North Carolina’s Young and In The Way are one of those bands that CVLT Nation reps to the fullest! They will be wrecking shit on Saturday the 19th of May in Pomona at the A389 Recordings/Scion showcase. I’m so fucking looking forward to seeing this band do their thing, because I know they are going to bring endless amounts of gnarly energy to the stage. For those reading this that will not be able to make it to their Pomona show we have the answer. On the 12th, YAITW gave a stellar performance which you can peep below! Make sure to head over to their website that is full of black magic!

Besides writing for CVLT Nation, I also do graphic design from time to time. One thing that I really dig about tumblr is the endless amounts of visual inspiration you can find. It’s pretty epic when I stumble across pages that are full of killer images that just fucking blow my mind. THERE IS NO LIFE HERE, ONLY DIFFERENT WAYS TO DIE is that sort of tumbler where you can totally lose yourself but at the sometime finding out that you treasure everything morbid! Due to this fact and others, THERE IS NO LIFE HERE, ONLY DIFFERENT WAYS TO DIE is our tumblr favorite this very moment! Crawl around a really cool photo gallery after the jump!

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Two depressive black metal projects, originating from both Sweden (Hypothermia) and Georgia (Psychonaut 4) are in search for promoters and booking agents throughout southern/eastern/northern Europe who are willing to organize a fall tour for October through early November this year.

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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…

Deathrock never died, but it would be willfully ignorant to claim there isn’t new blood currently reinvigorating the genre. The recent uptick in the number of bands owes a lot to the DIY hardcore punk scene.

Some of the new bands, like Blue Cross, began as side projects of hardcore acts (Germ Attak, in that case). Others, like Deathcharge, the Spectres, Crimson Scarlet, and Lost Tribe, either started as punk bands, or feature members that got their start in bands from that scene. There is a strong tinge of anarcho/peace punk among the new bands, too; one of the best current bands in the genre, Christ vs Warhol, use the phrase “anarcho post-punk” to describe themselves at their Facebook page. It’s hard not to hear the influence of the old female-fronted early 80s bands like Blood and Roses, Madhouse, Lost Cherees, Poison Girls, and Rubella Ballet in the sound of Arctic Flowers, Tanzkommando Untergang, Dekoder, Dead Cult, and Cemetery. In the meantime, older bands like Rudimentary Peni, Alien Sex Fiend, Bloody, Dead and Sexy, The Damned, and Killing Joke still make new material – and some of their recent stuff is included here for good measure, tying in the old with the new. A refocusing on the DIY punk roots of the music (the original bands like Theatre of Hate, 45 Grave, Superheroines, UK Decay, and TSOL all began as punk bands themselves, after all) has injected a new urgency into the sound. In short, 2012 is a very good time to be into gothic punk rock. So, forget about “grave wave,” forget about witch house (please), and forget about dark-indie-revival-etc. blather. This is all about a raw, returning-to-its-gloomy-basics type of dark punk being made by, thankfully, a growing number of bands now. There are way more bands than could be covered here (like, for example the ubiquitous Spanish-language and Latin American deathrock bands, which are among the best), but this should serve as a good appetizer for what all is out there. Get out your eyeliner, turn on your fog machine, and grab your Aquanet – goth is going anarcho.

Stream CVLT Nation New Deathrock 2012 Mixtape Curated by Oliver Sheppard

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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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by Oliver Sheppard

This is an interview I did with World Burns to Death in 2003. It was something I originally meant for a paper zine I was going to do, but I ended up putting it on a website I started (and which no longer exists). CVLT Nation is a good home for it, at long last.

You probably know who World Burns to Death are, but in the event you don’t: World Burns to Death existed from 2000 until 2009 and were not only one of the best American hardcore bands of that period, but, some would argue, are one of the best hardcore punk bands ever. (And I would be very tempted to agree with anyone who would argue that!) Hearing the band back in 2002 shook me out of a growing apathy I had at that time towards hardcore; the band singlehandedly reignited my interest in punk in a very powerful way. 9/11 had just happened, Bush was quickly growing frighteningly tyrannical, and American culture — especially here in Texas — became reactionary and oppressive over night. This mattered. Enter these genuinely scary-looking guys right in the belly of the beast — Austin, Texas — belting out aggressive hardcore songs about US warmongering, highlighting who the real terrorists were, combined with profane graphics of President Bush, coming out to play on stage with black raccoon eyes (and a fog machine!) and a kind of disturbingly intimidating demeanor — I thought it was brilliant! I still do.

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Painted is an intimidating record, to say the least. Being only remotely familiarized with their previous works, I listened to Narrows’ most recent offering with great interest. Painted is there second full-length, following 2009′s New Distances and it should be no surprise that Narrows is signed to Deathwish, arguably one of the best labels in the genre. Considering the esoteric nature of most of Deathwish’s roster, Narrows fits well here. Painted displays its hardcore roots proudly, while not being shy to demonstrate its more metallic plumage. Considering the cross continent origins of Narrows (Seattle, San Diego, London), Painted is an impressive work in both sound and effort.
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X were one of the most important bands to come out of the Los Angeles punk scene. When I used to go to their shows as a teenager, did I know that I was seeing history? Hell No! But I did realize that I was seeing a very special band that sounded like no other. X had a depth to their sound that other bands didn’t have, maybe it was due to the fact they were older. I can’t pin point it, but something about their songs made them the perfect soundtrack for what was happening in the city at the time. Exene was a goddess in my eyes, and I know for a fact she was a huge influence on how girls dressed back then, and her influence can still can be seen today. X were able to take the sleaze of Hollywood and twist it around the blues to create this dark world that would leave you transfixed. I was always impressed with the band’s love for the arts outside of music – ie. poetry, acting and painting. X made just as much of an impact on the young kids as the bands that shouted Anarchy! Today, CVLT Nation wants to share with you the outtakes from the documentary X The Unheard Music. Not only will you see the band perform some of it’s classics, interspersed are shots of Los Angeles that are fucking historic. So now step back in time with me and peep some awesome footage after the jump!

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Are you ready to fuck up some braincells, because the new Angry Gods tape will do just that! These Midwest sludge mongers are about to release a new tape via Crippled Sound Records and it’s limited to 50 solid black tapes, and comes with a laser cut j-card fold out. Some time in the very near future the album will be released, but for right now, CVLT Nation is streaming it in full below. The album will be available to download for free when the tape goes up for purchase HERE! Smoke some of that good shit, press play and blast it loud!!! Check out the Crippled Sounds Records webstore HERE!

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