21.10.13

Gig mayhem part V

Yeah, I know it's been awhile since the blog's last update regarding gigs and live shows. Here's what's cooking at the moment:
Closing up October, here's a gig that has a little of everything. On Saturday the 26th of October, at KYTTARO Live Club one shall enjoy the sweet & heavy tunes of:
- Karma Violens: created in September 2002 and kicking serious ass ever since. Their music is an amalgam of Extreme Metal (death, thrash, black) combined with Hardcore.
- Kin Beneath Chorus: formed in 2007 in Thessaloniki, they have already their debut death metal/metalcore album Futuristic.Composed released by the almight Spreading Dysphoria Industries. It's always good to have Northeners in a gig line-up!
- All Vows Collapse: and all words fail to describe the impatience I have while waiting on their upcoming debut release. -Core to the bone! Wait, check out an interview they gave to yours truly over here!
- Deeds not Words: Progressive with a touch of the metal core and the experimental.
- Royalty: the youngsters will open up the show, looking forward to some fresh hardcore!
Doors open at 20:00, show starts at 21:00, have 5 euros to get past the doors, and some extra for merch and beer.

Off to November, thrash is the way to go!
I always like to include some Faithreat to my list of tunes. The thrashers from Volos have won my attention & affection since their last EP Thrashing With The Stars. On Saturday the 2nd of November, at Zero, we all gather to party hard and celebrate Faithreat's latest self-titled release! Supporting Faithreat that night, are hardcore old timers Censored Sound and groovy-thrashcore Athenians Never-Trust. Sadly, Progress Of Inhumanity cancelled due to personal reasons...
Since there is no official entrance fee, be there at 21:00 and have a little something to contribute financially, as well as some doe for Faithreat's freshly cut vinyl. I justcame in my pants.

6 days later, doom is in the air!

Smoke The Fuzz has started this season with a bang! On Friday the 8th of November at Six D.O.G.S. we'll despair under the tunes of Suma, Sadhus (The Smokin Community) & Gomgoma. The press release is priceless, therefore I shall re-post it in full:
- SUMA: Hailing from Malmö, Sweden and formed in 2001 : SUMA has been spreading the plague of their sonic weight, noise-ridden hallucinatory doom metal on the world for the past decade and have lured hordes of humans into the lair with their devastatingly heavy, one way trip into the vortex live performances and crushing delivery on their recorded matter.
The past year has seen some changes to the entity that is SUMA. After more than a year's hiatus and decimated to a four-piece with the departure of DR.J's vocals in the winter of 2011/12 there was no hesitation in figuring out how to move forward. Vocals kept within the reborn entity and an additional depth to the maelstorm added by the introduction of the taurus. Regenerated to enable unexplored structures of their sphere... there is vast darkness on the horizon.
They are currently working on material for their fourth album - THE ORDER OF THINGS - to be recorded in the winter of 2013. This brings on the third occasion with legendary engine-ear BILLY ANDERSON (Melvins, Neurosis, Sleep, Eyehategod) at the helm of the recording. This is the imminent evolution from the past's behemoths of albums, LET THE CHURCHES BURN and ASHES.
Ending the year and a half long hiatus from performing live, they returned with some festival shows and a tour with Acid King in 2012 and are playing shows and touring till the end of 2013 and onward...
With a strong DIY mind, SUMA has been releasing most of it's music through their own label and hitting the roads across Europe over the years through their own booking and with kindred spirits across the plains.
In 2010 SUMA was invited by Tom G. Warrior to take part in his "Only Death Is Real" curated day at ROADBURN and saw their first appearance on U.S. soil - an east-coast tour with Unearthly Trance. As well as distribution and marketing help for ASHES through swedish death/black metal label REGAIN RECORDS.
- Sadhus (The Smokin Community): In the year of our lord 1980, a green massive comet falls down to earth. Inside it a huge hairball, rotten, matted all together begins to inhale music, different from the usual, just perfect to its ears. In its quest, three mushrooms forced it in the psychedelic form of music and a Baba helped it in his gnosis. So, all five after a lot of intergalactic wanderings, decided to stay in earth as the embodiment of five earthly figures, keeping their genuine un-earthly characters. Life in earth was not what they expected so decided to communicate through music. Magic herbs, intermixtures of smoke, a lot of alcohol mixes, hallucinatory quests led them to express themselves through their music their personal experiences on this fastidious planet. Using their own colours, their fury for everything and looking back to the beautifully trips, they tried through their pervert minds to express themselves. So different and yet so similar. Careless laughs, endless hangovers, trips to the unknown, general wanderings in hostile galaxies. All of that as the fellow-travellers at their rehearsals. And above all that, a powerful green stuff, leftover from the comet, taking care of them. Roll fast...play slow...!!!
RegularPaul wrote in Spinalonga Records... A bunch of weedians with all the right influence, Sadhus the Smoking Community live by one rule. Roll fast, play slow. Their (10€) bag of sludge contains ultraslow riffage, agonizing vokills, repetitive tempos and endless sessions. Sessions that are sometimes shared at gigs but mostly occur amongst friends at their own meaty rehearsal space. Dr. Doom's Lair wrote... Take Iron Monkey, throw them in the desert and bury them in smoke. They put the grove back into sludge!!!
- Gomgoma: The abbrevation was our will's order for the preparation and administration of a drug or device for us, as patient, to construct slow short diseases. Doom ad libitum. Whatever its sub-genre. Crust or anything else pro re nata, we suppose. Due to the fact that we're carrying a chromosome translocation, the abortion shall be multiple, even though we're hardly pregnant of paeans expressed as acid reflux (=a common condition and an abnormal one in which acid in the stomach rises up into the esophagus). But damn sure, it's only the very start of all this addiction. The four men, mentally hosted in psychiatric chambers, intend to create such tunes which shall cause a permanent, impaired body movement, aka Akinesia. A congenital absence of an opening at the bottom end of our intestinal tracts has allowed us to shit only two tracks of utter disgust yet. The flexible plastic tube, aka catheter, inserted into the bladder to provide continuous urinary drainage is where we keep all ideas unexposed. Of course, until we piss the whole illness some day. 'Til then, stay formicated and fornicated.

The presale of the tickets has already started, 12euros for those that are quick, 15 euros for those that will go straight to the doors that night. Keep your eyes and ears open, during one of the next radio shows we'll give away one ticket while hosting a radio session with either Elina, the girl behind Smoke The Fuzz and/or Gomgoma...

The very next day, some heavy shit is hitting the fan over at Second Skin Club:
Bowel Of Noise Records is the mastermind of this gig and the line-up looks fucking sick:
-Year Of The Goat: Hailing from Sweden, this band knows their psychedelic occult rock. Having just released their latest work Angel's Necropolis, they are headlining this sweet gig.
- Aherusia: Greek fucking black metal! I pity the fool that hasn't checked them out, this guys rock the cock since 1997! Ever-evolving and always with something in the making, Aherusia are a safe and solid bet for some satanic entertainment.
- Mahakala: Speak of the devil, these guys know just how to destroy everything (and live forever). Words fail me, go check out their latest release Devil's Music (one of the best 2013 Greek releases) as well as an interview they gave a while back to yours truly.
- Speedblow: Having just resurrected from their ashes, Speedblow are opening up that night. Brace yourselves for some serious doomy heavy metal, and be on the lookout for upcoming releases and live shows. Almost forgot, crack a beer open and listen to the Heavy & Unhealthy radio session featuring Speedblow over here.
Doors open at 20:00, presale is at 20 euros, tickets at the door will be 25 euros. METAAAAL \m/

Speaking of upcoming releases...
Trailblazer Records is hosting the release party of Black Soul Horde's debut release on Thursday the 21st of November,over at  AN Club and here's the line-up:
- Black Soul Horde: this is what you get when you put together members from bands such as Speedblow, Mahakala, Sun of Nothing, Engine-V and Nordor into a studio and on stage. Black Soul Horde have just been born (or should I write 'gathered') and they have released their debut album entitled Tales Of The Ancient Ones under the wings of No Remorse Records. This will be their second time on stage and I really look forward to catch them live. Give the album a listen, it reeks of old school heavy metal and while you're at it, check out the Heavy & Unhealthy radio interview they gave a while back.
- Steamroller Assault: To make a long story short, i
f you dig your Heavy / Thrash Metal, Rock 'n' Roll and Blues Leads to be filthier than shit, then this is for you. These guys have been absent for about a year or so from the scene, so attendance is a must!
- Convixion: Eat & drink metal, play hard, party harder! 2 releases, a fuckload of live shows and beer. That will be all, carry on.
- Gauntlet: The night will start with this newly-found traditional heavy metal band from Athens. Rumors say that fans of Maiden, Priest & Omen will get a boner.
Be at the venue at 20:00, have 6 euros plus extras for beer and merch and get ready to mosh.

This endless post would not be complete, without the addition of some bacon.
Be sure to have your inflated life-rafts, plastic tits and pitta-gyro at hand on Saturday the 23rd of November over at 7 Sins Club, for that night, Hangover Era presents:
- Mortal Torment: New band line-up, new songs, upcoming sophomore release. Gyros. Stupidity guaranteed. More stupidity here.
- Murder Made God: New release, balanced violence, razor-sharp riffs & heavy-as-fuck vocals. Dismemberment  guaranteed.
- Abnormal Inhumane: New stuff freshly out of the morgue, beastly brutal death metal. Pulverization guranteed.
- Grasroll: Auntie Anna has the recipe for some violent, sharp, head-slapping material. Mosh pits guaranteed.
Doors open at 20:00, killing spree starts at 20:30. Sell your family for 3 euros and be there.

That 's it (or is it?) for late October and November, regarding gigs in Athens, if I forgot like 10 or 20 more live shows, well it sucks to be you reading this here post. Get off your ass and start digging, a good gig is always near by.
'Til the next gig mayhem post, stay true, stay heavy.

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20.10.13

S03E04

Season 03 - Episode 04 of the web radio show Heavy & Unhealthy (16.10.2013)
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It's the third time that John T. came to the studio of Radio Zografou, so it's safe to say that he is familiar with the Heavy & Unhealthy spirit. This time we talked in depth about his solo project Inside It Grows, his music endeavor in exploring the metal-rock genre through his own personal spy-glass. With 5 full length releases, 2 EPs, 5 singles & a fuckload of sessions & musical colllaborations, To put it in the artist's own words, "not following a normal band trail, the purpose of Inside It Grows is to explore all sides of life and to express feelings and thoughts through music".
Enough of my yapping, here's 2 hours of tunes played & selected by Inside It Grows, including a small "interview" of this ever-evolving project.



10.10.13

S03E03

Season 03 - Episode 03 of the web radio show Heavy & Unhealthy (09.10.2013)
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It's always a pleasure to host a radio show having opposite of me young people. Not to say that I'm an old fart, but I am. This week's Heavy & Unhealthy welcomed Allochiria to the studio, a five-piece (let's use some terms for the ignorant) post/sludge/doom metal act from Athens, Greece. With an EP already sold-out in it's physical form, and a new release in the making, Allochiria -whether you like their sound or not- have one distinct feature: the ability to provide an excellent live performance. So, without further ado, here's two hours of tunes selected by the band, also including an interview (sort of, since they proved too shy to speak much about themselves, oh the modesty!). Keep your eyes and ears open, for they might be tearing down a venue close to your neighborhood real soon!


3.10.13

S03E02

Season 03 - Episode 02 of the web radio show Heavy & Unhealthy (02.10.2013)
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The first band session/interview/beer-binge of Heavy & Unhealthy's third season went unexpectedly well. When I left the studio all equipment were intact, no fires broke out and the police never came. Cudos to Endsight for being exemplary well-behaved.
Nikos & Spyros (vocals & guitar respectively) kept me company for two hours, after having accomplished the impossible task of finding a parking spot relatively near the studio. They shared with us the history of Endsight, gave a few inside info on how their sophomore release A Vicious Circle came to be (soon to be physically released), commented on the current state of the Greek underground music scene and trolled the chat-room plenty. All in all, a perfect afternoon with two cool guys, a couple of beers & joints and lots of awesome tunes.
Don't be a douche, dig Endsight today!