Meshuggah’s Live DVD Wrecks Faces… Mostly.

Early this last year, Meshuggah released their first-ever live DVD, simply titled: Alive. Being that I have never caught Meshuggah live, I was ecstatic. I now know this: watching Meshuggah perform live is like watching your brain get beat up by a group of super buff Mathletes after you tell them that Pi is exactly 3. You know what I mean.

BAMF Spotlight: Lyceum

Every week, Wrecked will be highlighting 2-3 bands playing the upcoming Bay Area Metal Festival. This week we have Lyceum, a melodic extreme metal band from my hometown in Concord, CA.

For fans of Amon Amarth, As I Lay Dying, God Forbid, Testament, In Flames, Unearth, Dethklok, etc.

Lyceum, though relatively new to the local scene, is as metal as it gets: melodies that conjure images of fighting wizards, nonstop riffage, leather jackets, long, unkempt hair, and blastbeats that could make heads explode. Vocalist Blake Peterson literally sounds like Satan. I instantly thought of Amon Amarth when I first heard this band, but upon listening more intently, I discovered there was much more than just gurgled growls and rapid-fire double bass; there is something very old school about this band’s focus that is refreshing in a “stick-to-your-roots” kind of way. I’m stoked Concord still has bands like Lyceum holding down the darker metal scene and I can’t wait to see them play live at BAMF and give them some local love.

Some tunes and footage of the band tearing it up live await you after the jump…

BAMF Spotlight: Dissipate

Every week, Wrecked will be highlighting 2-3 bands playing the upcoming Bay Area Metal Festival. We’re kicking this week off with Dissipate, an 8-string wielding, progressive death metal band from Livermore, CA.

For fans of Dying Fetus, Candiria, Sikth, Meshuggah, Massive Attack, Car Bomb, The Dillinger Escape Plan, etc.

Fun fact #1: I had my nose permanently broken while moshing to Dissipate back in 2006 when my old band played a show with them at Lucky’s Pizza in Dublin, CA.

Fun fact #2: Wrecked founder, Ivan Torres, was their vocalist at the time.

It’s nice to see that Dissipate is still around melting faces like candle wax. If you want to see a band that knows how to handle their shit live, then you need to check out Dissipate. This is technical death metal that is actually interesting, in my opinion. From their Into the Moat style vocals, to their unique blend of progressive, slightly math-y, and ferociously executed death metal, Dissipate is one of those bands that always breathes something fresh into an ever-growing more stale metal genre. That and they represent Livermore, which has been a breeding ground for some pretty sick acts over the last ten years. We’ve got some tunes and a music video for you after the jump…

Stuck on Limbo

An amazing puzzle/platforming game for fans of Braid, Metroid, Portal, etc

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote a story on the Xbox Live Arcade games sale going on, and I mentioned that I was planning on finally picking up Limbo. Well, I did, and in short: it’s incredible. I didn’t initially intend on even writing a review for this game, but there are so many gamers out there like myself that still had not gotten around to this gem. There is so much to like about Limbo, I just couldn’t keep it to myself. Old school gamers and new school gamers alike have already come together to celebrate this game’s greatness, and for good reason.

Of Shape And ‘Stache

Part of me hates going to local shows. Between 2002 and 2006, I would go to shows on a weekly basis. Normally Friday and Saturday nights and even if there was something going on during the week. At some point, I ran out of spending money and got a life. I hated being around all the scenesters and, later on, hipsters. Furthermore, all of the bands I gave a shit about ceased to exist. So, it may come as a surprise to some that I actually made a conscious effort to go see a band at all. Luckily for me, Of Shape and Sound were playing at a bar nearby last Thursday night, so I had a really good excuse to go to one.

All Good Junkies Go To a Glassjaw Show (And Get a Free Coloring Book!)

Post-Hardcore outfit Glassjaw rolled through the SF last weekend to lay some sonic destruction on the Regency Ballroom and support their newest release Coloring Book. Yours truly just happened to be there with one thing on my mind: I had to finally discover if one of my favorite bands could hold their weight live. In the back of my mind, I was very worried that this show may be a deathblow for my Glassjaw obsession. Despite all the pieces there for this show to bring nothing but SUCK, I ended up leaving with an even bigger music boner for this New York foursome.

All of my fears about this show can be justified when you look at the history of Glassjaw, spanning from the bands inception in ’93 until now. Line up changes, the shift from a 5 piece to a 4 piece, years of waiting for a follow up to 2002’s Worship and Tribute, and a full band hiatus from ’02 to ’08 are all factors working against the band. Despite all of these facts, however, Glassjaw still holds it down like a champ live.