Napalm Flesh: Heartless Interview

Welcome to yet another edition of Napalm Flesh. This week we have an interview with Pittsburgh hardcore crew Heartless from their show at Raunch Records on December 3rd. Also included are excluxive reviews of music from The Afternoon Gentlemen, Cradle of Filth, The Dead Lay Waiting, Hummingbird of Death/Titanarum, and Untimely Demise. And, even though we are entering the slow winter months of headbanging, we have a rundown of this week’s metal happenings in Salt Lake and beyond.

On Tuesday December 13, In the Venue hosts Pierce the Veil and Miss May I with support coming from Woe Is Me and The Amity Affliction. The real reason that we’re including this listing, though, is because recent Epitaph signees letlive, who are affiliated with the local Broship collective, are also on the bill. Take your little brother and/or sister and hope to god that their taste in aggressive music evolves beyond what they will see this night.  Tickets are $15.50 and doors open at 5:30.

On Wednesday the 14, Year of the Wolf will be at Burt’s Tiki Lounge with local grinders Burn Your World and Huldra, whose Signals From the Void EP is one of my favorite local metal releases of 2011. They’ll be playing the EP in its entirety at this show, and you can get in for just $3. Doors open at 9:00, and this is a 21+ show.

On Thursday December 15, Burt’s Tiki Lounge hosts legendary crossover thrash pioneers D.R.I. with support coming from locals Endless Struggle, Desolate and L.H.A.W. This show is gonna get packed, so get their early to make sure you get in (and before Burt’s runs out of booze)—besides, you should be supporting your local punk bands anyway. Tickets are $12 in advance and $15 the day of the show. Doors open at 8:00 and this is a 21+ show.

Looking ahead to Saturday December 17, The Basement in Ogden presents their third annual “Christmas on Fire” show, featuring finalists from The Battle For Metal Supremacy, which I can only assume is a battle of the bands. Other details are nowhere to be found, but the show is $10 at the door, and it starts at 5:00.

Heartless Interview
Heartless is evil. Heartless is mean. Heartless is, simply put, pissed off. This young Pittsburgh quartet plays a style of dark hardcore heavily influenced by the likes of Cursed, Dropdead and especially His Hero Is Gone (the band is named after their song “Headless/Heartless,” after all). Their debut full-length Hell Is Other People was recently released by Southern Lord, and Heartless can definitely stand proud among their crusty-hardcore labelmates such as All Pigs Must Die, Dead in the Dirt and Early Graves. Heartless brought their finely distilled brand of anger to Raunch Records on December 3rd, and before they spewed hate at the crowd for roughly twenty minutes, I caught up with 3/4ths of the band to talk about the new album and their tour.

SLUG: How has the tour been so far?
Cory (Vocals): It’s been treating us well. We’ve had some decent turnouts, and not only that, but we’ve been touring with Full of Hell, who are great guys. Everything just seems to be working out. Everything’s been well promoted and kids seem to be responding.
Rick (guitar): It’s the best tour we’ve been on so far.
Adam (bass): This is our first time heading out west, too. It’s all been great.

SLUG: Have any of the shows stuck out so far or are there any that you’re looking forward to?
Rick: I know that we’re all pretty pumped to play with Thou in New Orleans. They played in Pittsburgh recently and it was amazing. We recently played in Milwaukee and that show kicked ass. We played with Protestant in a basement and had a good turnout and all the other bands were awesome.
Adam: Last night’s show was awesome too. We played at the Blast-O-Mat in Denver and all of those bands were awesome. Iron Horse, Reproacher, just an all around good show.

SLUG: With the new record out, have you seen any difference in the way crowds are responding to your live show?
Rick: When we started recording it hadn’t been announced that Southern Lord was putting out the record, and some people knew about us just because of previous tours, but since the record’s been out it seems like it’s just been double the amount of people have been checking us out. It seems to be pretty well received so far.

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