Granted, the type of extremity might vary, but five editions deep, Southwest Terror Fest is on its shit. Southwest Terror Fest V, set for this October in scenic — literally; the desert is gorgeous — Tucson, Arizona, brings together long-running grind horrifiers Pig Destroyer, post-metal inheritors Sumac, psych-sludge purveyors CHRCH, heavy prog-metallers Behold! the Monolith, and a whole lot of others in the micro-subgenre game for a weekend that I’m sure is only beginning to take shape with this initial lineup announcement. The fest has only grown more organized and more lethal with time, so keep an eye out for more news in the months to come.

For now, if you want to get your tickets, the links for that came with the PR wire info below:

SOUTHWEST TERROR FEST V: Houses Of The Unholy — Initial October Festival Lineup Announced + Advance Tickets Available

The initial lineup for Arizona’s SOUTHWEST TERROR FEST V: Houses Of The Unholy has been announced, as early bird tickets for the event have been made available this week.

For the fifth installation of the annual SOUTHWEST TERROR FEST, this year’s edition will once again overthrow Tucson, the 2016 installment of the annual gathering running from October 20th through 23rd, with forty-five artists from across the US and Canada converging on three stages, including venues 191 Toole, Club Congress, The Flycatcher, and Gary’s Place..

The SOUTHWEST TERROR FEST V: Houses Of The Unholy initial lineup has been announced, this first wave of bands featuring Pig Destroyer, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Infest, Nails, Power Trip, Final Conflict, Full Of Hell, Sumac, Kowloon Walled City, Khemmis, CHRCH, Behold! The Monolith, Theories, Wake, and The Drip!

A very limited number of early bird tickets are now available.

The second wave of artists set to play SOUTHWEST TERROR FEST V: Houses Of The Unholy will be announced April 18th, the same day VIP passes and individual tickets go on sale.

Since 2012, the SOUTHWEST TERROR FEST gathering has seen hordes flock to the desert city of Tucson for several days of music, the event rooted heavily into the community through local business sponsorship and cooperation. Prior festivals have seen dozens of extreme artists from across the spectrum, including Neurosis, Sunn O))), Sleep, The Body, Goatsnake, Pelican, Author & Punisher, Kylesa, Red Fang, Hull, and countless others performing, and there are several dozen more acts still to be announced for the upcoming fifth gathering.

https://www.ticketfly.com/purchase/event/1126845?utm_medium=bks
http://www.ticketfly.com/event/1126845
http://www.southwestterrorfest.bigcartel.com
http://www.facebook.com/southwestterrorfest

Bongripper, Live at Southwest Terror Fest IV

Thief Presents continues to throw down a gauntlet with its festivals. It seemed fair after so thoroughly upping the game earlier this year with Psycho CA that big things would be in store for that fest’s autumnal counterpart, the Day of the Shred, but when you come out of the gate like it’s no big deal and be like, “Oh hey Captain Beyond is playing our fest year whatever,” you’re officially killing it. You’ve got John Garcia, Yawning Man and Ides of Gemini together, which makes me wonder if Zun won’t make an appearance, and Spirit Caravan, Elder and Crowbar, along with a righteous ton of others, up to and including Portugal’s Black Bombaim. It gets a hearty and heartfelt fucking a.

Details from the PR wire:

Day of the Shred Festival to Light Up Southern California November 1

Dia de los Muertos-themed Concert Event to Feature Performances from Captain Beyond, Spirit Caravan, Crowbar, John Garcia, Mondo Generator, Torche and More

This fall, The Day of the Shred Festival returns to Southern California, presenting a diverse lineup of heavy music acts. Billed as an experience “to gather the living and remember the dead”, The Day of the Shred will take place on November 1 (Dia de los Muertos) in Santa Ana, CA. Celebrating monolithic riffs, skateboarding and the souls of the departed, the second annual festival will be an all day, all ages event. Presented by Thief – also the creators of the annual Psycho California Festival — The Day of the Shred will feature headliners Captain Beyond, Spirit Caravan, Crowbar, Torche, John Garcia (of Kyuss fame), Elder, Saviours, Mondo Generator and more.

Tickets for the 2015 Day of the Shred Festival are on sale now at this location. Early bird general admission tickets are $59 (+ tax) and a limited VIP ticket package (which includes express entry, a signed festival screen print, access to the artist lounge, complimentary microbrew and snacks, a limited edition record bag and an exclusive Thief X Obey concert shirt) is also available.
What: Day of the Shred Fest 2015
Where: The Observatory, Santa Ana, CA
Time: 2PM – 2AM
Tickets: Eventbrite.com/e/day-of-the-shred-2015-tickets-17017683349

The just-announced lineup for The Day of the Shred 2015 is as follows:

CAPTAIN BEYOND
SPIRIT CARAVAN
CROWBAR
JOHN GARCIA
MONDO GENERATOR
TORCHE
ELDER
SAVIOURS
OXBOW
FULL OF HELL
THE BODY
YAWNING MAN
KOWLOON WALLED CITY
BLACK BOMBAIM
FIGHT AMP
THOU
NIGHT DEMON
IDES OF GEMINI
MOS GENERATOR
GREAT ELECTRIC QUEST
WHITE MANNA
POOBAH
COMMUNION
BLACKWITCH PUDDING
DUEL
Stay tuned in to The Day of the Shred Fest via the Facebook event page and follow THE DAY OF THE SHRED on social media:

https://www.facebook.com/dayoftheshred
https://twitter.com/thiefpresents
https://instagram.com/thiefpresents/
www.DayoftheShred.com

Weedeater, “Gimme Back My Bullets” Live at Day of the Shred 2014

Trading singers and covering industrial pioneers, Kowloon Walled City and Batillus have united in a bi-coastal split 7″ that will be the third in a series put out by Brutal Panda Records. Fade Kainer of Batillus joins Kowloon Walled City for a rendition of “Anthem” by Godflesh — no word on whether it will synch up with Jesus Christ Superstar as well as the original, but one can hope — and Scott Evans will join Batillus to take on Ministry‘s “Lava.” Sound like a neat idea? It is.

The PR wire has more info, band links and the goods on where a pre-order for the 7″, due out on Dec. 10, can be placed, so get up if you wanna get down:

KOWLOON WALLED CITY / BATILLUS Announce Split 7″

San Francisco’s KOWLOON WALLED CITY and Brooklyn’s BATILLUS have teamed up for a split 7″ of cover songs as part of the the third release in Brutal Panda Records’ split 7″ series.  Recorded at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, CA and mixed by Scott Evans at Antisleep, the split features KWC playing a cover of the Godflesh classic “Anthem” with Fade Kainer of BATILLUS on vocals.  Side B features BATILLUS covering Ministry’s “Lava” with Scott Evans of KWC on vocals.

The split will be officially released on December 10th and is available for pre-order here.  Also released in the 7″ series were splits from BLACK TUSK / FIGHT AMP and HELMS ALEE / LADDER DEVILS.  The fourth and final release will be a split between WHORES and RABBITS with details to emerge soon.

Kowloon Walled City on Facebook
Kowloon Walled City on Bandcamp

Batillus on Facebook
Batillus on Bandcamp

Kowloon Walled City, Container Ships (2012)

The only thing really subtle about Kowloon Walled City‘s Container Ships is how subtle it is. The tiny bits of melody that makes their way into the guitars of Scott Evans and Jon Howell, or the surprising effect the record — their second behind 2009’s Gambling on the Richter Scale and label debut on Brutal Panda Records — can have on the listener’s mood despite being so outwardly intense and seeming so cerebral in their approach, that pesky tendency to kick a face with a song.

It’s not the kind of thing you generally think of as ambient, but Container Ships has more to it than its surface heaviness. Its seven component tracks run a vinyl-ready 35 minutes and opening argument “The Pressure Keeps Me Alive” winds up somewhere right in the middle of Kowloon Walled City‘s scope of pace. Evans handles vocal duties with a kind of post-hardcore semi-speech, melodic enough when it needs to be and likewise able to turn within a line’s span into an all-out shout. Tonally, they’re more indebted to Godflesh than the Neurosis/Isis sphere of post-metal, but some of those elements are there, particularly on the centerpiece title-track or side B closer “You Don’t Have Cancer,” the two longest cuts at 7:11 and 8:44, respectively. Most of the album moves quicker, pushed ahead by Jeff Fagundes‘ about-t0-fly-apart drumming (spoiler alert: it never flies apart) and Ian Miller‘s thankfully prominent low end righteousness.

Third track “Beef Cattle” owed so much of its thrust to Godflesh‘s “Anthem” that I wanted to see if it also synched up with Jesus Christ Superstar. I couldn’t get it to work, but someone more enterprising might have better luck. Far from being turned off by the clarity of the derivation — that is, not liking the track for how blatantly it reminds me of something else — I mark “Beef Cattle” as one of Container Ships‘ several high points, its familiarity offset by the context of what’s surrounding, whether it’s the fast-paced rhythmic insistence and weighted crashes of “’50s Dad” before or the extended and gracefully executed build of “Container Ships” that follows. Kowloon Walled City don’t stay in one place long enough to be redundant.

Miller‘s tone makes “Cornerstone,” looming large overhead alongside the guitars in the song’s second half, and though one might argue the track is overshadowed by its more memorable companions, “Container Ships” before and the strong hook of “Wrong Side of History” after,  effective pacing — just slower than middle, but floating here and there — and a solid linear structure make it less of a stumble than it might otherwise be. Still, “Wrong Side of History,” which builds no less momentum into closer “You Don’t Have Cancer” than “Beef Cattle” did into “Container Ships” to round out Container Ships‘ first half, is a defining point of the album. A late-era Akimbo sense of controlled chaos pervades and Evans‘ vocals calling out raised fists and clenched fingers — not to mention the delivery of those lines — push the song over the side of the hardcore designation without veering musically from their stated course. It’s the best chorus here. I wouldn’t want a whole album of it, but like with “Beef Cattle,” it works within the scope of Kowloon Walled City‘s approach.

They once more bring the proceedings to a crawl with “You Don’t Have Cancer,” wind noise setting a bed for the creeping build the payoff of which ends the album with largesse if not excess of tempo. By the crashes that hit just past the six-minute mark, the final cut on Container Ships is already operating at its peak level. The band don’t so much gradually wind the song down as mostly drop off, leaving just the guitar to riff through one more cycle before the sustain fades and then cuts out. Ultimately, Kowloon Walled City walk a pretty fine line of genre, but they do it with feet that land heavy enough to leave a mark. If you’ve never encountered them before, either on Gambling on the Richter Scale or their splits with Ladder Devils/Fight Amp or Thou, Container Ships should make for a rousing introduction.

The band released a split with Fight Amp and their Brutal Panda labelmates Ladder Devils in 2010, but Kowloon Walled City are definitely due a follow-up to 2009’s heavier-than-your-face Gambling on the Richter Scale, and the good news is it seems to be in the works. Kowloon Walled City‘s tracks from the Lose/Lose/Lose three-way split are below, and while you dig into them, take a look at the following info off the PR wire:

KOWLOON WALLED CITY Recording New Album

San Francisco’s KOWLOON WALLED CITY are putting the finishing touches on the recording of their upcoming 2nd full length.  Their first record in three years is being recorded at Sharkbite Studios in Oakland, CA, with guitarist/vocalist Scott Evans handling the production duties. To chronicle the recording process, the band will post a series of studio journals via Decibel Magazine, with the first one being available here. A late fall release is being planned on Brutal Panda Records, with release date and additional album info to be announced in the near future.

KOWLOON WALLED CITY have previously released a split 7″ with THOU, split 12″ with FIGHT AMP / LADDER DEVILS, an EP and a full-length.  Their recordings are available for free streaming / download at this location.

…Sort of. They’re not exactly sharing a van — or, if they are, it has escape pods out the sides or something (which would rule). What seems to be the case for this run of shows is that The Atlas Moth have two-weeks booked across the US and Kowloon Walled City and Batillus are meeting up with them along the way. It’s a killer package if you have to live somewhere where you can catch all three, but even if not, any of the above makes for some pretty solid destruction.

This came in on the PR wire:

The Atlas Moth have released the album of their careers with An Ache for the Distance, their Profound Lore debut, and Batillus kicked off the year in rare form with their visceral effort Furnace. These bands are undoubtedly some of the most ferocious in today’s metal scene and now they have joined forces for a tour that is sure to leave your city devastated this fall. Joined by Kowloon Walled City, the trek will be one of the most impressive live attacks of the year and you will not want to miss the epic performances of this trio.

The Atlas Moth, Batillus & Kowloon Walled City:
11/09 Minneapolis, MN 7th Street Entry NO KWC
11/10 Fargo, ND The New Direction NO KWC
11/12 Portland, OR East End No Batillus
11/13 Seattle, WA Highline No Batillus
11/14 Boise, ID The Shredder No Batillus
11/15 Las Vegas, NV Yayo Tacos No Batillus
11/16 Phoenix, AZ Yucca Tap Room No Batillus
11/17 Capistrano Beach, CA Coconuts 
11/18 Los Angeles, CA Bow & Sparrow 
11/19 San Francisco, CA Hemlock Tavern No Batillus
11/20 Salt Lake City, UT Burt’s Tiki Lounge NO KWC
11/21 Denver, CO Moe’s NO KWC
11/22 Kansas City, MO Riot Room NO KWC
11/23 Chicago, IL Subterranean NO KWC

Batillus Off Dates:
10/26 Brooklyn, NY Acheron w/ Inter Arma, Belus
11/07 Indianapolis, IN The Vollrath w/ Late August, Chinaski
11/08 Madison, WI Wisco
11/12 Seattle, WA Highline w/ Natür
11/13 Portland, OR The Know w/ Diesto, Natür
11/15 Eugene, OR or Chico, CA TBA
11/16 San Francisco, CA Elbo Room w/ Prizehog
11/19 Las Vegas, NV Yayo Taco