Embers has received a great deal of support from independent and underground blogs since we started our page at embers.bandcamp.com where you can listen to and download most of our music. This has been especially helpful since we launched our pre-release of our upcoming album Shadows.
We've been able to track the blogs that have generated the greatest amount of traffic to our music and these are the top blogs. We are flattered to have such eclectic support.
Metalsucks
Number of hits on Embers bandcamp page: 468
http://www.metalsucks.net/2011/05/24/freeloader-embers%E2%80%99-shadows/
As the name implies this blog covers metal with an infusion of humor and tounge-in-cheek style. The substance does not suffer from this. Although there is a good amount of humor, much self deprecating, this blog covers a wide array of underground metal. The reviews are in depth. The interviews are good, especially if you want insights into the music writing, recording, and performing processes of your favorite underground artists. The interviews do not get political or philosophical, but they do try to unearth behind the scenes information.
Embers was originally featured on a recurring episode entitled "freeloader" where metalsucks features something they recommend that you can enjoy for free. Later Shadows was given an in depth review.
Invisible Oranges
Number of hits: 381
http://www.invisibleoranges.com/2010/03/sign-them-already-embers/
Invisible Oranges covers new and old music. There is a lot of coverage of extreme and underground metal projects. Many of the articles also cover issues regarding the metal culture, metal identity, and social trends. There are record and show reviews as well as interviews, but there are also articles on gender, age, race, as well as other topics of a more philosophical bend. This eclectic blog has something for everyone. You can read some thought provoking articles or find the latest on festivals, new releases, and news.
It was due to a suggestion from Cosmo of Invisible Oranges that Embers started our bandcamp page in the first place. We were mentioned in articles entitled, "Sign Them Already" (we're still holding out) and "Every Band Should Have a Bandcamp". We are grateful for this advice.
Crust or Die
Number of hits: 318
http://crust-or-die.blogspot.com/2011/04/embers-shadows-2x12.html#links
Crust or Die is a Spanish language blog which focuses on crust-punk but includes a lot of metal with crust and punk influences such as Embers. The blog has tons of music featuring free music. Since Shadows is available for a donation our pre-release fits within this free music focus.
Crust or Die has quick and concise descriptions of the music which provides just enough information to have a good idea what the featured music sounds like along with the link to stream it or download it. You could spend hours upon hours on this blog listening and downloading amazing crust, punk, and metal music from the underground. I believe that's why this site has generated so many hits. All the entries are linked with multiple tags so that visitors to Crust or Die can surf within the blog clicking various keywords and then finding lists of free music.
Even if Crust or Die has less visitors than the aforementioned blogs those visitors probably tend to stay longer in a single visit due to all the great free stuff.
The Obelisk
Number of hits: 110
http://theobelisk.net/obelisk/2011/06/14/embersotr/
The Obelisk is a genre specific blog focusing on doom, stoner, and ambient metal; basically all things epic. The editor admitted that it was a stretch to include Embers because of our more aggressive style, but he did anyway because he liked Shadows enough to take that step. This blog has a good mix of interviews and streaming audio content so light some candles, turn out the lights, put on your druid cloak, turn it up loud... oh, and lots of weed too I guess.
Hammer Smashed Sound
Number of hits: 98
http://hammersmashedsound.blogspot.com/2011/03/embers-shadows.html
These three encourage bands to submit "materials, contraband, and/or propaganda" for review via a snail mail address. After tracking down their emails they saw fit to cover both Embers and Kelly and my previous band Lesser of Two here.
There does not seem to be a genre oriented focus on the site. The music covered seems to cover the range of interests of the writers who seem to enjoy everything from punk, metal, ambient, experimental, to just plain weird. Despite this, metal seems to be the primary focus. This is a great place to find new bands that play epic music. The reviews range from quick and dirty bullet reviews to thorough backgrounds of the bands and descriptions of the merchandise. There is little emphasis on detailed analysis or giving the writers opinions aside from adjectives such as excellent, brilliant, beautiful, amazing, etc. HSS probably only reviews stuff they enjoy, and leaves the rest out.
Cvlt Nation
Number of hits: 97
http://www.cvltnation.com/cvlt-nation-interviews-embers/
Cvlt Nation like other blogs covers a mix of underground metal, punk, and various sub-genres. The thing that differentiates Cvlt Nation from other blogs is that it doesn't just cover bands, but covers the entire range of art including, but not limited to, music, literature, sculpture, illustration, film, etc. Cvlt Nation also has contributors from all over the underground blogosphere and from all over the world. In this manner Cvlt Nation focuses more on underground art and community generally without an exclusive focus on bands and music.
Idol Threat
Number of hits 96
http://idolthreat.blogspot.com/2010/06/embers-wrath-split-with-book-of-belial.html
Idol Threat supported Embers from the moment we started our bandcamp page. They posted Shadows as well, but didn't give it a review admitting that they just wanted to get the link up before our last tour. Idol Threat is focused on provocation and features underground provocations. The tagline is "Warning Shots at the Mainstream". The blogs provides free music and reviews as well as a smorgasbord of other random stuff oozes from the corrupted mind of this blogs author. Still, it is quite well written and interesting even if it does descend into randomness from time to time.
The Number of the Blog
Number of hits: 66
http://thenumberoftheblog.com/2011/04/01/free-shit-friday-embers-shadows/
This is a straight metal blog which structures some of it's content around themes based on the day of the week. For example Embers was featured on "Free Shit Friday". Much of the content has a tongue in cheek feel that is genuinely humorous. There is also solid content including new music, reviews, interviews, and metal news. This is a great place to find new music, keep up with some of your favorite bands, and have some laughs.
They also released a compilation available on bandcamp here for fifty cents.
Attila the Hun
Number of hits 53
http://blackmetalownsyou.blogspot.com/2011/04/embers-shawdows.html
Free black metal!!! Need I say more? Get in, get out, and rock. There aren't reviews but rather one or two line descriptions for the most part. There is actually more content in our comments back and forth here which I find totally amusing.
Metal Underground
Number of hits: 29
http://www.metalunderground.com/news/details.cfm?newsid=68701
This blog has more of an underground metal news focus than the other blogs. In fact the website is structured more like an online newspaper than a blog so referring to it as a blog is a misnomer but whatever. The main page allows you to easily scan headlines and jump to the content. This is great for people who want to stay up to date about the metal scene.
Also, there is no genre specific focus. This site covers everything metal.
So those are the top metal and crust blogs that have been supporting Embers so I encourage all of you to support these blogs since, if your reading this, they must share some of your tastes and interests.
Steve
HSS supports the underground. We don't talk shit about bands or give bad reviews because there's not much room for negativity; it's rather pointless in the end. We simply write about what we enjoy, find particularly relevant, or think our readers will enjoy (Embers fits all of these criteria). We'd like to include everything of note, but it's not possible, since we all have regular jobs and lives outside of the internet. We don't do much in the way of detailed analysis
ReplyDeletebecause we're not really critics or analysts - just lovers and supporters of underground music.
Well, considering the limitations the writers for HSS have you guys have done an incredible job. You've generated a following commensurate with some of these other blogs that have either full time staff, a much larger base of writers, or have sacrificed their personal lives for the sake of creating a quality blog. Congratulations and thank you.
ReplyDeleteCrust of die changed their url to http://crustordie.blogspot.com/
ReplyDeleteCheck them out there.