Starkweather // Amen Ra // Zoroaster // No People (Event Over)

STARKWEATHER
Philadelphia, PA / Candlelight Records / Thugcore rhythms. Slayer-esque metalcore. Faux melodic Swedish death metal. Aggro-tech fretboard gymnastics. Screamo. Genres with hyphens. Easy to swallow, run of the mill, forgettable and just like everything else crowding the Best Buy and mom n pop store shelves.

Those are things you wont find on or say about Croatoan, the first new album from Philadelphias long lost yet recently awakened tech metal band Starkweather. Emerging from a lengthy hibernating period their last recording, Into The Wire, came out in 1995- Starkweather offer Croatoan, an untamed beast of a record thatll draw fans of legendary bands like Morbid Angel and Voivod, thatll attract fans of slow, sludgy bands like Crowbar and Neurosis, and thatll entice fans of current darlings like Killswitch Engage, Shadows Fall, and The Red Chord into its lair.

Technical. Precise. Thought out. Uncompromisingly brutal. Carefully calculated, but not calculating. Those are things theyll say about Croatoan. "They" being metal snobs, tastemakers, headbangers, true metal fans, and rock critics.

ZOROASTER

Atlanta, GA / Battle Kommand / Terminal Doom / These Atlanta doom dominators just recently released their first full length cd, Dog Magic. Distributed by Southern Lord/Caroline this record is sure to blow your ear drums while sending you off on a psychedelic metal trip.

AMEN RA

Belgium / Hypertension Records / In their mere 3 years of existence, AMENRA already have a backcatalog that most bands won't assemble in a lifetime. However, none of these well-received outings did them justice, being unable to fully capture the hypnotizing energy of their live performances. For Mass III they turned this around. Produced by their own guitar wizard The Dice (RISE & FALL, THE SETUP) and mixed by Zlaya Hadzic (SONIC YOUTH, MOTORPSYCHO) and mastered in the infamous Electric City studio in Belgium, the spirit and intensity has finally been laid down the way it's meant to be. Fans and critics know that their enchanting concerts are the only true way of experiencing this five piece, not in the least because of their unique choice of locations, like old churches, grave hills, lingerie shows or dark forests. They've proven their skills extensively, for instance on tour with label mates STARKWEATHER, as well on numerous shows with bands like RED SPAROWES, THE LOCUST, PELICAN, KNUT, THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN, CURSED, SWITCHBLADE, ANODYNE, etc. Producing huge walls of sound, AMENRA have often been compared to metal stalwarts like NEUROSIS, ISIS and PELICAN, but their confounding and compelling sound that mixes surrealist melody and warped subtleties with churning rhythms, pummeling riffs and crushing dynamics stands on it's own.

NO PEOPLE

Philadelphia, PA / member of A Life Once Lost / Slipshot Mucas Kiss Records / short off time assaults that sound like older Dillinger, some Kiss It Goodbye

More info at: www.StaggeredWorks.org