Elizabeth Short was buried at the Mountain View Cemetery in Oakland, California. After her other sisters had grown and married, her mother [Phoebe] moved to Oakland to be near her daughter's grave. Her mother finally returned to the East in the 1970s, and lived into her 90s.
-- wiki
Anthrax "Black Dahlia" lyrics
Hardcase
Fist full of brass
Double barrelled pistons and a tank full of gas
He's a heavyweight
Enforcer inside
Like a man in the chair he's gonna go for a ride
Break him
Take him down
Squeeze him, watch him drown
Against lightning
The wind from his sails
Take on a man who's harder than a coffin nail
Priceless, the look on his face
If you look real close you can see the expiration date
Break him
Take him down
Squeeze him, watch him drown
Black Dahlia's in my head
Ice veined
Thousand yard stare
Breaking a man is like hunting for bear
And I'm loaded
Setting the trap
Tighten the noose
And bust a rat with my sap
Break him
Take him down
Squeeze him, watch him drown
Black Dahlia's in my head
Black Dahlia's in my head
Confession's good for the soul
Black Dahlia's in my head
In this hunt I walk alone
We've Come for You All
Studio album by Anthrax
Released May 6, 2003
Recorded 2003
Genre Heavy metal, thrash metal
Length 1:00:53
Label Sanctuary
Producer Anthrax, Scrap 60
We've Come for You All is the ninth studio album by American heavy metal band Anthrax. It was produced by the band and Scrap 60, and includes the singles "What Doesn't Die," "Safe Home," and "Taking the Music Back." It is considered a comeback album for the band after lackluster commercial success of their previous two records. Despite its success, the album only reached #122 on the Billboard 200 charts. It is also the first Anthrax record featuring Rob Caggiano on lead guitar and the last to feature original material with John Bush on vocals.
"Strap It On" and "Cadillac Rock Box" both feature guitar solos by "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott. A hidden track is also featured on the album; one minute after the last song ends, one can hear a percussion outtake which was not used because Charlie Benante was unaware he was humming.
The album's cover art was painted by famed comic book artist Alex Ross.
The song "We're a Happy Family" was originally recorded by the Ramones on Rocket to Russia.
The single "Safe Home" features a ballad-like chorus and strong melody. Its music video features film actor Keanu Reeves. The video aired heavily on Uranium upon its release. In contrast, "What Doesn't Die" features a much darker musical tone and lyrics with a notably heavier style.
Track listing
All songs written by John Bush, Rob Caggiano, Scott Ian, Frank Bello and Charlie Benante, except where noted.
1."Contact" – 1:15
2."What Doesn't Die" – 4:10
3."Superhero" – 4:03
4."Refuse to Be Denied" – 3:20 (feat. Anthony Martini)
5."Safe Home" – 5:10
6."Any Place But Here" – 5:49
7."Nobody Knows Anything" – 2:57
8."Strap It On" – 3:32 (feat. Dimebag Darrell)
9."Black Dahlia" – 2:38
10."Cadillac Rock Box" – 3:41 (feat. Dimebag Darrell)
11."Taking the Music Back" – 3:11
12."Crash" – 0:58
13."Think About an End" – 5:09
14."W.C.F.Y.A." – 4:12
The album has also been released in several different limited editions in both CD and vinyl format. On CD editions, the following bonus tracks are included.
15."Safe Home (Acoustic)" – 5:55
16."We're a Happy Family" (Ramones cover) – 5:07
Personnel
John Bush – Lead vocals
Rob Caggiano – Lead Guitar
Scott Ian – Rhythm guitar, Backing vocals
Frank Bello – Bass, Backing vocals
Charlie Benante – Drums, Additional guitars
Dimebag Darrell - Lead Guitar on Track 8 "Strap it on" and Track 10 "Cadillac Rock Box" (Intro and guitar solo)
Roger Daltrey - Additional vocals on track 11 "Taking the Music Back"
-- wiki
Musician Blag Dahlia
Paul Cafaro (born May 8, 1966)[1], better known as Blag Dahlia, is an American musician[2], producer, and author.
Biography
Cafaro is a native of Highland Park, Illinois, and is most well-known as the front-man of Dwarves, a punk rock band.[3] With the Dwarves he has written and produced 10 full length records over a span of 24 years. He has authored two novels, Armed To The Teeth With Lipstick (1998) and Nina (2006).[4] He has produced albums by Mondo Generator[5], The Dwarves[6], F.Y.P, Jon Cougar Concentration Camp, Swingin' Utters and The God Awfuls[7].
Cafaro also released solo material as Blag Dahlia and under one of his other aliases, Earl Lee Grace. Blackgrass (1995), a 13-song LP of bluegrass songs [8], was released on the Sympathy for the Record Industry label using a backing band of real bluegrass musicians. Cafaro also started an acoustic duo with Nick Oliveri named The Uncontrollable.
Films
Two songs recorded by Earl Lee Grace were on the soundtrack to A.W. Feidler's short film, The Job (1997).[9] In 2001, Dahlia performed "Zine-O-Phobia Music" for the Ghost World soundtrack.[10] Blag appears in a Mock Snuff film entitled " Misogynist: The Movie" (2003) The Dwarves song "Massacre", which Dahlia wrote, was on the soundtrack to the 2006 film Hostel.[11] He also narrated the 2007 Gotham Award-nominated independent film Loren Cass.
References
1.^ Blag Dahlia MySpace
2.^ Hollywood.com
3.^ The Sinful Dwarf
4.^ Suburban Stain
5.^ Mondo Generator homepage
6.^ CDuniverse Production Credit
7.^ Dahlia production credits
8.^ Blag Dahlia interview
9.^ IMDb
10.^ Ghost World credits
11.^ Hostel credits
Black Dahlia - References and Further Reading
References
1.^ Harnisch, Larry. "A Slaying Cloaked in Mystery and Myths." Los Angeles Times. January 6, 1997.
2.^ Coroner's Inquest Transcript, January 22, 1947.
3.^ Excerpts From Grand Jury Summary BlackDahlia.info. Access date: 4 November 2007.
4.^ Fact Versus Fiction BlackDahlia.info.
5.^ District Attorney Suspects BlackDahlia.info.
6.^ Black Dahlia - News 2
7.^ The Cleveland Torso Murders aka Kingsbury Run Murders - Eliot Ness Case - Crime Library on truTV.com
Further reading
Daniel, Jacque (2004). The Curse of the Black Dahlia. Los Angeles: Digital Data Werks. ISBN 0-9651604-2-4.
Fowler, Will (1991). Reporters: Memoirs of a Young Newspaperman. Minneapolis: Roundtable Publishing. ISBN 0-915677-61-X.
Gilmore, John (2006) [1994]. Severed: The True Story of the Black Dahlia. Los Angeles: Amok Books. ISBN 1-878923-17-X.
Hodel, Steve (2003). Black Dahlia Avenger: A Genius for Murder. New York: Arcade Publishing. ISBN 1-55970-664-3.
Knowlton, Janice; Newton, Michael (1995). Daddy Was the Black Dahlia Killer: The Identity of America's Most Notorious Serial Murderer – Revealed at Last. New York: Pocket Books. ISBN 0-671-88084-5.
Nelson, Mark; Sarah Hudson Bayliss (2006). Exquisite Corpse: Surrealism and the Black Dahlia Murder. New York: Bulfinch Press. ISBN ISBN 0-8212-5819-2.
Pacios, Mary (1999). Childhood Shadows: The Hidden Story of the Black Dahlia Murder. Bloomington, IN: Authorhouse. ISBN 1-58500-484-7.
Rasmussen, William T. (2005). Corroborating Evidence: The Black Dahlia Murder. Santa Fe, NM: Sunstone Press. ISBN 0-86534-536-8.
Richardson, James (1954). For the Life of Me: Memoirs of a City Editor. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons. (ISBN unavailable).
Smith, Jack (1981). Jack Smith's L.A. New York: Pinnacle Books. ISBN 0-523-41493-5.
Underwood, Agness (1949). Newspaperwoman. New York: Harper and Brothers. (ISBN unavailable).
Wagner, Rob Leicester (2000). Red Ink, White Lies: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles Newspapers, 1920-1962. Upland, Calif.: Dragonflyer Press. (ISBN ISBN 0-944933-80-7).
Webb, Jack (1958). The Badge: The Inside Story of One of America's Great Police Departments. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice-Hall. ISBN 0-09-949973-8.
Wolfe, Donald H. (2005). The Black Dahlia Files: The Mob, the Mogul, and the Murder That Transfixed Los Angeles. New York: ReganBooks. ISBN 0-06-058249-9.
-- wiki
What A Horrible Night To Have A Curse EP - 2001
Tracklist
1. All My Best Friends Are Bullets
2. To You, Contortionist
3. The Middle Goes Down
4. This Ain't No Fucking Love Song
5. And The Chorus Sang (A Dead Refrain)
6. Burning The Hive
Unhallowed - 2003
Tracklist
1. Unhallowed
2. Funeral Thirst
3. Elder Misanthropy
4. Contagion
5. When the Last Grave Has Emptied
6. Thy Horror Cosmic
7. Blackest Incarnation, The
8. Hymn For the Wretched
9. Closed Casket Requiem
10. Apex
A Cold - Blooded Epitaph EP - 2002
Tracklist
1. Closed Casket Requiem
2. The Blackest Incarnation
3. Burning The Hive
4. Paint It Black
Miasma - 2005
Tracklist
1. Built For Sin
2. I'm Charming
3. Flies
4. Statutory Rape
5. A Vulgar Picture
6. Novelty Cross
7. Vice Campaign
8. Miscarriage
9. Spite Suicide
10. Miasma
Nocturnal - 2007
Tracklist
1. Everything Went Black
2. What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse
3. Virally Yours
4. I Worship Only What You Bleed
5. Nocturnal
6. Deathmask Divine
7. Of Darkness Spawned
8. Climactic Degradation
9. To a Breathless Oblivion
10. Warborn
Deflorate - 2009
Tracklist
1. Black Valor
2. Necropolis
3. A Selection
4. Denounced, Disgraced
5. Christ Deformed
6. Death Panorama
7. Throne Of Lunacy
8. Eyes Of Thousand
9. That Which Erodes the Most Tender
10. I Will Return
The Black Dahlia Murder is an American heavy metal band from Waterford, Michigan, formed in 2000. Their band name is derived from the unsolved murder of Elizabeth Short, often referred to as Black Dahlia.
Biography
The Black Dahlia Murder gained their final band line-up in January 2001 and released a six-track EP, What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse, and a four-track EP, A Cold-Blooded Epitaph, the latter of which the group released on its own Lovelost Records. After appearing in concerts such as the Milwaukee Metal Fest, The Black Dahlia Murder signed to Metal Blade Records in 2003.[1]
The band played in Ozzfest 2005 and also participated in the Sounds of the Underground tour in 2006, which encompasses both the United States and Canada. They also played at Wacken Open Air in 2007.
Current bassist Bart Williams left his former band, Detroit's Today I Wait, to tour with the Black Dahlia Murder. After touring with the band on their co-headlining gig with Throwdown and their European dates with Liar, he joined the group full-time, replacing former bassist David Lock. Frontman Trevor Strnad said that Lock was fired for incompetency.[2] Williams was one of two engineers (the other being Walls of Jericho's Mike Hasty) on the band's first full-length album, Unhallowed.
The band's second album Miasma peaked at #118 on the Billboard 200.[3] After touring for the Miasma record drummer Zach Gibson left the band leading to Pierre Langlois joining. Zach Gibson went on to join Abigail Williams. Recently, Pierre Langlois left the band for a more secure lifestyle, and the band has finished their search for a replacement drummer and found former All That Remains drummer, Shannon Lucas.
Their third album, entitled Nocturnal, was released on September 18, 2007. The album debuted at #72 on the Billboard 200.[4]
The Black Dahlia Murder announced on their MySpace that they were going on a U.S. tour with Cannibal Corpse to promote their new album Nocturnal and celebrate the 25 years that Metal Blade Records has been in business. They were joined by label-mates The Red Chord, Aeon, The Absence, and Goatwhore.
In January/February 2008, the band embarked on a U.S. headlining tour with 3 Inches of Blood, Hate Eternal, and Decrepit Birth, followed by another alongside Brain Drill and Animosity. They were on Hot Topic's "Summer Slaughter Tour"[5] with Kataklysm, Cryptopsy, Vader, Whitechapel, and Despised Icon.
Recently the band has announced that long time lead guitarist John K has left the band and has been replaced by Ryan Knight.
In May 2009, The Black Dahlia Murder released their first DVD, "Majesty". The DVD contains a documentary and live footage from the Summer Slaughter tour and their tour supporting Children of Bodom in late 2008. The DVD also contains all of their music videos and behind the scenes footage.[6]
The Black Dahlia Murder released Deflorate on September 15, 2009 via Metal Blade Records. In addition to hitting the #43 position in Billboard's Top 200 charts, the record came in at #5 on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart, #4 on Billboard's Top Hard Music Albums chart, and #50 on HITS Top 50 Albums chart.[7] They toured with Children of Bodom and Skeletonwitch in support of the album.
On July 7, 2009, their song "What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse" was made available as downloadable content for Rock Band.
Tours
The Black Dahlia Murder headlined the 2008 Summer Slaughter Tour with Kataklysm, Vader, Cryptopsy, The Faceless, Despised Icon, Aborted, Born of Osiris, Psycroptic, and Whitechapel.[8] In late 2008, they joined a US tour with Finland's Children of Bodom and Raleigh, NC's Between the Buried and Me. They were initially announced as "...with special guests" at the start of the tour, though it has since been confirmed by Revolver Magazine that they are on tour. They appeared on the Hot Topic Stage in the 2009 Rockstar Energy Mayhem Festival. In late 2009, they will rejoin a US tour with Finland's Children of Bodom and Skeletonwitch. The band have been confirmed to headline the Bonecrusher Fest tour of Europe in Spring 2010 alongside 3 Inches of Blood, Necrophobic, Obscura, The Faceless, Carnifex and Ingested.
Style and Influences
The Black Dahlia Murder have been stated to play within the genres of metalcore,[9] melodic death metal[10] and deathcore[11]. The band's music makes use of the death metal sound, containing elements such as blast beats and fast death metal style. According to their MySpace page, their sound is influenced by Carcass, At the Gates, Darkane, Dissection, Darkthrone, Morbid Angel, The Haunted, In Flames, Dimension Zero, Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Megadeth. Vocalist Trevor Strnad alternates between deep, throaty "death metal growls," and high pitched shrieking. When asked to describe what kind of music the band plays, vocalist Trevor Strnad commented: "I've always said that we're melodic death metal. We are mostly influenced by Swedish bands and Carcass. The heavy end of our sound is the American style creeping in, with some Floridian influences like Morbid Angel, Malevolent Creation and that kind of stuff. We've been labeled more often because of our look than our sound, which is dumb, and speaks volumes about what kind of geniuses are out there!" [12]
However, in an interview with Uranium Magazine, Strnad also stated, "Some bands that get labeled as metalcore are actually good, like Between the Buried and Me or The Red Chord...metal is what I grew up with, and then I learned about punk and hardcore. But a lot of our ethics, the way we carry ourselves, is more punk...I like that hardcore has a sense of community without the competition you see in metal."[13]
Discography
Studio albums
2003 Unhallowed
Released: June 17, 2003
Label: Metal Blade
Format: CD, digital download
2005 Miasma
Released: July 12, 2005
Label: Metal Blade
Format: CD, digital download, vinyl
2007 Nocturnal
Released: September 18, 2007
Label: Metal Blade
Format: CD, digital download
2009 Deflorate
Released: September 15, 2009
Label: Metal Blade
Format: CD, digital download, vinyl
Demos and EPs
What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse (Demo, 2001)
A Cold-Blooded Epitaph (EP, 2002)
Demo 2002 (Demo, 2002)
Singles
"Contagion"
"Funeral Thirst"
"A Vulgar Picture"
"Miasma"
"Statutory Ape"
"What a Horrible Night to Have a Curse"
"Everything Went Black"
"Necropolis"
"A Selection Unnatural"
DVDs
Majesty (2009)
Going Places (Packaged with Deflorate) (2009)
Members
Current
Trevor Strnad – lead vocals (present)
Brian Eschbach – guitar, backing vocals (2001–present)
Ryan Knight – guitar (2008–present) (ex-Arsis)
Ryan "Bart" Williams – bass guitar (2005–present)
Shannon Lucas – drums, percussion (2007–present) (ex-All That Remains)
Former
John Deering – guitar (2001–2002)
John Kempainen – guitar (2003–2008)
Mike Schepman – bass guitar (2001)
Sean Gauvreau – bass guitar (2001–2002)
David Lock – bass guitar (2002–2005)
Cory Grady – drums, percussion (2001–late 2004) (Premonitions of War)
Zach Gibson – drums, percussion (2005) (ex-Abigail Williams)
Pierre Langlois – drums, percussion (2006)
References
1.^ Rivadavia, Ed (2003). "The Black Dahlia Murder > Biography". allmusic. http://www.allmusicguide.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hvfyxq90ldje~T1. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
2.^ Harris, Chris; Wiederhorn, Jon (2006-04-27). "Metal File: Overcast, Black Dahlia Murder, Nevermore, D.R.I. & More News That Rules". MTV News. http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1529689/20060427/overcast.jhtml. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
3.^ billboard.com. Billboard 200.
4.^ billboard.com. Billboard 200.
5.^ [1].[About.comHeavy Metal]
6.^ metalblade.com. Metal Blade Records.
7.^ [2]
8.^ Summer Slaughter Tour
9.^ http://www.musicmight.com/artist/united+states/michigan/detroit/the+black+dahlia+murded 10.^ "The Black Dahlia Murder". metalblade.com. http://www.metalblade.com/english/artists/theblackdahliamurder/bio.php. Retrieved 2009-09-18.
11.^ http://www.ieweekly.com/cms/story/detail/wolves_in_geek_s_clothing/987/
12.^ http://www.pyromusic.net/index.php?p=interviews_interview&id=32
13.^ http://www.uraniummusic.com/ilyapics/interviews/BDM.htm
14.^ "The Black Dahlia Murder > Charts & Awards > Billboard Albums". allmusic. http://www.allmusicguide.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:hvfyxq90ldje~T5. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
15.^ "Nocturnal". Top Hard Rock Albums. Billboard. 2007-10-06. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=795&cfgn=Albums&cfn=Top+Hard+Rock+Albums&ci=3086696&cdi=9410949&cid=10%2F06%2F2007. Retrieved 2009-07-05.
Black Dahlia
by
Porcupine Tree
You have no interest in the past
Where you came from
Where you're going to
There's a cliche in your eye
File the edges down
Soon be underground
There's nothing here for you under the sun
There's nothing new to do, it's all been done
So put your faith in another place
Never seem to get away from this
It's all falling into an abyss
So put your foot on the pedal boy
All you know is secondhand
The bullet passed through the cage inside you
You stole the only thing you love
So unfaithful, the drop is fatal
You have no interest in the past
Where you came from
Where you're going to
There's a cliche in your eye
File the edges down
Soon be underground
There's nothing here for you under the sun
There's nothing new to do, it's all been done
So put your faith in another place
Never seem to get away from this
It's all falling into an abyss
So put your foot on the pedal boy
All you know is secondhand
The bullet passed through the cage inside you
You stole the only thing you love
So unfaithful, the drop is fatal
Porcupine Tree is a progressive rock band formed by Steven Wilson in 1987 in Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire, England. Frequently associated with both psychedelic rock and progressive rock, their music has also been influenced by trance, krautrock and ambient due to Steven Wilson and Richard Barbieri's liking for the Kosmische Musik scene of the early '70s, led by bands such as Tangerine Dream, Neu! and Can[1]. Since the early 2000s, their music has been leaning towards progressive metal.
The band are noted for their multimedia approach, with their live performances including screens displaying a different film projection to each song. This visual element was introduced during the tour for the In Absentia album, when the band started to work with Danish photographer and filmmaker Lasse Hoile, whose involvement has created a distinctive image for the band.
Despite being signed to both Roadrunner and Atlantic labels[2][3], the band have their own record label, Transmission, which they use to launch some independent releases and special editions of their albums. Their 2007 album Fear of a Blank Planet was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Surround Sound Album.[4]
History
Origins (1987-1990)
Porcupine Tree originated in 1987 as something of a collaborative hoax between Steven Wilson and Malcolm Stocks. Partially inspired by psychedelic/progressive bands of the seventies, in the likes of Pink Floyd, that dominated the music scene during their youth, the two decided to form a fictional legendary rock band named The Porcupine Tree. The two fabricated details such as band members, album titles, and a back-story, that purportedly included events such as a meeting at a '70s rock festival and several trips in and out of prison. As soon as he put aside enough money to buy his own studio equipment, Wilson obliged the creation with several hours of music to provide "evidence" of its existence[5].
Although Porcupine Tree started largely as a joke and Wilson was preoccupied with his other project, No-Man (an endeavour with UK based singer and songwriter Tim Bowness), by 1989 he began to consider some of the Porcupine Tree music as potentially marketable. Wilson created an 80-minute-long cassette titled Tarquin's Seaweed Farm under the name of Porcupine Tree[2]. Still showing the spirit of his joke, Wilson included an 8-page inlay containing information about fictitious band members such as Sir Tarquin Underspoon and Timothy Tadpole-Jones[6].
Wilson sent out copies of Tarquin's Seaweed Farm to several people he felt would be interested in the recordings. The underground UK magazine Freakbeat was going through the process of starting their own record company when they received the cassette. The tape received mild reviews, but Porcupine Tree was soon asked to contribute to a compilation of up-and-coming underground psychedelic artists. This process was slow, taking eighteen months before completion. During this period, Wilson continued to work on new material, and in 1990 he released The Love, Death & Mussolini E.P., issued in a very limited run of 10 copies. The EP remains an extremely rare, collectible piece. It was composed of nine at-the-time-unreleased tracks, as a preview for the upcoming second album. The EP was followed, over the same year, by The Nostalgia Factory, an album that grew Porcupine Tree's underground fanbase, though the band still carried on the charade of being '70s rock legends.
On the Sunday of Life... and Up the Downstair (1991-1994)
The newly formed Freakbeat magazine editor's record label Delerium, agreed to reissue the cassettes Tarquin's Seaweed Farm and The Nostalgia Factory. A compilation album was also released, as planned, under the title of A Psychedelic Psauna, featuring the Porcupine Tree track "Linton Samuel Dawson."
Wilson was invited shortly thereafter to sign with Delerium as one of the label's founder artists. He was originally invited to publish a double album of his two cassettes, but he decided to put instead what he discerned as the best of both tapes onto a single album. The album was released in mid 1991 as On the Sunday of Life.... The rest of the music from the initial tapes was released on the limited edition, compilation album Yellow Hedgerow Dreamscape.
"Radioactive Toy"
from On the Sunday of Life.... - This song quickly became a favourite among fans, and was one of the most long-standing songs on the live setlists. The topic of the lyrics is supposed to be about Nuclear War. The song was first released on the Tarquin's Seaweed Farm cassette in 1989 as a demo and later included on the album On the Sunday of Life... in its final version.
"Nine Cats"
from On the Sunday of Life.... - Shows Steven Wilson's love for the bands of the seventies. He first recorded the song in 1985 for his former band, Karma, and later used it for Porcupine Tree. The song was included as an acoustic version in the Insignificance cassette of 1997.
In 1992, Delerium released On the Sunday of Life... as an edition of 1,000 copies, complete with a deluxe gatefold sleeve. The album sold out shortly after it shipped, but pressure from public and press alike ensured that it was reproduced, along with a CD version. The album featured future concert favourite and frequent encore song "Radioactive Toy". By 2000, On the Sunday of Life... had racked up sales of more than 20,000 copies[2].
In the midst of Porcupine Tree's rising success, Wilson's other band, No-Man, had been getting excellent UK press (singles of the week in Melody Maker and Sounds), which led to the band being signed to One Little Indian Records, Hit & Run publishing in the UK and Epic 440/Sony in the US. No-Man's success gave Wilson the opportunity to leave his regular job and devote his time solely to music.
Looking forward from the original Porcupine Tree music, Wilson took steps to move his project towards newer, more contemporary kinds of music. This new goal scored the band with their thirty minute long single, "Voyage 34". Released in 1992, the song mixed together the ambient trance music of earlier groups like The Orb and Future Sound of London. The single featured what is described as "liquid rock" guitar solos coupled with a narrative from a sixties LSD propaganda LP. The track was too long to make it a radio hit, but it got good response from the underground music scene of the nineties, reaching the UK independent Top 20 singles list.
"Voyage 34" was actually a track recorded for another prospective Porcupine Tree double album Up the Downstair. However, when the album eventually emerged in mid-1993 the decision not to include the single had slimmed down the album to a single record.
Up the Downstair was greeted with rapture, Melody Maker describing it as "a psychedelic masterpiece... one of the albums of the year."[7] The album continued the fusion of dance and rock and also featured guest appearances from two future full-time Porcupine Tree members, Richard Barbieri (ex-80s art rock band Japan) and Colin Edwin.
In November 1993, Voyage 34 was reissued alongside an additional 12 inch remix by Astralasia. With non-existent radio play it still managed to enter the NME indie chart for six weeks and became an underground chill-out classic[2].
The profile of Porcupine Tree had now grown to the extent that the question of live performances could no longer be ignored. Thus, in December 1993, Porcupine Tree became a live unit featuring Steven Wilson on lead vocals/guitar, Colin Edwin on bass guitar, Chris Maitland on drums and Richard Barbieri on keyboards[8].
All three new members of the group had worked with Steven on various projects over the preceding years (Richard Barbieri and Chris Maitland had been part of No-Man's touring band) and all were excellent musicians sympathetic to the sound and direction of Porcupine Tree. The new line up had immediate chemistry as illustrated by the Spiral Circus album (issued on vinyl in 1997) which contained recordings from their first ever 3 performances, including a BBC Radio One session for Mark Radcliffe, an early champion of the group.
The Sky Moves Sideways and Signify (1995-1997)
The next album would not emerge until early 1995, but was preceded by the classic Moonloop EP, the last two tracks to be recorded during the album sessions and the first to feature the new band.
Released in 1995, the band's third studio album, The Sky Moves Sideways became a success among progressive rock fans, and Porcupine Tree were hailed as the Pink Floyd of the nineties. Wilson would later lament this, stating "I can't help that. It's true that during the period of The Sky Moves Sideways, I had done a little too much of it in the sense of satisfying, in a way, the fans of Pink Floyd who were listening to us because that group doesn't make albums any more. Moreover, I regret it."[5].
The Sky Moves Sideways was an expansive soundscape of melody and ambient rock experimentation, but would prove to be a transitional work with half recorded before the formation of the band and half recorded after. Most of the album was taken up with the 35-minute title track, which at one point Steven had intended to be long enough to occupy the whole album (an alternate version of the track, containing some of the excised music, was included on the 2004 remastered version of the album). It also entered the NME, Melody Maker and Music Week charts[2]. Together with the Moonloop EP, this album became the first Porcupine Tree music to be issued in America in the autumn of 1995, and attracted favourable press on both sides of the Atlantic. The band supported the album with numerous gigs throughout the year at major venues in the UK, The Netherlands, Italy, and Greece.
"The Sky Moves Sideways Phase 1"
from The Sky Moves Sideways, which contains some of the Steven Wilson's longest compositions. The band evolved into a more electronic, ambient and trance sound, and included more jam-like parts. The song is mostly instrumental and consists of four movements; on the US release, there's an individual track for each section.
"Every Home Is Wired"
from Signify. This album contains shorter pieces than its predecessor, and featured the first collaborative compositions between Wilson and the other band members.
Partly unsatisfied with the half band/half solo nature of The Sky Moves Sideways, Porcupine Tree promptly got down to the task of recording the first proper band record. Wilson admitted he was always "in love with the idea of the rock band" because "bands have a kind of glamour, and appeal, and a romance about them the solo projects just don't have."[1] The band worked sporadically over the next year on developing a tighter and more ambitious rock sound.
After the release of the first real Porcupine Tree single "Waiting", which entered all UK indie charts and the UK National chart attracting airplay all over Europe, Signify finally saw the light in September 1996. The album was a mixture of instrumental tracks and more song-oriented tunes, blending together numerous rock and avant-garde styles, while absorbing many diverse influences but relying on none and still providing a mixture of dreamy melodies and raw power or dark moods. The musicians received writing credits for some tracks, most notably for "Intermediate Jesus," which evolved from a jam session (parts of which would be released on the limited edition double 10 inch LP, Metanoia, at the end of 1998)[9].
Steven Wilson at the Strawberry Fair, Cambridge, 1997.A large amount of major European media interest accompanied the album's release, as Porcupine Tree had now become a highly respected force in the musical underground.
Wilson: "For me, tracks like 'Every Home Is Wired' and 'Dark Matter' totally transcend both genre and comparison. Finally, I think we are making a completely original and '90s form of music, but which still has its root in progressive music."[10]
Meanwhile the fanbase of the band kept on growing, especially in Italy where airplay on a popular radio show had turned the band into a teenagers' favourite, a remarkable crowd compared to the more progressive rock oriented listeners elsewhere. In March 1997, they played three nights in Rome to an audience that surpassed 5,000 people. All three dates were recorded for use in the 1997 live album Coma Divine - Recorded Live in Rome that was released as a goodbye to Delerium Records, which felt it could no longer offer the kind of resources the band needed in order to continue to build its profile worldwide[11].
In late 1997 the band's first three albums were remastered and reissued. Signify also saw a release in the US on Miles Copeland's Ark 21 label.
Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun (1998-2001)
Wilson, Barbieri, Edwin, and Maitland spent all of 1998 recording their fifth studio album, a release that reflected the band's move towards a more song-oriented writing. Wilson acknowledged this time he was "much more interested in songwriting as an art form, as opposed to soundscape development" and commented he took influence from The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds, Todd Rundgren, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and "anything with really good ensemble singing". He also indicated that he was "interested in the idea of the pop song as a kind of experimental symphony."[5]
"Pure Narcotic"
is a single from Stupid Dream. "Pure Narcotic" is an acoustic song without drums. The overall atmosphere of the song is luminous. Radiohead's album The Bends is mentioned by name in the lyrics. It is evident that Stupid Dream pointed a change of direction in the sound of the band, being a more pop and much song-oriented record.
At the time of recording, the band had no record deal, but later that year they signed to the Snapper/K-Scope label and in March 1999, the new album, Stupid Dream, was issued. The album was supported by a lengthy tour of the UK, Italy, Greece, the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Germany, France, Poland, and the USA. The three singles taken from the album, "Piano Lessons", "Stranger by the Minute" and "Pure Narcotic," all achieved mainstream exposure in the US and in Europe and appeared well placed in the UK independent charts and on radio station playlists. In addition, Snapper released the opener song, "Even Less," as a one-track cassette in a plain white sleeve with the words "Who Is This?" written in ink, a number 1 in the top right hand corner and no catalogue number, and delivered it to record stores and radio stations only[12]. Although initially the album was such a departure that some older fans were unsure, it brought the band many new fans and went on to become the band's best-selling and most acclaimed release up to that time.
The time spent looking for a record deal had not been wasted, and only a few months after the release of Stupid Dream the band were ready to begin working on a followup.
Completed for February 2000, with string arrangements provided by Dave Gregory of XTC, Porcupine Tree's sixth studio album Lightbulb Sun built on the mix of songwriting, soundscaping, and rock dynamics of Stupid Dream. It was released in May 2000, preceded by the single "Four Chords That Made a Million". A sold out show at the Scala in London began a short run of UK shows, to be followed later in the year by European festival dates and a major tour supporting Dream Theater[13].
The band continued touring through the end of 2000 and start of 2001, including their first major tour of Germany. A special double CD edition of the Lightbulb Sun album was issued in Israel and Germany, and in May, Recordings, a limited edition collection of EP tracks and out-takes from the previous two albums, was released as the band's final release under their Snapper/K-Scope contract. In May 2001 they did three consecutive dates as a support band to Marillion, in France, Germany and The Netherlands respectively[14]. In June the band played a short US tour, starting with an appearance in the famous NEARfest of Pennsylvania to culminate in a sold out show at the Bottom Line in New York City. Shortly afterwards Porcupine Tree announced that they had signed a new international record deal with Lava/Atlantic Records.
In Absentia (2002-2004)
In February 2002 Porcupine Tree's first line-up change occurred when drummer Chris Maitland departed after eight years with the band. The band welcomed drummer and longtime acquaintance Gavin Harrison to the line-up. In March 2002 a box set of the band's early work was released, entitled Stars Die: The Delerium Years 1991-1997 and the band commenced recording their first major label album, drawing from a pool of 30 new songs written by Steven in the previous two years.
Recording sessions took place at Avatar Studios in New York[15] and London, with veteran engineer Paul Northfield and string arranger Dave Gregory also playing major roles in the making of the record. Mixing of the new album was completed in Los Angeles in May with Tim Palmer.
The eagerly awaited new album, In Absentia, was released by Lava Records in September 2002 (European release January 2003). The album received great praise worldwide and went on to become the band's best selling album, shifting over 100,000 copies in its first year of release and charting in several European countries. The band also released a 5.1 surround sound version of the album, mixed by Grammy Award winning producer Elliot Scheiner. The surround sound version of the album won the award for best 5.1 mix at the 2004 Surround Sound Music awards in Los Angeles[16].
To promote the album the band undertook four tours of Europe and North America, including one with acclaimed Swedish metal band Opeth. On tour the new line up of the band was further augmented by additional touring vocalist/guitarist John Wesley. During these tours the visual element of the band's performance was taken to new heights with the involvement of filmmaker and photographer Lasse Hoile, who had created the cover art for In Absentia and now went on to create a dark and surreal visual counterpoint to Porcupine Tree's music. The long promotional campaign for In Absentia ended on 30 November 2003, as the band played a homecoming show to a sold out London Astoria[14].
"Blackest Eyes"
from In Absentia. Again, the style of the band changed notably, besides guitars were tuned down. The song features a heavy riff, acoustic passages, and a catchy, flown chorus.
"Lazarus"
from Deadwing, is a ballad that was chosen for the European single. It features some voice harmonies by Mikael Ã…kerfeldt from Opeth. The whole song develops over a minimalist piano melody.
During 2003 Porcupine Tree set up their own label, Transmission, with an online store hosted by Burning Shed record label. The first release on the Transmission label was a studio session recorded for XM Radio, Washington, followed in 2004 by a recording from Polish radio in 2001. The band plan to use the label to issue a series of well recorded and packaged live and exclusive studio recordings.
2003 also saw the start of a lengthy reissue/remaster campaign, with many of the early albums expanded to double CDs. These reissues included re-recorded/remixed double CD versions of the Up the Downstair, The Sky Moves Sideways and Signify albums, and the reissue of Stupid Dream and Lightbulb Sun, both comprising a CD with a new stereo mix of the album plus a DVD-Audio with a 5.1 surround mix.
Deadwing and Arriving Somewhere DVD (2004-2006)
In early 2004 the band embarked on the recording sessions for an ambitious new record, Deadwing, their second for Lava/Atlantic. The album takes its inspiration from a film script written by Steven with his filmmaker friend Mike Bennion. With the album sessions completed in November 2004, and the band's total worldwide sales now approaching half a million units, demand for new music from the band was at an all time high, and increasing media coverage, word of mouth and fan-power continued to create interest in Porcupine Tree throughout the world.
Deadwing was released in Europe and the US during the spring of 2005 as both a stereo and 5.1 surround sound album, preceded by the release of two singles, "Shallow" in the US, and "Lazarus" in Europe. The album benefited from guest appearances by Adrian Belew from King Crimson and Opeth's Mikael Ã…kerfeldt and was a commercial success, due in part to "Shallow" receiving airplay, peaking at #26 in the Billboard's Hot Mainstream Rock Tracks[17]. "Lazarus" entered the Germany singles Top 100 at #91[18]. The tour to promote the album commenced in the UK at the end of March, and continued throughout the year. The song "Shallow" would later be featured in the soundtrack for the film Four Brothers[19].
Later on, Mike Bennion created a MySpace page dedicated to the prospective Deadwing film, in which he posted the first fifteen pages of the script and included a trailer[20]. However, while the scripts are finished, the project is still on hiatus due to lack of budget[21].
The album won the Surround Music Awards for "Best Made-For-Surround Title" the same year of its release[22], and was voted number 2 album of 2005 in Sound & Vision, which is the most widely distributed US magazine in the field of home electronics and entertainment. The White Stripes's Get Behind Me Satan was the number one album[23].
Porcupine Tree released Deadwing in Japan on 22 March 2006, making it the first album by the band to be released in that country.
The band's website also announced that new material would be played during the first half of their tours of Europe and the United States. Their new material was much heavier and layered than anything they had previously done, indicating that Porcupine Tree was heading towards an even more metal oriented sound.
On 8 August 2006, it was announced that Porcupine Tree had signed with Roadrunner Records UK. Wilson commented that "Roadrunner has established itself as one of the world's premier independent labels for rock music, and we couldn't be more enthusiastic about working with them to expand our audience and elevate Porcupine Tree to the next level."[24]
The first Porcupine Tree concert DVD, Arriving Somewhere..., was released on 10 October 2006. It was accompanied by a brief tour in which the group performed 50 minutes of new material for the forthcoming studio album for the first half of the shows. Supporting acts included Swedish band Paatos in Europe (except France and Belgium where they were supported by Oceansize), and ProjeKCt 6 (Robert Fripp and Adrian Belew) in the USA[14]. In January, 2007, it was revealed the title for the forthcoming album would be Fear of a Blank Planet[25].
Fear of a Blank Planet (2007-2008)
With the release of Fear of a Blank Planet on 16 April 2007, Porcupine Tree charted in almost all European countries[26] and peaking at #59 on the Billboard 200[27]. A tour of 92 dates for 2007, took the band to countries they had never visited, like Finland and Mexico. The tour also included appearances in many major music festivals such as the German twin-festivals, Hurricane[28] and Southside[29], and the Download Festival of Donington Park[30]. Later in 2008 when the tour resumed, the band performed their first ever shows in Australia.
The lyrics of the album deal with common behaviour tendencies concerning society (especially youth) in the beginning of the 21st century such as bipolar disorder, attention deficit disorder, drug abuse, alienation[31] and depravation caused by mass media[21].
Richard Barbieri during a Porcupine Tree performance in Kraków, Poland, in 2007Wilson: "My fear is that the current generation of kids who're being born into this information revolution, growing up with the Internet, cell phones, iPods, this download culture, 'American Idol,' reality TV, prescription drugs, PlayStations — all of these things kind of distract people from what's important about life, which is to develop a sense of curiosity about what's out there."[32]
The concept of the album was inspired mainly by Bret Easton Ellis novel Lunar Park[33] and the title alludes to Public Enemy's album, Fear of a Black Planet, both sharing the particularity of reflecting notorious conflicts affecting society in the world at some time. Wilson notes that while race relationship was the main issue among young people when Public Enemy's album was released, in the 21st century it was replaced by a general superficiality, boredom, and introversion[34]. The album features contributions from Rush's Alex Lifeson and King Crimson's Robert Fripp.
A new EP called Nil Recurring was released on 17 September 2007, featuring four unreleased tracks from the Fear of a Blank Planet sessions and including another contribution from Robert Fripp. The second leg of the tour started on 3 October 2007, now promoting new music from the EP. Nil Recurring entered the UK Top 30 Independent Label Albums at #8[35]. The EP was later reissued in 18 February 2008 through Peaceville Records[36].
On 5 November 2007, Fear of a Blank Planet won the "Album of the Year" award for the 2007 Classic Rock magazine awards[37]. In December, 2007, it was nominated for a "Best Surround Sound Album" Grammy though Love by The Beatles won the award[4]. In January, 2008, was voted "Best Album of 2007" by readers of the Dutch Progressive Rock Page[38]. The LP version of Fear of a Blank Planet includes the Nil Recurring EP tracks.
A recording from an 4 October 2007 in-store, mostly acoustic, performance at Park Avenue CDs in Orlando (Florida) was released on 18 February 2008 on CD under the name of We Lost The Skyline[39]. The title is a reference to the lyrics of "The Sky Moves Sideways (Phase One)," which was the opening song on the live set. The album was released on vinyl of 21 March 2008[40]. It was originally intended to be a full-band show, but lack of space in the store determined that only the two guitarists, Steven Wilson and John Wesley, played.
According to Porcupine Tree's manager, Andy Leff, the band planned to release a live album in September, 2008[41]. Wilson commented that the album will be issued through Roadrunner Records[42]. However, the live record is currently put on hold without a known future. This was confirmed by Gavin Harrison on the Drummerworld forum's post #2540 of Gavin's thread[43]. The band played a short European tour in October 2008 in order to shoot their second live DVD. The filming took place on 15 and 16 October, 2008 in the Netherlands at the 013 Tilburg venue[44]. In this leg of the tour the band played for the first time as headliners in Portugal.
During one of these shows, Wilson mentioned that Porcupine Tree had started work on material for their next album, with an eye toward a release in 2009[45].
The Incident (2009-present)
The band started recording their tenth studio album - The Incident - in February 2009. This was confirmed by the band, posting this message on their official website: "Writing for the next PT studio record is well underway, with the band recently spending two weeks scheduled in the English countryside working on new tracks. Recording of these pieces and a new 35 minute SW song cycle were due to start in February..." A tour was announced on the band's website and MySpace, along with dates, following release of the new album.[46] Around March and April, Wilson commented the 35 minute song kept evolving and now it has become a 55 minute song, occupying the entire disc.
On 12 June 2009, details were revealed on the Porcupine Tree website: "the record is set to be released via Roadrunner Records worldwide on 21st September, as a double CD. The centre-piece is the title track, which takes up the whole of the first disc. The 55-minute work is described as a slightly surreal song cycle about beginnings and endings and the sense that ‘after this, things will never be the same again.’ The self-produced album is completed by four standalone compositions that developed out of band writing sessions last December - Flicker, Bonnie The Cat, Black Dahlia, and Remember Me Lover feature on a separate EP length disc to stress their independence from the song cycle."[47]
Musical style
Influences
As a teenager, Wilson was a fan of the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. From this starting point, his interest in music progressed on a cyclic path. When he discovered Seventies music and progressive rock, his interest in metal diminished in favour of experimental music. He later (in the 2000s) discovered bands like Gojira, Mastodon, Neurosis and Meshuggah, which restored his faith in metal music. "For a long time I couldn't find where all these creative musicians were going…", said Wilson, "and I found them, they were working in extreme metal." Shortly thereafter he went to produce three consecutive albums by Swedish progressive death metal band Opeth and this had a considerable influence in his further songwriting[48].
This shift in influence explains why the musical range of Porcupine Tree can be split into three phases, namely from long psychedelic and space rock pieces in early works, to shorter pop rock songs in late nineties, and darker more metal-oriented songs in the beginning of the 21st century. There is also some noticeable influence from krautrock and electronic music since Wilson likes bands such as Can, Neu!, Tangerine Dream[49], Squarepusher, Aphex Twin[15] and artists like Klaus Schulze and Conrad Schnitzler among others[1][49]. Wilson has also mentioned on multiple occasions that he also admires the work of American musician Trent Reznor[50][51][8].
Characteristics
The music of Porcupine Tree is often described as melancholic by many people, even though it is not necessarily linked to Steven Wilson's personality. He states music is a way for him to channel all his negative feelings[52], and "an exorcism of those elements within"[53], finding it "easier to write songs about the negative side of the world than it is about the happy side of the world."[13] In the Warszawa live radio broadcast album, before performing "Stop Swimming", Wilson can be heard saying "the saddest music is often the most beautiful."
Porcupine Tree is notable for being an album-oriented band, making very conceptual records where many songs are related to each other.[15] Even so, each Porcupine Tree song has a distinguishable personality. Wilson explains:
"The important thing with Porcupine Tree is that all our songs have a unique sound world that they inhabit. I don't like the idea of any song sounding like any other song. So most of the time it's a case of finding the sound world first whether it be a texture or a drum rhythm that sets you off on a certain musical path, or particular musical atmosphere, or flavor."[15]
For their recordings the band has included mellotron, banjo, hammered dulcimer and guimbri among other instruments unusual for rock bands.
Above all, Porcupine Tree music has maintained a strong textural and experimental quality, often fusing many genres in a single track. The band's work is noted for its atmospheric nature (strongly helped by Barbieri's keyboard style and sound-processing abilities) and cinematic scope (Wilson is a declared fan of American filmmaker David Lynch[54][55], whose films are renowned for their sonic content). "Very layered, very produced, very arranged and [with] complex arrangements" is the way Wilson describes the sound of the band[56]. Apart from their regular edition, the albums Stupid Dream, Lightbulb Sun, In Absentia, Deadwing and Fear of a Blank Planet are available in DTS (5.1 Surround Sound) mix; this mixing technique has become a tradition for the band in recent years.
Genre discord
Porcupine Tree are often categorised as a progressive rock band. Although many listeners familiar with the group label them as such, Steven Wilson has been noted in the past to express a certain dislike for the use of the term "progressive" to refer them[1]. However, in a more recent interview with Prog Archives.com, he made note that he has since become more relaxed towards the word considering it is becoming "a much broader term"[34] as time passes. He has frequently stated that he dislikes the press comparing Porcupine Tree with neo prog bands or citing them as 'the New Pink Floyd.' "For me that is so insulting", commented Wilson in an interview with The Dutch Progressive Rock Page, "because it insinuates that you are living in the shadow of some other band. I particularly never wanted to be the new anybody, I just wanted to be the old Porcupine Tree, or the new Porcupine Tree."[21]
Band members
Current members
Steven Wilson – vocals, guitars, piano, synthesizers and many more (1987-Present)
Richard Barbieri – keyboards, synthesizers, piano and sound processing (1993-Present)
Colin Edwin – bass guitar and double bass(1993-Present)
Gavin Harrison − drums and percussion (2002-Present)
Former members
Chris Maitland − drums, backing vocals (1993-2002)
Live musicians
John Wesley − guitar, backing vocals (2002-present)
Guest musicians
Theo Travis − flute, saxophone (1995, 1999)
Stuart Gordon − violin (2000)
Nick Parry − cello (2000)
Aviv Geffen – vocals (2002)
Mikael Ã…kerfeldt − guitar, backing vocals (2005)
Adrian Belew − guitar (2005)
Alex Lifeson − guitar (2007)
Robert Fripp − guitar, soundscapes (2007)
Ben Coleman − violin (2007)
Rick Edwards − percussion (1995)
Suzanne Barbieri − vocals (1993, 1995)
Discography
Studio albums
On the Sunday of Life... (1991)
Up the Downstair (1993)
The Sky Moves Sideways (1995)
Signify (1996)
Stupid Dream (1999)
Lightbulb Sun (2000)
In Absentia (2002)
Deadwing (2005)
Fear of a Blank Planet (2007)
The Incident (2009)
References
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53.^ ""Innerviews: Porcupine Tree - Cinematic catharsis"". http://www.innerviews.org/inner/ptree2.html. Retrieved 2008-04-08.
54.^ ""KNAC.COM - Features - Interview With Porcupine Tree's Steven Wilson". 2005-06-25. http://www.knac.com/article.asp?ArticleID=3724. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
55.^ ""Steven Wilson's MySpace"". http://www.myspace.com/therealstevenwilson. Retrieved 2008-04-11.
56.^ ""Porcupine Tree In Absentia DVD-Audio - Steven Wilson Interview". HighFidelityReview.com. 2004-03-07. http://www.highfidelityreview.com/features/porcupine_tree.asp. Retrieved 2008-04-08.
-- wiki
Black Dahlia
by
Lamb of God
I am the ones and the zeros that control commerce
and file you silently far away.
I am the children starving in the gutter
bellies full of poverty unabated.
I am nihilism no future base instinct realized environmental collapse.
I am life.
I am the corpse of decency crucified
on a post of greed and moral decay.
I am man.
Submit and surrender unto Ceasar
what is his rightful due.
Complete oppression no catharsis
in emphatic contempt for all of life.
I am man.
Lamb of God is an American heavy metal band from Richmond, Virginia, formed in 1994. Lamb of God consists of vocalist Randy Blythe, guitarists Mark Morton and Willie Adler, bassist John Campbell, and drummer Chris Adler and is a member of the New Wave of American Heavy Metal.[1]
Since its formation, Lamb of God has released six studio albums, one live album, and three DVDs. The band's cumulative sales equal almost two million in the United States. In 2007 the band received a Grammy nomination for their 2006 album Sacrament. Lamb of God has toured with the Ozzfest twice and appeared on Slayer's The Unholy Alliance Tour in 2006. They have also played at many other major festivals around the world including Download Festival and Sonisphere Festival in the UK, Soundwave Festival and Gigantour. Recently, (as in 2008-2009) they have toured with Metallica (World Magnetic Tour).
History
Formation and Burn the Priest (1994–1999)
In 1990, guitarist Mark Morton, drummer Chris Adler and bassist John Campbell started a band named Burn the Priest. The band members knew each other from the college they were all attending, Virginia Commonwealth University, in Richmond, Virginia.[2] Morton left the band soon after its inception to receive his master's degree. Adler and Campbell replaced Morton with Abe Spear. For the next five years, the band practiced in Adler's house and around Virginia. In 1995, the band released its self-titled first demo. After the demo, Burn the Priest recorded two split albums with Agents of Satan and ZED respectively.[3] After the band's first three demos, Burn the Priest added vocalist Randy Blythe to its line up.[3]
In 1997, Morton returned to the band. Two years later, the band released its first full-length self-titled album, Burn the Priest, through Legion Records. Mikey Bronsnan of Legion Records saved up $2,500 for the recording and then broke them in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania through DIY shows.[4] The album was produced by Today Is the Day guitarist and vocalist Steve Austin. Spear left the band, leaving an open position for a guitarist. Adler's brother, Willie Adler, became the band's second guitarist a year later, and a deal with Prosthetic Records was signed.[3] After being banned from playing in certain places (some venue owners believing the band possessed an "evil" name),[5] Burn the Priest changed their name to Lamb of God.
New American Gospel and As the Palaces Burn (2000–2003)
Guitarist Mark Morton performing at the With Full Force music festival in 2007.With a new name and label, the band released its second album, New American Gospel, in September 2000.[6] Patrick Kennedy of Allmusic compared the band to Pantera stating, "The essential signatures of post-Pantera metal are in abundance on Lamb of God's inaugural album. New American Gospel provides a mighty oak upon which gritty American metal's faith is maintained, effectively bridging the '90s' insistence upon drill-sergeant technicality and the old school's determined focus on riff construction."[6] Chris Adler commented: "This is a classic record. We had all the elements come together to make one of the heaviest, yet contagious records of our career. It was difficult to contain us—we didn't even understand at the time what we had created."[7]
Lamb of God toured for two years before releasing its third studio album, As the Palaces Burn, on May 6, 2003. Kirk Miller of Rolling Stone gave the album three out of five stars, writing that "unlike many of their overreaching, Slipknot-influenced contemporaries, Lamb of God deliver a meticulously crafted metal assault."[8] The album was voted the number one album of 2003 by both Revolver Magazine and Metal Hammer. The band toured on the first Headbangers Ball tour, where they recorded a DVD including live performances and a documentary, titled Terror and Hubris. The DVD was a success, debuting at number 31 on the Billboard Top Music Videos chart.[9][10]
Ashes of the Wake (2004–2005)
Vocalist Randy Blythe performing at Ozzfest 2004.Lamb of God released Ashes of the Wake in August 2004, which debuted at number 27 on the Billboard 200, and sold over 35,000 copies in its first week.[11][12] The album was distributed through the band's new record label, Epic Records. Johnny Loftus of Allmusic praised the album, saying "With the genre getting clogged by PVC goofs and Alice in Chains impersonators, Lamb of God balances the equation of power, rage, tradition, and craft. It kills the filler."[13] The title track of the album featured Testament and ex–Megadeth guitarists Alex Skolnick and Chris Poland, respectively.[13]
The band supported Ashes of the Wake with extensive touring, including a second stage slot on Ozzfest in 2004,[14] and the 2005 Sounds of the Underground tour.[15] The band was awarded 2nd Best Album of the Year by Revolver Magazine behind Mastodon's Leviathan, and was awarded Best Music Video for "Now You've Got Something to Die For" (2005).[16] While on tour, the band recorded a performance and released it with the name of Killadelphia. The release was made available as a DVD and a CD.[17] The DVD was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America in 2007.[18]
In 2006, the first single from the album, "Laid to Rest", was featured as a playable track in Guitar Hero II[1] and rereleased for Guitar Hero: Smash Hits, and was later used as downloadable content for Rock Band[2].
Sacrament (2005–2007)
Bassist John Campbell performing at 2007's With Full Force.In August 2006 Lamb of God released its fifth studio album, Sacrament. The album debuted at number eight on the Billboard 200 and sold nearly 65,000 copies in its first week of sales, nearly doubling the first week sales of Ashes of the Wake.[11] The album received generally positive reviews, with Cosmo Lee of Stylus Magazine stating, "Sacrament has the band's most memorable songs to date. Musically, there's no fat. The band plays with laser precision and songs move smoothly through riffs and transitions."[19] Ed Thompson of IGN referred to Sacrament "one of the best metal albums of 2006",[20] and Jon Pareles of Blender called it a "speed rush all the way through".[21]
The band appeared on major tours to support the album, including The Unholy Alliance with Slayer, Mastodon, Children of Bodom, and Thine Eyes Bleed,[22] Gigantour, supporting Megadeth;[23] main stage at Ozzfest;[14] an appearance at the Download Festival, and an exclusive co-headlining tour with Killswitch Engage, Soilwork, and Devil Driver where Killswitch Engage and Lamb of God shared headlining spots alternately each show.[24] Lamb of God was nominated for Best Metal Performance at the 2007 Grammy Awards for "Redneck", but lost out to Slayer's "Eyes of the Insane".[25]
In December 2007, the band re-released the album as Sacrament: Deluxe Producer Edition. The release contained all of the original songs from Sacrament on the first disc, and the second disc was a CD-ROM featuring all of the vocal, bass, guitar, and drum tracks in 192kbit/s MP3 format, enabling the buyer to produce their own interpretation of the songs. Blythe stated, "you sometimes have to do something special to get kids to even buy an album these days rather than download it."[26] The band is taking a break to write new material throughout 2008 and prepare a new record for release, slated for 2009. The band is negotiating for a new record label to distribute records outside the United States. Chris Adler stated Epic Records in the United States "couldn't be more perfect", but wants a different label for international releases.[27] The band later inked a deal with Roadrunner on 1 May 2008 for distribution outside the United States.
Walk with Me in Hell and Wrath (2008 onward)
Randy Blythe at 2007's With Full Force.On May 3, Lamb of God announced via MySpace their new DVD, Walk with Me in Hell, would be released on July 1, 2008. The DVD is a double-disc and has nearly five hours of footage, containing the feature documentary Walk with Me in Hell and multiple live performance extras from the Sacrament World Tour. At the end of the Walk with Me in Hell documentary the members stated that they are excited more than ever to write new material.
In August, 2008, it was announced that the band had commenced work on the follow-up to Sacrament, and that its release was scheduled for February, 2009. Josh Wilbur was also named as the producer for the record.[28] They will also be touring with Metallica as a direct support act starting in December 2008.[29]
The recording process of the new record was made available to view online live through the band's website, with two webcams installed in the studio (specifically in the drum room and mixing room).[30]
Their latest album is named Wrath [31] and was released on February 23, 2009 internationally via Roadrunner Records and on February 24, 2009 in America via Epic Records. The album is dedicated to Mikey Bronsnan, who helped them get started in Philadelphia, PA. In November 2008, Bronsnan was killed by a drunk driver. According to drummer Chris Adler, "Without Mikey, we'd very well might not be a band today."[32] Drummer Chris Adler was quoted saying "This album is going to surprise a lot of people. Typically bands that get to where we are in our career begin to slack off, smell the roses and regurgitate. We chose a different path. No one wants to hear another band member hyping a new record. ‘Wrath’ needs no hype. We have topped ourselves and on February 24 you will feel it." With that said, "Wrath" debuted on the Billboard 200 at number two, selling over 68,000 copies in its first week.[33]
In support of Wrath, the band in spring of 2009 embarked on the first leg of their world tour, No Fear Energy Tour headlined by themselves with main support from Children of Bodom, and rotating opening slots with God Forbid and Municipal Waste.[34] The tour was a massive success for the band with rave reviews and large turnouts at each show. The band played in Europe in the summer to perform with Metallica on the World Magnetic Tour along with Mastodon, while also playing headlining shows of their own and performing at major European festivals. For the final six dates of the tour, Unearth's Buz McGrath filled in for Mark Morton, as he left early to be with his wife and his first child.
Lamb of God has been announced to also serve as Metallica's direct support for the North American leg of their 2009 world tour, as well as finishing the year off by headlining shows in Australia and New Zealand with Shadows Fall and DevilDriver.
Commenting on the dispute over lineup slots at the UK Sonisphere Festival where Limp Bizkit were booked into the slot previously given to Machine Head, Willie Adler said of Limp Bizkit "I wouldn’t wanna open up for Limp Bizkit! They’ve been out of the scene for so long, I mean, who cares? Who cares about Limp Bizkit? [...] Fuck those dudes! Fuck that band, and fuck all the people who work for that fuckin’ band!" [35]
Lamb of God has also been nominated for a Grammy in 2010 for the Best Metal Performance category.
Musical style
Lamb of God was originally an instrumental band called Burn the Priest, and included vocals after Randy Blythe joined. Since the success of the release of 2004's Ashes of the Wake[36][37] the band has been considered a leader of the "New Wave of American Heavy Metal".[1]
Burn the Priest and early Lamb of God has been defined as a thrash metal, death metal and hardcore punk[37] or grindcore[38] hybrid with a strong element of power groove, which often connects Lamb of God with the influential metal band Pantera. Another connection between Pantera and Lamb of God is the fact that both were and are highly influential metal bands from the Southern United States, Texas and Virginia, respectively. Along with Mastodon, from Georgia, Lamb of God could currently be helping to strengthen a young tradition of great southern metal that was first pioneered by Pantera.[6][13][37][39][40][41] Burn the Priest and early Lamb of God include growling death metal vocals.[37] The style has been considered to vary between several different genres, including hardcore punk, thrash metal, and even possessing sludge metal influences.[37]
Guitarist Mark Morton performing at 2004's OzzfestNew American Gospel continues in a similar style as Burn the Priest, with drum-heavy production of double picking and double-kick drumming.[6] Here, the band has been considered by Allmusic to be effectively bridging the 1990s' tendency towards technicality and early metal's focus on riff construction and plays a brand of heavy metal described as not unlike Meshuggah without some of their mathematical components.[6][39]
2003's As the Palaces Burn saw the band's compositions focusing more on what some have called "memorable" riffs.[40] On 2004's Ashes of the Wake, they continued the progression of As the Palaces Burn with more frequent guitar solos.[13]
Sacrament, released in 2006, was described by critics as more technical, especially considering the vocal performance. Again, the band experimented with more melody and guitar solos; however, the band has also been often reproached by the critics for the similarity of the songs within their albums.[41][42] This album is the primary representative of a growing development in the direction of the epic. Specifically 'Sacrament' and 'As the Palaces Burn' share many elements that could be considered musically 'darker' than opposing releases (extensive use of minor classical scales, for example).
Due to the variety of influences, stylistic elements and changes throughout the band's career the press has chosen several genres and terms to describe Lamb of God's music. Lamb of God has been labeled as a Groove Metal band. Campbell, on the Walk With Me in Hell DVD, says that Lamb of God is "a punk band that plays heavy metal", while Chris Adler refers to Sacrament as a speed metal album.
Discography
Studio albums
Burn the Priest (1999)
New American Gospel (2000)
As the Palaces Burn (2003)
Ashes of the Wake (2004)
Sacrament (2006)
Wrath (2009)
DVDs
Terror and Hubris (2003)
Killadelphia (2005)
Walk with Me in Hell (2008)
Members
Randy Blythe – lead vocals (1995 onward)
Mark Morton – lead guitar (1990, 1997 onward)
Willie Adler – rhythm guitar (1998 onward)
John Campbell – bass (1990 onward)
Chris Adler – drums (1990 onward)
Former members
Abe Spear – guitar (1990–1998)
Session members
Buz McGrath - Guitar (few live shows in 2009)
Doc Coyle - Guitar (live shows in late 2009)
References
1.^ Lee, Cosmo. "Lamb of God: Sacrament". Stylus. http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/lamb-of-god/sacrament.htm. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
2.^ Bredimus, Kate (2003-06-05). "This week in local music: Lamb of God". Richmond.com. http://www.richmond.com/music/9820. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
3.^ "Lamb of God – Reglarwiglar interview". Reglarwiglar.com. http://www.reglarwiglar.com/LambofGod.html. Retrieved 2008-02-22.
4.^ Azerrad, Michael. "Wrath of God: Almost a full decade into their harrowing journey through the metal wilderness, Richmond's finest deliver an album of biblical proportions." Revolver Apr. 2009: pp. 52–59.
5.^ Kelter, Christopher J. (2000-11-27). "Pure American metal – An interview with Lamb of God". Rough Edge. http://www.roughedge.com/features/lambofgod1100.htm. Retrieved 2008-01-19.
6.^ Kennedy, Patrick. "New American Gospel overview". All Music Guide. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:0jfyxqukldse. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
7.^ "Lamb of God – Biography". Lamb–of–god.com. http://www.lamb-of-god.com/history.php. Retrieved December 20, 2009.
8.^ Miller, Kirk (2003-06-12). "As the Palaces Burn". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/lambofgod/albums/album/131547/review/5942808/as_the_palaces_burn. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
9.^ "Top Music Videos – Terror and Hubris". Billboard charts. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/esearch/chart_display.jsp?cfi=388&cfgn=Videos&cfn=Top+Music+Video&ci=3052566&cdi=8106173&cid=01%2F31%2F2004. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
10.^ "Headbangers Ball tour". Evillittleclown.com. http://www.evillittleclown.com/hbbarchive/albumsite.html. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
11.^ Hasty, Katie (2006-08-23). "Danity Kane Sidesteps OutKast To Claim No. 1". Billboard.com. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/search/google/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003084982. Retrieved 2007-12-22.
12.^ "Artist Chart History". Billboard charts. http://www.billboard.com/bbcom/retrieve_chart_history.do?model.chartFormatGroupName=Albums&model.vnuArtistId=408918&model.vnuAlbumId=792155. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
13.^ Loftus, Johnny. "Ashes of the Wake". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:fifwxqtsld0e~T1. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
14.^ "Ozzfest – Alumini". Ozzfest.com. http://www.ozzfest.com/static_content/view/alumni.html. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
15.^ "Sounds of the Underground". Soundsoftheundergroundtour.com. http://www.soundsoftheundergroundtour.com/meetandgreet/. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
16.^ "Slipknot, Lamb of God, Shadows Fall to team up for U.S. arena tour". Blabbermouth.net. 2004-12-07. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=30097. Retrieved 2008-02-11.
17.^ "Killadelphia". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:j9fqxqqdldje. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
18.^ "Gold and Platinum – Searchable database". RIAA. http://riaa.com/goldandplatinumdata.php?table=SEARCH. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
19.^ Lee, Cosmo (2006-09-07). "Sacrament – Stylus Magazine review". Stylus Magazine. http://www.stylusmagazine.com/reviews/lamb-of-god/sacrament.htm. Retrieved 2007-12-27.
20.^ Thompson, Ed (2006-11-09). "Lamb of God - Sacrament LoG progresses, takes aim.". IGN.com. http://au.music.ign.com/articles/745/745032p1.html. Retrieved 2007-12-27.
21.^ Pareles, Jon (2006-08-22). "Sacrament – Blender review". Blender Magazine. http://www.blender.com/guide/reviews.aspx?id=4208. Retrieved 2007-12-27.
22.^ "Slayer: Unholy Alliance Tour DVD Preview Available". Blabbermouth.net. 2007-10-30. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=83823. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
23.^ "Gigantour 2 Complete DVD And CD Details Revealed". Blabbermouth.net. 2008-01-30. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=89554. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
24.^ "Lamb of God: Drummer Issues Update". Blabbermouth.net. 2007-07-09. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=76357. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
25.^ "Slayer Wins Grammy in Best Metal Performance Category". Blabbermouth.net. 2007-07-09. http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=66845. Retrieved 2002-02-11.
26.^ Hensch, Mark. "Lamb of God Interview". Rocknworld.com. http://www.rocknworld.com/thrashpit/reviews/07/LambofGodInterviewRandy.shtml. Retrieved 2007-01-08.
27.^ Morgan, Anthony. "Again We Rise". Lucemfero.com. http://www.lucemfero.com/lambofgod112007.php. Retrieved 2008-02-08.
28.^ "Lamb Of God: New album!". Kerrang. 2008-08-15. http://www2.kerrang.com/2008/08/lamb_of_god_new_album.html. Retrieved 2008-08-15.
29.^ "Tour Shocker ... Metallica to play in N. America!". 2008-08-10. http://www.metallica.com/index.asp?item=601097. Retrieved 2008-09-17.
30.^ "Lamb Of God get all Big Brother". Kerrang. 2008-09-11. http://www2.kerrang.com/2008/09/lamb_of_god_get_all_big_brothe.html. Retrieved 2008-09-11.
31.^ http://www.thrashhits.com/2008/11/lamb-god-to-release-their-wrath/
32.^ Azerrad, Michael. "Wrath of God: Almost a full decade into their harrowing journey through the metal wilderness, Richmond's finest deliver an album of biblical proportions." Revolver Apr. 2009: 52-59.
33.^ "Lamb Of God News - The Wrath Of Lamb Of God!". idiomag. 2008-11-03. http://www.idiomag.com/peek/47670/lamb_of_god. Retrieved 2008-11-03.
34.^ http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/blabbermouth.Net/news.aspx?mode=Article&newsitemID=112519
35.^ http://www.komodorock.com/interviews/interviews/slated-at-sonisphere---lamb-of-god%27s-willie-adler-kicks-out-at-limp-bizkit-2009080312013/
36.^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "Lamb of God: Biography". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=11:jxfyxqqkld0e~T1. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
37.^ Loftus, Johnny. "Burn the Priest". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&token=&sql=10:wzfwxqqsldfe. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
38.^ Amy Sciarretto. "LAMB OF GOD: New American Gospel". CMJ. http://prod1.cmj.com/articles/display_article.php?id=28643. Retrieved 2008-05-24.
39.^ Sciarretto, Amy. "LAMB OF GOD: As The Palaces Burn". CMJ. http://prod1.cmj.com/articles/display_article.php?id=39164. Retrieved 2008-04-04.
40.^ Rivadavia, Eduardo. "As the Palaces Burn". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:dzfexq8aldhe. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
41.^ Steffen, Chris. "Lamb of God: Sacrament". Rolling Stone. http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/lambofgod/albums/album/11199056/review/11925656/sacrament. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
42.^ Monger, James Christopher. "Sacrament". Allmusic. http://www.allmusic.com/cg/amg.dll?p=amg&sql=10:hxfexqudldse. Retrieved 2008-04-03.
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