Southwest Terror Fest Roundup (Goya, Napalm Strike, Sovereign, Sorxe)

It's almost that time of the year again, when the Southwest Terror Fest rears it's ugly head and lays waste to Tucson, Arizona on October 10th through the 13th. So since the Old Pueblo's annual metal party is going down in just a few short weeks from now, so we figured it would be a good time to do a round up of some of the new bands playing this year. Garviel Loken turned on his magical Internet Machine and scoured the nether regions of Bandcamp for some of Arizona's up and coming scumbags. Go check these bands out on their respective pages, then come check them out in person and let them fry what little hearing you have left. We guarantee you won't be disappointed. The Arizona scene is a force to be reckoned with, and these guys certainly deliver. We'll have another edition of this in a couple weeks too, but for now, let's get to the bands...

Reviews: AM.ARE.IS "Amorous"

By: Garviel Loken

On their debut album, Tucson's Am.Are.Is bring listeners a different experience that doesn't conform to a set musical formula. The twelve tracks of "amorous" are a virtual musical melting pot that churn together elements of punk, alternative, and a healthy dose of melody. The end result is a solid, unique album that emphatically places this band on the Arizona music scene map.

Driving Force: Travis Fry (inFEST Tucson, Freedom Assault, Resisting Arrest AZ)

In this edition of Driving Force, we tracked down the illustrious and mysterious Travis Fry, main man behind Resisting Arrest AZ, Freedom Assault and the annual spectacle of punk that is inFEST Tucson. In between being in a band and running the Resisting Arrest empire, Travis still finds time to put together inFEST each year, which focuses the spotlight directly on Arizona's amazing punk scene for one weekend every year. Travis is also a long time collector of Russian nesting dolls, and continues to write his first Broadway musical in his spare time. He's also been known to count the grains of sand on random beaches across the country. Essentially, Travis is a punk rock Rain Man, and is ultimately cooler than you will ever hope to be. We cornered him outside the local 7/11 where he was trading inFEST tickets to kids for their free Slushees and asked him a few pertinent questions.

Reviews: T.O.A.D. "Endless Night"

By: Salvia Hex

Milos is a semi-retired porn star and lives with his wife Marija and six-year-old son, Petar... 

"Now just hold up there one minute, how can you be semi-retired at anything? You either do it or you don't, right? Even if it's porn. What, is he only fucking people 20 hours a week or some shit?" asks Alex as he pulls Entombed's "Uprising" from it's resting place on the shelf amongst other records. He deftly slides the record out of it's sleeve, dropping it onto the turntable with a practiced touch.

Reviews: Evasion "From Reality"

By: Garviel Loken

Tucson's Evasion makes a compelling case for the continuation of melodic death metal with their debut recording "From Reality". With very competent musicianship and enough good riffs to pass muster, these guys sit on an even level with any other Arizona band who performs within that subgenre of the metal pantheon. Whether you are into this style of heavy music or not, Evasion is good enough to get a few head nods from even the most stalwart death metal elitist, and credit should be given where it is due.

Reviews: Twingiant "Sin Nombre"

By: Garviel Loken

Following closely on the heals of their recently released debut album "Mass Driver", the new extended play from Twingiant is pretty much business as usual for this Phoenix area band. All five tracks on "Sin Nombre" drink from the bluesy waters of some backwoods bayou and personify the Clutch/Melvins school of rock and roll. The rusty, iron encrusted vocals still roar much like on the debut record, the thick atmosphere of groove is still prevalent, but there seems to be something missing all the same.

Reviews: Swamp Wolf "The Brilliance Of A Feral Mind"

By: Garviel Loken

Hailing from Flagstaff, Swamp Wolf delivers one hell of a potent composition on "The Brilliance of a Feral Mind". Three parts venom and one part bile, these guys are adept practitioners in the art of genre bending. Call it blackened thrash and hardcore or any other clever conjunction of titles, the only thing that matters is whether the material is good or not. In the matter of Swamp Wolf, the material is not only good, it is great.