
Our next stop is taking us quite a bit north to one of our favorite regions of the world, Sweden and Norway. First, let’s catch up with our doom-y goth rockin’ friends in
Katatonia as they power away in the reek filled halls of their studio to put the final touches on their new album. We recently found out that there’s now a release date as well as a title available for the masses.
Night is the New Day will hit the stores on the 19th of October in Europe and a week later in the U.S. and will be released through
Peaceville Records. From the posted diary, it sounds like we’re in store to hear some deeply atmospheric passages and acoustic works mixed with the traditional
Katatonia metal sound. These guys have always pushed the envelope further and further with each recording once they dropped their full on death metal sound. The music has consistently become more and more moody with each release.
Night is the New Day promises to show more of that musical growth.
www.myspace.com/katatonia

While we’re enjoying our Swedish summer, we’re going to check out a newer band. They call themselves
Corroded and they have a cool thing going on. Gritty, hard edged rock with songs like “Leave Me Alone,” and full on metallic, head bangers with “Come On In” and “Inside You” show these guys are above average. A nice balance of angst ridden guitar pummeling with beautiful vocal melodies make up the body of their latest release,
11 Shades of Black. For our European Waveriders, it looks like you can catch these guys on select dates through the summer. I’m not certain if that’s Sweden that they’re playing in, but that would be my assumption. Damn . . . I really need to bone up on my Swedish if I’m gonna’ keep dragging everybody out here!
www.myspace.com/corrodedsweden

Heading west, we’ll cross into Norway and visit with
Sarke. Have y’all picked up a copy of Vorunah yet? This is just a friendly reminder that it’s a killer of an album and is becoming a favorite for my end of the year top ten list. Anyway, the main reason I wanted to bring everybody here was to take note that Sarke will performing at the
Wacken Open Air Festival, which in itself is so over the top spectacular, but what is is that the legendary Tom Gabriel Warrior will join the lads on stage for a rendition of the classic
Celtic Frost tune, “Dethroned Emperor.” See . . . this is one of the reasons why Europe will always entice me. The U.S. doesn’t have cool festivals like this that highlight legendary acts of metal.
. . . so, this year’s Wacken festival not only includes this extraordinary collaboration of Sarke, Nocturno Culto, and Tom G. Warrior, but will also feature the likes of Motorhead, Nevermore, Tristania, In Flames, Saxon, Enslaved, Machine Head, and so much more. Racer . . . we really need to get press passes for this one next year. www.myspace.com/sarkeofficial
Heading back to the U.S. we need to make a stop in Woodstock, NY. No, not because this is the 40th Anniversary of the music festival that changed the world or so all of us music geeks would like to think. Though that is a good reason, there’s another reason. By the words of a friend who pointed me in the right direction, I tuned into the folk-y and soulful sounds of a singer / songwriter named
Bar Scott. First and foremost, what struck me about this music was the power of Bar’s voice. It just lights up the soul and chases away the crud that’s been building up in there for years. Waveriders, do me a favor and listen to a few of the high points from the posted songs. Check out the vocal harmonies on the song “Like It Was.” C’mon . . . is that cool or what? Somewhat operatic, a touch of theater . . . it’s those kind of nuances that keeps me digging deeper and deeper in to
MySpace for music! And then there’s the cello on the song “Parachute.” Is there any instrument that sounds as wondrous as a cello? Love it! The song builds upon itself with every note, just getting more and more passionate with every passing second. Follow the link, folks. Don’t be shy.
www.myspace.com/barscottmusic
Still traveling west, we make our way to Chicago on the recommendation of our resident bar keep, Woody. There’s this sleazy, bar room brawlin’, alcohol swillin’ bunch of rockers going by the name
Low of the Low and they’re tearing it up with a gritty stoner metal sound that immediately had me thinking of bands like
Down or later era
C.O.C. Crap . . . check out hard driving, head bobbin’ tunes like the wah drenched “Reduce to Zero” or the profanity laced tirades of “Mississippi.” These guys have that groove that gets me tipping back a beer and unconsciously reaching for the pack of smokes that I dropped fifteen years ago. It’s honest rock that’ll give you a swift kick in the backside and then give you a high five for your troubles. Makes me wanna’ hang out with the lads, talk shit, and cook up some brauts!
http://www.myspace.com/lowofthelowcom/lowofthelow

Racer turned this sucker to the south and parked us directly on the border of Tennessee and Mississippi (maybe he was inspired by the
Low of the Low song?) so that we could catch up with a band called
Evanscapps. These guys recently released an album on
Rock Ridge Music called
Last Time, and interestingly enough, this musical project is made up of Ean Evans (
Lynyrd Skynyrd) and Bobby Capps
(.38 Special.) I somewhat expected this to showcase their southern rock roots, but was turned onto something altogether different. Though the southern rock thing is apparent throughout the album, there’s a harder edge to the whole thing. Try imaging the detuned alternative sound with southern flavor, something akin to
3 Doors Down, but not as refined. The album opener, “Hell If I Know,” is a straight up rocker with a metallic hint to the massive riffage, but the edges are eased by the catchy melodies. “Dead Is Rising” is much the same. Heavy palm muted guitar riffs with distorted vocals over a thunderous drum beat give way to a melodic chorus that captivates with its dynamics. A number of years ago, there was a band tooling around called
Cry of Love that captured a similar sound. Heavy, but soulfully bluesy and steeped in the southern swelter. Strong stuff. Spend some quality time groovin’ to these lads!
www.myspace.com/evanscapps 
Finally, we’re back in California and news has come across the wire that
The Soul of John Black has posted a new song on his page. On further exploration, there certainly is a new tune called “Emotions” that is a bass driven groover, jam packed with a huge hip shaking helping of soul. Lord, this tune is simply dripping groove that I defy you to not move while listening to it. It hits the entire being and you’ll become part of the rhythm, almost like some sort of sentient being that’s made of music rather than bones, muscle, and various fluids. Yeah.
John Black is the man and he warrants more than your attention. He deserves your undying servitude to make his a household name.
www.myspace.com/thesoulofjohnblack Oh yeah . . . groove on, Waveriders. Until next month . . . - Pope JTE
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