Heavy Rotation: Fellas of the Belly (March 28)

A day late, but not a dollar short... It's the new Heavy Rotation... Now with more conflict! So dig in and be merry.

Spleen Latifa:
01. F.Y.P. - Incomplete Crap
02. The Suicide File - Some Mistakes You Never Stop Paying For
03. Buzzkill - House of Bad Touch
04. Jesuseater - Step Inside My Death Ray
05. Various Artists - Deathwish Inc: Fighting Music Vol. 2
06. The Company Band - Sign Here, Here, & Here
07. Trial by Fire - Ringing in the Dawn
08. Once Nothing - First Came the Law
09. Untitled Music Project - Untitled Music Project
10. Ceremony - Scared People EP

The (Really Late*) Hellion:
01. Leatherface - "Minx"
02. Dead Kennedys - "Fresh Fruit for Rotting Vegetables"
03. 13 & God - "13 & God"
04. Sixtoo - "Jackals and Vipers in Envy of Man"
05. N.W.A. - "Straight Outta Compton"
06. Fifteen - "Lucky"
07. War from a Harlot's Mouth - Transmetropolitan"
08. The Hope Conspiracy - "Death Knows Your Name"
09. Mice Parade - "Mice Parade"
10. Blood Brothers - "Crimes"

*Sorry I am so late. It was a shitty week.

So Sick It Hurts: Cloak/Dagger - "We Are"

I'm about to throw out a statement that might shake a few of you uninitiated to the core, so prepare yourself... Ready?... I honestly think Richmond's blitzkrieg known as Cloak/Dagger have quite possibly made one of the best records of 2007, one of the best punk/hardcore records of the last two decades... and maybe even (and time will tell) one of my favorite records of all time.

I know, I know... that's three extremely heavy statements to just throw out there about a first full-length record by a band that's still earning their stripes on the road, pounding the pavement like good American hardcore purists. BUT seriously, go pick up this 14-song bomb-blast of energy and intensity and see for yourself. These cats will rock your fucking face off, then hop in their van and leave you in a cloud of sweat and dust. Just like when I found Career Suicide, there was instant shock to my system of that refreshing original hardcore sound I missed out on cuz I was born during its heyday. And I still think I'd give my left arm to be able to be 15 or 16 in 1980.

Follow me here, this single album makes me wanna yell along to the lyrics, kick random people who walk too slow on the sidewalk, rock out air-band style like there's no tomorrow, spit in the face of every physical incarnation that exists solely to keep me in a rut or cause frustration, smash anything that resembles authority, give the finger to meaningless existence, and just flat-out dance around like a nutbag... All the things that drew me into the '80s hardcore fold so wholeheartedly. This album is pure, unbridled angst and urgency, and it should not be ignored... "They Are" definitely powerful shit.

Cloak/Dagger - "Set the Alarm", ""Runways", "Bended Knee", and "Kamikazes" (Live at The Fest 6, Gainesville, FL)

Heavy Rotation: Fellas of the Belly (March 21)

It's March motherfuckin' 21st! Just kidding, there's no need to celebrate such an arbitrary date. Oh wait, you're getting the Rotation! Celebrate, ragers!

The Hellion:
01. Witch Hunt - "...As Priorities Decay"
02. The Clash - "London Calling"
03. Unpersons - "III"
04. Zann - "Three Years in the Desert"
05. Lords - "Swords"
06. The Vandals - "Peace Thru Vandalism/When in Rome Do as the Vandals"
07. NOFX - "Punk in Drublic"
08. My Lai - "Learn, Forget, Relearn"
09. Usurp Synapse - "Disinformation Fix"
10. Fifteen - "Lucky"

Spleen Latifa:
01. A Girl A Gun A Ghost - Through the Eyes of Ahab
02. Small Brown Bike - Dead Reckoning
03. Leatherface - Mush
04. Blues - Death and Taxes EP
05. Off With Their Heads/Four Letter Word - One for the Road EP
06. Whiskey Sunday - Maldecido
07. Be Your Own Pet - Get Awkward
08. The Misfits - Evilive EP
09. Career Suicide - Attempted Suicide
10. Eternal Lord - Blessed Be this Nightmare

So Sick It Hurts: Suicide Silence - "The Cleansing"

Suicide Silence wants to destroy you. Go ahead, ask them. I bet they won't deny it. Do they achieve this? Well, if they didn't, they wouldn't be so sick they hurt, now would they?

These fellas really do bring a pretty brutal experience to the table. For that, I say nice job. I've listened to this album quite frequently lately because I have been in the mood for something punishing. I am never disappointed by letting this bad boy take care of that thirst. While there are sludgier/breakdown parts, most of the album tears through the speakers with aggression depicted through speed. It's nice because the sound of the overall music has a place outside most of the cliche shit that bands have been putting out lately. Plus, there are death vocals. I love death vocals. They make me feel good inside.

I would certainly say this album is one of the better metal records I've heard recently, so you'd be doing yourself an injustice by not checking it out. It will pretty much just bash your head in. I, for one, love having my head bashed. You may want to check out their self-titled EP as well.

Here's the official video for "The Price of Beauty." Rage on!

How 'bout an Interview, Dummy: Josh Scogin of The Chariot

So the nice gentlemen at Metal Injection allowed your friendly neighborhood Spleen Latifa to help out on another juicy little bit of awesometown. And this time it was in the form of an interview with Josh Scogin -- the man, the myth, and the legend behind the always-entertaining bruisers, The Chariot. Check out the video below for the interview the Spleen conducted for MI's site, and also click here for a handful of live clips of The Chariot and Poison the Well from the concert, as well as a shitty sound-quality interview with Chris from PTW. Oh, and don't be frightened... that is the mighty Spleen in the video, MI just made him come up with the fake commoner's name "Sean" to avoid confusion with the Bellicus Fulleron of Hellicus!

Spleen Latifa interviews Josh Scogin on Metal Injection

Heavy Rotation: Fellas of the Belly (March 14)

Let's get ready to ride motorcycles and rock out!

The Hellion:
01. Slayer - Christ Illusion
02. B.B. King - Best Of
03. Apocalypse Hoboken - Easy Instructions for Complex Machinery
04. Miles Davis - Birth of the Cool
05. Mogwai - Rock Action
06. Between the Buried and Me - Colors
07. Killwhitneydead. - Never Good Enough for You
08. Cattle Decapitation - Karma.Bloody.Karma
09. All Shall Perish - The Price of Existence
10. Through the Eyes of the Dead - Bloodlust

Spleen Latifa:
01. Latterman - No Matter Where We Go..!
02. Weedeater - God Luck and Good Speed
03. Dear Tonight - We're Not Men
04. F.U.'s - My America
05. Artimus Pyledriver - Artimus Pyledriver
06. Jawbox - For Your Own Special Sweetheart
07. The Acacia Strain - The Dead Walk
08. Scissorfight - Jaggernaut
09. Smog - A River Ain't Too Much to Love
10. Suicide Silence - The Cleansing

Featured Live Show: Paint It Black (In-Store Performance)

3.01.2008 - Generation Records - NYC

If you recall an earlier post about the sick deal Generation Records had going on (the one where buying Paint It Black's fierce new album from the shop gets your name on the list for an exclusive in-store performance by the band...) then this won't be shocking news to you... and frankly, is easier on me so I don't need to bring you all back up to speed again! Regardless, this Featured Live Show is about that exact appearance by the P.I.B. dudes in the basement of Generation.

Also, tossing me another line, I did some snoopin' on the interwebs and tracked down some footage of the show. So this way, you can see exactly how it was, without me having to give you some snarky, cuss-laden rehash of how it went down. But I will go ahead and say that this show was definitely crucial to me for a specific reason: I finally figured out that I'm old. And I don't mean in the way like "oh, that show was so much fun, it'd made me feel like I was 15 again, cramped into a small room, climbing on top of and slamming into everyone around me, screaming along to the lyrics as loud as I possibly could, forgetting about anything else happening outside of the walls sweatily confining us in with the band" ... Sure that is all true, but I meant in a different way as well.

There was one quick moment when everything became clear to me... and it was when some red-faced teenager with a blond surfer-shag hairdo motioned "you goin' up?" (as in respects to crowd-surfing) to me, and I hesitated for a second, then waved him off. However, instantly after this exchange, I was subjected to an inner dilemma of sorts... because I realized the only reason I didn't boost myself up on everyone's backs, was because I was worried about losing the contents of my pockets(!) ... Don't get me wrong, stage-diving and crowd-surfing were among my favorite activities as a kid at shows, but this was the first time ever for my "sorry, I'm worried my phone, ipod, keys, and/or wallet may disconnect themselves from my person" moment... And I was ashamed... Not only was I ashamed, but I found myself at a crossroads. In front of me, a foot away, was a vicious pack of mosh-drunk kids going nuts for every powerchord, and behind me, ten feet back, sprinkled among the standers, were a couple gray-hairs and sensible older-punk types tapping their toes and bobbing their heads. And then it occurred to me... is the time just around the corner where i'll be stepping ten feet back and rubbing shoulders with a different group of show-goers?

Ah, fuck it... Who am I kidding? ... We here at the Belly never slow down... We fuckin' rage... And that's just the way it is... I probably just had a gas bubble or some heartburn... Cuz it's just like Dr. Yemin says, "We are invincible. We may bend, but we will not be broken."

Paint It Black - Live @ Generation Records NYC (three songs)

GnarVideo of the Week: Mastodon - "Seabeast"

I noticed it's been a bit since we tossed you cats a zesty GnarVideo, and I know Wednesday is supposed to be the day for it, but F it, we missed it a couple times now, so here it is! It's also been a while since the Atlanta bruisers in Mastodon have showed their grizzled faces on the Belly. So breathe a sigh of relief Bellions, for the GnarVids are back... and the wooly Mastodons are ushering them back in.

Anywho, onto the real subject of this weekly column -- the videos. I forget how I stumbled back across this little gem of yore, but I am so fuckin' glad I did. I seriously had to watch the following video at least three times in a row to fully embrace it in all its glory. I would go on record and say it is absolutely gorgeous in most gnar way possible. From the film grain black and white stock, to the subtle skip of the footage, to the concept and execution, to the visuals and art direction... just simply flawless. Also, it manages to show the band jammin' out to the ditty without having to sully the video in some sort of cliche way... I'll stop here before I keep rambling and end up proposing to the video.

Take it for a spin, ace... See if you agree with me:

Mastodon - "Seabeast"

Heavy Rotation: Fellas of the Belly (Mar. 7)

Sorry kiddies, we are a day late and a dollar short with this week's Heavy Rotation! However, the 'Tation steamroller cannot be stopped... and here it is for you:

Spleen Latifa:
01. The Ergs - Upstairs/Downstairs
02. See You Next Tuesday - Parasite
03. Fagatron - S/T
04. Jawbreaker - Bivouac
05. Give Up the Ghost - We're Down 'Til We're Underground
06. Born of Osiris - The New Reign
07. Meat Puppets - II
08. This Moment in Back History - The Cleveland Finger EP
09. The Germs - (MIA)
10. Beneath the Massacre - Mechanics of Dysfunction

The Hellion:
01. Godspeed You! Black Emperor - Yanqui U.X.O.
02. See You Next Tuesday - Parasite
03. Xiu Xiu - Women as Lovers
04. Ed Gein - It's a Shame That a Family Can Be Torn Apart...
05. The Locust - Plague Soundscapes
06. Terminally, Your Aborted Ghost - Inanimately Soundless
07. Logh - Every Time a Bell Rings an Angel Gets His Wings
08. God Dethroned - The Toxic Touch
09. Dillinger Four - Midwestern Songs of the Americas
10. Fugazi - The Argument

Psycho Killa:
1. The Red Chord – Prey For Eyes
2. Carbomb – Centralia
3. The Bronx – The Bronx
4. XXL – Spicchology
5. Whitechapel – The Somatic Defilement
6. Pastime: Roboting – Futuristic Ethnic Jam (single)
7. Converge/Agoraphobic Nosebleed – The Poacher Diaries
8. A Trillion Barnacle Lapse – The Elemental Gearbot
9. Whitesnake – Whitesnake (remastered)
10. Baroness – The Red Album

Featured Live Show: Dillinger Escape Plan / A Life Once Lost (Revisited)

A bit back we threw up a post on the Dillinger Escape Plan / A Life Once Lost show in NYC. Which, if you didn't make it out to it, was nothing short of fucking brilliant. However, there was a little special addition to the punch of this monumental occasion... Your friendly neighborhood Spleen Latifa worked like a busy little bee for the month or so following the show to give you greedy Bellions something to righteously blow your minds on.

What is the fancy gift you ask? Well, early December, right before the show, the Spleen hooked up with the kind gentlemen at Metal Injection and helped them film the glorious show to make it a nice tri-camera affair, and then took all the tapes home from the live sets and edited them up all sexy-like. So below you will find two samples of these clips, and a link to where you can shoot over and see all the live vids we posted up (of DEP, ALOL, Genghis Tron, and Shat) plus two rad interviews with Greg from Dillinger and the nice boys of the Tron. So without further chatterboxing, have at these clips and follow the link to watch the rest!

Find all the clips here on Metal Injection's video player

Dillinger Escape Plan - "Sunshine the Werewolf" (live)


A Life Once Lost - "Pain and Panic" (live)