Articles

Looking to ring in the Christmas season with something a little more powerful than gramma singing Rudolf? We've got you covered.

Norma Jean has had their fill of success over the years. Wage War however is just getting off the ground, and are doing very well for themselves. Both bands have found a spot of River City Rockfest, a tour that includes bands such as Fozzy, Three Days Grace, Papa Roach, and famous Def Leppard, as well as several others. Norma Jean formed in 1997 as Luti-Kriss with Josh Scogin (The Chariot, ’68) Chris Day, Scottie Henry, Josh Swofford, Mick Bailey, and Daniel Davidson. In 2002 the band changed their name to Norma Jean and underwent some lineup changes to where now none of these members are in the band.… Continued →

Today, I’m doing something a little different. These bands are bands that people should know and that are on the rise. Check them out! And here you go! 5. Saints Can Lie Metalcore acts have become very common in the United States. But Saints Can Lie seem to be doing something sort of fresh. The band formed in 2012 with the original lineup of brothers Vocalist Jake and Guitarist/Pianist Hunter Shaw, Guitarist John McDonough and Drummer Bryce Garland. The band comes from Texas, home to many amazing metal bands including Pantera and The Famine.… Continued →

On November 23, 2016, Metal Hammer wrote an article about the top 10 essential Christian metal albums. I agreed for the most part with their list. But there were a few that I thought, “why would you pick those albums?” Read the article, and comment what albums you would vote as the Top 10 essentials and then, maybe, we’ll do an article on it, with an average of your votes. I know that I would vote Living Sacrifice’s Reborn rather than probably any other album on their list.… Continued →

Today, I am posting a list of Christian Metal bands from the old days that aren’t mentioned very often when talking about Christian metal. Most of them tend to be Nu-metal, ironically, even though the 90’s was the time for Nu-Metal/Rapcore. 5. Oficina G3 Oficina G3 is a Christian prog metal act from the late 80’s. Forming in 1987, the band began as a heavy metal/hard rock band, influenced by Stryper and Petra, but progressed into a Progressive metal/nu-metal/metalcore-ish band. This band was most likely thrown out, due to this period, when the Christian thrash scene had just hit it’s stride, with the Big 4 of the Christian scene: Deliverance, Vengeance Rising, Tourniquet and Believer.… Continued →

Recently, I discovered The Ongoing Concept. Ok, well I had heard of them before, just was never interested. I downloaded the Son of Screamfest 2016 compilation and heard “Prisoner”. I followed up with listening to “Cover Girl”, “Failures and Fakes” and “Saloon”. I did a little more research, and discovered something. It seems that Brothers Kyle and Parker Scholz and friend TJ Nicholz seem to have left the band. Leaving Dawson Scholz, the remaining brother, the main member. There was no mention of the members departure at all, but there were several pictures with another lineup.… Continued →

For All Eternity, the Christian melodic metalcore band, has started to work on the demos for their third album. After the release of Metanoia, the band hit the ground running. Scoring high in the charts, the album hit 23 in Billboard Christian Albums and 21 in Billboard’s Top Heatseekers Albums. The band teased the recording of demos on November 15, 2016. The band is currently signed to Facedown Records. Here’s a podcast episode Shane Carroll (Vocals) did with As The Story Grows.… Continued →

August Burns Red over the years have become notorious for releasing Christmas Metal songs.This years happens to be “What Child Is This (Greensleeves)”. Go listen to the song at Alternative Press. Or go purchase it here. “This song has a bit of a black metal flavor, but takes a turn in the middle,” guitarist JB Brubaker says. “We always have fun writing and recording the holiday songs and we hope you like it too.” The band is going to embark on their album Messengers 10th year anniversary tour.… Continued →

Elgibbor, an Unblack metal project, started back in 1999. The founder, Jarek Pozarycki a.k.a. Fire, has played in several bands, most notably Frost Like Ashes. Elgibbor released 5 demos, 3 EPs (two splits), and 12 studio albums. On November 17, 2016, Fire put out a statement claiming the new album, entitled The Roots of Blood will be released on CD. The CD will be released through Visions of God Records. Fire is clearly musically prolific. Considering he released Revenger of Blood and The Roots of Blood 6 months apart.… Continued →

Doug Mann, the founder and original owner of R.E.X. Records, home to several Christian metal acts, including Living Sacrifice, Six Feet Deep, Believer and Circle of Dust, was featured on the As The Story Grows Podcast for a two part interview. R.E.X. Records was a label, pre-Tooth and Nail Records, that was home to several Christian bands. Certain bands, formerly on the label, have not spoken ill about Doug Mann, but have stated that it was a bad experience being on R.E.X. As The Story Grows is hosted by Travis Turner (ex-Aletheian, Solamors, UnTeachers), but for the first part of the Doug Mann interview, Living Sacrifice Vocalist/Guitarist Bruce Fitzhugh co-hosts.… Continued →

A written review of Relient K's 10th Anniversary Tour at the Glasshouse in Pomona, CA. (Also feat From Indian Lakes and Blondfire).

What are your favorite Project 86 jams? Here are some of mine. Let the debate ensue.

Today's world has more music than ever. Are we music fatigued? Is there just too much music?

Our massive Project 86 Week kicks off today in honor of tomorrow's release of "Knives to the Future."

These are the ten faith-based bands that every hard rocker/ metalhead owes it to themselves to check out.

Apple quietly put an end to the (much loved) iPod Classic this past week. As you can see in their official store, it is no longer available for sale. That doesn’t mean you can’t find it for sale on sites like eBay, but for the rest of us I think we can safely say… RIP. I am very much still a user of the iPod Classic since that is the connection my car uses, so for me it’s just simple. What do the rest of you use for your music collections?… Continued →

Since weekends are typically slow time of posting here on IVM I figured i’d post a little something for you guys to ponder. I did post this on Facebook to generate some comments so feel free to repost those comments here and join in the discussion right here on IVM.… Continued →

I posted this on the IVM Facebook page and I am going to re-post it here for discussion purposes. View the pic below and read the text.… Continued →

In the Silence of the Mind returns from it's long and silent slumber to tackle one of the great questions of our day... will Community get a sixth season and a movie? Well, actually this is about rebranding...

In the Silence of the Mind: March 7, 2014 Being a Band – Part 2 – What’s In a Name? “What’s in a name? That which we call a rose by any other name would smell as sweet.” The immortal poet William Shakespeare penned these words as a way to point to the deeper meaning that a thing (in this case a rose) was defined by what it was, not what it was called. In the same way, a band is more than the stylized font that adorns flyers and album covers in their honor.… Continued →

In honor of the sophomore album, "Rest & Let Go", from The Overseer which comes out on March 4th I will be conducting a written interview with the band. Submit your questions you would like asked here.

In preparation for this year's "In the Silence of the Mind" articles, I reached out to some key people in the industry to get their thoughts. This "super interview" compiles the answers from Righteous Vendetta, Eyes of Eil, Dorean Lives, Declaration AD, and Southbound Fearing.

In a heated battle between popular streaming services, I am coming to you our most loyal readers to get an opinion on which one you use (if you use one) and what your thoughts on it are. Do you use Spotify, Rdio, Beats, Google Play, iTunes Radio, Pandora, or other new service? Name your service and why YOU like it best. What features do you look for most in selecting a “Streaming” service? What media device do you “stream” these songs from? Do you listen to the songs in your vehicle?… Continued →

Lee invites Seth Hecox of Becoming the Archetype to share his thoughts on a key element of being a band, branding. Read on to find out more and see what life would have been like if Magnified Plaid hadn't rebranded.

After we had such awesome discussion regarding the ten most impacting albums, this seemed to be a natural progression. List the three shows that you attended that had the biggest impact on your life. Feel free to share why they had a lasting impact or any fun details from your experiences.… Continued →

Check out my new Fast FWD Feature with Bill Power of Blenderhead on his life making music and what he's been up to lately.

We are following up our Strongarm "Fast FWD" feature with Part 2, this time with Chris Carbonell answering some deep questions. Let's relive the past and travel back to the time of DIY hardcore spirit and celebrate the accomplishments of this great Florida band.

I started a feature late last year that sort of fell to the wayside. I apologize for slacking on my job. Here is the latest edition of “Fast FWD – What They’re Up 2 Now” with Jason B. of Strongarm. Enjoy!  … Continued →

This is a spin off of the Facebook thing floating around that prompts you to list your top 10 favorite albums that have made the biggest impact on your life. List those 10 albums below and let’s start a discussion on what music continues to impact your life. Maybe some of you will find some new bands to check out.… Continued →