by rudyards | May 26th, 2012
Black Cobra (San Francisco, CA)
http://www.blackcobra.net/
Southern Lord is proud to present the new opus from The Bay Area’s devastating duo BLACK COBRA. Formed by drummer Rafa Martinez (ex-16, ex-Acid King) and guitarist/vocalist Jason Landrian (ex-Cavity), BLACK COBRA catapulted themselves onto the scene in 2001 with their ravenous, upbeat and ultimately unique style of punk/hardcore-fueled sludge metal. They were picked up almost immediately by indie At A Loss Recordings becoming the band’s label home for the release of their debut full-length, Bestial, and follow-up album, Feather And Stone. By 2009, with the band then virtually a household name to the tens of thousands of fans who’ve seen their flooring live performances over the years, BLACK COBRA signed with juggernaut Southern Lord Recordings for the release of Chronomega, the band’s most diverse material to date.
For the recording of this, the band’s second release for Southern Lord Recordings, BLACK COBRA recently ventured across the continent to pound out their anticipated new album, the follow-up to 2009′s massively well-received Chronomega. This time around the outfit enlisted the talents of Converge guitarist Kurt Ballou and his God City Studio in Salem, Massachusetts. After a brutal week-and-a-half in the notorious lair, ‘COBRA hammered out what will soon be known to the world as their almighty fourth full-length album, “Invernal”. This is BLACK COBRA’s most honed and diversified material to date, and will definitely tear your face off completely.
Gaza (Salt Lake City, UT)
https://www.facebook.com/GAZAMUSIC
From Salt Lake City, Gaza play a dark, glooming and frantic breed of hardcore and metal mixed with grind. Combining the sludgy, droney elements of Crowbar or Soilent Green with the absolute blasting force of Pig Destroyer, adjectives like abrasive and devastating, do not even begin to touch the full extremes of this group. I Don’t Care Where I Go When I Die was an absolutely bleak & terrifying experience and follow up He Is Never Coming Back took the band to new extreme heights and has won all sorts of critical acclaim. This is some of the most hateful and frightening music that we will probably ever release.
Lord Dying (Portland, OR)
http://www.facebook.com/pages/Lord-Dying/128958100484443
Lord Dying come from Portland, Oregon, a place over abundant with purveyors of the heavy riff. A region where the inhabitants are plagued with nerve and joint damage due to lack of sunlight. In a time where everyone is trying to out-sludge or out-doom each other Lord Dying gives something less than a fuck. They are a metal band with members of Black Elk , Portals, Le Force, and Cremains, who in their short, one years time as a band have shared the stage with Unsane, Red Fang, Yob, Valient Thorr, and others locally. They have also braved the west coast twice, the first time alone, only to meet up with crazy prog-shredmeisters Danava and heavy lust-lifers Lecherous Gaze for a few shows, followed a few months later by another co-headling tour with local heavy punishers Nether Regions. Shortly after Lord Dying teamed up with longtime bros Kelly and Erica G and solidified the first monumental release, Lord Dying “s/t”, in 7” form on his Powerblaster Records label. Lord Dying are here to pummel with heavy riffs and promote simpler things like Cold brew-Hot Shower.
