Album Review: Since Yesterday - The Artificial Truth

Blending metal rhythms and riffs with hardcore structures and sentiments, 'The Artificial Truth' comes blazing out of the traps at you. Opener, 'The Aftermath', is chock-a-block with fizzing shreds, warping sustain and flattened snare strikes, all topped off with an elaborate solo spot and a lacerated, acidic vocal. "Waiting for you / want to smash your face / count the teeth on the floor" - 'It Always Feels Good To Remove Scars' leaves little to chance in its lyrics, backing it up with an emotive chorus and a menacingly dark outro...

Full review = http://www.metalteamuk.net/aug10reviews/cdreviews-sinceyesterday.htm

Mini-Album Review: LITE – Illuminate

...Having recorded Illuminate over two sessions, first in Chicago, then in Baltimore, the band have clearly spent a lot of time and money ironing out any frailties to get the record sounding bolder, more precise and ultimately, far more diverse. They’ve achieved this by bringing in a suitcase full of synth and a host of damaged keys. The rainfall backing tape and industrial click tracks on opener ‘Drops’ perfectly sets up their sudden shift into danceable electronica mirroring 65daysofstatic’s own side-step away from post-rock speculatling. The consequential added layers that they’ve discovered, within the manic electro-pop of ‘Image Game’ or the psychedelic jazz funk of ‘Andromeda’, is nothing short of staggering. Jun Izawa’s bass still rips through it all but it’s now pinpoint, clipped and precise and the best example of this is, without doubt, ’100 Million Rainbows’ – hearing it rise up on it’s haunches to plant bruising bottom-end and curious time-signatures over looped phasers is the equivalent of hearing Depeche Mode and Made Out Of Babies gang-rape Jean-Michelle Jarre’s entire back catalogue...

Full review = http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/2010/08/lite-illuminate/

EP Review: Boris & Ian Astbury – BXI

Seeing Ian Astbury perform with The Cult at the Sonisphere Festival, just a couple of weeks ago, hit home just how well-loved his distinctive vocal was, nay, still, is. Thousands of fists hit the sky that day just as thousands of voices that accompanied every lyric did. Over the years we’ve seen him pop up on various projects and impromptu collaborations, like The Doors reformation, MC5, Tony Iommi, Deborah Harry and Slash, but to hear that he’d teamed up with Japanese experimental drone and doom specialists Boris was definitely a bit of a shock. It’s wholly new territory for him but the potential clash of styles had me, and clearly plenty of other Sonisphere attendees, salivating.

The project, tentatively titled, BXI (one assumes that stands for Boris multiplied by Ian), however, refuses to see each artist meet in the middle. It’s amazing quite how much influence Ian Astbury has had on Boris; enough to make them adapt around him by employing 4-4 drumbeats and strummed guitars. Astbury on the other hand slaps his mark hard on the project, throwing his dying, elongated lilt to each word, leaving a steaming red welt across the majority of tracks...

Full review = http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/2010/08/boris-ian-astbury-bxi/

Interview: Malefice

Malefice, the UK kings of groove-swaddled melodic metal, are generally to be found close to the meat… their first love… heavy music. Any fan of metal will have seen them loitering at the fringes of gigs or wandering the festival highways and byways. They’re learning from the best and, if their incredible live performances are anything to go by, they have been paying close attention. John Skibeat spotted them happily rooting around the backstage area of Sonisphere and grabbed guitarist Alex Vuskans for a chat.

How’s your day going so far?
Not well. I’m hanging out of my arse. I’m trying to drink to play well but it’s having the wrong effect. I’m just getting pissed again! I was running around, literally, with my pants off last night...

Full interview = http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/2010/08/tlobf-interview-malefice/

Gig Review: Sonisphere Festival 2010, Knebworth, UK

Last year, the inaugural Sonisphere, held at Knebworth, proved to be a massive success and dispelled fears that the UK might not be able to support another major heavy festival to run alongside the monster tha Download, at Donington Park, has become (especially when you take into account the clutch of minor heavy festivals that have cropped up recently). Offering much the same layout as last year’s event (still with opposing main stages taking it in turn to play), but now having been boosted to a three-day event, rather than the quick-stop two, it’s surprising to see so many folks milling aimlessly around. There’s no time to ponder such frailties of organisation, however, because my ears are beginning to swell to the sounds of battle metal...

Full review = http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/2010/08/sonisphere-festival-2010-%E2%80%93-knebworth-3007-01082010/

Split EP Review: Fading Waves/Starchitect

Ukraine teams up with Russia for this 12-track split EP as a duo of dark sentimentalists, Starchitect from Kherson, take on a one-man band, Fading Waves from Rostov-On-Don. Surprisingly, there's actually more material here than you'll find on most albums, but then most post-rockers like nothing better than a damn good wheedle.

Fading Waves main provocateur Lex Maximuk is used to playing, programming, singing, engineering and mixing virtually every note you hear, but here he has brought in vocalist Alexey Morgunov and guitarist Artem Bat'kov to help him paint a torrid picture of modern living. Very much inspired by the bleak novels and poetry of Charles Bukowski, as well as the city he lives in, he goes to great lengths on 'Megapolis Depression' to pick wickedly bruised minor notes and repetitive loops to cast the gloom, following it up with an oppressive vocal scouring for 'Lights On Water'...

Full review = http://www.metalteamuk.net/july10reviews/cdreviews-fw.htm

Interview: 65daysofstatic @ Sonisphere 2010

Being strong advocates of playing live, 65days were never ones to turn down a hearty festival slot, but it still beggars belief that John Skibeat finds them preparing to play at a hard rock and heavy metal festival like Sonisphere! Joe Shrewsbury (vocals/guitar/keys) and Paul Wolinksi (guitar/keys) seemed almost as stunned as our interviewer.

You’ve played a wide range of festivals already but this must be the heaviest you’ve done so far.
Paul: Ever. We were quite surprised when we got the call ‘cos it is really heavy but as we’ve realised heavy metal music fans are fairly open-minded. Hopefully they’ll give us a break and we’ll get away with it!
Joe: We’re not going to pretend to be anything other than what we are.
Paul: We’re not going to get our Jacksons out and start down-tuning them...

Full interview = http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/2010/08/tlobf-interview-65daysofstatic