Mar 022012
 

For a change, I actually remembered on the second day of the new month that that the preceding month had ended; usually takes longer than that. My creditors would be happy, except I think their bills need to age a while longer. But yes, February is history — and that means its time to post our usual monthly round-up of news about forthcoming albums. Today’s list is a little more comprehensive than the half-assed job I did at the end of January, which means it’s about three-quarters assed. One of these days it will be fully assed.

Here’s how this round-up usually works: In these METAL IN THE FORGE posts, I collect news blurbs and press releases I’ve seen over the last month about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like at NCS (including occasional updates about releases we’ve included in previous installments of this series), or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know their music yet. In this series, I cut and paste those announcements and compile them in alphabetical order.

Remember — THIS ISN’T A CUMULATIVE LIST. If I found out about a new forthcoming album earlier than the last 30 days, I probably wrote about it in previous installments of this series. So, be sure to check the Category link called “Forthcoming Albums” on the right side of this page to see forecasted releases we reported earlier.

Having said all that, please feel free to leave Comments and tell all of us (me and your fellow readers) what I missed when I put this list together, because I’m abso-fucking-lutely certain that I missed all sorts of shit. So let us know about albums on the way that  you’re stoked about, even if you don’t see them here! Continue reading »

Feb 182012
 

This was supposed to be the third part of yesterday’s Friday round-up of new music and videos. Unfortunately, your humble editor’s fucking day job decided to interfere with the vastly more important task of keeping the NSC railroad running, and I didn’t finish it. So instead of being Part 3 of the Friday Finish, it’s now the opening salvo of a Saturday Start.

If you haven’t already checked out the music in the first two parts of Friday’s series, here are the links: Part 1; Part 2. In this delayed part, we’ve got tunes from Torture Killer (Finland) and Blood and Thunder (Seattle).

TORTURE KILLER

To date, this band have released three full-length albums, the most recent of which was 2009’s Sewers, on Dynamic Arts Record. That one followed Metal Blade’s release of their second effort, Swarm! (2006). As seems to be common in Finnish metal, all the band members have spent time (or still spend time) in other projects, including Demigod, Hateform, and Archgoat. Nevertheless, the current line-up have been together since the band’s inception in 2002, with the exception of new vocalist Pessi Haltsonen (Retaliatory Measures).

Dynamic Arts is now planning to release a new three-song Torture Killer EP titled I Chose Death. It will include two new tracks plus a cover of Demigod’s “Succumb To Dark” from the Unholy Domain demo tape. The distinctive cover art was created by Mark Riddick. What I’ve heard so far is the title track, which went up for streaming two days ago. Continue reading »