REVIEW: Doomsday Refreshment Committee – Hail To The Freaks…FREE MUSIC!!!

Artist: Doomsday Refreshment Committee
Album: Hail To The Freaks
Label: Digivirus
Website: hailtothefreaks.com or vampirefreaks.com/drc

Ok, so this album is not even close to new. It came out in 2007. But one of the things we strive for at HTP is to promote indie bands, and this one fits the bill perfectly. Not only that, but the album is free! Read on for how you can download the album.

Hail To The Freaks is DRC’s first release, and as such it is raw and unrefined in places, but that is part of it’s charm. The music is a mashup of industrial and goth, and sometimes swings more one way on one song, and the other on the next. Electronic sounds mesh with low and distorted bass, haunting keyboards and deep vocals, all converging to make something at times brutal, at times gothic, but almost always beautiful.

Songs like “Fucked It Away” are industrial to the core, and any fan of the genre should immediately feel at home upon hearing  them. During these songs it brings to mind bands like Nine Inch Nails, KMFDM and Rammstein, but does not copy any of them directly. Instead, it uses heavier guitar riffs and gothic elements to create its own being, living and breathing all on its own, without being a parasite on some other, more popular band.

Then there are songs like “Cry”, which are gothic through and trough. Type O Negative is listed as one of the band’s influences, and you can truly see how that works here. Some might say it is a little too much like Type O, but it is good stuff and well worth a listen.

“Flesh Machine” is one of my favorite songs, partially because it is about zombies. There are lots of songs about vampires out there, but not very many songs about zombies, so I gotta love the originality.

Sometimes the songs get a little bit repetitive, or drag on a little too long, but that doesn’t take too much away from the experience. All in all this is a great effort, and I can’t wait to hear their next album they put out, Crown Of Thorns, which came out in 2008.

As I stated, this album is free to download, and you can get your copy here. If you like it, be sure to pick up the follow up album, Crown Of Thorns. So far these are the only two albums they have put out, but count on HTP to let you know when that changes.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Suggested Tracks: “Cry”, “Flesh Machine”, “I Only Bleed For You”

Track Listing:

1. For You
2. Fucked It Away
3. Spread Your Wings
4. Game Of Pain
5. Flesh Machine
6. Cry
7. Hail To The Freaks
8. Here We Stand
9. I Only Bleed For You
10. Shape Shifter
11. Take It All
12. Robotic Thrust
13. The Shadows
14. When You Cum
15. Wasted Tears

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REVIEW: Rosaline – A Constant North

Artist: Rosaline
Album: A Constant North
Label: Eulogy Recordings
Website: myspace.com/rosaline

(I am reviewing this album as requested by a post in our comments. If you have an album you want us to review, shoot us an email to hitthepit@websiteultra.com and let us know!)

Rosaline is what I would call a punkcore band.  They mix keyboards and jazzy mellow guitar with screaming, grinding riffs and pounding drums. Think of them like Angels And Airwaves meets Killswitch Engage meets Yanni. That’s right, I said Yanni! Combine all this with audio effects, and you get a glimpse of what Rosaline is about. Incidentally, “Rosaline” is an unseen character from Romeo & Juliet, so their name choice may give you a glimpse into how different they are.

First off, the album is a bit short. Nine songs lasting a total of just over 37 minutes. Faithful readers know that I am not a big fan of putting out short cds. Spend another week or two, develop a couple more songs and then finish the album. Don’t rip us off by selling us a half an album at full price. That being said, I will go lenient of Rosaline since they are a new band and just getting momentum going.

Overall their sound is original and works. The angst ridden vocals and melodic bridges are worked to perfection, intertwining to create a fantastically different sound. Their melodies are every bit as satisfying as Angels & Airwaves, and their hardcore roots are just as visceral as bands like Atreyu and Killswitch.

Their flaws come from needles repititions and lengthy artsy interludes. “Pin The Sea To The Wall” has a 42 second “ethereal” guitar riff which is uninspired and pretentious sounding. I get that this is part of their sound, but that is far too long to leave a listener hanging. The riff shows no particular talent or imagination, and a 5 to 10 second bit would have worked far better.

Songs like “The White City” work far better for me. While it still has a repetitive artsy bit(this time at the end), it is far more talent driven and less life draining. I would still have liked it shortened, but I didn’t hate it as much as I did with “Pin The Sea To The Wall”.  The song starts with a kitchy guitar plucking riff and light, airy vocals which in a flash turn into thrashing guitar and guttural vocal belching. This is where their true artistry shines brightest, as the same guitar plucking riff meshes just as beautifully with the harder bits. I absolutely love the way they are able to mesh these two dichotomies.

I get the feeling the band may look on their instrumental tangents as akin to Grateful Dead’s. For me, it comes across as obnoxious and jarring. I love everything else about this band, and if they could lighten up on those repetitive eternities, they might even be one of my favorite new bands. The rest of their sound has everything they need to be successful: originality, passion, talent, emotion and grit. They are both paradoxical and brilliant, and have gotten my attention.

Rating: 7 out of 10

Suggested Tracks: “White City”, “Brother, We’ll Save You Now”,  “A Silver Meridian”

Track Listing:

1. The New Utah

2. Culture Wars

3. Brother, We’ll Save You Now

4. Pin The Sea To The Wall

5. In True Pisces Fashion

6. The White City

7. Polaris

8. A Silver Meridian

9. Children Of Latitude

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REVIEW: Ventana – “American Survival Guide Vol. 1”

Artist: Ventana
Album: American Survival Guide Vol. 1
Label: Trustkill
Release: October 6, 2009
Website: www.myspace.com/ventanaband

Ventana is a chaotic mashup of genres and influences which mesh together haphazardly, all at once assaulting the senses and leaving you wanting more. Truly artistic, this band defies pigeonholing and labeling, slipping through your fingers as you attempt to classify them.

Involved in Ventana are three of the members of Mushroomhead. St1tch and Danny Bones are in the band, and Steve “Skinny” Felton produced the album (Fans of Mushroomhead don’t despair, however, as their song “Your Soul Is Mine” is featured on the Saw VI soundtrack, due out October 22nd).

Whenever you listen to a new band, your tendencies are to compare them to other bands you are more familiar with. The names that come to mind when you listen to this album are like a hall of fame for metal and industrial: Ministry, Coal Chamber, Korn and Sepultura, to name but a few that come to mind. What Ventana does so skillfully, however, is to mash all these influences, chew them up and spit them back out as something completely their own. They are not copying or even emulating any other band, simply drawing on musicians’ natural influences to develop their own sound.

“Watch Us Burn” is the first song on the album, and it grabs you instantly and won’t let go. Crunchy guitar, guttural vocals, and hauntingly simple keyboards diverge and coalesce in harmonic chaos, waxing and waning and leaving you pumped for more.

For me, the most impressive thing I found on this album was their cover of Gerard McMann’s “Cry Little Sister”. Don’t know who that is? Song not ringing a bell? The alternate title of the song was originally “Theme From The Lost Boys“. That’s right, the vampire cult classic starring Jason Patric, Corey Haim and Corey Feldman. Is it the best song on the album? Hell no, but it is fucking cool as shit.

A kind of rapcore makes an appearance with the song “Stress Related”, and I have to say it was fun. Very reminiscent of Faith No More , yet maintaining continuity with the rest of the album.

This album is visceral, gritty, edgy and brutal. My only complaint is at a few points, the music becomes too chaotic, clashing against each other like fingers on a chalkboard. Well, that and the occasional appearance of cliches. On “The Sad History Of The World”, the line “this is it, this is how we seal our fate” sounded stale, and in “Watch Us Burn” they whisper “ashes to ashes, we all fall down”. Other than these two points, however, I can’t complain all that much. This is a very strong release, and a great album.

Special treat for you: The band has posted a full album preview on myspace, so you can listen before you make up your own mind on whether or not to buy it. Enjoy!

Rating: 8 out of 10

Track Listing:

1. Watch Us Burn

2. Coming Apart

3. Stress Related

4. They Dying Sound

5. The Fallen Idol

6. This Digital World

7. The Sad History Of The World

8. Face To Face

9. Swords

10. Cry Little Sister

11. The Way The World Ends

12. The Defying Sound {Negative Red Remix} *Bonus Song

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REVIEW: The Dreaming – “Etched In Blood”

Artist: The Dreaming

Album: Etched In Blood

Label: BCD Music Group

Website: myspace.com/thedreaming

Remember Stabbing Westward? Well for those of you that do, allow me to introduce you to The Dreaming, frontman Christopher Hall’s new band, and “Etched In Blood” was their first full length album. This is not a new release, but one I thought most people probably hadn’t heard of.

Stabbing Westward’s self-titled final album was much lighter fair than they had previously presented, and The Dreaming is a natural progression from that. The industrial sound is all but gone, replaced by a more gothic rock vibe.

The Dreaming is: Christopher Hall-Vocals, Jinxx-Guitar, Carlton-Guitar, Brent Ashley-Bass and Johnny Haro on drums.

Hall’s vocals continue to be top notch. The same quality of vocals you came to love with Stabbing Westward continue through The Dreaming. Song’s like “Let It Burn” and “Ugly” have great melodic vocals and angst-ridden choruses, feeding any SW fan’s need, if not quite as satisfyingly as one would like.

Some of the tracks can be pedantic and repetitive. Their biggest single off the album, “Sticks and Stones” is a prime example of it. Its a cutesy line for a chorus, but it is repeated over and over, drilling into your brain like a mind-control leach from “Wrath Of Khan”. Thankfully not all their tracks are like this, and overall it is a great creative effort.

Songs like “Become Like You” and “Ugly” have the same angst ridden, rebellious overtones we have come to expect from Hall, whatever band he is in. In many ways, this album is a  coming home for SW fans, yet still manages to be new and creative. They do a very good cover of Real Life‘s “Send Me An Angel” as a hidden track, although it doesn’t bring anything new to the song.

All in all, this is a very good album. It has just a touch of the old mixed with a lot of new to form something thoroughly enjoyable. I predict good things for the dreaming. “Ugly”, previously titled “Beautiful”, was even featured on the Elektra soundtrack(the album, not the score). Who knew? The band is currently working on a new album, and word on the street is it will have a more electronic element to it. Could this be a hearken back to the more industrial sound of old? Only time will tell, but count on Hit The Pit to keep you informed!

Rating: 7 out of 10

Recommended Tracks: “Bleed”, “Disconnected”, “What Do You Want From Me”

Track Listing:

1. Dead To Me

2. Bullet

3. Ugly

4. Let It Burn

5. Sticks & Stones

6. Bleed

7. Become Like You

8. Disconnected

9. Eating Me Alive

10. What Do You Want From Me

11. Make It Go Away

12. Send Me An Angel(Hidden Track)

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Upcoming Releases and Special Requests

Decided to share a list of upcoming album releases we thought you all might be interested in. This is not even close to an all inclusive list, just a few releases we think you might want to check out.

Also, if there is an album coming up or already out that you would like us to review, shoot us an email at hitthepit_update@hotmail.com . We can’t guarantee we can do every album people request, but it is nice to know what you, the readers are looking for.

Band	Album	Release Date
Green Jelly	Musick To Insult Your Intelligence By	9/29/2009
Hatebreed	Hatebreed	9/29/2009
Immortal	All Shall Fall	10/6/2009
Baroness	Blue Record	10/13/2009
Skeletonwitch	Breathing The Fire	10/13/2009
Between The Buried and Me	The Great Misdirect	10/27/2009
Slayer	World Painted Blood	11/3/2009

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REVIEW: Kittie-In The Black

Artist: Kittie
Album: In The Black
Label: E1 Music
Website: kittierocks.com

The fifth album from the all female metal legends Kittie came out in stores yesterday, and I have to say I am disappointed. All signs point to the fact that inspirationally their music is suffering. From a short album to uninspired songwriting, this is not their best effort to say the least.

My first bitch is about the length of the album-an anorexic 40.8 minutes. To me, that is barely more than an EP. Just because it has 12 songs does not make it an album. The first song is just an instrumental, and only lasts 1:29, and three other songs are less than 3 minutes long. Of the nine songs that are left, three are just a couple seconds over 3 minutes long, leaving six actual full length songs. For this you pay full retail price? Ripoff!

Next, lets talk about the songs themselves. The harmonic melody mixed with trashing guitars and pounding drums that has made Kittie famous barely even makes a presence. The first full song, “My Plague” is all scream no melody, and there is nothing wrong with that. If they feel like going in a different direction musically, go for it. You may lose some of your fans, but you should stay true to yourself. This song is actually pretty kick ass. Slayer-like guitars, guttural screaming  and crazy fast drums get your blood pumping. If the whole album was like this, no problem.

The next few songs seem to try and take that sound and start easing back into their old style at the same time, until you work your way to the middle of the album and songs like “Forgive And Forget” and “Sleepwalking”. These songs give you at least a taste of their old sound once again, but only a taste. They never quite make it back to the way they sounded on their previous four albums.

Other songs, at the top of the list “Ready Aim Riot” seem to have nothing of substance at all. It seems as if they were stretching for songs to put on the album to get to 12, someone came up with a “cool” name for one, and they banged something out in five minutes. Plain and simple, it doesn’t work. There’s no passion, it sounds forced, and that is what pervades this album.

“The Truth” is probably my favorite song on the album. It has a stoner-rock feel to it, which while it is not their usual sound works. Crunching bass, wailing guitar and guttural vocals mixed with intermissions of a great melodic chorus mark something different, yet familiar. This is also the longest song on the album, passing the six minute mark, which may speak to the fact that when you have a song that truly works, it flows naturally and almost has a life all its own. I think that at least on this album, there is definitely a correlation between length of song and merit of song.

This whole album sounds lackluster and uninspired, with few exceptions. Maybe the album title gives us a clue as to why. Perhaps “In The Black” refers to the fact that they may be making money now, and that has led to contentment, which has led to lack of  inspiration. Even their single “Cut Throat”, which appears on the Saw VI soundtrack, has nothing exceptional about it. There are a few shining beacons of non-suckitude(see recommended tracks below), but overall this is an album you can skip. Buy the recommended tracks on Itunes, then move on.

Rating:4 out of 10. On musical merit alone I might give this a five or maybe even six, but combined with the short album and too many short songs, it’s just not a good effort.

Suggested Tracks: “Forgive & Forget”, “Sleepwalking”, “The Truth”

Track Listing:

1. Kingdome Come

2. My Plague

3. Cut Throat

4. Die My Darling

5. Sorrow I Know

6. Forgive & Forget

7. Now or Never

8. Falling Down

9. Sleepwalking

10. Whiskey Love Song

11. Ready Aim Riot

12. The Truth


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GWAR Is Still Kicking Ass

Remember GWAR? You know, the alien invaders who sing about injecting dinosaur eggs with crack and the ensuing chaos once it hatches? Well, I hadn’t thought about them in years, but they are still alive and going strong. In fact, their latest album, Lust In Space debuted at number 96 on the Billboard Top 200, marking their highest ranking to date. Apparently, GWAR’s lead singer Oderus Orungus even appeared on a light night Fox News show called Red Eye. Not once, but six times!

The band consists of :

Lead Singer: Oderus Orungus

Guitars: Balsac The Jaws Of Death and Flatus Maximus

Drums: Jizmak Da Gusha

Bass: Beefcake The Mighty

GWAR’s funny style of metal is truly original, and their videos and concerts are absolute entertainment: Full costumes, fake blood and gore abound. I remember some of my friends from about 10 years ago never bought band videos, but would buy any GWAR videos the day they came out.

If you haven’t heard them before, give them a chance. Here is a video for their hit “Crack In The Egg” to whet your appetite. Enjoy.

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Metal Has Become Mainstream

I’ve noticed something recently, which kind of took me by surprise. Somehow, quietly, heavy metal has become mainstream. No longer are we the bastard children of the music industry. I remember talk for a long time that rap would always be more mainstream than metal, but not anymore.

Don’t believe me? Go watch any non-chick flick movie trailer. Almost all of them have heavy metal playing in the background. Need further proof? How about Guitar Hero Metallica? If you told me way back when And Justice For All came out that Metallica would have a video game, I would have laughed hard. Even if you told me that after they sold out and came out with their “black” album, I still wouldn’t have believed you. Metal bands consistently play in the middle east, and metal music rules the video game scene. Heavy metal is everywhere. Check out the soundtrack to most action movies now and they are filled with metal. Horror movies too.

What’s next? Maybe instead of Rock The Vote next election should be Mosh The Vote. Maybe President Obama will start sporting Atreyu T’s and will shoot devil horns at the next State of the Union. Maybe Hatebreed will right a new national anthem. Okay, maybe not. Maybe I am making a mountain out of a molehill. But metal has come a long way, and we are far closer to being a metal nation than I had ever dared dream.
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REVIEW: Dommin – Love Is Gone

Artist: Dommin
Album: Love Is Gone
Label: http://www.roadrunnerrecords.com/artists/dommin/
Please note: We have yet to find a final release date for this record. We have heard it is slated for January 2010. We will update here when we hear the exact date.

Dommin is a band that defies classification. Overall they have a classic gothic overtone, but hint at influences ranging far outside the genre. Old time rock and roll, 80’s pop and 90’s hair bands crop up often amidst the expected gothic icons from past and present. Throughout the album it is not uncommon to hear bits of music that remind you of a distinct song from the past, but therein lies the problem. Their sound is simply not consistent throughout.  The issue I have is how the music bounces around between genres and musical influences. Sometimes the experimentation works, and other times it doesn’t.  Overall though- it is at least an interesting listen.

Like the band’s hairstyles (The Misfits trademark deathlock), the drum work at times harkens back to the fifties rock of old.  The intro to “Dark Holiday” definitely has a swing or Broadway feel to it. Then there’s Kris Dommin’s voice, who at times sounds very much in the vein of Glenn Danzig (Misfits & Danzig) and at other times more like Dave Gahan (Depeche Mode). Personally, while I like Depeche Mode, but I prefer the Danzig moments-but that is personal preference! The moments when Dommin is apparently using his own vocal styling, rather than borrowing from others,  is the least enjoyable of all of them. Not because he has a bad voice, but because you come to want to hear the other more familiar styles instead.

The beginning of “Making The Most” gave me bad flashbacks to Bonnie Tyler’s “Total Eclipse Of The Heart”, but once the guitar kicked in, for some reason it reminded me of Guns N Roses’ “November Rain”, but only briefly! The main guitar riff prevalent throughout “Closure” reminded me of classic destroyers like “Fade To Black”, “One” and “Cemetery Gates”.

Rating the band on its own merits is difficult, as all of it is reminiscent of someone else, whether it is other Goth bands or something right out of left field. I have to say I think it is a good try for a young band, and I expect they will just get better as they continue to grow and find their “own” sound.

Rating: 6 out of 10.

Recommended Tracks: If you are looking for a Depeche Mode type of gothic sound, stick to songs like “Honestly” and “Remember”. Other songs of note are “Closure”, “One Feeling”, “Within Reach”, “Dark Holiday” and “Tonight”.

The 3 filler songs on the album(the longest being 1:15), “Evenfall Hallow”, “Within Reach” and “One Eye Open” can be skipped.

Track Listing:
1.My Heart, Your Hands
2.New
3.Evenfall Hollow
4.Tonight
5.Love is Gone
6.Dark Holiday
7.Without End
8.Within Reach
9.Closure
10.Making the Most
11.One Feeling
12.I Still Lost
13.One Eye Open
14.Honestly
15.Remember

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South Park VS Trivium

For fans of South Park and Trivium:

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