Ok, so i just posted yesterday about Koch records and their very apparent and so far very good attempt at taking a big part of the metal game all for themselves. I listed some very solid bands and as I am reading up this morning i notice something that flew under my radar. Satyricon has also been signed on with Koch records as well and are scheduled to release their newsest album The Age Of Nero here in The States on January 13th. I hope Koch keeps up the good work. This is amazing to see a label grabbing up so much good metal in such a short time.
Lamb Of God are currently scheduled to drop their new studio release on Feb.24th. The album is going to be titled Wrath.Down below i am posting a video of a live performance of a brand new song from said album entitled Dead Seeds. This video was shot while on direct support for Metallica. If you havent seen it, then enjoy.
This may have already cross the radar for some of you but in what I consider good news, Alice In Chains is back in the studio to record new tunes for the first time in over a decade. Yeah Yeah Yeah, i know most people will just automatically right it off because Layne Staley is gone and can’t be replaced. While I agree that he will forever be remembered as the face of AIC and has a voice that won’t be duplicated and is as classic as anyone of our generation, I have high hopes for the new material for a couple of different reasons. The first major reason is Jerry Cantrell. While Layne was the face and had the voice out in the front, Jerry was the main songwriter and contributed heavily in the vocals department both with lead vocals on a song or two and with the unmistakable harmonies AIC were known for. Jerry is still there and more or less the leader of the band. He is still a fantastic guitarist and still knows how to write a good song if you have ever heard any of his solo stuff. The second reason is that new front man William Duvall actually has a pretty damn good set of pipes. He is not Laynes reincarnated ghost nor should he be, but he does the classic songs justice and i think he will bring some serious game to the table on the new stuff. Run through some clips on YouTube of live performances they have done with Duvall, the guy can sing. While it won’t be the same Alice In Chains it will still be Alice In Chains. Three fourths of the original band are still there and the music will still be recognizable as AIC just with a new solid voice out in front. I will be giving it a good listen when it comes out and i hope everyone will. People didnt write off AC/DC when Bon Scott passed and that band has managed to put out a few good tunes since then. Anthrax is tuning up their 4th singer as we speak. Van Halen went on to still be big after switching voices. Sure, its been a long layoff for AIC and that might be a problem when it comes to getting their name back out in the public at the level they once were, but the point is lots of bands have lost important faces and went through different front men that people thought they couldn’t do without. A lot of these bands have went on to keep successful careers and put out great music. Long story short. AIC in the studio. Don’t write it off before you give it a chance.
In the not so distant past when Hatebreed inked a deal with Koch Records I kind of scratched my head a little bit. That just didn’t make my list of logical labels I figured they would head to once they were free to shop. Well Koch then goes and gets In Flames signed, another pretty heavy solid pickup. Well i am reading through some news earlier and i see that two bands i enjoy quite a bit have new albums coming out in the first half of 2009,High On Fire and Throwdown. I hit the links to get the details only to find out that they both have new deals and are releasing their new albums through Koch. Looks like Koch is pretty serious about getting the metal department going. Another thing that excites me is the fact that V.O.D, the mighty Vision Of Disorder have a new DVD lined up through Koch and it just so happens they are also working on a new album that I can only assume will come out on Koch as well. That’s a pretty stacked lineup of bands they have managed to snag so far and they also have OTEP and Straight Line Stitch on the class role as well. Kind of nice to see another label paying a little attention to the harder stuff and keeping some talented bands signed up with a home. Good for Koch records and good for us when these new albums drop.
