Released Today........

T-TOPS: Staring At A Static Screen

Aggressive, Catchy and Completely Bad-Ass

As happens so often, I clicked on something and then something else, and found something awesome.  This album shouts right in your face and schools you on everything that punk has added to rock and roll music.

Track 5, "Full Blown Woman":

Now the subsequent track, "All Black Crown"; it's devastating and relentless.

The T-Tops are from Pittsburgh.

They are:

Patrick Waters: Guitar, Vocals

Mike Koch: Drums

Matt Schor: Bass

True story: I used to work at a car wash and my friend John would always make it a point to ask T-roof owning customers if their roof leaked.  

If they answered no, he would say "they will."

Burt Reynolds didn't seem to mind.

Get after it!

-ULTRA

TONGUE PARTY: Looking For A Painful Death\

Flawless Victory

Tongue Party is heavy metal with a punk rock vibe, and "Looking For A Painful Death" has it all; musicianship, great songwriting, originality and energy.  "Shit Dead" is the track the band wants you to hear first:

Sometimes when a band starts their bandcamp playlist with  track 7, it's because tracks 1 through 6 were not as good.  Not the case here.  I am picking a couple of tunes that give you a taste of the diversity on this album, but you need to listen to the whole album, because every track is genius.  This one's called "This Exists":

And now, establishing a successful fusion of heavy metal and psychedelic rock,

here is the closing track, entitled "Make a Friend Earn A Debt".  Some really tasty guitar going down here if you pay attention:

Tongue Party are from Minneapolis, and have been making music together since the fall of 2014.  

Self described as "More of a cult than a band", they are:

adam hile

brandon hile 
preston laack

dan garrison

(I have no idea which three are in this picture):

I learned about this album on Super Dank Metal Jams blog, and am grateful for the find.  You can find "Looking for a Painful Death" here, and the band's earlier releases here.  In the roughly 24 hours since I downloaded this album, I have easily listened to the entire album six times.  Hope I've been able to get these guys a few downloads, because when a lot of people listen to a band, the band keeps making albums.

Stay Heavy!

-ULTRA 

Review - A TRIBUTE TO THE MISFITS by ENERGY

A Tribute to the Misfits 

ENERGY

   Energy hailing from the Boston area's New World's of Fear was one of my favorite punk releases of last year. Tank and company just released a brand new EP "A Tribute To The Misfits" and it's already made a number of rotations on my play list this week. Thanks to the band's front man, Jason Tankerley, I was able to get an early listen before the masses. 

I'm a huge fan of the Misfits who basically invented the "Horror" punk genre. Energy have been carrying on the tradition in their own youthful Horror meets Power punk style. These guys know the Misfits sound inside and out. While many tribute albums can be a mixed bag, Energy do the horror forefather's real justice.

   The setlist nails down some of the greatest Danzig era Misfits tunes in their catalogue. The crisp riffs and sing along chants of Astro Zombies kick off the cd. What an opener! Tanks' smooth delivery allows the lyrics to really set in. Looking back at this song you realize how much the Misfits borrowed from the 50's and 60's doowop beat. This is quite possibly the best traditional cover of the song that I've heard. The quintessential assassination song, BULLET, is up next. Energy injects a nice bit of soaring AFI style background vocals into the song which really adds a new dimension to the song. While not as dirty as the original it definitely sounds much more current and gives the track a sense of urgency. 

   The ominous opening riff of WE ARE 138 has always been one of my favorite punk riffs. Energy once again nails, I say nails, the Misfits tone. The final background shouts are classic! Another one of my personal favorites, ATTITUDE, is short and in your face. I can't say it enough, Energy do these songs justice. The band's take on Hollywood Babylon reminds me a lot of the Grave's era Misfits sound. I might be rare as a diehard fan but I appreciate both band's era's equally so I'm completely digging hearing the two legacies come together. I carry that statement over to probably one of the most popular 'fits tunes, Die Die My Darling. Another great cover that blends the eras and clearly showcases the band's own affection for these tunes. I'm extremely happy to hear that Energy closed out the EP with my personal favorite, Where Eagles Dare. The pure confidence and vitriol of the lyrics nailed it for me the first time I heard it on the The Misfits Collection Vol. 1. This specific cover comes from Energy's early recording days and hell if you're gonna include an older song on an EP, it's gotta be a classic.

   Overall, this is what I have been hoping to hear from a tribute album for literally years. I recall the disappointment of picking up compilations in the 90's and early 2000's when everyone and their brother were putting out some type of Misfits tribute to capitalize on the rebirth of the band's popularity. So many bands talked the talk but never walked the walk. The band Energy is the product of the history of bands like the Misfits, Ramones and AFI. There is an absolute love for the music and respect for the fans of those bands. When Energy cover one of those bands, say like they did with the Ramone's Pet Sematary on New Worlds of Fear, you can hear how much they respect the songwriting and craftsmanship of the music. I'll give a band like that all the respect in the world. So I say, if you're a real Misfits fan, pick this cd up or download it off the bandcamp site. Support the bands that keep this music alive.

Tank - Vocals & Guitars
Conor O'Brien - Bass & Additional Guitars
Kevin Thompson - Drums
Robert Cheeseman - Additional Guitars

Official Website: http://ThisEnergy.com
Facebook: http://Facebook.com/ThisEnergy
Twitter: http://Twitter.com/ThisEnergy
Instagram: http://Instagram.com/ThisEnergy
BandCamp: http://Energy.BandCamp.com
Official Label Site: http://MonsterPartyRecords.com

"ME"TAL 101 - SWAMPS

Yet another amazing band I came across while navigating through the landscape of Bandcamp. SWAMPS sound definitely stands out against many of their peers. A young band that has the genuine feel of some of my favorite hardcore bands growing up. This is true hardcore. I hope you'll enjoy this interview and check out the videos below. I have a feeling these guys are gonna be huge! -grownman

HMT:  The city of Springfield where I see you guys hail from is bat shit crazy. I lived there four years. How has that city in particular influenced your music?

SWAMPS: Yeah, Springfield can definitely be a pretty interesting place. Although now only 3/5's of this band are from Springfield and the other are from Connecticut. So far as influence and sound goes, I don't think Springfield has played a particularly major role in our music or writing style. 

HMT: Bed of Thorns is a great video, where the hell were you guys playing?

SWAMPS: Thanks man. We actually filmed that in a small shed at our vocalists house. We cleared out everything inside and did what we could with it. The video actually ended up coming out way cooler than we thought.

HMT: Where are you favorite places to play, after seeing your House Show video I don't know many houses that stand a chance.

SWAMPS: Haha, yeah I don't think so. We always love to take advantage of playing places we've never played before. That, and I fear people will get sick of us if we play around the same place all the time. So any time we get to play outside of Massachusetts is always a good experience.

As far as venues go, it's been nice to play places lately that have a stage, mics, a good PA system, etc. just because I love the sound quality. But we'd still take a house show over that any day. 

 HMT: I found you guys on Bandcamp, how important has that site been to grabbing ears and getting noticed?

SWAMPS: Bandcamp has definitely been a crucial medium in getting people to hear our stuff. It makes everything convenient and it's so well-known now that kids can easily discover bands from all over.

HMT: What did you guys grow up listening to? Have you gotten to play with any of your influences?

SWAMPS: I grew up obviously listening to a lot of alternative music. Honestly it all started with Blink 182 and whatever bands were relevant on Warped Tour at the time. When I got into high school I started going to local hardcore shows with an older friend of mine. From there I began discovering a lot of bands across the U.S, listening to different types of hardcore, getting acquainted with the classics, etc etc.

Since creating Swamps we've been lucky enough to play with a lot of bands that we look up to. Getting the opportunity to share the stage with bands that initially got me into hardcore has been a true blessing.

HMT: What are the pros and cons of playing in the CT/NY/Western Mass area where so many great bands in the Metal and Hardcore scene have come out of?

SWAMPS: It's definitely great coming from an area where hardcore is so relevant and the history is deep. There are cool things happening in every scene around us and we're grateful to be a part of it.

HMT: Do you plan on touring to support "HARD WORK"?

 SWAMPS: Yes. We're currently in the process of setting up a full U.S. in January so be on the look out if we come through. Thanks man.

 HMT: Thanks guys, keep tearing the roof off those buildings.

Swamps Links
Official Youtube 
Facebook
Bandcamp

HEAVY "ME"TAL 101 - MICHALE GRAVES

Heavy Metal Textbooks had a chance to chat with a real horror punk rock icon and former lead singer of THE MISFITS, Michale Graves. Enjoy this exclusive "ME"TAL 101 interview!

Heavy Metal Textbooks: Extremely excited to hear that the SKELECROW is alive and well. Did touring with the blitzkrieg bring you back to wanting to write and perform the horror punk style?

Michale Graves: No...my partner, Mark Allen Stuart and I, discussed the idea of this album and effort a few times after we had completed "Vagabond". Since we formed our partnership about a year ago we have produced 2 albums and have 2 more to release this year. In order to re-enter the Monster Rock world we knew we had to create something very special. We wanted to build an anthology that showcased all 3 phases of my career - the early legacy material, the "Punk Rock is Dead" period and the new songs that were created especially for the album. The intent was not to create covers for the legacy songs so we were challenged to create something unique - and we feel we did that.

HMT: You've rerecorded some of your most well known tunes for Lost Skeleton

Returns. This is really a bonus for not only your old school fans but those

just jumping on board. Did you discover or uncover any skeletons of your own

revisiting these songs?

MG: We were so focused in the studio on where we are at in the present and where we wanted to go that it was hardly a walk down any sort of memory lane. I love and cherish the early days and have so much respect for the music and the band of brothers that created it - but this was a brand new experience. I knew that the world would be watching...

Clip from the "Zombie" video

HMT: You have a great new video out for the track "ZOMBIE". Where did you film the video and how did you come to meet Skelpira?

MG: Mark truly was the lead on the video- he has feature film Producer experience along with a passion for horror and sci-fi movies. We kicked around ideas for the video for a while, we wrote a few treatments...I hadn't even finished lyrics yet for the song... one day Mark created the remarkable story of this zombie character. It was easy for me to complete lyrics after that because the vision was then so clear. We scouted several locations for the video shoot in New Jersey and in Pennsylvania.  It was tough finding a spot that would really bring the video to life...so we shot at on location at the old weapons lab where the story was supposed to take place. Mark somehow got us access to it. We had a general idea of the first floor - but we had limited time for the scout and shoot - so when we found the basement- the crypt if you will - where the zombies came out of - we knew we were "home".

Our company -  Hydraulic Entertainment is totally focused on classic monsters. We wanted to create an experience where watching my music videos is like sitting in a living room in 1955 watching a horror movie. To make that a reality we needed a horror hostess so Skel-pira was born. We conducted an international search via Facebook and had submissions from all over the world- that is how we found Skel-pira.

HMT: You are no stranger to acting and performing on film. I'm a big old school zombie fan, any thoughts of making this video into a fully realized short film? Can you suggest one of your favorite zombie films?

MG: The idea to broaden the story of this character is in development.  The classic must see zombie film is Night of the Living Dead - I wrote some for this film on the current album. George Romero - the pioneer in the category is a friend and he is the best. I would also recommend 'The Last Man On Earth' based on the story(I AM LEGEND) by Richard Matheson - it is a vampire-zombie classic.

HMT: You worked with Chris Motionless on the track "Forbidden Planet". Did you enjoy working with him and integrating his style of vocals into the track? Any plans on working with him again or other artists in the future?

MG: I did enjoy working with Chris Motionless - frankly I loved it - he is a beyond talent - talent along with being really cool and I loved the opportunity to compose a song that lent to both of our voices.  As for working with other artists indeed Mark and I through Hydraulic Entertainment and our record company 'Vile Of Venom' plan on both working with and developing new talent as well as collaborating with other artists we feel are the right ones to work with and fit within our company ethos.

HMT: Can we expect the Skelecrow to be making his way around the states to support the new cd in 2013?

MG: You bet you can BUT there are a limited number of performances and the first of those shows begin July 19th and runs until July 27th.  You can expect more US shows in October featuring the Skel-Crow and his Chambers Of Horror Band.

HMT: Lastly, along with Metal, I'm a huge wrestling fan. (I know I know) Besides myself, do fans ever ask you about your stint in the WCW? I'll admit I was impressed that you didn't half ass those in ring performances at all.

MG: Indeed I am often asked about my experience working in the WCW.  As with everything I put my heart and my soul into the WCW and it was a really rewarding time for me.  'Lost Skeleton Returns' gives the listener a glimpse of those times and experiences and that is one of the things that makes the record special.

Thank you so much, Michale
And so that concludes our interview with Michale Graves. It was an honor and I'm sure many of the fans around the world are excited to have some great new "Skelecrow" music to rock out to this year. Order the cd at the Merch store link below and check out Michale's website while you're at it. Check back for upcoming tour dates.

Michale Graves Links 
Official Website:
http://www.michalegraves.net/

Purchase Official Merchandise:

http://hydraulic-entertainment.com/shophyrdraulic/

Hydraulic Entertainment Website:

http://www.hydraulic-entertainment.com/
Michale's Facebook:
www.facebook.com/michalegraves