crustcake - METAL BLOG: NEWS, REVIEWS, INTERVIEWS, MP3s AND MORE

CRUST BY CRUST CAKE 2013: FRIDAY/SATURDAY

2013-03-13T14:00:00.000-04:00

Hot talent on the streets of Austin. Ready for part two of our SXSW previews? You know you here. Here, we cover the madness that will go down Friday and Saturday. For reference, here's our guide to Wednesday, Thursday, and eats. FRIDAY Andy's sister turns 22. SHOTS! Luckily for us, Invisible Oranges' day party at the Jr. (aka the old Emo's, 603 Red River St.) has free Jameson. Death is our

CRUST BY CRUST CAKE 2013: WEDNESDAY/THURSDAY/FOOD

2013-03-13T09:00:00.000-04:00

Austin's rich queso tradition in full bloom. SXSW is about to pop off once more. Old friends come into town. Bros become bros. Sweating your gotdamn perm out. Bands come here with the intent of being "discovered," despite that the bands who are scheduled for all the right parties win the battle before stepping on the field. Assholes moving here from other parts of the country who have the

AUSTIN RAGING IN GOLD: NEUROSIS LIVE

2013-02-21T13:30:00.000-05:00

Neurosis When: Sunday, February 17, 2013 Where: Emo's East, Austin, TX By Van Darden (TX) On Sunday night, five men took the Emo's East stage in semi-darkness. Then, as the lights came up -- and stayed up for the duration of their hour-twenty set -- they proceeded to systematically dismantle, atom by atom, the near-sellout crowd who had gathered to bear witness to their own mutual

THE BADASS WEEKEND IN REVIEW

2013-02-21T11:58:00.003-05:00

By Andy O'Connor (TX) Houston was poppin' over the weekend. Namely, because of the All-Star Game. Flocka was in town, as were Jay-Z, 2 Chainz, Pusha T, Birdman, and a whole host of ballin' luminaries. Of course, much as we get hyped over some quality trap, we (well, just I) hit up Bad Ass Weekend at Walter's on Naylor Street instead. It lived up to the moniker. Lots of quality grind and death

ANDY O'CONNOR'S TOP 10 THINGS OF 2012

2013-01-15T15:24:00.000-05:00

Mostly musical, a few that aren't. If you want an albums list, you can find that at Metalsucks.10. No Gang ColorsIf I wasn't some hack who merely wrote about music and gets butthurt when people use that Teddy Roosevelt quote, I'd be No Gang Colors. The alias of Fort Worth musician and producer Joseph Ohegyi, he understands that hip-hop, metal, and noise aren't so dissimilar, and actually knows

IN WHICH WE SAY GOODBYE TO ECOCIDE

2013-01-11T12:37:00.000-05:00

Pictured above and below are Ecocide's final moments, snapped in a cramped living room in a squat on San Antonio's East Side. Rainy New Year's Eve show capped off a string of Texas dates, marking the end of the blackened crust collective's five-plus-year lifespan. A poetic capstone for their uncompromising -- and all too brief -- career. Out the way they came in, a scrappy DIY space called

VAN DAMNED'S BEST OF 2012

2013-01-09T11:00:00.000-05:00

I didn't do a lot of writing about music this year. I've been working on a large-scale writing project that's subsumed a lot of my free time and, frankly, I'd kept the music crit candle burning too brightly for too long. The wick, as they say, was growing short. But in between manic, protracted binges of of murky ambient, witchy dub and dark jazz -- the interstitial soundtrack to a

FUN FUN FUN FEST: THE RECAP (FUN-ALLY)

2012-12-17T09:00:00.000-05:00

Your faithful and intrepid protagonists, Van and Andy, once again braved the seasonably-for-Central-Texas warm weather and choking dust of a November weekend in Austin to throw themselves upon the altar built yearly unto the god Fun. Three times is He named, and three days and three nights didst they sacrifice eardrums and livers in His honor. (Well, Van could only sacrifice for two, since he

FUN FUN FUN PICKS: METAL!

2012-11-02T12:30:00.000-04:00

We gave you our non-metal reccommendations earlier...now, for the stuff we really love. Here are our choice cuts for the black stage (and one from the yellow!) so you know how to hesh best. TURBONEGRO Rock against shaking your shit machine, because you're not ready for this darkness. Black Stage, Sunday, 8:50. "Rock Against Ass" TORCHE Kiss your dude or dudette...dudely. Black Stage,

FUN FUN FUN FEST PICKS: NOT METAL

2012-11-02T11:24:00.000-04:00

Fun Fun Fun Fest is more than just about metal. It's about...fun? Fun is a pretty broad word. Here's some of the best stuff not going down on the Black Stage. RUN DMC Run DMC didn't invent hip-hop, but it's hard to imagine what the genre would be like without them. They invented swag with their Addidas, leather jackets, fedoras, and gold chains, and few have looked cooler since then. Friday,

CATCHING UP WITH PALLBEARER

2012-11-01T10:30:00.000-04:00

By Andy O'Connor (TX) 2012 has been Pallbearer's year. The Little Rock group released the year's best album, Sorrow and Extinction, an exquisite piece of mournful, yet somehow also uplifting doom. They toured all over the United States, playing festivals like SXSW (their Show No Mercy performance in particular was unbelievable), Hopscotch, and, soon to be, Fun Fun Fun Fest. All festivals that

CAKE BITES: MORBID ANGEL, SAINT VITUS, SLEIGH BELLS

2012-11-01T08:00:00.000-04:00

Morbid Angel When: October 20, 2012 Where: Backstage Live, San Antonio, TX With: Dark Funeral, Grave Saint Vitus When: October 19, 2012 Where: Beauty Ballroom, Austin, TX With: Weedeater Sleigh Bells When: October 18, 2012 Where: La Zona Rosa, Austin, TX Most people don't see Sleigh Bells, Saint Vitus, and Morbid Angel in a three-day period. I'm not most people, and you should probably be

YOB: BETTER THAN A CHRISTIAN MISFITS TRIBUTE BAND

2012-09-27T17:30:00.000-04:00

By Andy O'Connor (TX) Yob When: September 16, 2012 Where: Beauty Ballroom, Austin, TX With: Norska, Cormorant, JT Habersaat Yob are from the sunshine-deficient Eugene, Oregon. Sunday, they must have felt like they were at home, as Austin's skies were makin' it rain like Lil' B did a surprise show. Had Yob performed in an outdoor space, as opposed to the Beauty Ballroom, they may have parted

CRUSTCAKE'S CHAOS IN TEJAS WISHLIST

2012-09-26T12:30:00.000-04:00

Pictured: Sleep Bolt Thrower is finally coming to Austin. Did you hear that? BOLT THROWER IS FINALLY COMING TO AUSTIN. They're one of the bands announced for the initial lineup of 2013's Chaos in Tejas. If you look at the flyer, you'll see why their logo is the most prominent. As they don't tour and rarely play the States, this is a huge deal. We thought Autopsy at Chaos 2010 couldn't be topped

CRUSTCAKE STREAMS: AXESLASHER - 'MARK OF THE PIZZAGRAM/INVASION OF THE BABE SNATCHERS'

2012-09-13T14:30:00.000-04:00

There's a lot I miss about Colorado. The breathtaking scenery of the Rockies, stagedives at Speedwolf shows, rivers of craft beer, the beautiful women on CU campus, Sweet Action Ice Cream, sweaty nights at the Blast-O-Mat, Cherry Cricket, dispensary ads in local weeklies (I don't smoke, but naming a strand "Bruce Banner No. 3" rules), hangs with the Velnias crew, and most of all, seasons. As

DEATH OF SELF - MENTAL DISINTEGRATION

2012-07-09T17:03:00.001-04:00

By Andy O'Connor (TX) People flock to Colorado to find tranquility amongst the scenic mountain landscapes, the fresh air and abundance of marijuana and craft beer. Some come to start anew, some just want a little vacation, while others just hear that CU's a good party school. Overall, Colorado's pretty chill. So why does some of the state's metal output rank among the most vicious? Cephalic

CRUSTCAKE'S FUN FUN FUN FEST WISHLIST

2012-07-05T09:00:00.000-04:00

Turbonegro By Andy O'Connor (TX) November ain't just about turkeys and imperialism anymore. Fun Fun Fun Fest is fixing to get things turnt up once again at Austin's Auditorium Shores come the first weekend of International Drum Month. They've leaked a few bands so far -- relevant to us are southern proggers Baroness, Bob Mould of the legendary Hüsker Dü, hip-hop pioneer Rakim, Mike Patton's

SOUTHERN LORD DOES AUSTIN

2012-07-02T16:08:00.000-04:00

Black Breath Where: Red 7, Austin, TX When: June 28, 2012 With: Martyrdod, Burning Love, Enabler, Power Trip, Wild//Tribe by Andy O'Connor (TX) The picture above is a Boss HM-2 Heavy Metal distortion pedal, with all the knobs dialed to their respective maximums. It is the pedal that, by imbuing axe-weilders with its buzzsaw grind, launched the careers of Swedish death metal bands such as

CHAOS IN TEJAS: THE RECAP

2012-06-21T15:44:00.000-04:00

By Andy O'Connor (TX) Rattails spanging you. Split heads. All the right patches in all the right places. Broken 40s next to broken hearts. Vegan barbecue. Barbecue barbecue. A flyer that featured Absu, Antisect, and Best Fucking Coast. Bangovers that last longer than the hangovers. Metal dudes blasting club bangers in their car. Just another weekend in Austin. STARTING OFF THE WEEKEND WITH A

PANOPTICON - KENTUCKY

2012-06-13T15:00:00.000-04:00

By Van Darden (TX) Folk metal has always been the Europeans' game. Between trolls and goblins, Celtic warriors and the Norse Eddas, kokles, kanteles, and fucking humppa, the Germanic and Scandinavian hinterlands have long produced enough historical fodder to satisfy even the frilliest of frilly-shirted lute shredders and they've kept it pretty much on lock since its inception. Folk metal in

A JOURNEY TO THE CENTER OF MARYLAND DEATH FEST

2012-06-12T12:30:00.000-04:00

Pictured: Dragged Into Sunlight By Professor Pizza (CO) Our dude Professor Pizza, of Denver thrashers Axeslasher, was a cool enough bro to provide us with this account of this year's Maryland Death Fest. We're coming next year, we swear! Another year, another Death Fest. This year marked the tenth anniversary of Maryland Death Fest. If that makes you feel old, then good. You probably should

BEYOND THE THUNDERDOME: AN INTERVIEW WITH WILD//TRIBE

2012-05-31T17:26:00.001-04:00

By Andy O'Connor (TX) Imagine if the Mad Max series was distilled into a band. You'd have Forth Worth punk/crust/metal unit Wild//Tribe. While the group has only been around for a short time, members have made noise in respected bands from the DFW area including Unit 21 and Tolar. You think Austin has the monopoly on punk? Hardly! Dual vocal madness, nods to Japanese hardcore, constant

SCORE SOME 'BLASPHEMOUS BIRTH CANAL': AN INTERVIEW WITH MIDNIGHT

2012-05-30T12:00:00.000-04:00

By Andy O'Connor (TX) Rites of Darkness may have had logistics from hell, but no attendee would deny it was an amazing weekend. Most of the fest was top-shelf black and doom, but one of the highlights that broke from the kvlt kollective were Ohio speed metal unit Midnight. Stagediving and horn-pumping were reached their peak during Midnight's raucuous set. Some stagedivers even got a face full

CRUSTY CLIP OF THE WEEK: WINTER - 'GODEN' LIVE IN BROOKLYN

2012-05-30T10:30:00.000-04:00

Every single Wednesday without fail, your hosts post a suitably stale video clip that we think needs to be revisited. Click here for more Crusty Clips. Got a clip you think we should post? Send it to crustcake@gmail.com. Low and slow. Low and fucking slow. Need we say more? Winter will play at Mohawk on Saturday with Antisect, Deviated Instinct, Zyanose, Hoax, The Impalers, and Death

BLASTS AND BUD ICE: AN INTERVIEW WITH ABSU

2012-05-29T21:00:00.000-04:00

All photos by Melanie Hathaway By Andy O'Connor (TX) [Ed. note: Absu were forced to cancel their Chaos in Tejas appearance, as Proscriptor was rushed back to Texas following their Maryland Deathfest performance to perform surgery on a knee infection, and unfortunately will not recover in time for Saturday's show. Nonetheless, we wish him a full and speedy recovery.] One could argue that Absu