All good things may come to an end. When I started Art For The Ears, first
as a radio show on Friday January 1st 1999 and then as a webzine in fall 1999, I never
thought it would exist until this very day. Art For The Ears has always been the work of
one person: Me. I saw bands, record labels and webzines come and go. But I went on.
However, now the time has come to pull the plug. There are many reasons to
stop updating this website, some very small, some bigger. The main reason is the
difficulty of gathering news. The music scene is always evolving, with new bands coming up
and old ones disappearing. You need to be on the front line to stay in touch with what's
happening in the scene.
The last couple of years I used myspace.com as the main source of
information. I built a network through myspace, getting all the blog entries from bands
that I associate with Art For The Ears. However, more and more bands are turning their
backs on this social network, in favour of Facebook. I could have decided to start a new
network on Facebook, but I lack the motivation to do so. It takes a lot of time, and
through the years I got other obligations and responsibilities in life.
So, this is it. Art For The Ears will no longer be updated. I'm sure I'm
going to miss it, as I'm still a big fan of hard music. But I called it a day.
THE PHILOSOPHY
Finally I want to say something about the philosophy behind Art For The
Ears. The format was focused on hard music by artists who have something to do with
christianity in a positive way. Through this approach I hoped to offer great music from
bands with a lifestyle and message that are more or less in line with what I believe
in.
Christianity is not about believing in the existence of a God, nor
even believing Jesus died on the cross and rose from the dead. It's all that and much
more. It's about putting your faith in God, to live for Him. It's a lifestyle
by people who want to belong to the creator of the world. The creator who, one
day, will renew this world. All people belonging to him will enherit this new world.
Many bands in this world are encouraging something else. They are about
getting drunk, caring about themself alone, and a promiscuous lifestyle. But
others are encouraging a christian life, or are at least writing from a positive
perspective. By paying attention to them, I hope Art For The Ears encouraged you to follow
the same road as I do.
FINAL CONTRIBUTION
My last contribution to this site is my final choice for CD
of the Month. One of the first CD's of the Month was the first Blindside album. It seems
appropriate to end with a CD of the Month from the same group: With Shivering Hearts We
Wait.
One last comment. This website will stay online for a while. You can still
find old interviews and reviews.
Friday
June 24th 2011
Relient K is about to release an EP with
covers, entitled K Is For Karaoke. The disc was produced by Mark Lee Townsend and Matthew
Thiessen. The band covered the following tracks: Girls Just Want To Have Fun (Cyndi
Lauper), Here Comes My Girl (Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers), Baby (Justin Bieber),
Doctor Worm (They Might Be Giants), Crazy (Gnarls Barkley), Everybody Wants To Rule The
World (Tears For Fears) and Surf Wax America (Weezer).
Red published the video for the song
Feed The Machine:
Stryper is part of the Monsters Of
Rock Cruise. From February 25th-28th cruise ship MSC Poesia will be sailing from Fort
Lauderdale (Florida) to the Bahamas and Key West. Aboard will be classic rock bands.
Besides Stryper also Cinderella, Tesla, KIX, Y & T, Lynch Mob, Firehouse, Black
‘N Blue, Bang Tango, Faster Pussycat, Keel, XYZ, John Corabi and Eric Martin are
booked. You can be part of this event by booking your passage. More information can be
found on Monstersofrockcruise.com.
Ferret Records will
release a new album from The Devil Wears
Prada on September 13th. The album is yet untitled. One of the songs is Born To Lose
and you might possible hear it through this link. The new record was engineered by Adam Dutkiewicz (Killswitch
Engage).
The Crimson Armada has
a new album out called Conviction. Right now you can see them on tour with MyChildren
MyBride and Impending Doom. This so-called Nocturnal Alliance Tour is in California at the
moment. You can hear the new song Call To Arms on myspace.
Friday
June 17th 2011
Blood Covenant is a
black metal band from Armenia. Earlier this year they made their first music video. It's
for the song The Blood Of The New Covenant:
Blood Covenant also
released a live dvd. This is a preview video:
August Burns Red put
the new song Poor Millionaire on their website augustburnsred.com. In four days their new album Leveler comes out.
Friday
June 10th 2011
In the fall of 2011 John Coffey will enter Studio
Grondahl in Stockholm, Sweden, to record their second record. They will be working with
producer Pelle Gunnerfeldt. Pelle produced hardcore records for Refused and The Ghost Of A
Thousand and did all the records for The Hives. Making an album with Pelle Gunnerfeldt is
a dream come true for John Coffey. Jag Jago, guitar player for The Ghost Of A Thousand
will be working as an assistant engineer on this record. Right now John Coffey is raising
funds for the album through Sellaband.com. Get more information through this video:
The Canadian rock
band Thousand Foot Krutch
released their live DVD/CD Live At The Masquerade.
As you might have
heard, The Spirit That Guides Us have
been working on a new album over the last two years. Last week they finally finished their
new album called Innocent Blood. It comes out in early October.
August Burns Red put a new song
called Divisions up on Youtube.com:
Friday
June 3rd 2011
This month Mortification
begins the recording process for their fifteenth studio album. The record will be called
Scribe Of The Pentateuch. The band will first record five songs from June 10th to June
18th. These songs will then be sent to Europe in the endeavour to secure a record deal.
Mortifcation hopes to have a new album out in early 2012.
August
Burns Red posted the new song Internal Cannon on their myspace.com profile. The
song comes from their album Leveler (out on June 21st). The group also has an Acoustic
Contest for Internal Cannon. See the video below for more details. The contest ends on
June 21st.
Facedown Records
released new shirts. First there's a new War Of Ages shirt, with all
the proceeds going to the families in Joplin, Missouri, who were hit by the tornado.
Second a Gideon Alabama
Hardcore shirt benefiting the families affected by the recent Tuscaloosa, Alabama
tornados.
Facedown Records also re-signed A Plea For Purging. This band is currently
working on songs for their next album, the follow-up to The Marriage Of Heaven And Hell. A
Plea For Purging will be in the Random Awesome studio in August, with producer Josh
Schroeder.
The Brazilian metal band Scelerata put a new live video on youtube:
The sponsor of this
website published two crime novels. If you understand the Dutch language, you may be
interested to purchase these books:
Red Fist Revolution - The Fall Of Goliath (Youngside Records)
First impressions can be deceptive. When you listen to the first track
from this album, you will hear powerful metal with a military touch to it. Militant music.
However, don't think the rest of the album is more of the same. Red Fist Revolution (RFR)
has ... (read the full review)
Coriolis - The Endless Funeral (Youngside Records)
To call this new album industrial metal would make it sound too metal,
though there are frequent heavy guitars sustaining the Coriolis sound. Musically this is
rather a melting pot of gothic, industrial, rock, metal and even dance music.
Interesting... (read
the full review)
Sáwol - Through Soil And Skin (Bullroser Records)
This atmosphere is created by the guitars, not by keyboards. It's dark
music, sometimes with a melancholic or even depressive feel to it. The pictures of trees
in the fog printed in the booklet fit perfectly the feel of Through Soil And Skin. One... (read
the full review)
Mehida - The Emiment Storm (Bullroser Records)
The Emiment Storm is not all mellow, not at all.
Just when you start thinking so, the fourth and possibly most attractive tune starts. Land
Of Oblivion starts uptempo, has raw vocals, choir arrangements, some real fast parts, and
even some high pitched vocals. Now... (read the
full review)
D.O.M. (Destruction Of Mankind) -
Necktie For A Noose!!!
(Independent)
Amongst his sources of inspiration are Hatebreed, Sick Of It All and
Biohazard. Musically Necktie For A Noose offers metallic hardcore with lyrics criticizing
the world, politics and people living a semiconscious life, following the crowd. People
wearing... (read the full review)
Illuminandi - In Via (Ars Mundi/ Independent)
The songs are constructed much better than before with lots of
interesting arrangements, sounds and ideas. And to make it even better, the production is
great! The guitar sound, the violin, the cello, the flute... (read the full
review)
Stairway - Interregnum (Independent)
The musicianship of the artists is beyond doubt. Just listen to the
guitar solos in I'm Calling or the bass work in Enter The Light. If you appreciated
previous Stairway albums, you should certainly check out this... (read the
full review)
Audiovision - Focus (Ulterium Records)
Top songs on the album are the heavy opener Invitation, Keep The Fire
Burning with its catchy chorus, the uptempo We Are Not Alone with a nice keyboard solo,
and the arena rocker We Will Go. I hope... (read the full
review)
Exhale - Blind (Dark Balance)
Personally I can appreciate the quality of the music, the thightness of
the drumming, though this is absolutely not my favorite kind of music. This is a band that
reminds me what extreme is... (read the full
review)
Krig - Narcissistic Mechanism (Independent)
Krig has an ear for finding the right sound. The heavy, fat sound of the
music is a delight to listen to through a head phone. The mix is well done, making me hear
all the instruments. At first... (read
the full review)
Sinbreed - When Worlds Collide (Ulterium Records)
Though this might sound like Sinbreed is just another band, make sure
you check out the album because When Worlds Collide is of excellent quality. Great songs,
spectacular... (read
the full review)
Mastedon - 3 (Frontiers Records)
The metal element however is less prominent. But if that's not a problem
to you, you can get professional song writing and high quality melodic rock that could
fill arenas. Kerry Livgren fans... (read the full review)
Morphia - One Last Embrace DVD/CD (Dark Balance)
The song list represents the band well: From the heavier doom/death
songs to the lighter atmospheric stuff. And Morphia was a well-oiled machine at
Brainstorm, playing convincingly. The highlight of the concert... (read the
full review)
Templar - Dark Circus (Black Pope Music/ Youngside
Records)
Dark Circus proves this group can stand on their own feet. Though
there are guest vocals, Templar singer Toad does lead vocals in all songs. Musically a lot
has changed as well. Gone are the Saint... (read the
full review)
Stryper - Murder By Pride (Big 3 Records/ Frontiers
Records)
The trademark Stryper elements returned: harmonic vocals, interesting
guitar sounds and solos. One of the songs that stick out is... (read the
full review)
