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Wipe the blood from your teeth and get in the pit: it’s time for a recap of this week’s best hardcore, metal, and punk rock. It’s a new year and the perfect time to get amped up on some new heavy tunes. Looking for some new death metal to bring into your life? Got you covered. Need some grindcore to get your wedding reception off on the right foot? Say no more. Strap in, kiddies; it’s time to rock.

We’re kicking things off this week with a premiere from the band Droughts. These guys play a brand of frantic post-hardcore that worms its way into your soul and stays there: think bands like Hot Cross, Modern Life is War, and Touche Amore. We’ve insanely stoked to be sharing the track “Marionette” from their upcoming LP, Stay Behind. You can hear it below and experience the wall of sound Droughts brings first hand. Raw and kinetic, Droughts’ sound walks a line of total control and complete chaos. There’s an undeniable energy to this track, something visceral and real.

You click the pic above to pre-order Stay Behind and listen to “Marionette” below.

Boy oh boy, do we love Tournament’s sleazy sound. It’s punk as all hell and it brings with it a sense of audio carnage that can only be visually captured with a montage of sex, violence, and horror. Fortunately for us, Derrick Beckles (VICE TV, TV Carnage, Adult Swim) did just that. The track “Ooze” crashes through your speakers while shit blows up, ladies dance, and battles ensue. It’s madness, in the best possible way. Tournament just finished playing a Planned Parenthood benefit out in NYC, which is just another reason to love them. This is what rock n’ roll is all about, people. Fight the power, embrace the carnage, and rock ’til you drop.

There’s something so joyous about discovering a new awesome band. We’ve just learned about Drip-Fed and they are freaking rad. They mix punk rock and post-hardcore into a mean cacophony of riffs and screams that will rattle your bones and shake your spirit. The end result is something wholly unique and beautifully fervent; a true one of a kind. “The Shivers” is an earnest and impassioned song that we’ve had on repeat for days, because it’s just too good. Drip-Fed is a band to watch, no doubt.

(PunkNews)

Stop everything. Mastodon, guys. Mastodon. The lords of the riff have returned and we welcome them with violent praise and bloody sacrifice. The final day of March 2017 will bring the band’s new LP Emperor of Sand into the world and our souls are quivering in anticipation. The first single from the album is a jam called “Sultan’s Curse” and it’s a beauty. Tonally, it falls somewhere between Crack the Skye and Once More ‘Round the Sun. It’s catchy and, at times, hypnotic. Of course, it’s also Mastodon, so there’s plenty of furious guitar work and frenzied drumming, too. It’s good, in other words. We’re ready for more. We’re ready to worship at the feet of the kings. We’re ready for Emperor of Sand.

Pallbearer are a band that just keeps getting better and better. We caught them last year when they opened for Baroness, and it was a kickass show. These guys are spacey, heavy, and filled with doom. Their stuff is filled with harmony, but there’s a dark edge to it, too. Take, for instance, the newly premiered track “Thorns.” It manages to be both ugly and beautiful, light and dark. You call them doom metal, no doubt, but there’s more to Pallbearer than that. They’re pushing boundaries, crafting a sound that’s big and all-consuming. They’re Cthulhu in sonic form. If you haven’t experienced them, we highly recommend you give the track below a spin. You should also try to catch them when they hit your town on tour, because seeing them live is a real treat.

That’s it for us this week. Got a grindcore, deathcore, hardcore, metal, or punk jam you think the world needs to hear? Let us know about it in the comments below.

Image: Mastodon/Reprise

Gif: Cartoon Network/Regular Show

Benjamin Bailey writes for the Nerdist and can be found on Twitter talking about Godzilla, comic books, and hardcore music.

Since you clicked on this article, chances are pretty good that you’ve already completed–or are in the middle of–a quality binge watch of Netflix’s new show A Series of Unfortunate Events. We find the show, based on the children’s books by Lemony Snicket (the pen name of author Daniel Handler), breathtakingly beautiful and much more immersive than that of the 2004 adaptation starring Jim Carrey. We think part of that immersive quality is because of the intricate world created by the VFX team over at Zoic Studios.

A recent post on io9 brought Zoic’s VFX reel to our attention and we’re floored by just how much detail went into creating the world that the Baudelaire children find themselves in. As you would expect for some of the more impossible or dangerous things that happen, the series has its share of CGI alterations. This is especially true when it comes to the poker-playing and snake-charming tendencies of the youngest Baudelaire child. Watching the series from now on will make us wonder whether or not the adorable infant actress Presley Smith (Sunny) ever filmed her scenes with the rest of the cast, due to all the digital additions that seemed so real and innocuous. For instance, being held one-handed high above NPH’s head looks real and is completely possible to do in real life but we recognize how dangerous that could be. Since there’s no such thing as an stunt-infant–it makes sense that there are certain things baby wranglers (or “parents,” if you want to use boring words) won’t let their child do and are probably best to accomplish via CGI.

What really surprised us is the level of CGI involved in the exterior shots and just how much of it was green-screened. We understand that the locations the Baudelaires travel to are fictional, but we weren’t expecting so much of, well, almost everything to be built digitally. We were kind of hoping for some grand and ornate set pieces of one of the homes or a creepy real location or two to sneak their way into the show. However, it seems Lemony Snicket’s world is just a little too fantastic to exist in real life. This, however, actually speaks volumes about the actors’ abilities (especially the children’s) to pull us further into that world, knowing that they spent their time filming against so much green screen and things that just weren’t there at all.

What digital effect in the video were you certain was real? Let’s discuss in the comments below!

Image: Netflix

[caption id="attachment_784025" align="aligncenter" width="1068"]<a href="http://madamenoire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/wetseal.jpg"><img src="http://madamenoire.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/wetseal.jpg" width="1068" height="600" class="wp-image-784025 size-full" /></a> Photo Credit: WENN[/caption] Just last week we reported the news of trendy women's retailer and one-stop shop for all thing prom, cocktail and after 5, BCBG, was closing nearly 500 of its stores and focusing their sales online. Let's just put it like this, malls aren't as popular as they were a decade ago and now suburban destinations like Aeropostale (filed for bankruptcy in 2016) and Macys (revealed they are shutting down 100 locations) are closing its doors left and right. Now, yet another retailer is going the ever-growing list. Teen retailer Wet Seal recently announced that they are planning to shut down its remaining stores across the U.S. In a letter dated January 20, the company notified employees in the company's Irvine, California headquarters that the office was permanently shutting down and laying off its workers, according to <a href="http://www.wsj.com/articles/apparel-retailer-wet-seal-to-close-all-stores-1485453021"><em>The Wall Street Journal</em></a>. Currently, Wet Seal has 148 employees in its headquarters, according to a report filed to the California Employment Development Department, and lists 171 locations in 42 states on its web site. With fast-fashion labels like Zara and H&M dominating the brick-and-mortar and e-commerce markets, there's little wiggle room to survive as we've also witnessed with the closing of American Apparel. While there's no word if Wet Seal will continue to live on through online shopping, we suggest you visit your local store sooner than later and stock up on clothes and accessories at better than bargain prices. <div class="recirc-embed-unit"></div>

Press Release   The show features action crafted by Sonny Louis (Game of Thrones, Batman Begins). The cast includes Peaky Blinder’s own Sam Benjamin, Coronation Street star Kim Vithana, and The Royals actress Jacqui-Lee Pryce. Production house Praxima announced today that its original sci-fi superhero series, The Few, is set to premiere on YouTube and Facebook on February 2nd [...]

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