http://www.occasusltd.com/

Well its been ages since I've posted anything, and here is why:

http://www.occasusltd.com/

I have just started a business which create film scores and other music for various media related use. Check it out.

The New Zaryathus Project

The dark ambient, atmospheric classical music that Zaryathus has been producing for the album "The Obliteration of Planet 13" has a name.

The project is called Occasus. The name stems from the Latin word meaning darkness, or the setting of the sun (a name of one of the Zaryathus songs).

The finished/produced songs for the Occasus album 'The Obliteration of Planet 13' are currently being used as a demo album for submission to several record labels. Occasus desire to strike a record deal with an international or NZ based company in order to further promote its music and eventually enter the world of film and television, producing music for movies, tv shows and advertisements.

Zaryathus - Prophecy [EP] [2010]

Zaryathus - Prophecy [EP] has just been released. You can download your copy for free from any of the links below.

Artist: Zaryathus
Album: Prophecy [EP]
Year: 2010
Tracks: 4
Format: MP3
Compression: RAR
Size: 21.38mb
Bitrate: 320kbps
Length: 10:26

Tracklisting:
1. The Beginning of the End
2. Celestrial Visitors
3. Solaris
4. The Setting of the Sun

Download Links:
Multiupload
Rapidshare
Megaupload
Deposit Files
Hotfile
Z Share
Badongo
Uploading
2 Shared



New 320 kbps Links made Available for 'Music of the Solar Winds'. Zaryathus' debut ablum.

Multiupload
Rapidshare
Megaupload
Deposit Files
Hotfile
zShare
Badongo
Uploading

Zaryathus EP

The name of the Zaryathus EP has been decided. The four track EP is complete and will be uploaded to the internet later today. The EP's name is Prophecy.

Album art is currently being worked on. This will be released at the same time as the EP.

Zaryathus Announcement

Today, Zaryathus has decided that it will be releasing the remaining hardhouse/dance songs on a short EP. The classical inspired ambient atmospheric music that Zaryathus has been producing for the upcoming album 'The Obliteration of Planet 13' will be released in the near future under a different name. This name has yet to be decided.

The name of Zaryathus' upcoming EP has also yet to be decided, however it is expected that it will be uploaded to the internet and available for free download at some point today. As soon as more details come through, they will be released on here; The Asylum Music Group website.

New Zaryathus Album

The second Zaryathus album, The Obliteration of Planet 13, is nearing completion. As soon as the album is finished it will be uploaded to the internet for free download by all.

Zaryathus has made a statement indicating that the previous album, Music of the Solar Winds, is quite different to this upcoming release. While the album still contains hardhouse and elements of dance; The Obliteration of Planet 13 focusing on more of an dark sci fi atmospheric style, drawing from heavy dark classical music such as Carl Orft's Carmina Burana - O' Fortuna.

First Deconstructed Surface Release

Hey everyone,

This is the first Deconstructed Surface release. Recorded on the 15th of April, 2010, this is a recording of the bands jam session. Its packed full of improvised progressive djenty riffs.

Album name: Revelations, Jam Sessions [15.04.2010]
Total running time is 19 minutes, 40 seconds

Tracklisting:

1. Children of the Gods
2. Within the Serpent's Grasp
3. The Serpent's Lair
4. Secrets
5. A Matter of Time
6. Serpent's Song
7. Out of Mind

Format: MP3
Compression: RAR
Size: 16.73mb
Bitrate: 128 kbps


Link:

http://www.mediafire.com/?qyzjy5yxmmm


album cover coming soon

Another Month Goes By

Once again another month goes by without any posts by the AMG. Its been a slow time lately for the AMG music with all its main members frantically completing various work and study related assignments.

However, there a few updates that I can type up for everyone. But first I'll throw down the names of four more bands that are worth checking out.

The 4 Bands of the Month are:
1. Arc of Ascent
---a New Zealand stoner doom band that is basically brilliant
2. Quantum Heresy
---another recent djent band that follows the trends that are becoming pretty damn popular
3. Behindert
---a solo project that is somewhere between the sound and styles of Keith Merrow and Chimp Spanner
4. Maigra
---a band that incorporates djent into groove, similar vocals to Devil Driver



Alright, now for the news. Two of the AMG bands have created their own MSN accounts and emails so that you can get in contact with them directly. Perhaps ask them to support at a gig or what have you.

Deconstructed Surface:
------- deconstructed-surface@msn.com

The Blue Devil:
------- the-blue-devil@msn.com

As Paris Hilton would Say "Like, O. M. G."

Yea, its coming dreadfully close to a month since my last little post. Since then the bands of the asylum music group have done practically nothing but drink, smoke and die at the amount of university assignments due.

Thankfully one of these assignments involves a couple of the bands (The Blue Devil & Deconstructed Surface) having proper band photos taken, so some good comes out of it.

Other than that I recording of a live performance by Deconstructed Surface has turned up, and once I get ahold of it, I will upload it to mediafire and multiupload so you can download it for free. However, this is an unofficial recording. Whoever recorded it was in the bar at the time of the gig, so chances are it was done using a cellphone or dictaphone.

Ok so I need to catch up on the bands of the week posts. Screw introductions and descriptions; by now you should know that if I upload them as a band of the week, then they are bloodly good. And you should all go download them with out hesitation. Buy it, but yea, a few offer free downloads. Legend!

So heres 5 bands of the week to make up numbers, plus a bonus. :)

1. Vortice (djent, groove)
2. In-Quest (death, groove)
3. LiquorWorks (djent, progressive, atmospheric) official website
4. Periphery (djent, progressive, metalcore)
5. Proton Kinoun (atmospheric)

A note about Periphery...
The vocals absolute suck. If you can find, download (or buy) the deluxe edition. It has a 2nd cd with the instrumental versions of each song. Blew my mind. Brilliant. Just a shame they had to throw in this emo pussy shit vocals that djent bands seem to be doing.

The Asylum Music Group News & Updates

There are a few things that need to be said and done for this post so I am just going to get straight to the point:

The songs Through Hell and The Darkened Dawn, currently by The Blue Devil will no longer be their songs. Instead, the writters of those two songs (Chris and Matt) have decided that they are more suited for their latest project Deconstructed Surface, a mixture of death, djent and progressive music. The Blue Devil will focus on the southern rock, stoner and sludge songs it has been writting, drawing influences mainly from Deftones, Spiritual Beggars, Down and Black Sabbath.

The three members of The Blue Devil (Matt: guitar/bass/vocals, Chris: guitar/vocals, and Dave: drums) may soon be joined by a fourth member, Andy Shone (Scientist, ex - Gate 13, ex -Nullifier), who will take the role of permanent frontman/vocalist depending on how he gels with the band. The first trial run is set for this upcoming Saturday. New posts will be put up as this progresses.

Lastly, the upcoming new feature to this blog: Redjent, will be launched during this week, with the first two riffs being finalised and prepared for recording. The first two riffs are the main riffs from the legendary Enter Sandman by Metallica and unmistakeable masterpiece Walk by Pantera (R.I.P Dimebag).

Band of The Week

God, I'm suppose to do another one of these things. Well I said I would. Anyway, this band has two albums to date, I personally like the earlier album, but the second one is rated best.

They combine deathcore and groove with the intoxication that is djent. What more do I really need to say. If you've read at least one or two other Band of The Week posts you know that these bands are much better than what they are given credit for.

The Band of the Week is...

Mistaken Element

Visit them at:

Official Website

Myspace

Encyclopaedia Metallum

Last.fm

Metal Underground

Band of The Week

Well I've successful missed an entire week of posting, so let me just say, f*cking University assignments.

I think I'll just get straight to the point with these two then.

The bands of the week for the past two weeks are......

Byzantine & Down

Byzantine is a progressive groove metal band from the USA, now broken up, but with 3 albums and a dvd under their belt, these guys are proven legends.




Visit them at:
Wiki
Myspace

---

Down, the southern hard rock/metal supergroup with Philip Anselmo on vocals and the rest of the members originating from Crowbar, Corrosion of Comformity, Eyehategod and Pantera, you know its going to be f*cking good.




Visit them at:
Wiki
Myspace
Official Website

New Feature for The AMG Blog

A new feature will be added to the Asylum Music Group blog very soon. The new feature titled 'Re-djent' will be posted up on the site once per month and contain a link to an mp3 file available for free download.

What is Re-djent?

Re-djent is performed by the members of the AMG band Deconstructed Surface and comprises of the re-vamping of a song into the style of metal known as djent. In other words "we're gonna Meshuggah up that sh*t".

The first re-djent release date is yet to be announced.

Finally a Band Name

Finally the new AMG band has chosen a name. The progressive djent style band formed by guitartists Christian Geese & Matt Edwards have finally chosen the name for their band with Robert Mc-Cambridge as the drummer.

The bands name is: Deconstructed Surface

Band of The Week

Another djent band this week :). And I've also got some good news, I can finally put an non-band of the week post up today. YAY. Anyway I'll get to that in a bit.

This band is definately worth checking out if you're into Keith Merrow, Meshuggah, Uneven Structure etc etc. I dont really know what to say about him to be honest: instrumental (well except for one song), fucking brilliant (especially seen as hes, what, 16 years old?).

You've got to check it out. The album is free. Great stuff!

The band of the week is...

Drewsif Stalin's Musical Endeavors

Visit them at:

Myspace

Facebook

Metal4Share

Last.fm

Download the free album here

Band of The Week

Well it seems that the 3rd post in a row will be the band of the week post. This is why University sucks. Cant get your music done. Although this Saturday coming up the new band on the Asylum blog should have a recording to be posted up. Hopefully.

Anyway this band of the week is a rather rare band. Extremely hard to find any information on. You can however download their albums from good old futuristic metal or as I've just found out, the links are on their myspace page. Anyway they are a Russian band that play a mix of death & djent with some wicked samples in the mix. I'd definately recommend them to any metal fan, especially if you like Meshuggah, Fear Factory and/or Cannibal Corpse.

The band of the week is...

HI-TECH

Visit them at:
Myspace

Band of The Week

Ok, its back into work for us, so the practices are going a little slow. But hopefully there will be a release soon. Anway, this band of the week is another djent style band. One of the best really. Great tone and perfect execution. You able to download their debut album from their website so that pretty sweet. As usual all the links are below.

The Band of the Week is...

Uneven Structure



Visit them at:
Myspace
Official Website
Facebook
Got Djent
Last.fm

Band of The Week

Well seen as I've already decided what the band of the week this week is going to be, I thought I might as well do it now. It's not like I've actually done the majority of them on the 'proper' day anyway. Oh yea, by the way thats Sunday. Ha, think theres ones on Friday, Monday, Tuesday, probably even a Wednesday in there too.

So the band of the week this week is another instrumental, one man band. Surprisingly unsigned - so if any of you record label types are reading, make him a bloody offer (email below). You'd be a fool not to. Coming from Columbus, Ohio he has four releases to the name, all of which are offered for free download. How freaking sweet is that.

In the style of some good old progressive djent music, this band is similar to Chimp Spanner, Tesseract, Keith Merrow and Vildhjarta. So just from that list you know its gotta be good - I mean 3 out of 4 of those have been the band of the week in the past.

Anway without further wasting your time, the band of the week is....

Cloudkicker





Visit him at:
Facebook
Myspace
Google Pages
Last.fm
Prog Archives

Email: cloudkicker.uk@gmail.com

The M.E. Project's First Release

The first The M.E. Project single has just been released, recorded today using a Line 6 Pod XT the song Upon Thy Parchment runs for a total of 10minutes 52seconds and is reminisent of the band Earth, with a slight blues twist.

And as usual, you can download the mp3 file free. The link is below.

Download 'Upon Thy Parchment'

Potential New Band for The AMG

A potential new band may form and becoming part of the Asylum Music Group. Guitarist/Bassist/Vocalist Matt Edwards is looking at re-forming what they call The Hells Band. The Hells Band is the unofficial name of a group of former Hells Pizza employees that started jamming when they all worked together. However they soon drifted apart after the store closed down.

Today Matt and drummer/guitarist/bassist /harpist Callum got together for a jam. The result was some epic acoustic - electric blues. They are contemplating re-forming The Hells Band with another guitarist (also an ex Hells employee).

The Hells Band looks to be a promising prospect, and gives Matt an outlet for his blues influenced guitar playing and vocal style that doesnt have much of a place in The Blue Devil or the Untitled Project.

-----

In related news Matt Edwards is currently writting two more songs for The M.E. Project. The first song being a similar style to the band Earth and the second song being a much more rocky one, in the style of Godsmack, Rob Zombie and Soil.

Update

The first official practice for the new band by Chris and Matt is this Saturday, hopefully by the end of it they will have decided upon a name for the band as well as written the drums for Matts new djent song.

Also they plan on rewritting The Blue Devil song The Darkened Dawn, putting more progressive drums to it and altering the guitar parts slightly. As always all updates will be posted on here and any recordings will be made available for free download.

Thanks

Drummer Joins The New AMG Band

After a long search Chris and Matt have managed to find themselves a permanent drummer for their new project, still currently without a name, but as soon as one is decided upon it will be posted up on here.

The drummer Robert Macambridge agreed to join the band Saturday night, so from now on they are formulating their first song, which will hopefully be released before the 1st of March. Fingers crossed.

Band of The Week

Ok this band here has made it to band of the week despite not even releasing an album yet so you know theyre good.

Djent style music, of course, this bands name is Swedish, meaning Wild Heart and the teaser for their upcoming album can be found on youtube, or if you want to download their stuff thats been released so far you can try either Last.fm or Futuristic Metal.

So without further pissing around, the band of the week is....

Vildhjarta







Visit Them:
Myspace
Official Website
Last.fm
Last.fm User Profile
Youtube Profile
Facebook

Writting Music For The M.E Project

Despite an earlier post where it was revealed that The M.E. Project is taking a back seat for the a bit while Matt works on his other bands, it has not been full abandoned. He hopes to release The Omega Scroll some point during the middle of this year, and has finished three tracks for the album with another five under way.

Upcoming Gig!!!!

Birth of Sol are performing twice this month with the help of the Indie Club.

Firstly at the Live Bar, Hobson St, Auckland City. Thursday 25th February 2010 with Sommeand Big Punch.

And secondly at the Masonic in Devonport, Auckland. Friday 26th February 2010 with Frozen Alice, Audio Pilots and the 2AM Orchestra.

Entry is $10 and includes a free cd, so go along and support your local acts.

Band of The Week

Okaly dokaly, the band of the week for this week is going to be a little different that normal. They are mainly the band of the week this week because they have an upcoming gig in Auckland and I'm just encouraging people to go along to see a fantastic band.

More towards the rocky side of metal this band has some of the strangest yet funniest lyrics I've heard, so if not for any other reason you should check them out based on that. But the riffs and beats throughout their songs are solid and brilliant. Get you caught up in the music regardless of whether you actually like them or not.

So by all means go and check these guys out and go support them, its $40.

The band of the week this week is....

Clutch








Visit them:
Official Website
Wiki
Myspace

Delay In The M.E. Project Release

Due to Matt Edwards pushing for the development of The Blue Devil and his newly formed Untitled djent project with Christain Geese (The Blue Devil), the release of The M.E. Project's upcoming album The Omega Scroll has been delayed.

Matt still hopes to put out the album by August however when he formed his solo project he always knew that it would take a back seat when it came to his other bands.

------------------------

The newest addition to the AMG, Christians and Matts untitled band is still looking for a permanent drummer. So if you live in Auckland, play drums and like Meshuggah give us an email.

The bands first non improvisational song is currently being structured and put together at this time. They hope to record the song within the next couple of weeks, and by that time hopefully have a drummer to put the drums to it. Otherwise its back to the trusty old drum machine.

As well as the new song being written by Matt, Chris and Matt have decided that due to the differing stlyes and technical expertise between the two bands they have formed that the song Through Hell, currently under the band name of The Blue Devil, will be performed by their new untitled band instead.

New Blog For The AMG

The Asylum Music Group has just launched another blogspot for the sole purpose of helping New Zealand Musicians make their way in the giant world of music.

The new blog, titled: The Asylum Music Group's Musician Finder, is a place where individuals can post advertisements seeking a band to play with, or just other people to jam along with them, as well as for bands to seek new members and upload information about their upcoming events.

Its very easy to advertise on the blog - all you need to do is email the Asylum Music Group at asylummusic@msn.com with all the relevant information and within a few days a post will appear on the blog. Oh and of course, just like everything else with The AMG, its FREE.

Visit the new blog here: http://amg-musician-finder.blogspot.com/

Band of The Week

Alright another band of the week. Sticking with the usual, heavy djent style music, this weeks band of the week is another one man band, heavily influenced by Meshuggah. The instrumental style however allows for the artist to give them music a slighly more progressive twist.

Definately worth checking out.

The band of the week is...

Keith Merrow





Visit him at:
Myspace
Last.fm
Google

Update

Well we've been away at Mount Maunganui for the past week, hence having done no posts, but today the untitled djent project by guitarists Matt & Chris from The Blue Devil will be jamming with the first drummer who wishes to become apart of the magic. As of today another two drummers have applied for the vacancy, but I'm yet to check the emails this morning. So could be more :).

Anyway, if anything is good - it will be uploaded.

New Band Joining The Asylum Music Group

The new band joining the AMG is still on the look out for a drummer. Although their is one potential candidate, they would very much like to hear from anyone that plays drums and is into Meshuggah.

The style of music they play is rather unique but its best summed up by giving a list of the main five bands that come through in the guitar playing.

1) Meshuggah
2) Suffocation
3) Pantera
4) Earth
5) Gojira

So if you are at all interested in drumming for that sort of band then contact me at asylummusic@msn.com

The band is situated in Auckland, round the North Shore. The drummer does not need to be able to move his entire kit around as they already have one permenantly set up where they practice.

To get an idea of the style of music, the best recording to listen to would be The Darkened Dawn or Through Hell by The Blue Devil as they were written by the same members. Listening to Through Hell will explain the reason for a drummer. Haha.

They recorded their first song today, obviously without drums. A blend of Earth and Meshuggah, completely improvised for the full 38 minutes and 54 seconds. Well granted a few of the riffs had come up in previous improvisational jams between the two guitarists but the majority of the riffs were completely new. Im not sure but it may be uploaded onto the net for free download, but it may not. We shall see. I guess it all depends on how good it actually sounds timing wise.

Band of The Week

Just realised that I never put up the band of the week for the Sunday just been. So I guess I'll kill two birds with one stone, do both last weeks and this weeks in one post.

So the band of the week last week is one of the pioneers in stoner, doom and drone metal. The latest album they have released is pure brilliant. Very ambient sounding and very well just listen to the thing, its great.

The band of the week last week is....

Earth



Visit their:
Wiki
Myspace
Official Website

---

The band of the week this week is another New Zealand band, and in my opinion they have come a long way since their first album. The music has become a great deal more refined and given a groove element that pokes through the crushing death metal riffs to give it an extremely powerful headbangers dream.

The band of the week, this week is....

Dawn of Azazel





Visit their:
Website
Myspace

New Band to Join The AMG

With the next few days there should be another addition to The Asylum Music Group. A band based around the style of djent, death and progressive metal.

The band is currently looking for a drummer. The drummer should be able to play weird patterns such as those found in the works of Meshuggah and Four Question Marks, but also standard four beats and of course... double bass and the odd blast beat.

If you want to become part of this new band email The AMG at asylummusic@msn.com

The Blue Devil - The Darkened Dawn EP/Single [2009]

Ok, I'm releasing The Darkened Dawn in a 2 song pack for download. Obviously one track is The Darkened Dawn and the other track however is just an Intro. The intro is an electric, acoustic duo song that lasts about a minute. Its very lounge music style, you'll see.

Anyway, the whole point of this pack was to get it on Futuristic Metal, so hopefully it'll be up in the next week. Heres hoping.

The Blue Devil - The Darkened Dawn [Single] [2009]



Tracklisting:
1) Intro [0:40]
2) The Darkened Dawn [4:14]

Band: The Blue Devil
Album: The Darkened Dawn (Single)
Year: 2009
Genre: Instrumental, Djent, Death, Southern, Sci Fi, Experimental
Size: 9.94mb
Bitrate: 320kbps

-----

Download From:

Mediafire
Multiupload
Rapidshare
Megaupload
2Shared
Deposit Files
Hotfile
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Uploading.com
Badongo.com

-----

Band Credits:

Christian Geese: Guitar & Vocals
Matt Edwards: Guitar, Bass & Vocals
Dave Hu: Drums

Upcoming Zaryathus Release

There are two new upcoming singles to be released by Zaryathus. One of which you may already of heard. 'Celestrial Visitors' was released as a bonus track in the AMG - Best of 2009 compilation album released earlier this month. The second song 'Empire' has yet to be heard by anyone other than the artist as it is still a work in progress. The first Zaryathus song of 2010.

The two singles due to be released are part of the upcoming album by Zaryathus, and while it follows the same sci fi influenced background as the first album, the 2010 album promises to be less repeative than its predecessor. The 2010 Zaryathus album is titled 'The Obliteration of Planet 13'.

Band of The Week

This week we're back to the normal band of the week stuff again, so you know its good old djent, Meshuggah style. Oh and by the way you can get any of the Bands of the Week (minus the odd, random ones) from Futuristic Metal.

This weeks artist is a one man band, reportedly similar to the styles and sounds of Devin Townsend, DT, Meshuggah and Periphery. However he is extremely unique.

The Band of The Week is....

Chimp Spanner


Visit Chimp Spanner:
Myspace
Official Website
Sound Click

The Blue Devil News

I've been thinking about this over the last few of days, but I'm beginning to think that we should take The Blue Devil somewhere that gets a little more recognition. And I'm thinking my favourite metal blog - Futuristic Metal.

Its a great place to find new bands and it has plenty of djent style music, so you know its good. However, I'm not sure if we should wait and change our name before or after I try to get us onto Futuristic Metal...

Anyway point is, look out for The Darkened Dawn on Futuristic Metal over the next few weeks or so, it may be there. :)

Band of The Week

Its time for another band of the week. However this week I've decided to do something special. Being the first Sunday of the new year, well actually the first Sunday of the new decade, I've decided to do a special edition of Band of The Week.

So this week instead of giving one band, what I'm going to dois list the best album for each year between 2000 and 2009. Obviously this is all going to be in my opinion. And I know many of you wont agree. But as usual, if you dont have them/it then its definately worth a listen.

2000: Pantera - Reinventing The Steel

2001: Slayer - God Hates Us All

2002: Down - Down II: A Bustle In Your Hedgerow

2003: Devildriver - Devildriver

2004: Necrophagist - Epitaph, Lamb of God - Ashes of The Wake

2005: Four Question Marks - Aleph

2006: Meshuggah - Nothing (reissue - the original release is 2002)

2007: Swim In Styx - Zero Kelvin, Down - Over The Under

2008: Seven - Cymatics, Byzantine - Oblivion Beckons

2009: Cilice - Deranged Headtrip, Chimaria - The Infection