Cortez
Cortez. Conqueror. Killer. Oppressor. Madman. The great god Quetzalcoatl returned as a blood-mad Spaniard. And now, head-cracking rock n' roll band. Take a listen, and it'll all make sense.
Borrowing their name (but precious little else) from Neil Young's classic and controversial song “Cortez the Killer,” the band has been electrifying stages with a pulverising live show and an arsenal of instant-classics like "The Highlife," "Lost Control," and "The Ocean" that mix classic 70's hard rock with rumbling, doomy stoner-metal. With influences ranging from the proto-metal fuzz of Cactus and Deep Purple to sludge-masters the Melvins and speed-weed monsters High on Fire, this is a band that's done its homework, and its sound stretches back through the decades, a timeless throb of heavy metal thunder and endless, rolling grooves.
Ichabod
The year of our lord Two-Thousand and Eight will be a year of great cosmic significance to be sure...Of note, sonic-soothsayers Ichabod, who are currently celebrating their 10th year together as a band, will be releasing their 4th full-length album. It is a prophetic opus of 6 tracks (five brand new originals and a cover of Pink Floyd's Nile Song) entitled 2012. The name refers to the end of the 12th and final b'ak'tun cycle of time according to the Mesoamerican long-count calendar used by the ancient Maya. What exactly this end-date means is unclear, other than that it will be end of this creation-world and the beginning of a new one, for better or for worse. The songs rendered on 2012 are prognostications to be prepared mentally, physically and spiritually, a collection of tales of jadoo, the unexplained and inexplicable phenomena, paranormal activity and new world order. Joining Ichabod in harbingering the end times are flutist Bonnie Rovics, vocalist Jen Bliss, and vocalist/Mayan culture scholar/artist Jason Berube who created the 2012 collage featured in the cover art for the CD. Engineer Devin Charette (Raise the Red Lantern, Blacktail, Hackman, Lord Mantis, Sea of Bones, et al.) masterminded the project at Mad Oak studio in Boston and did additional mixing at Kurt Ballou's (of Converge) God City studio in psychic-vortex and occult epicenter Salem MA. Rounding out the project was mastering by Nick Zampiello at New Alliance.
When the Deadbolt Breaks
A violent hybrid of doom metal, trance inducing dynamics and concussive volume WTDBB unleash a vicious barrage of volatile guitar and pounding percussion that leave an ugly contusion on the face of extreme music. Depression and anger have never sounded so heavy. Rounded out by a triple vocal attack, this is the audio equivalent of a suicide bombing of your ears.
Maegashira
Congealed in a dead end Jersey swamp out of a communal admiration for doom, sludge, Cannibal Corpse, Gorilla Biscuits, Budweiser tallboys, The Big Lebowski and/or suburban disaffection, Maegashira know full well that when you truly defy trend — instead of just saying you do then doing what everyone else does anyway — the end result is nobody gives a shit.
When you clear a room, you’ve done your job. When the last song ends and there’s that couple seconds where people aren’t sure whether to applaud or not, you win. It’s not about placating expectation. It’s not about everyone dressing in black and taking artsy pictures. You don’t get paid at the end of the night. Even in kebabs. Sorry.
It’s not from Brooklyn, it doesn’t sound like Neurosis and its head isn’t up its own ass with pretentiousness. Riffs. Songs. Yes.