Tesseract - Altered State

While it seemed, for a period of time, that Tesseract's lead singer position was a near weekly revolving door (or dare I say in a continuously altered state?), the band always seemed to roll with the punches and maintained the accessible djentiness that was always at the heart of their sound.  With Ashe O'Hara now at the helm of the vocals department, Tesseract continues to deliver on this promise and has churned out what is certainly their finest full-length work to date, Altered State.

We'll Do It Live Fridays: Chillin At Coachella

Fridays here at Brutalitopia mean only one thing.....We'll Do It Live!  For the uninitiated, We'll Do It Live Fridays (or WDILF for short) is a celebration of live performances.  It's one thing if a band sounds good in the studio but the true test is whether or not they can deliver the goods live.  WDILF tries to bring to light specific bands and/or specific performances that truly shine through in the live setting.

See who made the cut this week after the break. 

Howl - "Bloodlines"

One of my favorite things about being a metal fan in 2013 is that with the internet, you can literally find hundreds, if not thousands, of bands you’ve never heard of every year.  The rise of Bandcamp and embedded tracks means you can hear bands at a clip like never before, which is fantastic.  Of course the flip side of that is sometimes bands slip through the cracks, and when you finally hear them, you curse your stupidity and wish to Dio that you’d found them sooner.  That sums up my experience with Howl over the past month, because evidently they had a self-titled EP in 2008 and a debut full-length titled Full of Hell in 2010, even though I didn’t learn of their existence – not to mention their impending album Bloodlines – until a few weeks ago.

Skinny Jeans and Blast Beats

Let’s play a quick game.  It won’t take long, and it won’t be hard.  Here’s how it will work: I’m going to ask you a question, you think of the answer, and then we see if you’re right or not.  Sounds fun, right?  Let’s give it a whirl.  Who won the World Series in 1984? Did you say the Detroit Tigers?  If you did, you were right.  Here’s another one, just for kicks: Which came first, Blackwater Park or Leviathan?  Blackwater Park you say? My, you’re good at this.  Ok, enough practicing, let’s break out the real deal.  What’s a name for a sub sect of society that is pretentious, overbearing, and spiteful toward those who think differently about pop culture than they, dresses in a manner deemed to be “weird” to the mainstream, and often views music, movies, et al in terms of absolutes rather than subjectively?  Cue the “Jeopardy” theme… ok.  Got your answers?  Raise your hand if you said “hipsters.”  Well that’s cute, and somewhat accurate, but it’s not what I was going for.

Exclusive Interview: Mikael Akerfeldt

This past Saturday, I had the extreme, lifelong dream come true pleasure of sitting down and talking with the one and only Mikael Akerfeldt from Opeth.  Opeth has long been my favorite band, and they were in the Chicago area on tour with Katatonia, so it was a great opportunity to sit down with Mikael and chat about a myriad of topics, like the state of metal music, his thoughts on working with his musical heroes, and even what the new Opeth record (!) might sound like.  Check out the interview below; I'm pretty sure it's awesome and you'll enjoy it, although I may have blacked out from too much awesome while actually speaking with him.

The Dillinger Escape Plan - One Of Us Is The Killer

The Dillinger Escape Plan’s fifth album “One Of Us Is The Killer” is a frustrating one. On the one hand, there are a number of the spastic, intense jams that listeners of the band have known to come and love, but on the other the band makes some very questionable moves that scar their otherwise strong track record. 

Exclusive Interview: Steven Wilson

This past Friday, Mick and I had the extreme pleasure of sitting down and talking with the one and only Steven Wilson.  It was the longest interview we've ever done, clocking in at nearly thirty minutes (!) and encompassing a wide range of subjects, including his solo work, his responses to the public's responses to his albums, and his feelings on the term "prog."  Needless to say, it was a huge honor to get to speak with a living legend, and you definitely don't want to miss our interview below.

The Vinyl Spin Debut

Howdy all,

For those who weren't aware, not only was this past Saturday 4/20 but it was also Record Store Day, a celebration of independent record stores where numerous unique vinyls and cds are released.  Wanting to get more into the spirit of things, Durf and I decided to try and launch a potential video series for Brutalitopia entitled "The Vinyl Spin."  

Check out what it's all about after the break (Spoiler Alert: it's about vinyls).

And a Happy Earth Day to YOU!

Greetings everyone!  As you may or may not know (I certainly had to be reminded), today is Earth Day, which means it's time to celebrate this great planet on which we live by trying our very, very best not to fuck it up beyond all recognition!  Obviously we should probably try and recycle more than once a year, but hey, nobody's perfect, so if you can at least give it a go today, we here at Brutalitopia shall raise a glass in your honor.

We Do It Live Fridays: Clutch - Earth Rocker

We'll Do It Live Fridays returns!