I’m still trying to recover from the insanity of the comments on yesterday’s post. It’s apparent that all I need to do to open Pandora’s box is write some shit about band names. It’s like ringing the dinner bell for Pavlov’s dog — it apparently triggers a reflex of saliva and barking and the expulsion of bodily waste. Of course, that’s just what we hope for here at NCS, so it’s all good!

But I now tremble in fear, realizing that I hold the keys to a great convulsion of dementia. I’m concerned that all I have to do now is use the word “Jambalaya” or another word that shall not be mentioned but begins with “Va” and ends in “goo”, and the earth will open up beneath my feet and spill forth all manner of skittering, black-winged, red-eyed things that will jibber and vomit out terrible, terrible imaginings that involve ElvisShotJFK‘s mom. Fortunately, I know that with great power comes great responsibility, and so I shall keep these keys hidden away in a carved, ebony box with the numerals “666” carved in the lid, to be used only when I’m bored shitless.

But I am not yet bored today. Today is a new day, and I am content to do something more mundane, like write about actual music. So, it’s time for a little MISCELLANY.

I’m still playing catch-up with a growing list of bands who look interesting but whose music is unknown to us. We compile that list here at NCS based on press releases that come to our in-box, Blabbermouth blurbs, MySpace friend requests, and demos that arrive via the ether or in the mail from all over the world. If we had nothing but time, and an endless supply of your attention, we could run a MISCELLANY column every day. Alas, we can’t do that, but to help with the catching-up, we’re running two installments back-to-back, one today and one tomorrow.

The rules of the game: I pick names off the list at random and listen to the band’s music, usually only one song per band, and record my impressions in an installment of this series. More often than not, I find good music that’s worth sharing. But the way this game works, I share exactly what I hear, even if I wish I hadn’t heard it.

The MISCELLANY installments today and tomorrow are based on listening I did last weekend. I checked out six bands, and today we have the results of the first three. All three of these bands are from the U.S., and they each occupy very different locations on the metal spectrum: Quarter the Villain (U.S.), Winterus (U.S.), and The Browning (U.S.). Continue reading »