LIGHT THIEVES "Beast Went Pale" via Culture Creature

“‘Beast Went Pale’ is an expanding cosmos that unfolds one layer at a time; celestial riffs and soaring vocals ripple throughout the composition… The song blossoms with reverb-drenched melodies as it coasts on a buoyant groove.”

--Culture Creature

“Whether you’ve tried LSD or not, there’s no denying you can point out a pretty good song to trip out to as soon as you hear it... an audible kaleidoscope right from the get-go fusing sounds from the likes of Minus The Bear and Young the Giant.”

--The Noise

“...prog-rock gone hyperspeed. Organs and synths abound, backed by a propulsive rhythm section and lead guitar that threatens to rip every song open. Somehow, they keep the chaos contained, creating music that is perfect for getting those Thursday night crazies out.”

--Gelatinous Blog

Stream the new track, “Beast Went Pale,” via Culture Creature: http://www.culturecreature.com/light-thieves-beast-went-pale/

This track is a single off of Light Thieves’ newest LP, Future Colors, which will be available digitally and on clear vinyl in a limited release of 200 via Gotta Groove Records on March 10th. Cover art by Robert Amador. Preorder here.

Upcoming Shows:

March 15th--Sacramento, CA @ Red Museum w/ Gentleman Surfer
March 17th-- Eugene, OR @ Axe & Fiddle
March 18th-- Portland, OR @Bunk Bar PDX- w/ Dan Dan
March 19th-- Olympia, WA @ Le Voyeur
March 20th--Seattle, WA @ Back Bar
March 22nd-- Tacoma, WA @ The Java Jive
March 23rd-- Corvallis, OR @ Bomb's Away
March 24th--Treefort Music Festival @ Neurolux
March 29th--LA, CA @ Lot 1 Cafe
March 30th--Pomona, CA @ DBA256

HELLKEEPER + Cvlt Nation

"Feral rage! From beginning to the end, this band is on a mission to fuck up the world with an all-out attack on the listener's ear drums."
–Cvlt Nation

"Hellkeeper are explosive. Their blackened hardcore sound has earned them comparisons to Rotten Sound, Deathspell Omega, and even Converge. Flashes of each band can be heard but Hellkeeper is still able to set themselves apart."
–Decibel

"A thunderous mixture of blast beats, distorted vocals, and pulverizing breakdowns. Ghastly and savage, Hellkeeper hit all the right notes in the song of our dark, dark souls."
–Nerdist

Cvlt Nation has premiered Hellkeeper's "Obscure," the opening track off the upstate New York band's upcoming new album A World Within Flesh.

"Obscure" lays down rabid, blackened hardcore of the stampeding Trap Them/Converge variety, balanced with some mournful, mid-tempo, Bolt Thrower battle-vibes.

Listen, here:
http://www.cvltnation.com/premiere-streaming-hellkeeper-obscure/

Out April 7th, A World Within Flesh was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Chris Bittner at Applehead Studios (Coheed and Cambria, Bad Brains, Team Sleep).

"The album is about wanting to live in a dream world because reality is too painful," says frontman Paul Butler. His lyrics use literary references to paint their pictures of depression: "I utilized ideas from Hamlet and Don Delillo's White Noise, among other books."

Photo by Dylan Kaplowitz

CHAINLINKS: February 2017

Each month, we will be selecting guests to share three links of interest with us; their picks can be anything that has resonated with them recently, music-related or otherwise. To kick this monthly tradition off, we'll be starting with us here at The Chain.

Brandon Gallagher:

[Old Wounds | The Chain | Secret Nature]

1. Eisley - I'm Only Dreaming:

2. Robb Bank$ - Year of the Savage:

3.Vein - Split w/ Gif From God:

Curran Reynolds:

[Body Stuff | The Chain]

1. Olivia Neutron-John:

 

2. Neon Music:

3. The Passenger, Michelangelo Antonioni:

Justin Pearson:

[Three One G Records | Retox | Dead Cross | Head Wound City | Planet B | The Locust | The Chain]

1. San Diego's finest, Diamanda Galas (from the deep dark vaults of the television archives):

2. Let's get the fuck out of here:

https://futurism.com/nasa-just-found-a-solar-system-with-7-earth-like-planets/

3. Your War documentary:

SELF DEFENSE FAMILY + Brooklyn Vegan

"They often fall somewhere under the post-hardcore umbrella, but this is basically slowcore." - Brooklyn Vegan

Self Defense Family are back at it with the Bastard Form b/w Maybe You Could Explain It To Me 7” single. The effort is a continuous push to break boundaries set by their sonically different peers. The release will see a March 10th release via Alternatives Label.


Listen, here: http://www.brooklynvegan.com/self-defense-family-releasing-a-new-7-hear-maybe-you-could-explain-it-to-me/

Kindlon’s lyrics are a reflection of loss. The single “Bastard Form” depicts what triggers feelings of jubilation and sadness. Lines like “Heard your child laugh and I wept” balances out the closing line “Heard your child sob and I danced.” The b-side to the single is the track “Maybe You Could Explain It To Me” which features a melodic whisper of all the monotonous daily tasks that are constantly forgotten about, all while being intertwined with a soothing piano hook. Both songs are poetically driven anthems, layered over music spewing with emotion and sensation.


The effort was tracked and mixed at The Gallery in Brooklyn, NY with Jon Markson (Such Gold), and was mastered by Carl Saff (Helms Alee, Fu Manchu, Kowloon Walled City).


The layout was designed by Michael Bingham (Creative Adult), featuring photography by Catherine Varela.


Self Defense Family will release the Bastard Form 7” Single via Alternatives Label on March 10th, 2017.



Follow:
@selfdfens
selfdefensemusic.com

CRUSHED - Deep User

New York City's Crushed announces the April 14th release of second EP Deep User.

In a zone all its own, Crushed puts forth a very noisy, distorted brand of hardcore – teetering right on the line between the primitive metallic sound of late '80s NYHC and the more experimental sounds emanating from Martin Bisi's studio in those same years. Something like Unsane covering Madball, Crushed takes the heavy, thrashy efficiency of the New York hardcore OGs and smothers it in subterranean noise-rock grime.

Listen to new track "Annoying," off Deep User, here:
http://www.metalsucks.net/2017/02/23/exclusive-track-premiere-crusheds-annoying-is-anything-but/

Fittingly, the man responsible for recording and mixing Deep User is Ben Greenberg, guitarist of Uniform. As fans of Uniform's latest Sacred Bones Records release, Wake in Fright, know, that duo delivers a raw industrial assault, absolutely smothered by a blanket of noise; it could be said, what Uniform is to industrial music, Crushed is to hardcore. Josh Bonati (Pharmakon, Merchandise) handled the mastering.

Another piece of the puzzle: Crushed guitarist Jeff Bobula and drummer Greg Smith are members of the proggy Survival, the Hunter Hunt-Hendrix-led band whose 2013 debut on Thrill Jockey was described by Pitchfork with phrases like "titanium-grade riff" and "punishing in its embrace of zoned-out repetition." Bobula and Smith's background might explain the left-hand turns that occur throughout Deep User – heart-melting hooks, clean vocals, and sound effects blast out of the muck, opening up new dimensions of sound and revealing an artistic vision beyond Crushed's deceptively simple surface.

Lyrically, Deep User is brutal and candid. This is hardcore from an adult's point-of-view – frontman Fred Miketa states, "the entire album is about being a single dad battling with addiction and reflecting on getting older." Miketa says hardcore saved his life as a kid, and now through Crushed it is saving him for the second time. Hardcore might be a young man's game, but Crushed is proof it can be a real and relevant outlet in the hands of grown-ups.

From "Annoying": "Looking back at all the shit I lost / Bounced back but at what cost / I used to feel so safe / But in the end nobody's safe / Come to terms with dying soon / In the end we all will lose / It all used to seem so safe and clear / I miss my youth when shit was clear."

For fans of: Madball, Unsane, Uniform, Nails

Lineup:
Fred Miketa, vocals
Jeff Bobula, guitar
Kevin Emerson, guitar
Chris Kelley, bass
Greg Smith, drums

Discography:
Deep User EP (2017, self-released)
Losing Shit EP, 2013 (2013, Negative Desire Records)

Photo by James Hartley

Light Thieves' "Eight Belles Death Spark" via The Noise

“Whether you’ve tried LSD or not, there’s no denying you can point out a pretty good song to trip out to as soon as you hear it. Light Thieves’ new synth-laced sizzler “Eight Belles Death Spark” is certainly one of those songs… an audible kaleidoscope right from the get-go fusing sounds from the likes of Minus The Bear and Young the Giant.”

--The Noise

Stream the new track, “Eight Belles Death Spark,” via The Noise here.

"Eight Belles Death Spark" is a single off of Light Thieves’ newest LP, Future Colors, which will be available digitally and on clear vinyl in a limited release of 200 via Gotta Groove Records on March 10th. Cover art by Robert Amador. Preorder here.

Light Thieves "Goon Years" Video via New Noise

Watch the video for Light Thieves’ latest single, “Goon Years,” via New Noise here.

A four-piece from Fresno, California, Light Thieves is Mike Adame (synths, vocals), Joel Melton (guitar), Erica Salazar (bass), and Kaleb Saldate (drums). Formed in 2012, the band quickly gained a reputation for high energy live performances with a unique, often difficult to categorize, “groovy” sound. Their frequent touring has made them no stranger to California and the greater Pacific Northwest, with recent performing highlights including TreeFort Music Fest in Boise, ID, Catacomb Party Music Festival, and headlining at the legendary Bottom of the Hill in San Francisco. Drawing influences from psych/prog to motown to punk to hip hop, the band seeks to pull elements from seemingly unlike genres in an effort to make music both contemplative and atypical.

This video is a single off of Light Thieves’ newest LP, Future Colors, which will be available digitally and on clear vinyl in a limited release of 200 via Gotta Groove Records on March 10th. Preorder here.

Future Colors was recorded and mixed by Chris Mathews, Jr. (who has also engineered albums for bands like Sisters, Mos Generator, and X Suns) at Big Sound Studio in Seattle, WA.

The video for “Goon Years” was directed and edited by Chris Mathews Jr.

DRIP-FED + Decibel

"Austinites Drip-Fed pack plenty of pain and hope into 2 1/2 minutes... The hooky, hulking kind of punk hardcore that makes you listen over and over until you develop welts."
–Decibel

"We've just learned about Drip-Fed and they are freaking rad. They mix punk rock and post-hardcore into a mean cacophony of riffs and screams that will rattle your bones and shake your spirit. The end result is something wholly unique and beautifully fervent... Drip-Fed is a band to watch, no doubt."
–Nerdist

"A shambolic rager... Black Flag-ish riffing, to post-hardcore screaming, to some prog-ish stunts."
–PunkNews

Austin, Texas punkers Drip-Fed have revealed the title track off upcoming seven-inch Under the Wave Blanket, via Decibel.

A melodic-yet-savage anthem, "Under the Wave Blanket" is "the hooky, hulking kind of punk hardcore that makes you listen over and over until you develop welts," as Decibel's Shane Mehling puts it. Diamond-bright riffs, in the tradition of old gods like Greg Ginn and East Bay Ray, clash with frontman Jeffrey Blum's severely depressed vocals, setting up a tension that just devastates.

Listen here:
http://decibelmagazine.com/blog/2017/2/8/melodi-punk-core-hotshots-drip-fed-drag-you-down-with-under-the-wave-blanket

Recorded and mixed by Keith Hernandez, and mastered by Brad Boatright (Nails, Full of Hell), Under the Wave Blanket will be released March 3rd on Red Flag Records.

Drip-Fed, live:
Feb 16 - Austin, TX @ Fine Southern Gentlemen
Mar 2 - Austin, TX @ The Sidewinder - Under the Wave Blanket release show
Mar 9 - Houston, TX @ Walter's

Photo by Bryan Taylor

HELLKEEPER - A World Within Flesh

"Hellkeeper are explosive. Their blackened hardcore sound has earned them comparisons to Rotten Sound, Deathspell Omega, and even Converge. Flashes of each band can be heard but Hellkeeper is still able to set themselves apart."
–Decibel

Hellkeeper announces debut full-length A World Within Flesh and premieres new track "Drown" via Decibel.

Listen, here:
http://decibelmagazine.com/blog/2017/2/8/track-premiere-hellkeeper-drown

Set for an April 7th release, A World Within Flesh sees the upstate New York band bolt out of the gate with a blackened, grinding version of hardcore that Decibel likens to Rotten Sound, Deathspell Omega, and Converge.

Over galloping cavalry charges and the tidal wave riffs of guitarist Jack Xiques and bassist Terry Orlando, frontman Paul Butler's vocals seethe with pure, rabid feeling. Drummer Mike Pistone churns forward with the precision of a world-class metal drummer. Songs like "Obscure" and "Drown" are blasting, red-line assaults; "Threadbare" and "Species" shine with the added color of Butler's clean vocals.

"The album is about wanting to live in a dream world because reality is too painful," says Butler. His lyrics use literary references to paint their pictures of depression: "I utilized ideas from Hamlet and Don Delillo's White Noise, among other books."

A World Within Flesh was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Chris Bittner at Applehead Studios (Coheed and Cambria, Bad Brains, Team Sleep).

Founded in 2013 in the Hudson Valley region of New York State, Hellkeeper is a major player in the scene there, allied with a wide range of area bands, representative of the range within Hellkeeper's own sound – from hardcore vets All Out War to black metallers Black Table. Stay tuned for news of upcoming shows.

Tracklist:
1) Obscure
2) Drown
3) Henbane
4) Species
5) Quietus
6) Winter
7) Cycle
8) Threadbare
9) Simulacrum

Lineup:
Paul Butler - vocals
Jack Xiques - guitar
Terry Orlando - bass
Mike Pistone - drums

Discography:
A World Within Flesh, 2017
I Hear Death Calling EP, Manic Progression Records, 2014
Dead City demo, 2013

Cover art by Mike Brown

Photo by Dylan Kaplowitz

SET AND SETTING + Revolver

With new Set and Setting album Reflectionless released January 27th, the band has teamed with Revolver to premiere its video for the album's opening track, "Saudade."

Watch, here:
http://www.revolvermag.com/artist-artist-video-videos/set-and-setting-premiere-new-music-video-saudade/23020

The video marries tour footage, shot on the road in 2015, with the band's majestic, instrumental rock. "Saudade" chugs and soars; with two drummers propelling the beat, it drives forward with purpose. Recent reviews of new album Reflectionless compare the band to Pink Floyd, Russian Circles, and Mono.

Reflectionless was recorded by Ryan Haft (Torche, Wrong) at Black Bear Studios in Gainesville, Florida, and mastered by Ed Brooks (R.E.M., Death Cab for Cutie) at Resonant Mastering.

Listen to the full album, here: 
https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/set-and-settings-reflectionless-offers-beautiful-music-during-dark-times

Buy, here:
Vinyl and CD - http://setandsetting.merchnow.com/
Digital - http://awal.lnk.to/Reflectionless
Exclusive color vinyl (US) - http://scienceofsilence.limitedrun.com/
Exclusive color vinyl (EU) - https://shop.dunkfestival.com/collections/dunk-records

A European tour is in the works for the spring, including a slot on Dunk!festival in Belgium.

"Gorgeous and unexpectedly heavy... There is a quiet joy held within its tangle of notes... There are metallic moments coursing underneath... Now more than ever, we need beautiful music – and Set and Setting has delivered."
–Noisey

"Melancholic beauty suspended in the clouds with a birds-eye view of epic terrain... Soul-searing leads and shimmering, bending guitars that convey feelings of wonder and introspection."
–Stereogum

"Set and Setting bring a unique sound... The post-rockers throw a hint of psychedelia and even a metallic edge... The result is a captivating, wordless, genre amalgam."
–Decibel

"Metallic chug to trippy psychedelia to soaring post-rock beauty... Like Russian Circles teaming with early Pink Floyd."
–BrooklynVegan

"Foregoing the genre's typical ebb and flow in favor of a rumbling drive toward the unknown... Songs shift and morph like fragments of a particularly vivid dream."
–Exclaim!