Apiary change name to Early Graves – new album in August

Erik T — Fri, 20 Jun 2008 14:28:25 +0000

Apiary have changed their name to Early Graves. Band guitarist Christ Brock had the following to say on the matter:
“We changed the name from Apiary to Early Graves for a pretty simple reason. The songs we had created on the road under the former name had nothing to do with the original Apiary and we needed a new name that was a better fit, and more relevant to who we are. We wanted a name that meant burning your wick at both ends. It also didn’t hurt that there was not original members left and we didn’t want to be that band.”
The band will release their new album “We: The Guillotine” through Ironclad/Metal Blade on August 19th, with two tracks from it now available online here. The effort was recorded with Steve Austin (Converge, Lamb Of God) at the helm and features the following track listing:
01 – “Ballistics”
02 – “Safety Net Acrobats”
03 – “House Nigger”
04 – “First Name: William”
05 – “Rest”
06 – “Last Name: Porter” (feat. Steve Austin)
07 – “The Man In Black Fled Across The Desert”
08 – “Ghosts Among Us”
09 – “Borrowed Teeth, Borrowed Claws”
10 – “Here There Be Monsters” (feat. Steve Austin, Eugene Robinson)
11 – “City Of Angels of Nothing at All”

Apiary – Lost in Focus

Erik T — Tue, 02 May 2006 20:34:42 +0000

Though most think Metal Blade are more miss than hit with their recent metalcore offerings (i.e Phoenix Mourning, Machinemade God), their sub label, Ironclad have had a little more success (The Classic Struggle, If Hope Dies) and continue that with this debut album.

Though named after a bee farm, not a very metal moniker I’ll admit, Apiary deliver the type of angular but burlier Meshuggah-isms similar to the likes of A Life Once Lost, By Night, Brutal Fight and The Minor Times; that’s to say heaving, heavy and staggering metal that’s hard to bang your head to.

Music like this isn’t about songs, as to be truthful, Lost in Focus tends to blend into one long angular, jagged assault with Jason Ingram’s deep roar in accompaniment, but when taken as a whole, Lost in Focus is a bludgeoning jackhammer of counter rhythms and precise percussion that’s one of the better, and heavier examples of the genre I’ve heard.

A few of the tracks manage to stand out due to the sheer heaviness on display though; ‘Descent’ (the last two minutes is just fucking brutal), the steam rolling ‘Omnipresence’, and the gargantuan yet restrained ‘Finding a Way Back’ were worth a revisit. Still though, the other tracks are no slouches as far as this form of technical beat down is concerned; ‘Pain is the Reason’, ‘Extract’, ‘Intervention’ and ‘Lustrum’ all deliver plenty of teeth gnashing, squeal heavy, lumbering throes.

Another solid offering from Ironclad that shows originality can be a tad overrated.

Apiary – Teeth of the Divine

Apiary change name to Early Graves – new album in August

Apiary – Lost in Focus