In The Blind Harness A Harrowing Harmony On Heavy AF Evolve & Escape

2 December 2022 By jesse Leave a Comment

I love me some Dog Fashion Disco, okay? Jasan Stepp and crew (Including one of my all time favorite singers in Todd Smith) has been ripping it up for years across a plethora of projects which now includes In The Blind. Featuring an array of talent that features Stepp on guitar alongside former Nothingface bassist Bill Gaal, DFD’s John Ensminger behind the kit, and Megosh vocalist Josh Grosscup, debut record Evolve & Escape is unlike anything fans have heard from Stepp up to this point.

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22 in ’22: Rock And Roll Fables’ Guide To What To Get An Earful Of In The New Year

11 January 2022 By jesse Leave a Comment

I don’t why I thought it’d be a good idea to do both an end of the year list and preview list reflecting the year they’re happening in….but here we are. Our list of twenty one albums and change has already posted (Which you can read here) so now it’s time to close the book on 2021 and look to the future with 22 albums we think will make this year sound even better than the last…and change.

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Nothingface Meets Dog Fashion Disco Once Again In Knives Out! As Left In The Lurch Drops

6 September 2016 By jesse Leave a Comment

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Knives Out! is indeed back and once again features drummer Tommy Sickles, vocalist Todd Smith, guitarist Jasan Stepp (Who, ahem, steps into the lead gee-tar with Tom Maxwell absent from these recordings), and bassist Bill Gaal replacing David Cullen this time around. But if you’re looking at this as a Nothingface reunion featuring some guys from Dog Fashion Disco and Polkadot Cadaver then please get the fuck outta here right now. Sure, the framework for each of those bands lies within but Knives Out! has always been wholly a different beast altogether.

Heavier, more brutal, and more EVIL than its predecessor, Left In The Lurch is the Knives Out! record fans have been clamoring for in the years that followed the band’s initial outing.

“Deny Your Maker” is a riff-fueled master course in how to metal properly with Todd Smith leading the proceedings like a veritable madman. Y’all still drooling over Mike Patton? Smith is the real deal. Equal parts maniacal ringleader, whispering serial killer, and undeniable crooner, Smith has a range that is unparalleled in the world of modern metal. With commanding lines like “I am your god now/Look in my eyes/I am your master of pain and suffering!”, Smith owns the mic and in turn, all his followers.

“Mysterious Ways” is like being on an out-of-control rollercoaster. It’s Tommy Sickles’ insane fills and constant pummeling, Stepp and his maximum riffage, Gaal’s gruesome low end rumbles, and Smith’s crazy range.

You know what? Every song is like a rollercoaster!

“Give Up The Ghost” speeds along at a frenetic pace thanks to Sickles’ incendiary drumming then settles into these obscene grooves that’d make Lamb Of God weep with envy until the title track comes along and Stepp’s guitars sonically mesh into an unholy aurgasm.

If your brain is still intact after all of that then songs like “Gomorrah”, “Fuck My Way To Hell”, and “Cherished Possession” (Which features an anthemic chorus akin to “Hysteria” from their debut) are still waiting to ruin all other metal for listeners because of their brilliance.

Left In The Lurch is out now via Razor To Wrist. Bundles are still available here but if you seek instant gratification then head on over here and here.

Dog Fashion Disco offer Sweet Nothings on latest!

24 July 2014 By jesse Leave a Comment

Of course I’ll review an album that has my name in the “Thanks” section! That’s actually because of DFD’s Indiegogo campaign and not because of any actual affiliation to said band BUT STILL! That’s pretty freaking cool, right?

But I digress.

Dog Fashion Disco is back. Their new album is upon us! Sweet Nothings is the logical (and illogical) follow up to Adultery only bigger, badder, and brassier. It’s even a contender for album cover of the year. Seriously, check out that wolf!

SW opener “Greta” is that creepy little sister of Adultery’s “The Uninvited Guest” while “War Party” (Breaking into an evil “We Didn’t Start The Fire” verse even) is a more focused rage-a-thon than “The Sacrifice Of Miss Rose Covington” was on that aforementioned album. “Scarlet Fever” follows with its staccato bursts of excitement and never has a baritone saxophone sounded so exciting (You know, outside of the usual jazz circles and in Morphine).

Todd Smith’s range is still incredible. Jasan Stepp absolutely shreds. And the horns are everywhere! If you’re feeling “horny” look no further than “Tastes So Sweet” or “Doctor’s Orders” (Remember Average White Band’s classic in Superman II? That’s “Doctor’s Orders). If anything, Sweet Nothings proves that the internet provides tenfold giving Dog Fashion Disco the “Oingo Boingo on methamphetamines” sound they were always destined to have.

Is it the comeback of the year? Pretty much. And it’s the best thing DFD has put out to date. Now it’s time to see if the rest of the world will finally wake up to their brand of musical brilliance.

Sweet Nothings is out now through Razor To Wrist Records! It’s brilliant. Buy yours here and let me live vicariously through you by purchasing the “Envy The Vultures” hoodie. Be the “envy” of your friends and scare the crap out of the kiddies at the same time.

14 for ’14: A Rock And Roll Fables guide to new music in the new year!

14 January 2014 By jesse Leave a Comment

If I follow this thought process, 2025 is going to be a very long post. Anywho, there’s some new music coming out in 2014 that I really think you should pay attention to. Here goes nothing (No particular order, by the way):

1. He Is Legend (Untitled/TBC)

What kind of a band releases the most amazing album of their career and then disbands? He Is Legend, that’s who! But never fear, HIL is back and has been diligently working away on the follow up to 2009’s It Hates You between bouts of touring which should see the light of day this year. Will it live up to its predecessor? With a new song teased to be dropping imminently, we’ll soon have our answer.

2. Tom Vek (Untitled/TBC)

Um, have you heard Leisure Seizure? If you have then you’ll know why I’m so excited for the third full-length from Tom Vek. The progenitor of Brit-hop makes music in fits and spurts but when it’s finally released it is so worth the wait.

3. Breton: (War Room Stories/February 3)

First single “Envy” has been on a steady rotation in RNRF offices since it was released late last year so the full-length that includes this masterpiece is easily high up there on our most wanted of 2014 list. I can safely tell you, though, that the whole of War Room Stories is brilliant as well. Watch this space for a review soon.

4. Prong (Untitled/TBC)

There is a lot of metal that we’re looking forward to in the new year and Prong is always a proven force of brutality. Their last, Carved Into Stone, managed to capture the entirety of Prong’s illustrious catalog on a single album. Will the follow up be more of the same or a step beyond? Here’s hoping it’s the latter.

5. Maximo Park (Too Much Information/February 3)

“Brain Cells” is the only song you need to hear in 2014 to prove that Maximo Park is not fucking around. Barely a year and a half after the phenomenal A National Health, Too Much Information sounds like an instant classic from the two or three songs released so far.

6. Reverend & The Makers (Thirty Two/February 24)

No song hit me like “Bassline” and the Youth-produced (He, of the mighty Killing Joke who might releasing a new rekkid in 2014) @reverend_makers album in 2012. Friends of Alex Turner who sound like an electrified Happy Mondays, Rev & co. is back with another one that’s sure to rule and first single “Your Girl” is the proof.

7. Nate Newton/Max Cavalera goodness (TBC/Throughout 2014)

Let’s see, there’s the just announced new Cavalera Conspiracy album which will have local boy Nate Newton on bass duties, the Max Cavalera, Greg Puciato, Troy Sanders Killer Be Killed supergroup, oh, and a little band called OLD MAN GLOOM featuring Newton, Aaron Turner, Caleb Scofield, and Santos Montano all with albums out this year. Three for one. You’re welcome.

8. Dog Fashion Disco (Untitled/Spring)

Another band that soon disbanded after releasing what was probably the best of their career up to that point, Maryland’s Dog Fashion Disco is back and at it again with their first new record since 2006’s Adultery. Recording begins later this month. Adultery was, hands down, the band’s best which means the follow up can only be better.

9, Primitive Race (Untitled/TBC)

The only industrial album you need to seek out in 2014! The brainchild of Chris Kniker, this veritable supergroup features Raymond Watts (New PIG in 2014 please?), Burton Bell, Chris Vrenna (In some capacity although he’s since left the group/recording project), Graham Crabb of Pop Will Eat Itself, Luc Van Acker, Kourtney Klein…the list goes on. There’s an EP on the way along with, hopefully, a full-length. Follow them on Twitter and Facebook for the latest additions and news.

10. Nachtmystium (The World We Left Behind/ Spring 2014)

The final Nachtmystium album! Blake Judd is sure to go out with a scream and not a whimper when he puts the final nail in the coffin of his black metal/prog band. “Voyager” was released towards the end of 2013 and gives a little taste of the upcoming long player which sounds more like the experimental Assassins: Black Meddle , Part 1 than 2012’s Silencing Machine.

11. Marriages (Untitled/TBC)

Emma Ruth Rundle and the boys are back with another slab of female-fronted Isis-like shoegaze post rock. It’ll be epic and you should buy it.

12. Crowbar (Untitled/TBC)

Kirk Windsrein left Down to focus on Crowbar so you know he means business especially when it comes to their 25th anniversary. 2011’s Sever The Wicked Hand was a refreshing return to form melding the New Orleans sludge of ’93’s Crowbar with the sonic brilliance of Odd Fellows Rest so frankly, the sky’s the limit for this one.

13. Combichrist: (We Love You/March 25)

Aggro-industrial at its best, Combichrist is destined to deliver a wallop on their latest if first single “From My Cold Dead Hands” is even an inkling of an indicator of where the rest of We Love You is headed.

14. Eagulls (Eagulls/March 4)

This is kind of cheating because I have this one but if you’ve heard “Nerve Endings” or “Tough Luck” already then you know that this post-punk outfit means business. The rest of Eagulls is no joke. You’ve been warned.

Also worth your time in 2014 are new albums from: Guster, White Noise Owl, Mastodon, Hank & Cupcakes, Slipknot, Fear Factory, Godflesh, and Bells Into Machines featuring Paul Barker and Chris Connelly