Whitney Houston R.I.P.

I just finished that last post about Zajal and then I found out Whitney Huston died. Fuck.  I remember her being one of the first women I was ever attracted to when I was a little kid and I saw this video. Rest in peace, girl.

The True Egyptian Death Metal...

Tomb raider?

I fucking love Nile, and we all know Karl Sanders is the man, but let's face facts - you're a good old American whiteboy, Karl. You had a really good run of it so far, but apparently Egypt is ready to stop sub-contracting their Death Metal to Ozzfest via South Carolina. Egypt's Zajal have released a 7 song "demo" (could have been a debut EP if you ask me) and it's nothing short of a monstrosity. The overall production is thick and unrefined - if they were trying to sound like a meaty analog Death Metal recording from the early nineties then mission accomplished. The music itself is punishing, driving guttural Death Metal that draws influence from the oldschool European and Florida scenes with an updated sense of blasting and technicality- not very melodic, but with a very dark, mysterious atmosphere all the same. And, yes, they have intros and interludes that sound like what I imagine traditional Egyptian music sounds like. This is not The Rock and Brendan Frasier cashing in while rewriting history with a western bias, this is not big Karl's pharaoh fantasy, this is the true Egyptian Death Metal.  And they do a Death cover.

Download.

Way to go, bro...

Since that last update on Old Boar, I have to report that Dan will be unable to commit to the project due to his recently being asked to play bass on the new Soulfly record. It's bittersweet, but congratulations, bro. You earned it. I don't think they're feeding him enough. (Thanks to Paulo for the link).

Barbara Funeral Home

Part of a 3-d model city we are building with the clients in Arts & Crafts at work. I did not do this project, a co-worker did it with her group, but I had to share it. This may be the one time someone else's project at work is more Metal than mine. Respect.

Dan Olivencia : Craftsman

"Polar Bear Cream"

Old Boar : Barbaric Sandwich Mysticism

Dan came out to Long Island Monday to celebrate Martin Luther King Jr. day by playing some riffs on his home made bass guitar. That's right, he made it himself, saws to strings. He plugged it into my Gorilla Bass Amp that used to double as the PA system at Biolich rehearsals all those years ago, and layed out the beginnings of our new band... Finally, primitive guttural bleakness from Will and Dan of Biolich (The fat half).

Thanks

Thanks to everyone who came out to ABC NO RIO yesterday, lots of old faces and plenty of new ones, to. We had a blast and look forward to seeing you all again real soon. Special thanks to Ra for driving me, Brandon for signing us and Spencer for throwing the whole thing together. Artificial Brain 2012 - BRAIN CAMPAIGN.

Sam and Jon killing time before the next show.

Leave it to the Polish guys...

I was never very into Graveland, but I'm going to have to reconsider now that they took these new promo shots...

Oh, it gets better... Graveland promo pictures

Thanks to Paulo for the link.