AWESOME NO-BULLSH*T BAND CZAR MAKE AWESOME NO-BULLSH*T VIDEO & GO ON AWESOME NO-BULLSH*T TOUR STARTING NEXT WEEK

Hopefully Chicago trio Czar has been on your radar for some time now, but if not here’s your chance to get down with one of the best new bands in quite some time. I included their excellent full-length debut Vertical Mass Grave (fabulously recorded by Matt Talbott, guitarist/vocalist of Hum) on my year-end list for 2011, and I’m foaming at the mouth for the upcoming rare chance to see these guys decimate live.

We’re now premiering their new video for “Family Crest” (for which we also premiered the track on this here site last Fall) off of said album. It reflects the band’s no-nonsense, robust and complex approach to musicmaking: it’s pretty much a performance video, but projections and glichy effects create an off-kilter take on a tried-and-true method.

I’ve been telling people that Czar’s sound is something like “Mastodon meets Helmet” (and I can hear some Gojira in there too), but frankly it’s so much more. As a former Thrill Jockey/Drag City enthusiast (Tortoise, Trans Am, Jim O’Rourke, etc), I often find Chicago musicians to have a unique take on melody, and Czar is no exception. They make challenging yet palatable sounds for a new age of metal.

Tour dates after the jump (including a kickoff show in Cleveland with Crowbar & Prong, and an NYC Precious Metal date with yours truly DJing!)

April 18 – Cleveland, OH @ Peabody’s (w/ Crowbar, Prong)
April 19 – Pittsburgh, PA @ 31st St Pub
April 20 – Richmond, VA @ Strange Matter (Year of Shit III Fest)
April 21 – Montclair, NJ @ The Meatlocker
April 22 – Wilmington, DE @ Mojo 13
April 23 – New York, NY @ Precious Metal at Lit Lounge (BONUS: I’m DJing!)
April 24 – Fairfax, VA @ The Old Firestation #3

-KW