atlantic — N — Y
D.R.I. — Thrashard — Thrash Zone — Metal Blade — N — Y
Sepultura — Propaganda — Live In Sao Paulo — SPV — Y — N
Annihilator — Warbird — Schizo Deluxe — Locomotive — Y — N
Sworn Enemy — Scared Of The Unknown — The Beginning of the End — Abacus — Y — N
Through The Eyes Of The Dead — Beneath Dying Skies — Bloodlust — Prosthetic — Y — N
Burst — Slave Emotion — Origo — Relapse — Y — N
Children of Bodom — Living Dead Beat — Are You Dead Yet? — Spinefarm — Y — N
The Apocalyptic Riders — Der Teufel — Samurai — Nuclear Blast — N — Y
Strapping Young Lad — Oh My Fucking God — City — Century Media — N — Y
Acid Bath — What Color Is Death — When The Kite String Pops — Rotten — N — Y
The Great Kat — Flight of the Bumblebee — Beethoven on Speed — Roadracer — N — Y
Nevermore — The Sound of Silence — Dead Heart In A Dead World — Century Media — N — Y
Hurtlocker — Symptoms — Fear In A Handful of Dust — Napalm — Y — N
Callenish Circle — Behind Lines — Pitch Black Effects — Metal Blade — Y — N
Cathedral — North Berwick Witch Trials — The Garden Of Unearthly Delights — Nuclear Blast — Y — N
Bolt Thrower — Anti-Tank — Those Once Loyal — Metal Blade — Y — N
Divine Empire — Storm of Hatred — Method Of Execution — Crash — Y — N
Gorefest — For The Masses — La Muerta — Nuclear Blast — Y — N
Paths of Possession — Bring Me The Head Of Christ — Promises In Blood — Metal Blade — Y — N
Dimmu Borgir — Stormblast — Stormblast — Nuclear Blast — Y — N
Dark Funeral — 666 Voices Inside — Attera Totus Sanctus — Candlelight — Y — N
Malignancy — Indigenous Pathogen — Promo 2005 — Malignancy — Y — Y
Neuraxis — Shatter The Wisdom — Trilateral Progression — Willowtip — Y — N
Deicide — Carnage In The Temple of the Damned — Decide — Roadrunner — N — Y
Naer Mataron — Blast Furnace — Discipline Manifesto — Black Lotus — Y — N
Thou Art Lord — Hecate Unveiled — Orgia Daemonicum — Black Lotus — Y — N

WORT-FM Loud Rock Top 20 for the Week of 1/23/06

Artist — Album — Label
1) Bolt Thrower — Those Once Loyal — Metal Blade
2) Sepultura — Live In Sao Paulo — SPV
3) Dimmu Borgir — Stormblåst — Nuclear Blast
4) Neuraxis — Trilateral Progression — Willowtip
5) Through The Eyes of the Dead — Bloodlust — Prosthetic
6) Slipknot — 9.0 Live — Roadrunner
7) Testament — Live In London — Spitfire
8) Demiricous — One — Metal Blade
9) Annihilator — Schizo Deluxe — Locomotive
10) Divine Empire — Method Of Execution — Crash
11) Callenish Circle — Pitch. Black. Effects. — Metal Blade
12) Dark Funeral — Attera Totus Sanctus — Candlelight
13) Children of Bodom — Are You Dead Yet? — Spinefarm
14) Bleeding Through — The Truth — Trustkill
15) Sworn Enemy — The Beginning of the End — Abacus
16) Paths of Possession — Promises In Blood — Metal Blade
17) Korn — See You On The Other Side — Virgin
18) Waterdown — All Riot — Victory
19) Burst — Origo — Relapse
20) Horse The Band — The Mechanical Hand — Combat
—
Top 5 Adds
1) Demiricous
2) Himsa
3) Cathedral
4) Chimaira
5) Hurtlocker

Other Adds: Gorefest, Best of Taste of Chaos, Scissorfight, Oceansize, Dan Lorenzo, Naer Mataron, Dark Nova, Thou Art Lord

Himsa
Hail Horror
Prosthetic Records
46:16 – 10 Tracks

This album is damn near death metal. I thought I remembered Himsa crossing more into metalcore. While it still has a metalcore sound, it seems to be more dark. Nice growling, aggressive in your face sound. Take Lamb of God, throw in some Devildriver and mix it up with some Kataklysm or Krisiun and maybe you have Himsa… I dunno, I like it and you’ll hear it on the “Pit” in the upcoming weeks!

Demiricous
“One”
Metal Blade
We’ve had a 3 song EP for a little while and those three songs are pretty impressive. Very “Slayeresque” there’s a lot of “Reign in Blood” on this cd, mix in some Pantera and melodic scandanavian death metal and you have this band. Good solid production

Cathedral
“The Garden of Uneartly Delights”
Nuclear Blast
Yes! They are back and on a new label. These doom icons do not mess around, some scary intro tracks to some other songs. Great catchy pouding songs. There’s not much more you can say about this album, but it’s a great classic sounding Cathdral CD. You’ll hear this on the Pit in the upcoming weeks!

Chimaira
“Chimaira” Re-Issue
Roadrunner
2 cds
The first disk is just “Chimaira.” The 2nd disk is really what this release is all about. Two unreleased tracks from the “Chimaira” sessions and audio from “The Dehumanizing Process” DVD recorded in Holland in 2003. It comes in a neat all black jewel case. The live tracks really stand out on this one, crystal clear sound and it sounds like they were “on”

Gorefest
“La Muerte”
Nuclear Blast
64:43 – 12 Tracks
If you like Entombed or Napalm Death, you’ll probably enjoy Gorefest. This is their first album in 6 years. They have the classic death grind core sound. Nothing too complicated, just straight forward grind.

Scissorfight
“Victory Over Horseshit” EP
Tortuga / Hydra Head
16:33 – 5 Tracks
Not really metal, more of a hard rock or “outlaw rock” as the Bio says. Seems like a fun lovin’ rock band. If there’s extra time in the show you’ll hear this, but it’s not a high priority. Pretty good stuff, would fit along the lines of Clutch, and they are going on tour with Orange Goblin in May.

Oceansize
“Everyone Into Position”
Beggars Banquet
Another more hard rock album. From the Bio: “Brooding, Dark, spacey, empowering, sprawling and at times angelic” A good rock record, it has all clean vocals, kind of a Porcupine meets Audioslave sound. Another, “unless we have extra time” album on the Pit.

Other releases yet to hear…. Hurtlocker, Dan Lorenzo and a compilation called “Best of Taste of Chaos”

Playlist for January 16, 2006

Here’s what we played from 11p-2am on The Mosh Pit on January 16th, 2006

ARTIST — TRACK — ALBUM — LABEL — NEW — REQ
Wicked Wisdom — One — One EP — Womon — Y — N
Lamb of God — 11th Hour — Killadelphia — Epic — Y — N
Through The Eyes of the Dead — Bringer of Truth — Bloodlust — Prosthetic — Y — N
Sworn Enemy — Forgotten — The Beginning of the End — Abacus — Y — N
Bleeding Through — For Love and Failing — The Truth — Trustkill — Y — N
Blacklisted — Do You Feel? — …The Beat Goes On — Deathwish — Y — N
Short Fuse — Pain Machine — Hate Brought To This Place Called Home — Freekshow — Y — N
Demon Hunter — Not I — The Triptych — Solidstate — Y — N
Ringworm — Day of Truth — Justice Replaced By Revenge — Victory — Y — N
Fear Factory — Martyr — Soul of a New Machine — Roadrunner — N — Y
Machine Head — Davidian — Burn My Eyes — Roadrunner — N — Y
Eddie Ojeda — Tonight — Axes 2 Axes — Black Lotus — Y — N
Nocturnal Rites — Still Alive — Grand Illusion — Century Media — Y — N
Annihilator — Drive — Schizo Deluxe — Locomotive — Y — N
Testament — Souls of Black — Live In London — Spitfire — Y — N
Sepultura — Choke — Live In Sao Paulo — SPV — Y — N
Slayer — Jesus Saves — Reign In Blood — American — N — Y
Slipknot — Surfacing — 9.0 Live — Roadrunner — Y — N
Burst — Where The Wave Broke — Origo — Relapse — Y — N
Strapping Young Lad — Relentless — SYL — Century Media — N — Y
Rumplestiltskin Grinder — …Ode To Tanks — Buried In The Front Yard — Relapse — Y — N
Demiricous — To Serve Is To Destroy — One EP — Metal Blade — Y — N
Carcass — No Love Lost — Heartwork — Earache — N — Y
Children of Bodom — Bastards of Bodom — Are You Dead Yet? — Spinefarm — Y — N
Callenish Circle — This Day You Regret — Pitch Black Effects — Metal Blade — Y — N
Neuraxis — Thought Adjuster — Trilateral Progression — Willowtip — Y — N
Dimmu Borgir — Nar Sjelen Hentes Til Helvete — Stormblast — Nuclear Blast — Y — N
Dimmu Borgir — In Deaths Embrace — Enthrone Darkness Triumphant — Nuclear Blast — N — Y
Absu — Four Crossed Wands — Tara — Olympic — N — Y
Satyricon — Possessed — Volcano — Red Ink — N — Y
Dark Funeral — King Antichrist — Attera Totus Sanctus — Candlelight — Y — N
Paths of Possession — A Heart For A Heart — Promises In Blood — Metal Blade — Y — N
Divine Empire — Shadow of Violence — Method Of Execution — Crash — Y — N
Bolt Thrower — Those Once Loyal — Those Once Loyal — Metal Blade — Y — N
Six Feet Under — Human Target — Haunted — Metal Blade — Y — N
Exodus — Verbal Razors — Fabulous Disaster — Combat — N — Y

Check out the latest Strong Bad email, it’s called “Death Metal!””

http://homestarrunner.com/sbemail141.html

WORT-FM Loud Rock Top 20 for the Week of 1/16/06

Artist — Album — Label
1) Bolt Thrower — Those Once Loyal — Metal Blade
2) Through The Eyes of the Dead — Bloodlust — Prosthetic
3) Testament — Live In London — Spitfire
4) Demon Hunter — The Triptych — SolidState
5) Sepultura — Live In Sao Paulo — SPV
6) Slipknot — 9.0 Live — Roadrunner
7) Neuraxis — Trilateral Progression — Willowtip
8) Children of Bodom — Are You Dead Yet? — Spinefarm
9) Annihilator — Schizo Deluxe — Locomotive
10) Divine Empire — Method Of Execution — Crash
11) Dimmu Borgir — Stormblåst — Nuclear Blast
12) Ringworm — Justice Replaced By Revenge — Victory
13) Blacklisted — …The Beat Goes One — Deathwish
14) Demiricous — One Sampler — Metal Blade
15) Rumplestiltskin Grinder — Buried In The Front Yard — Relapse
16) System of a Down — Hypnotize — American
17) Callenish Circle — Pitch. Black. Effects. — Metal Blade
18) Paths of Possession — Promises In Blood — Metal Blade
19) Dark Funeral — Attera Totus Sanctus — Candlelight
20) Horse The Band — The Mechanical Hand — Combat

Top 5 Adds
1) Callenish Circle
2) Dark Funeral
3) Bleeding Through
4) Sworn Enemy
5) Eddie Ojeda

Other Adds: Nocturnal Rites, Short Fuse, Burst, Lullacry, Breakdance

A lot of good new stuff this week. It’s looking to be a good year so far, what’s nice about this week, is the Top 5 adds are almost pretty different, Callenish Circle with melodic death metal, Dark Funeral with black metal, hard/thrash/metalcore with the Bleeding Through and Sworn Enemy. Then you got the Eddie Ojeda with some old school sounding almost borderline power metal.

Callenish Circle
[Pitch.Black.Effects]
Metal Blade
43:27 – 10 Tracks
Nice to hear from these guys again, I made them the top “add” for the week. Great vocals, that pounding thrashing metal sound. Nice solid production, nice riffs, and as I like to use the word again, BRUTAL vocals. Seems to be Metal Blade’s version of the Scandanavian melodic death metal. Great band, kind of keeping the “In Flames” sound heavy.

Dark Funeral
Attera Totus Sanctus
Candlelight Records
42:56 – 8 Tracks
Another release from the masters of Satan, Dark Funeral. It’s pretty much what you’d expect from them. Heavy, brutal, well produced black metal. ’nuff said.

Bleeding Through
The Truth
Trustkill Records
43:13 – 12 Tracks
This band played on Ozzfest a couple years ago, toured a lot and helped shape the sound that’s like all the rage these days. Brutal drums, guitar, angry growls, then sometimes a slowdown and a nice melodic break, only to go right back to brutal! Good stuff

Sworn Enemy
The Beginning of the End
Abacus Records
49:11 – 99 Tracks (There’s really 11 tracks, but they split everything up into 20 second tracks to spoil mp3 ripping… here’s a clue, IT DOESN’T WORK, it just makes it a pain for your friendly DJ to cue up the right track!!)
But, I digress. Sworn Enemy doesn’t come to mess around. Good fast paced songs, no fucking around, just an all out aural assault. I can just see the circle pits spinning and thrashing right now. Good solid production, has a good thump and feel, and yup… brutal!

Eddie Ojeda
Axes 2 Axes
Black Lotus Records
Eddie as you may know was/is the guitarist from Twisted Sister. This is his first solo album and the opening track features the metal legend of Ronnie James Dio on vocals. Dee Snyder, Joe Lynn Turner, Rudy Sarzo and others contribute to this release. There’s a fun cover of “Eleanor Rigby” It’s pretty much a straight forward hard rock album. Being that it’s a guitarist’s solo album, there are some great shredding guitar moments and the all-star band does a fine job.

Breakdance
Mistaken Grave
The Curse Records
27:20 – 10 tracks
CD in the inbox, “local” metal from Iowa City. Starts off with some cookie monsterish growl. Production is pretty awful, sounds like I’m listening through a telephone. Maybe not that bad, but there isn’t much in the way of dynamic range or frequency range. The music has some promise, pretty good guitar solos and the songs are put together well. I’d like to see these guys live! Here’s their web site http://breakdance666.com/ Too bad it’s a tripod site, c’mon guys, you have a domain name, spend the usually less than $50 and get a real site going!

Short Fuse
Hate Brought To This Place Called Home
No Label – Unsigned (Promoted by Freekshow Promotions)
48:42 – 13 Tracks
For a band that isn’t signed yet, the best thing to do is get a good sounding CD produced, hire a promotion company to send it out to a bunch of press/radio stations and get their name out there. They kind of have a Chimaira sound to them with some mudvayne/slipknot thrown in. But it’s a bit more raw. They have a sampler/keyboard thing making some neat effects, but still maintain their heaviness. Just doing a skip-thru of the CD, a lot of the songs sound pretty similar.

Nocturnal Rites
Grand Illusion
Century Media
46:38 – 10 Tracks
Good ol solid melodic power hard rock metal! Nothing too thrashy here, but straight forward melodic metal from Sweden. They kind of have the hard rock anthem, almost sing along stuff going on. A lot of vocal processing, seems like there’s a bunch of keyboard, but they don’t have a keyboard player listed as a full time band member. As I read the bio sheet though, Jens Johansson from Stratovarius plays on the album, also guests from Naglfar, Hammerfall and Evergrey members. All in all, a solid prog-ish metal release from a veteran band of the genre.

Lullacry
Vol. 4
Century Media
Another veteran female fronted metal band. They made their life US debut at Metalfest a few years ago and put on a pretty good show. They aren’t really thrash or heavy metal, more like a hard-rock. Pretty decent release. I was hoping for something a little heavier, but what can you do?

Last week we were supposed to have the Wicked Wisdom sampler. As you might know, this is Jada Pinkett’s band that played Ozzfest in 2005. Their live show was pretty good actually. Her band is made up mostly of people from Fishbone and Body Count. This 2 song sampler is good and puncy, it’s kind of nu-metal sounding, but they’ll always be the band with Will Smith’s wife.

We got a huge package from Black Lotus Records (From Greece) last week. They sent about 10 releases, most of them are pretty good from various European bands encompassing different metal genres. I’ll put reviews up and play some on the air in the upcoming weeks/months.

So, yeah, a lot of good stuff this week. Listen to the ‘pit to hear it, if it sounds good from what I wrote, ca;ll and request it! Thanks…

Playlist for January 9, 2006

Songs played on WORT’s Mosh Pit Monday, January 9th…

ARTIST — TRACK — ALBUM — LABEL — NEW — REQ
Sepultura — Roots Bloody Roots — Live In Sao Paulo — SPV — Y — N
Waterdown — Cut The Cord — All Riot — Victory — Y — N
Emerald Triangle — Code Red — Tales of the Rondo — Emerald Triangle — Y — N
Scarlet — Swarm Manifesto — This Was Always Meant To Fall Apart — Ferret — Y — N
Slipknot — The Blister Exists — 9.0 Live — Roadrunner — Y — N
Rumplestiltskin Grinder — Stealing E.T. — Buried In The Front Yard — Relapse — Y — N
System of a Down — Stealing Society — Hypnotize — American — Y — N
Through The Eyes Of The Dead — When Everything Becomes Nothing — Bloodlust — Prosthetic — Y — N
In Flames — Pinball Map — Clayman — Nuclear Blast — N — Y
Children of Bodom — In Your Face — Are You Dead Yet? — Spinefarm — Y — N
Ringworm — House of Hell — Justice Replaced By Revenge — Victory — Y — N
Demon Hunter — The Soldier’s Song — The Triptych — SolidState — Y — N
Blacklisted — Bruising Serenade — The Beat Goes On — Deathwish — Y — N
Horse The Band — A Million Exploding Suns — The Mechanical Hand — Combat — Y — N
Annihilator — Pride — Schizo Deluxe — Locomotive — Y — N
King Diamond — Abigail — Abigail — Roadrunner — N — Y
Testament — The Preacher — Live In London — Spitfire — Y — N
Exodus — I Am Abomination — Shovel Headed Kill Machine — Nuclear Blast — Y — N
Slayer — Crypts Of Eternity — Hell Awaits — Metal Blade — N — Y
Rotting Christ — Athanati Este — Sanctus Diavolos — Century Media — N — Y
Samael — Rain — Passage — Century Media — N — Y
Kovenant — Mirrors Paradise — Animatronic — Nuclear Blast — N — Y
Dimmu Borgir — Broderskapets Ring — Stormblast — Nuclear Blast — Y — N
Old Man’s Child — Lord Of Command — Vermin — Century Media — Y — N
Bullet For My Valentine — 4 Words (To Choke Upon) — Hand Of Blood — Trustkill — Y — Y
Demiricous — Vagrant Idol — One Sampler — Metal Blade — Y — N
Paths of Possession — The Butchers Bargain — Promises In Blood — Metal Blade — Y — Y
Napalm Death — Silence Is Deafening — The Code Is Red, Long Live The Code — Century Media — Y — Y
Divine Empire — Dungeon Mask — Method Of Execution — Crash — Y — N
Bolt Thrower — Granite Wall — Those Once Loyal — Metal Blade — Y — N
Cannibal Corpse — I Cum Blood — Tomb of the Mutilated — Metal Blade — N — Y
Deicide — In Hell I Burn — Legion — Roadrunner — N — Y
Neuraxis — Clarity — Trilateral Progression — Willowtip — Y — N
Dragonlord — The Curse of Woe — Black Wings of Destiny — Escapi — Y — N
God Dethroned — Sigma Enigma — The Lair of the White Worm — Metal Blade — Y — N
Kreator — Flag of Hate — Flag Of Hate — Noise — N — Y
Mercyful Fate — Evil — A Dangerous Meeting — Roadrunner — N — Y
Lamb of God — Hourglass — Killadelphia — Epic — Y — N

WORT-FM Loud Rock Top 20 for the Week of 1/9/06

Artist — Album — Label
1) Demon Hunter — The Triptych — SolidState
2) Bolt Thrower — Those Once Loyal — Metal Blade
3) Through The Eyes of the Dead — Bloodlust — Prosthetic
4) Children of Bodom — Are You Dead Yet? — Spinefarm
5) Testament — Live In London — Spitfire
6) Slipknot — 9.0 Live — Roadrunner
7) Sepultura — Live In Sao Paulo — SPV
8) Exodus — Shovel Headed Kill Machine — Nuclear Blast
9) Annihilator — Schizo Deluxe — Locomotive
10) Ringworm — Justice Replaced By Revenge — Victory
11) Rumplestiltskin Grinder — Buried In The Front Yard — Relapse
12) Neuraxis — Trilateral Progression — Willowtip
13) Blacklisted — …The Beat Goes One — Deathwish
14) Dragonlord — Black Wings of Destiny — Escapi —
15) Divine Empire — Method Of Execution — Crash
16) Demiricous — One Sampler — Metal Blade
17) System of a Down — Hypnotize — American
18) Horse The Band — The Mechanical Hand — Combat
19) Old Man’s Child — Vermin — Century Media
20) Emerald Triangle — Tales of the Rondo — Emerald Triangle
—

Top 5 Adds
1) Dimmu Borgir
2) Waterdown
3) Scarlet
4) Switched
5) Wicked Wisdom