Heavy Metal

5 Questions With... is your chance to get to know a new or up-and-coming band. Surgeon are a Philadelphia based progressive metal group whose latest album is Chemical Reign. Vocalist/bassist Sean Bolton introduces us to his band.

Give us a brief history of Surgeon.
Lid (Lydia Giordano, guitar) and I have been rocking together since high school. We were in a couple of bands together, one of which was a three piece punky/thrash band. Later, with the addition of a second guitarist, Surgeon formed. We recorded a record with Steve Albini that was more of a lo-fi heavy/prog rock album. Our current lineup is the future. We are bit quirkier and heavier, and super excited for what the future holds for Surgeon.

Describe the songwriting and recording process for Chemical Reign.
The song writing process was pretty organic. We always try different ways and approaches when it comes to writing music and by the time the song is done it's really hard to remember how it started. One thing Lydia did a lot of was to layer multiple guitar tracks over each other until she's created an almost symphonic wall of sound. We then took that and translated it into a four piece band setting.

How did you style/sound evolve from your debut to this one?
We have definitely gotten harder and delved into the technical side of things more; letting our inner nerds have more play. Working with Steve Albini was cool, but engineer/producer Kevin (Antreassian) really embraced all of our quirks and helped turn them into our strengths. Before heading into the studio, we laid out the album and its themes. We then came up with ideas for interludes (marching boots, explosions etc.) to help tie together some of the themes of the record..

What has been your most memorable Surgeon live show, and what are your upcoming tour/show plans?

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Every Friday I turn the blog over to Dan Marsicano for his Retro Recommendation, giving you a chance to learn about underrated and overlooked gems from metal's past. This week, Extreme are in the spotlight. They had some huge mainstream radio hits like "More Than Words" in the early '90s, but Extreme was a harder-edged band than many people realized. They shifted their musical direction a bit for 1995's Waiting For The Punchline, which is this week's Retro Recommendation.

Retro Recommendation: Extreme - Waiting For The Punchline

Other Recent Retro Recommendations:

• Anvil - Hard 'n' Heavy
• Quartz - Stand Up And Fight
• Vain - No Respect
• Dr. Mastermind - Dr. Mastermind
• Starkweather - Crossbearer
• St. Elmos Fire - Desperate Years

He's the drummer/composer for Charred Walls Of The Damned and a staffer on the Howard Stern Show, but Richard Christy also works in the visual arts. He has developed a new animated web series Majestic Loincloth, a metal based fantasy cartoon. I spoke with Christy about the new project, the status of the next Charred Walls album, the Death To All tour (Christy used to be in Death), the passing of Slayer guitarist Jeff Hanneman and other topics.

Read the complete Richard Christy Interview

Once a week we collect a bunch of the latest metal releases into one article of short reviews. Get the quick lowdown on the latest from Burning Rain, Enshine, Extrema, Fact, For The Broken, Gaytheist, Hybrid, Masteroid, Negator, The Poodles, Satan, Svart Crown, Thinning The Herd and Zed.

New Heavy Metal Album Reviews: May 22, 2013

Also check out these recent full CD reviews:
Delain - Interlude
Immolation - Kingdom Of Conspiracy
Timo Tolkki's Avalon - The Land Of New Hope

(CD cover courtesy Frontiers Records)

Here are the new heavy metal CD releases for this week.   For the most detailed and up-to-date schedule, check out our complete Heavy Metal CD Release Date calendar.

May 21, 2013
Acherontas - Amenti (World Terror Committee)
Airbourne - Black Dog Barking (Roadrunner)
Burning Rain - Epic Obsession (Frontiers)
Circle - Six Day Run (Ektro)
Decaying - The Last Days Of War (Hellthrasher)
Death Of An Era - The Great Commonwealth EP (Artery)
Erlen Meyer - Erlen Meyer (Shelsmusic)
Extrema - The Seed Of Foolishness (Scarlet)
Fact - Burundanga (Good Fight)
For The Broken - Aurora (Imminence)
Gaytheist - Hold Me...But Not So Tight (Good To Die)
Hebosagil - Lähtö (Ektro)
Masteroid - MMXIII (Inverse)
NK - Nothing To Be Gained Here (Triple Crown)
A Pale Horse Named Death - Lay My Soul To Waste (SPV)
Palisades - Outcasts (Rise)
The Poodles - Tour De Force (Frontiers)
PTSD - A Sense Of Decay (My Kingdom)
Ruindom - In The Eyes Of Death (Inverse)
Saffire - From Ashes To Fire (Inner Wound)
Satan - Life Sentence (Listenable)
Svart Crown - Profane (Listenable)
Timo Tolkki's Avalon - The Land Of New Hope (Frontiers)
U.D.O. - Steelhammer (AFM)
Zed - Desperation Blues (I And I)

At About.com Heavy Metal we are big supporters of underground and unsigned bands. Check out our monthly column Drago's Dungeon, featuring great albums from unsigned metal bands. Dan Drago is himself a member of an unsigned band and knows the struggles and challenges unsigned bands face. If you're in an unsigned metal band anywhere in the world, or know someone who is, there's information in the column on submitting material for future columns.

Drago's Dungeon: May 2013's Best Unsigned Metal Bands

Kamelot will be touring North America this fall in support of their latest album Silverthorn. Delain and Eklipse will be opening all shows.

"We are really looking forward to getting back on the road for our headline shows in the US and Canada, along with great support acts Delain and Eklipse, says Kamelot's Thomas Youngblood. "This tour will be something very special."

2013 Kamelot, Delain and Eklipse Tour Dates:
9/2 -- Columbus, OH -- Al Rosa Villa
9/3 -- Baltimore, MD -- Soundstage
9/5 -- Philadelphia, PA -- Trocadero
9/6 -- New York, NY -- Stage 48
9/7 -- Worcester, MA -- Palladium
9/8 -- Montreal, QUE -- Club Soda
9/10 -- Toronto, ON -- Opera House
9/12 -- Chicago, IL -- Mojoe's
9/13 -- Kansas City, KS -- Granada Theater
9/14 -- Denver, CO -- Bluebird Theater
9/15 -- Salt Lake City, UT -- In the Venue
9/17 -- Seattle, WA -- El Corazon
9/18 -- Portland, OR -- Hawthorne Theater
9/20 -- San Francisco, CA -- Slims
9/21 -- Anaheim, CA -- The Grove
9/22 -- Phoenix, AZ -- Joe's Grotto
9/24 -- Dallas, TX -- Trees
9/25 -- San Antonio, TX -- Backstage Live
9/27 -- Louisville, KY -- Diamonds
9/28 -- Atlanta, GA -- Masquerade
9/29 -- Orlando, FL -- House of Blues

5 Questions With... is your chance to get to know a new or up-and-coming metal band. Tribulation are a Swedish death metal group whose second full-length is The Formulas Of Death. Guitarist Adam Zaars introduces us to his band.

Give us a brief history of Tribulation.
We have been around for a long time now, since 2004, though I would probably say that the "real" Tribulation really started with writing our first album that was recorded in 2007. Prior to that we had released a demo and a 7 inch that people still seem to like, and I do for what they are, but I don't really see them as creative stepping stones for what we have become, they are what they are. After the delayed release of our first album in 2009 we did some touring until we felt that the songs couldn't really conjure up anything new in a live situation and hence started focusing on our new album The Formulas of Death.

Describe the songwriting and recording process for The Formulas of Death.

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Every Friday I turn the blog over to Dan Marsicano for his Retro Recommendation, giving you a chance to learn about underrated and overlooked gems from metal's past. This week, Anvil are in the spotlight. The Canadian band, whose hard luck story was told in the incredible documentary Anvil! The Story Of Anvil, are a study in dedication and perseverance. We go all the way back to the beginning for this week's Retro Recommendation, their 1981 debut Hard 'n' Heavy.

Retro Recommendation: Anvil - Hard 'n' Heavy

Other Recent Retro Recommendations:

• Quartz - Stand Up And Fight
• Vain - No Respect
• Dr. Mastermind - Dr. Mastermind
• Starkweather - Crossbearer
• St. Elmos Fire - Desperate Years
• Cianide - The Dying Truth

The latest album from The Dillinger Escape Plan is One Of Us Is The Killer, which has been getting rave reviews, including 4.5 out of 5 stars on this site. I had a great conversation with vocalist Greg Puciato about the writing and recording of the album, the issues that inspired the album title, their memorable performance at the Golden Gods Awards and other topics.

Read the complete Dillinger Escape Plan Interview

(photo courtesy Sumerian Records)