May 282011
 

I’m afraid that I was so damned emotionally affected by Ferne Tage, the new genre-bending album from Germany’s Ära Krâ, that I got perhaps too emotional in my review (published here). Thing is, even a month later, the album is still an intense listening experience — something like a blackened form of metalcore with progressive elements, a mix of harrowing catharsis and melancholy beauty. It’s standing up extremely well to repeat listening.

I confess I’ve also been intrigued about who these guys are, what other bands they’re in (or have been in), what prompted the creation of this album, and a bunch of other subjects, many of which are none of my damned business. But “shy” and “retiring” aren’t in my vocabulary, so I pestered the band for an interview, and they foolishly agreed.

I think if I’d been able to confront them in person, gotten them really liquored up, and then subjected them to the irresistible power of my personal charisma, I might have had more success worming personal details out of them. But alas, the famous Seattle tech-geek community still hasn’t perfected the human teleporter, and so I had to do this by e-mail.

Still, I do believe I succeeded in multiplying the quantity of publicly available Ära Krâ information by a few orders of magnitude, given how secretive they are. Read their interesting answers to my intrusive questions after the jump. And if you haven’t yet downloaded Ferne Tage from their Bandcamp page, you really should. Continue reading »

May 272011
 

I thought I was finished with blogging for the day, but then one of those things happened to me. One of those things where I decided to take a break from my day job and listen to a bit of music and had a HOLY FUCK!! moment. When those moments happen, the second thing I think (after thinking HOLY FUCK!!) is, “I gotta get this up on the fucking blog ASAP!” I’m afraid I just can’t keep hot discoveries to myself — have to share.

Here’s how this HOLY FUCK!! moment came about: NCS reader and frequent commenter Utmu sent me an e-mail three days ago with a handful of recommendations. Lazy, distracted monkey that I am, I didn’t check out his links until that work-break I took about 30 minutes ago. It so happens that the first of Utmu’s recommendations was a Polish band called Deivos.

The name rang a faint bell, perhaps because I heard or read something about one of their two albums — Emanation From Below (2006) or Gospel of Maggots (2010) — but I was sure I’d never heard their music. So, I followed Utmu’s link and found a new song from a new album (Demiurge of the Void) that’s due for release by Unique Leader Records on September 27.

That song turned out to be just fucking awesome. It really reminded me of a cross-section of two death metal bands I dearly love — Fleshgod Apocalypse and Decapitated — in the sense that it’s a flat-out, jet-fueled, turbo-charged, smokin’ hot, rubber-laying drag racer of a song, with the staging lights all lit green. Wonderfully fast, tight execution and an unstoppable groove. Just too damned much fun to hog for myself as we accelerate toward the weekend. Go check it out after the jump — and I found one more song from that forthcoming album for you, too. Continue reading »

May 272011
 

We had lots of fun last year with the 70,000 Tons of Metal cruise, thinking of all the things that could go wrong (for example, this). You can’t blame us, can you? Seriously, the idea of putting about 2,000 metalheads on board a ship with 40 metal bands and 24/7 bars and shoving it off into the Caribbean just seemed like an invitation to disaster.

Our fun-poking stopped, of course, when the cruise happened, no one died, and it appeared that everyone actually had a pretty good time. The tour organizers must have made some money on the thing, because now they’re launching a reprise of the cruise, scheduled to sail from Miami on January 23, 2012. Public ticket sales will start on May 31. Instead of voyaging to a Mexican island, as they did this past January, the new 4-day cruise will be bound for the Cayman Islands, where they have pubs.

Ten bands have already signed on for this next edition of the cruise, including Amorphis, Moonsorrow, and Pestilence. You can see all the names of those adventurous 10 right after the jump.

Did any of you go on the first cruise? Was it worth it? Did people actually die, and it just got covered up? Continue reading »

May 272011
 

(We’re pretty close to just turning the whole site over to Andy Synn. Today we have Andy’s third post since Monday. Here’s his review of the new EP by Job For A Cowboy, which be available digitally and physically via mail-order (only from Indiemerchstore.com) on June 7.)

Doom & Gloom. A perfect pairing in so many ways. Showcasing as they do the growth and evolution of JFAC’s ungodly chimeric creation, two sides of the same coin, still redolent with untapped potential, which has lost none of its lustre or value over the years.

If it is impossible to discuss JFAC without mentioning the dreadful pejorative “deathcore”, then let me address the issue in this manner; the band have, for me, always epitomised the strengths and possibilities of what the sub-genre could, and should be. Taking death metal’s powerful engine and building a sleeker, more modern vehicle around it, fuelled by youthful energy and ambition, the band have joined other such groups of the modern death metal pantheon, such as The Black Dahlia Murder and Aborted, who have (at times) been tagged with the “deathcore” identity, yet (thankfully) have little in common with what the sub-genre has unfortunately become. The one thing the aforementioned groups do have in common however is the admirable growth and maturation they have achieved over the years.

From youthful fire-starters, attempting simultaneously to both ape the achievements of their predecessors yet also define themselves by opposition to what came before, these acts have found that one CAN build an identity on the genetic blueprints of their forebears without becoming clones of them, and as such have become more comfortable within the death metal mould, yet not limited by it exclusively. They are no longer afraid of learning from, or being associated with their parents, having reached the understanding of adulthood themselves. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

May 262011
 

I’m in a hurry, so no words, other than to say my new hero (and occasional NCS writer) Siddharth Darbha just e-mailed me a link to this, which purports to be a new Gojira song from their long-awaited EP, The Sea Shepherd, and that it purports to include guest participation by Devin Townsend and Fredrik Thordendal (Meshuggah).  I have to go change my underoos now.

May 262011
 

I’ve been thinking about Opeth, and it has affected my word formulation. It’s some kind of temporary phonemic speech disorder, I think. But I’m not sure. I’ll have to continue thinking opon it. But for now, onward and opward!

So yes, I’ve been thinking about Opeth because some additional details were released this morning about their next album, entitled Heritage, which will be their tenth.

First, it will be released on September 20 by Roadrunner Records. Second, it was produced by the band’s vocalist/guitarist Mikael Åkerfeldt and it was mixed by Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) and Åkerfeldt.  Third, Travis Smith (who has created many other Opeth covers) worked with Åkerfeldt to create, design and execute the album’s artwork.

Fourth, Åkerfeldt had a few things to say about the album: “It will be our 10th album/observation. I dig it; we all do. In fact, it feels like I’ve been building up to write for and participate on an album like this since I was 19.” He also had some intriguing things to say about the music — which we’ll quote for you after the jump. Continue reading »

May 262011
 

(NCS writer Andy Synn packed a lot into a May 17 show in Leicester, England — a review of the show, an interview of Gorod, and today an interview of Michael Keene, guitarist and song-writer par excellence of The Faceless. I’m biased, but I really enjoyed reading this, and there’s a lot of revealing info in it, too. But mainly I wonder how Andy got this interview after he explained he was from a site called NO CLEAN SINGING.)

On the same Leicester stop where I was lucky enough to interview Gorod, I also had the opportunity to grab The Faceless’ guitar shredding master-mind Michael Keene for an interview of his own.

Reading the transcript you’ll get some insight into the man himself, his goals and influences, see how we bonded over a shared love of Extol, and get his thoughts on how it feels to be the only death metal band on a non-death metal label. All this plus some of the conceptual and lyrical influences which will be present on the next record!

Ok, so how’s the tour been for you and the band so far?

MK: Well this is the fifth date of the tour and it’s been amazing. I think 3 of the 5 shows so far have sold out. It’s been awesome. Every show.

How about things with the other bands?

MK: It’s been super-fun. I’ve know Born Of Osiris and Veil Of Maya for a long time now, and spent a lot of time with both of them. I’ve recorded both of them at different times. Two albums with Veil Of Maya in fact. And we’ve toured with both of them several times. So it’s just really fun being with both of them together and, like… it’s been such a long time coming for the three of us to be together on the same tour, just because we’re all friends and it’s been overdue, both personally and musically.  (more after the jump . . . ) Continue reading »

May 252011
 

Some of you are likely regular readers of The Number of the Blog, in addition to our own humble site. If so, you may have noticed that TNOTB has been out of commission for a few days. We’ve been in contact with our metallic brethren and sistern at TNOTB and thought we’d tell you what we know.

It appears that TNOTB’s web host — the company that provides the servers that host the TNOTB site — has run into a bit of a problem. If you visit the TNOTB site, you’ll see a nasty announcement stating: “This Account Has Been Suspended.” Now, before you start thinking that TNOTB is just a bunch of deadbeats who don’t pay their bills or have run afoul of Homeland Security, you would see the same message if you were to visit the home page of TNOTB’s web host — which suggests to us that the web host is renting their servers from some other company and THEY are the deadbeats.

In other words, thanks to their douchebag web host, TNOTB has been the victim of non-consensual anal penetration, without so much as a reach-around. But, while seriously butthurt, TNOTB has refused to surrender. They are hunting for a new web host, and in the meantime they’ve gone old-school in a very funny way.  See what we mean after the jump . . . Continue reading »

May 252011
 

This morning brought news of two brand new videos that hit the silver screens overnight, and neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night will stay us in the swift completion of our appointed rounds in delivering them to you. Both songs are amazing. Both videos are beautifully made. In other words, these are must-see offerings.

Two weeks ago we posted a feature on the very impressive new EP by Atlanta’s From Exile — a compilation of four covers from the extravagant songbook of Nine Inch Nails under the title Just Like You Imagined. The band have now released a video for one of those songs, the ephemeral, otherworldly “A Warm Place”. Of the four excellent songs on the EP, that purely instrumental piece made the deepest impression on us.

As we said in our review: “From Exile’s take on the song magnifies the rush and power of the sound, and a more flowing, reverberating guitar lead/solo by Emil Werstler (Daath) replaces the isolated keyboard notes of the original. Werstler’s contribution is a superb and all-too-brief piece of instrumental extravagance, thankfully reprised again near the song’s end.” The simplicity of the video suits the song — Werstler standing in an empty upper floor of a church, doing his thing, illuminated by the natural light filtering softly through stain-glassed windows.

The seventh full length album from Sweden’s Shining is called VII / Född Förlorare”, which in English means “Born Loser”. It was released this month on the band’s new label Spinefarm Records, and includes guest appearances from Erik Danielsson of Watain, Chris Amott of Arch Enemy, Peter Bjärgö of Arcana, and Nordman, who is one of Sweden’s biggest pop stars. Shining have now released an official video for the song called “Förtvivlan, Min Arvedel” — which is the first video the band have ever released in their 15-year history. The video is expertly filmed and edited, and it’s powerful. And the song — the song is simply fantastic. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

May 252011
 

(NCS writer BadWolf provides a critique of the new album by The Gates of Slumber, released in North America on May 10 by Rise Above Records and Metal Blade.)

New-Doom pack leaders The Gates of Slumber strike a fine line between advancing their sound and returning to the very roots of doom with their newest LP, The Wretch. The result is their most distilled piece of work, and their most relatable.

The Gates of Slumber play the oldest and least-altered style of metal modeled after Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus. Like a shark or crocodile, this style of metal has no need for evolution: it does only a few things, like excellent riffs and narrative lyrics, but does them perfectly. The Wretch embodies this style. For evidence, look no further than opening track “Bastard Born,” which follows the riff-narrative template of the Delta blues guitar tradition.

The Wretch’s greatest strength is a renewed sense of true doom, the self-loathing paranoia that made Black Sabbath amazing. The Gates of Slumber’s previous two records, Conqueror and Hymns of Blood and Thunder, were flawed-but-great albums with escapist fantasy lyrics. That escapism sapped their records of any palpable doom and gloom. Fortunately for us, the evil is back.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »