It seems like just a few weeks ago that I was bemoaning the fact that Chicago dual-guitar madmen Bible of the Devil hadn’t had a new album in over three years. Because it was! Now, I don’t want to say that the members of Bible of the Devil read that post and were so struck by my plea for new material that they immediately wrote an album’s worth of songs and set to recording them, but I’m pretty sure we all know that’s exactly what went down. So, Bible of the Devil — thank you, and you’re welcome.

And on the off-chance Bible of the Devil didn’t put For the Love of Thugs and Fools to tape purely because I asked them too — impossible as it sounds, we should at least entertain the notion that they didn’t — we can still be glad the record has two songs with “night” in the title, as did its predecessor. Anything less would be unacceptable. For the Love of Thugs and Fools will be out May 8. The sooner the better.

Here’s the news off the PR wire:

Veteran Chicago rock ‘n’ roll band Bible of the Devil have announced the completion of their sixth full-length album and third for Rome, Italy-based label Cruz Del Sur Music. Entitled For the Love of Thugs and Fools, Bible of the Devil‘s eagerly anticipated follow-up to their 2008 release, Freedom Metal, is an assembly of raging rock ‘n’ roll songs that encapsulate the band’s saga musically and personally over the years since the last full-length. Returning to Phantom Manor studios in Chicago to work with engineer Mike Lust, who has engineered numerous BOTD recordings in the past, the band sought to emphasize their trademark bludgeoning two-guitar attack and mammoth hooks with an increased attention to soaring, anthemic vocals.

For the Love of Thugs and Fools is viewed by the band as a document of the many characters they have encountered through the life of the band, whether it be in love, loss, friendship, or hatred. Having toured extensively throughout the United States and Europe since the band’s inception in late 1999 and living in the volatile urban environment of Chicago, where encounters with crime, violence, and “street justice” are unavoidable, there has been much subject matter for the band to draw from. Embracing the philosophy that a bottle of whiskey and some loud guitar is often the best cure available for these challenges and ordeals, Bible of the Devil have chosen to document their grievances in the form of one devastating rock ‘n’ roll platter. Said singer/guitarist Mark Hoffmann, “The few years since the last full-length have been like a dare. A dare to create a soaring, punishing rock ‘n’ roll record of this magnitude. It is a dare that we have been forced to answer ourselves.” Fans of Bible of the Devil can expect yet another collection of fist-pumping heavy guitar classics-in-the-making, For the Love of Thugs and Fools.

Track Listing:
1. Sexual Overture/While You Were Away 6:02
2. Out for Blood 5:28
3. Anytime 4:20
4. The Parcher 5:28
5. (I Know What is Right) In the Night 5:16
6. Raw & Order 4:31
7. Can’t Turn off the Sun 5:14
8. Yer Boy 4:52
9. Night Street 5:07
Running Time 46:08

We’re now on day 1,146 of this Bible of the Devil drought. It’s been more than three years since the Chicago asskicking specialists released their most excellent Freedom Metal album, and at the risk of being honest, I’m starting to feel it. The passage of time is wearing me down, and unlike those of you lucky enough to be situated somewhere in the proximity of Windy City venue Quenchers this New Year’s Eve, I won’t have the chance to get my fix anytime soon. Unless I buy their new 7″ split with Winterhawk that is. Maybe I’ll do that.

Here’s show and split-acquisition info. Go get you some:

Bible of the Devil will round out the 2011 year in style with one last show to take place at Quenchers. Details are as follows:

Quenchers 2401 N. Western
BOTD 12am
Tight Phantomz 11pm
$10 cover 9pm Doors 21+

The BOTD/Winterhawk split 7″ is now out and is going quickly.  There are a limited number of white and black copies available. Email Onslaught of Steel Records at zuulbooking@yahoo.com or botdmusic@gmail.com to get your copy while they last.

The release of Blackfinger‘s self-titled debut in the coming weeks will mark the first record in 14-plus years that frontman Eric Wagner will have made without the band Trouble behind him. And where Lid‘s 1997 outing, In the Mushroom, teamed him with Danny Cavanaugh of Anathema for a one-off recording that never resulted in any shows, Blackfinger emerged earlier this year as a full-fledged band — a double-guitar five-piece with stand-up bass — making their presence felt at the Days of the Doomed fest in Wisconsin.

For that set, they were joined by former Trouble drummer Jeff “Oly” Olson and bassist Ron Holzner (currently of Retro Grave and Earthen Grave, respectively), who did guest spots performing Trouble material, so as much as Wagner has moved forward creatively after ending his tenure in one of American doom’s landmark and most influential acts, he hasn’t stubbornly refused to acknowledge his past. Rather, as Blackfinger shows in their first single, “All the Leaves are Brown,” he seems to have embraced it, while also progressing creatively on his own terms with new guitarists Rico Bianchi and Doug Hakes, bassist Ben Smith and drummer Larry Piatz.

We spoke just a few days after Thanksgiving and a few more after Blackfinger played a hometown show in Chicago (at which they were joined by Trouble guitarist Bruce Franklin), and in his trademark low-register deadpan speaking voice — a marked contrast to how he sings — Wagner discussed the evolution of Blackfinger from its nascence as a solo acoustic project into the band it is today, the recording of the album, which at the time was being mixed by Vincent Wojno, the prospects for a vinyl release, and his plans going forward.

Wagner‘s voice is one of the most storied in metal, let alone doom, but I wanted to keep the conversation as current as possible — that is, I didn’t want to veer into, “Hey dude, remember when you sang ‘The Wolf?’” — and I found that his perspective on his past and present is as unique as his melodies have been across these many years. What his future is in Blackfinger or otherwise is uncertain, but even about that uncertainty, the singer remains completely honest and open. It’s fitting that “All the Leaves are Brown” would be the first Blackfinger music from the album to make it to public ears, since the allusion Wagner makes at the end of the track to The Mamas and the Papas song “California Dreaming” is the perfect example of how up front he is when examining where he comes from and where he’s going.

Please find the complete Q&A with Wagner after the jump, and please enjoy.

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For their fourth album, Empros (first directly for Sargent House), the instrumental three-piece Russian Circles returned to producer Brandon Curtis of The Secret Machines, who also helmed 2009’s Geneva. The reasons why are fairly obvious: What the Chicago outfit was able to accomplish with Geneva was their most formidable blend yet of ambience and post-metallic heft, and for the sheer sounds Curtis was able to capture from guitarist Mike Sullivan, bassist Brian Cook (also ex-Botch/These Arms are Snakes) and drummer Dave Turncrantz, their wanting to recreate at least that element of the Geneva experience is well justified. That said, Empros and Geneva are different enough albums that, even without vocals as the latest is – except for the psychedelic lullaby closer “Praise be Man” – it becomes clear Russian Circles approached the construction of these songs with something altogether heavier in mind. It’s not so much that their tones have changed, though right from opener “309,” there’s a lot riding on the sometimes Godfleshy and mechanized feel of Cook’s bass, but the way the material is put together. Where some of Geneva’s ambience was allowed to wander, the six tracks of Empros are less so, so that even when the heaviness breaks into a stretch of indie-infused airy atmospherics, loops and long-ringing tones, there’s a pointedness and direction to them.

Likewise, when Russian Circles do launch into one of the crunching parts through which they’ve helped innovate post-metal instrumentalism, they sound heavier than they ever have. Four albums in, they also know how to make that work to their advantage. Both “309” and “Mlàdek,” which follows, build to stunning apexes, the later propelled by a galloping riff worthy of YOB but played faster and still cut too short. The second track has a kind of pop drama in its earlier stretch, with Turncrantz setting an upbeat pace and playing well off Sullivan’s cues. The name reportedly comes from their bus driver on their European tour for Geneva, and it’s one of the most discernible structures on Empros, twice repeating a section cycle before launching into the build that comprises the aforementioned second half. A lot of what Russian Circles do on Empros will sound familiar to heads who’ve watched post-metal come of age, and while it probably won’t change too many minds who are either sick of the sound or bemoaning the inevitable sacrifice of crushing sonics that comes with ambience, Russian Circles have grown into a band who not only can manage both, but who helped bring the subgenre to what it is. I’d include the likes of Red Sparowes and fellow Chicagoans Pelican in this as well, the latter perhaps most of all, but Russian Circles have consistently managed to concoct solid matter from distant waves of sound. The added transitional elements they bring to Empros only show an increase in overall focus and maturity in how they think about their work on a larger scale.

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I’ve come to really hate the redundancy of the phrase “digital download.” Well of course it’s a digital download. There isn’t any other kind! Let me just go to the ATM machine and get some cash money for that digital download. Ugh. It’s not like I can download a sandwich, and even if I could, I’d most likely be doing so from some form of the internet, making it still a digital download. It’s my new linguistic pet peeve, and at this point, I’m convinced the reason I keep seeing it in press releases is because record companies know that pay-downloads are a ripoff and they feel like they need to spice it up with an extra word.

It shows up in this release about Russian Circles‘ new album, Empros, which is out Oct. 25 on Sargent House, but it seems to be everywhere this week. “Digital download.” Well, here’s the press release, keyboard cut and paste from my electronic email. Grump grump grump:

Russian Circles return with not only their fourth and heaviest album to date — but also with Empros they’re poised to take the crown as innovators reinvigorating the staid trappings of genre. Empros picks up where the anthemic riffs and melodies of 2009′s Geneva left off and injects evermore slithering rhythms amid skull-crushing heft with all the visceral intensity of Godflesh, Swans and Neurosis. Put simply, Empros is Russian Circles‘ Master of Reality: a radical revision of both heavy and melody that is monolithic in its clarity and perfection. Or, like a lone surviving wooly beast emerging from a brutal winter’s frost, Empros is the sound of a band shaking the ages from its shoulders with all the brutal force of a behemoth awakened.

Taking to Chicago‘s Phantom Manor studio once again with producer Brandon Curtis of The Secret Machines and Interpol — who also helmed the band’s previous album Geneva — Russian Circles set out to experiment with their sound in new ways that would still reflect their live sound. In so doing, the band reached a new creative apex in which each of the musicians, guitarist Mike Sullivan, drummer Dave Turncrantz and bassist Brian Cook impart a streamlined and intensified attack to their songs that pummels even as it shifts throughout a range of moods and tempos.

Empros is Russian Circles‘ first full-length to be released worldwide exclusively via Sargent House, the band’s longtime management company and record label that had previously released only the vinyl editions of its three prior albums. It will be available everywhere on LP, CD and Digital Download on Oct. 25, 2011.

Russian Circles, Empros track list:
01. 309
02. Mladek
03. Schipol
04. Atackla
05. Batu
06. Praise Be Man

Even before I opened the liner notes, I knew two things about Guiltless, the fourth full-length from Chicago misanthropic doomers Indian, just from listening, and those two things were: Sanford Parker recorded and that the guitars were running through Emperor cabinets. Tonally, the Chicago doom/dirge style (typified in several cases by those two elements) has become so distinct, so singularly its own, that one knows right away what one is dealing with. Of course, it helps that Indian already have a foundation of three strong outings behind them, but this, their much-anticipated Relapse Records debut, would seem to be a coming of age for the five-piece. Their frightful crashes, haunting atmospherics – in this I’ll liken them to Pig Destroyer, despite the obvious tempo disparity – and generally unsettling approach feels more solidified across Guiltless than it did on either Slights and Abuse or The Sycophant (or the CD compilation of the two) or their 2005 Seventh Rule debut, The Unquiet Sky. As a serial killer matures in a modus operandi and ritualizes his violence, so too does Indian seem to have developed into the beastly form that presents itself on Guiltless’ seven tracks.

And if you think the serial killer analogy might be a little strong, I humbly ask that you take another listen to Guiltless’ frantic and disturbing nature. Tonally and atmospherically consistent, the album nonetheless seethes with an underlying energy and tension that comes out on nearly every song – the only notable exception being the late acoustic interlude “Supplicants,” which is creepy, but not necessarily the same kind of unhinged feel. For the rest of its vinyl-ready 41-minute duration finds Indian – guitarist/vocalists Dylan O’Toole and Will Lindsay (the latter ex-Middian and Wolves in the Throne Room, bassist Ron DeFries, drummer Bill Bumgardner (also of Lord Mantis) and noisemaker Sean Patton – reveling in their dense tonality, cutting through it only with hard-hit snares and vicious, throat-wrenching screams. As Guiltless opener “No Grace” breaks into just the guitar to introduce the movement that will encompass its last two minutes or so, one feels in listening that the album has already been on for much longer than it has. The songs are pillow-over-the-face oppressive, and the performances blisteringly tight.

“The Fate Before Fate” finds Indian underscoring black metal riffs with doomed groove, Bumgardner landing heavy on his cymbals in a noisy wash complemented by Patton’s underlying layers. The vocals are far back beneath O’Toole’s and Lindsay’s guitars, and some of Guiltless’ most scathing, working in the song’s faster pace to set up the lumbering feel of the ensuing title-track, which closes side A in madman fashion. It’s on “Guiltless” that Indian perhaps most uses the single-note thudding crashes that seem to pop up on several cuts, and to the greatest effect. The song is unflinchingly heavy and downright terrifying, DeFries’ bass working well with the drums to keep some movement happening under the raucous noise of the surface. O’Toole and Lindsay are in synch ringing out notes over the hits, and it’s almost as though the song grows more insistent over the course of its eight minutes, until finally it leads directly into “Guilty” on the CD (the LP requires a flip, so I imagine some of the effect is lost), which renews the pacing of “The Fate Before Fate” but keeps some of the same laborious feel as “Guiltless.” You won’t be surprised to find out it’s really fucking heavy, really fucking abrasive, and really fucking dark.

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I guess you could call Del Rey‘s Immemorial a “sleeper” since it wasn’t the biggest release in the world, but I still really dug it (review here), and it looks like the Chicago outfit are continuing their streak of doing cool stuff by providing an instrumental score to the 1973 animated masterpiece, Fantastic Planet. Not too much of a stylistic stretch for them, but a nifty idea anyhow, and I’m sure it’ll be a good time for anyone lucky enough to be there next week to catch it.

Info comes courtesy of the PR wire:

Psychedelic post-rockers Del Rey perform a live score to the animated sci-fi classic Fantastic Planet at Lincoln Hall on Thursday, May 5. They’ll be joined on the bill by drone merchants White/Light, who will provide accompaniment to a film by Chicago experimental filmmaker Alexander Stewart.

Since their inception in 1997 in the attic of a three-flat in Ukrainian Village, Del Rey has been keeping Chicago’s instrumental rock torch aflame, purveying their brand of sonic lyricism and rhythmic textuality from countless stages and speakers. In 2010, they released their fourth full-length, Immemorial, in North America via At A Loss Recordings (in Europe via Golden Antenna), which fused the punishing grace of the band’s riff- and percussion-driven sound to a more evocative, melodic sensibility.

The beautiful and surreal imagery of Fantastic Planet (1973) may be the perfect cinematic complement for Del Rey‘s cosmic soundscapes and epic odysseys. In the film, which won the Grand Prix at Cannes, humans are kept as pets by blue humanoid alien giants called Traags. Said to be based on the Soviet occupation of the Czech Republic, the story centers on a human named Terr, who escapes the Traags and incites other humans to revolt. Del Rey will also be performing the score in Spain later in May as part of a tour based around their upcoming show at the Primavera Sound festival in Barcelona.

Lincoln Hall will provide an ideal setting for the screenings – the club is a converted movie theater.

That Small Stone is headed back to Philly for another showcase that falls on the weekend of my wedding anniversary isn’t much of a surprise, but that the label is packing up the show and taking it to Chicago the next weekend is. Info is nebulous as of yet, but the label sent over some preliminaries via the ever-trusty PR wire and I wanted to get them posted right away, because I know these shows are going to rule.

Check it out:

We are busy planning two Small Stone showcase events for you in September/October 2011.

On September 23 and 24, we will be taking over the Kung Fu Necktie in Philadelphia, PA, as a part of the Philadelphia Film and Music Festival… And, on September 30 and October 1, will be heading on over to the Double Door in Chicago, IL.

We do not have a final lineup confirmed yet, but each city will get a combination of 12 of the following acts from the list below:
Backwoods Payback
The Brought Low
Five Horse Johnson
Freedom Hawk
Gozu
Halfway to Gone
House of Broken Promises
Lo-Pan
Luder
Ironweed
The Might Could
Red Giant
Solace
Sun Gods in Exile
Suplecs
Throttlerod
Tia Carrera

And for you folks in Europe, we did not forget about you either, as Dixie Witch, Roadsaw and Sasquatch will be starting their tour across the pond on September 23.

According to that great purveyor of all interwebular knowledge whose name I don’t even need to mention because you all know it, it’s at least 12 hours in a car to get from Gainesville, Georgia, to Chicago, Illinois. Taking into account that that’s the trip drummer Mike Duffy had to make every time he wanted to show up to band practice, it’s kind of understandable why it’s taken American Heritage six years to issue Sedentary, the follow up to their 2005 Translation Loss debut, Millenarian.

Not only that, but the then-three members of the band — Duffy and guitarists Scott Shellhammer and Adam Norden — also had to deal with the issue of a bassist. As in, they didn’t have one. Most bands would either hit up Craigslist or go without, but perhaps in an effort to contradict the album’s title, American Heritage decided to call upon a host of players, from Bill Kelliher of Mastodon to Sanford Parker, who also recorded the bulk of the record.

So on top of their drummer’s hellacious commute, they wound up with the task of chasing down a bass player for each track on Sedentary, while also recruiting Erik Bocek to fill the role full-time. Oh, and Norden — who also handles vocals — completely reinvented the way he sings, moving from gruff hardcore growls to a semi-melodic cleaner approach, still rooted in shouting, but infinitely more decipherable than on the last album.

Come to think of it, maybe six years between releases isn’t that bad. I’d go on about the record, but you can read the review here if you’re so inclined. Better to get right to the Q&A with Norden, since there was a lot to talk about, including the lyrical thematics at play on the songs and the roots of the band’s choice of Sedentary as the album’s title, the sonic changes American Heritage has undergone in the last six years, the process of rounding up all those bassists and much more.

Complete Q&A is after the jump. Please enjoy.

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They’re Chicago‘s forerunners of deranged doom, and with their 2011 Relapse Records debut, Guiltless, the five-piece Indian are showing no signs of letting up. The label was kind enough to grant me permission to premiere the righteously heavy song “Guilty” from the album, and it’s my pleasure to host it for streaming on the player below. Prepare for an adventure into the thoroughly fucked:

I told you. Shit is nuts.

Guiltless was recorded by Sanford Parker (who else?) at Semaphore Recording in Chicago, boasts artwork by Scott Fricke, and is available for pre-order from Relapse at this location. The label has more info on the record and Indian‘s upcoming release show. Dig it:

Guiltless will see its North American release on April 12 (April 25 internationally) on CD, 12” vinyl, and digitally. The CD is available for pre-order now at Relapse.com and a deluxe digital edition with a bonus track and digital booklet is available now at iTunes.

Indian has announced a Chicago record release show in support of Guiltless for April 9 at Subterranean (2011 West North Avenue). This is a co-record release show with labelmates Bloodiest. The show starts at 10:00pm and tickets are available at this location.

They’re the second band I know of to source their moniker from King Ludwig II of Bavaria — the other is the Canadian Madking Ludwig — but The Swan King are going for something entirely different musically than the progressive stonerisms the Montreal outfit emit. On Eyes Like Knives, the Chicago trio’s short Seventh Rule Recordings debut LP, they blend post-hardcore with a kind of brash heaviness, the punkish vocals of guitarist Dallas Thomas serving as the consistent line drawn across eight otherwise deceptively varied tracks. Eyes Like Knives is over in a meager 27 minutes, but feels complete in a musical sense, seems to be a full expression of an idea, rather than something that’s just trying to get the word out. So we’ll call it an album. Honestly, had The Swan King gone all out for another 20 or 25 minutes, Eyes Like Knives probably would have come out really redundant, but the energy they bring to these songs and the crispness with which they’re presented comes across on the record without sounding repetitive.

As noted above, they’re from Chicago, so of course the album was produced by – wait for it – Sanford Parker, who does the job one would expect him to do when it comes to capturing the angular peculiarities of the material on Eyes Like Knives, balancing the jagged riffs that drive the songs without losing track of bassist Jamie Drier’s contributions to the low end or drummer Zafar Musharraf’s placement at the fore. The album is structured into sides for the eight tracks following a five-second “Test Tone” intro. A two-minute song leads to two three-minute songs, then a four-minute song, and the cycle is repeated on the second half of the album. I don’t know if that’s something the trio did on purpose, or if it’s emblematic of their songwriting process or what, but it’s interesting anyway. As to the songs themselves, opening tracks like “Good Deeds” and “Cloaked into the Façade” are chunky and heavy-landing, modern and brash, reminiscent in some ways of earlier Sweet Cobra, but not as outwardly abrasive. “Peace Love Murder” proves a highlight for the subtle inclusion of melody in Thomas’ playing, the punkish side taking a back seat to something more substantial tonally but still upbeat and vibrant.

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Let’s say you’re American Heritage. You hail either from Chicago or Gainesville, Georgia, depending on who in the band you are, and you put out an album that gets some pretty sizeable critical response in 2006 called Millenarian on Translation Loss. Two years go by and you decide it’s time to start putting together your next album – but wait, your bass player isn’t with you anymore. Sure there are plenty of bands who go without these days, and with two guitars, you would probably be heavy enough in any case, but some people just like to make things difficult, and apparently you’re that kind of person. Or band.

Instead of going without a low end, which is almost never the right move, or finding a permanent bassist in time to make their new album, Sedentary (also Translation Loss), American Heritage recruited a variety of players from the landscape of modern metal, including such luminaries as Bill Helliher of Mastodon, with whom American Heritage released a split way back when, Rafa Martinez of Black Cobra/Acid King and the ubiquitous Sanford Parker, who also recorded the basic tracks for the three remaining members of American Heritage – guitarist/vocalist Adam Norden, guitarist Scott Shellhammer and drummer Mike Duffy.

It’s a huge project, and with several other outside contributions as well – Lon Hackett who handles bass on opener “City of God” also plays keyboard, Kelliher also rips an added guitar solo on the grinding “Fetal Attraction,” Josh Rosenthal is lead vocalist for the wonderfully titled Martinez-bassed “Morbid Angle,” etc. – it’s a wonder American Heritage came out of it with anything close to a cohesive album. To their credit, and to the credit of Parker who mixed, they did. Norden’s vocals, which are cleaner on Sedentary than they were on Millenarian, are a tying factor, but even more than that, the changes Sedentary presents — there are plenty – are more related to toying with different genres than some kind of tonal inconsistency. Usually something with this many guests involved is either a wreck or a compilation. American Heritage have managed to pull an album out of what must have been a nightmarishly convoluted process, and before any measure is taken of how the thing actually sounds, they have to be commended for that.

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Originally released in 2008 and finding second issue and wider distribution now through Diabolical Conquest Records, Chicago villains Drug Honkey’s third full-length, Death Dub, is fucked. I mean it. Thoroughly fucked. I’m no stranger to disturbing audio of various kinds, but the blown-out, malicious cyber-sludge this four-piece emit offers no romanticism, no hope, no potential for a positive outcome. It’s like listening to an overdose. When they get around to the live cut “China Black (Heroin Pt. 2)” – the inclusion of which does practically nothing to upset the flow of Death Dub because by then there isn’t a flow as much as a descent – it’s not any of that Pulp Fiction “heroin is cool” ‘90s-type of crap, it’s “this is the sound of your brain shitting itself,” and it’s not at all pleasant. From opener “My Sins” onward, Drug Honkey’s approach is relentless, dark and disgusting.

They’re not the first to blend industrial leanings with aggressive and slow metal, but their Eyehategodflesh-style takes on a nastiness all its own almost immediately. Hyper-modulated screams and growls from Honkey Head (who also handles synth and samples) dominate the mix, making Death Dub – a genre designation in itself – even less accessible to the listener. The rumble of bassist Brown Honkey features heavily, matched by the downtuned guitar of Hobbs (the only member of the band without the word “Honkey” in his name) for feedback lethality and low-end abrasion. Drummer Bonghit Honkey keeps his attack relatively simple, which grounds a song like “The Devil Lasts Forever” while the guitars buzzsaw their way through what one imagines to be a basement collection of human skulls, but that’s about all Drug Honkey offer listeners to hold onto, and frankly, it isn’t much. Their intent is unmistakable: They want to alienate, to test the endurance of their audience and to be as sonically malevolent as possible.

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I thought rather than hold off and wait for either later tonight or tomorrow to end the week, I’d cut out early. I’m supposed to be interviewing “Dixie” Dave Collins of Weedeater at 7PM Eastern, and after that I’m off to pretend I’m a human being with The Patient Mrs. at a social-type gathering. One can only assume I’ll either fall down and hurt myself or end up swearing loudly near a group of small children. That’s usually how it goes.

This week caps off with Tummler, who ruled. They put out Queen to Bishop VI on Man’s Ruin in 2000, Early Man (which predated the band of the same name) on Small Stone in 2002, and were never heard from again. Good band. If I remember right — and there’s a chance I don’t — I either got to see them live at a SXSW or an Emissions from the Monolith somewhere along the line. A little “hey whoa momma yeah” in the vocals, but still cool. I haven’t had any Man’s Ruin-worship on here in a while, anyway. Fuzz on.

My semester starts next Wednesday, the thought of which is grueling. I believe the phrase I used when The Patient Mrs. reminded me the other day was “kill me in the face.” That is still very much how I feel about it. Somehow, some way, though, I’m still planning on posting my interview with Laura Pleasants of Kylesa, and maybe we’ll have some more goodies as well of the listening-to variety.

Until then, be safe and enjoy the weekend. Remember that the forums never close, and we’ll see you back here for more fun times on Monday.

Though they’re about half a day’s ride from me and I’m as able to go to one of their shows as I am to make an appearance in Georgia to catch Kylesa, it’s always good to hear from the dudes in Bible of the Devil and see what they’re up to, when their next gigs with Slough Feg are (April), and maybe get some news on when the follow-up to 2008′s spectacular Freedom Metal.

No word on the latter (though they do mention recording), but the band still has plenty of updates, so check it out:

There’s a few items of note from the Bible of the Devil camp as we approach 2011…

Looking for a rowdy, rad way to spend New Year’s Eve? Bible of the Devil will be playing Quenchers Saloon (Western & Fullerton) in Chicago with Tight Phantomz and Lovers. The cover on this one is $10 and is 21 and over.

Yes, you will actually have to pay a cover, but what are your other choices? Spend $100 to get in somewhere else? Who needs a crappy champagne toast when there’s plenty of PBR? BOTD will take the stage at the strike of 2011. Get there by 9pm or else you probably won’t get in! We also have our prized pint glasses now available for sale!

BOTD will be returning to Phantom Manor in two weeks to record new material for two forthcoming 7″ releases. Details to come.

Saturday, Jan. 29, sees Bible of the Devil‘s return to the Red Line Tap in Chicago for another edition of “Metal up Your Tap.” The lineup is absolutely ferocious and is not to be missed:

Bible of the Devil
Winterhawk
Wolfbait
High Spirits

Saturday, Jan. 29
Red Line Tap (7006 N. Glenwood, Chicago)
9PM. 21 and over. $7 cover.