Nobody on here can’t tell me they don’t like free. It’s a universally enjoyed commodity, like air. So naturally when a group of guys that call themselves A Dream Of Poe sent me an offering of their latest EP Lady Of Shalott, I jumped on it. Glad I did too, as it has shaped up to be one of the best pieces of off-label doom I’ve heard this year.

Lady Of Shalott is, in short, a beautiful piece of melancholic doom. Slow and sad with an emphasis on atmosphere, this is something any fan or casual listener of My Dying Bride could easily embrace. I’m looking forward to hearing a full-length and much more from these young fellows in the future. 

You too can download a free digital copy of Lady Of Shalott by simply visiting the bands website. 

Shroud Eater is a sort of rockish, sludgeish band from the Miami area that announced today they would be offering their self-titled EP for just the low price of a mouse click or two. The free download comes in anticipation of the band's debut album, ThunderNoise, due out in the fall. I checked them out briefly so I could let you, dear reader, in on a hidden gem should there be one. I’m sad to say there really isn’t. Furthermore, the tone of the drums, in particular the snare, just about drives me crazy leaving me a little more than underwhelmed especially after reading all the good press these guys (actually 2 girls and a guy) have received. If you are still interested though, check them out at their myspace page or download the EP here then come on back and let us know what you think. 

Korn (I can’t figure out how to do the backwards “R” thing on my computer) has a new album coming out on July 13. The album in question is titled ‘Korn III- Remember Who You Are’ and as the name implies, Korn are supposedly making a return to their roots.  

The band's very first single from the album, ‘Oildale (Leave Me Alone)', will make its debut on MTV2 in just a few days but if you want a little taste of the band's new (old) sound they have a track you can download right now for free.  The track ‘Are You Ready To Live’ can be yours as of 11 a.m. this morning for the next 24 hours through Roadrunner Records here.
 

I haven't gotten around to downloading the track yet, so in the meantime if anyone wants to take an opportunity to persuade or dissuade me from doing so, the comment section is all yours. 

 

It’s true, we didn’t announce the winner of March’s contest yesterday, but just hold on to your horses because I think I might get around to it today.

In other news: Skyfoger wannabe band, Skiltron announced that they had re-recorded their 2006 album, ‘The Clans Have United’ and made it available for free download along with their most recent album, 2008’s 'Beheading The Liars'.  So if you're at all interested you can go here and here for those albums or to save yourself some time, visit their myspace here, and not download anything.  Come on, you know your iTunes is getting a little cluttered, the last thing you need in there is another band that wears kilts and sings about sailing the fjords.  Skiltron is from Argentina by the way, so the celtic thing really makes no sense.

Check back, because later today we will have a news from both from Ov Hell and Hail the Villain (who?).  In the mean time, why don’t you take a stroll through the forum and commiserate with your fellow metal-heads?

This morning, Crustcake.com reported that new material from Alcest’s upcoming record ‘Écailles de Lune’ was beginning to surface.  NOT the fake, bootlegged crap making the rounds in blogspots across the world, but real material you can download right here.  The track is very chill and atmospheric in nature, and could easily put a guy like me right to sleep.  That's not a particularly bad thing--as a fan of Neun Welten and Kauan I can appreciate the softer side of 'metal', that is to say music with metal sensibilities, or 'post-whateverthekidsarecallingit'.  In all honesty, the new track is quite enjoyable and will probably spawn an all-day Alcest listening party here in the office--which means you can expect to be reading from the softer side of Deathscript today--JLovescript.  <3

Alcest and label Prophecy Productions also announced today the first ever, North American Alcest tour to take place April 22 through May 01.  You can see those dates after the jump.

Solution .45 has released a brand new song available to download for anyone or anywho.  The song is called Gravitational Lensing and will be featured on their 2010 album "For Aeons Past".  The lyrics were written by Mikael Stanne, from Dark Tranquility. The album will also feature Christian Alvestam on vocals, formerly from Scar Symmetry and Jani Stefanovic from Miseration.

Download Solution .45 - Gravitational Lensing

It’s to be understood that hardship goes hand in hand with being in a band, but I wonder if many bands realize just how lucky they are.  If you ever need a reminder you needn’t look any further than Israel’s Silent Sin, a groove metal band still in high school taking the Israeli metal scene by storm. A scene that up until only a few short weeks ago, I didn’t know existed. In addition to the underwhelming availability of music in Northern Israel, they also have to rent busses and drive many miles just to just play a ‘local’ show. Also take into account the fact that in a few short months, half of the band will start their mandatory term in the military; Silent Sin does all they can to play and record as much as possible. 

  I found Silent Sin’s demo in my inbox one day, but there wasn’t a sad story about the hardships of keeping a band together-- there was just a short note and two songs, one of which we have provided for free download. The rest of the story I learned in the following weeks of corresponding with the band and in the end, I have learned a lot about human resolve, but perhaps more importantly that the ‘great divide’ some would have you believe is present between cultures, really isn’t so great a divide after all.    So with that, I have a question to pose to anyone out there involved in a band locally or otherwise--what trial(s) have you needed to overcome? Where did your drive come from? Silent Sin’s MySpace: http://www.myspace.com/silentsinisr Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/user/SilentsinISR

Wrapping up an eight-hour day of plowing through a sonic swamp of music, I received an EP from Jeremy Mauney, (one-half of the electro-black metal outfit Nutrition) “Hyperdimensional Awakening”.  Nutrition was birthed in early 2009, when ex-Detritum’s vocalist and songwriter Jeremy Mauney and video game composer Roland La Goy, exchanged ideas about a band utilizing elements like 80’s sci-fi synths, lyrical themes of extraterrestrials and conspiracies coinciding with a healthy dose of classic, hateful black metal.  As far-fetched as this project may seem, it’s still not nearly as far-fetched as it actually sounds.  ...read on

It never ceases to amaze me how heavy metal can make its way into every nook and cranny-- from bustling metropolis' to...Bend, Oregon. Thorns of Creation is a little band that we think could go a long way and with their debut album ('Twilight Descends') due out at the end of the year, come on back so we can say "we told you so". As a special treat for our readers, we teamed up with Thorns to bring you not one, but two free downloads for your listening pleasure. We look forward to hearing more from, and working with this band more in the future. Don't forget to check out the band's myspace here.

 Second song for download from Thorns of Creation - "Into the Howling Storm"