Formed in 2007 and hailing from Melbourne, Australia, these guys deliver crunching metal that makes the listener want to bang their head and pound their fist in the air with pride. The band has a love for metal that in my opinion, gas been missing from the scene for awhile, reminding me a little bit of Machine Head and old school Pantera, their brand new EP Segregation is chock full of guitar squeals and chugging metal riffs that will make you want to listen to the tracks again and again.

“Birth” is a perfect example of that while Nathan Roberts coming screaming across with brutal vocals, showing everyone why he’s one of the top metal vocalists in Australia. “Restraint” and “The Term is Frustration” are quick and in your face with an onslaught of insane guitar and drum work. “Annexation” slowly builds up the momentum again where you can hear Nathan’s anger just bleeding through the speakers.

With “Dirtbag” Doherty and Aaron Lowe on guitar, Simon Headley on drums, and Dani Jeffers on bass; there is never an issue of instrument overpowering the other, they all intertwine and compliments each other perfectly. You can tell these guys work well together and know how to get as much as possible out of each track.

This debut EP is something that all metal lovers will be able to appreciate, I advise that you go out and get a copy now!

The King of Funk, Sarsippius himself, presents you with the newest legend on bass…Steve Bruner! Besides playing with Suicidal Tendencies (and Snoop Dogg) now for over 6 years, Bruner is now doing double duty with Infectious Grooves and according to his band mates, will set a new bar for bass playing, just as Robert Trujillo did 17 years ago!

Dean Pleasants has also recruited his favorite guitar player, Tim Stewart a.k.a. “Timmy Shakes” for the new line-up. Tim has played with many of the biggest names in Pop and R&B and now gets to pop off with some super funky grooves that wouldn’t fit in the mainstream world.

Rounding off the new band is the incredible Eric Moore on drums. Eric was brought in to redefine the drum legacy of Infectious Grooves. Some might say Moore has big shoes to fill, but you’ve been warned… the new generation is set to push the boundaries even further into the future. Eric Moore, will have to be seen to believed!

Infectious Grooves was formed soon after Robert Trujillo joined Suicidal Tendencies in 1989. Mike Muir, Suicidal’s singer, and Trujillo got together with a few friends and started writing songs centered more around the bass, but with the intent of giving everyone else a whole lot of freedom.

Hey Dean! Thanks so much for taking the time to talk!

Dean Pleasants: Hey no problem, it’s great to talk to you.

So what made you guys decide to get back together after all these years?

DP: Oh wow, well after taking a long hiatus from recording in the studio we decided to do some tours in Europe. In 2008, we started touring, in 2009 we started touring with Suicidal Tendencies and it really went well so it just felt like the right thing to do.

Is there a new album in the works?

DP: Definitely we have tons of material. It’s just a matter of when’s the right time to release it, ya know?

Who decided to release the “Punk it Up/Funk it Up” live album?

DP: Well, Mike had been talking about it for awhile but it was Tom Abraham, our sound guy, who decided we should do it. A lot of people who heard our music were curious about who we are and where we came from so this gives them a pretty good idea.

A lot of people know about Infectious Grooves but not Cyko Miko, can you tell us a little bit about that?

DP: This is more Mike’s personal project. He loves punk rock and grew up listening to it. With this he can escape from Infectious and Suicidal and just do his own thing.

For people who haven’t heard your music before, what can they expect from Infectious Grooves?

DP: They can expect excellent musicianship and I think really cool music. I think people who haven’t heard us before will really like us.

How has the new bass player been working out?

DP: He’s great, I met him when he was sixteen in 2000 and he’s just amazing. He understands rock and punk rock and it’s been awesome having him in the group.

What other projects have you been doing?

DP: I’ve been spending some time in the studio myself, kind of working an independent, alternative rock project. It’s been a lot of fun.

Any words for your fans out there?

D: just when you see Infectious Grooves expect the unexpected. We’re like a roller coaster ride. Never know what’s going to happen next but it’s always a good time (laughs).

Right on, are you guys touring the U.S soon?

DP: We hope so, we’re setting up a show at the House of Blues in L.A. so once we get that confirmed we can start setting up a tour across the U.S.

Well, if you get a chance, we’d love to have you come play Hawaii. Especially the Big Island!

DP: Well shoot, call someone because we’d love to play Hawaii! (Laughs)

Awesome, well thanks so much again Dean and hope to talk to you again soon!

DP: Thank you! Definitely would love to talk again soon!

The album itself shares the tone by giving a very apocalyptic feel with tracks such as “A Planets Lament”, “World in Flames”, End of My Trail” and so on. I love the first track, “A Planet’s Lament”, with its chugging death metal riff and Sander Stegeman’s death metal vocals sound great here.

The only problem I have is when he comes in with his cleaner vocals. They’re not terrible; they just throw me off when I hear them combined with his growls. What I do like is that Posthuman is trying to create something with more catchy melodies instead of seeing who can play the fastest or loudest with their instruments.

With that said, Mark Sloot is a damn fine guitarist. He comes in with some slamming riffs on tracks such as “Into the Void” and “The Meaning of Death”. “World in Flames” has some great keyboards and gives the track a futuristic feel to it. “End of My Trail”, is a very basic song about losing his girlfriend in a car crash and he goes through it detail by detail. This is one that you might want to skip.

In general this is a well-done release; my only wish is that Mr. Stegeman pushes himself a little more with his melodies. He definitely has the capability and potential to do it; just needs a little tweaking with his vocal presence. If you enjoy melodic death metal that kind of walks away from the norm, then I suggest that you give “Rise from Ruins” a try!

There’s nothing really here that makes me want to listen to this album again. “Here is My Hell” is probably one of the hardest tracks on here with guest vocals from ex-Orphanage grunter, George Oosthoek accompanying her. “Head up High” is another solid effort with symphonic keyboard passages from keyboardist, Joost Broek, also formerly of After Forever. The third track, “Sweet Curse”, is a nice melodic track that is also a duet with Symphony X frontman, Russell Allen. The “In Sickness Till Death do Us Part” trilogy is where she completely lost me, I applaud her for trying something that she hasn’t done before but it just fell flat. Even with Bjorn of Soilwork helping her out on Part 2, it was unnecessarily long and it didn’t really go anywhere except for me forwarding to the next track.

“Kill Me with Silence” is one of the few different tracks that has a little bit of a different tempo with the guitar and drums just hovering in the background. It shows more of Floor’s vocal talent and is backed by a very powerful chorus. “Lost Myself” also ends the album very well with just a piano and Floor’s vocals. With nothing else around to disturb the vibe here you can really tell how talented she is as a singer.

The downside of ReVamp is repetitiveness. Though there are a few sporadic moments that show the band’s creativity it’s not enough to detract from the constant repetition. Although this is ReVamp’s debut, Floor herself has been doing this for some 12 or more years. I was hoping she would be able to keep adding newer elements to her music and push herself a little further in the creative department. While it didn’t really fulfill my musical tastes, fans of After Forever might want to check this out.

The album has a dark and moody vibe all the way through the album but again it’s so subtly done its brilliant by being so restrained and calm. “Christ or Cocaine” is one of my favorite tracks and embodies the vibe of Anne Wilson but F. also knows how to make it her own “House of 1000 Voices” is another great track that combines horror with rock and roll. You can envision a bunch of hippies in a haze of smoke after a night of blood-sacrificing rituals listening to this. The guitar melodies are all spot on, never really slows down, all up tempo and keeps the listener’s attention. “Angel’s Prayer” is classic Thin Lizzy; you can’t really miss it when you hear the guitar tracks right before F.’s vocals come in. Again, none of these tracks really hit heavy metal status, let alone black metal status so if you’re used to or expecting something with more intensity this will probably bore you if you’re not paying close attention.

A lot of seventies rock and hard rock have all gotten a bad rap but I highly advise that you do not pass off “The Time of No Time Evermore”. It’s like if Grace Slick, Rob Zombie, Jim Morrison, and Charles Manson all had a chance to get together at one time; this is what they would have created. The viciousness of the lyrics combined with F. the Mouth of Satan’s melody is eerie, haunting, and incredible. You definitely want to check this one out!