comamusicmag

Today I added some more updates to the site:

In the reviews section we have a CD review of Drive A’s Loss of Desire, we also have a concert review of The Used with opening bands The Almost and Drive A

And in the photography section we have new galleries from that show of The Used, The Almost and Drive A.

till next update,
j. ward

As Charred Walls of the Damned prepare for their self-titled debut album out February 2nd 2010 – the group is gearing up for their official release by giving fans the chance to listen to the album in its entirety via Noisecreep.com. The metal site will host the stream Today (Monday January 25th) to Monday February 1st so be sure to head over and check it out.

Richard Christy comments; “Well, the time is now here and I'm so psyched for the fans to be able to finally hear the full album! I'm so proud of the metal that Tim, Steve, Jason and I have made and I know that our passion definitely shines through in the music! We had so much fun making this album and now it's time for all of you fellow Metalheads to have fun listening to it! Cheers!”

Australia’s KARNIVOOL embarked on the magnanimous tour of their homeland last week as they began the already SOLD OUT BIG DAY OUT music festival along with sonic  powerhouses Muse, The Mars Volta, The Horrors & Mastodon.  This is the VOOL’s latest tour outing counting down to the U.S. release of their internationally lauded full-length Sound Awake on February 16, 2010 via SIN/SonyMusic Independent Network.

Early March will see the quintet tour Europe before heading to SXSW in Austin, where they will begin their first U.S. tour in three years with the Serjical Strike label’s Fair To Midland.  Venues have finally been confirmed and the full itinerary can be found below.

KARNIVOOL U.S. TOUR:
March 17   Austin, TX   SXSW
March 18   Austin, TX   SXSW
March 19   Austin, TX   SXSW
March 20   Austin, TX   SXSW
March 23   San Antonio, TX   Scout Bar
March 24   Houston, TX   Scout Bar
March 26   Jacksonville, NC   Hooligan's
March 27   Augusta, GA   Sky City
March 28   Charleston, SC   The Oasis
March 30   Baltimore, MD   The Quarter
March 31   New York, NY   Gramercy Theater
April 1   Philadelphia, PA   The Note
April 2   Hartford, CT   Webster Underground
April 3   Providence, RI   Club Hell
April 5   Toronto, ONT   Wreck Room
April 7    Cleveland, OH   Peabody's
April 8   Louisville, KY   Phoenix Hill Tavern
April 9   Chicago, IL   Penny Road
April 10   Flint, MI   Machine ShopApril 11   Madison, WI   The Annex
April 12   Minneapolis, MN   The Rock
April 14   Denver, CO   Marquee

Finally getting around to putting some new content up.

Up this time is a new 2 part exclusive interview with one of my favorite metal bands, Epicurean. I have also updated the photo section adding a gallery of Luna Mortis as well as a gallery of Epicurean.

We have just moved and I have been busy fixing up the house but we have internet and the office is pretty much complete so look for updates a little more frequently in the near future.

j. ward
COMA Music Magazine
http://coma-online.com

Up now on the site:

Twin Atlantic – Virarium (CD Review)
Guinness presents Alien Ant Farm w/ Keltic Cowboys (Concert Review)
HORSE the band - Desperate Living (CD Review)
Alien Ant Farm live photo gallery

Maynard James Keenan's Puscifer is set to release their first new music in two years with a six-song EP titled "C" is for (Please Insert Sophomoric Genitalia Reference Here) E.P." on Nov. 10.

The track listing is:

1.  Polar Bear
2.  The Mission (Renholder Mix) featuring Milla Jovovich
3.  Momma Sed "Alive @ Club Nokia"
4.  Vagina Mine "Alive @ Club Nokia"
5.  Potions (Deliverance Mix)
6.  The Humbling River

Puscifer kick off their first tour with a swing through the Western U.S. on Oct. 29 in Las Vegas (a Midwest/East Coast run is in the works for 2010).

10/31 Agora Ballroom, Cleveland, OH
For the first time ever, this show is being filmed for a Mushroomhead LIVE DVD!

Be a part of Mushroomhead history and be there!! Opening Acts include Mutiny Within (Roadrunner) Straight Line Stitch (Koch), VentanA (Trustkill), Crossbreed, Foose {ex-Spudmonsters} and more!

With the release of Rammstein’s new studio album, LIEBE IST FÜR ALLE DA, rapidly approaching the German sextet have announced plans for a very unique limited edition version of the 11-track release.

Available later this fall, following the Oct. 20 release date for the album, will be a flight case packaged with a LIEBE IST FÜR ALLE DA CD, six sex toys (numerically corresponding to the number of band members), handcuffs and lubricant.

Availability, pricing and release date to be announced shortly.

SLAYER'S WORLD PAINTED BLOOD DELUXE EDITION TO INCLUDE PLAYING WITH DOLLS HORROR SHORT

It was only a matter of time before Slayer's lyrics leapt off the printed page and made their wanton way to the visual medium. The band's discography is gorged with tales of mass murderers, serial sadists and drooling deviants of every stripe - vicious mental cases just begging for a cinematic reception.

Enter Metalocalypse director and big-time Slayer fan Mark Brooks who created a 20-minute DVD titled Playing with Dolls, a 12-episode video-graphic novel that will be included exclusively in Slayer's World Painted Blood Deluxe Edition, out November 3 in tandem with the World Painted Blood Standard Edition. Inspired by the songs on World Painted Blood - in particular, Jeff Hanneman's "Playing With Dolls" from which the horror short takes its title - the film blends elements of animation and still-photography into a visual style similar to that of a graphic novel. A trailer for the short has just been posted at www.slayer.net The soundtrack for the Playing With Dolls short features clips from all 11 of the songs on World Painted Blood; in addition, the music bed for Episode #7 is taken from "Atrocity Vendor," a new song that is not on the album.

"It's not live action and it's not animated," Brooks explains. "It's a weird hybrid of the two, and I haven't seen a lot of things done this way."

No mere music video, Playing with Dolls is a stark, 12-part nightmare that breathes corrupt life into Slayer's latest syllabus of stalkers, psychopaths and serial killers, merging their aberrant psyches into the supremely focused desire of a single, merciless malcontent. A methodical distillation of one man's lethal frenzy, the film follows the gruesome outbursts of a nameless protagonist. He is not an indiscriminate murder junkie, but rather a highly creative snuff-artist with a deeply personal sense of purpose - a man for whom murder is the only conceivable way forward. With a black heart hardened by tragedy, he chooses his victims carefully. His methods are as grisly and varied as they are poetic.

"It's a little weirder than your regular blood n' guts type thing," Brooks says of the storyline, "which I think is a reflection of Slayer's music."

But make no mistake: There will be blood, and plenty of it. As the real-life boyfriend of one of the film's "victims" told Brooks after a private screening, "I almost threw up while I watching that. And I think that's a compliment."

Slayer - bassist/vocalist Tom Araya, guitarists Kerry King and Jeff Hanneman, and drummer Dave Lombardo - started recording World Painted Blood, the band's 10th studio album, last October in a Los Angeles studio with producer Greg Feldeman, and completed it this past May. Recording World Painted Blood was a unique experience for Slayer who has historically begun the recording process with all songs written and fully rehearsed. This time, they did the bulk of writing and song development while in the studio. According to drummer Dave Lombardo, "On this record, we worked a lot more collectively, we were more attentive to each other's ideas and willing to try them, which only benefited the album." World Painted Blood is, indeed a Slayer album, and consequently deals with topics such as death and destruction, war, serial killers, and the Apocalypse. "Psychopathy Red," leaked online a year ago, was inspired by the heinous Russian serial killer Andrei Chikatilo, aka the Rostov Ripper, who confessed to brutally murdering 56 children. "Beauty Through Order" (Kerry King: "one of Jeff's songs, it has a very heavy 'do me' intro to it then explodes with a really cool vibe,") "Unit 731," "Playing With Dolls" (Lombardo: an awesome track, great song structure, great vibe"), "Public Display of Dismemberment," and "Americon," a King composition. Of "Americon," King explains, "It's about what I think the rest of the world thinks of America. We may not be big on a lot of people's lists, but I don't care what you think of my government, of my economy, or whatever. I live here and this is one of the best places that I've ever found to live. So fuck you if you don't like it."

Log onto www.slayer.net to view the trailer for the Playing With Dolls graphic novel, and to pre-order your copy of World Painted Blood.

DEAD MAN'S HAND TO OPEN DOORS IN NOVEMBER

Two icons of rock have joined forces to create a new rock bar and performance space in Las Vegas. Alice in Chains guitarist/vocalist Jerry Cantrell and Anthrax guitarist Scott Ian plan to launch the venue, Dead Man's Hand, in November.

The bar will feature none of the trendy décor, snobby attitude and outlandish prices so prevalent in Vegas. Instead, Dead Man's Hand will favor grit over glitz, providing customers great music, cool atmosphere and affordable drinks all year long.

"We want this to be a place that we would want to hang out in," Ian says. "There's a huge segment of the music audience that likes to go out but doesn't want to go to places that only play Lil Wayne and Lady Gaga and charge $750 for a bottle of vodka. We want to be the opposite of that."

"I always wanted to have a cool joint with some friends that would be a great place to go at night," adds Cantrell, "It's close to Los Angeles, and a lot of cool bands and people hit Vegas. We wanted to make a fun place for everybody to hang."

Cantrell came up with the name Dead Man's Hand, and as soon as he mentioned it to Ian, the guitarist was sold. The two logos for the club -- a skeleton's hand holding the dead man's poker hand atop a flaming Ace of Spades, and a skull-embossed Ace of Spades atop the dead man's hand -- were designed by award-winning artist Shepard Fairey from Obey. "Scott and I are both into poker, and the dead man's hand -- two aces and two eights -- was the hand Wild Bill Hickok was supposedly holding when he was shot," Cantrell says. "And we both really like the show 'Deadwood,' so it seemed like a cool name."

Dead Man's Hand will feature a long, semicircle-shaped bar that seats 30, a stage, and a raised back area featuring booths directly across from the stage. Total capacity is about 200. The bar will showcase DJs and live music, with a top-notch PA, state-of-the art lighting system and a backline donated by Ian and Cantrell's respective gear companies.

"We'd like to have a couple of house bands, maybe once or twice a month," Cantrell says. "And we'll have some cool bands come in and play. "We're planning to leave a bunch of gear on the stage so it's functional for anybody that wants to just get up and go for it."

"We're also putting together the Dead Man's Band, which will be Jerry and I and probably some other sub-partners who are also in well-known bands," adds Ian. "Obviously, we won't play once a week or anything because of our schedules, but when we're all around we'll get up and jam out a bunch of covers."

The sub-partners for Dead Man's Hand will be announced in the weeks ahead. The third equal partner in Dead Man's Hand is Michael Politz, owner of Food and Beverage magazine. "Jerry and I have talked for years about having a bar, and Michael really helped make it possible," Ian says. "He's very tied into the Vegas scene and was very excited about pitching this idea around. It just feels like all the planets finally aligned."

The bar will offer several signature drinks, including the Dead Man's Hand (whisky and spicy ginger ale) and, of course the Black Tooth Grin (Crown Royal with a splash of Coca-Cola), the late-guitar legend Dimebag Darrell's beverage of choice.

"We want to tie that into a drink special," Ian says. "So, every night at midnight or something, we'll crank 'Ace of Spades' by Motorhead and everyone HAS to do a shot."

The venue's first event will be a November 7^th party for Bluff Magazine. The party coincides with the World Series of Poker final table on November 9^th.

Dead Man's Hand will be located at 3525 W. Russell Road Las Vegas NV (I-15 exit Russell Road, one block west) right next to the Vegas Alliance strip club Crazy Horse III in a complex called The Playground.

Yes, another update already. We have a review by Ricardo Bolanos of the upcoming Austrian Death Machine CD, Double Brutal and from Kris Lewandowski, a review of the Phoenix Metal Fest featuring Crowned Forever King.

Earlier tonight I finally got a chance to get the photos from The Vans Warped Tour online. We have galleries of The Ataris, Saosin, Anti-Flag, There For Tomorrow, Less Than Jake, Jeffree Star, The A.K.A.s, and NOFX.

Go, view them. Bask in their shiny new-ness. http://coma-online.com

Now that we are rolling again we should have the next updates soon. We have some new writers who I will announce soon so we will have reviews again and I am in the process of lining up more show coverage than I should for the next few months all for new content for your consumption.

Enter to win a Fender Electric Guitar signed by Fall Out Boy and Blink-182, an Amp, & a handful of their custom guitar picks, and a pair of Andy Hurley Drum Sticks! All you have to do is enter a simple raffle! Tickets are only A DOLLAR, and all of the money goes to benefit A.D.O.P.T. (Animals Deserving of Proper Treatment) animal shelter in Chicago. Head over to adoptpetshelter.org for more info!

“PUSSY,” THE FIRST SINGLE FROM NEW ALBUM WILL BE AVAILABLE EXCLUSIVELY ON iTUNES ON SEPTEMBER 22

Rammstein will release “Pussy,” with B-side “Rammlied,” on Sept. 22 as the first single from their forthcoming album on Oct.20.

The single, available exclusively via iTunes, is the first new music to come from the Berlin-based band in over four years. Having sold three million albums in the U.S. alone (and over 14 million worldwide), anticipation for the new album, whose title has been a closely guarded secret, is high with rumors running rampant worldwide as to the theme and contents of the new release. The album will be released in the U.S. via Universal Music Germany through a marketing and distribution deal with Vagrant Records on Oct. 20.

A post on from the band’s website this morning heralded the news of the first available music via the “Pussy” single: “Carried by a gigantic wave of testosterone, Rammstein unsheathes its sword and presents what makes man an animal. So start your engines. With pedal to the metal on the Autobahn of German clichés, where homage is paid to the hand-to-hand battle between the sexes with words like Bratwurst, Blitzkrieg, and Mercedes-Benz … to destinations abroad, past Heidi with her burgers and away from the German Fräuleinwunder.” An accompanying video was directed by Jonas Åkerlund,; premiere information coming soon.

Pre-production for the new album was done at Castle Beesenstedt in eastern Germany’s Halle/Saale while the bulk of the recording was done in late 2008 at Northern California’s Sonoma Mountain Studio. As with the band’s previous releases, the new album was mixed and mastered by Jacob Hellner in Stockholm.

Upcoming Rammstein tour dates (None in the U.S. again):

November 8 Lisbon, Portugal Atlantic Pavilion
10 Madrid, Spain Sports Palace of the Community of Madrid
11 Barcelona, Spain Pavello Olimpic de Badalona
14 Bilboa, Spain Bizkaia Arena
16 Nantes, France Zenith Nantes Metropole
18 Basel, Switzerland St. Jakobshalle
19 Geneva, Switzerland Geneva Arena
21 Vienna, Austria Stadthalle
23 Munich, Germany Olympiahalle
24 Leipzig, Germany Arena
25 Prauge, Czech Republic O2 Arena
27 Katowice, Poland Spodek
29 Cologne, Germany Lanxess Arena
30 Cologne, Germany Lanxess Arena
December 2 Lyon, France Halle Tony Garnier
3 Strasburg, France Zenith
4 Luxembourg, Luxembourrg Rockhal
6 Arnhem, Netherlands GelreDome
8 Paris, France Bercy
9 Paris, France Bercy
10 Antwerp, Belgium Sportpaleis
11 Frankfurt, Germany Festhalle
12 Stuttgart, Germany Schleyer-Halle
14 Hamburg, Germany Color Line Arena
15 Copenhagen, Denmark Forum
17 Rostock, Germany HanseMesse
18 Berlin, Germany Velodrom
19 Berlin, Germany Velodrom
20 Berlin, Germany Velodrom
21 Berlin, Germany Velodrom
February 6 Dortmund, Germany Westfalenhalle 1
7 Dortmund, Germany Westfalenhalle 1
8 Mannheim, Germany Maimarkthalle
10 Chemnitz, Germany Arena
11 Dresden, Germany Messehalle
12 Dresden, Germany Messehalle
14 Erfurt, Germany Messehelle
15 Kiel, Germany Sparkassenarena

Relient K is asking fans to Forget And Not Slow Down on October 6 as they launch the first release since taking helm on the newly revived record label, Mono Vs. Stereo, in conjunction with Jive Records.

“The songs that tend to be the fan favorites in the past are the ones about making mistakes but ultimately moving past them,” says guitarist Matt Hoopes. “And this record has a lot of that feeling. No matter what trials and tribulations you encounter in your life, it doesn’t have to be the end of your story. You can move on and be happy and experience joy.”

On this latest release, the band teamed up with longtime producer Mark Townsend, and enlisted legendary mixer Andy Wallace (Nirvana, Jeff Buckley, Sheryl Crow), as they carried the ‘break-up album’ into the 21^st century, tweaking it with clear-eyed songwriting and a four-to-the-floor optimism that is positively refreshing.

To prep for Forget And Not Slow Down, Matt Thiessen retreated to a remote house in Winchester, TN in isolation for several months writing material for the new record. During his sojourn, Thiessen stayed in constant contact with Hoopes and the rest of the band – drummer Ethan Luck, bassist John Warne and guitarist Jon Schneck - sharing song ideas and mapping out a direction for the album. One guiding principle soon emerged: this record should rock.

“We definitely wanted to make a rock record,’” front man Matt Thiessen confirms. “We wanted it to be uptempo and energetic. As far as the sonic aspect, we wanted to make it less modern sounding, with classic rock textures - Counting Crows, Foo Fighters, those kind of ‘90s albums. That was a good time for rock ‘n’ roll.”

Always known as a fan favorite, Relient K gave fans the opportunity to tune in to the making of Forget And Not Slow Down by airing “In The Studio” webisodes on their website. To view these episodes, including a special appearance from Vince Gill, visit www.relientK.com.

Relient K will also embark on “A Three Hour Tour” with Copeland and Barcelona this fall. The shows are scheduled to kick off in New Haven, CT on Oct. 1, tour dates listed below.

“A Three Hour Tour” schedule:

10/1 New Haven, CT Toad’s Place
10/2 Philadelphia, PA Theatre of Living Arts
10/3 Farmingdale, NY Crazy Donkey
10/4 Boston, MA Paradise Rock Club
10/6 Towson, MD Recher Theatre
10/8 Knoxville, TN Bijou Theatre
10/9 Charlotte, NC Amos’ Southland
10/10 Atlanta, GA Variety Playhouse
10/11 Nashville, TN Rocketown
10/13 Chicago, IL House of Blues
10/14 Minneapolis, MN The Cabooze
10/15 Kansas City, MO Beaumont Club
10/16 Denver, CO Ogden Theatre
10/19 Dallas, TX Palladium Showroom
10/20 Houston, TX Warehouse Live
10/21 Midwest City, OK Rose State College
10/22 Tulsa, OK Cain’s Ballroom
10/23 Des Moines, IA People’s Court
10/24 St. Louis, MO The Pageant

Maynard James Keenan brings his latest incarnation, the shape-shifting Puscifer, to cities throughout the Western U.S. for an evening the Las Vegas Review Journal dubbed as “a performance art spectacle equal parts comedy cabaret show, guerilla theater, lysergic animation sequences, Krautrock-inspired metallic jams and leering lunacy of various stripes.” 

“Efforts to confine our beloved enigma to the Southwestern United States have been thwarted." said Keenan.  "We are compelled beyond all reason to bring the noise and share our special sauce. Although authorities suggest you be prepared for any and all possibilities, we simply suggest you arrive happy and hungry.”  

October 29     Las Vegas, NV          The Pearl @ The Palms
October 31     San Diego, CA          Spreckels Theatre
November 1   San Diego, CA           Spreckels Theatre
November 4   Oakland, CA             Fox Oakland Theater
November 5   Oakland, CA             Fox Oakland Theater
November 10  Seattle, WA              Moore Theatre
November 11  Seattle, WA              Moore Theatre
November 13  Vancouver, BC         Centre For The Performing Arts
November 17  Salt Lake City, UT    Capitol Theatre
November 18  Salt Lake City, UT    Capitol Theatre
November 20  Denver, CO              Paramount Theatre
November 21  Denver, CO              Paramount Theatre
November 24  Dallas, TX                McFarlin Memorial Auditorium - SMU Campus
November 25  Dallas, TX                McFarlin Memorial Auditorium - SMU Campus
November 27  Houston, TX             Jones Hall For The Performing Arts
December 1    El Paso, TX               Abraham Chavez Theatre
December 3    Phoenix, AZ              Orpheum Theatre
December 4    Phoenix, AZ              Orpheum Theatre

After our 3 month hiatus from site updates I started working on our photo galleries from Warped Tour only to realize that they no longer work.
It seems that Flash 10 is quite unstable and crashes multiple browsers. I did a little research and found that it is a fairly wide spread issue so with any luck it will be fixed soon and the galleries will work again.

Want to know what we have coming up? We have galleries of The Ataris, Saosin, There For Tomorrow, Anti-Flag, The A.K.A.s, Jeffree Star NOFX and Less Than Jake from Warped Tour, galleries of Cannibal Corpse, Slayer, and Bullet for My Valentine from Mayhem Fest, a gallery of Street Sweeper Social Club and an interview with VNV Nation.

As usual, I will post whenever I get new content up so keep an eye out.

j. ward

In making some site changes I noticed our audio interviews were no longer working. After looking into it it turns out our audio host has gone away never to return. That got me looking for another host and I stumbled upon imeem.com and signed up. All the audio interviews except for 3 Inches of Blood and The Black Dahlia Murder since I can’t find them at the moment but they will be up soon.
So why not come be our friend or fan or whatever you do on imeem. Just be sure to check out the interviews if you haven’t already.

From Friday May 29th through Monday June 1st COMA will not be updated and I will not be receiving emails as I will be offline while moving from Tampa to Phoenix. We WILL be covering Warped Tour and Mayhem Fest but I won’t be scheduling any more interviews or show coverage until I get a new job and know my schedule.