Score one for the era of immediate accessibility to information. According to Facebook posts from Hour of 13 guitarist Chad Davis and vocalist Phil Swanson, the latter is no longer with the band. Hour of 13, who just recently signed to Earache Records and will re-release their second album, The Ritualist, next month via the legendary metal imprint, will continue with Davis filling singing duties until they find someone new.

Here are the posts, greedily cut and pasted:

Phil Swanson: “I have decided once again on leaving the ranks of Hour of 13 as I cannot commit to live touring duties at the level the fans, the label and the band would expect.”

Chad Davis: “Phil Swanson has once again decided to step down from Hour of 13. We hope his path will find him all the best in his musical fulfillment. The band will continue with Chad Davis taking over vocal duties for the upcoming shows we have booked. We plan to deliver the same caliber of occult heavy metal we have created for the past 3 years, and we will continue. Hour of 13 thank all of the supporters and fans worldwide.”

Thanks to Damocles74 for posting this notice in the news forum.

When last heard from, North Carolinian rock trio The Asound were splitting their time with the more punk-fueled Flat Tires on a Tsugiri Records 7”. The label, run by The Asound bassist Jon Cox, now presents his band on a three-song self-titled CD EP. Their riff-led material is still rough sounding as it was last time, but taken on its own context, i.e. without another band on the release, it’s no harsher than any number of underground bands, the guitars of Chad Wyrick managing to come through just fine.

The first two tracks of The Asound’s The Asound will be familiar to anyone who heard the Flat Tires split… because they’re the same. Both “Joan” and “Snow White” appeared on the prior release, the change they’re getting here being mostly as regards format. The louder I play it, the less I care about the production quality of “Joan” (funny how that works), the low-end groove taking hold for the 4:50 duration and drummer Michael Crump’s kit bearing a no-doubt-coincidental sonic likeness to that on the last Goblin Cock record, or at least sounding no worse. Vocals are handled by Wyrick, who shows a Josh Homme influence in his clean delivery (not a complaint) and isn’t shy either about adding the occasional scream to the mix. As “Joan” plays out, Cox’s progression reminds some of Sleep, but if there’s a direct comparison to be made to another band, it’s got to be likening “Snow White” – the shortest track on The Asound at just 2:17 – to “Monsters in the Parasol” from Queens of the Stone Age’s classic Rated R. At least in its opening section, The Asound’s track is an almost direct port, if sped up, of the Homme-penned LSD paean, though to be fair, the trio don’t persist in the likeness, taking the structure to someplace else entirely.

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Fuck YouTube again. First they take away the border from the embed code, now they take away the colors. Yes, that’s a brilliant idea to keep up with the times: Let’s regress. Tell you what, when I’m done writing this post, let’s go play some Sega Genesis and steal hooch from your dad’s liquor cabinet.

Actually, that sounds like a pretty great way to spend a Friday night. All I have to compete is a sixer of Zywiec, some old episodes of The Wire and leftover lo mein.

Come to think of it, that’s not so bad either. So far, anyway.

If you’re in Manhattan tomorrow night, as I’m planning to be, Clamfight are playing Port 41. That would make a great opportunity for you to go and tell them about how you heard their album on The Obelisk and how much ass you think it kicks. In other “good shit I heard this week” news, the new Roadsaw record is badass, and I was graced today with a few final mixes from the new Infernal Overdrive full-length. I don’t know if any of them top Lo-Pan, but 2011’s shaping up alright either way. Going to be interesting to see how it all plays out.

I just re-read that Astrosoniq post from this afternoon. What a dork I am for this stuff.

Alright. I’m gonna grab another drink. You rock out with the above doomy titular wonder from Seamount and make sure you say hi over the weekend on the forums. We passed 10,000 posts today in General Discussion. Crazy shit. Thanks, everybody.

I have to admit, I’ve screwed this one all up. What I should have done that first drunken night when I was placing my order was go back to the original recommendation in the comments of my Astrosoniq, Quadrant, review and started working my way back from 2006’s Speeder People. At least that way, my understanding of the band’s progression would make some temporal sense. As it is, I’ve started with the latest album, then heard the second, then the first, and now the third — 2005’s Made in Oss.

The learning process seems endless, though, because even though by now I’ve interviewed drummer Marcel Van de Vondervoort about the growth over the band over the course of their 12 years together, I’m still just now finding out that Made in Oss, which has a total five tracks, isn’t an EP at all as I first thought when I bought it and a requisite couple other goodies off Amazon, but instead a 46-minute full-length album. Boy, is my face dumb.

Not only that, but it’s just about the most experimental release I’ve heard from Astrosoniq yet. Some familiar elements are there: the samples (the Wonder Woman ones spread over the last couple tracks are second in my heart only to “Hey, wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?” from Dumb and Dumber, which starts “Soul Searcher”), the riffy rock, the gruff, post-Garcia vocals. But the bluesy guitar work that makes up most of 11-minute closer “The Secret of the Magic Tiara” — also listed on the album as “The Magic of the Secret Tiara” — was a complete surprise, and an overwhelmingly pleasant one.

And as it was the final track, it was also nowhere near the first part of Made in Oss to catch me off guard. Right from the start of “Black Chasm,” Astrosoniq‘s goal seemed to be to defy the formula they’d established on their previous two albums, 2002’s Soundgrenade and 2000’s Son of A.P. Lady. It’s a fascinating turn, because now that I’ve heard this, I’d say Quadrant — discovering the stylistic origins of which has been the impetus for this whole exploration — has more in common with the first two records than it does with Made in Oss.

What does this mean? Well, it means I’m all the more nerdily excited about getting my grubby mitts on 2006’s Speeder People, for one thing. It also means that, as we round out this Recommended Buried Treasure series in the next and final installment, there are still questions unanswered about the direction Astrosoniq have taken over the course of their career! That’s fucking awesome. Perhaps geeky glee isn’t the easiest of emotions to carry across in type (though blogging seems to have been built specifically for that purpose, so maybe it’s just me), but I couldn’t be more stoked to dig into Speeder People and finally get to the root of why it was the album recommended in the first place.

To be concluded…

It’s something of a surprise to see formidable Dallas riff-rocking trio Wo Fat release their third full-length album via Nasoni Records. Their last album, 2009’s excellent Psychedelonaut, was issued via Texas imprint Brainticket, and not that the new record, Noche del Chupacabra, doesn’t deserve the wider distribution that a release through Nasoni will get it, it’s just an odd fit. Nasoni, more known for releasing ethereal Euro-prog and the space-flavored psychedelia of Vibravoid and Sula Bassana, rarely touches anything this outwardly heavy (though they did release an Alunah 10”, so it’s not entirely unprecedented), but then, Wo Fat do seem to be branching out stylistically from the genre-based straightforwardness of Psychedelonaut and their 2007 debut, The Gathering Dark. Plus, it leads one to all kinds of speculation about future tour potential – i.e., maybe Wo Fat wanted better European distribution since they’re planning to go there – but that’s completely unsubstantiated, so I couldn’t say one way or the other. Whatever the case, if more people get exposed to Wo Fat and the Dallas scene in general as a result, that’s not going to be a bad thing, since along with the likes of Lo-Pan (now on Small Stone) and Black Pyramid (MeteorCity), Wo Fat have the potential to be forerunners of the next American generation of heavy rock.

That’s what comes through most about Wo Fat on Noche del Chupacabra. Three albums in and this five-track collection has the energy and creative feeling-outness of a debut. In a good way. It isn’t that Wo Fat – guitarist/vocalist Kent Stump, bassist Tim Wilson and drummer Michael Walter – sound like they don’t know what they’re doing. Quite the opposite. They proved on several infectiously memorable songs from Psychedelonaut that they were more than capable songwriters with a strong grip on an intended (and achieved) aesthetic. With Noche del Chupacabra, they’re merely expanding that sound, refusing to get formulaic, challenging themselves. Comparing superficially Noche del Chupacabra with its predecessor, the newer release is some four tracks shorter and 45 minutes as opposed to nearly 72. Perhaps the trimming down was done to allow for the potential of a vinyl release, but there’s no getting around the difference. At the same time, the songs in general seem longer here. Opener “Bayou Juju” and “Descent into the Maelstrom,” which follows immediately, run 7:26 and 8:20, both times which were met and surpassed by the second album, but Wo Fat go beyond anything they’ve ever done with the epic 15-minute instrumental closing title track. The shortest cut on Noche del Chupacabra is third and centerpiece cut “Common Ground” at 6:41, and that might also be the most straightforward – Stump making the most of an excellent riff and the solo flourishes that truly do more to distinguish lead players from those who just follow the rhythm and are too rigidly within the song – but more importantly, when Wo Fat execute “Bayou Juju,” which on most records would be considered “extended,” it doesn’t feel long.

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Last year, I did an On the Radar profile of riffy UK noise trio Volume Death Riot, which if you’re interested, you can find here. If you don’t feel like clicking over, the gist of it was that they’re heavy and mean and worth checking out. In fact, they’re about two more songs’ worth checking out now that new cuts “Chaos Gypsy” and “Jesus Devil” have been posted on their MySpace page.

First-name-only guitarist/vocalist Joe checked in with this update about the tracks:

Volume Death Riot returned to long time recording friend Carlos Santana at Zoo Studios to record two more tracks, “Jesus Devil” and “Chaos Gypsy” for the new EP, Religion is the Opium for the Masses.

“Chaos Gypsy,” being the sludgy of the two Melvins/Sabbath style, has a cool groove to it. Man, love playing that tune wrote about having a shit job and no money sums things up pretty much.

“Jesus Devil” is the more melodic of the two. There’s a nod to Alice in Chains in this one. They were a massive influence on us. Had loads of different versions of this track we decided on this for the final mix and when we listened to it thought damn that sounds completely different to how it should, but kickass, so we were pretty stoked.

These two tracks sound different to our first recordings, “Buer” and “Hell to Pay,” as we spent more time mixing “Chaos Gypsy” and “Jesus Devil,” due to using different amps and messing around with distortion/tones. Overall result sounds pretty brutal and we were stoked with the finished product.

One more time, here’s Volume Death Riot on MySpace

It’s been almost two full years since I last interviewed guitarist/vocalist Laura Pleasants of Kylesa, and in that time the growth her band has undertaken is remarkable. Their latest album, Spiral Shadow (first for Season of Mist and fifth overall), is a progressive leap from anything the band has done before, Pleasants and fellow guitarist/vocalist Phillip Cope — who also produced — in particular focusing on writing memorable songs with an increased emphasis on melody.

The result of their efforts can be heard in tracks like “Tired Climb” or the unrepentantly hooky “Don’t Look Back,” which not only show a newfound maturity from Cope and Pleasants, but an increase in the chemistry between them as a team and the double-drum rhythm section of Carl McGinley, Tyler Newberry and bassist Corey Barhorst. Like its 2009 predecessor, Static Tensions, Spiral Shadow was a highlight of its release year. Hands down one of the least regrettable new-album purchases I made in 2010.

Whatever growth or breadth of influence they show, however, what remains consistent about Kylesa is a fierce will for exploration. They don’t follow the trend in modern metal, they help set it; their post-sludge breathing new life into a genre which often wills itself against sonic diversity. Coupled with the kind of songwriting prowess they show on “Spiral Shadow” and “Distance Closing In,” Spiral Shadow could easily be the marking point of a new stage in an already impressive career.

I’m getting ahead of myself. Just two days after the New Year, Pleasants checked in for a phoner to discuss the metamorphosis of Kylesa, the band’s recent tours with Clutch and Torche/High on Fire, and the working relationship of the band in the studio with Cope at the helm. Like last time, it was more of a conversation than a Q&A, but that’s nonetheless how it’s presented here.

Unabridged interview is after the jump. Please enjoy.

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I’ve reviewed the album, included it in my year-end list, podcast, live reviews, etc., but if you haven’t yet taken the recommendation to heart, Clamfight have just set up a Bandcamp page where they’re streaming Volume I in its entirety and making the record (and cheap t-shirts) available for easy purchase. The band was kind enough to grant me permission to post the beast for your listening pleasure here.

It feels like months of raving on my part about how awesome Volume I is has been leading to this. You can finally hear for yourself how killer this album actually is. If I told you how much posting it was making my day, you wouldn’t believe me, so just press play below and enjoy.