Tateryche: Tom Falsetto Reviews Tate's Queensryche

Ah, a new release from Queensryche, one of the bands that got me to expand my horizons beyond thrash and black metal and to start exploring the realm of traditional and progressive metal.  Well, sort of.  Not really.  After Geoff Tate was fired from Queensryche, he decided to make his own version with a bunch of hired guns and slap together an album in ten minutes to beat his former bandmates to the punch.  Decades of pointless albums, a loss of fan interest, the press attention gained from Tate’s firing, spitting on bandmates, insulting audiences,  trashing metal and its fans, and ridiculous publicity photos that make him look like he’s auditioning for Mr. Clean, has given Geoff Tate’s career a shot in the arm.  Instead of zero people giving a fuck, now a whopping 12 people follow his career just to make daily vest puns on Blabbermouth.  

And that brings us to Frequency Unknown.  That’s actually a pretty cool sounding title for a progressive metal album.  But looking at the album cover I get the feeling there’s some kind of hidden meaning to this title, a dual layer of sublime thought.  I curse my Neanderthal metalhead mind for not being able to comprehend the intellectual nuances of Geoff Tate’s art.  While this is certainly an album for the connoisseurs of wine and fine art, the marketing for this album promised that it would be “stupidly heavy” and features a mile long list of metal guest musicians to graciously give us groundlings something to chew on as well.  So, taken from that perspective, how is FU?

Ceremonial Castings: Our Goal...Will Only Capture Those Who Really Believe

After seven years, I decided to catch up with Ceremonial Castings...

PitGoddess:  Hey guys!  So, it’s been seven years since we did our first interview.  Catch us up, briefly, on all your amazing progress over the last seven years!
Lord Serpent of CC: Greetings Pit Goddess! The last seven years has brought many great things, new albums, tours, exposure, maturity & new life. Each year we grow & gain strength!

PG:  You just returned from Central America, playing shows with Cradle of Filth.  How did you land that gig?
CC: Last year we were offered a Central American tour with Gorgoroth. We had an amazing response & met a lot of great fans. While we knew we had a following down there, it really was more than we expected! So with how successful that tour went, we were offered to come back down again with Cradle of Filth. How could we say no!?

This Week in Shows: I'll Ride to Oblivion

I go to a lot of shows.  Like, a lot, even when I lived in Florida and there were WAY less tours to go to. Now that I live in the national capitol, I can finally go to shows like I've always wanted.  April takes me to at least eight shows.  Ten or eleven if my wallet and organs hold out.  So far, people have looked at me like I'm insane for hauling out two hours to see Suffocation, Exhumed and friends, but I used to drive four hours each way to shows in Miami, so that was nothing.   In fact, I've been to three shows in the last three days.

Ceremonial Castings: Then and Now, Part Then

I have been doing this for a while- since 2005.  I started out interviewing and reviewing bands from a now-defunct metal forum called Metalhordes.com, which I am sure I thought was the pinnacle of metal, the internet and forums.  There were a few misses and whackos, but overall, through Metalhordes I met a ton of wonderful people I still keep in contact with.  Oh yeah, and some good bands.

I supported Ceremonial Castings then and I support them now.  Watching this band go from a small, local outfit to a full band that plays shows in Central America has been a pleasure.  To celebrate their success, and in anticipation of their new album, Cthulhu, here's back to back Castings interviews.  First up, an interview I did with Lord Serpent back in 2006.  Please excuse and enjoy my awkward baby-fawn formatting and questions.  New interview to come shortly.  :)

A Long and Crappy Post Part Deux

I put off writing the sequel to  A Long and Crappy Post because I didn’t want to listen to the albums.  I mean, look at them.  Now that I move in three days, it’s imperative I move these CDs somewhere.  If not to the resale shop, then into my permanent collection.  Fine moving, you win again, I’ll play the damn CDs.  But, since I’m pressed for time and mildly scared, I’m doing “5 minute reviews.”  Basically, I listen to a song until I don’t like it/get bored/etc., and then skip to the next or a random track.  Although a CD usually takes multiple spins to grow on me, or for me to appreciate the subtleties, most of these CDs are at least 5 years old, and…well, I’m out of time, this is just what’s happening.  I’m keeping four and giving one to someone else, so I guess overall not a bad haul?  It was fun, but certainly not what I expected…

Inspiring Woman: Tanya Pistillo, Wandering Star Gallery

Just so happens that today is International Women's Day.  To celebrate, here's an interview with Tanya Pistillo.  Not only is this rad woman into metal, she's also dedicated to creating space focused on art and community.  We talk about music, live shows, running and the power of a good attitude.  This is a little bit different from standard SY fare, but Tanya is incredibly inspiring and sometimes its good to take a break from the norm to get inspired.

If you live in or around Largo, FL, you can check out the gallery in person.  If not, you can follow the gallery's progress through Tanya's blog at http://wanderingstargallery.com/.

A Long and Crappy Post...

Does anyone remember the Relapse 10 CDs for $20 sale?  Alright then, you get how dated this is.  I know.  Relapse got me hook line and sinker.  I figured that out of ten CDs, I’d get one or two Relapse releases I’d missed, maybe some new music and I could give the others away to friends.  Eagerly, I sent my money off and checked the mail every day.   The CDs got there quickly and I opened the box like a kid on Christmas who still believes that Santa brings everything to a good little girl. After opening the box, it felt like all Santa brought was socks.  Ugly, plain white socks in the wrong size.  And smelly body lotion, the kind I'm allergic to.  Simultaneously, I saw friends getting boxes of Relapse titles- Baroness, Coffins, Brutal Truth, Toxic Holocaust.  I get crap and my sibling gets a a shiny new Iphone. Relapse Santa is a dick.

I didn’t get one single Relapse title.  I only recognized one band (Gorephagia) and they’re on a split.  I got exactly ½ a CD from a band I have heard of before.  But hey, new things can be fun.  There could be a whole new band to be passionate about in the stack.  By the looks of it, that won’t happen.  When I got the box months ago, the plan was to write two reviews: one based on album art/liner/liner notes/band name and a follow up to see if the music matched my predictions.  Grad school happened, and half of the albums looked so unappetizing that I had no desire to listen to them to see if they matched my predictions.  I stuck the box away and forgot about it until now.  To be honest, the reason I do this now is because I'm moving and things take up space. That said, the plan is still the plan and I intend to have fun with it.