February 2016 - Page 2 of 11 - NO CLEAN SINGING

BABYMETAL: “KARATE”

Feb 262016

I woke up this morning to find a link to this song waiting for me on Facebook, and this note from DGR: “Obviously the most important thing to happen this week and partially why I’m alive. Grooves harder than your favorite nine string wielding plural name band of the week. Also sings better. Probably raps better too.”

We’ll probably lose a few readers because I’m posting this. But you have to understand that it’s almost obligatory that I do it, since more than one of us here at NCS have been writing about BabyMetal since 2011, back when they were not a lot more than a curiosity, back in the halcyon days when Phro made our site more deranged. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EMBALMER — “THE CORONERS REPORT”

Premieres 8 Responses »

Feb 262016

There are two ways you can think about Cleveland’s Embalmer. You can think of them as a death metal band who started in 1989 and made a name for themselves with demos like Into the Oven, Taxidermist, and Rotting Remains, and a 1995 EP entitled There Was Blood Everywhere — and then went on hiatus for nearly a decade, returning in 2006 with an album named 13 Faces of Death that even the band weren’t crazy about.

Or you can forget all that history and just think of Embalmer as a band with an album named Emanations From the Crypt coming out on April 1 that will tear your fucking head off. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 69: ORANSSI PAZUZU

Album Reviews, THE SYNN REPORT 3 Responses »

Feb 262016

(In this new edition of THE SYNN REPORT, Andy Synn has picked a fine day to review the discography-to-date of Finnish marvels Oranssi Pazuzu — including the band’s brand new album that’s due for release today, for which we have a full album stream for you to hear.)

Recommended for fans of: Nachtmystium, (mid-period) Enslaved, Killing Joke

After two more Death Metal leaning editions of The Synn Report, I think it’s time to take things in a… different… direction. And, if there’s one thing that can be said about Oranssi Pazuzu it’s that they’re definitely “different”.

After all, the Finnish quintet have never been your stereotypical Black Metal act and have rarely, if ever, played up to the expectations of their audience. Over the course of the last 9-or-so years the quintet have released three (now four) critically applauded albums fusing the base elements of Black Metal with massive injections of proggy psychedelia and surrealistic sonic experimentation, constantly pushing their sound in ever more unusual, unconventional directions.

With their fourth full-length album Värähtelijä set for release today, now seemed like the perfect time to suit up and take a trip out into the void in the company of these Finnish cosmonauts! Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CONVULSE — “GOD IS YOU”

Premieres 7 Responses »

Feb 252016

The story of Finland’s Convulse is a twisting, turning one, which in strange ways seems to have circled back on itself, like an ouroboros. The band launched their career as a death metal band through the release of their first demo in 1990 and their acclaimed 1991 debut album World Without God. Three years later brought their second album, Reflections, which marked a controversial shift in sound to what might be called “death ‘n’ roll” — and not long after, Convulse disbanded.

Almost 20 years later, Convulse rose from its own ashes, releasing their third album (Evil Prevails) in the fall of 2013 via Svart Records in what seemed a reconnection to their death metal roots in the early ’90s. And now they bring us a fourth full-length, also to be released by Svart Records, bearing the title Cycle of Revenge — and as they did before in the earliest chapters of their story, Convulse have again gone off in a surprising new direction.

Those of you who caught the premiere of the album’s title track last month have an inkling of what I mean, but we have further proof today as we host the premiere of a lyric video for the new album’s second track, “God Is You“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WITCHTHROAT SERPENT — “INTO THE BLACK WOOD”

Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres 2 Responses »

Feb 252016

The French trio Witchthroat Serpent made an impressive debut with their 2014 self-titled album, and now they’re poised to follow that with a new full-length named Sang-Dragon, which will be released by Deadlight Entertainment on April 30. Though the release date doesn’t arrive for two months, we have the premiere of a new song that should cause you to circle it in red on the calendar.

The first morbid notes of “Into the Black Wood” tell you that you’re about to cross a threshold into a dark place, and the feeling is reinforced when the mammoth, fuzz-bombed riffs begin raining down like meteors. By contrast to the titanic stomp of those deep brontosaurian chords, Fredrik Bolzann’s voice soars up high in a psychedelic wail. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: GORGUTS, GRAVE MIASMA, IRKALLIAN ORACLE

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 17 Responses »

Feb 252016

Here are a few new things I spied over the last 24 hours that I thought you might like, because I sure as hell did.

GORGUTS

There’s been a running joke in the comment sections of our annual LISTMANIA series over the last few years. It dates back to a comment left in December 2013 when I re-posted a list from Rolling Stone that named Deafheaven’s Sunbather as the best album of 2013. Not having paid attention to the title of the post or the text that also identified Rolling Stone as the source of the list, some nitwit wrote: “Deafhaven. That’s laughable. Gorguts put out the best METAL album this year – don’t deny it. Stop trying to be different – you’re only appealing to hipsters. Have fun with that. I thought I’d found a credible metal music site to frequent – apparently not. Laters.”

That comment has now jokingly been repeated in our comment section so many times in the subsequent years that I can almost recite it from memory. I shudder to think how often it will appear this December, when there actually IS a new Gorguts release in the year-end running — as it surely will be. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HAXEN — “HXN”

Premieres 2 Responses »

Feb 242016

Roughly a decade ago, Haxen took shape as a solo project in the shadows of Providence, Rhode Island, eventually becoming a duo and then evolving into a full performing band with a line-up that has remained stable since 2011. After releasing a half-dozen demos over the years, Haxen has completed work on a self-titled debut album that will see release on April 1 via Eternal Death Records. But don’t be fooled by the release date — Haxen is no joke. You’ll figure that out very quickly as soon as you listen to the song we’re premiering.

“HXN” is part raw black metal chaos, part methodical bludgeoning, the song’s lashing riffs, thunderbolt drumming, ghastly shrieks, and ravenous roars assaulting the senses in an outpouring of rapacious savagery. Yet as the band slows the pace, it also casts a dark shadow of haunting gloom. With a somersaulting drum roll, the music ramps up again into one final paroxysm of ferocity, laced with an urgent yet venomous melody. Continue reading »

GOMORRAH: “THE HARUSPEX”

Album Reviews 8 Responses »

Feb 242016

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Gomorrah from western Canada. Full music stream included.)

Are you a fan of Origin? Cattle Decapitation? Carnifex? Blood Red Throne?

How about massive, mechanised Death Metal with hints of Deathcore brutality and a poisonous undercurrent of blackened, industrial effluent?

Then do I have an album for you… Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PAROXSIHZEM — “ISOLATION”

Premieres 10 Responses »

Feb 242016

Some bands hit the nail on the head so hard in picking a name for themselves that it goes right through the wall and out the other side like a bullet. Paroxsihzem is one of those bands. On their new MLP, Abyss of Excruciating Vexes, they have reached new heights of convulsive sonic violence. Yet in the song from the MLP that you’ll soon hear, they prove their ability to create music that’s insidiously addictive as well as cataclysmic.

“Isolation” is a typhoon of frenzied riffs, a torrent of double-bass thunder, a lightning strike of shrieking solos, all of it shrouded in a thick fog of distortion. Through the hurricane of sound, the lyrics are methodically intoned by a gruesome, cavernous voice.

But while you’re being tossed and battered by this thick, black storm of savage sound, you’ll find some things to hang onto (for dear life): the rhythmic snap of the snare drum; the sinuous rise and fall of the lead guitar (like poison coursing through the veins); the deep thrum of the bass. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: RIPPER — “EXPERIMENT OF EXISTENCE”

Album Reviews, Premieres 9 Responses »

Feb 242016

In the early days of this new year we had the pleasure of hosting a song premiere from the new album by the Chilean hell-raisers in Ripper, along with a review of the album by our guest Allen Griffin, who summed up the music with these words:

“Titled Experiments of Existence, this release in many ways appears to channel the savagery of groups like Possessed, Dark Angel, and particularly Pleasure to Kill-era Kreator. Yet, one thing that quickly becomes apparent to the listener is the precision of execution. One hesitates to use the term ‘technical’ for all the baggage that comes along with it, but this difficult material is performed flawlessly. The aggression, though, is never compromised. This is neither Watchtower nor Voivod, just a death/thrash hybrid performed at the highest standard.”

Today we’re bringing you the chance to discover fully for yourselves what Allen was talking about as we premiere a full stream of Experiment of Existence. Continue reading »

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