MORE DISCOVERIES FOR THE DAY: SETH SIRO ANTON, DAEMON WORSHIP, AND TOMBSTONE HIGHWAY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Nov 262012
 

New discoveries don’t always come in threes around here.  I think it’s just some deep-seated superstition that makes me collect groups of three things in most of my posts.  I’m sure there’s some scientific learning out there about why people do this (and don’t tell me it’s about the Holy Trinity because the power of three’s pre-dated JC by millennia). Someday I’ll have to get educated.

But for now, I got three items. They concern Seth Siro Anton and Septic Flesh (Greece), Daemon Worship Productions (Hell), and Tombstone Highway (Italy).

ITEM ONE

Yeah baby, you’re lookin’ at it! That’s the latest album art that Seth Siro Anton created for his band Septic Flesh. I really like everything he does, whether for Septic Flesh or other bands, and this is no exception. It’s the just-released cover for a special re-issue of the band’s 1994 debut album, Mystic Places of Dawn. It’s the first of four Septic Flesh reissues that Season of Mist is planning for 2013, with this one hitting the streets on January 22 in North America (and Jan 25 elsewhere). This reissue will also include the four tracks from the 1991 EP Temple of the Lost Race.

It looks like Season of Mist is already selling pre-orders for the album, including vinyl, CDs, and shirts featuring this new artwork, at this location. Awfully damned tempting. That shirt is calling my name . . . Continue reading »

NILE: “THE FIENDS WHO COME TO STEAL THE MAGICK OF THE DECEASED”

 Metal News  10 Responses »
May 252012
 

Take an Arabic-sounding melody, wrap it up in blazing, unpredictable fretwork and frenzied drumming, add an array of vocal stylings (guttural gurgles, throaty howls, clean chants), and then accelerate the fucker — and what do you have? You have the new song by Nile: “The Fiends Who Come to Steal the Magick of the Deceased,” the second track off of At the Gate of Sethu.

The song just got its exclusive premiere at Noisecreep, and you really should go hear it if you have any affinity at all for tech-death, because it is a fascinating listen. Then come back here and share with us your reactions. (I could just borrow the Noisecreep player and stick it up here at NCS so you wouldn’t have to look at all the photos of Adam Lambert, Kenny Chesney, and Steven Tyler on that Noisecreep page, but I decided not to be a dick for a change.)

At the Gates of Sethu will be released via Nuclear Blast Records on June 29 (Europe) and July 3 (North America). The handsome cover art (there are two versions) was created by Seth Siro Anton (Septic Flesh). Check out the other version after the jump, along with a nice photo of Nile. Continue reading »

CATCHING UP (Part 3): NILE, MUTILATION RITES, PSYCHOPATHIC TERROR, KATAKLYSM, MEANS END, AND BLACKLODGE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  22 Responses »
Apr 272012
 

As explained previously, I’ve been catching up on what I missed in the metal world over the last couple of weeks while being otherwise occupied. So much happens every day that I can’t include everything I’ve discovered, but I’ve been trying to feature a mix of news and stylistically divergent new music that might have escaped your attention as well as my own. This is the final installment.

Some of what’s in here is VERY recent. And yes, this is long . . . but just treat it like six posts in one. Just pretend that it dribbled out all day long, like posts on some other metal sites that don’t want to tax their readers’ attention spans. Or you could set your alarm to go off once an hour and come read another piece of this as if it had just appeared. Or I could just shut up and get on with it.

NILE

Actually, I suspect this didn’t escape many people’s attention, because it’s Nile, after all. Thanks to Metal Sucks and TheMadIsraeli, I found out yesterday that Nile has now released the cover art for their next album (above), At the Gate of Sethu, which Nuclear Blast plans to release in Europe on June 29 and in the U.S. on July 3. The artwork is by Seth Siro Anton of Septic Flesh.

The central figure looked familiar, and after a bit of  research at The Font of All Human Knowledge, I confirmed that it’s the Egyptian god Thoth, which The Font describes as a god who, in the later history of ancient Egypt, “became heavily associated with the arbitration of godly disputes,the arts of magic, the system of writing, the development of science, and the judgment of the dead.” Continue reading »

TWO NEWS ITEMS ABOUT MESHUGGAH AND ENSLAVED, AND TWO SONGS TO HEAR WHILE YOU MOPE ABOUT THE FACT THAT WE DON’T HAVE ANY NEW MESHUGGAH OR ENSLAVED MUSIC TO ACCOMPANY THE NEWS ITEMS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Jul 252011
 

I have this compulsion to deliver music in our posts. Possibly it derives from a subconscious insecurity about my writing, but at least I tell myself that it’s because this is a music blog, and so there should be music. All the fucking time. This is why we so rarely post about news items that we can’t accompany with the music that’s the subject of the news. But this time, I’m making an exception, because the bands are pretty damned special: Meshuggah and Enslaved.

On the other hand, I can’t get rid of that compulsion, so I’m throwing in some music, too. The songs aren’t from Meshuggah or Enslaved (sigh), but they’re new and they’re good, so there’s that. The first track is from the new album by Cipher System (Sweden), and you can download it for free if you like what you hear. The fetching album cover by Seth Siro Anton (Septic Flesh) is up above. The second song is from another Swedish band, Apostasy.

MESHUGGAH

Guitar World magazine recently conducted an interview with Meshuggah guitarist extraordinaire Fredrik Thordendal. When asked about whether Meshuggah has been working on new music and if he has any new gear he is using, he said, “Yes, we are working on a new album and have been for a long time. I’m so excited about this one. We’ve always tried to change how we write songs to keep it exciting, but on recent albums we’ve also been moving further away from working together as a band. On this album, though, everyone is working together. Every day that we’re in the studio, we’ll play whatever song we’re working on, record a demo version of it to analyze at home, and then come back the next day, talk about it and try to make it better. I think because of this, it’s going to be our best album yet.” (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

DECAPITATED UPDATE

 Metal News  28 Responses »
May 112011
 

Decapitated have released the album artwork for their fifth studio album and Nuclear Blast debut, Carnival Is Forever.  The album will be released in Poland and  North America on July 12th and in the rest of Europe on July 15.

Now, here at NCS, we think Decapitated is the shit. This new album is on our most-anticipated list for 2011. But, to be brutally honest (which of course is the only kind of honest we know how to be), this album cover is lame. Really, what is this supposed to be? That mask looks like something out of a Disney movie. I’m sorry, this is not metal — and it is a huge fall-off from the awesome cover that Seth Siro Anton (Septic Flesh) did for the last album (which we’ll remind you about after the jump.)

These comments about the cover from guitarist and founding member Wacław “Vogg” Kiełtyka are revealing, and touchingly honest:

“Very intriguing and quite strange for a metal album but surely staying in memory.  A vital thing is that it’s a photo. We did not want any computer graphics this time or anything artificial or plastic.  The same regards the production of the album. We had actually been thinking about getting a painting for the cover but unfortunately we couldn’t do it. Maybe next time.”

The album title is a bit strange, too. More on what that’s supposed to mean, after the jump . . . Continue reading »

SEPTICFLESH: COVER ART FOR “THE GREAT MASS”

 Metal News  9 Responses »
Apr 052011
 

Seth Siro Anton is the harsh vocalist, bassist, and artistic mastermind behind Greek metal band SepticFlesh. He is also an accomplished artist whose work, both for SepticFlesh and many other bands, we featured in an earlier post. He created the cover art for the next album by SepticFlesh, The Great Mass, which will be released by Season of Mist on April 18 in Europe and one day later in the U.S.

SepticFlesh has been doling out pieces of the cover art over time, and today the entire work was unveiled.  Anton refers to it as a statue of “The Suicidal God”. We’ll leave the interpretations to others. It’s striking to look at — and if you really want to examine it in detail, go to the official SepticFlesh site (here) where you will see a much larger image of the artwork. If we’re understanding the plans correctly, parts of this image will appear as the covers to various editions of the album, plus the dustjacket of an artbook edition.

CHRISTMAS CHEER FROM SEPTIC FLESH (AND LOTS OF ART FROM SETH SIRO ANTON)

 Metal News  18 Responses »
Dec 162010
 

What?  You thought we’d let you forget?  Perish the thought.  Yes, the new Septic Flesh single that we told you was on the way is now out and available for purchase on iTunes and Amazon MP3.

This time of year, various metal artists release songs to commemorate “the holiday season”, but not many release one like this. Odds are, you won’t be hearing “Vampire From Nazareth” mixed in with the carols at the mall. Or mixed in with carols anywhere else.

It starts with a brief symphonic overture and a soprano vocal and then the song kicks into gear. It’s bombastic, and dark, and furious, and melodic. As was true on the band’s last album, Communion, Septic Flesh employs a full orchestra to add symphonic elements, without losing the intensity of its blackened death-metal assault. It makes us even more hungry for the new album scheduled for arrival on April 18, 2011 (one day later in the U.S.).

By the way, in case you don’t know, Seth Siro Anton, who’s the bassist and vocalist for Septic Flesh, is also quite a talented artist. Not only did he create that eye-catching artwork for the “Vampire” single up above, he has created album covers and merch art for many, many other bands you’ve heard of, and what he does never fails to be visually arresting.

As you know, album art is a big deal to us at NCS — an aspect of metal music we hope never dies out despite the dominance of download culture. Periodically, we devote our blog space to featuring metal album art from artists whose work we admire. Today seemed like a good day to do that for the work of Mr. Anton. So, get an eyeful after the jump, and for even more examples, visit his MySpace page. And just in case Septic Flesh is new to you, we’ve added one of the songs from Communion just before the artwork. Continue reading »