Thrice, the legendary OC rock act, have recently announced a September 20th release date for their 7th studio album, Major/Minor, and subsequent tour dates. This will be their 4th album with Vagrant Records (depending on how you view the Alchemy Index releases). Major/Minor is now available for pre-order on the band’s website. Also available on the site is a lyric video of “Promises” (see below), the newest release off Major/Minor and a free download of “Yellow Belly,” released earlier this month.

I got the opportunity to chat with Jordan at the Mod Club in Toronto. The lights were dim and the venue was a quiet hush of preparation hours before the show. Jordan’s a well spoken guy who delves deeply into the semantics and process of music writing. With his strong interest in literature and the spoken word, La Dispute is unique in its lyrics and exposition of sound and voice. Reflecting the substance of the lyrics with instrumentals, and intertwining both to tell a passionate story with interchangeable narratives.

The great Maynard James Keenan is back! Unfortunately not with a new record from his visionary rock band Tool. As the members of Tool try to get on the same page fans are left with a new release from Keenan’s solo project Puscifer; a group that has remained active since the late 2007 release of their debut V is for Vagina. Releasing various remix albums and EPs along the way, Keenan has finally readied Puscifer’s sophomore record Conditions of My Parole, due out on October 18th.

Guitarist Jaeson Bardoni has been super-busy touring in support of the latest Arsonists Get All The Girls album Motherland. Recently I hung out with him in Oshawa, Ontario and asked about his Framus Cobra Head. Read on to find out why Jaeson loves this piece of gear and how it helps create the band’s sound.

We were fortunate enough to see Arsonists Get All The Girls during the Oshawa stop of their recent “The Canadian Rehabilitation Tour”. Keyboardist and backing vocalist Sean Richmond gave afforded us some time to talk about the group’s latest album Motherland as well as touring across Canada.

Dredg vocalist Gavin Hayes took some time out of his busy schedule to speak with me about the band’s newest release, Chuckles And Mr. Squeezy. On this CD the group takes an intentionally different approach to writing and recording, and while the result is a departure from their previous works, it’s a solid work in its own right. Here’s how the conversation went.

I recently had the opportunity to speak with Eric Hersemann, guitarist and bassist for the death metal band Gigan. These guys play an extremely technical at times avant-garde type of death metal that really packs a punch. Here’s what Hersemann had to say about the gear he uses to obtain his signature sound.

I’m not sure where to begin with this disc; The End is the latest release from Japanese black metal band Gallhammer. I’d heard quite a bit about this female-fronted metal outfit and was quite interested in checking them out. What I found left me utterly speechless. Buried beneath a wall of distortion, noise and incessant screaming are some pretty good grooves. The problem is that as good as those grooves are, it wasn’t worth enduring the auditory battering that I put myself through.

French is a language I always had trouble with in school. Despite my fault, I’ve never been discouraged from listening to French bands. One that recently caught my attention is Hypno5e, with their new album Des Deux L’Une Est L’Autre. When I got this album title translated it came out to “Two Of The Other One Is”. Is this correct? While I’m not sure, I don’t really care because this album translates into great!

After four previous critically acclaimed cult albums, it’s become obvious to all, that Shining have created their own unique musical universe, which fans and journalists alike have competed in trying to name, as yet to no avail. Their 5th album is now complete and their unique universe finally has been given the name it deserves. Aptly titled, Blackjazz. Since their debut on a small Norwegian acoustic jazz label in 2001, Shining has moved on to become one of the most hard-hitting, genre-pushing bands of our generation.

Angertea is comprised of 3 members: Gergely Mihály (vocals and guitar), Miguel Peralta (bass) and László Bárkai (drums). The band was formed in 1996 and after having recorded 3 demos, in 2002, they released their first full-length album, Lélekvágy.

Brent Jackson (guitar/vocals), Matt Jameson (bass) and Mike Taylor (drums) have been writing music together long enough to have found themselves a comfortable niche in the Canadian music scene.

May 4th was both a sad and rad day in Toronto, Canada. Sad, because it marked the last time that Industrial Metal pioneers Ministry were to play our city, and rad, well because we go to see them! What was even MORE rad, was that Meshuggah was their supporting act. Being a band who loves to play in Toronto and always gets a HUGE Canadian reception, it was no surprise then that rhythm guitarist Marten Hagstrom was kind enough to take time out to chat. We talked about the tour, playing with Ministry, the facts behind their punishing new effort, obZen and recording drums in a barn.