Venom Lord - Return of the Wizards (2007)

Venom Lord was a Bemidji, MN-based 4-piece comprised of Simon Mahlberg (guitar, also of docks, PFAZAR), Eli Balbach (Bass, also of docks), Matt Houle (Vocals, also of Hound), and Alex Narveson (drums, also of Fulcrum, docks, Creep Speak, etc., etc.).
They played a riff-happy style of metal that combined elements from a myriad of extreme genres.

Having reunited with former guitarist Andy Kelly; on September 26, 2009, Venom Lord play their last show to a crowd of enthusiastic fans at a fundraiser at the Elks Lodge in Bemidji, MN, for the Blue Ox Cooperative, an organization attempting to gain funds to buy a practice-space, recording studio, and venue for the diverse Bemidji music scene.

I was there. The show ruled. End of story.

"Return of the Wizards" was the sole full length they released over their 4 year span of rock, and whether or not our followers like this, I'm friggin' posting it.

Mediafire

When Knives Go Skyward - A Thousand Miles of Rope (2007)

When Knives Go Skyward, an infamous band for those in the know. They existed fairly briefly, for a period of a couple of years in St. Louise. They released a promising demo and then started recording and album. Tracks surfaced on myspace and the like in various states of production,and then...... nothing happened. The album never saw the light of day. A leak of the album has been doing the rounds for years, but there are tracks that remain unheard/unreleased to this day. It will probably never surface because the damned band members seem to think it's funny to taunt their fans.

The members went on to form the very promising Goddamn Rodeo. Once again tracks were recorded videos put up on youtube, but to my knowledge, nothing was ever released.... FFFFUUUUUUUUUU

The Vocalist and bassist have a new band called A Dark Orbit and the guitar player is currently in the Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza

Ok, but enough about that. What does it sound like? When Knives Go Skyward play a scathing brand of math/metalcore reminiscent of Will Haven among others. It's been done before, but here it has a certain ju ne sais quoi. For one thing it's heavy as fuck. I know, I know: you guys like OSDM. Come on though, at least give it a shot. Most of you will probably hate this, but Mastod0n Man has been eating this shit up for one. Whatever.

PEACE

Deadguy - Fixation on a Coworker (1995)

Deadguy are an interesting beast. They're somewhat difficult to classify. The most noticeable thing on first listen is their heavy Today is the Day influence. Aesthetically they are distinctly American featuring heavy metallic guitars mixed with highly dissonant accents and harsh intense vocals. Ladies and gentlemen, this is what metalcore should sound like.


Makeshift Atomsmasher, nothing dangerous sounding about that...