From director CT:

“The film is about underground heavy bands south of the Mason Dixon. It will have intense live performances from some of the crustiest, doomiest, and most progressive of heavy bands from the south. As will include interviews from the dirtiest and smelliest musicians, promoters, and fans from this genre about living and growing up in the bible belt, and other beautiful shit hole christian ran towns, as well as drugged out road stories, and other uncouth happenings.”

“Slow Southern Steel” is due for a May 2010 release.  I am definitely looking forward to this one. Become a fan on Facebook!

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Post from: Metal Martyr

Twice in one week is odd for the report but there are a few things I think are news-worthy but don’t feel like writing extensively about them. Also, I was suppose to go see Mudvayne and Snot tonight and get an interview with Greg Tribbett. Unfortunately some things have come up and I can’t make it. It’s about a three hour drive for me and I would have to leave early and I have something that really needs to get done today. Anyway, here are a few things of interest…

• Statix X have announce the title and release date for their next album. “Cult of Static” will be the title and March 17th will be the date of release.
• Tony Iommi is suing Live Nation for selling merch that they no longer have a valid licence to sell. A license that expired back in 2006 allowed Signatures Network Inc. to sell Black Sabbath merchandise. In ‘07 Signatures was bought by Live Nation and they continued to sell the merchandise. I hope he wins because I hate Live Nation.
• Juan Montoya formerly of Torche talks about altercations leading up to his dismissal from the band. While Torche leans more to a hard rock sound, they have a nostalgic sound that grows on you for some reason. Check out their latest release Meanderthal and the In Return Ep sometime.
• Guns N Roses Chinese Democracy sales are being called a “Total Flop”, but guess what…Axl Rose isn’t losing a dime over it and neither is Interscope records. Best Buy agreed not to return any of the 1.3 million unsold records that they exclusively bought. Expect to see these remaining cd’s either discounted or sold to other stores maybe. I’ll wait until it’s like buy-one-get-one. I’m still curious to hear this.
• Oakland based metal trio, High On Fire have been signed to Koch  Records.

Or as the Roadrunner intern called them “Kock Records”, but that’s a whole other story.

Technorati Tags: The Scrap Metal Report,Static X,Tony Iommi,Live Nation,Juan Montoya,Torche,Guns N Roses,Chinese Democracy,HIgh On Fire,Koch Records

Post from: Metal Martyr

Metal Martyr Best Live Shows Of 2008

1. Carcass Reunion: This was like a dream come true. I didn’t think I would ever get to see Carcass play live after becoming a fan in 1993. Hopefully we will see more of this in the future in the U.S.
2. Hatebreed: One of the most energetic shows from a crowd I have seen down here. Beside being dry-humped by some over enthusiastic, sweaty dude behind me, I had a great time and it was a very memorable show.
3. Opeth: Sold out show, amazing show. I wish they had played some more acoustic stuff…or I wish I had stuck around for the second hour of their set to catch any acoustic stuff they may have played.
4. Firewind: Powerful live show. Guitars and vocals that just make the show. I wasn’t really a fan of this band before they went on stage but I was eager to see them live for some reason. When they took the stage I immediately though it was kind of cheesy…for about 20 seconds. After that it was total amazement.
5. The Sword: I think they sound just as good, if not better live. Guitar driven metal that is simplistic and catchy enough to keep everything interesting.
6. Early Man: A great, thrashy show.
7. Suffocation: Caught them on the Carcass reunion. The death metal and deathcore bands of today could learn a thing or two from these guys…like writing your song so you can play them live.
8. Machinehead: This is the second time I’ve seen Machinhead, but the first time in over 10 years. They still know how to rock the stage and were really cool during signings.
9. Slipknot: I’ve waited 8 years to see these guys live. A lot of people say they don’t put out the energy like they used to but I think they put on a better show than what they used to from the videos I’ve seen. Jumping around onstage is cool and everything…but I want to hear quality music too.
10. All That Remains: Twice this year I’ve seen ATR and neither time have I been disappointed. Phil knows how to work the stage and Oli’s nimble fingers make for some beautiful solos.

There is my top ten. Here are a few other mentions

Loudest Live Show

• Torche (opened for The Sword)

Strangest Live Act

• The Monotonix – Starts out kind of fun and wacky and then just goes overboard and stupid really quickly.

Pissed That I Missed Shows (Shows that came around and I wanted to see but missed for one reason or another)

• Kataklysm
• In Flames, Gojira

Image ©MetalMartyr.com 2008

Post from: Metal Martyr

Torche

Crustcake.com, another kick-ass rock and metal blog, did a review last week of Torche’s Meanderthal and apparently they really dig Torche too.

Post from: Metal Martyr

In Return features 7 songs. None of them over 4 minutes long but every song is a heavy blow to the ear drums. You can check out Torche on the embedded widget below. Some of the tracks on the playlist are off of the In Return EP. Check them out.

Track Listing For In Return Torche Myspace Torches Home Page
1. Warship
2. In Return
3. Bring Me Home
4. Rule The Beast
5. Olympus Mons
6. Tarpit Carnivore
7. Hellion

Image Source: Torchemusic.com

Post from: Metal Martyr

You may have noticed that not a whole lot was going on here at Metal Martyr yesterday. There was good reason. I went to see The Sword last night in Raleigh, NC. Let me tell you, if your a fan of The Sword and you have not went to a live show yet, GET THERE!

Opening up the show was a band from Philadelphia, Pa called Stinking Lizaveta. They were a three piece band that did mostly instrumental stuff with a dude in his 40’s with a scullet with a little patch in the middle playing guitar and singing a little bit, a woman drummer another guy playing an electric upright Bass guitar. They had a funky garage band sound that was really cool I didn’t get to hear much of them as I was late.

Next up was Torche. A band with members out of Miami and Georgia. They were LOUD! I think they’re sound was all fucked up because you could not hear the vocals and the bass was overwhelming everything…except the drums. The drummer, Rick Smith was beating the living shit outta those skins. I wouldn’t be surprised if he has to change skins every other show. Now they didn’t sound all that good last night but I bought a cd/vinyl on the way out and it sounds great. I blame their sound man for a shitty set up. Anyway they kind of have southern sludge sound to it. Check out their myspace

Now, all bullshit aside. The Sword came on quick and got their stuff set up and just started rockin the place and sounding great. You know those bands that sound just as well live as a studio recording? The Sword is one of those bands. The crowd was diggin every song and every now and then between songs some chum would yell “Freya“, but that’s expected. They did play it at the end and the crowd went ape-shit. These guys put on an awesome live show. Thanks to Sneak Attack Media for getting me there. Check out the pictures below.

All Images ©MetalMartyr.com

Post from: Metal Martyr

The Sword is headed out on the second leg of the Gods Of The Earth tour, this time taking out Torche and Stinking Lizaveta. The tour will make it’s way down the east coast, ending up in Houston, TX. After that, they’ll be playing this year’s Bonnaroo Festival followed by a short European tour with Metallica.

THE SWORD ON TOUR

05.09.08 – Ft Worth, TX – Lola’s +
05.10.08 – Memphis, TN – Hi Tone +
05.11.08 – Nashville, TN – Exit / In +
05.12.08 – Covington, KY – The Mad Hatter +
05.13.08 – Detroit, MI – The Magic Stick +
05.14.08 – Columbus, OH – Ravari Room +
05.15.08 – Washington, DC – Rock and Roll Hotel +
05.16.08 – Philadelphia, PA – First Unitarian Church +
05.17.08 – Brooklyn, NY – Music Hall of Williamsburg +
05.18.08 – Cambridge, MA – Middle East Downstairs +
05.20.08 – Raleigh, NC – Lincoln Theater +
05.21.08 – Savannah, GA – The Jinx +
05.22.08 – Tallahassee, FL – The Beta Bar +
05.23.08 – Gainesville, FL – Common Grounds +
05.24.08 – Orlando, FL – The Social +
05.25.08 – St. Petersburg, FL – State Theatre +
05.26.08 – Atlanta, GA – Lenny’s +
05.27.08 – Birmingham, AL – Bottle Tree +
05.28.08 – Baton Rouge, LA – Spanish Moon +
05.29.08 – Houston, TX – Rudyard’s +
06.12.08 – Manchester, TN – Bonnaroo
07.16.08 – Bergen, Norway – Koengen City of Bergen Festival *
07.18.08 – St. Petersburg, Russia – SKK Hall *
07.20.08 – Riga, Latvia – Skonto Stadium *
07.22.08 – Bologna, Italy – Parco Nord *
07.23.08 – Bucharest, Romania – Cotroceni Football Stadium *
07.25.08 – Sofia, Bulgaria – Levski Stadium *
07.27.08 – Istanbul, Turkey – Inonu Stadium *

+ w/ Torche & Stinking Lizaveta
* w/ Metallica

Image Courtesy of Sneak Attack media

Post from: Metal Martyr