Alt-metal titans Carbonstone are coming out swinging with their latest single and music video, “Standoff,” which releases May 30th. The new track boasts a vocal collaboration with Jonny Santos of Silent Civilian, Spineshank, and The Less Dead. With “Standoff,” Carbonstone has taken their raw emotion and relentless energy to the next level, and it packs the punch of a speeding freight train.
This song is multi-layered, both musically and in its history. Says Carbonstone frontman Corey James, “I actually wrote this way back in 2010. [“Standoff”] was originally released as a demo on an old EP called Strength in Silence. It was completely organic with zero electronic elements.”
But the track stuck with him, as some songs do, and James found himself circling back to it. “I sometimes revisit songs from the past, and this one has always spoken to me. I thought it would be really cool to bring it back and give it a complete makeover.”
Enter Jonny Santos, an influential figure in James’ musical journey. The two artists began talking after James reached out. “I literally saw him make a post and took a shot in the dark.” The conversation turned to the topic of a collaboration and, says James, a reimagining of “Standoff” immediately came to mind. The result is an in-your-face piece with the electronic/industrial/nu metal stylings so true to Carbonstone.
“Standoff” is roughly four minutes of vented fury, unleashed in the form of crunchy guitars, steady percussion, and the vocal interplay between James and Santos. The track calls out those who take advantage of the people around them and gives a hearty middle finger to anyone who believes your only worth is in being used and controlled.
“It’s such a shame you betray everyone with the fucking words you say/You believe I’m so weak/Come and get a motherfucking piece of me!”
The song is another example of a story carefully constructed with music, something at which Carbonstone excels. Using a maelstrom of instrumentation with a dance between a low tortured growl and an outburst of rage-filled screams, it carries the listener through the narrator’s emotional journey of becoming fed up with somebody who is manipulative and breaking the chains that once bound them together.
Catharsis is then reached after the second chorus, when James and Santos declare “I’m letting you go.” Echoing the release of all the anger and the sense of resolve that has been found, there is a brief acoustic interlude, and the track reaches its conclusion with a sprinkle of flamenco style picking.
“Standoff” will be available on May 30th. The music video premieres at 8 p.m. EST, and the song will hit streaming services at midnight!
You can pre-save “Standoff” here, and you can find links to all of Carbonstone’s socials and streaming profiles at carbonstone.net.
Industrial metal legends Nine Inch Nails are setting out on the Peel It Back Tour in early June! Featuring support from Berlin-based Boys Noize, this three month run spans Europe and North America, with stops in Dublin, Milan, Paris, Vancouver, Toronto, Chicago, Brooklyn, Los Angeles, and more! Tickets are on sale at nin.com!
6/15 – Dublin, IE – 3Arena
6/17 – Manchester, UK – Co-op Live
6/18 – London, UK – The O2
6/20 – Cologne, DE – Lanxess Arena
6/21 – Dessel, BE – Graspop Metal Meeting 2025*
6/24 – Milan, IT – Parco Della Musica Novegro
6/26 – Zurich, CH – Hallenstadion
6/27 – Vienna, AT – Wiener Stadthalle
6/29 – Amsterdam, NL – Ziggo Dome
7/1 – Berlin, DE – Uber Arena
7/3 – Gdynia, PL – Open’er Festival 2025*
7/5 – Roskilde, DK – Roskilde Festival 2025*
7/7 – Paris, FR – Accor Arena
7/8 – Lyon, FR – LDLC Arena
7/11 – Madrid, ES – Mad Cool Festival 2025*
7/12 – Oeiras, PT – Nos Alive Festival 2025*
8/6 – Oakland, CA – Oakland Arena
8/8 – Portland, OR – Moda Center
8/10 – Vancouver, BC – Rogers Arena
8/12 – Seattle, WA – Climate Pledge Arena
8/14 – Salt Lake City, UT – Maverik Center
8/15 – Denver, CO – Ball Arena
8/17 – Saint Paul, MN – Xcel Energy Center
8/19 – Chicago, IL – United Center
8/20 – Chicago, IL – United Center (Added date!)
8/22 – Detroit, MI – Little Caesars Arena
8/23 – Toronto, ON – Scotiabank Arena
8/26 – Baltimore, MD – CFG Bank Arena
8/27 – Philadelphia, PA – Wells Fargo Center
8/29 – Boston, MA – TD Garden
8/31 – Cleveland, OH – R.M. Fieldhouse
9/2 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center
9/3 – Brooklyn, NY – Barclays Center (Added date!)
Gothic rock/metal band Dead Posey has shared dates for The Damned & The Dead Tour. Featuring special guests Ovtlier and Another Day Dawns, this early summer run kicks off June 11th in Denver, Colorado. Tickets and VIP are available at deadposey.com!
Note: The TBAs for June 26th and 27thhave been shared, and a date in Michigan was added!
6/11 – Denver, CO – HQ
6/12 – Lincoln, NE – The Royal Grove
6/13 – West Dundee, IL – RocHaus
6/14 – Des Moines, IA – xBk Live
6/15 – Madison, WI – High Noon Saloon
6/16 – Cadillac, MI – The Venue Event Center (New date!)
I always enjoy hearing artists’ takes on songs they love, and the most fun reimaginings to me are the ones that come from a completely different genre than the original. Over the past week, two such renditions have been released into the world. The third cover… Well, it was always a dark song, so an infamously dark artist sharing his version makes sense.
1.Priest: “Black Hole Sun”
Yes, that “Black Hole Sun.” It’s so Priest, but I think it’s a very respectful nod to Soundgarden and the original. And, let’s be honest, it takes balls to release a song and know everyone is going to be comparing your vocals to Chris Cornell’s.
2. Aesthetic Perfection: “Fade to Black”
Aesthetic Perfection is a self-proclaimed industrial pop act. Hearing them do a Metallica track was unexpected, but I dig it.
3. Marilyn Manson: “In the Air Tonight”
Manson prides himself on shocking people. His entire career is based on it, in fact. He has done odd covers before. However, I just never would have predicted a Phil Collins song. Lol. As stated above, it kinda makes sense. The subject matter of “In the Air Tonight” is rather dark. Who better to reimagine it than Marilyn Manson and Tyler Bates?
Industrial metal band Genitorturers have shared a handful of spring dates at short notice. The “Scars and Stripes” tour features special guest Red Devil Vortex and kicks off April 18th in Tampa, FL. Grab your tickets at genitorturers.com and come see the self-proclaimed “world’s sexiest rock band!”
Gothic rock/metal band Dead Posey has shared dates for The Damned & The Dead Tour. Featuring special guests Ovtlier and Another Day Dawns, this early summer run kicks off June 11th in Denver, Colorado. Tickets and VIP are available at deadposey.com!
(City/venue for June 26th and 27th arestill TBA. I will update this post whenever the information becomes available.)
Powerman 5000 is kicking off a West Coast run in six days. Featuring special guests Julien-K and Makes My Blood Dance, this 12-date mini-tour includes stops in Anaheim, San Francisco, Tucson, and Las Vegas. Tickets can be purchased via the venues’ sites or Powerman 5000’s Bandsintown!
4/11 – San Diego, CA – House of Blues
4/12 – Anaheim, CA – House of Blues
4/13 – San Francisco, CA – DNA Lounge
4/15 – Seattle, WA – El Corazon
4/16 – Portland, OR – Star Theater
4/18 – Roseville, CA – Goldfield Trading Post
4/19 – Fresno, CA – Full Circle Brewing Co.
4/20 – Modesto, CA – Persuasion Brewing
4/22 – Tucson, AZ – The Rock
4/23 – Tempe, AZ – Marquee Theatre
4/25 – Bakersfield, CA – The Nile Theater (There was a change. This is the correct city and venue.)
4/26 – Temecula, CA – Temecula Sports Lounge/Restaurant
Seethe is an alternative/nu metal artist hailing from Pittsburgh. Spawning from the isolation of Covid lockdowns in 2020, this project has taken on a life of its own. With a handful of albums and EPs and an expansive catalog of singles to his name, Seethe shows no signs of slowing down.
One of the first people to let me review his music when I started my own journey, I’m surprised it has taken us this long to do an interview! We discussed his musical beginnings, inspiration, dream collaborations, and much more – and I feel like we only scratched the surface! Check it out!
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Mostly Music: So let’s talk some background first. How did you get started making music?
Seethe: Music has always been there. It’s in the blood on both my mom’s side and my dad’s side. I grew up around anything from oldies, to bluegrass, to metal, rock, and hip hop. I was air guitaring and singing with a brush as a microphone before I was even potty trained!
MM: That vast array of exposure explains a lot. Lol. Your music definitely has quite a bit of variety.
Do you have any particular band/artist that was, like, The One that made you really wanna pursue this? Or a song? I know it’s not always that specific, but…
Seethe: There are many layers to that. First, I was a guitarist that dabbled in some piano and bass, then over time, transferred to lead vocals. Stevie Ray Vaughn and Jerry Cantrell made me wanna pick up and sling the ole six string. In my high school years, I was deep into acoustic pop rock with the likes of John Mayer, Secondhand Serenade, Dashboard Confessional, and Five Times August. When it came down to vocals (waaaaay early on), I hadn’t found my voice and was attempting very bad Creed/Breaking Benjamin vocals til I started actually singing and exploring my voice round 3, 2016. Phil Anselmo, Tim Williams, and Billy Keeton were very, very influential in where I was trying to go vocally as I began to explore my voice.
MM: Okay, with all that going on, how did you find your sound? I know your sound varies, but for a while, you leaned heavily into the trap metal end of things, so to speak. Was that a conscious decision, or was it more…you played around with ideas and found that that particular genre fit what you were going for?
I feel like I’m wording that badly…
Seethe: Covid honestly was really responsible for the creation of Seethe. I had begun to dabble in electronic music but never had the guts to release it. Anything I had released up to that point I had a band or a partner in crime, and I always had that comradery and support, but never enough guts to put something out solely by myself. At the start it was mainly just to make some music with an electronic edge like the “Queen of The Damned” soundtrack with the modern soundscape of the trap metal genre that had been blowing up in recent years. While a niche genre, it allowed me to develop and grow. After 4-ish years of producing and releasing trap metal tracks, I had decided it was time to start branching out and shifting my sound. That’s honestly the beauty of being a solo artist. Yes, there is more work, and it literally all falls on my shoulders, but I could/can do what I want, when I want.
MM: So, this may be a stupid question, but with the recent releases veering into a less electronic/trap-oriented direction, are you still working solo?
Seethe: Nope. If I had the equipment and better resources, I definitely would (Lord knows it would probably be cheaper if i did, given my rate of output). Fortunately, I have met many different and awesome producers along the way. Sometimes, we work together on a project from the ground up, or it’s a matter of me merely scavenging beats/instrumentals I find and lease or purchase. Some awesome producers I’ve worked with (but not limited to) – Slaughter, APXLLYXN, Exor, Gus Wallner, VIXLENCE, Last of a Dying Breed. Can’t forget Aura Abnormal, and Dead Prophet Alive.
MM: You have released four tracks so far this year. Congratulations on that, by the way. Can you give me a bit of background on the most recent single, “Oceans”?
Seethe: “Oceans” is one of the first songs in a while that wasn’t written introspectively. It’s more of an observation about the world as we see it now. All of the doom and gloom and tension that hangs in the air. REM said it best: “it’s the end of the world as we know it.”
In the recording side of things, this was a fun/challenging one to work on. Jacob Lizotte is an amazing producer/composer, and that forced me to really up my game vocally. The music not only goes hard in the paint, but it’s also very open and has a sort of ambient atmosphere to it, so I had plenty of room to paint the canvas with my craft.
MM: I wanna ask a question that’s kinda just for fun, but I love the answers I get. If you could collaborate with anyone, who would it be?
Seethe: Dream collabs would be Layne Staley, Phil Anselmo, Damien Starkey, Brock Lindow, and Chad Gray.
MM: A Chad Gray collab would be SO good!!! So what is your creative process? How do you piece songs together? (I’m interested in both the writing and recording aspects, but hands down, I grasp the writing part a lot more easily. I know nothing about recording.)
Seethe: The creative process varies. It’s honestly one of my favorite things about art. I am a multi-instrumentalist, but I unfortunately don’t have a means to record anything besides vocals. I have been fortunate enough to work alongside multiple producers and composers to build songs from the ground up. Sometimes, someone will hit me with a piece of music and want me to man vocals. Other times, it’s merely me scavenging on BeatStars or YouTube, looking for a beat that catches my ear. A lot of times, the songwriting for me is very spur of the moment or if something catches my ear. You never know when inspiration is gonna strike.
Or other times I will have a song written up and it’s a matter of finding or creating the music to bring it all together. There are times I will sit on a song or idea for months, or it comes out on the spot in minutes. Collabs are always fun as well. It’s a different energy when you have someone bring you on and you are putting your craft with someone else’s vision.
MM: We could probably keep talking for ages, but I’ve already used up a lot of your time. Thank you very much for this interview. I look forward to hearing what you come up with next and perhaps having another conversation about…well, everything!
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In the time since we wrapped up our chat, Seethe has announced the release of his fifth single for 2025, “Reprieve.” The track will hit streaming services on April 26th. You can pre-save it here!
But while you’re waiting, be sure to listen to the other songs he has dropped since January – “Mandela Effect,” “IDT (Falling in Wait),” “Depths,” and “Oceans.” These four offerings grant a glimpse into the wide creative range Seethe possesses and the varied stylistic choices he makes. If you enjoy what you hear, follow him on your favorite platforms so that you never miss any Seethe music news!
Mostly Music 