On Tuesday of this week, my two NCS co-founders and I, plus other friends, attended the SUMMER SLAUGHTER tour stop in Seattle at a venue called The King Kat Theater. The doors opened at around 2:30 and the show went on until something like 11:30. I’d seen many of the bands before, the exceptions being Within the Ruins, Oceano, Powerglove, Six Feet Under — and the band I wanted to see most of all, Fleshgod Apocalypse.

When something is blatantly obvious, it’s best just to admit it. So yes, I admit, I’m a Fleshgod Apocalypse pimp. I’m talkin’ about the kind of BIG PIMPIN‘ that Jay-Z had in mind. I pimp FA at every fuckin’ opportunity I get here at NCS. So, it will come as no surprise that although I found something to like about most of the performances I saw, the highlight of the tour for me was FA’s set (followed closely by a skull-collapsing performance from Dying Fetus). I even got to meet three of the guys in FA and bore them with conversation after they played!

I also took a shitload of amateurish photos of FA’s performance, including the one up above and about two dozen more (the best of a sorry lot) that I’ve posted after the jump. But before getting to that, I have a few awards to hand out (also after the jump). And at the end, I’ve got a link to an audio stream that just appeared today for a new song from FA’s forthcoming album (it’s called “The Egoism”).

Best Drummer Attire: Powerglove’s Bassil Silver, who sported two of those flag thingies sticking up out of his back that you see on medieval Japanese warriors in Akira Kurosawa movies, but with skulls on top of the poles. They bobbed around as he hammered on his kit during Powerglove’s strange set. Awesome.

Most Geeked-Out, Non-Metal Metal Set of the Night: Yes, this award goes to Powerglove again. Songs performed, as best my friends and I could figure out: Theme song from the X-Men cartoon show, Megamen theme song, theme music from the Mortal Kombat game (before this one, the band passed balloon swords and mallets into the audience so that battle could be done along with the music), Tetrix music, and the music to Super Smash Bros.

Most Intimidating Frontman: Adam Warren (Oceano). Say what you want about Oceano’s music, the dude is a magnetic presence on stage. Refreshingly, he got this award without resorting (much) to the usual deathcore macho-posturing. I’m pretty sure he didn’t call me a motherfucker even one time.

Most Inhuman Drum Performance: This one is a tie between FA’s Francesco Paoli and Dying Fetus’s Trey Williams. If I’ve ever seen more blazingly fast yet tightly controlled drum assaults on stage before, I’ve forgotten it. Absolutely jaw-dropping shit. It’s possible these guys are cyborgs.

The Soldiering On Through Adversity Award: This one goes to FA. The band’s sound depends on the dual vocals provided by growler Tommaso Riccardi and operatic tenor Paolo Rossi. In the category of “shit happens”, Paolo’s mic suffered an irreparable failure almost from the beginning of FA’s set — but he and Tommaso just traded off on the latter’s mic, kind of like tag-team wrestlers. They didn’t miss a beat.

Well, enough with the awards. More about FA (yes, there will always be more). They played early, following only one local band and Within the Ruins. They’re not nearly as well known here in the U.S. as most of the bands on this tour. But they got a hell of an enthusiastic reception from the crowd, which built to a full roar by the time FA finished their way-too-short set.

FA are not the only band to incorporate symphonic elements into their music, but they’re the only band I’ve heard who meld them (and integrate them so ingeniously) with white-hot, blast-furnace, jet-fueled, technically demanding death metal. It was gratifying to find out that they pull off this feat as well on stage as they do in the studio. “Face-melting” doesn’t begin to do it justice.

With their down-at-the-heels baroque formal attire and their blackened faces, they generated a lot of curiosity before beginning. By the time they finished, they were generating lots of “Holy Fuck!” comments, and I heard people talking about them off and on the rest of the night.

Happily, it turns out they are really nice people, too. Without meaning to stalk them, I went out the side entrance of the venue (the one used by the bands to load and unload gear) almost an hour after their set to have a smoke, and there I ran into vocalist and lead guitarist Tommaso Ricardi, bassist and co-vocalist Paolo Rossi, and that inhuman drum machine, Francesco Paoli. They all professed to know and like NCS (which of course made me blush, even accounting for the possibility that they were just being polite), and they seemed to be enjoying the hell out of this tour. They spent the first 5 minutes apologizing profusely for the microphone difficulties during their set — not being petulant or pissed off, but actually apologizing for something that wasn’t their fault.

I spent the most time talking with Tommaso, and he couldn’t have been friendlier (very fluent in English, too). He does an effective job projecting a gruff death-metal persona on stage, but he’s got an infectious megawatt smile that was on display the whole time we talked. It really wasn’t an “interview” — I wasn’t prepared for one, had no tape-recorder, and was too much in fanboy mode to ask anything intelligent anyway. We talked about the tour in general (the band have been very pleasantly surprised at how many people seem to know who FA is and how positive the crowd reactions have been so far), Seattle’s music scene and history (Tommaso is a big fan of Eddie Vedder and hoped against hope that he might see him walking the streets), the beastly weather likely to be encountered on most of the remaining stops on this tour once it leaves the California coast, my adoration for FA’s music, and other similarly non-newsworthy topics.

In a nutshell, if you have a chance to see this tour, it’s definitely worth seeing. And get there early, because you don’t want to miss FA’s set, believe me. And now, here are some more photos. Just remember, if you think these are half-assed, you should see the 300 others I took which didn’t make the cut.

UPDATE:  Well, what a coincidence. Today, Nuclear Blast has debuted another song from FA’s new album. The track is called “The Egoism” and you can listen to it by using THIS LINK and looking for the music player in the upper right quadrant of that page. Now, onward to the crappy photos . . .

Another month has passed. The fall season is approaching — unless you live in Los Angeles, which is pretending that it’s Phoenix in August. Fuck is up with that? It’s like that town has been placed in a cosmic microwave and the user likes his burritos very well done.

On the other hand, we’ve had way too many grey, chilly days in Seattle this September, which is traditionally one of the best months of the year. The weather gods have clearly dropped acid over the last 30 days and forgotten which end is up. But eventually they will get themselves straight, remember which season is approaching, and get ready to just blast the fuck out of our whole country with a vicious winter. Won’t that be fun?

No, it won’t be fun. It will suck like a new-born piglet at dinner time. But one pleasant constant will remain true — there will be new metal, regardless of how foul the weather becomes. And that brings us to another monthly installment of  METAL IN THE FORGE, a forge being the old name for a place where a blacksmith heats metal and works it into the shape of something useful.

And that’s what we’re interested in — new metal that will be useful in scrambling our brains, or uplifting us to a place where it really doesn’t matter what the fucking weather is doing.

What we do in this series of posts is update the list of forthcoming new albums we first posted on January 1. (All the other updates can be found via the “Forthcoming Albums” category link on the right side of our pages.) Below is a list of still more projected new releases we didn’t know about at the time of our previous updates, or updated info about some of the previously noted releases.

Once again, we’ve cobbled together news blurbs from other sites, or from press releases, about bands whose past work we’ve liked, or who look interesting for other reasons. Perhaps needless to say, these are bands that mostly fit the profile of music we cover on this site — the kind that would like to tear your head off.

So, after the jump, in alphabetical order, you’ll find our list of cut-and-pasted items from various sources since our last update about forthcoming new releases.

ABRAXAS: “ABRAXAS, the new death metal band featuring Makoto Mizoguchi (PYREXIA, INTERNAL SUFFERING, HATE ETERNAL) on guitar and bass, Mike Hrubovcak (MONSTROSITY, VILE, DIVINE RAPTURE, I.C.E., AZURE EMOTE) on vocals and Lance Wright (VILE, QUINTA ESSENTIA, TEMPLE OF BLOOD) on drums, has completed work on its debut album, Damnation, due later in the year.”

AGALLOCH: “Pacific Northwest band AGALLOCH will release its new album, Marrow Of The Spirit, on November 23 via Profound Lore Records. . . . At over an hour in length, Marrow Of The Spirit is AGALLOCH’s darkest, bleakest, most dense, detailed and aggressive album to date and in turn is the most accomplished album of their career.”

ATHEIST: “On November 9th, 2010, after 17 years the progressive aggressive forefathers reemerge more massive than ever. Atheist delivers Jupiter, a landmark return to earth of supersonically gargantuan proportions. In the late 80′s and early 90′s, this band, alongside fellow Floridians Death and Cynic, handcrafted the sub-genre that spawned bands such as Meshuggah, Between The Buried And Me, and Mudvayne.”

BURNING THE MASSES: After multiple delays, Burning the Masses will release their new album, Offspring of Time, on November 9.

CHILDREN OF BODOM: “CHILDREN OF BODOM recently entered Finland’s Petrax Studios to begin work on their as-yet-untitled seventh studio album. The band has enlisted famed rock producer Matt Hyde (SLAYER, MONSTER MAGNET) to oversee the new recording and will remain in the studio through late September. The new record will see release in early 2011.”

CHROMIUM: “South African metallers CHROMIUM will enter Sonic Precision studios later in the year with producer/guitarist Jared Gunston (KNAVE, WAKE TO WONDER, VAN DIENS AF) to begin recording their third album for an early 2011 release.”

THE DAMNED THINGS: “According to Rock Sound and Metal Hammer, THE DAMNED THINGS — the new band featuring members of FALL OUT BOY (Joe Trohman, Andy Hurley), ANTHRAX (Scott Ian, Rob Caggiano) and EVERY TIME I DIE (Keith Buckley, Josh Newton) — will release its debut album in the U.K. on December 13. A U.S. release date for the effort has not yet been announced.”

DEICIDE: “DEICIDE‘s new album, To Hell With God, is being produced by Mark Lewis (THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, CHIMAIRA) at Audiohammer Studios in Sanford, Florida and is scheduled for an early 2011 release via Century Media Records.”

DESECRASY: “Finnish death metallers DESECRESY have inked a deal with Xtreem Musicfor the release of their recently completed debut album, Arches Of Entropy. Due in November/December, the CD was recorded between January and August 2010 and ‘perfectly captures the darkness and heaviness of the 10 songs there included, resulting in one of Finland’s heaviest albums ever,’ according to a press release. DESECRESY was formed in 2009 by Tommi Grönqvist (all instruments) and Jarno Nurmi (vocals), both whom previously played with the now-defunct Finnish act SLUGATHOR.”

DIMENTIANON: “Paragon Records will unleash the third album from DIMENTIANON, New York’s masters of chaotic metal, on October 19. Entitled Collapse The Void, the CD epitomizes the turbulent mixture of black, death and doom metal that has become the band’s trademark style.”

EMMURE: “Directly following their Canadian tour this month, Emmure will enter the studio to begin recording their next album. The effort will be tracked by producer/engineer Joey Sturgis (The Devil Wears Prada, Miss May I) and is expected to surface this winter via Victory Records (this is the final release of their current Victory contract).”

EVOCATION: “Swedish death metallers EVOCATION will release their third album, Apocalyptic, on October 29 via Cyclone Empire Records. The cover artwork was created by Xaay (BEHEMOTH, NILE, VADER) and it ‘fit[s] both the title, Apocalyptic, and our musical achievements just perfect,’ says the band. ‘We are blown away by the effort and feeling [Xaay] gave it.’”

GENERAL CHAOS: “German metallers GENERAL CHAOS have inked a deal with Cyclone Empire Records. The band’s debut album, Calamity Circus, will be released on November 12. According to a press release, the CD ‘comes as a beautiful digipak with an awesome poster booklet and an artwork that shows a band and their love for detailed, humorous and cool artworks that never cross the border to all ludicrous or clownish crab and are 100% without any touch of stereotypes!’”

GOD DETHRONED: “Dutch death metallers GOD DETHRONED have finished recording their ninth album, Under The Sign Of The Iron Cross, at the Soundlodge Studios in Leer, Germany. . . . Under The Sign Of The Iron Cross will be released on November 23 (one day earlier internationally) via Metal Blade Records.”

GWAR: “Metal Blade Records has set a November 9 U.S. release date for GWAR‘s ‘newest and sickest’ album yet, Bloody Pit of Horror.”

HORNED ALMIGHTY: “Danish black metallers HORNED ALMIGHTY will release their new studio album, Necro Spirituals, in Europe on October 25 via Candlelight Records. Recorded in May-June 2010 and mixed and mastered by Jacob Bredahl (HATESPHERE, KOLDBORN) at Dead Rat Studios, the CD is ‘comprised of the strongest and most fierce material written in the band’s eight-year existence,’ according to a press release. ‘Yet again, crushing all doctrines and rules with their ‘don’t-give-a-shit’ take on black metal, as a testament to all that is extreme.’”

THE INIQUITY DESCENT: “Vocalist Mathias ‘Vreth’ Lillmåns of Finnish folk metallers FINNTROLL has launched a brand new extreme-metal project called THE INIQUITY DESCENT. The band recently spent time in the studio recording 11 songs, four of which will make up the group’s debut release. THE INIQUITY DESCENT will return to the studio in late October to begin mixing the material. In the meantime, you can check out rough-mix audio samples of three of the tracks on the band’s MySpace page.”

MESSENGERS: “Strike First Records has announced the signing of the Texas-based hardcore band MESSENGERS. The group’s debut EP, Anthems, will be released on November 9.
MESSENGERS pulled no punches this year when it charged onto the Dallas heavy music scene. In the band’s own words, they ‘just want to be heard,’ and playing music in the vein of CROWBAR, PANTERA and AGNOSTIC FRONT will get the job done.”

MIRROR OF DECEPTION: “Germany’s ‘doom metal kings’ MIRROR OF DECEPTION will release their fourth album, A Smouldering Fire, on October 15 via Cyclone Empire. It will be available in two versions: a regular CD and a digipack containing the The First 2 Decades bonus CD.”

NEBULAS FROST: “German/Swedish black metal combo NEBULAS FROST has uploaded its two-song ‘promo 2010′ to the band’s MySpace page. Recorded at various locations and studios around the world, the tracks were mixed and mastered by Swedish multi-instrumentalist/producer Dan Swanö at hisUnisound Studio in Sweden. NEBULAS FROST is recording its debut album for a 2011 release via the newly formed Mechanix Records (Sweden) and distributed throughout Europe by Sound Pollution. The CD will will once again be mixed and mastered by Swanö, ensuring that ‘this new monster will come with a powerful outfit,’ according to a press release.”

OCEANO: “‘Precursor To Enslavement’, a brand new song from Chicago deathcore heavyweights OCEANO, is available for streaming at AltPress.com. The track comes off the band’s forthcoming sophomore album, Contagion, which is scheduled for release on November 9 via Earache Records.”

PHOBIA: “Phobia will see the release of a brand new EP, titled Unrelenting, this fall via Relapse Records. Unrelenting is seventeen new Phobia tracks clocking in at just over 14 minutes. The EP will be available on CD, LP, and digitally starting November 23rd in North America. A track taken from Unrelenting, “Out Of Control,” can be heard now via the band’s MySpace page.”

SHADOWS FALL: “Massachusetts metallers SHADOWS FALL will release a new concert DVD, Madness In Manila: Shadows Fall Live In The Philippines 2009, in October via Everblack Industries/Ferret Music. The set will include over 60 minutes of footage that was shot on April 30, 2009 at the Pulp Summer Slam in Manila, Philippines as well as a live audio CD.”

SLIPKNOT: “Spain’s Rock Metal TV / MSN has premiered SLIPKNOT‘s live video for the song “Psychosocial”, recorded at last year’s Download festival in the U.K., where the band performed a parade of hits in front of 80,000 screaming fans. The clip comes off SLIPKNOT‘s (sic)nesses DVD, which will land on retail shelves on September 28 via Roadrunner.”

SODOM: “Veteran German thrashers SODOM have completed work on their new album, In War And Pieces, for a November 23, 2010 release (one day earlier internationally) via SPV/Steamhammer. The CD was produced by Waldemar Sorychta, who has previously worked with TIAMAT, MOONSPELL, LACUNA COIL and SENTENCED, among many others. The cover artwork was created by Eliran Kantor, who has previously worked with TESTAMENT, SIGH, ANACRUSIS and GWAR, among others.”

THE SORROW: “Austrian metallers THE SORROW will release their third, self-titled album in Europe on October 29 via Drakkar Records and in North America on December 7 through Artoffact Records. The follow-up to 2009′s Origin Of The Storm was recorded at Principal Studios (DIE TOTEN HOSEN, IN EXTREMO) in Senden, Germany with producer Toni Meloni and was mixed by Sky van Hoff. Mastering duties were handled by Jens Dreesen.”

SUICIDAL ANGELS: “Greek thrashers SUICIDAL ANGELS will release their third album, Dead Again, on November 19 via NoiseArt Records. The winners of the Rock The Nation awards 2009, which was presented by magazines from all over Europe, the quartet has found itself a perfect home as the label is a division of Rock The Nation, which also serves as the band’s booking agency.”

SWEDEN UNITED: “A number of Swedish metal musicians came together to record and release a song as a way of raising awareness and taking action on the topic of bullying and harrassment in schools. Members of such renowned metal bands as MESHUGGAH, NIGHTWISH, SOILWORK, EVERGREY and CLAWFINGER have joined forces in SWEDEN UNITED, a one-off project whose new single, “Open Your Eyes”, will be made available on October 11 via Supernova Records.”

TIMES OF GRACE: “TIMES OF GRACE, the brand new project featuring KILLSWITCH ENGAGE guitarist Adam Dutkiewicz and former KILLSWITCH ENGAGE vocalist Jesse Leach, has tapped director Robby Starbuck (AUGUST BURNS RED, SILVERSTEIN, A STATIC LULLABY, A SKYLIT DRIVE) to helm the video for the song “Strength In Numbers”. The track comes off TIMES OF GRACE‘s debut album, The Hymn Of A Broken Man, which is scheduled for release on November 9 through Roadrunner Records.”

UNLOCKED: “Three songs from from the upcoming debut album by UNLOCKED, the band featuring members of PROSTITUTE DISFIGUREMENT, VISCERAL BLEEDING, GORGOROTH and ENTHRONED, are available for streaming on the group’s MySpace page. Check out the tracks “Bloodcult”, “The Puppeteer” and “Dysphoros” at this location. The CD, which features a guest appearance by lead guitarist Peter Huss (SHINING, ex-SINERGY), was recorded at Blackout studios in Brussels, Belgium for a late 2010 release via Crossfirecult Records.”

THE WRETCHED END: “An e-card for Ominous, the debut album from THE WRETCHED END, the new Norway-based band featuring guitarist Samoth (EMPEROR, ZYKLON) and bassist Cosmo (MINDGRINDER) alongside Swedish drummer Nils Fjellström (DARK FUNERAL, IN BATTLE, AEON), is available at this location. Ominous will be released on October 25 through Samoth‘s own imprint label, Nocturnal Art Productions, and marketed and distributed worldwide by Candlelight Records.”

You learn something new every day. You may not think you do, but you do.

Like on Friday, I learned that the German word for emptiness is “leere”. On Saturday, I learned that if you live in the Pacific Northwest and forgetfully leave your car window down overnight, spiders will move in and later drop on your arm while you’re driving, causing unexpected vehicular fun ‘n games. And yesterday, I learned the secrets of how extreme metal vocalists can shriek and growl really low without requiring hospitalization.

I’ve always wondered, and finally, after years of listening to non-clean singing, it now all becomes clear to me. It’s like some trade secret that finally leaked. And it turns out to be something that is easily duplicated. It just takes the right preparation and the right record producer (like Chris “Zeuss” Harris).

I’m not making this up. I learned it from a dude who ought to know — Adam Warren, who happens to be the frontman for deathcore heavyweights Oceano. It’s all in that video at the top of this post. It just takes sleeping ’til noon, some microwaved elixir, a little Lion King chord-stretching, and someone who can tell you which buttons to push.

Go ahead, see for yourself. The secrets are out. We won’t even charge you to watch. In the video, you can also see some spirited debate over whether “Contagion” is the kind of album title people will have to look up, as compared to a common street-word like, uh, “harbinger”.

Truly, Adam Warren is an engaging dude, and we can pretty much guarantee this thing will make you smile, even if you’re not an Oceano fan.  And while we’re on the subject of deathcore, word of a Whitechapel-Impending Doom-Miss May I-Oceano-I Declare War tour has leaked out. Details about that breaking news, plus an Oceano video, follow after the jump. Wonder what I’ll learn today?

According to Lambgoat, Whitechapel will be headlining a fall tour with support from Impending Doom, Miss May I, Oceano, and our Seattle homies I Declare War. Lambgoat reported that the tour hasn’t been officially announced yet, but we did a little poking around and found a fresh Whitechapel announcement. It will be called THE CORRUPTOUR and here are the dates and places:

10/01 Macon, GA The 567
10/02 Ft. Lauderdale, FL Culture Room
10/03 St. Petersburg, FL State Theatre
10/04 Jacksonville, FL Rain
10/05 Spartanburg, SC Ground Zero
10/06 Charlotte, NC Tremont Music Hall
10/07 Raleigh, NC Volume 11 Tavern
10/08 Norfolk, VA Norva
10/09 Jermyn, PA Eleanor Rigby’s
10/10 Boston, MA Harper’s Ferry
10/12 Hartford, CT Webster Theatre
10/13 Poughkeepsie, NY The Loft
10/14 Syracuse, NY Lost Horizon
10/15 Toledo, OH Headliner’s
10/16 Grand Rapids, MI Intersection
10/17 Elgin, IL Mad Maggies
10/19 Milwaukee, WI The Rave
10/20 St. Louis, MO Pop’s
10/21 Louisville, KY Headliners Music Hall
10/22 Birmingham, AL Zydeco
10/23 Nashville, TN Rocketown

Unfortunately, unless this thing gets expanded, there are no West Coast dates, which blows, because that’s a killer line-up.

And now here’s Adam Warren’s charismatic self growling and shrieking in an official Oceano vid for “District of Misery” off their last album.  Break yourself down:

Oceano has also been participating in the OVER THE LIMIT tour with this line-up of bands:

As Blood Runs Black
Oceano
Arsonist Get All the Girls
The Tony Danza Tapdance extravaganza
Thick As Blood
Burning The Masses
Circle of Contempt
Blind Witness
Sons of Aruleus (Select dates)
This or The Apocalypse (Select dates)

The following dates remain on that tour:

8/16 Amarillo, TX @ The War Legion
8/17 Colorado Springs, CO @ The Black Sheep
8/19 El Paso, TX @ Club 101
8/20 Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre
8/21 Pomona, CA @ Glasshouse (Summerslam Fest)

Here at NCS, we’re putting a different spin on year-end listmania. Ours isn’t a list of the best metal full-lengths of the year. It’s not even necessarily our list of the best individual extreme metal songs of the year. Ours is a list of the most infectious extreme metal songs we’ve heard this year. We’re talking about songs that produce involuntary physical movement and worm their way into your brain to such an extent you can’t get ‘em out (and wouldn’t want to).

We’re not ranking our list from #10 to #1 because that would be too much fucking work (and your co-Authors would still be arguing about it this time next year). So, our list is in no particular order. We’re also dribbling the songs out one at a time because your lazy Authors are still debating what belongs in the remaining slots. (Yes, still.) Our list heretofore:

1. Asphyx: Sorbutics

2. Mastodon: Crack the Skye

3. Amorphis: Silver Bride

4. Goatwhore: Apocalyptic Havoc

5. August Burns Red: Meridian

6. Pelican: Ephemeral

7. Scale the Summit: Age of the Tide

8. Daath:  Wilting On the Vine

And to see our ninth entry on the list, continue reading after the jump.

Why do so many snooty metalheads shit all over deathcore? Can’t we all just get along? All you people who want to pour a cooler of haterade over deathcore should chill and look on the bright side: it’s music that has provided a sense of belonging and a rallying cry to a new generation of young, pissed off headbangers, and as time passes those dudes and dudettes are going to expand their metal musical horizons and help keep the scene strong and flourishing. And besides, deathcore, when done right, packs a visceral physical punch that’s fucking electric.

Maybe that’s part of the problem with deathcore. Like a lot of punk music in its heyday, it’s a style of music that’s best appreciated live, in loud, dingy, adrenaline-charged venues packed with sweaty bodies moshing to thunderous breakdowns. No CD can capture that experience. Another problem with the genre is that the barriers to entry are low: At a base level, deathcore doesn’t require much instrumental or vocal talent, and shitloads of so-called deathcore bands crank out boring songs that are indistinguishable from each other, using formulaic death vocals and breakdowns to mask a fundamental deficit in ability.

But slamming the whole genre based on its lowest common denominator is just wrong. You can play that game with just about every sub-genre of extreme metal if you want to. The truth is that lots of bands branded with the deathcore label have got great song-writing and technical chops and are putting out some sick shit. We especially liked the 2009 releases from Impending Doom, Despised Icon, Born of Osiris, Oceano, and In the Midst of Lions.  I guess it’s obvious: the genre is definitely a (not so) guilty pleasure for your NCS Co-Authors. Which is why we couldn’t provide an honest list of the songs we found most infectious this year without including a deathcore entry.

Molotov Solution is a Las Vegas-based deathcore band that’s part of the cream of the crop. Your Authors caught the band’s live act at Club Satyricon in Portland earlier this year, and they fucking tore the place up. These bomb-throwers mix politically charged lyrics with a sonic attack that’s both brutal and groove-oriented. The songs are distinctive and definitely infectious — and man, the breakdowns are massively crushing: crank it up in the privacy of your own abode and you’ll feel the urge to mosh with your furniture.

We liked lots of the tracks on the band’s 2009 release, The Harbinger, but our eighth entry on the Most Infectious list is the title track. Have a listen:

The Harbinger

The video below is no substitute for streaming the song via the link above. The audio quality ain’t great (though the breakdowns come thru with force), but it’s still kinda cool to watch: