This was my second time shooting All That Remains so I had a pretty good idea of what to expect from the band. Philip Labonte is predictable with his movements and screams as he leans down towards the photographers on enough occasions to catch a good shot. He also likes to talk to the crowd, and that’s when this one was captured; a rare half-smile.

Estilo:

Metalcore / Melodic Death Metal

Tamanho:

35.52mb

Tracklists:

1. This Calling
2. Not Alone
3. It Dwells In Me
4. We Stand
5. Whispers (I Hear You)
6. The Weak Willed
7. Six
8. Become The Catalyst
9. The Air That I Breathe
10. Empty Inside
11. Indictment

Preview (MySpace)

DOWNLOAD (MEDIAFIRE)

Pour en savoir plus :
All That Remains
Lacuna Coil
Maylene and the Sons of Disaster
Taking Dawn

All That Remains - The Fall Of Ideals

Tercer disco de los de Massachusetts, al cual le he dedicado unas escuchas ya que me lo recomendasteis por encima del Overcome. La verdad en el último álbum cambiaron un poco el estilo, volviéndose su sonido algo más “heavy”, aunque también más comercial, sobretodo en la batería (no se si por entonces todavía estaba Shannon Lucas), mientras que en este “The Fall Of ideals” su sonido es bastante más death, practicando un metalcore muy parecido al de Killswitch Engage. Para mí gusto, demasiado parecido, la voz suena calcadísima a la de Howard Jones, no creo que a propósito, pero es descarado.

Instrumentalmente es un disco ultra cuidado, muy bruto y con unos cambios de ritmo y unos solos muy dignos, pero globalmente prefiero el último Overcome, encuentro que aunque algo más suave, tiene un sonido más característico que este LP, el cual encuentro del montón, en un género tan homogenio. Menos el tema “Whispers (I Hear You)” del cual pienso que es sublime, una delicia para los oídos.

Como siempre, para gustos colores, esta es solo la humilde opinión de un colaborador.

Artista – All That Remains
Álbum – The Fall Of Ideals
Año – 2006
Género – Metalcore
Web – Ofifcial
Procedencia – Springfield (Massachusetts), USA

Tracklist
1. This Calling
2. Not Alone
3. It Dwells On Me
4. We Stand
5. Whispers (I Hear You)
6. The Weak Willed
7. Six
8. Become The Catalyst
9. The Air That I Breathe
10. Empty Inside
11. Indictment

Download in comments

-Dako-

Fan of All That Remains? Lacuna Coil?  Taking Dawn? From Sword to Sunrise? Or Maylene and The Sons of Disaster? If so get ready because they maybe rocking a stage near you soon.

The Hard Drive Live Tour 2009 will kick off Thursday, Oct. 22, 2009 in Albany, NY. providing you with the chance to see all five band take the stage.

All That Remains

Metal fans favorite All That Remains will be preforming tracks off of their latest album Overcome at Hard Drive Live, including Forever In Your Hands, the track which they just released the music video to on Oct. 7, 2009.

Taking Dawn

Formerly known as 7th Son, Taking Dawn has recently signed to Roadrunner Records. Inspired by 80’s metal the band proclaims that they are in no way a “throwback to 80’s glam metal,” but include new solos, melodic rhythms and shredding in their songs. The track that attacked Roaderunner to them that you should keep your ears open for? Time To Burn.

Lacuna Coil

Lacuna Coil returns with their newist full-length release, Shallow Life, their first release since Karmacode released in 2006. Was it worth the wait? Make your way to the Hard Drive Live Tour when they come to your town to see.

From Swords To Sunrise

Formed in late 2007 From Sword To Sunrise spawned from hardcore foundations on the music scene in Spokane, Washington. In 2008 the band headed out on more extensive tours with All That Remains and Trivium and when they finished they started recording their debut full length album FSTS. The band is discribed as, “Hard hitting and explosive, combined with influences of mayhem and destruction,” by a local writter.
Seth Wolther, Vocalist, thanked Hard Drive for, “have given us a real shot here.” Take your opportunity to see what you think of them at Hard Drive Live 2009.

Maylene and The Sons of Disaster

Get ready for the gun toating outlaws to make their way to a stage in a town near you on the Hard Drive Live Tour 2009.  Straight out of Birmingham, Alabama Maylene and The Sons of Disaster are considered, “musical outlaws who rob and steal the best parts of heavy metal, punk rock, down-home classic rock n’ roll and bluegrass and reshape it in their own image with the true-life morality.” The bands third album, With Beautiful Simplicity, III, pushed the envelope even further in which they broadened the scope of the repertoire established in their depute and album II. Recognize the vocalist? You might. Dallas Taylor was the original vocalist of UnderOATH who was “asked to leave” the band in 2003.

Need tickets to Hard Drive Live Tour 2009? Get them before they are gone! For tour dates, venues and tickets CLICK HERE.

It began in 1996 has hard music community were clinging to the shattered dreams and the nearly forgotten remnants of glory in a rock radio world that had seemingly forgotten and the creation of hardDrive radio came into play. From the radio to the stage Hard Drive Live Tour soon was an reputable tour in the hard music community. HardDrive radio soon became hardDrive XL, which is now on the air five  days a week for five hours a night.

All that remains, originally uploaded by Chalkhills.

Umbilifer, Mill Hill, Shoreham-by-Sea

Week 38, photo a week, Brighton and Hove Camera Club

All That Remains - Overcome

Ya hace tiempo que me cuesta darle una oportunidad a bandas de metalcore que no haya escuchado, debido a la alta saturación de grupos pseudo-mojabragas que hacen que un metalero de a pie sienta vergüenza y asco a partes iguales.

Sin embargo, de vez en cuando me encuentro joyas como estos All That Remains. Todavía no he escuchado discos anteriores, pero este “Overcome” me ha dejado un buenísimo sabor de boca. Y es que técnicamente son impecables. La producción es soberbia y eso ayuda, pero es que la batería te aplasta con sus cambios de tempo y sus redobles, las guitarras afiladas cual cuchillas sueltan riffs propios del death melódico y el vocalista suena bien gordo, alternando una voz potente al estilo hardcore con las típicas melodías propias del género. En la línea de los actuales As I Lay Dying.

Temas como “Two Weeks”, “Chiron” o “Do Not Obey” son auténticas bombas, en un larga duración en que excepto un par de temas lentos que suenan a relleno, es gloria para los oídos.

Artista – All That Remains
Álbum – Overcome
Año – 2008
Género – Metalcore
Web – Ofifcial
Procedencia – Springfield (Massachusetts), USA

Tracklist
1. Before the Damned
2. Two Weeks
3. Undone
4. Forever in Your Hands
5. Chiron
6. Days Without
7. A Song for the Hopeless
8. Do Not Obey
9. Relinquish
10. Overcome
11. Believe in Nothing

-Dako-

♫ : All That Remains

I Am A Mortal Man  But I’m No Falling I’m Not Broken Yet…

Converge have released a video for “Axe To Fall” off their upcoming album of the same name. The disc through Epitaph Records will be released October 20th. If the song and video are any indication of how good the album will be, it will be well worth your hard-earned pennies.

Some band named All That Remains also released a VIDEO.

-Chris

Yes, folks, it’s true: As the shock-rock veteran poses for our camera, he oc­casionally stretches his hand toward a helpful-looking young fellow whose only job appears to be passing Manson a gob­let filled with a few fingers of Mansinthe, the neon-green absinthe that he produc­es in Switzerland. Slayer guitarist Kerry King, Killswitch Engage singer Howard Jones, Trivium frontman Matt Heafy — each arrived at our shoot with a publicist or manager (or both) in tow. Tom Araya even brought his wife and kids, who watch the Slayer frontman throw devil horns with the seen-it-all indifference of a bunch of roadies. But only Manson rolled up with a guy to hold his cup.

Of course, if that’s the kind of excess it takes to produce work as brilliantly twisted as Manson’s new The High End of Low (Interscope) —his first album with bassist Twiggy Ramirez since 2000’s Holy Wood, and the only one so far this year to lead with a single titled “Arma-goddamn-motherfuckin-geddon” — then we whole­heartedly endorse the practice. In fact, if the economy doesn’t improve, we might even consider applying for the gig.

Fortunately for headbangers with money problems of their own, this year’s Mayhem lineup promises a seriously righteous bang-to-buck ratio: In addition to Manson, Slayer, Killswitch, and Triv­ium, the month-long trek —which kicks off July 10 in Sacramento and wraps up August 15 in Dallas —also features Bul­let for My Valentine, Job for a Cowboy, All That Remains, Cannibal Corpse, Behemoth, God Forbid, Whitechapel, the Black Dahlia Murder, and Mushroom-head. Thirsty for details (and maybe a little Mansinthe), Revolver sat down with Manson, King, and Araya, as well as a handful of other Mayhem heavy-hitters, for a series of in-depth chats about what showgoers can expect.

All That Remains has released a video for the latest hit off of their record, Forever In Your Hands off of the Overcome record.  Their last video, 2 Weeks, really helped them get out of the water and we hope this one does the same. ATR is by far one of 2009’s best acts.

If you happened to miss All That Remains on the Rockstar Mayhem Tour you can find them co-headlining their latest tour, Hard Drive Live Tour… Check out HardDriveLiveTour.com for more info

Tour Dates:

Oct 9 – Houston, TX – House of Blues
Oct 12 – Albuquerque, NM – Sunshine
Oct 13 – Phoenix, AZ – Marquee Theatre
Oct 14 – Las Vegas, NV – House of Blues
Oct 16 – Los Angeles, CA – House of Blues
Oct 17 – Fresno, CA – The Crest
Oct 18 – San Francisco, CA – Grand Ballroom
Oct 20 – Spokane, WA – The Knitting Factory
Oct 22 – Salt Lake City, UT – Murray Theater
Oct 23 – Denver, CO – The Fillmore
Oct 25 – Fargo, ND – The Venue @ Playmakers
Oct 27 – Calgary, AB (Canada) – MacEwan Hall
Oct 28 – Edmonton, AB (Canada) – Edmonton Events Centre
Oct 30 – Winnipeg, MB (Canada) – Garrick Centre
Oct 31 – Minneapolis, MN – Epic
Nov 2 – Little Rock, AR – The Village
Nov 3 – Knoxville, TN – Valarium
Nov 5 – Ft Lauderdale, FL – Culture Room
Nov 6 – Gainesville, FL – The Venue
Nov 7 – Atlanta, GA – The Masquerade
Nov 8 – Orlando, FL – House Of Blues
Nov 9 – Charleston, SC – Music Farm
Nov 11 – Baltimore, MD – Rams Heads
Nov 12 – Lancaster, PA – Chameleon Club
Nov 13 – Sayreville, NJ – Starland Ballroom
Nov 14 – Hartford, CT – Webster Theater
Nov 16 – Montreal, QC (Canada) – Le Medley
Nov 17 – Toronto, ON (Canada) – Sound Academy

For any Greater Atlanta people, the 2009 HardDrive Live tour is coming to the Masquerade on November 7, 2009. The main headline bands are All That Remains and Lacuna Coil. It’s a Saturday night and it’s $18.50 a ticket – no excuse not to go!

The follow articles by me are live on Metal Machine.net

Monday Morning Quarterback: Transformers # 3

Enough With Zombies!

Lacuna Coil and All That Remains Take Over Irving Plaza

Stratovarius Rocks the Nokia Theater

CHIMAIRA ANNOUNCES FALL/WINTER TOUR DATES WITH TRIVIUM!

Fresh off their summer tour with Hatebreed, CHIMAIRA are proud to announce fall and winter tour dates supporting Trivium! The brutal tour also features heavy hitters Whitechapel and Dirge Within. CHIMAIRA hits the road this fall, kicking off the tour October 29 in Atlanta, GA.

Guitarist Rob Arnold commented on the upcoming run with Trivium: “This tour has been a long time coming, the last time that we toured with these guys was years ago and it was only for a few shows. We are proud of all of the success that TRIVIUM has had and that they have grown into true Heavy Metal Heavyweights. We cannot wait to tear the United States apart with them, this Fall and Winter!”

Singer Mark Hunter added: “We’re stoked to be heading out with our old friends in Trivium this winter. We have a good history with these guys; we’ve known them since they were coming up. We haven’t been to some of the places we’re hitting in over a year and a half, so we know the fans are hungry and we plan on bringing it. Metal heads unite and get pumped, this is going to be a night you don’t want to miss!”

TRIVIUM + CHIMAIRA + Whitechapel + Dirge Within
10/29 Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade
10/30 Jacksonville, NC @ Hooligan’s Music Hall
10/31 Towson, MD @ Recher Theater
11/01 Norfolk, VA @ The Norva
11/03 Clifton Park, NY @ Northern Lights
11/05 New York, NY @ Irving Plaza
11/06 Worcester, MA @ The Palladium
11/07 Philadelphia, PA @ Theater of the Living Arts
11/08 Hartford, CT @ Webster Theater
11/09 Montreal, QC @ Le Medley
11/11 Quebec City, QC @ Theatre Imperial
11/12 Toronto, ON @ Sound Academy
11/13 Pontiac, MI @ Clutch Cargo’s
11/14 Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall
11/15 Rochester, NY @ Water Street Music Hall
11/17 Chicago, IL @ House of Blues
11/18 Minneapolis, MN @ The Cabooze
11/19 Winnipeg, MB @ Pyramid Cabaret
11/20 Saskatoon, SK @ Odeon Events Centre
11/21 Edmonton, AB @ Edmonton Events Centre
11/22 Calgary, AB @ MacEwan Hall Ballroom
11/24 Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom
11/25 Seattle, WA @ Showbox at the Market
11/27 San Francisco, CA @ The Warfield
11/28 Los Angeles, CA @ Hollywood Palladium
11/30 Tempe, AZ @ Marquee Theater
12/01 Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater
12/02 Englewood, CO @ Gothic Theater
12/03 Kansas City, MO @ The Beaumont Club
12/04 Sauget, IL @ Pop’s
12/05 Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
12/06 Dallas, TX @ House of Blues
12/07 Houston, TX @ House of Blues
12/08 San Antonion, TX @ White Rabbit
12/10 St. Petersburg, FL @ The State Theater
12/11 Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Culture Room
12/12 Orlando, FL @ Club at Firestone

www.myspace.com/chimaira
www.chimaira.com
www.twitter.com/chimairaband

SHADOWS FALL PRE ORDER AT NEWBURY COMICS!

Our friends at Newbury Comics are offering FREE Limited Signed Booklets from Shadows Fall when you pre order the standard or deluxe version of the bands new record Retribution! Click HERE to get yours NOW!

POISON THE WELL VIDEO UPDATE!

TWO California shows in October!

Friday October 23
The Glasshouse (Pomona, CA)
7pm $13 adv/15 door
Get Tickets HERE

Saturday October 24
The Vault (Temecula, CA)
7pm $10
Get Tickets HERE

As with the Pittsburgh show earlier this year we’re trying to give a chance to local acts on these shows, so support for both shows will be by

The Ghost Inside
Dead In Existence
The Great Commission

MAYLENE AND THE SONS OF CHAOS!

MAYLENE AND THE SONS OF DISASTER are the latest addition to the Rockstar Energy Drink TASTE OF CHAOS European Tour, which kicks off in Glasgow on November 27, 2009. The band joins a stellar bill headed up by Killswitch Engage, In Flames and Every Time I Die, and can currently be seen touring the US supporting All That Remains and Lacuna Coil!

Hard Drive Tour w/ All That Remains and Lacuna Coil
Sep 22 2009 Northern Lights Albany, New York
Sep 23 2009 Irving Plaza New York, New York
Sep 25 2009 The Trocadero Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Sep 26 2009 The Lost Horizon Syracuse, New York
Sep 27 2009 Club Zoo Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Sep 29 2009 House of Blues Cleveland, Ohio
Sep 30 2009 The Orbit Room Grand Rapids, Michigan
Oct 1 2009 Piere’s Ft Wayne, Indiana
Oct 2 2009 Clutch Cargo’s Pontiac, Michigan
Oct 3 2009 The Barrymore Madison, Wisconsin
Oct 5 2009 Pop’s Sauget, Illinois
Oct 6 2009 Newport Music Hall Columbus, Ohio
Oct 7 2009 House of Blues Chicago, Illinois
Oct 9 2009 House of Blues Houston, Texas
Oct 10 2009 The Palladium Ballroom Dallas, Texas
Oct 12 2009 Sunshine Theatre Albuquerque, New Mexico
Oct 14 2009 House of Blues / Mandalay Bay Las Vegas, Nevada
Oct 15 2009 Marquee Theatre Phoenix, Arizona
Oct 16 2009 House of Blues Los Angeles, California
Oct 17 2009 The Crest Fresno, California
Oct 18 2009 Grand Ballroom San Francisco, California
Oct 20 2009 The Knitting Factory Spokane, Washington
Oct 22 2009 Murray Theater Salt Lake City, Utah
Oct 23 2009 The Fillmore Denver, Colorado
Oct 24 2009 Waiting Room Omaha, Nebraska w/ Lacuna Coil * no All That Remains
Oct 25 2009 The Venue @ Playmakers Fargo, North Dakota
Oct 27 2009 MacEwan Hall Calgary, Alberta
Oct 28 2009 Edmonton Events Centre Edmonton, Alberta
Oct 30 2009 Garrick Centre Winnipeg, Manitoba
Oct 31 2009 Epic Minneapolis, Minnesota
Nov 2 2009 The Village Little Rock, Arkansas
Nov 3 2009 Valarium Knoxville, Tennessee
Nov 5 2009 Culture Room Ft Lauderdale, Florida
Nov 6 2009 The Venue Gainesville, Florida
Nov 7 2009 The Masquerade Atlanta, Georgia
Nov 8 2009 House of Blues Orlando, Florida
Nov 9 2009 Music Farm Charleston, South Carolina
Nov 11 2009 Rams Heads Baltimore, Maryland
Nov 12 2009 Chameleon Club Lancaster, Pennsylvania
Nov 13 2009 Starland Ballroom Sayreville, New Jersey
Nov 14 2009 Webster Theater Hartford, Connecticut
Nov 16 2009 Le Medley Montreal, Quebec
Nov 17 2009 Sound Academy Toronto, Ontario

Rockstar Energy Drink TASTE OF CHAOS European Tour!
w/ Killswitch Engage, In Flames, and Every Time I Die
Nov 27th (UK) GLASGOW – O2 Academy
Nov 28th (UK) BRISTOL – O2 Academy
Nov 30th (UK) NEWCASTLE – Academy
Dec 1st (UK) BIRMINGHAM – Academy
Dec 2nd (UK) MANCHESTER – Academy
Dec 3rd (UK) LONDON – Hammersmith Apollo
Dec 4th (B) BORGERHOUT – Trix Hall
Dec 6th (D) BERLIN – Columbia Halle
Dec 7th (D) WIESBADEN – Rhein Main Halle
Dec 8th (D) MUNICH – Zenith
Dec 9th (D) OBERHAUSEN – Turbin Halle
Dec 11th (S) STOCKHOLM – Hovet
Dec 12th (S) GOTHENBURG – Scandanavium
Dec 13th (N) OSLO – Spektrum
Dec 14th (S) MALMO – Arena
Dec 16th (FIN) HELSINKI – Ice Hall

HEAVY METAL HAPPY HOUR THIS FRIDAY!

Do you live in or around the NYC area? Like booze and heavy metal? Friday, September 11th – come to Arrow Bar for a special edition of Heavy Metal Happy Hour. We’ll be listening to the new album from Shadows Fall, with an added bonus – 2 for 1 drinks extended until 10:00 for the night!!

Bring your friends, bring your foes, but come out and have a good time no matter what!

Friday, September 11, 2009
Time: 6:00pm – 10:00pm
Location: Arrow Bar
Street: 85 Ave. A
City/Town: New York, NY

Follow Heavy Metal Happy Hour and Arrow Bar on Twitter!
http://twitter.com/heavymetalhh
http://twitter.com/arrownyc

Banda: All That Remains
Pais: EUA
Genero: Metalcore

Behind Silence And Solitude (2002) download

This Darkned Heart (2004) download

The Fall Of Ideals (2006) download

Overcome (2008) download

myspace

Remember when I said there was a post coming on July 13th? And then again a month later? Well here it is! Holy crap! Sorry, guys, it’s just hard to get motivated here when you’re writing for like 4 people. So go tell your friends about how awesome we are.

Anyway, here’s the post as promised. I gave some thought to what albums in my collection were the most underrated, and I realized that several really solid albums have not only been deprived of recognition, but also panned critically or just flat out ignored. Enough of these albums came to mind that I decided to investigate things further and come up with a list hopefully to change public opinion just a little bit. Then I realized I don’t have nearly the power to do such a thing. Nonetheless, the following is the list I came up with.

Overcome- All That Remains, 2008

We begin with the most recent album from my favorite metalcore band. While the reviews were largely positive for this album, it was not particularly well received by the metal community, who immediately criticized the more melodic, radio friendly sound of the previously melodic death metal oriented band. Overcome, therefore, is the first of several so-called “sellout albums”, which drive away people calling themselves fans of the band by being more mainstream, regardless of how good the album actually is. While Overcome certainly is a step in a different direction by a band that has traditionally been a darker, more underground group, it is by no means highly radio friendly. Make no mistake, All That Remains continues to be a metal band, as is demonstrated by songs such as “Before The Damned” or “Relinquish”. The lighter side of the album, such as the band’s biggest mainstream rock song, “Two Weeks” is excellent as well.

City of Evil- Avenged Sevenfold, 2005

Much in the same vein as Overcome, City of Evil was criticized for being a “sellout album” for A7x, specifically for the reason of the disappearance of screaming vocals from the album, previously a staple of M. Shadows’s repertoire. The reason the band gave for this was that Shadows was being treated for a problem with his vocal chords, which would be further damaged by any more screaming. If this is the case, the band can hardly be blamed for going in a different direction. If it isn’t, and they really are the sellouts everyone seems to think they are, it still doesn’t take away from the music itself, which is innovative and really helped introduce a lot of people (myself included) to metal. Further, as much as the vocals are a departure from traditional metalcore, the music itself still contains all the traits of the genre, with strong use of double bass and some excellent guitar work. Check out “Burn It Down” and “Blinded In Chains”.

Day & Age- The Killers, 2008

Here we have an example of the opposite of the “sellout” effect. The Killers seemingly came out of nowhere with their debut album Hot Fuss, which featured a certainly unique blend of alternative rock and electronic music, but not so unique that it wasn’t radio friendly. For their next album, they made their music a little bit more unique and therefore a little bit less radio friendly. Other than the hit “When You Were Young”, Sam’s Town got very little play on the radio while fans of the band complained about the change in sound. How did the band respond? They produced Day & Age, an album that is as eccentric and unique as any I have in my collection, which made Sam’s Town look like mainstream pop. The album has this kind of off-beat Bowie-influenced sound that scared a lot of people off and may have been better received in the mid 80s. That said, if you give the album a chance, you just might like it. It takes a few listens, but it really grows on you. Although you may or may not feel comfortable admitting it to other people. “Spaceman” and “A Dustland Fairytale” are among the best songs on here.

Every Pearl Jam Album from 1996-2002

A lot of people seem to be of the mind that Pearl Jam disappeared somewhere in the late 90s and only resurfaced in 2006 with their self-titled album, other than, of course, the 1998 release of a cover of “Last Kiss” (which I still maintain was one of the dumbest covers ever, but that’s neither here nor there). Those that did listen to Pearl Jam in those days tend to look back less than favorably at the four albums released therein. This is perhaps the greatest example of the reverse sellout effect. Perhaps no band has ever spent more time doing their own thing at the expense of their fame. These albums, titled No Code, Yield, Binaural, and Riot Act, are vastly different from the wildly popular grunge-alt rock of the band’s first three albums, primarily featuring a mix of garage rock and deep, acoustically geared songs. The change is reflected in reviews of the albums, which are largely unfavorable, coming from people expecting more of the same loud, angry grunge music of the early 90s. When given a chance, these albums are a testament to Pearl Jam’s ability to do what so many people wish other bands would do, specifically not “sell out”, doing whatever they want instead. These four albums are a rare successful reinvention of a truly all-time great band, and for me, are as much a part of their career as Ten and Vs. They have their slipups at times, but overall are solidly memorable with several standout songs on each. Check out “Hail Hail” and “Red Mosquito” from No Code, “Given To Fly” and “Wishlist” from Yield, “Thin Air” and “Rival” from Binaural, and “Save You”, “Love Boat Captain”, and “Thumbing My Way” from Riot Act.

Zeitgeist- Smashing Pumpkins, 2007

This album was widely met with resistance from critics as a desperate grab for attention by Billy Corgan after his solo projects failed to give him the same notoriety he had with the Pumpkins on the first go around. True as that might be, the album itself is not as bad as one would think would come from such a bizarre, desperate move. To the credit of those who gave Zeitgeist a poor review, they have a good point in that some of the subtlety and originality of the original Smashing Pumpkins are lost in this album, but just because it isn’t an instant classic doesn’t mean it fails as an album either. The album is easily the heaviest of Corgan’s career and certainly has some value as a dark, angry alt rock CD, almost as a more mainstream extension of some of Mellon Collie’s darker songs. Check out “7 Shades of Black” and “Bring The Light”.

Out of the Vein- Third Eye Blind, 2003

The fact that this album was seen as a low point in 3EB’s career bothers me a little bit. A quick look at reviews shows critics lamenting a lack of catchiness on the album and say it falls short on the anthemic sound it looks to deliver. Not sure where they got that idea. Anyone who was at the show at Providence College back in April would probably agree with me when I say that “Faster” absolutely blew the roof off as an opener. The album is also the first sign of the deeper, contemplative Third Eye Blind we’ve all gotten to know from Ursa Major, with songs like “Palm Reader” and “Good Man”. The album is every bit as catchy as their first album, and should have been the one to propel them to new heights as a band. Instead, they disappeared for five years, and I think we all lost out on some good music in that period.

Death Magnetic- Metallica, 2008

Just kidding.

-Sean

it has been difficult for me to keep up with news and such since i’ve been in amrika. between taking care of my grandma and packing more stuff of my own to ship and running around getting stuff for friends i have been really wiped out. i love spending time with my grandma, but it is exhausting. it has also been interesting getting to know her nurse, a single mother of two from el salvador. she is one of so many refugees who come to the united states because of the horrific war crimes committed by the u.s. in her country of origin. but there are members of her family who stayed behind and so they maintain a farm filled with wholesome, healthy food the likes of which is rare here. intermittently, i’ve scanned the headlines back in palestine. but i haven’t had much time to really read them until today. in some ways sometimes i wonder: what is the point? following the news in palestine is somewhat like groundhog day. it’s like reliving the same nightmare over and over again every single day. and confronting the news about palestine and the u.s. role in the ongoing colonization and ethnic cleansing there reminds me of yet another reason of why i hate my country. i’m going to respond to some of the main events that have been going on over the past couple of weeks, but i’ll be breaking down the posts by place or theme–not because they are unconnected (i.e., gaza, the west bank, or 1948 palestine), but because there is too much to cover in one post.

what continues unabated in palestine is the kidnapping of palestinians as political prisoners in zionist terrorist colonists’ nightly invasions, the siege on gaza, the selling of palestinian land in 1948 palestine, and of course the ongoing ethnic cleansing and annexation of palestinian land and homes everywhere and anywhere. supposedly the u.s. has been “pressuring” the zionist entity, but in reality i don’t see it happening. sans sanctions it will never happen. but the story of the ethnic cleansing of sheikh jarrah in al quds is the story that has made the headlines even in amrika. on sunday, august 2nd palestinian families were forcibly removed from homes they have owned since 1956 as sherine tadros reported on al jazeera:

notice in the above video tadros tells us that the zionist terrorist colonists have decided that the neighborhood of sheikh jarrah is now “israel.” of course, this is the same thing they have done for 61+ years. this is merely the latest example of it. according to the bbc the zionist terrorist colonist supreme court sanctioned this action of land theft:

Israel’s Supreme Court ordered the eviction, following a complex 37-year legal battle during which Israeli courts upheld a claim that the land is Jewish-owned. Jewish groups want to build homes for settlers in the area.

and, of course, its prime minister supports land theft and colonization as the bbc continues:

“Our sovereignty over it is unquestionable,” Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said last month.

“We cannot accept the idea that Jews will not have the right to live and buy [homes] anywhere in Jerusalem.”

The BBC’s Tim Franks in Jerusalem says the houses are in what is probably the most contested city on earth and the diplomatic ripples from the evictions will spread.

The UN said the 53 people evicted comprised nine families belonging to the Hanoun and al-Ghawi extended families.

The legal battle over the site has been complex.

Jordan, which occupied the West Bank and East Jerusalem after the creation of Israel in 1948, and the UN housed several Palestinian families on the plot of land.

But Israeli courts have since upheld a Jewish association’s claim that the site was owned by Jews before that, and their demand for rent that the Palestinian families have refused to pay.

Palestinian and left-wing Israeli organisations say Palestinians and Israeli-Arabs cannot, in the same way, make effective ownership claims to land dating back to before 1948 through the Israeli court system.

There are an estimated 250,000 Palestinians living in East Jerusalem and 200,000 Jews.

i find the supreme court’s usage of the term “owned” interesting. if land ownership is the thing that the court is upholding–colonial as the court is–then why not see if the court honors all land ownership documents. of course, i am referring to real land ownership documents, not those manufactured by jewish zionist colonists who terrorize palestinians out of their beds and homes. for example, ilene prusher’s article about this latest ethnic cleansing episode reveals that the hanoun family is from haifa:

In 1956, 28 Palestinian families who were refugees from Israel after 1948 were resettled in Sheikh Jarrah as part of an UN project to assist people made homeless in the war. The Hanoun family, who say they are originally from Haifa, was one of the recipients – and Maher Hanoun, Nadia’s husband, was born in the house.

what would be truly amazing if the hanoun family could move their struggle over their rights to their land and house to one that says: okay, your colonial court says that land ownership and title deeds are what counts as entitlement to land and homes. therefore, here is my title deed and key to my house in haifa. i want it back now. fighting in these terms could lead to a precedent that would allow all palestinians to return to their land and homes because, of course, they are the legal rightful owners. imagining such a scenario is, of course, absurd as it would never happen. because zionist terrorist colonist courts care only about jews (albeit white jews more than brown jews). and short of a mass conversion of palestinians to judaism i don’t think that they will be granted the same status in those courts. and so the hanoun and al ghawi families are sleeping on the street. homeless again. refugees again. here is jacky rowland’s report on al jazeera post-house theft:

there was also a longer report, with more context, on the real news:

maher hanoun envisioned that zionist terrorist colonists would come to his aid and thus wrote a public letter to them inviting them to join in his fight to take his home back. and maybe a few will show up. but who among them will fight to destroy the so-called jewish state and make sure the land goes back to its rightful owners so that palestinian refugees may finally return to their homes? gideon levy, for instance, recognizes the court decision and wonders about his own house on stolen land, though, of course, he certainly is not ready to give it back to its rightful owner:

We should perhaps thank the court for its scandalous ruling, which not only sparked a justifiable international wave of protest against Israel, but also revealed its true face. “There are judges in Jerusalem,” as Menachem Begin said, and they have made it official: apartheid. Ownership rights are for Jews alone.

The distance between Sheikh Jarrah and Sheikh Munis has been shortened in one fell swoop. Those who contend that Jews must be given back their property cannot in the same breath deny the Palestinians’ property rights because of their national origin. It’s true that a system of strict laws and regulations denies the Palestinians what it allows the Jews, but all reasonable Israelis must now ask themselves if this is the system of justice and the law of the “Jewish” state they want to live in.

It is impossible to ignore the injustices of 1948 while hundreds of thousands of refugees rot in the camps. No agreement will hold water without a solution to their plight, which is more feasible than Israel’s strident scaremongers suggest. But rulings like the current one make it harder to distinguish clearly between Sheikh Jarrah and Sheikh Munis, between the conquest of 1948 and the conquests of 1967. My house stands on land stolen by force, and it is the obligation of Israel and the world to redress the injustice without creating injustice and new dislocation. My house stands on land that was stolen, but the whole world has recognized the Jews’ right to establish their state there. At the same time, no country in the world has recognized Israel’s right to conquer Sheikh Jarrah as well.

In my morning musings on the way to the pool, I sometimes think about the land’s original owners. I long for the day when Israel takes moral and material responsibility for the injustice done to them. Now, because of the court ruling, my right to continue to swim here may also be in doubt.

and this is the problem i have with normalization in any context. unless those you are normalizing with have committed themselves to the destruction of the jewish state, including relinquishing of land that is stolen (i.e., all of historic palestine), what is the point. in the end they want to keep what they stole. and the americans, who also, of course, live on stolen land support land theft and colonization in palestine, but like to use language that feigns concern:

The United States and the European Union hit out Monday at Israel for evicting Palestinian families from east Jerusalem, warning that such moves endangered the Middle East peace process.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton led the international condemnation, labelling the evictions “deeply regrettable” and “provocative” and accusing Israel of failing to live up to its international obligations under existing peace initiatives.

“I have said before that the eviction of families and demolition of homes in east Jerusalem is not in keeping with Israeli obligations,” Clinton told reporters at a Washington press conference alongside Jordanian counterpart Nasser Judeh.

“And I urge the government of Israel and municipal officials to refrain from such provocative actions.”

and it gets worse when the u.s. comes in to the picture. for instance former presidential candidate mike huckabee shared his views on the rights of indigenous palestinians as reported in imemc:

Israeli online daily, Haaretz, reported that former Arkansas governor, Mike Hukabee, who is visiting Israel in support of illegal Israeli settlements and illegal annexation of Palestinian lands, stated that establishing a Palestinian State in what he described as the “Middle of Jewish Homeland” is unrealistic.

Hukabee is conducting a three-day tour in Israel and met with dozens of fundamental settler leaders and members of Knesset.

He arrived in Israel on Sunday and visited illegal settlements in East Jerusalem on Monday. He also visited the Maaleh Adumin illegal settlement bloc.

in any case, there is a petition you can sign to support palestinian families in al quds at the stand up for jerusalem website. there are also a number of reports, photographs, and videos there you can look through to learn more about ethnic cleansing in palestine.

but any notion that anything will change from the colonists in charge–the zionists or the americans–was made clear by the u.s. state department:

State Department spokesperson Robert Wood has stated that it’s much too early for the U.S. to put economic pressure on Israel to cooperate with the ban on settlement construction.

He has also stated that the focus now was on dialogue, and working toward a peaceful resolution. In addition, the new Israeli ambassador to the U.S. has denied claims of existing tension between the two nations over discussions on settlement issues. The U.S. has demanded that Israel stop the building of settlements and does not distinguish East Jerusalem from the West Bank, condemning all settlement activity there. Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu has continued his settlement campaign, ignoring the calls of the U.S., the European Union, and Russia to halt settlement development.

sanctions are the only way to exert pressure on the zionist terrorist colonists to stop stealing land and forcing more palestinians to become refugees multiple times over. it should happen with government money, but it should also happen in the form of cracking down on american non profits that fund these colonies and land confiscation as reported recently in ha’aretz (thanks tam tam):

American Friends of Ateret Cohanim, a nonprofit organization that sends millions of shekels worth of donations to Israel every year for clearly political purposes, such as buying Arab properties in East Jerusalem, is registered in the United States as an organization that funds educational institutes in Israel.

The U.S. tax code enables nonprofits to receive tax-exempt status if they engage in educational, charitable, religious or scientific activity. However, such organizations are forbidden to engage in any political activity. The latter is broadly defined as any action, even the promotion of certain ideas, that could have a political impact.

Financing land purchases in East Jerusalem would, therefore, seem to violate the organization’s tax-exempt status.

Daniel Luria, chief fund-raiser for Ateret Cohanim in Israel, told Haaretz Sunday that the American organization’s registration as an educational entity stemmed from tax considerations.

“We are an umbrella organization that engages in redeeming land,” he said. “Our [fund-raising] activity in New York goes solely toward land redemption.”

Although Ateret Cohanim also operates a yeshiva, Ateret Yerushalayim, in the Muslim Quarter of Jerusalem’s Old City, fund-raising for the yeshiva is handled by a different organization: American Friends of Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim.”

American Friends of Ateret Cohanim was founded in New York in 1987. Like all tax-exempt organizations, it must file detailed annual returns with the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. An examination of them reveals that the organization describes its “primary exempt purpose” as: “[to] provide funding for higher educational institutes in Israel.”

“That’s because of the tax issue,” Luria said, explaining that due to American law, the American Friends organization “has to be connected in some fashion with educational matters.”

He also estimated that 60 percent of Ateret Cohanim’s money is raised in the U.S.

The Friends organization’s most recent return, filed in 2008 for fiscal 2007, shows that it raised $2.1 million in donations that year. Of this, $1.6 million was transferred to Ateret Cohanim in Israel.

The remainder was used to cover administrative overhead, including fund-raising expenses and an $80,000 salary for Shoshana Hikind, the American organization’s vice president and de facto director, whose husband Dov is a New York state assemblyman and well-known supporter of the Israeli right.

The organization also raised substantial sums in previous years: $1.3 million in 2006, $900,000 in 2005 and about $2 million in 2004.

By comparison, American Friends of Yeshivat Ateret Yerushalayim raised only $189,000 in 2007.

In its IRS returns, American Friends of Ateret Cohanim said its purpose is to “promote,” “publicize” and “raise funds for” Ateret Cohanim institutions in Israel. These institutions, it continued, “encourage and promote study and observance of Jewish religious traditions and culture.”

one of the places ateret cohanim is actively working to steal homes and land is in the al bustan neighborhood of al quds, just a couple of miles from sheikh jarrah who received new eviction and house demolition orders a few days after the al ghawi and hanoun families became refugees again:

Eight Palestinians were injured from attacks by Israeli forces who were delivering house demolition orders in the Al-Bustan neighborhood in East Jerusalem on Wednesday.

The Israeli police had come to the area to hand out five new demolition orders, on top of the 90 already existing demolition orders.

Residents that wanted to confront the Israeli police were dispersed with the use of tear gas.The police also seized the ID card of a member of the Al-Bustan Committee, a popular organization that aims to peacefully oppose the house demolitions in the area.

and more annexation and land theft is happening in beit iksa:

The Israeli Authorities annexed the Palestinian village of Beit Iksa by placing it on the map west of the Annexation Wall, and considered it part of Jerusalem. The decision means that the village would be isolated from the West Bank.

The decision comes in contradiction with a decision issued by the Israeli government in 2006 in which it decided not to annex the village.

Implementing the decision means that some 3000 Palestinians would be allowed to enter Israel without any permits, but would also be isolated from the West Bank.

and if you are wondering who is controlling all of this colony expansion and land theft, look no further than the zionist entity’s regime as leigh baldwin reported for afp:

Israel has handed control over much of a key Palestinian area in annexed east Jerusalem to hardline settler groups in a creeping takeover kept away from public scrutiny, a report by an activist group said on Thursday.

Government bodies have transferred both private Palestinian property and national parks in the Silwan neighbourhood outside the walls of the Old City to the settler organisation Elad, said Ir Amim, a non-profit group specialising in Jerusalem issues.

“It was done in the dark, in flagrant violation of the rules of good government and in some cases in violation of the law, without open and official decisions by the government or Knesset and without public discussion, inquiry or scrutiny,” said the report entitled “Shady Dealings in Silwan.”

Elad is dedicated to expanding Jewish ownership in Arab areas of east Jerusalem, which Israel captured from Jordan in 1967 and annexed in a move not recognised by the international community.

In Silwan, Elad has acted as an arm of the government for the past 20 years to gain control over a quarter of the land along its main thoroughfare, Wadi Hilweh or City of David.

“Silwan is a keystone to a sweeping and systematic process whose aim is to gain control of the Palestinian territories that surround the Old City, to cut the Old City off from the urban fabric of east Jerusalem and to connect it to Jewish settlement blocs” in the northeast, it said.

and it is not just in al quds. land is being stolen from palestinians near nablus, too:

Dozens of armed extremist Israeli settlers, enjoying Israeli army protection, illegally annexed on Friday morning 40 Dunams of Palestinian lands south of Nablus, in the northern part of the West Bank.

Dr. Ghassan Douglas, in charge of settlements file in the northern part of the West Bank said that dozens of settlers, driving vehicles carrying iron and wires, took over Palestinian lands and started fencing them.

Israeli soldiers stationed at the nearby Huwwara military roadblock, did not interfere while the settlers illegally annexed the Palestinian orchards and installed the fence around them.

and it is still continuing, this time in ya’abd–this is from today’s imemc:

The Israeli military handed over on Tuesday a military order confiscating 28 Acres of farm lands near Ya’abd village in northern west Bank.

Waled Abadi, the Mayer of Ya’abd, tolled IEMMC that the order was delivered to him today by the military. He added that all the land are owned by farmers from the village and located close to the Shakid Israeli settlement nearby. Abadi added that the military order says that the land will be used by the military for security purposes but the order is not clear whether the military will used or the settlers.
category

supposedly there is now american “pressure,” though of course not sanctions, which will put a six month freeze on colony expansion, but i suspect this will last about a day:

In a bid to gain US support for its large-scale takeover of Palestinian land in the West Bank, the Israeli government says that it will put a temporary hold on new settlement construction.

The “moratorium” will be in effect for the next six months, in which time the Israeli Prime Minister says he hopes to gain international support for Israel’s takeover of East Jerusalem and parts of the Palestinian territory known as the West Bank.

High-level officials in the administration of Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu confirmed that the Israeli government will engage in a “waiting” period in order to convince the US that Israel is committed to peace. Netanyahu left for Europe on Monday, and he is expected to meet with the US Envoy to the Middle East, George Mitchell, while he is there. Mitchell has called for a one-year freeze on settlement construction, but Israeli officials say they are hoping the six-month “moratorium” will be sufficient.

if you watch this report from al jazeera by mike hanna you can get an idea of precisely why these colonies will continue to expand no matter what the u.s. says. hanna is reporting from an outpost colony, adam, near qalandia, although there are hundreds more like it all over the west bank:

to get an idea of what the average zionist terrorist colonist on the stolen palestinian street thinks watch this video by antony lowenstein and joseph dana:

notice all of the american accents in that video above. this is just one of the many marks of colonialism: these people are not from there. they do not belong there. they must leave.

and it’s not just because of the new colonialism. this colonialism and land theft has been going on for 122+ years. just like maher hanoun originally hails from haifa and has a right to return there, so too is the story for 7.2 million palestinian refugees who are denied the right to their land and homes while the zionist jews colonizing the land can buy and sell the stolen property. there was a great story in the san francisco chronicle a few weeks ago by timothy crawley that makes these connections between the current and ongoing nakba:

Walk down what was formerly Al-Borj Street in Haifa, Israel, and you might catch sight of an old Jerusalem-stone building with arched doorways and windows cemented-over and a large Re/Max (an international real estate franchise) banner draped across the front. The house belongs to the Kanafani family, most of whom are living in exile in Lebanon but some of whom are now living as far away from home as San Francisco.

Defined as “absentee property” under Israeli law, the house is one of thousands of properties owned by Palestinian refugees who were forced from their lands by Jewish militias or fled during the war of 1948, in what would be remembered as the Palestinian “Nakba” – the Catastrophe. The Israeli Absentee Property Law of 1950 established the Custodian of Absentee Property to safeguard these homes until a resolution would be reached regarding the right of Palestinian refugees to return.

For-sale signs have now appeared on dozens of these buildings across the state, and many have already been sold to private owners, frustrating the refugees’ legal right to recover their homes. A grave breach of international law, Israel’s sales of Palestinian homes is severing the refugees’ connection to the land – the linchpin for negotiations in their right of return to their homeland.

For displaced Palestinians, however, this phase of the Nakba is not limited to these illegal land sales by Israel. Eleven new unlawful settler outposts were established last week in the West Bank, undermining Israeli credibility in their discussions with the United States to freeze settlement expansion. Furthermore, a complete settlement freeze is unlikely as Israeli leaders claim that some construction is too far along to be halted, entitling the settlers to further entrench themselves upon Palestinian property.

Nor is the continuing Nakba limited to those living in the occupied Palestinian territories or refugees in exile abroad unable to return home. Internally displaced Bedouin citizens of Israel living in the Negev Desert are building shacks from scrap metal adjacent to their previous homes that were demolished by Israeli bulldozers. Demolition orders have been issued by the state for entire villages to make room for new Jewish towns.

The evacuation of the villages and the demolition of Bedouin homes represent the next step in the historical process of forcible displacement of Palestinian Arabs in favor of Jewish residents.

The Kanafani family loses a home in Haifa; lands in the West Bank including East Jerusalem are further colonized; and Bedouin citizens of Israel are displaced yet again. The Nakba did not just happen in 1948. It is continuing for thousands of Palestinians who are systematically denied their basic rights to property, housing, employment – and their right to live at peace in their own homes.

Peace will remain elusive so long as Israel’s approach to Palestinian refugees is to erase them from history; when Palestinian property in the West Bank continues to be expropriated and developed for Israel; or when Palestinian families must be uprooted and their homes demolished because they are not Jews. The pressure of the Obama administration on the Israeli government must not wane. Beyond the call to freeze all settlement activity, President Obama should insist on equal rights for Palestinians, and oppose discriminatory Israeli policies that only prolong the Nakba.

for some legal background on this stephen lendman’s article in dissident voices offers an overview of the so-called “legal” maneuvering that the zionist terrorist colonist entity does in order to make “legal” what would otherwise be considered theft in any other context. this decades long struggle has recently been addressed in the guardian by philosopher slavoj žižek who illustrates how this recent colonization connects to the one since 1948:

In the last months of 2008, when the attacks of illegal West Bank settlers on Palestinian farmers became a regular daily occurrence, the state of Israel tried to contain these excesses (the supreme court ordered the evacuation of some settlements) but, as many observers have noted, such measures are half-hearted, countered by the long-term politics of Israel, which violates the international treaties it has signed. The response of the illegal settlers to the Israeli authorities is “We are doing the same thing as you, just more openly, so what right do you have to condemn us?” And the state’s reply is basically “Be patient, and don’t rush too much. We are doing what you want, just in a more moderate and acceptable way.”

The same story has been repeated since 1949: Israel accepts the peace conditions proposed by the international community, counting on the fact that the peace plan will not work. The illegal settlers sometimes sound like Brunhilde from the last act of Wagner’s Walküre – reproaching Wotan and saying that, by counteracting his explicit order and protecting Siegmund, she was only realising Wotan’s own true desire, which he was forced to renounce under external pressure. In the same way the settlers know they are realising their own state’s true desire.

While condemning the violent excesses of “illegal” settlements, the state of Israel promotes new “legal” building on the West Bank, and continues to strangle the Palestinian economy. A look at the changing map of East Jerusalem, where the Palestinians are gradually encircled and their living area sliced, tells it all. The condemnation of anti-Palestinian violence not carried out by the state blurs the true problem of state violence; the condemnation of illegal settlements blurs the illegality of the legal ones.

Therein resides the two-facedness of the much-praised non-biased “honesty” of the Israeli supreme court: by occasionally passing judgment in favour of the dispossessed Palestinians, proclaiming their eviction illegal, it guarantees the legality of the remaining majority of cases.

Taking all this into account in no way implies sympathy for inexcusable terrorist acts. On the contrary, it provides the only ground from which one can condemn the terrorist attacks without hypocrisy.

a recent bbc report also addresses the issues that palestinians in 1948 palestine face with respect to their demolished homes and the restrictions they are faced with living in a state where only jews have rights. here is the first chunk of the report:

Sami Salameh has taken me to what used to be his home before the Israeli authorities flattened it.

Metal rods and slices of skirting board are all that’s left, among an expanse of sun-scorched wild grass.

He has brought along some photographs and kicks the earth as he shows them to me. The wiry 65-year-old man is angry and emotional.

“When the house collapsed so did my dreams,” he says.

He insists this plot of earth belonged to his family dating back to Ottoman times. But Israel has claimed it as state land. He is not allowed to build here now.

Mr Salameh’s new home is in the Arab town of Majdal Krum, in northern Israel. It’s illegally built, as is the whole neighbourhood.

His family of 14 lives in three rooms. The sewage system is poor.

Mr Salameh’s wife, Ashi, tells me the atmosphere in the house is listless and depressed.

He blames their birthright – living as Arabs in the Jewish state of Israel, he says.

“I lost everything when they demolished my house. If I had equal rights, I wouldn’t be in this mess. Jewish communities get building permits easily. They have electricity, water, sewage, street lights and parks. How come they live like that and we don’t?”

Just outside Mr Salameh’s home, a group of boys plays football in the street. Their identity, like his, is complex.

They are Israeli but also Arab. Their families stayed put in Israel after its war of independence 60 years ago.

Israel’s Basic Law says all its citizens are equal, but Israeli Arabs say some Israelis are more equal than others.

Neighbouring the town is the leafy, affluent, self-proclaimed Zionist village of Manof.

It is one of the growing predominantly Jewish communities encouraged in the north by Israeli governments since the late 1970s.

and the always brilliant jonathan cook’s recent article in electronic intifada addresses yet other cases of palestinian refugees’ land being sold out from under them because they have no rights, no access to their land:

Amin Muhammad Ali, a 74-year-old refugee from a destroyed Palestinian village in northern Israel, says he only feels truly at peace when he stands among his ancestors’ graves.

The cemetery, surrounded on all sides by Jewish homes and farms, is a small time capsule, transporting Muhammad Ali — known to everyone as Abu Arab — back to the days when this place was known by an Arabic name, Saffuriya, rather than its current Hebrew name, Tzipori.

Unlike most of the Palestinian refugees forced outside Israel’s borders by the 1948 war that led to the creation of the Jewish state, Abu Arab and his family fled nearby, to a neighborhood of Nazareth.

Refused the right to return to his childhood home, which was razed along with the rest of Saffuriya, he watched as the fields once owned by his parents were slowly taken over by Jewish immigrants, mostly from eastern Europe. Today only Saffuriya’s cemetery remains untouched.

Despite the loss of their village, the 4,500 refugees from Saffuriya and their descendants have clung to one hope: that the Jewish newcomers could not buy their land, only lease it temporarily from the state.

According to international law, Israel holds the property of more than four million Palestinian refugees in custodianship, until a final peace deal determines whether some or all of them will be allowed back to their 400-plus destroyed Palestinian villages or are compensated for their loss.

But last week, in a violation of international law and the refugees’ property rights that went unnoticed both inside Israel and abroad, Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister, forced through a revolutionary land reform.

The new law begins a process of creeping privatization of much of Israel’s developed land, including refugee property, said Oren Yiftachel, a geographer at Ben Gurion University in Beersheva.

Netanyahu and the bill’s supporters argue that the law will cut out a whole level of state bureaucracy, make land transactions simpler and more efficient and cut house prices.

In practice, it will mean that the 200 Jewish families of Tzipori will be able to buy their homes, including a new cluster of bungalows that is being completed on land next to the cemetery that belonged to Abu Arab’s parents.

The privatization of Tzipori’s refugee land will remove it from the control of an official known as the Custodian of Absentee Property, who is supposed to safeguard it for the refugees.

“Now the refugees will no longer have a single address — Israel — for our claims,” said Abu Arab. “We will have to make our case individually against many hundreds of thousands of private homeowners.”

He added: “Israel is like a thief who wants to hide his loot. Instead of putting the stolen goods in one box, he moves it to 700 different boxes so it cannot be found.”

Netanyahu was given a rough ride by Israeli legislators over the reform, though concern about the refugees’ rights was not among the reasons for their protests.

Last month, he had to pull the bill at the last minute as its defeat threatened to bring down the government. He forced it through on a second attempt last week but only after he had warned his coalition partners that they would be dismissed if they voted against it.

A broad coalition of opposition had formed to what was seen as a reversal of a central tenet of Zionism: that the territory Israel acquired in 1948 exists for the benefit not of Israelis but of Jews around the world.

In that spirit, Israel’s founders nationalized not only the refugees’ property but also vast swathes of land they confiscated from the remaining Palestinian minority who gained citizenship and now comprise a fifth of the population. By the 1970s, 93 percent of Israel’s territory was in the hands of the state.

The disquiet provoked by Netanyahu’s privatization came from a variety of sources: the religious right believes the law contravenes a Biblical injunction not to sell land promised by God; environmentalists are concerned that developers will tear apart the Israeli countryside; and Zionists publicly fear that oil-rich sheikhs from the Gulf will buy up the country.

Arguments from the Palestinian minority’s leaders against the reform, meanwhile, were ignored — until Hizballah’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, added his voice at the weekend. In a statement, he warned that the law “validates and perpetuates the crime of land and property theft from the Palestinian refugees of the 1948 Nakba.”

Suhad Bishara, a lawyer from the Adalah legal center for Israel’s Palestinian minority, said the law had been carefully drafted to ensure that foreigners, including wealthy sheikhs, cannot buy land inside Israel.

“Only Israeli citizens and anyone who can come to Israel under the Law of Return — that is, any Jew — can buy the lands on offer, so no ‘foreigner’ will be eligible.”

Another provision in the law means that even internal refugees like Abu Arab, who has Israeli citizenship, will be prevented from buying back land that rightfully belongs to them, Bishara said.

“As is the case now in terms of leasing land,” she explained, “admissibility to buy land in rural communities like Tzipori will be determined by a selection committee whose job it will be to frustrate applications from Arab citizens.”

Supporters of the law have still had to allay the Jewish opposition’s concerns. Netanyahu has repeatedly claimed that only a tiny proportion of Israeli territory — about four percent — is up for privatization.

But, according to Yiftachel, who lobbied against the reform, that means about half of Israel’s developed land will be available for purchase over the next few years. And he suspects privatization will not stop there.

“Once this red line has been crossed, there is nothing to stop the government passing another law next year approving the privatization of the rest of the developed areas,” he said.

Bishara said among the first refugee properties that would be put on the market were those in Israel’s cities, such as Jaffa, Acre, Tiberias, Haifa and Lod, followed by homes in many of the destroyed villages like Saffuriya.

She said Adalah was already preparing an appeal to the high court on behalf of the refugees, and if unsuccessful would then take the matter to international courts.

Adalah has received inquiries from hundreds of Palestinian refugees from around the world asking what they can do to stop Israel selling their properties.

“Many of them expressed an interest in suing Israel,” she said.

and if you really want to see an inspiring and inspired creative representation of this struggle of palestinian refugees who continue to fight for the right of return watch this amazing rap music video (featuring two dear friends of mine in the spoken oral history portions) by invincible, suheill nafar of dam, and abeer called “people not places.” the lyrics are below after the video.

Prepare for take off
Touch down Ben-Gurion

This references Ben-Gurion International Airport, named after Israel’s first Prime Minister.
Strict search make sure nobody enters with bombs
Blue white flags
For the Birthright Tour I’m on

Birthright Israel is a program that grants any Jewish youth a free 10-day tour of Israel. These tours encourage participants to believe that they, as Jews, have an exclusive “birthright” to Palestine.

Learn more about Birthright Israel by watching the “Definitions” video.
Never mention three villages the airport is on

More than 400 Palestinian villages were destroyed during the creation of the state of Israel. See All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948 by Walid Khalidi (Institute for Palestine Studies).
Recent history buried
But it speaks through the sand
All Jews: Law of Return

Israel’s Law of Return guarantees access to and citizenship in Israel to all Jews throughout the world–no matter whether they have ever been there, have family there, or whether they want this right. Palestinian refugees who were expelled during the creation of Israel are denied the right to return.

Learn more about the Law of Return by watching the “Definitions” interview video.
I don’t seem to understand
“A land without a people for people without a land”?

Zionist ideology promotes the idea that Palestine was “a land without a people for people without a land,” thereby denying the very existence of the indigenous Palestinian population, and masking the harm done by Jewish colonization.

Learn more by watching the “Definitions” interview video.
But I see a man standing with a key and a deed in his hand
First stop: museum of the Holocaust

Yad Vashem, Israel’s official memorial to the Jewish victims of the Nazi Holocaust is located only a stones throw from the destroyed Palestinian village of Deir Yassin, site of one of the most notorious massacres of Palestinians in the 1948 war. Yad Vashem recently fired an instructor who compared the trauma of Jewish Holocaust survivors with the trauma experienced by the Palestinian people.
Walkin outside—in the distance—saw a ghost throwing a Molotov

Deir Yassin was a Palestinian village near Jerusalem. It was depopulated after a massacre of around 107 of its residents on April 9, 1948 by Zionist paramilitaries from the Irgun and Stern Gang. More info.
Houses burnt with kerosene
Mass graves
Couldn’t bear the scene
It wasn’t a pogrom—it was the ruins of Deir Yassin
Next stop: shopping at the Kenyon Malcha

The Kenyon Malcha is a shopping mall in Jerusalem whose name was stolen from the destroyed Palestinian village Al-Malha.
Built it on the back of the town Al-Malha

Watch a tour of the remains of Al-Malha, led by Zochrot, a group of Israeli citizens working to raise awareness of the Nakba, the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948.
Wishing we could call it its name
Uphauled by the change
And now a mall full of chains
Is all that remains

This line is a reference to the book All That Remains: The Palestinian Villages Occupied and Depopulated by Israel in 1948 by Walid Khalidi (Institute for Palestine Studies).

HOOK:
My Ima misses people not places
Has she seen the towns with names in Arabic the Hebrew replaces?
The policies are evil and racist, deceitful and heinous
You’l never be a peaceful state with legal displacement

[Abeer - translated from Arabic]
Remember the names of our cities before you came and replaced it
Remember and tell me how am I supposed not to miss a nation living within us?

This line is inspired by a famous Palestinian saying, “Most people live in a nation, we have a nation living within us.”

At the Wailing Wall I’m rollin a wish
Then stick it in between the hole in the bricks
I’m feelin more than melancholy
This used to be the Moroccan quarter

On the evening of 10 June 1967, several hundred residents of the Moroccan Quarter in the Old City of Jerusalem were given two hours notice to vacate their homes. Those who refused the orders were forcefully evicted from their places of residence, as bulldozers and floodlights were mobilized to raze the area. So suddenly came this dictate that one woman from the quarter who did not hear the calls to vacate was buried alive beneath the rubble that evening. Her body was found the next morning under the ruins of her home.

To learn more, see “The Moroccan Quarter: A History of the Present” by Thomas Abowd (Jerusalem Quarterly issue 7).
Until we stopped em short and
Now their grandkids is the ones that’s throwing rocks at borders
I aint one to play and I don’t pray often
So I’m AWOL’n

Invincible applied to refuse her Israeli military service in 2004. The process for her was rather simple because she was living in the U.S. But most refusers in Israel face jail time or worse. More info.
While you making native sons
Feel like a stranger in they own land like James Baldwin
This aint about a Qur’an or a synagogue or Mosque or Torah
The colonizer break it into acres and dunums

One of the early strategies of Zionist colonization was to buy up Palestinian land and displace the current residents. Most of this land was purchased from non-Palestinian absentee landlords.

The word “dunums” used in the song refers to a unit of land measurement used in Palestine.
Erasing the culture
Changed Haifa to Chaifa
Changed Yaffa to Yaffo

Zionists have not only stolen Palestinian land, but have appropriated and Hebrewized the Arab names of these cities and villages
The old city left to haunt
Hummus pronounced chumoos, we ate in a restaurant

This refers to the Hebrew pronunciation of Hummus, the tasty mashed chickpea dip. As stated by Israeli food critic Gil Hovav to the BBC, “Humous is Arabic. Falafel, our national dish, our national Israeli dish, is completely Arabic and this salad that we call an Israeli Salad, actually it’s an Arab salad, Palestinian salad. So, we sort of robbed them of everything.”
Next hit the discotheque
Yes we on the list of guests
Palestinians cant get in
Its blatant disrespect
Cops stop em for speakin they language
Its dangerous
To repeat it when
With history we disconnect

[Suhell Nafar (DAM) - translated from Arabic]
My life is like a flight from an Israeli airport
It means that you’ll never see me with pink

At Ben-Gurion Airport, pink stickers represent low security.
And I know that I’m 1 but they say that I’m 5

At Ben-Gurion Airport, 1 represents low security and 5 represents high security
They’re dying to talk talk to me
So the security wait in the entrance
Suddenly the whole airport flew and it became Tel Aviv airport
Even though its in Lydd

Ben-Gurion International Airport is promoted as being located in Tel Aviv, but is actually in Lydd
Dig the land of Lydd and you’ll see resistance
Go to the houses you’ll see hopelessness
The streets are called Tzahal and Hertzl

Tzahal is the Hebrew acronym for the Israeli Defense Forces. Hertzl is the founder of Zionist political ideology.
Not Salahadin

Salahadin led Islamic opposition to European crusaders in 12th century. More info.
Khen el Helu

Khen el Helu is the name of an ancient ruins site in Lydd. This line is a double entendre because “helu” is the Arabic word for “sweet.”
Became sour
A place for junkies and addicts
The carpets of the Dahamash Mosque
Is covering the wound that is still bleeding

Israeli fighters massacred Palestinians in 1948 in the Dahamash Mosque in Lydd. There are still blood stains on the floor.
Yehud Lod

Yehud Lod is a Jewish Settlement being built in the middle of Lydd in order to ensure a large Jewish population in that city.
Another project that drives you crazy
And its not the first and its not the last
We’re an ocean and the Zionist project is a ship
We’re rowing with the right and the left wing straight to the waterfall
When they fall the Holy Land will stop being a hell land

HOOK

200 year old olive trees
Uprooted the groves
To build a wall
Now their future enclosed
Settlements spreading like cancer and toxic sewage polluted the roads

In the Palestinian village of Artas, located southeast of Bethlehem, for example, the Israeli military has uprooted apricot and walnut trees in order to build a sewage channel that will pipe in raw sewage collected from four nearby Israeli settlements. More info.
Now full of checkpoints
I superimpose the truth and it shows
Village ruins overgrown with planted trees
Who’d have thought the “desert blooms” and Tu Bishvat

Israel celebrates that it has “made the desert bloom.” But forest-planting has played a role in the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians. Forests in the Negev Desert have been planted to restrict Bedouin herding. Palestinians’ olive trees, an important source of fruit and oil, have been cut down and replaced by pine and cypress trees.

After the 1948 war, forests were planted on the sites of abandoned Arab villages whose inhabitants left or were expelled from their homes. These forests, planted by the Jewish National Fund (JNF), erase the traces of the Arab presence prior to 1948 and cover up the demolition of Arab villages. In 2008, in response to pressure by the Israeli Nakba commemoration organization Zochrot, the JNF announced that historical information plaques erected in JNF parks and forests will cite the names of the Arab villages formerly located there.

“Tu Bishvat,” referenced in the song, is the Jewish Holiday considered “New Year of the Trees.” In Israel, this holiday is used as a time for mass tree plantings. Invincible was born close to the time of this holiday and was given the birth name Ilana, which translates as “Tree.” More info.
I cant believe
This aint environmental
Disguising lies, extincting lives like manatees
Callin it a transfer? Please—
More like a catastrophe!
Birthright tours recruiting em, confuse em into moving in
Claim its only names and words but denying the root of them
Power been abusing it
Our past never excusing them
60 years since 48 and 40 since Jerusalem
My boy Shadi wanted to visit it so badly
He lied he’s diabetic to see it for five seconds

A friend of Invincible’s, who lives in Deheisheh Refugee Camp, told her that although he is only a 10 minute drive from Jerusalem (Al Quds in Arabic), he has only ever visited the city for a few hours. To do this he had to use a faked medical emergency card for diabetes to be allowed to cross the Israeli military checkpoint.
One Nine Four ruled the courts in the case

United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 asserts the right of refugees to return to their homes:

“Refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible.” More info.
Mom, you can’t disconnect a people from the importance of place

HOOK

I look into myself and i see this song more than I can see anything else these days (sHHHHHHH, I cant admit out loud that i like it, but more than anything this represents me.

Two weeks By: All that remains.

and you neglected I called you out don’t please
I said we’re stronger than this now
you resurrected mistakes years past it seemed
and they exist to still haunt you

and still you feel like the loneliness
is better replaced by this
I don’t believe it this way
and I can see the fear in your eyes
I’ve seen it materialize
Growing stronger each day

I could see it as you turned to stone
Still clearly I can hear you say
don’t leave don’t give up on me
two weeks and you ran away
I remember don’t lie to me
you couldn’t see that it was not that way
swear I never gave up on you

I wanted nothing but for that trust again
and brick by brick you would take it
You feared of phantoms and none exist but you
you still saw fit to destroy it

and still you feel like the loneliness
is better replaced by this
I don’t believe it this way
and I can see the fear in your eyes
I’ve seen it materialize
growing stronger each day

I could see it as you turned to stone
still clearly I can hear you say
don’t leave, don’t give up on me
two weeks and you ran away
I remember don’t lie to me
you couldn’t see that it was not that way
swear I never gave up on you

and you neglected I called you out don’t please
I said we’re stronger than this now
You feared of phantoms and none exist but you
you still saw fit to destroy it

and I can see the fear in your eyes
I’ve seen it materialize
growing stronger each day

I could see it as you turned to stone
still clearly I can hear you say
don’t leave, don’t give up on me
two weeks you ran away

I could see it as you turned to stone
still clearly I can hear you say
don’t leave, don’t give up on me
two weeks and you ran away
I remember don’t lie to me
you couldn’t see that it was not that way
swear I never gave up on you

United Stations nationally syndicated radio show HardDrive has announced its inaugural national concert tour featuring All That Remains, Lacuna Coil, Maylene & The Sons of Disaster, From Sword to Sunrise and Taking Dawn.

Note: All That Remains, Lacuna Coil, Maylene & The Sons of Disaster on all dates.
From Sword to Sunrise on September 22nd through October 7th.
Taking Dawn on October 9th through November 17th.

09/22 – Albany NY – Northern Lights
09/23 – New York NY – Irving Plaza
09/25 – Philadelphia PA – The Trocadero
09/26 – Syracuse NY – The Lost Horizon
09/27 – Pittsburgh PA – Club Zoo
09/29 – Cleveland OH – House of Blues
09/30 – Grand Rapids MI – The Orbit Room
10/01 – Ft. Wayne IN – Piere’s
10/02 – Detroit MI – Clutch Cargo’s
10/03 – Madison WI – The Barrymore
10/06 – Columbus OH – Newport Music Hall
10/07 – Chicago IL – House of Blues
10/09 – Houston TX – House of Blues
10/10 – Dallas TX – The Palladium Ballroom
10/12 – Albuquerque NM – Sunshine
10/13 – Phoenix AZ – Marquee Theatre
10/14 – Las Vegas NV – House of Blues
10/16 – Los Angeles CA – House of Blues
10/17 – Fresno CA – The Crest
10/18 – San Francisco CA – Grand Ballroom
10/20 – Spokane WA – The Knitting Factory
10/22 – Salt Lake City UT – Murray Theater
10/23 – Denver CO – The Fillmore
10/25 – Fargo ND – The Venue @ Playmakers
10/27 – Calgary AB – MacEwan Hall Ballroom
10/28 – Edmonton AB – Edmonton Events Center
10/30 – Winnipeg MB – The Garrick Centre
10/31 – Minneapolis MN – Epic
11/02 – Little Rock AR – The Village
11/03 – Knoxville TN – Valarium
11/05 – Ft Lauderdale FL – Culture Room
11/06 – Gainesville FL – The Venue
11/07 – Atlanta GA – The Masquerade
11/08 – Orlando FL – House Of Blues
11/09 – Charleston SC – Music Farm
11/11 – Baltimore MD – Rams Head
11/12 – Lancaster PA – Chameleon Club
11/13 – Sayreville NJ – Starland
11/14 – Hartford CT – Webster Theater
11/16 – Montreal QC – Le Medley
11/17 – Toronto ON – Sound Academy

The Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Fest hit Hartford, CT to melt faces on August 8, 2009. With 13 bands playing daily, the festival has something to offer for anyone who can appreciate music with a heavier edge. From White Chapel to Marilyn Manson, the event left little to be disappointed in.

United Music got the chance to catch up with: White Chapel, Soul Made Visible, Behemoth, God Forbid, The Black Dahlia Murder, All That Remains, Job For A Cowboy, Trivium, Cannibal Corpse, Bullet For My Valentine, Killswitch Engage, Slayer, and Marilyn Manson.

White Chapel weren’t able to play the Massachusetts date a few days back, but the band were back in full force in Connecticut. Though being the first band of the day, the group have what many would refer to as stage presence. Utilizing risers at the front and thrashing their way around the stage, this band is one whose set attendees absolutely shouldn’t miss. If the double shot expresso you had earlier didn’t wake you up, White Chapel sure will.

Behemoth were one of the first acts of the day on the Hot Topic stage, but don’t let the fact that they’re on a smaller stage fool you: these guys bring an energy packed performance that kept the crowd going strong despite only playing six songs. Slathered up in body paint and later dowsing the front row of the crowd in fake blood, Behemoth are one band not to be missed on this tour – provided you’re not afraid to get down and dirty with them during their performance. God Forbid were not quite as forward with the element of shock value, but between the jumping around onstage and throwing up the horns between songs, the crowd seemed just as excited to be there. This band’s strongest asset for the day was their ability to connect with their crowd.

During The Black Dahlia Murder crowd surfing was at an all time high – but with such an infectiously heavy rhythm, could you really blame attendees? Out of the smaller bands on the tour, this group’s crowd was one of the largest and with thousand looking for a good show, the band definitely delivered by making sure to engage their viewers just like God Forbid. All That Remains busted out the platforms and drum risers to give their performance an especially epic feel. This band was also particularly rowdy onstage, but if you asked fans it’s doubtful they would have had any complaints. Job For A Cowboy was another band who drew a very large crowd – and with good reason too. As the time for the headlining acts’ performances neared, the band only added to the hype by joking around onstage and communicating as much as possible with those who had come out to see them.

Trivium by far gave the best set of the afternoon on the smaller stages. Throughout their time onstage, it was obvious just how much of a camaraderie there was between the band as they high-fived and laughed their way through their six songs. With extra platforms for the band members to utilize, this band offered the crowd the most intimate performance of the day. The last smaller band of the day, Cannibal Corpse stood out amongst the others who had played prior to them… and not in a good way. With little energy onstage and the same routine movements for 20 minutes, the band had seemingly nothing to offer for those who had never heard of them before showing up that day. However, their fans seemed really into what was going onstage, bringing the mosh… as long as the kids were enjoying themselves, that’s all that mattered right?

Bullet For My Valentine was the first of four main stage bands in the amphitheater. Rallying the crowd to throw up the middle finger and joking around onstage, the band were a fun segue into the last bands of the night. 

Killswitch Engage busted out the spotlights, larger-than-life backlighting, and pyrotechnics for the show. Coming in from outside into the amphitheater, the Comcast Theatre’s arena was certainly fitting for a band that commanded the stage as their own. Killswitch Engage’s set was one of the most welcome later in the night as they were one of the only bands that made the crowd feel like they were welcome and among equals. Joking around and letting their appreciation for the crowd be known, the band rounded of their hour with a performance that was energy-packed from first song to closer.

When thrash metal kings Slayer hit the stage, anticipation soared. Throughout the night the band were particularly quiet but played fan favorites nonetheless. When you’re Slayer, you don’t need to be obnoxious onstage – your music is enough. Finally as the last act of the night, Marilyn Manson graced the stage as a chant broke out from the crowd and quickly swept across the whole arena. As the intro to “We’re From America” can be heard, Manson can be seen by a few photographers from behind the curtain, taking swigs from a liquor bottle with the rest of his band… then the curtain drops and all hell breaks loose. Paying face time to both sides of the crowd and taking the time to run out on the catwalk that extended into the crowd, Manson took the time to hold hands and share the mic with the front row. One thing is clear: Manson doesn’t give less than 100 percent in a performance and even if he did, the crowd would probably still chant his name.

All in all, Mayhem Fest is well worth the money to get an up close and personal chance to rock out with your favorite names in metal. Some acts are better than others but the beauty of it is that if you don’t like a band, 20 minutes later a new band is going to take the stage. Mayhem has a little bit of something to offer everyone and even if you aren’t a fan of any of the bands, if you look hard enough you will find something that excites you.

White Chapel

Soul Made Visible

Behemoth

God Forbid

The Black Dahlia Murder

All That Remains

Job For A Cowboy

Trivium

Cannibal Corpse

Bullet For My Valentine

Killswitch Engage

Slayer

Marilyn Manson

Words & photos by Victoria Morse

To view all of the full sets from the day click on any image.

The Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Fest hit Mansfield, MA to melt faces on August 4, 2009. With thirteen bands playing daily, the festival has something to offer for anyone who can appreciate music with a heavier edge. From Behemoth to Marilyn Manson, the event left little to be disappointed in.

United Music got the chance to catch up with: Behemoth, God Forbid, The Black Dahlia Murder, All That Remains, Job For A Cowboy, Trivium, Cannibal Corpse, Killswitch Engage, Slayer, and Marilyn Manson.

Behemoth were one of the first acts of the day on the Hot Topic stage, but don’t let the fact that they’re on a smaller stage fool you: these guys bring an energy packed performance that kept the crowd going strong despite only playing six songs. Slathered up in body paint and later dowsing the front row of the crowd in fake blood, Behemoth are one band not to be missed on this tour – provided you’re not afraid to get down and dirty with them during their performance. God Forbid were not quite as forward with the element of shock value, but between the jumping around onstage and throwing up the horns between songs, the crowd seemed just as excited to be there. This band’s strongest asset for the day was their ability to connect with their crowd.

During The Black Dahlia Murder crowd surfing was at an all time high – but with such an infectiously heavy rhythm, could you really blame attendees? Out of the smaller bands on the tour, this group’s crowd was one of the largest and with thousand looking for a good show, the band definitely delivered by making sure to engage their viewers just like God Forbid. All That Remains busted out the platforms and drum risers to give their performance an especially epic feel. This band was also particular rowdy onstage, but if you asked fans it’s doubtful they would have had any complaints. Job For A Cowboy was another band who drew a very large crowd – and with good reason too. As the time for the headlining acts’ performances neared, the band only added to the hype by joking around onstage and communicating as much as possible with those who had come out to see them.

Trivium by far gave the best set of the afternoon on the smaller stages. Throughout their time onstage, it was obvious just how much of a camaraderie there was between the band as they high-fived and laughed their way through their six songs. With extra platforms for the band members to utilize, this band offered the crowd the most intimate performance of the day. The last smaller band of the day, Cannibal Corpse stood out amongst the others who had played prior to them… and not in a good way. With little energy onstage and the same routine movements for 20 minutes, the band had seemingly nothing to offer for those who had never heard of them before showing up that day. However, their fans seemed really into what was going onstage, bringing the mosh… as long as the kids were enjoying themselves, that’s all that mattered right?

Killswitch Engage busted out the spotlights, larger-than-life backlighting, and pyrotechnics for the show in the state they call home. Coming in from outside into the amphitheater, the Comcast Center’s arena was certainly fitting for a band that commanded the stage as their own. Killswitch Engage’s set was one of the most welcome later in the night as they were the only band that made the crowd feel like they were welcome and among equals. Joking around about Yankee-Red Sox preferences among the band and letting their appreciation for the crowd be known, the band rounded of their hour with a performance that was energy-packed from first song to closer.

When thrash metal kings Slayer hit the stage, anticipation soared. Throughout the night the band were particularly quiet but played fan favorites nonetheless. When you’re Slayer, you don’t need to be obnoxious onstage – your music speaks for you. Finally as the last act of the night, Marilyn Manson graced the stage as a chant broke out from the crowd and quickly swept across the whole arena. Paying face time to both sides of the crowd and taking the time to run out on the catwalk that extended into the crowd Manson took the time to hold hands and share the mic with the front row. One thing is clear: Manson doesn’t give less than 100 percent in an intimate set and anyone who missed his performance missed out on an experience.

All in all, Mayhem Fest is well worth the money to get an up close and personal chance to rock out with your favorite names in metal. Some acts are better than others but the beauty of it is that if you don’t like a band, 20 minutes later a new band is going to take the stage. Mayhem has a little bit of something to offer everyone and even if you aren’t a fan of any of the bands, if you look hard enough you will find something that excites you.

Behemoth

God Forbid

The Black Dahlia Murder

All That Remains

Job For A Cowboy

Trivium

Cannibal Corpse

Killswitch Engage

Slayer

Marilyn Manson

Photos and words by Victoria Morse

Click on any image to see all of the full sets from the night.