Text and photos by Astrid Tonella

The second day of the fest was taking place at the famous Ungdomshuset, the headquarters of the punk/hardcore/crust scene. This unique venue disposes of two stages. A small stage, Dödsmaskinen, was decorated for the occasion in the spirit of Baba Yaga, with pines and tree branches and a bigger stage, where the artwork of the different artists invited were also displayed. I was really stoked about the second day, because there were quite a lot of bands I was dying to see.

Pilgrim

The first band in my program was Pilgrim. I had actually heard a lot about these guys, but never get the chance to listen to them, so seeing their show was a bit of an experiment for me. The young Rhode Island trio hits the main stage and starts playing – it’s quite traditional doom metal with a vintage touch in the spirit of Saint Vitus and Black Sabbath. Nothing original there, but they got the basics right for a band that only has been around for barely two years. The riffs are slow and pounding, the vocals are haunting, and it really does the trick. Unfortunately, I only got to see half of their set, because Aguirre was about the play at Dödsmaskinen, but this is definitely a band I will keep an eye on, and I am curious to see which direction the band is gonna take in the next few years.

Full review after the jump…
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Sonic Cathedrals Vol. LIV Curated by BACCHUS mixtape is live now! This Irish horde has put together an awesome audio mindfuck that will have your brain spazzing! Besides curating this mixtape, BACCHUS is on an East coast tour right now with Torchrunner, peep the dates after the jump! Check out what inspired this musical storm below, and turn the volume up to 20!

This is our tour mixtape. It was compiled on our Euro tour last January. It’s a good mix of what we listened to in the van that tour. There is lots of shit we can’t listen to while driving, as it just sounds crappy on the van speakers & crap sounding stuff makes everyone cranky.

Stream Sonic Cathedrals Vol. LIV Curated by Bacchus

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Banner Photos by Per Åhlund

Kelly from Embers interviews Leila from Vastum

How long have you been playing music?

I started playing piano at age 6. I had one piano lesson and realized I hated lessons and started trying to figure out music myself. My dad had a grand piano where I would sit for hours and teach myself various chord progressions. I was also a band geek through out all of my schooling. I played flute and trumpet throughout middle school, mostly in the jazz and classical genres. I did a lot of sheet reading. I picked up the guitar at age 13, and am self-taught. It was sort of a self-rebellion against all of the formal music training I had previously. Although I don’t consciously fully use this knowledge for writing with guitar, The foundation I have in music theory gives me solid ground for composing music in a way that makes sense using scales, modes, tones, transpositions. It’s all useful.
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Text and photos by Astrid Tonella

It’s been a few weeks since the last Roadburn, and the after-festival is always a bit nostalgic. However, this year the nostalgia didn’t last long, with the brand new fest “Heavy Days in Doomtown” coming to darken the streets of Copenhagen, Denmark. Yet another “doom/sludge” festival you would say, but actually, this event is so much more than that. First of all, HDDT is organized and managed under the DIY principles, which means that the festival is run by volunteers only and as “payment” for their performance, bands get food, accommodation and transportation fixed for them. Besides, everyone is treated equally – it actually felt during the fest that the barrier between artists/volunteers/organizing crew/festival goers was almost nonexistent. For instance, the roster doesn’t have any headliners, despite the presence of big names such as Noothgrush (performing for the first time in Europe), Jex Thoth or Coffins, but it gives the chance for local bands to perform in front of an international audience. Other unique aspect of the fest is its strong artistic dimension. Not only does HDDT focus on the music, but also on the culture and aesthetic surrounding it. Therefore, all along the fest we were able to admire the extraordinary work of David D’Andrea, Glyn “Scrawled” Smyth, Samantha Mancino, 13th Sign Collective and Benjamin Sillanpaa, creating a whole new level of experience.

Full review after the jump…
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Today we kick off a new series of mixtapes, curated by record labels for the CVLT Nation readers. Our inaugural mix is curated by Raleigh, NC’s To Live A Lie Records, and gives you a taste of what you can find on their roster. Check out their description below, and stream this amazing mix below…

In an effort to be fair in picking out songs, I decided to use the scientific method to give people precisely what they have liked and wanted rather than letting my own biases take over. I went onto my newly populated Bandcamp page, ran a stats report on the top listened to songs in the last thirty days (April to May) and picked through and removed songs that are the start of albums, since those tend to have artificially increased numbers of listens when someone wants to see what a band on there sounds like. I tried to further do that with second songs, thinking that might be the next person just listening to the whole album in order and then shutting it off if his time didn’t permit. Last, I took that order and flipped it around so the most popular songs are built up to. Here we are with the cream of the crop of my releases, as liked by the general populace, using a sample size of over 11k song plays!

Stream To Live A Lie Records Mixtape for CVLT Nation

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Morrowfest 2012 is happening in Nottingham this Sunday the 13th! Morrowfest is a festival of extreme music to celebrate the life of John Paul Morrow, former vocalist of Iron Monkey, and this year marks the 10 year anniversary of his death. All proceeds from the festival will go to ethical kidney research, so if you’re in the UK, hop on a train and head out to Nottingham this weekend! Bands preforming include: BREAK IT UP / BLACK FATHOMS/CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX / DOOM / DRUNK IN HELL / DRUNKEN BASTARD / ENDLESS GRINNING SKULLS / FUK / GOATSPEED / HARK/ JADED EYES/ LABRAT/ ORANGE GOBLIN / RAVENS CREED / I LIKE BUGS / SONTARAN EXPERIMENT / SIGIRIYA / TUSKEN COALITION / WALK THE PLANK / THE X-RAYS. Check the flyer below…

Sonic Cathedrals Vol. LIII Curated by Negative Standards mixtape is live now! This collection of tunes is another fucking banging experience, and I’m not suprised because Negative Standards know what time it is! Check this out – they just released their new album VI-XI, buy that motherfucker, it’s the shit! They’re on a U.S./Quebec Tour as we speak, peep the dates after the jump. Now check out all of the links for Sonic Cathedrals Vol. LIII, download it and have a blast!!!

As a band, we all come from very different musical backgrounds and have similarly varying tastes in music. We are influenced by incredibly heavy punk/doom/noise as well as the ethereal and more melodic sides of things. This mixtape is a collection of what we each decided was influential in our songwriting. We hope you enjoy it.

Stream Sonic Cathedrals Vol. LIII Curated by Negative Standards

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A couple of weeks ago, I posted about the Portland group show, A Matter of Life & Death, at the Screaming Sky Gallery. by all accounts, the April 26th opening went well, and Screaming Sky sent me some photos to share with you. The calibre of artist in this show is outstanding, and you can still pick up some of the original works they have on display by Halseycaust aka Halsey Swain, Dan Harding, Jeremy Hush & Elli Adams at the gallery and in their webstore. After the jump, check out photos of A Matter of Life & Death, and if you’re in the portland area, make sure you head over to Screaming Sky to check out the show.

The two young dudes who started the Los Angeles clothing brand Vow, Christopher and Jorge, describe what they create as “equal parts occult,
cynical and abrasive.” I would describe it as part clothing brand, part DIY project, like finding a dope vintage tee and silkscreening some of your art on it for a friend. These guys put love and wit into their creations, with their tongue-in-cheek hand-printed graphics and hand-distressed tees, lovingly washed many times so that you don’t have to. I think my favorite piece is their vegan leather grocery tote, a collabo they did with Little Moons. I don’t know about the rest of the world, but Santa Monica banned plastic bags from grocery stores last year, so I have been dutifully carrying around my reusable bags everywhere. Although this tote really is too awesome to be used for storing food in. You can pick up any of their tees or totes in their webstore HERE. After the jump, check out a selection of their offerings as well as images from their SS12 lookbook.

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Joe Yanick of Masakari/Little Sister/Trespasser has curated a special mixtape for CVLT Nation entitled From Cleveland With Hate… that gives you the nitty gritty of this city’s rich punk history! Now read what our homie has to say about this audio history lesson he put together to fuck with your head! Respect to Cleveland & Joe, good looking out!

I made this mix not necessarily of my favorite bands but of some of the ones I feel most accurately chronicle Cleveland’s impressive history in punk rock. I couldn’t begin to cover everything but I feel like it’s adequate in introducing you to some bands you love, some bands you may have not even heard of, and some bands that helped shape the sound of punk in America. Cleveland’s never been nice. It’s never been easy, but it has always been great. Love them or Hate them, these are among some of the most important punk bands.

Stream From Cleveland With Hate…

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