UPCOMING SHOWS

Wednesday, December 28, 2011

Logan's Top 10 Albums of 2011














1. Thrice - Major/Minor
2. Mastodon - The Hunter
3. Doomtree - No Kings
4. Opeth - Heritage
5. Blue Ox - Stray Dogs On Pitty Party Island
6. The Armed - Young & Beautiful
7. The Atlas Moth - An Ache For The Distance
8. Sims - Bad Time Zoo
9. The Mire - Volume II
10. Astronautalis - This Is Our Science

Will's number 1 albums of 2011!


This top list is in no particular order. It is just the bands that I have listened to the most or has really stood out to me in the last year. It's just a reflection of the last year of my life.


Will's Top 10:



1) Deftones - Diamond Eyes
1) Mastodon - The Hunter
1) Tombs - Path of Totality 
1) The Atlas Moth - An Ache For The Distance
1) Foo Fighters - Wasting Light
1) Trap Them - Darker Handcraft
1) Indian - Guiltless
1) Yob - Atma
1) Before The Eyewall - Euxine Currents
1) Guzzlemug - I know I probably shouldn't mention this, as this album, or 28 min song, has not been released yet but will probably drop sometime soon in 2012. However I will take my chances and share with you that this was probably the greatest piece of musical art I have ever had the privilege of listening to. And I know when you all finally get to hear it, you will probably agree with me! All I can really say right now is "HOLY $H!+, Adam Tucker + Guzzlemug = HOLY FUCK!"




Honorable mentions: 
Ken Mode<Venerable>, Blue Ox <Stray Dogs On Pity Party Island>, Lasting Impression <301.9>

Cris's Favorite Heavy Albums of 2011

Here’s my Top Seven albums of 2011. Yeah, Seven.
Because I’m a prick like that.
-C

Cris's Favorite Albums of 2011

Yob – Atma
Tom Waits – Bad As Me
Earth – Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light 1
The Atlas Moth – An Ache for the Distance
Tombs – Path of Totality
Krallice – Diotoma

Standout Pick: 
Northless – Clandestine Abuse



Tim's Top 10 of 2011

So, we thought it would be fun to pretend that people give a shit about our opinions for a hot minute! Anyway, everyone will be posting a list of their top 10 albums of the year. I'm up first. Click on the band name to go to their website/facebook and check them out. I figured, why give you new music, without instant, google-free access to it?!?! haha Anyway, enjoy!
-T

Tim's Top 10:


1. Altar of Plagues - Mammal

2. Thrice - Major/Minor

3. Abraham - An Eye on the Universe

4. The Atlas Moth - An Ache for Distance

5. A Storm of Light - As the Valley of Death Becomes Us, Our
Silver Memories Fade

6. Battlefields - Agassiz

7. The Mire - Vol. II

8. Tombs - The Path of Totality

9. Junius - Reports for the Threshold of Death

10. Thou - The Archer and the Owle

Honorable mentions: Mastodon - The Huner, Opeth - Heritage, Blue Ox - Stray Dogs on Pity Party Island
I chose albums that I listened to the most this year, plain and simple.

Thursday, December 22, 2011

Happy Holidays!


Enjoy. Check out the youtube channel for further information onn why there are goofy programmed drums and etc. lol

Monday, December 5, 2011

Weekend Travel Log

Wow, what an awesome weekend!
Here's a travel recap:
Will - Drives from St. Paul,MN to meet Erik in La Crosse.
Will & Erik - Drive to Madison in Will's car
Tim & Logan - meet Will & Erik at Madison area rest stop with the van and equipment, leave Will's car and continue on to Milwaukee
Tim, Logan, Erik, and Will - pick up Cris in Milwaukee and head to Chicago for the show.

Friday Night:
We played the Ultra Lounge (Pics below thanks to john mourlas: www.johnmourlas.com) with Himalayan, Masses, and Hunters. First off, let me just say, what a nice venue. It was a cool cocktail bar on one side, and the perfect small room live music club on the other. The staff was great, they gave us a nice parking spot and easy access to load in. The dude who put the show on was solid as fuck and super helpful as well. As for the bands, Masses was great. They seemed to have a 90's alt rock meets prog/post metal thing going on, which we all thought was pretty rad. Himalayan was a 3 piece that sounded like a 10 piece. Great band as well. Finally, Hunters: WOAH. Think Wolverine Blue era Entombed meets Bloodbath. We've been pals with these guys for a while, but this was our first chance to get together and play a show, and it was well worth the wait. These guys put on a great, super energetic show, and are tight and super heavy, so check them out Chicago folk!

Saturday:
We stayed over at our lovely friend Kiersten's house with her and her insane-o pit bull "puppy" who's name was Doggie James Dio. He was not only our partner in crime for a VHS marathon (cuz Kiersten's hip like that haha) but also a wonderful, bounding, 70 lb alarm clock! haha.
Anyway, we woke up and headed straight for Kumas to get some breakfast. And yes, giant burgers go exceptionally well with coffee.
Will with the YOB
My Impaled Nazarene

I honestly can't stress enough how amazing Kuma's Corner is. We go there everytime we are in Chicago, and we always will. The food is 100% amazing, the staff is crazy awesome, the music is great, etc etc etc. This is a DO NOT MISS if you go to chicago. Thanks a TON to Luke For making this breakfast possible!

Travel:
Whole band - Leaves Chicago for Milwaukee
Cris - grabs his truck in Milwaukee and follows the van back to the Madison rest stop where we now leave his truck 
Will - gets back in his car, and follows the band to La Crosse

Saturday Night:
We played one of our favorite venues, Jb's Speakeasy in good ol' La Crosse WI. Its a tiny place, but the sound is always great, we always have a great crowd, and we are good friends with the bar owner, so it always makes for a fun night. Of Conscience opened the show. They are a bunch of young kids from La Crosse, and man, they get better everytime we see them. These dudes will be making noise for a while, and I can't wait to watch them continue to grow as a band and kick ass. Sowbelly Bithhog was up next. Our previous drummer Jim Haugen joined Sowbelly a while back and we had been meaning to get a show together, and I'm really glad we did. Sowbelly has been around for a long time, but with Jim behind the kit, they've really stepped it up a notch. This band is (and always has been) heavy as fuck. They're again, a 3 piece that sounds way bigger than a 3 piece. They rocked about a 40 minute set of stoner rock grooves and slams, and it was awesome. After finishing our set and partying hard with our friends from La Crosse and Jim and Jeff from Sowbelly we called it a night and crashed on Jim's floor.

Sunday:
Blah, blah, everyone is hungover, we went to a breakfast place and waited way to long for breakfast, etc etc. lol

Travel:
Will - takes his car home to St. Paul
Erik - is home
Tim, Logan, & Cris - take the van back to the rest stop in Madison where Cris's truck is.
Cris - Drives home to Milwaukee
Tim and Logan - Drive to Practice space, unload all the gear, and then drive back to Tim's to park the van.
Logan - drives home to Steven's Point
Tim - is home, with his awesome bearded dog.


Anyway, this was a crazy long post, so I hope you found it entertaining and not as tiring to read as it was to actually do. haha. Can't wait for more weekends like this in 2012.  Enjoy the pictures!
-T

















Tuesday, November 29, 2011

Merch is up

Hey folks,
So we now have a merch store! (just click STORE in the nav bar up top!) Thanks to the wonders of Blogger and PayPal, we are able to control and manage it ourelves, which like everything else Orwell-related, we prefer.
That being said, pick some stuff up. We made it all dirt cheap so that you guys could really stack up for the holidays. Truth be told, we are working on tours for 2012, and would like to get some of the old stuff cleared out so we can get some new designs to take out with us.
If you have any questions, just drop us an email at orwell.metal@gmail.com.
- T

Thursday, November 24, 2011

Tuesday, November 8, 2011

silence is deafening.

(Napalm Death rules!!!)

Anyway, you may have noticed we seem like a bunch of lazy bums. Hopefully, you realize that is not the case!
After some plans fell through, we, as a band, decided that rather than try to slam touring plans together and get out there asap, that we would use the time to continue to work on new music. What that means to you, is that you won't have to wait 2 years to hear new music from us this time around. We are excited about that fact and we hope you are to!
As far as seeing us live goes, we hope to give you all the chance in the near future. We are working on booking some short run tours in 2012 and are making an apperance in Chicago on Dec 2nd, so we WILL be making our way to your city/state, however, our focus is to make great music. When enough people have heard and enjoy what we do, than we will be able to tour more, but until then, we choose to play where it makes the most sense for us. That being said, feel free to make a road trip to one of our shows and we will see to it that you are accomadated as best we can.
As always, we appreciate your patience with our normal snail's pace way, and we'll see you all soon!
-T

Friday, October 14, 2011

from depths.

So, it has been a while since we've posted on here and I have to apologize!
Right now we are working on a bunch of different stuff.

Unfortunately our touring plans did not work out, so it looks like we'll be stranded in the great white north until 2012. We are currently working on plans for an outing or two in the new year. While we are grounded we are working on our live show, and trying to add a few new elements to that, both visually and sonically, so hopefully by the time we get on the road, we will have those new elements worked into the show. Our plan is to attempt to melt your brain during our set, so bring a drull rag or a bib! haha

On top of all that, we are working on a cover and a couple of new tunes. I hope that these will see the light of day in the form of an EP or something within the first or second quarter of 2012, but can't make any promises at this time. Also, we are in cahoots with a few different people about the possibility of a vinyl release. This is in the early stages of development, so I can't make any promises yet, but I can assure you that like everything else we do, we will have our hands all over it, and will make sure that it is something special for those who choose to pick it up.

Anyway, we'll have more news soon. In the meantime, please download our cd, burn it for your friends, etc etc etc. The whole point of releasing the album for free was to make sure that people have a chance to hear it, regardless of if they have $6 or not, so please don't hesitate to give it away to anyone and everyone you think might enjoy it, we'd appreciate it! Also, head over to sputnickmusic and give us a review, or post a review on our Facebook page. Feedback is always fun, good or bad!
Thanks everyone!
-T

Friday, September 30, 2011

AVOHFASIH - Full Lyrics

Here are ALL of the lyrics to Avohfasih!
Read here, or download directly on the link below!
(hint: iPhone users, you can "add page to homescreen" to make this blog an ORWELL APP on your phone, also, if viewing this post on mobile, you can add the PDF to you iBooks app! It has a cover on your bookshelf and everything! How cool is that!?!?!
-T
Download PDF booklet

I. In Tides I Wake
breathe • open your eyes • washed away • back from the tides

speechless • the fears i refuse • to acknowledge (choking) • begin to manifest • holding out holding on • to a delusion (seeing colors)
desolation tightens its hold • losing track of time  • days begin to blur together • no longer feeling alive • decay degrade 
saturated • drifting apart • carried away

a prisoner of the open seas • drifting restless, alone • far far away 
• from me • far from the living

hopeless • soaking and drifting • praying to sink (choking) • floating, fading • letting go, moving on • to a delusion (seeing colors) • desolation washes over • losing track of time • days begin to blur together • 
no longer feeling alive • decay degrade
saturated • drifting apart • carried away

pulled out to sea • we wake to a rising tide

we tried to fight the waves • the current carried us away
drowning in self-made misery


II. In Crude I Remain
waking to a world in ruins • 
everything i've known stripped away
waking up to a world alone • 
every single seed i've sown has been washed away

unfamiliar with my surroundings • this place is now shrouded, encased, and soaked in black • unfamiliar with my surroundings • the haze permeates, it’s overwhelming • surrounded and sunk, • sopping and sluggish • inhaling crude, regrettably i remain 

wretchedness • take me • bring me home to sleep • sweet release

unbalanced  • abandoned • unsteady • i remain blank 

searching, wandering  • trying to find my way  • hopelessly • drifting and carried away • searching, wandering  • trying to find my way  • hopelessly drifting and carried away

unbalanced  • abandoned • unsteady • i remain
save me • free me • save me • hades • save me • take me



III. In Depths I Sink
serpentine tongues deceive me with their siren songs • 
leading me on to believe  in voices of pretend • lashing out at what is nothing more than a figment of my own imagination

apparitions come to life

dream on vivid dreamer • lack of action won’t make believers • put faith in something real • something tangible you can feel

apparitions come to life • a nightmare is realized

i held my breath for far too long • always turned a blind eye • one step outside myself • let go • got lost inside my mind

forked tongues deceiving me • got lost in apathy • 
thrashing about at sea • attacking my integrity

dream on vivid dreamer • lack of action won’t make believers • put faith in something real • something tangible you can feel

so where are you now • wandering in forever after • you left me to burn in gehenna over days and weeks and years 

IV. From Depths I Rise
you're dreaming awake • you're not alone • 
from depths you will rise • i'll pull you home • 
you're dreaming awake 

i can feel it washing over me
i can feel it • these tides set me free

the tides have changed • they carry me towards the shore
with the winds at my back i can move onward

it was your destiny to walk in the clouds • 
to go our separate ways and pursue our own dreams

A View Of Heaven From A Seat In Hell
i watched you faultier • i saw the moment that you fell



V. In Dust I Stand
too scared to let go • remain chained to this anchor • letting it drag me down • 
i can't hold my breath forever

how am i supposed to move when i'm letting this guilt weigh me down • dragging me beneath the surface • continue with excuses • they only drag me down •
 it won't be long til i'm dead in the water

no longer will i be plagued by a guilty conscience
how was i supposed to move • i was buried in wavesof uncertainty 
no longer will i be plagued by a guilty conscience

seeking deliverance from the fate my transgressions have earned • 
trying only to make sense of a lesson to be learned

not scared to let go • unchained from this anchor • pulling myself to ground  • 
i can breathe, i can stand

no more dwelling on the past • it will haunt me no longer
i won’t sink any lower • i won’t let this drag me down (x1)

in dust i rise

seeking deliverance from the fate my transgressions have earned • 
trying only to make sense of a lesson to be learned
seizing deliverance from belief that i have no control • 
trying only to have purpose • a lesson has been learned 

no more dwelling on the past • i won't let it haunt me any longer 
i won’t sink any lower • i won't let this drag me any lower


VI. A New Awakening
for the first time in a while i have a reason to hope • i have a reason to smile • for the first time in several years there’s nothing holding me back • nothing to interfere

my eyes have been unveiled • a shroud has been lifted • 
i can see clearly now • that the haze has subsided 
there’s no going back to the ways of the past • 
and with that realization there comes some sort of relief
a burden has been lifted • i now breathe with ease

a new beginning • a breath of fresh air • new life has left my lungs • rejuvenated • 
a new beginning • a new awakening • new life has left my heart Rejuvenated

my eyes now see the subtle beauty inside of everything i previously overlooked • the splendor of life • the joy that it brings never really ceases to amaze me

sand on my feet the earth beneath me • the most comforting feeling, it fills me with  a warmth that i had lost • to have solid ground beneath me • to no longer be floating  • to be standing in tribute to new life • a new flood of color and verve

a new beginning • a new awakening • new life has left my heart Rejuvenated

now that i’ve found myself i can move on in a new direction

i am replenished, i am renewed • i’m seeing life through a new point of view • no longer taking every moment for granted • with every breath i’m feeling blessed to be alive

now that i’ve found myself i can move on in a new direction 

for the first time in a while i have a reason to hope • i have a reason to smile • for the first time in several years there’s nothing holding me back nothing to interfere

Friday, September 16, 2011

doing something right.

Hey everyone,
well, since the last post, the record has been unleashed and slowly making its way across the world. We have had orders coming from all over the earth, including Japan, France, Canada, Columbia, Colombia, Israel, the UK, etc etc, so that has been incredibly cool to see! We thank all of you fans abroad to for paying the extra few bucks in shipping! We tried to keep the cd to the lowest price possible for everyone. 
 Anyway, one of those righteous fans happened to send us an email the other day, and we just thought that was pretty cool, so I thought we'd post that email (we omitted his name, just in case he doesn't want to be on our shitty website! hahaha)
*****
Hello Orwell

I've successfully received your album the other day and I must say I'm thoroughly impressed by the whole thing (package and the music).
It's a very unique CD and I'm keeping the words of appreciation with the lyrical book. I must admit it touched me deeply to see an artist to be so appreciative. It makes me wish I had paid so much more for your CD (I'm a student who just moved, fucking ouch) because it would be totally worth it.
I'll definitely be buying a t-shirt if you guys ever release one and I hope to see you guys live at the other side of the pond, as you guys put so eloquently.
My copy of AVOHFASIH is the most prized possession of my 2000+ albums counting musical collection. You guys can be proud!
Keep up the good work guys! I'll see about writing a review for the album and posting it on Sputnik Music when I feel I can do it justice.

Kindest regards of a new fan,


*****


So that was cool to read and kind of demonstrates the overall reaction we have received to the packaging and the physical album. Hopefully other bands take note and realize that if you truley put your heart into something, people will support it.


Also, I have to note that we were on the cover of La Crosse's alt-news-art-music-scene (like the city pages in other big cities, only cooler ;) paper  yesterday, and that is also incredibly cool to us. We all read and love the second supper, it is a staple of La Crosse Wisconsin, which is a town we all have a deep love and appreciation for, so to be honored on the cover and in the pages of the second supper is pretty fulfilling for us! I haven't had a chance to read to the article yet (as I live 3 hours from LaX) but they always do a great job, so go grab one of these free pieces of awesome.




Lastly, I must apologize for giving a weeks worth of updates in one post. After the album finally dropped and our release shows go under our belts, it was time to take a few days to breath and refocus. That's over though, and it's go time now! haha


Check out these recent interviews with some uber-rab webzines we did!


American Aftermath Interview with Erik:
http://americanaftermath.net/2011/09/15/exclusive-interview-orwells-erik-bolstad/


Metal Army America interview with Tim:
http://www.metal-army.com/?tag=avohfasih


Infernal Rock Radio iterview with Tim (audio):
http://affiliate.kickapps.com/_Orwell-Interview/audio/899693/64462.html?widgetId=19958


That's it for now! More to come soon.
As we have asked, and continue to ask, please show everyone you know AVOHFASIH, we are extremely proud of this record and confident that anyone who has at least a tolerance for metal and heavy music can find something within the record. Thank all of you guys so much!!!!
-T







Tuesday, September 6, 2011

IT'S HERE!

After a year of writing, 2 months of recording, and 2 months of putting packaging together etc. AVOHFASIH has been released upon the world.
We hope you all enjoy the hell out of it!!!
 
DOWNLOAD IT: http://orwellus.bandcamp.com/
 
NAME YOUR OWN PRICE:
 
Digital: no minimum, download free, or give us a tip. If you don't pay, please at least show your friends and spread the word!

Physical: only 300 copies available. $6 minimum.

THANK YOU!!!!
-T

Friday, August 26, 2011

It's almost here!

So, you can now head on over to
 http://orwellus.bandcamp.com/
and pre-order your copy of AVOHFASIH. Both the digital and physical versions are available for pre-order on the site and you get a free download of "In Tides I Wake" just for pre-ordering. The album is currently for sale at $6, and the digital is Name-Your-Own-Price (starts at $1). After the release date, the digital version of the album will be free.

If you aren't quite convinced we rock hard enough for you to pay $1 for our music, you can listen to the entire album EXCLUSIVELY on metalinsider.net starting next wednesday.

WE ARE PUMPED!
-T

Tuesday, August 23, 2011

a new page!

http://officialorwell.blogspot.com/p/press.html

Yep, we now have a page dedicated to showing you the Orwell sightings around the web. If you see something we don't have listed, shoot us an email at orwell.metal@gmail.com or on our facebook wall!
Thanks!
-T

Monday, August 22, 2011

ch-ch-ch-ch-CHANGES!


Yesterday, we were all avid Metalsucks readers. Today we are on Metalsucks. Very cool moment for us. Thanks to the Vince at MS for checking out the album and giving us a shout out!
-T

Wednesday, August 17, 2011

Download "In Crude I Remain" FREE!

Midwest Movement has been a force to be reckoned with in the midwest for quite some time. That being said, we are proud, excited, and honored to be involved with them!

SO, get your ass over to the following link and download the new Midwest Movement Summer Metal sampler. It includes our song "In Crude I Remain" (exclusive download!) as well as 5 tracks from some other super rad midwest bands!

DOWNLOAD:
http://www.midwestmovement.com/mwm-summer-sampler/



Saturday, August 13, 2011

"In Tides, I Wake" - a taste



Here's snippet of the first song of off AVOHFASIH entitled "In Tides, I Wake"
Enjoy
-T

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Saturday, July 16, 2011

First shows back

Well, here we are, Saturday July 16th, and we have finally started playing shows again! What a great pair of shows to get us back into the swing of playing. We had an amazing weekend traveling to Michigan, camping, etc, etc.  On top of all that it was Will's and my fiance Dani's birthday, so we had celebrating to do the whole time. Either way, check out the pics if you'd like to see some of what we saw! haha.
See you all on the road soon!


New song coming in T-minus 3 days!


To those of you who came out and grabed a cassette and a poster, we hope you dig it!
-T

Logan loves to travel.