Under Siege: Converge, Urgehal, Hirax, Javelina, and more…

[Under Siege: A weekly recap of the noteworthy riffage from the wicked world of metal and hardcore.]

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Converge blow the whistle on Metal Sucks for leaking new album

In what could be considered the strangest response seen yet to music pirating, the untouchable technical hardcore masters in Converge took matters into their own hands this week by publicly shaming writer Shaun Hand of the music blog Metal Sucks for leaking their new album Axe to Fall. Apparently each copy of the preview that was handed out to writers to review was encrypted with a digital watermark, and it turned out that the Axe To Fall leak that has been circulating the internet pointed directly back to Hand. The Boston Phoenix had an interesting interpretation of Converge’s decision to use Twitter to deliver “street justice” by publicizing the writer’s name instead of suing the pants off the guy, and it is worthy reading material for anyone who’s the least bit intrigued by the typical major label response to music piracy. Metal Sucks has since owned up, apologized, and claimed full responsibility for originating the leak. Wow!

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[photo by Adam Degross]

Urgehal reveal Ikonoclast release details

True Norwegian black metal legends Urgehal have been on the move again this week. The band has unveiled more details about their forthcoming Ikonoclast album and has announced plans to re-release their rare 1995 demo The Rise of the Monument through Folter Records. If you missed them when they came to town last week, don’t fail to check out the stunning photos that TC-based photographer Adam DeGross recently captured at the band’s show at Big V’s last Saturday.

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Hirax post mp3s from El Rostro De La Muerte

The American thrash veterans Hirax have uploaded mp3s online for three songs from their highly anticipated new album El Rostro de la Muerte. Two and a half decades have passed since Katon W. De Pena and crew stormed out of the gates, here we find ourselves in the midst of a thrash “revival,” and Hirax still sounds as enthusiastically thrashtastic as ever. Right now “Eradicate Mankind,” “El Rostro de la Muerte,” and “Broken Neck” are now all available for your listening pleasure at the link above.

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Javelina post new music online

Philadelipia’s Javelina are now jocking a stream of some more incredible music from their new Translation Loss album Beasts Among Sheep. If the world is a just one, songs like “You’re Going to Hate This” and “Black Blizzard” are going to send the band to the forefront of the underground by the year’s end. There’s no doubt in my mind that Beasts Among Sheep is going to make my list; the album is everything that I love, and it is everything that the title indicates. This is truly some incredible, uncategorizable stuff, so stop wasting your time and stream these puppies tonight!

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—Tons of slick music videos premiered this week across the spectrum. Check out the new ones from Converge, Dark Funeral, The Gates of Slumber, Cephalic Carnage, WOLF, Scar Symmetry, and My Dying Bride

—3 Inches of Blood announced they’ll be undertaking a short headlining tour with Saviours in tow. We’ve got the dates listed for you here.

—Footage has surfaced online from what was billed to be Burnt By The Sun’s last performance in the United States.

—Vverevvolf Grehv, the experimental death metal outlet of Dapose from The Faint, has announced the band will be playing direct support to non other than Skinny Puppy on tour in North America this summer.

—Utah-based grindcore band Gaza has posted an mp3 online of “The Windowless House” off the forthcoming album He Is Never Coming Back.

—Raise the Red Lantern uploaded a bunch of songs from their At a Loss debut; view here for “The Seduction of Slumber” and here for “Ritual”, “Thick as Leaves”, and “Deliver, Us/Deliverance.

—Coalesce have revealed tracklisting for the new Ox EP 7″ they’re planning to release on November 10th.

—Swedes in MÃ¥negarm are now streaming “Vetramegin” from their forthcoming album Nattväsen.

—A video of Gojira’s entire live performance in France has been posted online. Thanks to our friends at Metal Injection for sharing!

—How to guarantee you get mentioned in this Under Siege column each week? Weekly studio recaps! This week we can get a sneak peek of the new albums from The Dillinger Escape Plan, Boris, and the Cancer Bats.

—This week saw many heavy musicians stepping outside of their metal boundaries into other styles of art. Baroness (who are now streaming their incredible new album for FREE) frontman John Baizly hosted solo art exhibit, Page Hamilton constructed a contemporary art exhibit called “Close to Home” to celebrate his time with Helmet, and Dredg performed a stripped down show with Sir Salman Rushdie for a charity even in a small Manhattan cafe.

—Anvil’s appearance on the Tonight Show is solid proof that the band is finally get what’s due to them. They’re still as lovably ignorant as they were in the movie, and there’s no denying that they can still rock hard.

—Skeletonwitch are now streaming their new album online. Listen to it here!

—Noisecreep were nice enough to post a stream of a new song entitled “Addicted” from the eclectic new album contrived by Devin Tonsend’s The Devin Townsend Project.

—The release of Arsis’ new “Starve for the Devil” is coming up fast. Artwork and the tracklist hit the web this week and both can be view here.

—Evile bassist Mike Alexandar passed away unexpectedly this week while the band on was on tour with Amon Amarth. He was 32. Rest in peace, young brother.

—Soulfly will be playing The Rock tomorrow! Looking forward to rocking out with Max, Cattle Decap, Prong, and the rest of the crew…