Lots of good music this week, especially if you tend to side with Brian’s reviews. Nick likes the albums this week as well, but not quite as much. And Kyle? Well, we will probably never know since…you guessed it…he’s touring the country with an actual sideshow as the bearded lady. Anyway, the First Impressions this week were a little more varied in quality than the albums. If you want to judge for yourself, head to our Google + page and look ’em up.
Oh, and anybody (besides Nick) that can tell me what song (I’ll also accept band) the episode title is referencing gets bonus points. It may lose something without the inflections, but some of you may be keen enough to get it.
Reviews: Antigama – Meteor (Selfmadegod); The Black Dahlia Murder – Everblack (Metal Blade); Darkane – The Sinister Supremacy (Prosthetic); Lavinia – Take Shelter EP (Mylene Sheath); Power Trip – Manifest Decimation (Southern Lord)
First Impressions: Conducting from the Grave – “Honor Guide Me”; Deadlock – “Dead City Sleepers”; iwrestledabearonce – “Thunder Chunky”; Old Gods – “From Beyond”; Philip H. Anselmo & The Illegals – “Bedridden”; Revocation – “The Hive”; The Safety Fire – “Red Hatchet”
The Black Dahlia Murder – Everblack
Antigama – Meteor
Darkane – The Sinister Supremacy
Lavinia – Take Shelter
Powertrip – Manifest Decimation
The Sideshow Podcast 
Red Hatchet off “Mouth of Sores”
And Hugh Jammer ?
Safety Fire is my new favorite band, and I’ve never heard them.
Brian, it was Machine Head (and Dethklok, not In Flames) that Black Dahlia Murder opened for at Roseland last year. And Nick, are you saying that Machine Head wasn’t a good enough band for Black Dahlia Murder to open for to get you to go see them? Having said that, my thoughts about Black Dahlia Murder echo Nick’s. They aren’t a bad band, but they just don’t stand out enough to make them a favorite of mine.
Nick, who’s the one other grindcore band you like? Pig Destroyer? Napalm Death? Nails? Nails isn’t strictly grindcore. When I saw them live recently, the lead singer even made a comment during the show that even the band themselves can’t figure out what genre they are.
Kalmah is available on Amazon now. It says it came out on the 18th (but I guess it is possible you recorded this before then).
I know this isn’t the reference but the “four four four” reminds me of the lyrics in the song “Cutting and Draining” by Orange 9MM, which by the way is an awesome song. The other thing that I’m sure you were not referring to with “Four Four Four” is Moses Malone’s proclamation about the 1983 NBA post-season that his Philadelphia 76ers would sweep their way through the playoffs.
And finally, I love how this episode ended with what could be dubbed “Bob’s Corner” or “A Sideshow Bob Minute”. Ok, I get it that you guys don’t like Megadeth and if you think it’s so bad that you don’t want to spend your cash on it or even want to subject yourselves to the torture of listening to it.
I also get that Black Sabbath isn’t your wheelhouse either and that you don’t care about a bunch of geezers – or one Geezer and two other old guys (see what I did there?). I already bought the album so I can certainly give it to you. You most likely aren’t going to love it but I also suspect you won’t hate it. It’s is a solid “3” of an album. But I often ask for your opinions on these types of big releases not because I think you’ll love them and think they’re great, but simply because it seems like everyone else in the world has an opinion about stuff such as 13 and Super Collider except yourselves.
Nick, your statement regarding Black Sabbath that “even if we love it, we’re going to sound like a bunch of asshats trying to compare it to a bunch of catalog we don’t own” requires two comments: one serious and one sarcastic.
Who says you have to compare Black Sabbath’s new album to the stuff that came out 40 years ago? In fact, I could make a case that you are better off for that. There is no way possible that a band can reform after 35 years and hope to come close to capturing the magic they had when they were younger. So if you aren’t all that familiar with what they did in the 70s, then I feel that you would be able to listen to the new album with a fresh set of ears and offer a unique perspective over everyone else who is already familiar with their work and expects it to sound as good as the old days.
And I’m not sure why you’d be worried about sounding like an asshat while reviewing 13 because it hasn’t stopped you in the past when you’ve reviewed numerous other albums you’ve had no idea about (you set yourself up for that last comment and since Kyle wasn’t there to make the obvious retort then I felt obligated to pick up the slack and couldn’t resist doing so).
This seems mostly addressed to me this week, so here we go:
1.) I totally forgot that BDM was opening for Machine Head on that tour. I had a conflict on the date they were coming through my area or I totally would have been there.
2.) The other grindcore album that I enjoyed was “Book Burner” by Pig Destroyer. I’ve never been into Napalm Death, save for a couple songs. Though, I should probably go back and re-examine that….
3.) Of course, you are correct that we do not have a working knowledge of the back catalog of every band we review. I kinda realized as soon as I said it that that statement would come back at me. But, hey, Kyle wasn’t here – SOMEONE had to fill the hypocrite shoes!
….Apparently I should issue a “Corrections and Retractions” section to these shows. See what happens when they let me talk?!