1. Gridfailure, Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggery III (Nefarious Industries)

2. Corrupter, Gloria in Profundis (Godz ov War)

3. Clairvoyance, Chasm of Immurement (Carbonized)

4. Drofnosura, Ritual of Split Tongues (Transcending Obscurity)

5. Toughness, Black Respite of Oblivion (Godz Ov War)

6. Viogression, Thaumaturgic Veil (Self-released)

7. Pyre, Where Obscurity Sways (Osmose Productions)

8. Species, Changelings (20 Buck Spin)

9. Glorious Depravity, Death Never Sleeps (Transcending Obscurity)

10. Ancient Death, Ego Dissolution (Profound Lore)

Multitudinous numerical references abound in the newest chapter from Big Apple-based noise artist Dave Brenner as Gridfailure. His impending album, Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggery III, was loosed upon unsuspecting sheeple on October 3 via renowned Philadelphia devolution merchants Nefarious Industries on digital and cassette.

This full-length is actually the third in a five-album concept series, which follows humankind’s destruction of our planet’s ecosystem. Brenner states it best: “The first three albums in the arc—Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggery I, II, and III—span the current unraveling of society, oblivious to the ongoing Anthropocene in which we’re immersed, the violent chapters of this triptych embody a harbinger, prophesizing the post-apocalyptic terrors to be told on the impending closing chapters of the album series – Teeth Collection and Drought Stick.”

To be certain, Gridfailure is unsettling: long forays into terror, with layer upon layer of noise, sometimes gauzy, other times smothering. The requisite guitars, bass, drums/percussion, keyboards, strings, field recordings are present, but Brenner also inserts near-recognizable sections of hopeful, major-key snippets that indicate that life’s drudgery still matters. Five cuts feature vocals and guitar from Today Is the Day maestro Steve Austin, as well as performances by Leila Abdul-Rauf (Vastum, Ionophore), Mac Gollehon (David Bowie, Duran Duran, Blondie), members of Dead Register, Yatsu, Chrome Waves, Humans Etcetera, US Christmas, Thetan, T.O.M.B., Walking Bombs, and a virtual who’s who of the experimental noise subculture. Mr. Brenner kindly turned down his distortion oscillators to answer my feeble queries below:

Gridfailure keeps on getting better and better with every release! I love the concept of the continuation of the “death of our planet’s ecosystem and humanity’s renaissance of self-mutilation.” Did this concept start with the Covid pandemic?

I’m incredibly grateful and thankful for your words on the album. I don’t work in a standard cycle like most, or many, artists do. Gridfailure is more an ongoing project that purges output to fit specific parameters and classifications when it’s time to finish a project and release it. I create sounds constantly, and I always have literally twenty to thirty projects in some sort of creation, so once a project reaches a certain tipping point where it makes sense to bring it to fruition, I finish and drop a record. 

The idea for the box set came out upon the release of the first SMES album and that was the plan. SMES I was released before the pandemic, but SMES II was released in 2020 during the pandemic, when we couldn’t manufacture physical media, so we never created a cassette for that one. We decided to just cut the II and III tapes in one shot rather than roll II post-digital and focus on the box set. So, I’ve had Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggery III finished, mastered, for two years before we put it into motion to release, so I’ve technically released around fifteen records, multiple compilation tracks, and more in the five-year gap between SMES II and III.

But Gridfailure, from its genesis, was created to portray ecological collapse and what will be humanity’s end of days, by our own hand, the SMES albums were just created in a specific theme and concept that ended up arcing over what is now a five-album series.

That you have FIVE albums on this concept in the barrel is simply incredible. Are Teeth Collection and Drought Stick already recorded, or sketched out, or are you letting your muse guide you down the dark paths?

It’s a convoluted timeline to put into words, but basically, Teeth Collection and Drought Stick were conceived largely recorded in several early improv/experimental sessions. I launched the project in early 2016 while I was in Theologian, and by mid-2016 when the first Gridfailure record Ensuring The Bloodline Ends Here saw release, I parted ways with that project and shifted my focus to Gridfailure. The basis of the Teeth Collection album was meant to be the second Gridfailure album, so to me, it’s “foundational” in the project’s core sound. I realized there was a connection between this Teeth Collection thing and Drought Stick, which I was also working on in that first year, and I intended to release Teeth Collection as album #2 and Drought Stick as album #3.

As this concept continued to expand with more material, I started plotting “several EPs” which would bridge and connect those two albums, but it just didn’t feel like the proper transition, so I altered the entire series into a five-album concept. So, Sixth Mass Extinction Skulduggery is the overall arc of these five albums. The first three records – Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggery I, II, and III – are all happening now and in the rapidly approaching near future as the Anthropocene is already underway. Teeth Collection and Drought Stick will act as the visionary after-effect albums, taking place once the grid has gone down, society has fully collapsed, and we’ve destroyed our ecosystem.

Therefore, the first three albums continue to progress with more diversity, technology, cross-genre expansion, and aggression, while some of my most rudimentary, archaic, and unrefined music will be released as Teeth Collection and Drought Stick, perhaps both next year during Gridfailure’s tenth anniversary if I can complete them in time.

Obviously your strain of noise is way more involved than sitting down with an acoustic guitar and writing melodies and lyrics. Does your songwriting happen organically? Does it keep you up at night?

Sometimes the lyrics are written first, and a song or concept written around them. There is no standard structure; it just continues to become. It’s constant. The faults of humanity and humankind’s assaults upon our ecosphere – our incurable infestation and consumption and lack of regard to our own planet – that’s what keeps me up at night. Taking into account the amount of plastic and garbage and shit we all see clogging rain gutters and street corners, all chopped up with the lawn clippings, next to the lovely deer hit by a car all bloated and rotting in the sun – I don’t understand how and/or when this is just “normal” to the everyday human, while the go to Starbucks and Target for plastic carts full of plastic-packaged singularly-plastic-wrapped items, posting photos of themselves eating plastic crap, with other folks out there stripping down forests for more space in which to build data centers to store useless info. Truly, that’s the rage and despair that inspires me to make these records…we’re just passing this amazing planet by, abusing it every day, but we’re all immediate to complain when it rains, or it hasn’t rained, or it’s hot outside, or it’s cold outside.

It may be an easy crutch, but I feel this album is crafted partially by the U.S. government. Does “humanity’s renaissance of self-mutilation” reflect our current political state?

Specific to your inquiry, no, this album is not a direct bang on the U.S. government; this is a middle finger wagging towards humanity. But yes, I’m in an infuriated state of surrealistic disbelief that this administration is dictating our reality. Let’s get back to basic political battles again; can’t we all agree that our planet is in peril and work on that in the meantime?

How did the 25+ contributing artists happen? Did you call them or they call you? What was the basis of each contribution?

I never planned on having that many contributors on SMES III. In the initial arc, I figured SMES II was the “big album” of the first three, and I had a bunch of folks on that one, a few more than on SMES I. I thought SMES III would be this harsh noise/downfall/disjointed album that would be an easy one to crush out ASAP after II, but at some point, I just started infusing all these new contributions into it. Suddenly, it became this Renaissance album that I now saw as this massive apex of the entire five-album series and ended up taking more time to complete than the prior two albums combined. Some of these folks are longtime collaborators, and some appear on this album with their first Gridfailure contributions. Some sent random pieces that I worked into songs, and some played their parts directly to the nearly completed mixes. As the album was nearing completion, my very good friend Steve Austin from Today Is The Day showed up with guitar for five of the songs, and once I mixed those in and remixed the tracks, he sent additional lyrics and very sad, clean vocals for all five of those tracks, which caused another full remixing and really reinforced the depressive and mournful sound of the album. Dan Emery at Black Matter Mastering supplied some bass and bowed upright bass to a couple of tracks and then mastered the tracks.

Any plans to release all five albums in a box set on CD for all us old-timers without cassette decks?

The albums are all available on all streaming services, Bandcamp, and so on, but I highly doubt CDs will be pressed. Gridfailure has a very cult audience, and I’m focused on moving the fifty 3x Cassette box sets for the SMES I-III albums. Teeth Collection and Drought Stick will likely be released in a separate collective set once they’re completed.

Click below to have your soul torn apart and then reconstructed Tron-style but imperfectly by Gridfailure’s “Extermination Level Eventuality” from Sixth Mass-Extinction Skulduggery III, out now!

by Chris Ayers

A version of this story was originally published on Manchild’s Musical Maelstrom (More Than Just Metal) page on Facebook

#TheReplacements catches a red-eye to the City of Angels to drink in the new album from glam/hard rocker Jizzy Pearl and his perennial sleaze band Love/Hate. Never glam enough to sell out with mega-ballads, the group did earn critical praise when their debut album Blackout in the Red Room was named Best Record of the Year by Kerrang! and Metal Hammer. 

Since then, Pearl has never rested on his laurels. Love/Hate released seven more albums, most with little fanfare, and Pearl himself has remained a respected force in rock by recording and touring with Ratt and L.A. Guns. He keeps his pipes in tip-top shape, as his most recent gig is fronting Quiet Riot (with Type O Negative’s Kenny Hickey on drums), sounding almost better than a young Kevin DuBrow. 

Love/Hate’s newest platter, Punk Rock Fiesta! was released in April on Los Angeles label Kenyon Records and is what fans have come to expect: a powerhouse collection of songs that capture the band’s fire and energy of gritty ’90s hard rock. Hot guitar solos, big melodic choruses, and Pearl’s vocal swagger puts the band in finer fettle than their previous comeback record, 2022’s Hell, CA. 

The band has endured many line-up changes over the decades, but the most significant is lead guitarist Jon E. Love, replaced by Berklee alumnus and master shredder Darren Housholder. After three solo albums on Shrapnel Records, Housholder played with Jeff Pilson’s War & Peace, W.A.S.P, Enuff Z’nuff, and just missed a job with David Lee Roth. He updates Love/Hate’s riff attack on high-energy cuts “Time to Take Your Pill” and “Didya Think You Could Fall in Love?”

Housholder’s tasteful chords fortify but never overwhelm the rollicking “The Wrath of Love” and demonstrative “Over the Edge” with their melodic vocal choruses, yet he reins in his fretboard finesse through the psychedelic haze for the power rocker “Can’t Be Wrong.” Click below to hear Housholder’s mind-bending breakdowns in Love/Hate’s succinct rocker “Eye for an Eye” from Punk Rock Fiesta!

by Chris Ayers

 A version of this story was originally published on Manchild’s Musical Maelstrom (More Than Just Metal) page on Facebook

#soloonsunday explores the debut solo album by Chris Herin, guitarist for Detroit-based prog band Tiles. As his main band hasn’t released any new material in almost a decade, he put together a band simply called Herin and tears through a dozen prog-lite compositions on Hiding in Plain Sight, released last November via New Jersey prog mainstay The Laser’s Edge. The record chronicles his walk alongside his father’s ten-year struggle with Alzheimer’s disease, with a portion of this album’s proceeds to be donated to Alzheimer’s charities. 

Contributing their peerless talents on the album is an impressive cast of nearly thirty musicians, including Rock and Roll Hall of Fame members Peter Frampton and Alex Lifeson (Rush), plus Martin Barre, John O’Hara, and Doane Perry (Jethro Tull), Michael Sadler (Saga), Kim Mitchell (Max Webster), Jimmy Keegan (Spock’s Beard), Colin Edwin (Porcupine Tree), Cody Bowles and Kevin Comeau (Crown Lands), Randy McStine (Steven Wilson), et al.

Don’t expect loud and highly embellished fireworks here: this is strictly ‘old bearded man’ prog, almost pop at times, more subtle than Tiles in its chord progressions and ultimately derived from the quieter moments from Spock’s Beard and Dream Theater. Herin prefers foundational melody over fretboard gymnastics, as displayed in “The Heart of You” and “Safe House (Isolation).” It’s less about Herin the guitarist and more about the ensemble he’s assembled.

As on most Tiles albums, Herin collaborates with the Rush dream team of Terry Brown (producer) and Hugh Syme (cover artist), and both gents play instruments on the record. Despite this, there aren’t many Rush-isms in the music (though Tiles is bursting with them), even with Lifeson’s pickings on “Second Ending.” Click below to hear Herin as heavy as they get on “The Darkest Hour,” featuring Martin Barre on lead guitar, mandolin and flute, from Hiding in Plain Sight!

by Chris Ayers

 A version of this story was originally published on Manchild’s Musical Maelstrom (More Than Just Metal) page on Facebook

#stonedonsunday presents an old band with a new album: the forthcoming Joy of Navigation EP from Twentynine Palms, California’s Volume. A supergroup of sorts, the band currently boasts ex-Fu Manchu vocalist Patrick Brink, ex-Monster Magnet guitarist Ed Mundell, Nebula/Mondo Generator drummer Mike Amster, and Earthlings?/QOTSA keyboardist Dave Catching.

Wait, you’ve never heard of Brink fronting an early version of Fu Manchu? Neither has Wikipedia, Discogs, or most other Internet sources, since he didn’t record any released material with the band. Turns out he sang with them during their first six months of life, after the pre-Fu hardcore band Virulence broke up in 1989 and they reformed around 1990 as the Fu Manchu that we know and love. 

Brink split from Scott Hill and the Fu’s and formed Volume in 1993 with guitarist Jayson Christenson and drummer Eric Avdeef. The 1998 cassette Love Is a Mountain and Heavy as Fuck! was released in 1998, as well as the Check This Planet I’m Gone… seven-inch on Brink’s label Superkool Records. 2002’s four-song Requesting Permission to Land EP was released by Australia’s High Beam Records before the band went dark for two decades.

In the meantime, Brink was busy finishing a documentary film on the Orange County music scene titled OC’s 5400 Day Revolution, which has remained unreleased. He did release a double-CD compilation on Superkool in 1999 with a diverse roster of forty-seven bands (including 16, Big Drill Car, Final Conflict, and Agent Orange) from every corner of the O.C. scene, but promoting that dragged him into debt and he didn’t have enough cash to edit the eighty-plus hours of film.

Brink did manage to steer Volume to contribute to the Misfits and Aerosmith tribute albums in the late ’90s as well as play some high-profile gigs at the Emissions from the Monolith and Stoner Hands of Doom fests. Twenty-plus years later, the band has a new EP dropping on November 1 via L.A.’s Golden Robot Records and on Germany’s Kozmik Artifactz for the vinyl LP. The first single and title track “Joy of Navigation” was first released way back on the Love Is a Mountain cassette and again on 2000’s Judge Not stoner comp on Underdogma Records.

Volume’s closest sonic cousins are Sleep and 25…Tab-era Monster Magnet, but those are mere references that don’t account for the punk-laden noise, somewhat jagged grooves, and rough vocals that the band favors. This is acid rock that doesn’t adhere to convention, and the fact that Brink is still kicking proves that he is content to take his time and do it right. Having produced Kyuss, Goatsnake, Fu Manchu, et al., Catching, of course, adds his sonic signature from the boards at Rancho de la Luna Studio in Joshua Tree. Click below to hear Volume’s old warhorse “Joy of Navigation” from Joy of Navigation, out in November!

by Chris Ayers

 A version of this story was originally published on Manchild’s Musical Maelstrom (More Than Just Metal) page on Facebook

Why in the world did Pennsylvania’s prog/tech death group Rivers of Nihil release an instrumental version of their 2021 full-length, The Work, in July? The overarching question is why any band would release an instrumental version of an album that originally had vocals. Dream Theater did it way back for their 2009 record Black Clouds & Silver Linings, but has any other band done this (aside from posthumous efforts from the Beatles, Beach Boys, et al.) to great effect?

“We’ve had a lot of fans over the years suggest releasing an instrumental version of our discography,” replies guitarist Brody Uttley via email. “We ourselves have enjoyed when other bands in the genre (The Ocean, Humanity’s Last Breath, Periphery, etc.) have done this format so we figured it would be a treat for the fans that have been requesting it while we complete the new album.”

Though there’s no immediate plan to make physical copies, The Work (Instrumentals) is available digitally and on streaming platforms. And apparently, according to Metal Archives, the band also released Where Owls Know My Name (Instrumentals) in June, the companion instrumental album to their 2018 masterpiece. But do these albums really lend themselves to having enjoyable listening experiences without the original vocals?

Germany’s post-metal wizards The Ocean have released instrumental versions of every album since 2013’s Pelagial, so maybe Rivers of Nihil will do the same. Post-metal, in particular, lends itself to vocalless excursions, due to its sinuous chord changes, rising action, and drone atmosphere. But when you’ve already studied an album thoroughly with vocals, to the point that you expect a voice to start in a certain measure, you must detach yourself not to miss those vocals.

Rivers of Nihil undoubtedly plays emotional songs, and rabid fans will devour this, vocals or not. The band’s interpretation of tech/prog death is a younger reading—think Opeth, Gojira, and Obscura, not the older definition of Gorguts, Pestilence, and Death—and few fans can tolerate both styles. To wit, if you didn’t care for singer Jake Dieffenbach’s gutturals (he left the band in 2022), then prepare your mind to be re-imprinted with Rivers of Nihil’s “Terrestria IV: Work (Instrumental)” from The Work (Instrumentals)!

by Chris Ayers

 A version of this story was originally published on Manchild’s Musical Maelstrom (More Than Just Metal) page on Facebook

At the confluence of the Volga and the Kotorosl rivers in Russia lies the city of Yaroslavl, four hours northeast of Moscow by car. It’s part of the Golden Ring, a group of ancient towns that have played an important role in Russian history. It is also home to epic doom band Scald, who have reunited after twenty-five years to release a new album, Ancient Doom Metal, which drops this week via German metal label High Roller Records.

Back in 1993, bassist Velingor formed Scald while still a teenager with guitarists Harald and Karry, drummer Ottar, and vocalist Maxim “Agyl” Andrianov. After the 1994 demo North Winds, the band unleashed their debut album, the 1997 cassette Will of Gods Is a Great Power on MetalAgen, one of the biggest labels in Russia at the time. The album’s mournful chords and Agyl’s operatic vocals made Scald an underground cult name amongst fans of Candlemass, Solitude Aeturnus, and Solstice.

Tragically, Agyl died in a train accident that same year, and Scald was suddenly no longer. The surviving members formed the progressive folk metal band Tumulus (named after a Scald song) and played in other local groups like Intothecrypt, Black Zamut, Halter, and Emerald Night. The original members got back together with Deströyer 666 vocalist Felipe Plaza Kutzbach to play a festival and released the 2021 There Flies Our Wail! seven-inch. High Roller financed the deluxe reissue of the debut album, now retitled Will of the Gods Is Great Power, after which the band recorded their new album.

Even though Will of the Gods Is Great Power and Ancient Doom Metal were recorded thirty years apart, Velingor emphasizes the connection between the two albums. “Both albums are filled with the same atmosphere: that of the north, of ancient Scandinavia and Russia,” he states in a press release. “In both cases, the music and lyrics are based on the mythology and mysticism of these regions. Of course, now we have become much more experienced musically than in the ’90s, but we tried to keep the epic vibe of northern cold vastness, the very same we managed to create back then. And it is very important that Felipe feels and expresses it as well as we do.”

Some of the new songs were influenced by the members’ folk-metal backgrounds. “We sometimes use elements of not only Slavic, but folk music of the North in general,” says Velingor. “But it’s worth noting that Scald is not a folk metal band. Therefore, these elements do not prevail in our creativity. As for the song ‘The Master Of The Lake,’ it is filled to the brim, both in music and in lyrics, with the dark, cold mysticism of the North.”

Scandinavian and Slavic mythology play prominently in their lyrics, which Velingor confirms. “As for the lyrics in general, it was me who was responsible for the basic ideas. I found inspiration in ancient Scandinavian, Slavic and Finno-Ugric legends—after all, our entire Yaroslavl homeland in ancient times was a crossroads of all these cultures—and used some scientific articles on the subject.” Let’s kick off #doomsday and confront the oldest omen by clicking below to hear the majestic title track from Scald’s Ancient Doom Metal, out on Friday!

by Chris Ayers

 A version of this story was originally published on Manchild’s Musical Maelstrom (More Than Just Metal) page on Facebook

Metal Urges skanks down to the Dirty Myrtle—that’s Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, y’all—to witness the reunion of ’80s punk band Bedlam Hour. Vocalist/mastermind Chuck Walker started the band when he began college at the University of South Carolina in Columbia in the early ’80s. They released their debut full-length, 1987’s Rock the Cradle, on Reno, Nevada hardcore label Positive Force Records, helmed by Kevin Seconds of 7 Seconds.

Staying active until 1995, Walker put the band on hiatus when he started a family, though he had full intention of continuing Bedlam Hour after retirement. Now thirty years later, Walker has returned to the stage, he’s on social media for the first time in his life, and he hosts the 15 Minutes of Bedlam podcast that chronicles SC hardcore. As if that isn’t enough, he also kicked cancer to the curb in 2022 like a freakin’ punk-rock warrior.

Bedlam Hour finally broke their decades-long silence with 2023’s Win a Billion Dollars! EP on River Monster Records, a small label out of Dalzell, South Carolina that specializes in local indie bands. The band’s original S.O.D.-meets-Scatterbrain mix of punk riffs and humorous lyrics are now updated with alternative, ska, and rock influences—while still retaining the cheeky lyrics—and the production by Walker and guitarist Brian McKenzie defines top-notch clarity and punch.

Walker’s voice sounds better than it ever has, and “Re:Generation” and “Never End” emphasizes Walker’s melodic side. Hardcore bands are only as good as their drummers, and Bedlam Hour snagged old friend and metal legend Derek Roddy (Hate Eternal, Nile, Malevolent Creation) to lay down his ultra-tight polyrhythms on the five-song EP, especially evident in the rapid-fire “Quest for Truth” and “Uncle Sam Slam/Kashi Moshy.” Mr. Walker, as he’s known to thousands of students, graciously answered my interview questions below.

I found the Win a Billion Dollars! EP at Scratch ‘n’ Spin in Columbia and had a great conversation about you with the owner. He couldn’t believe we used to teach together in the ’90s! So, 1987 was your first album, and you’ve dropped a few singles here and there over the years. Why reunite now after all these years?

As you know, the band was active from 1983 to 1995. When Dylan was born in 1995, I made a personal commitment to not tour and to just focus on being a husband and father. Then, Flannery was born in 2000, and I focused on my teaching career and the family. I always planned on getting back into punk rock when the kids were grown and living their established adult lives. Flannery and Dylan both have their own lives and families now, so Sherry and I are empty nesters and working retirees. I also survived cancer in 2022, which definitely changes one’s priorities for the better.

How did you get Derek to play on the EP? He’s full-on metal, having played with Hate Eternal, Nile, Malevolent Creation, et al.

I consider Derek a brother. We go back to 1992 together when he learned Bedlam Hour’s entire tour set from a cassette in two hours and then left for a month-long US tour with us the next day. He was 19. Then, he recorded with us on Sardonic and Sublime, American Technology, and Contact. He also played with us on our European tour in 1994. We have remained close over the years, and in 2022, Derek and his wife were having dinner with me and my wife at a cool Mexican restaurant we all love in Murrells Inlet, and I mentioned that we might want to do a 40th anniversary Bedlam Hour show to celebrate. Derek suggested we record a new album. So, I went back to my rehearsal studio in Pawleys Island and wrote the Win a Billion Dollars album in about three days. The rest is history, and here I am.

Your daughter Dylan sang on the EP. Was that decision a no-brainer?

Bedlam Hour has always been a family- and friends-focused project. I had been watching some of the newer hardcore bands like Scowl and Gel on YouTube, and their vocalists reminded me of Dylan’s singing style. Also, when Dylan was a teenager, she worked on a street team for Amos SouthEnd in Charlotte, promoting mostly metalcore and pop punk shows. So, I used to be her ride to those shows and to Warped Tour. We enjoyed listening to bands like For Today, The Devil Wears Prada, All That Remains, Suicidal Tendencies, and Asking Alexandria together at those shows, along with pop punk and emo groups like All American Rejects, Boys Like Girls, and Dashboard Confessional. We bonded a lot at those shows, so it was only natural to bring her into the project. 

How did you get the guys from Stretch Arm Strong involved? I haven’t heard about them since they had that record on Tooth & Nail in the ’90s.

Stretch Arm Strong are like younger brothers to me. Chris (their singer) used to come see Bedlam Hour when he was 11 and come up and sing with us. His older brother Brian was an OG street punk that we all loved. So, when Stretch Arm Strong formed, we loved playing shows with them, and we put out a split 7” together in 1993. I’m pretty sure that was their first vinyl release. I ran into Chris in Charlotte at Phat Burrito the night For Today and Emmure were playing, and it was great to catch up. I also love David and Scott, so when I wrote “Quest For Truth,” I thought about how I wanted to capture the spirit of Stretch Arm Strong in the musical style and in the lyrics. It made perfect sense to invite the fellas to participate. I am honored they did. At our Punk Rock Family Reunion 1 show, Chris, David, and Chris’s son Owen joined us on stage. That was really special. I’m so happy that they are out again with a banger of a new album.

Way, way back, you used to donate royalties to various charities, including Greenpeace—not the typical business model for a young ’80s punk band. How did you have the foresight to do that as a teenager?

My parents always prioritized education and understanding different points of view. Mom worked in the Winthrop College Bookstore textbook department and would bring home excellent books on science, culture, philosophy, and history, as well as any puzzles and educational games she could get. We had a library at home that I could go to any time. I was also involved in the Boy Scouts (as you were) and very interested in helping those who didn’t really have the resources to help themselves. Mom made a point of making sure I met diverse people with diverse viewpoints from around the world and from Rock Hill. My upbringing was spiritual and intellectual. The only two books my mom read to me every night were The Bible and The Collected Works of Edgar Allan Poe. She lived the teachings of Christ, and she was a true goth who died on Halloween. I owe a great deal to her and to my father who made sure I got to Scouts and even started his own troop so we could spend quality time together. So, being environmentally and socially conscious and for human rights, equal rights, women’s rights, Black rights, gay rights, and trans rights is in my DNA from a spiritual standpoint. If I am fortunate enough to have a platform, part of that platform should help others.

I know you’re all about universal friendship as well. How does that philosophy emerge in your music?

I believe that life is a gift, and that our time together on this planet right now  is no accident. If I can encourage someone who is currently struggling to keep fighting through it, to never give up, then we are on the right path. “RE: Generation” deals with that struggle specifically: “Wherever you go, whatever you do. Just remember you are strong. You have the strength to carry on. We’ll lock arms, standing together, we are never giving up. True ‘til death and then into eternity.” Also, punk rock has taught me that people with very diverse attitudes and opinions can work together against all odds to create beautiful art and to share that experience with the world, especially the beautiful art that comes from our little neighborhood called South Carolina.

How did you find the guys at River Monster Records? Old friends of yours?

I love Larry Parker (River Monster Records), and I’m honored to say that Bedlam Hour was his first hardcore show when he was 14. The same is true with Johnny Fink (Missing Fink Records). Billy Riot (Soda City Riot and now Bedlam Hour) connected me with Larry and we hit it off. Then, Larry connected me with my old friend Johnny. Bedlam Hour is proud to be a River Monster/Missing Fink recording artist. They are partners on all of our releases. They have been incredibly supportive of our music and our touring.

I know you’ve connected with original drummer Doug Throgmorton. Have you reached out to Rick Jones as well?

Yes, both fellas are true brothers along with all of our other Bedlam Hour alum. When I restarted the band, I got on social media for the first time in my life and was able to reconnect with almost all of the former members of the band (Doug, Rick, John, Jon, Scott F., Adam, Ed). I’m still trying to find Brent Long, though. Guys, let me know if you have his contact. I am so thankful that they all took part on this journey with me. Doug just played the songs “Bedlam Hour” and “I Wanna Be Your Dog” with us in North Carolina. It was incredible!

How are you able to use the Franken Berry character on merch? Did you get permission from General Mills?

He [Frankenberry] was always our guy from back in the day, way before the internet. Brent and I wrote “Frankenberry Mosh” back in 1988,  and we made the shirts. We didn’t get permission, though. The Frankenberry shirts are almost gone now. We are looking at some new marketing concepts moving forward, as to make sure we do our band business the right way. But you know we will still celebrate the ritual of the Frankenberry Mosh and of our new song, “Frankenberry’s Revenge.” Bedlam Hour shows are still a great place to go get free cereal.

Would you tell me more about your podcast?

Yes, “15 Minutes of Bedlam” is alive and well, and we even have a big punk festival coming up in Myrtle Beach on 8/17/24: 15 Minutes of Bedlam Fest. Check us out on the BedlamHourOfficial channels on YouTube and Spotify.

When can we expect a new album from Bedlam Hour? Any tour plans or festivals in the future?

I’m excited about our current lineup: Chuck (vocals, guitar), Scott (guitar), Billy (guitar, vocals), Brian (guitar), DeeCee (vocals, bass), Aaron (drums), and Johnny (saxophone, vocals, percussion). We are working on the new record now. I wrote 10 of the numbers, and Brian McKenzie (guitarist, co-producer, engineer) has co-written 2 with me. We have a lot of really great friends coming in to perform on this one from the punk, indie, and alternative scenes. The album is called No Grave Required, and it is built around the theme of human rights and the eternal power of music and memory. We hope to release the record online this summer, with CD and vinyl releases to follow. We have a busy schedule of shows coming up:

2024

8/10 – Columbia, SC (Punk Rock Family Reunion 2)

8/17 – Myrtle Beach, SC (15 Minutes of Bedlam Fest)

9/06 – Atlanta, GA

10/? – New Orleans, LA

11/30 – Augusta, GA

12/06 – Columbia, SC

For more information, follow us on Instagram: @bedlamhourofficial, Facebook: @BedlamHour YouTube: @bedlamhourofficial Spotify: Bedlam Hour, Bandcamp: Bedlam Hour, BandsInTown: Bedlam Hour, and bedlamhour.com.

Click below to witness the new and improved Bedlam Hour performing “$1 Billion” from Win a Billion Dollars!, which may be the only song in history to reference our hometown of Rock Hill!

by Chris Ayers

 A version of this story was originally published on Manchild’s Musical Maelstrom (More Than Just Metal) page on Facebook

#sacramentalsunday dials it back to spotlight white-metal pioneers Whitecross. A trailblazer out of Waukegan, Illinois, this band first starred founding members Scott Wenzel (lead vocals) and Rex Carroll (guitar) trying to out-Ratt Ratt on their 1987 eponymous debut LP on Pennsylvania Christian metal label Pure Metal.

Sweeping the Christian crowds, Whitecross delivered the goods over eight albums throughout the ’90s, winning three Dove Awards (akin to a Christian Grammy) and the video for “No Second Chances” from 1991’s In the Kingdom album was featured on MTV’s Headbangers Ball.

The band broke up in 1996 but reunited in 2000 for festival appearances, and another full-length followed in 2005. The fire smoldered for nearly twenty years before Carroll announced a new album with singer Dave Roberts, longtime bassist Benny Ramos, and drummer Michael Feighan.

Fear No Evil was released in March via California CCM label Dark Star Records. The band invokes Judas Priest and Martin-era Black Sabbath in “Man in their Mirror” and “Lion of Judah,” but they still excel with the power ballads “Wishing Well” and “Blind Man.” “This album is very diverse with songs that have a modern rock touch but still that Whitecross sound that fans know and love,” states Feighan in a press release.

Carroll comments on the band’s mission beyond the music: “I am continuously reminded every day that it’s not about me or the band—it’s all about the fans. Many of you have become my good friends via social media, and I’m continuously grateful for your support. You bought the albums and the T-shirts and came to the shows, and I’m grateful for that. Thanks again…follow Jesus!”

Has Carroll reached his apex here? What is there left to accomplish after almost forty years of walking the walk? “Continue to love God, love people, love the band, love the gigs, love to shred until they lay me in the ground in a guitar-shaped casket.” Argument ceased! Click below to hear Whitecross school non-believers on “The Way We Rock” from Fear No Evil!

by Chris Ayers

 A version of this story was originally published on Manchild’s Musical Maelstrom (More Than Just Metal) page on Facebook

#str8outtaComptown spotlights the new early demo compilation from Swedish death-metal trailblazers Desultory. Specializing in deluxe reissues and limited-edition box sets, Germany’s Darkness Shall Rise Productions issued Darkness Falls (The Early Years) on CD and three-cassette box last week, with the vinyl version to follow on July 4.

As Entombed, Dismember, Grave, and Unleashed emerged as forerunners of the Stockholm scene in 1991, Desultory were running to catch this wave. Vocalist/guitarist Klas Morberg, lead guitarist Stefan Pöge, bassist Jens Almgren, and drummer Thomas Johnson recorded three seminal demos—1990’s From Beyond, 1991’s Death Unfolds, and 1992’s Visions—with white-hot producer Tomas Skogsberg in the now-famous Sunlight Studio.

Revered in their home country, Desultory signed a record deal with California’s Metal Blade Records for worldwide distribution, but their debut full-length, 1993’s Into Eternity, didn’t impact fans outside of Scandinavia. Undeterred, the band followed up this album with 1994’s Bitterness, sticking to the same formula of Morberg’s growls, Johnson’s brutal polyrhythms, and Pöge’s Sunlight-tweaked chainsaw guitar tones.

Still, Desultory lurked in the shadows of Sweden’s “Big Four.” Now becoming next-gen underdogs, they dropped their metal logo (nearly always a sure sign of foreboding failure), Morberg switched to clean yet gruff vocals, Pöge left the band, and the remaining members recorded 1996’s grunge-inspired Swallow the Snake. The band broke up shortly thereafter but partially reunited for the stoner-rock Zebulon in 1999; Desultory proper returned in 2010 for two albums before closing up shop in 2017.

Despite the band’s unlucky trajectory, their early demo tracks are absolute gold. Pöge’s leads in “The Awakening” and “Cease to Exist” attack like rabid dogs, while “Passed Away,” “Visions,” and “Depression” bring the house down and make one wonder why this band wasn’t bigger. Click below for your own earful of Desultory’s “The Chill Within,” originally on Death Unfolds, now presented in sonic clarity on Darkness Falls (The Early Years), out now on CD and cassette!

by Chris Ayers

 A version of this story was originally published on Manchild’s Musical Maelstrom (More Than Just Metal) page on Facebook