"The Gamut" is taking a short hiatus...

The Gamut is going on a short hiatus.  Nothing too long or complicated, just a few weeks to allow me to recuperate from all the stress at work and everything going on.  As I approach the opening of the facility I've been hard at work on with my job, my personal life has taken a major back seat and as such my family has suffered.  As much as I love doing the show, it's time to hang it up for a few weeks to get back to family & get myself back to a more normal work schedule.  I'm hoping that my mid-late October I can be back on track and back at it on Sunday nights.  Until then, thanks to everyone for tuning in & supporting the show - you guys make it all worthwhile!  And remember, this isn't goodbye - I'll see you all again in a few weeks once things are less crazy around my house!

"The Gamut" - tonight's playlist!!!

No giveaways in tonight's episode, just loads of musical variety like usual!

Tonight's playlist!!!

War of Ages - The Fallen (Metalcore)
Random Eyes - For All the Nations (Melodic Power Metal)
Extol - Inferno (Progressive Black/Death Metal)
How To Avoid Art - Repaid (Industrial)
Betrayal - Retalitory Strike (Thrash Metal)
Anti-Hell Society - PHD Misery (Punk)
Monolith - More Than Conquerors (Symphonic Extreme Metal)
Elgibbor - Purity and Blood (Black Metal)
7days - Redeemer (Progressive Metal)
AD - Games of Chance and Circumstance (Progressive Rock)
Adelaide - Request For a Prayer (Deathcore)
Orphan Project - Empty Me (Progressive Hard Rock)
Joy Electric - (I Am) Made From the Wires (Synthpop)
Sympathy - Perfection in Death (Technical Death Metal)
InnerWish - Welcome to my World (Power Metal)
Ultimatum - Gutterbox (Thrash Metal)
The Way - Do You Feel the Change? (Jesus Rock)
Swine Suicide - Howls of Worship (Black Metal)
Walk the Sky - Face to Face (Classic Metal)
Ceasefire - Drug Hypocrisy (Hardcore)
Luminaria - Unreasonably Forlorn Hours (Gothic Metal)
Krig - Mankind Dead Remains (Death Metal)
Sweet Comfort Band - You Can Make It (Classic Rock)
Disciple - Back Again (Groove Metal)
Undercover - Promenade (Alternative Rock)
Darkwater - All Eyes On Me (Progressive Metal)
20/20 Blind - I Am Blind (Hard Rock)
Ancient Plague - 1348 (Ambient Black Metal)
Eternal Ryte - Surrender (Classic Metal)
In Due Time - Death Before Dishonor (Metallic Hardcore)
Rob Rock - Slayer of Souls (Power Metal)
Cast a Fire - Whisper (Calling You) (Modern Heavy Rock/Progressive Metal)
Becoming the Archetype - Self Existent (Progressive Death Metal)
Kinetic Element - Riding In Time (Progressive Rock)
Barnabas - Subterfuge (Female-fronted Progressive Metal)
Generation - Believe in Miracles (Industrial/Metal)
Skymetal - Sepultura (Death Metal)

Check out the re-designed Untombed website @ www.untombed.com !  You can tune in easily via the web-based player on the front page, link to the stream via your regular audio player, read album reviews, get music news, and link up to other great resources, including Divine Metal Distro, your one-stop source for all things Christian rock and metal!

Alternate links to listen to the stream in a separate player (Winamp recommended, though Real Player, VLC, iTunes and

others work as well):
http://207.192.71.70:8000/listen.pls
http://radio.fuhell.com:8000/listen.pls

Here's the link for Windows Media Player:
http://207.192.71.70:8000

Also our stream can now be heard on Nintendo Wii! If you have a Wii, here is what you do:

1.go on the net via your Wii console
2. type "www.Wiihear.com" into your browser address box
3. type "207.192.71.70:8000 into the Search box
4. Click the play arrow

It can take 5-10 seconds to load up & buffer, so please be patient when using this feature :)

You can also stream the station via xyzmp3.com on your PSP, PS3, Wii, iPhone, or even your TiVo!  Plus you can stream the show via your Windows Mobile phone with the free GSPlayer application!  Listen in from your Android device via the "A Online Radio" or StreamFurious applications also!

"The Gamut" - tonight's playlist + 3 CD Giveaways!!!

The "unofficial" theme of the show tonight is new music!  Most of what you're going to hear is stuff that's relatively new, some of it brand new.  A few items in the show are just new to my collection, either older gems I hadn't acquired until recently or CDs that I just hadn't picked up for one reason or another.  Lots of new stuff in the show, however!

Tonight's giveaways are all about thrash metal!  First giveaway is the demo EP by Divulgence, ready to take over the world with their soon-to-be-released Bombworks debut!  Next, the early thrash demos of Heaven's Force, the "Aggressive Angel" digipak re-issue!  Lastly, the death metal-tinged Transfigural Form release "Blood"!

Tonight's playlist!!!

Impending Doom - There Will Be Violence (Deathcore)
Crystavox - Sacrifice (Classic Metal)
Pope - Within a Great Void (Dark Ambient)
Goredeath - Souls Hacked to Shreds (Death Metal)
Jamie Rowe - Amy (Pop Rock)
Wolves Among Sheep - Oh, My, What Big Teeth You Have! (Melodic Metalcore/Screamo)
The Sacrificed - 2012 (Progressive Metal)
Glamdring - Fallen False Superior (Black Metal)
Veer Chasm - Acher (Industrial)
Divulgence - The Swarm of Eden (Technical Thrash Metal) - CD Giveaway!!!
Eden In Ruins - The Grave (Doom Metal)
Timesword - A Thousand Year Kingdom (Progressive Metal)
The Juliana Theory - To the Tune of 5,000 Screaming Children (Emo/Modern Rock)
Whitecross - No Way I'm Goin' Down (Classic Metal)
Heaven's Force - Deliver Us From Evil (Thrash Metal) - CD Giveaway!!!
Lordchain - Cry (Metal)
System Failure - Building For Insanity (Chaotic Metalcore)
The Choir - Midnight Sun (Alternative Rock)
My Silent Wake - Devoid of Light (Doom Metal)
A Plea For Purging - Shiver (Metalcore)
Titanic - Gods of War (Classic Metal)
The Moshketeers - Posers of Deceit (Thrash Metal)
My Darkest Time - Salt of the Earth (Doom/Thrash/Death Metal hybrid)
Forgiven Rival - The Grey (Melodic Metalcore)
Seven Kingdoms - Somewhere Far Away (Female-fronted Power Metal)
The Rex Carroll Band - Delta Memories (Bluesy Hard Rock)
Transfigural Form - State of Decay (Thrash Metal) - CD Giveaway!!!
Hundredth - Catalysts (Hardcore)
Admonish - Tower of Strength (Black Metal)
King James - The Frenzy (Metal)
Job - A Psalm For the First Cause and Last Refuge (Doom Metal)
The Color Morale - Close Your Eyes and Look Away (Melodic Metalcore)
InnerWish - Burning Desires (Power Metal)
Metanoia - Enslavement (Death Metal)
Living Sacrifice - Rules of Engagement (Groove/Extreme Metal)
Mortal - Paradigm One (Techno-Rock)
Elotheos - Heart's Carrier (Screamo/Melodic Hardcore)

Check out the re-designed Untombed website @ www.untombed.com !  You can tune in easily via the web-based player on the front page, link to the stream via your regular audio player, read album reviews, get music news, and link up to other great resources, including the newly redesigned Divine Metal Distro site, your one-stop source for all things Christian rock and metal!

Alternate links to listen to the stream in a separate player (Winamp recommended, though Real Player, VLC, iTunes and

others work as well):
http://207.192.71.70:8000/listen.pls
http://radio.fuhell.com:8000/listen.pls

Here's the link for Windows Media Player:
http://207.192.71.70:8000

Also our stream can now be heard on Nintendo Wii! If you have a Wii, here is what you do:

1.go on the net via your Wii console
2. type "www.Wiihear.com" into your browser address box
3. type "207.192.71.70:8000 into the Search box
4. Click the play arrow

It can take 5-10 seconds to load up & buffer, so please be patient when using this feature :)

You can also stream the station via xyzmp3.com on your PSP, PS3, Wii, iPhone, or even your TiVo!  Plus you can stream the show via your Windows Mobile phone with the free GSPlayer application!  Listen in from your Android device via the "A Online Radio" or StreamFurious applications also!

"The Gamut" - tonight's playlist + 3 CD Giveaways!!!

Tonight's giveaways are a black metal blowout - first the stunning debut by A Hill To Die Upon, "Infinite Titanic Immortal"!  Next, the instrumental black metal bombast of Hguols' debut "Epitome"!  Lastly, the Sullen Records debut of Willow Mount, entitled "Vanitas"!

Tonight's playlist!!!

As Hell Retreats - Inferior (Deathcore)
Random Eyes - Living For Tomorrow (Melodic Power Metal)
Royal - Lazy/Tired (Female-fronted Indie Rock)
The Scurvies - Nightprowler (Punk)
Krig - God Is Alive (Death Metal)
Ilia - Last Night (Female-fronted Modern Heavy Rock)
The Mourning Dimension - Broken Doorway (Dark Ambient)
The Omega Chronicles - Alpha Destitute (Progressive Extreme Metal)
Asher (CA) - The Shadow Hour (Female-fronted Melodic Metal)
A Hill To Die Upon - Heka Secundus (Melodic Black Metal) - CD Giveaway!!!
Illuminandi - Reborn (Gothic/Folk Metal)
Floodline - Innocence Lost (Progressive Extreme Metal)
The Hoax - I'm Sick Of Politics (Hardcore Punk)
Detritus - Let Peace Begin With Me (Thrash Metal)
Mad At The World - M.A.T.W. (Reprise) (Hard Rock/Alternative)
Hgouls - ...of Threnodies Abided (Instrumental Black Metal) - CD Giveaway!!!
Arsenal - Turn Around (Female-fronted Commercial Metal)
Convalesce - Enemies (Metalcore)
House of Wires - Busy (Synthpop)
Blessed By a Broken Heart - Show Me What You Got (Modern Commercial Metal)
HB - It Is Time (Female-fronted Melodic Metal)
Halcyon Way - Rise To Revise (Progressive Metal)
Grave Robber - The Night Has Eyes (Horror Punk)
Project 86 - Me Against Me (Modern Heavy Rock)
Oil - Chopping Block (Groove Metal)
Menahem - Angels and Shadows (Progressive Metal)
Willow Mount - Beyond Closed Doors (Ambient Black Metal) - CD Giveaway!!!
Monolith - A Faithful Few (Symphonic Extreme Metal)
Hero - Immortal (Melodic Metal)
Further Seems Forever - How To Start a Fire (Emo/Modern Rock)
One Eighty - Tick Tock (Female-fronted Ska/Swing)
Northern Ash - Patterns of Decay (Thrash/Death/Black Metal Hybrid)
Inevitable End - The Dreamsight Synopsis (Technical Death Metal)
Eisley - Marvelous Things (Female-fronted Indie Pop)
DigHayZoose - Think About It (Funk/Alternative)
Angel 7 - Power of Belief and Love (Black/Power Metal Hybrid)
Ancient Plague - 1348 (Ambient Black Metal)
After the Order - Stigmata (Alternative Rock)
Scourged Flesh - War Machine (Thrash/Death Metal)
Seventh Avenue - Two Masters (Power Metal)
Spiritual Plague - The Exodus (Modern Heavy Rock)
Sovereign Strength - Half and Half (Metallic Hardcore)

Check out the re-designed Untombed website @ www.untombed.com !  You can tune in easily via the web-based player (http://untombed.com/?page_id=80), link to the stream via your regular audio player, read album reviews, get music news, and link up to other great resources, including the newly redesigned Divine Metal Distro site, your one-stop source for all things Christian rock and metal!

Alternate links to listen to the stream in a separate player (Winamp recommended, though Real Player, VLC, iTunes and others work as well):
http://207.192.71.70:8000/listen.pls
http://radio.fuhell.com:8000/listen.pls

Here's the link for Windows Media Player:
http://207.192.71.70:8000

Also our stream can now be heard on Nintendo Wii! If you have a Wii, here is what you do:

1.go on the net via your Wii console
2. type "www.Wiihear.com" into your browser address box
3. type "207.192.71.70:8000 into the Search box
4. Click the play arrow

It can take 5-10 seconds to load up & buffer, so please be patient when using this feature :)

You can also stream the station via xyzmp3.com on your PSP, PS3, Wii, iPhone, or even your TiVo!  Plus you can stream the show via your Windows Mobile phone with the free GSPlayer application!  Listen in from your Android device via the "A Online Radio" or StreamFurious applications also!

"The Gamut" - tonight's playlist + 3 CD Giveaways!!!

I have 3 CD's to give away tonight!  First, the final release from Metalcore band Alove For Enemies, entitled "Resistance".  2nd is the debut full-length by technical deathcore powerhouse I Built the Cross, called "Bridging the Gap Between Mind and Heart".  Plus I have a copy of the RetroActive Records sampler "A Salute to World-Class Rock"!

Tonight's playlist!!!

As I Lay Dying - Comfort Betrays (Technical Metalcore)
Step Cousin - You Remain (Thrash Metal)
W. - Harvesting (Grindcore)
Sincerely Paul - House Of Fire (Gothic Rock)
Ten-33 - Stop Looking (Hardcore Punk)
Horde - Behold, the Rising of the Scarlet Moon (Black Metal)
Myrath - No Turning Back (Progressive Metal)
Common Yet Forbidden - Still We Remain (Death Metal)
Loudflower - Crime of the Century (Alternative Rock with horns!)
Alove For Enemies - Tread On My Dreams (Metalcore) - CD Giveaway!!!
Illuminandi - Poczekalnia (Gothic/Folk Metal)
Rehumanize - Human Quicksand (Grindcore)
Joy Electric - On Being Principally Utopian (Synthpop)
Kekal - Vox Diaboli (Avant Garde Extreme Metal)
Theocracy - Absolution Day (Progressive Power Metal)
I Built the Cross - Head High Heavy Heart (Technical Deathcore) - CD Giveaway!!!
Hguols - All but Life was Lost (Instrumental Black Metal)
The Way - Livin' On the Bottle (Jesus Rock)
Starflyer 59 - Who Said It's Easy? (Alternative Rock)
InnerWish - Burning Desire (Power Metal)
Northern Ash - Patterns of Decay (Thrash/Death/Black Metal hybrid)
Jetenderpaul - Chugga-Chugga, Mr. Chomsky (Indie Pop)
Deitiphobia - Have Mercy (Industrial)
Death Is Not Welcome Here - Closer Than You Think (Modern Rock/Emo)
Hortor - Ancient Satanic Rituals Are Crushed In Dust (Black Metal)
Human Condition - Life and Love (New Wave/Rock)
Fires of Babylon - Lazarus Rising (Power Metal) - CD sampler Giveaway!!!
Driver Eight - Strange (Alternative Rock)
Rob Cassels - Battles Won (Jesus Rock)
Means - Connected (Melodic Hardcore/Metalcore)
oraVita - Jesus Send Your Spirit Down (Female-fronted Indie Rock)
Stroghold - Desert Walker (Hard Rock)
Monolith - Across the Baltic (Symphonic Extreme Metal)
Bloodgood - Battle of the Flesh (Classic Metal)
Becoming the Archetype - Artificial Immortality (Melodic Death Metal)
Essence of Sorrow - Mind Control (Progressive Metal)
Pantokrator - The Initiation (Death Metal)
Detritus - Point of No Return (Thrash Metal)
Debtor - Failure (Hardcore Punk)
Emery - Disguising Mistakes As Goodbye (Progressive Post-Hardcore)
Goodnight Star - Compu-Friend (Synthpop)
Ethereal Scourge - Hecatombs (Melodic Death Metal)

Don't forget to visit the new Untombed website @ www.untombed.com !  You can tune in easily via the web-based player (just go the "Radio" tab), link to the stream via your regular audio player, read album reviews, get music news, and link up to other great resources, including the newly redesigned Divine Metal Distro site, your one-stop source for all things Christian rock and metal!

Alternate links to listen to the stream in a separate player (Winamp recommended, though Real Player, VLC, iTunes and others work as well):
http://207.192.71.70:8000/listen.pls
http://radio.fuhell.com:8000/listen.pls

Here's the link for Windows Media Player:
http://207.192.71.70:8000

Also our stream can now be heard on Nintendo Wii! If you have a Wii, here is what you do:
1.go on the net via your Wii console
2. type "www.Wiihear.com" into your browser address box
3. type "207.192.71.70:8000 into the Search box
4. Click the play arrow

It can take 5-10 seconds to load up & buffer, so please be patient when using this feature :)

You can also stream the station via xyzmp3.com on your PSP, PS3, Wii, iPhone, or even your TiVo!  Plus you can stream the show via your Windows Mobile phone with the free GSPlayer application!  Listen in from your Android device via the "A Online Radio" or StreamFurious applications also!

"The Gamut" - tonight's playlist + CD Giveaways!!!

I have 2 CD's to give away tonight! First, a copy of the solo debut from Deliverance guitarist Michael Phillips, entitled "Mirrors Within Mirrors"! This unique debut combines progressive metal, instrumental guitar work, and a host of varying influences for an interesting album. Also, tonight I'm giving away the CD maxi-single of "The Forgotten" by Incrave!

Tonight's playlist!!!

Broken Flesh - Yeshua (Death Metal)
Blushing Well - Simple Dreamer (Alternative Rock)
Figure Four - Silence Expected (Hardcore)
Saint - The Mark (Classic Metal)
Antestor - Gamlelandet (Black Metal)
Eloi - Fool's Parade (Groove Metal)
Floodline - Innocence Lost (Progressive Extreme Metal)
Dumpster - Hell Is Just A Home Away (Alternative Rock)
Mad At The World - It Can't Rain Forever (Synthpop)
Aleixa - Ultradramatic (Female-fronted Techno Rock)
Headnoise - Defiled (Female-fronted Punk)
Veni Domine - Last Letter From Earth (Progressive Metal)
The Empty Cross - Upon the Cross (Slam Death Metal)
Michael Phillips - Nails and Tears (Progressive Metal) - CD Giveaway!!!
Jesus Music - Misfit Toy (Alternative Rock)
Gray Lines of Perfection - We Won't Fall Again (Screamo/Melodic Hardcore)
Step Cousin - Tears On My Pillow (Thrash Metal)
Kekal - Characteristicon (Avant Garde Extreme Metal)
Dead Artist Syndrome - Heaven (Gothic Rock/Alternative)
Bloodgood - Alone In Suicide (Classic Metal)
the Human Flight Committee - You'll Get It When You're Older (Indie Rock)
Usynig Tumult - Crucified (Black Metal)
A Plea For Purging - Holocausts (Metalcore)
Incrave - A Shadow In the Dark (Melodic/Power Metal) - CD Giveaway!!!
Kosmos Express - Gone (Alternative Rock)
20/20 Blind - Easier Way (Hard Rock)
xDeathstarx - We Are the Threat (Metalcore/Hardcore)
Every Day Life - The Choice Is Yours (Rapcore)
The Dignity of Labour - Relative (Synthpop)
Extol - Embraced (Progressive Black Metal)
Zaxas - The Anvil (Power Metal)
Eternal Mystery - Breath of Toxins (Grindcore)
Elgibbor - The Seventy Sevens (Black Metal)
Resurrection Band - The Wolfsong (Classic Rock)
Jesus Freaks - Hypocrite (Thrash Metal)
Royal - Cover Me (Female-fronted Indie Rock)
War of Ages - Wages of Sin (Metalcore)

Don't forget to visit the new Untombed website @ www.untombed.com ! You can tune in easily via the web-based player (just go the "Radio" tab), link to the stream via your regular audio player, read album reviews, get music news, and link up to other great resources, including the newly redesigned Divine Metal Distro site, your one-stop source for all things Christian rock and metal!

Alternate links to listen to the stream in a separate player (Winamp recommended, though Real Player, VLC, iTunes and others work as well):
http://207.192.71.70:8000/listen.pls
http://radio.fuhell.com:8000/listen.pls

Here's the link for Windows Media Player:
http://207.192.71.70:8000

Also our stream can now be heard on Nintendo Wii! If you have a Wii, here is what you do:

1.go on the net via your Wii console
2. type "www.Wiihear.com" into your browser address box
3. type "207.192.71.70:8000 into the Search box
4. Click the play arrow

It can take 5-10 seconds to load up & buffer, so please be patient when using this feature :)

You can also stream the station via xyzmp3.com on your PSP, PS3, Wii, iPhone, or even your TiVo! Plus you can stream the show via your Windows Mobile phone with the free GSPlayer application! Listen in from your Android device via the "A Online Radio" or StreamFurious applications also!

The Constellation Branch - The Dream Life, The Real Life, The Empty Glass (2008)

I like it when art moves me.  It doesn't have to bring me to tears, stir me to action, or challenge my views on anything to do this, but just affect me on some base emotional level.  When a band or artist can do this, it thrills me.  When it happens nearly every time you listen to an album, you've struck gold.  There are a handful of albums that I react to emotionally every time I play them.  Some are old favorites that always bring back pleasant memories when I spin them, and others are just really good albums that command my attention and give me a certain emotional resonance when I listen.  The latter applies to this, the auspicious debut by The Constellation Branch.

What I feel with this album is a complex emotional melting pot.  There's a sense of whimsy, an emotional intensity, but also an emotional disconnect.  There are frantic moments where the music, vocals & lyrics all swell to great effect.  There are also plaintive, more reserved moments where you are gently lulled into a quiet calm, but with an underpinning uncertainty and trepidation as to the calm or it's source.  I realize words pale in comparison, as truly the only way to get a sense of what's really going on is to actually sit down & listen to the album itself.

Musically, this is a feverish blend of indie rock, disjointed pop, post-hardcore, and cracked melodies all rolled into an interesting mix.  The layout of the album into what essentially becomes 3 "suites" really allows the band to take different textures and move through them in varying levels throughout each "suite", and also recall a couple melodic themes in a couple spots.  Guitars resonate with plenty of echo and powerful distortion when called for, and ring with quiet confidence when the pedal is switched back to a cleaner sound.  There are a number of subtle effects going on that don't overpower the guitar feel, just embellish enough to give it texture.  Drum work is excellent, having a wide range of dynamics, using more drum & cymbal variation than most rock bands know (including good use of rimshots in one song), and having enough authority to know when to really go for it, and when to back off & let another instrument take center stage.  Bass work is fine, though not showy or overtly present, content to fulfill its role in being part of the backdrop.  The varying addition of piano, organ, keyboards, strings, and other sounds is quite diverse here, giving the album a much more expansive feel to it than would have been present otherwise.  Vocally, Jordan Cruz is all over the place, from spirited screams and near-banshee wails to smooth-yet-tortured falsetto crooning and singing that carries the emotional feel of the music.


Lyrically, this is a concept album.  It deals with the idea that we as humans (the empty glass) have this ideal of what our lives should be like (the dream life), and then there's reality (the real life).  We as the empty glass try to fill the void we have in our lives with whatever we choose, and  the album sees the writer expressing himself about the search for the "right" thing to fill the void, and the daily struggles & hardships that he faces through this journey.  It's a compelling story, though naturally somewhat fractured (as only befitting the disjointed indie rock of this type), so you really have to listen to it a few times to pick up on all the themes & get a true sense of what the album expresses.  It's a large, sweeping concept that fits the music well in all its emotional ebb and flow.


So how do you possibly score an album that has both had a profound effect on you lyrically & musically, and yet is a debut album by a band that may yet be finding themselves?  I have no choice but to give this album a high score because they are on the mark so much of the time.  There are a couple spots ("Black Hole" for example) where things get a touch too repetitive, but the emotional impact isn't dulled so much by this repetition that it stunts the album.  The recurring musical themes help tie the record together well, and even the "hidden" song at the end, with its super-simple piano line and reverbed vocal is captivating & a good listen every time.  My only fear is that the band won't be able to follow up this near-masterpiece with something quite as strong, and after all the time between releases, it may seem as if the band has lost some steam.  If they can either continue to write songs based around a concept, or if they can write quality "bottle" songs like fellow indie rockers The Human Flight Committee or mewithoutYou, they will have an incredibly bright future.  As it stands, this record is (as of this writing) my favorite indie rock record and a true show of talent for this band.  Essential.


90/100


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