Against The Grain: Umbra Vitae

As a musician and artist, when you have the chance to tap back into a genre that you’ve been away from for a long while, the end result is something that often times feels refreshing and reinvigorating. That being said, while in rehearsals for Wear Your Wounds, Jacob Bannon, Sean Martin and Mike McKenzie, began messing around with some heavy riffs. After realizing what they had, the three of them recruited Greg Weeks (The Red Chord, Labor Hex) and Jon Rice (Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats, Job For A Cowboy) for the rhythm section to back their aggressive riffs and thus Umbra Vitae was conceived.  Taking their name from a poem by Georg Heym, The music and and words are as haunting as it’s namesake. Their debut album, Shadow of Life (out May 1st via Deathwish Inc.), was recorded and mixed by Kurt Ballou. The album one that will pummel the listener with unrelenting force and unpredictability. As well as providing self affirming mantras to give it even more of an edge.

Vocalist Jacob Bannon has gone on to say about Umbra Vitae “After reading the piece from Heym, I immediately felt connected to it. Later, while working on the previous Wear Your Wounds album, my love for Death Metal was rekindled. This was likely a reaction to working on non-aggressive music for such a concentrated period. As these songs started to form, the ominous nature of that original poem came to mind.”  He continues, “In many ways it embodied the character of what we were all creating together. For me, Umbra Vitae is darkly confrontational and my own internal struggles are nested within each song. At this point in my life it is of the utmost importance to use this art and music as the vehicle for a healthy purge of emotion. By design, even in something this intense, there is righteous intent to be a better human through the process of creating it.” Umbra Vitae definitely is a band to look out for and hopefully will continue as time goes on.

 

Umbra Vitae is:

Jacob Bannon: Vocals, Lyrics (Converge, Wear Your Wounds, Blood From the Soul)

Mike McKenzie: Guitars, Vocals (The Red Chord, Wear Your Wounds, Stomach Earth)

Sean Martin: Guitars, Vocals (ex-Hatebreed, Wear Your Wounds, Twitching Tongues)

Greg Weeks: Bass (The Red Chord, Labor Hex, etc)

Jon Rice: Drums (ex-Job for a Cowboy, Uncle Acid, etc)

Umbra Vitae- Return To Zero:

 

 

 

Great Music Videos: Metallica- Until It Sleeps

Metallica have long had an interesting history with music videos. Their first “real” video was made for “One” back in 1988, and that really started the train moving. Then as “The Black Album” was released and was making history (and still is to this day), they band really stepped up their game with their videos. In 1996, as the band was beginning to release their very underrated album Load, they stepped a little out of their comfort zone and released one of their best music videos. The Samuel Bayer directed video for “Until It Sleeps” made and left quite an impact on the band and its fans. Not only did the song show a different direction musically but, the visual aspect that accompanied the song was right along with that. Lyrically, the song is about James Hetfield’s mother’s battle with cancer and the ensuing anger that he felt as she was going through it and losing her battle with it. The video is quite intriguing as a lot of it deals with the “Fall Of Man.” A lot of the imagery was also taken from various paintings by Hieronymus Bosch, as well as other surrealist art pieces. The video would go on to win Best Rock Video at the 1996 MTV Video Music Awards. This video is truly one of the best the band has put out.

 

Metallica- Until It Sleeps:

New Release: Nine Inch Nails- Ghosts V: Together & Ghosts VI: Locusts

Today, saw a surprise release of two new Ghosts albums from Nine Inch Nails. In a statement released by Trent and Atticus, they had this to say about the release.

“FRIENDS-

WEIRD TIMES INDEED…

AS THE NEWS SEEMS TO TURN EVER MORE GRIM BY THE HOUR, WE’VE FOUND OURSELVES VACILLATING WILDLY BETWEEN FEELING LIKE THERE MAY BE HOPE AT TIMES TO UTTER DESPAIR – OFTEN CHANGING MINUTE TO MINUTE. ALTHOUGH EACH OF US DEFINE OURSELVES AS ANTISOCIAL-TYPES WHO PREFER BEING ON OUR OWN, THIS SITUATION HAS REALLY MADE US APPRECIATE THE POWER AND NEED FOR CONNECTION.

MUSIC – WHETHER LISTENING TO IT, THINKING ABOUT IT OR CREATING IT – HAS ALWAYS BEEN THE THING THAT HELPED US GET THROUGH ANYTHING – GOOD OR BAD. WITH THAT IN MIND, WE DECIDED TO BURN THE MIDNIGHT OIL AND COMPLETE THESE NEW GHOSTS RECORDS AS A MEANS OF STAYING SOMEWHAT SANE.

GHOSTS V: TOGETHER IS FOR WHEN THINGS SEEM LIKE IT MIGHT ALL BE OKAY, AND GHOSTS VI: LOCUSTS… WELL, YOU’LL FIGURE IT OUT.

IT MADE US FEEL BETTER TO MAKE THESE AND IT FEELS GOOD TO SHARE THEM. MUSIC HAS ALWAYS HAD A WAY OF MAKING US FEEL A LITTLE LESS ALONE IN THE WORLD… AND HOPEFULLY IT DOES FOR YOU, TOO. REMEMBER, EVERYONE IS IN THIS THING TOGETHER AND THIS TOO SHALL PASS.

WE LOOK FORWARD TO SEEING YOU AGAIN SOON.
BE SMART AND SAFE AND TAKE CARE OF EACH OTHER.

WITH LOVE,
TRENT & ATTICUS

 

DOWNLOAD LINK: https://store.nin.com/products/ghosts-digital-download

 

Nine Inch Nails- Ghosts V: Together & Ghosts VI: Locusts:

 

Anticipated Albums: Run The Jewels- RTJ IV

I’m not a big fan of hip hop music of today but, I love Run The Jewels. Ever since I heard their first album, I’ve been hooked. EL-P is a master of beats and production and his rap flow is absolutely sick. Killer Mike is one hell of an MC and both of them combined are simply great. So as we wait, all be it impatiently for all this crazyness in the world to clear up, we can at least have these two new Run The Jewels songs to keep us occupied till the album is finally out.

 

Run The Jewels- Yankee and The Brave:

 

Run The Jewels- Ooh La La:

 

New Release: Pearl Jam- Quick Escape

Pearl Jam’s new album Gigaton comes out this Friday. And ahead of it’s release, the band has released a new single, “Quick Escape.” This song definitley is a rocker and it harks back to their Yield days. Which by the way, I highly suggest you taking another listen to. That is one hell of a good album. Anyways, Gigaton seems like it will be a pretty diverse Pearl Jam record with something for everyone on it.

 

Pearl Jam- Quick Escape:

 

Secret Songs: Nine Inch Nails- Suck

At the end of Nine Inch Nails’ epic EP Broken, there are not one but, two secret songs hidden amongst all the silence. The first is a cover of the Adam and The Ants song “Physical” and the other is a killer version of the Pigface song “Suck.” Trent was actually a part of Pigface and wrote and sang on the original version. The one found at the end of Broken is a lot grittier and sinister than the original. It’s also worth noting too that, the lives version of the song found on And All That Could Have Been and the Woodstock 94 set, are stellar as well.

 

Nine Inch Nails- Suck:

 

Nine Inch Nails- Suck (Live Woodstock 94):

 

Collaborations: Foo Fighters with Joe Walsh

While I was thinking of what to write about over the weekend for Monday, I came up with an idea. It’s definitely going to be a fun one and it will allow you to further delve into some songs and artists/players you might not have normally listened to. The first one I’d like to get into is the collaboration between the Foo Fighters and Joe Walsh from the Foo’s album Sonic Highways. On that album, the two collaborated on a song (the best song on the album by far too) called “Outside.” Joe Walsh is such an integral part of any band or appearance he’s ever been a part of. There is a way to how he plays and his overall vibe and style, that just makes those songs and bands great. This song is no different. His minimalist guitar solo truly sets a mood and as you listen to the song and the lyrics, you really understand why Dave Grohl had asked Joe to guest on the song. It’s one of those perfect collaborations.

 

Foo Fighters w/ Joe Walsh- Outside:

 

 

Foo Fighters- Making of Outside (from Sonic Highways DVD):

 

Band Of The Week: Old Lung

One of my favorite sub-genres over the last decade has got to be the post-hardcore genre. There is something about the ferociousness and tenacity within the music and vocals that just hits right. And when you find the right band in that realm, it all sounds like it should. There is a new band I recently came across that has really peaked my interest. Hailing from California and New York, Old Lung, is bringing a viciousness to the genre with a direct impact. Their debut song “Wounds” is straight up in your face and grabbing. Their debut EP will be out later this year via Stay Sick Recordings. Old Lung is definitely a band you should be on the look out for.

 

Old Lung- Wounds:

 

Alternate Versions: Converge- Endless Arrow

Alternate versions are quite fun to dive into. They give you a different experience from the original version. And sometimes, these versions turn out better than what you heard first. Converge have released a new version of their song “Aimless Arrow” entitled “Endless Arrow.” This version was created by the bands guitarist Kurt Ballou and is a 30 minute experimental/ambient version of the song. “Aimless Arrow” originally appeared on the bands 2012 album All We Love We Leave Behind. This new version was created “To keep people entertained in these challenging times.” It’s definitely a different take on the song. Personally, I’d be interested to hear them do this with a few other tracks of theirs and maybe even expand this into their Blood Moon project as well.

Converge- Endless Arrow:

 

Converge- Aimless Arrow:

 

 

New Release: Oathbreaker- Ease Me

A while back, Oathbreaker released a new song called “Ease Me” on the Adult Swim Metal Swim 2 compilation. Now, a new EP release featuring the song along with a few different remixes by Jesu, Chelsea Wolfe and others, will be released May 8th (via Deathwish Inc.). Oathbreaker is one of the best bands I’ve heard in a long time and their 2016 album Rheia is an absolute masterpiece. If you’ve never heard it, I urge you to do so. Check out Ease Me and the Ease Me (Jesu Remix) below!

Oathbreaker- Ease Me:

 

 

Oathbreaker- Ease Me (Jesu Remix):