Mass. (heart) metal: Heavy rock is breaking from Bay State(from the herald on line)[views:127993][posts:23]____________________________________ [Jun 24,2005 12:55pm - SUBJUGATE ""] http://theedge.bostonherald.com/musicNews/view.bg?articleid=91311 Mass. (heart) metal: Heavy rock is breaking from Bay State By Dave Wedge Friday, June 24, 2005 - Updated: 12:18 PM EST Think of Massachusetts music and you probably think of Aerosmith, New Kids on the Block, New Edition, the Cars and the J. Geils Band. But bursting forth from the Bay State is an ear-splitting wave of harder, brasher bands that have metal fans worldwide thrusting their devil horns in the air, praising Massachusetts as their Mecca - andwondering just what's in Boston's dirty water. \'\'Massachusetts is the spot right now. Massachusetts right now is just on fire,'' proclaims Devil Driver bassist and Hub native Jon Miller. \'\'I don't know what it is about Mass. but (the bands) are definitely having a major impact on the metal scene. I'm proud to be a part of it.'' Led by the breakout success of Killswitch Engage and Shadows Fall - both of which released critically acclaimed, Billboard-charting CDs last year - a nonstop barrage of Mass.-bred metal bands has the industry buzzing. Nowhere is the clout of the local metal scene more evident than in this weekend's Sounds of the Underground tour, which pulls into Lowell's Tsongas Arena tomorrow with three Massachusetts bands in tow: Unearth, All That Remains and The Red Chord. Also on the bill is Devil Driver, which adds to the Mass. muscle with three Bay State-bred band members backing ex-Coal Chamber frontman Dez Fafara, a Californian. \'\'I can't venture a guess why this area is the new hotbed for heavy music,'' says All That Remains singer Phil Labonte.\'\'I don't know what it is about a certai n area, when there's a group of dudes that just pops with a certain sound.'' That sound - dubbed metalcore - varies, but is always heavy and aggressive and involves a hook-heavy combination of screaming and singing. But what sets these bands apart from every other goth-metal/nu-metal hybrid is a street-tough sound earned from growing up in Boston's jagged hardcore scene. Today's wave of Bay State bands took their lumps at gritty club shows featuring hardcore bands such as Slapshot and Blood for Blood. \'\'We all kind of grew up listening to the same stuff,'' Labonte says. \'Early Iron Maiden, Metallica. And then we kind of went through the rise of hardcore. It's just different people's interpretations of the same influences.'' Shadows Fall singer Brian Fair, whose band has sold 230,000 copies of its latest,\'\'The War Within,'' breaks it down even further. \'\'It has to have the power. To me, metal is all about that hugeness,'' says Fair, who leads his band onto the hallowed Ozzfest main stage July 15 at Mansfield's Tweeter Center. \'\'It's got to have a memorable chorus, some killer riffs, and a great solo that you can remember. Wrap that all up, play some Testament riffs backwards, add some (Black) Sabbath and you're good.'' Also linking these bands is an almost incestuous sense of camaraderie.Labonte, for example, is the former singer for Shadows Fall, while Killswitch singer Howard Jones pulls double duty as frontman for Blood Has Been Shed. \'\'It's just killer,'' says Fair. \'\'What's really cool is everyone in the bands who are spreading out there have been in the scene for a long time. The ones that did stick around are influencing the whole worldwide metal scene.'' In Europe, the Mass. metal phenomenon is even stronger with Killswitch, Shadows Fall, Unearth and All That Remains playing nightly to packed venues and festival crowds of 60,000-plus. \'\'Shadows Fall forged a new sound, blending Swedish melodies with a U.S. hardcore sound that created metalcore,'' explains George Vallee, a Billerica native and publicist for California-based label Century Media. \'\'It was that sound that was something new and fresh in America. Now metal is on the rise again and Shadows and Killswitch are leading the way. It's weird that it all stemmed from the Northeast, but it's pretty damn cool.'' The Sounds of the Underground Tour at Lowell's Tsongas Arena, tomorrow from noon to 11 p.m. with Lamb of God, Clutch, Opeth, Poison the Well, From Autumn to Ashes, Unearth, Chimaira, GWAR, Norma Jean, Every Time I Die, Strapping Young Lad, Throwdown, All That Remains, Devil Driver, A Life Once Lost, The Red Chord, Full Blown Chaos and NORA. Tickets, $33.50, available at www.ticketmaster.com or 617-931-2000. |
| _____________________________________ [Jun 24,2005 1:13pm - Josh_Martin ""] That same article could've been written about LA 20 years ago. Just replace Shadows Fall with Poison and Unearth with, uh, someone else that sucks as bad as Poison. Mainstream metal still sucks. |
| ________________________________________ [Jun 24,2005 1:25pm - KillerKadoogan ""] its not mainstream, dude, it's totally underground. that's why its at the tsongas arena. |
| __________________________________ [Jun 24,2005 1:27pm - litacore ""] *shrugs* devildriver are pretty fucking terrible. Shadows Fall I can tolerate, to a degree. I still say that although this breakthrough stuff is not what I would call representative, it's better to have SOME metal successes out there because hopefully it may spawn an 80's thrash resurrection or two million other crappy metalcore douche-festivals. it could go either way. |
| ______________________________ [Jun 24,2005 1:58pm - Mary ""] Way to only recognize bands that have videos on MTV. :middlefinger: |
| _____________________________________ [Jun 24,2005 2:14pm - Josh_Martin ""] KillerKadoogan said:its not mainstream, dude, it's totally underground. that's why its at the tsongas arena. And in the Herald. The Herald is a gauge to the underground. Don't you remember all the Sodom and Bathory articles they printed in the 80's? |
| __________________________________ [Jun 24,2005 2:28pm - litacore ""] yeah I wouldn't have heard of Anal Vomit or Impetigo if it weren't for the Herald |
| ___________________________________ [Jun 24,2005 3:05pm - Al_Ravage ""] whoa, the coal chamber guy likes the massachusetts metal scene...awesome! I'm thrilled! what a great basis for an article. |
| ________________________________________ [Jun 24,2005 3:39pm - JonahBloodbath ""] KillerKadoogan said:its not mainstream, dude, it's totally underground. that's why its at the tsongas arena. haha, I almost spit out my juice |
| ____________________________________ [Jun 24,2005 4:48pm - anonymous ""] these bands were the MA underground metal scene for the last five years. they just broke through. dont fucking hate. there actually was a time when bands swedish sounding metal/hardcore bands WERE new and refreshing. and i think this article could have been written 15 years ago about seattle. |
| _____________________________________ [Jun 24,2005 4:52pm - Josh_Martin ""] anonymous said:there actually was a time when bands swedish sounding metal/hardcore bands WERE new and refreshing. Maybe in 1988 when the actual swedish bands were coming out. I HATE that style of metal. Hate it hate it hate it. I'm sure those bands are full of cool and awesome people but I couldn't stand their music in 1997 and I can't stand them now. |
| _____________________________________ [Jun 24,2005 4:53pm - Josh_Martin ""] anonymous said:and i think this article could have been written 15 years ago about seattle. Very true. It could've been written 10 years ago about wherever the fuck Korn is from. |
| _____________________________________ [Jun 24,2005 5:00pm - Josh_Martin ""] litacore said:yeah I wouldn't have heard of Anal Vomit or Impetigo if it weren't for the Herald Remember when the Herald discovered Venom? Remember when the Herald introduced Ozzy Osbourne to Tony Iommi? The Herald invented the electic guitar too. |
| ___________________________________ [Jun 24,2005 5:31pm - dreadkill ""] that scoundrel les paul stole all the credit. all these guitarists out there should be playing gibson boston heralds. |
| ________________________________________ [Jun 24,2005 6:48pm - DomesticTerror ""] SUBJUGATE said: \'\'Massachusetts is the spot right now. Massachusetts right now is just on fire,'' proclaims Devil Driver bassist and Hub native Jon Miller. \'\'I don't know what it is about Mass. but (the bands) are definitely having a major impact on the metal scene. I'm proud to be a part of it.'' . i don't recall seeing him at any shows. i've seen Blue a lot, Dwyer, Staples, etc. Never seen him. |
| ____________________________________ [Jun 25,2005 1:10pm - anonymous ""] that dude is in devildriver. as far as im concerned hes not apart of shit. getting signed by roadrunner before youre even a full band yet doesnt constitute as being a part of the MA metal scene. |
| _______________________________________ [Jun 25,2005 1:23pm - Joe/NotCommon ""] I hate this article, it's so unrepresenative about what is actually happening in Boston. Who cares if a bunch of fags from western MA think they sound like Testament played backwards. The shows that do come to Boston are the opposite of what this article says is happening here, Hirax, Grief, Malevolent Creation, etc.. Or the bands who are from here, Watchmaker, Adolf Satan, whoever. They should write an article about the Doom and Grind Fest if they want to talk about what the underground scene is doing. |
| ____________________________________ [Jun 25,2005 1:24pm - anonymous ""] yah youre the man, thanks for reminding us. |
| _______________________________________ [Jun 25,2005 1:56pm - Joe/NotCommon ""] You're welcome. |
| ______________________________________________ [Jun 25,2005 3:03pm - BobNOMAAMRooney nli ""] Yesterday my hometown made the front page of the Herald. No longer do I live in Charlestown, according to the Herald I reside in CRIMETOWN |
| _________________________________ [Jul 19,2005 5:47pm - Seanne ""] This message is for Mike PERSONALLY!!! We met at Ozz in San Antonio last year, and I really wanted to contact him, and I do not have his number anymore because it got erased.. Mike if you get this please ccontact me at born_a_babydoll@yahoo.com I will refresh your memory in case you have forgotten who I am. Seanne ( Corpus Christi, Texas) |
| _________________________________________ [Jul 19,2005 5:55pm - SacreligionNLI ""] SUBJUGATE said: That sound - dubbed metalcore - varies, but is always heavy and aggressive and involves a hook-heavy combination of screaming and singing. oh man...that's exactly what we sound like...and Raising Kubrick...and BOE...and Teratism...and Pillory... |
| _________________________________________ [Jul 19,2005 6:03pm - SacreligionNLI ""] i also love how in the article they show two people out of what is blatantly a full group picture |
| __________________________________ [Jul 19,2005 6:11pm - Cecchini ""] Bonston Herald is to newspapers what Killswitch is to the current underground metal scene... |