Losing Warning is a bummer, but Northwest Terror Fest 2017 is taking it in stride and taking its game to another level entirely by adding Coven to the bill for their first US show in 27 years. I had the good fortune of watching Coven play at Roadburn in April (review here), and their classic sound has never been more relevant than it is today, and Jinx Dawson remains a mystifying presence as frontwoman, even nearly five decades after the band issued their landmark 1969 outing, Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls, which you can hear in full below. The point of that massive fucking run-on sentence? Go see Coven if you can. There. I made it simple. I hear that’s what you’re supposed to do on the internet.

John Haughm of Pillorian and Agalloch will also play an acoustic set as part of the packed lineup, and as a side note, tomorrow I’ll have a Six Dumb Questions interview posted with David Rodgers of Godhunter, who organizes this fest as well as other Terror Fest incarnations like the Austin Terror Fest at SXSW and Southwest Terror Fest in Arizona. Dude breaks his ass in making these things happen, and you’ll note Godhunter aren’t on this bill, so it’s clearly not about just putting together an event to promote his own doings. Just something to keep an eye out for.

Northwest Terror Fest 2017 runs June 15-17. Here’s the latest from the PR wire, including the full schedule:

COVEN, JOHN HAUGHM JOIN NORTHWEST TERROR FEST

NORTHWEST TERROR FEST – SEATTLE JUNE 15-17

Due to matters out of control of Northwest Terror Fest, we regret to inform that Warning will no longer be able to perform during this specific weekend. But at the end of the darkness is light as we are proud to announce that the legendary Coven will be playing on the evening of Saturday June 17th in what will be their first stateside show in 27 years!

While its widely disputed that some have cited Coven as the first band to brandish the sign of the horns, their occult laced tunes have laid down an irrefutable influence on the world of metal and doom beginning with their mystic debut album, 1969’s Witchcraft Destroys Minds & Reaps Souls.

John Haughm of Agalloch will be performing an intimate set.

Inspired by Cormac McCarthy, Ennio Morricone, Neil Young’s “Dead Man” soundtrack, and the renegade years of the American old west, John Haughm’s solo performance is a haunting and sonic 30 minute journey through dystopian wastelands of the past. It is a bleak, atmospheric, and powerful droning Western soundscape in steadfast spirit of the years 1865 – 1895.

Northwest Terror Fest Schedule:

THURSDAY 6/15
Neumo’s:
10:10 – END – Wolves In The Throne Room
8:50 – 9:30 – Samothrace
7:35 – 8:10 – King Woman
6:30 – 7:00 – Lycus
5:30 – 6:00 – Uada

Barboza:
9:30 – 10:10 – Graves At Sea
8:10 – 8:50 – Take Over And Destroy
7:00 – 7:35 – Void Omnia
6:00 – 6:30 – Barghest
5:00 – 5:30 – Witch Ripper

THURSDAY AFTER PARTY

Highline:
1:00 – END – John Haughm
11:50 – 12:40 – Aerial Ruin
11:00 – 11:30 – Crowhurst

FRIDAY 6/16

Neumo’s:
10:10 – END – Cephalic Carnage
8:50 – 9:30 – Goatwhore
7:35 – 8:10 – Noisear
6:30 – 7:00 – Nomads
5:30 – 6:00 – Fucked And Bound

Barboza:
9:30 – 10:10 Cult Leader
8:10 – 8:50 – Call Of The Void
7:00 – 7:35 – Transient
6:00 – 6:30 – Endorphin’s Lost
5:00 – 5:30 – Recluse

FRIDAY AFTER PARTY

Highline:
12:40 – END – Usnea
11:50 – 12:20 – Burials
11:00 – 11:30 – Sol

SATURDAY 6/17

Neumo’s:
10:10 – END – Coven (First US Show in 27 years)
8:50 – 9:30 – Yob
7:35 – 8:10 – Marissa Nadler
6:30 – 7:00 – Young And In The Way
5:30 – 6:00 – Infernal Coil

Barboza:
9:30 – 10:10 – Bell Witch featuring Aerial Ruin
8:10 – 8:50 – Forn
7:00 – 7:35 – CHRCH
6:00 – 6:30 – Hands Of Thieves
5:00 – 5:30 – Cliterati

SATURDAY AFTER PARTY

Highline:
12:40 – END – Heiress
11:50 – 12:20 – Rhine
11:00 – 11:30 – Old Iron

www.facebook.com/northwestterrorfest
https://www.facebook.com/events/1741333786182206/
www.neumos.com
www.thebarboza.com
www.highlineseattle.com

Coven, Witchcraft Destroys Minds and Reaps Souls (1969)

Cheers and clinky-glasses to Arizona metallers Take Over and Destroy, who have newly inked a deal to release their next album — to be recorded early in 2016 — via Prosthetic Records. The five-piece have put in some significant road time since their debut, Rotten Tide (review here), came out in 2011, and that record’s follow-up, Endless Night (review here), found the then-sextet touring the country as genre-spanning aggressors seemingly hell bent on living up to their moniker. Signing to Prosthetic would seem to be another pivotal step in making that happen.

They’ll celebrate the recent victory on the road this month with Lament Cityscape. Tour dates and signing announcement follow from the PR wire:

TAKE OVER AND DESTROY SIGN TO PROSTHETIC RECORDS, ANNOUNCE TOUR

PROSTHETIC RECORDS is proud to announce the singing of Tempe, AZ’s diverse black & roll band, TAKE OVER AND DESTROY. The band is set to enter the studio in early 2016 with a summer release scheduled. Prior to recording their next LP, TAKE OVER AND DESTROY will hit the road to test out new material to their fans. The band comments:

“We’re excited to announce that the take over continues to grow as we join forces with Prosthetic Records. We’ve finished putting the final touches on the new album and will enter the studio first thing next year. Be ready to spin a new Take Over And Destroy record in 2016! Come see us play this material live for the first time ever as we execute our tour with Lament Cityscape across the southern United States.”

Since 2008, TAKE OVER AND DESTROY has been relentlessly pushing the boundaries of heavy music. With an amalgamation of eclectic tastes: death metal, classic rock, doom, death rock, black metal and horror scores, TOAD has established itself as a truly unique entity, both sonically and aesthetically. The five members’ collective obsession with cinema results in their incorporation of the moody undertones of classic film scores into the raw power and energy of heavy metal and rock and roll.

TAKE OVER AND DESTROY 2015 TOUR DATES
11/11 Mesa, AZ – The Nile Underground (w/Twitching Tongues)
11/27 Tempe, AZ – Yucca Room #
11/28 Tucson, AZ – Skybar #
11/29 El Paso, TX – The Sandbox #
11/30 Lubbock, TX – The District #
12/1 Austin, TX – The Lost Well #
12/2 San Antonio, TX – Bottom Bracket #
12/3 Houston, TX – Black Barbie #
12/4 Lafayette, LA – Heffe’s Saloon #
12/5 New Orleans, LA – TBA #
12/6 Ocean Spring, MS – The Juke Joint #
12/7 Jacksonville, FL – The Birdhouse #
12/8 Greenville, SC – TBA #
12/9 Atlanta, GA – 529 #
12/10 Nashville, TN – East Room #
12/11 Little Rock, AR – Vino’s #
12/12 Fayetteville, AR – Ryleigh’s #
12/13 Tulsa, Ok – Soundpony #
12/14 Albuquerque, NM – The Launchpad #
12/15 Flagstaff, AZ – The Green Room #
# with Lament Cityscape

TAKE OVER AND DESTROY is:
Alex Bank Rollins – guitar
Nate Garrett – guitar
Andrew Leemont – vocals/keys
Pete Porter – bass
Jason Tomaszewski – drums

takeoveranddestroy.com
facebook.com/TakeOverAndDestroy
prostheticrecords.com
https://www.facebook.com/prostheticrecords

Take Over and Destroy, Live at the Saint Vitus Bar, 2013

This summer, Arizona six-piece Take Over and Destroy released their second full-length, Vacant Face, and at the end of the month, they’ll head out in support of the new album alongside French doomers Year of No Light. The tour runs from Oct. 30 in L.A. to Nov. 9 in Oakland, and will be certain to harsh all kinds of mellows up and down that side of the nation. It’s a pretty interesting mix of bands, but both share an affinity for darkness that should serve well to tie one set into the next. Take Over and Destroy also play the Southwest Terror Fest in Tucson, AZ, sharing the stage with The Atlas Moth, Blackqueen and Spiritual Shepherd at the Friday night after-show.

For those of us on the Eastern Seaboard, we won’t get to see TOAD, but Year of No Light have two shows booked at Brooklyn’s St. Vitus bar for Nov. 13 and 14. They are excellent live and will be joined by Sannhet and Gnaw and others.

This from the PR wire:

Arizona Black Acid Trippers TAKE OVER AND DESTROY Announce West Coast Tour w/ French Doom Monolith YEAR OF NO LIGHT

Phoenix, Arizona’s Take Over And Destroy will soon be invade the Pacific Northwest and its surrounding territories with their memorable, mysterious, and powerful music, joining French doom behemoths YEAR OF NO LIGHT for a string of dates that includes shows with the likes of LESBIAN, EIGHT BELLS, and more. The tour poster was designed and executed by esteemed illustrator Bryan Proteau (Navres Mortes) with text by Nanotear.

Check out the dates below!

YEAR OF NO LIGHT + TAKE OVER AND DESTROY TOURDATES
10/30 Los Angeles, CA – Complex
11/01 Salt Lake City, UT – Bar Deluxe
11/02 Boise, ID – Crazy Horse
11/03 Spokane, WA – TBA
11/04 Seattle, WA – Highline
11/05 Bellingham, WA – Shakedown w/Lesbian
11/06 Olympia, WA – Obsidian
11/07 Portland, OR – Rotture w/Eight Bells
11/08 Sacramento, CA – Café Colonial
11/09 Oakland, CA – Uptown

https://www.facebook.com/TakeOverAndDestroy
http://takeoveranddestroy.bandcamp.com/
http://takeoveranddestroy.bigcartel.com

Take Over and Destroy, Vacant Face (2014)

As much as extreme rock has ever been a thing, Tempe, Arizona, six-piece TOAD would seem to be engaged in the practice of it. The double-guitar, organ, bass, drums and standalone vocal outfit made their first showing in 2010 as a split with Drone Throne, then on their own in 2011 with Rotten Tide (review here) and are set to return in 2013 with Endless Night – five tracks of blackened melodic death rock that attempt to draw a line between At the Gates and the riffier terrain of heavy rock. No easy task. The five tracks of the vinyl-ready 27-minute Endless Night cast off a lot of the melodeath cliché that came in the wake of America’s turn-of-the-century metal revival – i.e. they don’t rush through a verse so as to blindside you with an out-of-place breakdown most part – but there is an intensity to some of their parts that feels derived from modern hardcore, so that even the dueling guitars on the otherwise organ-driven closing title-track seem to be in specifically that kind of rush. The band – comprised of guitarists Nate and Alex, bassist Trey, vocalist Andy, drummer Jason and organist Pete – balances its approach well, so that they never appear to be in the same place twice while also creating a full-album flow over the course of a brief span. Endless Night preserves continuity though in the echoing screams of Andy (who seems to be going by Chthon these days, unless I’ve got the lineup info wrong), which are largely unipolar in their shouting approach, at times scathing, but presented well in the mix all the same. Together with Jason’s drums, they announce the rolling groove of opener “Taste of the Grave,” which is also the shortest track on Endless Night at just under four minutes, centered around a heavy rock riff that in another context might bounce where here it pummels. TOAD, whose name is an acronym for Take Over and Destroy, have several immediate factors working toward their favor, and a pervasive knack for structure is one of them. It’s easy to get lost in Endless Night and some might accuse their songs of being samey, but TOAD are able to accomplish changes between otherwise standard verses and choruses that even with considered listening are less predictable than one might think. The harder you hear Endless Night, the heavier it gets.

And repeat listens may pull back the curtain on a horror influence that shows through in Pete’s organ work on “Howling House” and elsewhere, but even so, TOAD don’t necessarily telegraph where they’re headed next, as Entombed-style guitars in the verse of “Taste of the Grave” give way to a nuanced bridge. In some ways, this sets the tone for the whole of the album, which is similarly minded in its bludgeoning, but there’s no chorus to speak of in “Taste of the Grave,” and gang vocals, layers of backing singing and lead guitar throw one off as much as they bring you along with them. That makes Endless Night an immediately fascinating listen, and there’s still a core element of songwriting that brings back the verse riff to end the track, giving way to the creepy guitar opening of the 6:26 “Cosmophobia,” the longest cut of the five but right in line with the closing duo “Boundaries of the Flesh” and “Endless Night.” The intro gradually builds as drums are added before taking off to a thickened stomp at 1:18 that sets up the jagged verse and the more obvious chorus. It’s still largely the guitars responsible for the hook, but the vocals do well in following where the music leads in terms of rhythm, and though stops before the three-minute mark are jarring until the organ begins to fill that space (I kept wondering if one of my channels had dropped out), TOAD once more show an ability to wander from and return to the core figure of the song, reigniting the interchange between the verse and chorus and then cycling through once again with more bombast as an outro, Jason’s blown out cymbals setting up the drum-led thud of the intro to “Howling House,” soon joined by the guitar and an opening “argh!” from Andy that’s straight out of black metal. The Sunlight Studios-esque crunch of “Taste of the Grave” returns on “Howling House” and proves adaptable to the tempo shift into the slower, more open, noisier second half of the track, which picks up following a dual solo into blastbeats and stops to round out once more with a last verse and cold end. If it’s a sample of a tape winding up or the actual tape onto which Endless Night was recorded, I don’t know (TOAD had made a point of analog recording for Rotten Tide), but “Boundaries of Flesh” launches soon after into a frill-less brutality that’s perhaps the most abrasive they’ve been yet.

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