A big thank you to everyone who has been following the NWOTM Blog! We have reached over 1,000 LIKES on our Facebook page, so we are celebrating with the first NWOTM BLOG TWITTER SWEEPSTAKES!
The details are in the graphic below, but the bottom line is this: Go follow us on Twitter and be entered to win free thrash metal music! It's that simple.
Extra special thanks goes to the following bands for agreeing to be a part of the sweepstakes:
After stumbling upon Finland's UNHOPED on the ever reliable Reverbnation web site, I have been keeping them in the corner of my eye. I was originally impressed by their brutally harsh brand of thrash and gave them a positive write-up here. I couldn't wait for their new full length release!
Finally, Unhoped unleashed their new album Die Harder, and it packs even more of a punch than I had anticipated.
The opening track Entering a World of Pain is a short and slow riff laden instrumental that uncoils like a snake about to unleash a furious strike. That strike hits with the next track Shattered Shield, injecting a bite of venomous metal that continues to rage until the album's final track.
The riffs and song structures bring to mind early Grave peppered with Slayer. Even the production hints at early Swedish death metal without the sludge. In fact, the production is impressive, gathering the killer tight riffing, spot-on drums, and lethal vocals into slabs of hard-pounding murderous metal.
Unhoped writes songs that range from all-out thrash to headbanging groove, put together with riffs that both shred and hook into your brain. With tunes such as the catchy Art of War (Written in Blood) as well as the harsh and mosh-worthy Consumed, fans of aggressive metal will find something to grab onto within Unhoped's roster of solid metal tracks.
Check Unhoped out on their Facebook page here. To purchase a copy of Die Harder, go here.
Thrashline will be a semi-regular post in which I will run my virtual mouth about news items from around the thrash community. For obvious reasons I cannot post every new item that pops up (I'm not Blabbermouth, ya know), but I'll collect some bits that interest me and let you all know about them.
Let's get it going!
• SSS has two new official members: Stu Taylor on guitar and Dave Archer on drums. I'm always a bit wary when members switch up in a band, especially the guitarist since he or she is usually the main riff machine that makes up the band's sound. However, I will still check out any future releases by SSS and any other band I am a fan of such as Bonded By Blood or Hatchet who went through member changes.
• Over at the Anthrax website, they posted some dates for their upcoming tour with freaking Testament and Death Angel! Yeah - holy crap! This will be a killer show. Some of you guys here in the U.S. are left off so far, but let's hope that more dates are added soon. The ones they have so far are as follows:
10/14
Grand Rapids, MI
Orbit Room
10/15
Chicago, IL
Congress Theatre
10/16
inneapolis, MN
First Avenue
10/18
Wichita, KS
The Cotillion
10/19
Denver, CO
Summit Music Hall
10/22
Los Angeles, CA
Nokia LA Live
10/23
San Francisco, CA
Warfield Theatre
10/24
San Diego, CA
House of Blues
10/26
Albuquerque, NM
Sunshine Theatre
10/28
Dallas, TX
South Side Music Hall
10/29
Austin, TX
Emo's East
10/30
Houston, TX
Warehouse Live
• Finnish thrash masters UNHOPED have unleashed their new web site. Their old one was seriously lacking in...well, much of anything. Keep your eyes on this site for news on how you can get your hands on their upcoming CD titled Die Harder. I've heard it and it absolutely crushes.
• Santiago, Chile's NUCLEAR have made their album Jehovirus available for streaming in its entirety over at their Bandcamp page. Fans of metal in the vein of Slayer really need to check this out. Jehovirus is ruthless thrash at its best.
• Brazilian thrashers WOSLOM have released a new video for their song Mortal Effect, taken from the Time to Rise album. Catchy riffage in this one. In the video, WOSLOM takes on the evils of consumerism. Now go buy the WOSLOM album and t-shirt! ;)
Check it out!
• Montreal's resident thrash drunkards ALCOHOLATOR have just released a new song titled The Chamber. You like to combine your thrash with drinkin'? Dumb question. Check it out below!
I was not going to blog until sometime next week, but I just came across a band called Unhoped from Varkaus, Finland and had to add this quick post.
Simply put, Unhoped crushes with their brand of fast and brutal thrash. Unhoped's songwriting uses many ingredients in speed and mid-paced dynamics to create musical beasts that bring to mind the best aspects of Kreator and Slayer.
There's not much more to add here. If you like this style of thrash, there is no reason in the world why Unhoped won't assault you with a satisfying sonic punch to your gut.
Do yourself a favor and check out their two available songs below and then do the band a favor and go "Like" them on Facebook.
