MYSTERY BAND

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jul 262010
 

The three perpetrators of this site first saw this band as the headline act in a small, crappy little club in Portland that hadn’t been cleaned since Ronald Reagan was president. The whole place was scarred, and every surface was sticky. It was pretty full, which didn’t take a lot. There was hardly any room to move. That night, this band owned the place. The performance was explosive, and the performers had magnetic stage presence.

We saw ’em again on another national tour the next year in Seattle at a much larger, nicer club where they weren’t the headline act. They played again with explosive energy, just blew the crowd away. The other bands were bigger names, but this one damn-near stole the show. It was like some big muscle car going full-throttle, with the tachometer in the red zone.

They’ve just released a new album, their third. We thought we’d review it without naming the band — at least not today. We’ll do that tomorrow. Yeah, there’s a reason why we’re being so mysterious. We’ll explain tomorrow.

Some of you may recognize the music we’re going to put up from the album for you to hear. If you don’t, feel free to make some guesses in the comments, and in any event, let us know whether you like it or don’t. We do. Maybe we like it partly because we have such strong memories of those two obliteratingly powerful live shows. But that’s only part of the reason.  (more after the jump, including a track to stream . . .) Continue reading »

THE CROWN. THE CROWN? THE CROWN!

 Metal News  12 Responses »
Jul 252010
 

Fucking Death Metal!   Death Fucking Metal!   Metal Fucking Death!

The Crown is back.

Knew they had re-formed. Knew they’ve made a new album. Coming out on September 27. On Century Media.

Didn’t know they’ve put up a brand new song from the album. Happened two days ago. Called “Blood O.D.”

Now I know. Just listened to it. More than once. Kinda out of breath now.

Will be more coherent after the jump. Also after the jump is the new song.

Fucking death metal. Ass-kicking music. Trying to take deeper breaths. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY (NO. 3)

 MISCELLANY  16 Responses »
Jul 252010
 

Time for another installment of this Twitter-ish log in which I presume you’re interested in how I spent my morning, skipping over such vital details as what I ate for breakfast, what I’m wearing, and where my cat is licking himself right now.

Have no fear, this is just a log of the metal I listened to and watched in my latest internet browsing session — following up on press releases, MySpace add requests, and e-mail recommendations, and just some general fucking around. In all cases (with one exception), I had no previous exposure to the bands, and so no real clue whether what I found would be good, bad, or indifferent.

So, here’s what I did, in order of doing it, with no filtering and no guarantees that any of this will be worth your time — though I’m guessing most of what I found will be as new to you as it was to me. The bands I checked out are: Hellish Outcast (Norway); Citi (California); Episode 13 (Turkey); Darkness Dynamite (France); The Forrest Gump Mile High Marathon (Mars); and the one exception mentioned above, Bloodbath (Sweden).

HELLISH OUTCAST

I started off by exploring the music of Hellish Outcast, which is from that historical hot-bed of black metal, Bergen, Norway. We’d received a press release announcing the news that Thebon, frontman for the awesome Keep of Kalessin, would be joining Hellish Outcast as its new vocalist. (Have no fear KOK fans, Thebon hasn’t left that band, he’s just pulling double-duty). And then I found out that one of Hellish Outcast’s founders and its current drummer is Mads Lillevedt, who’s a member of the also-awesome Bergen band Byfrost. (We reviewed the latest albums by KOK and Byfrost here and here.)

That was more than enough incentive to visit the band’s MySpace page (here) and listen to some tunes from their 2008 EP, with the inviting title, Raping – Killing – Murder. And I’ll tell you what I thought — after the jump. Continue reading »

CITI

 Album Reviews  32 Responses »
Jul 242010
 

I first came across the band Citi via a MySpace “add” request we received from them — and from the first listen they spun my head around so hard, I felt like that possessed, bile-spewing chick in The Exorcist.

Initially, I was going to mention them briefly in the next episode of our “Miscellany” series, but I got so intrigued by the first few songs on their MySpace page that I downloaded and listened to their entire debut album (self-released last December), which they make available for free via a link on MySpace.

By devoting that much time, I took them out of the “Miscellany” category — and by getting completely skull-fucked by the music, I became convinced that I owed them a post.

From Bakersfield and Gonzales, California, Citi describe themselves (maybe with tongue in cheek) as “a melodic thrash death black progressive metal band.” There are a few genre labels that didn’t make it into that description, but not many.

But hey, I’m not going to argue with how Citi describes their music. It’s actually pretty accurate. Besides, since the inside of my cranium now feels like it’s been carpet-bombed by this music, I’m not prepared to argue about much of anything at the moment. I’m simply floored by this album. (more after the jump, including some tracks to stream . . .) Continue reading »

COMBAT

 Metal News  11 Responses »
Jul 232010
 

We seem to have fallen into a video kick this week, which is unusual for us. But the one we saw for the first time today is far and away the best of the lot. Actually, it’s the best of the lot by a few light years.

It’s a video for the song “Combat” off the new album Invictus by Heaven Shall Burn (which we reviewed here). “Combat” is about child soldiers, which explains in part why the song is so full of fury. It’s a harrowing, slashing, anguished, bone-rattling piece of music, but it also includes a beautiful keyboard melody and some surprising electro-beats.

The video is an animation created by Animaatiokopla from Finland and was premiered by Amnesty International Germany. It’s visually arresting, and it enhances the emotional power of the song. In carefully selected places, something happens in the video — like the stitching of machine-gun bullets across a muraled wall — that’s in sync with a burst of rhythm or a riff in the song.

But this isn’t one of those videos that’s full of strobing imagery set to the frenetic pulse of the music’s beat. Like the song, it’s about the ripping away of innocence, and in the main, it uses slow-moving childlike graphics to tell the tale as the music scorches with anger. Do check it out (after the jump). Continue reading »

THE BINARY CODE: PRIEST

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jul 232010
 

We’ve made no secret about our admiration for The Binary Code. We thought their 2009 debut album, Suspension of Disbelief, was a remarkably accomplished work, both in conception and in execution (our review of that album can be found here).

In an interview that accompanied our album review, we found the band’s guitarist and co-songwriter Jesse Zuretti to be an unusually thoughtful and engaging dude. And when we finally got to see The Binary Code play live, as part of the METAL AS ART tour in January, we were blown away by the band’s maturity on stage and the intensity of their performance (as we said here).

So with all that, it should come as no surprise that we’ve been eagerly awaiting the band’s new EP, Priest, which is scheduled for official release on August 10. We’ve now been lucky enough to get an advance listen to the three songs on the EP (and a bonus “alternate” version of one of those songs that’s also included).

Our confidence in this band’s future was not misplaced. Priest represents another step forward for a band that was already bursting with talent and exceptional creativity. The more we’ve listen to Priest, the more we’ve found in it, and the more impressed we’ve become. This is the kind of music that engages on both a visceral and a cerebral level — it kicks like a pissed-off mule and makes you think at the same time.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

DEATHBED ATHEIST

 Uncategorized  17 Responses »
Jul 222010
 

Last week, we raved about Meridional, the new album from Norma Jean (our review is here). 

A couple days ago, the band released the first video from the album, for the song “Deathbed Atheist”.  It was directed by Linus Johansson at Popcore Film, which has previously made two other music videos for the band.

We’ve said before that we find most metal music videos to be completely forgettable. This one isn’t. It involves animation and it’s interesting to watch. It’s helped by the fact that the song is damned good.

On the other hand, I’m completely unclear what the imagery in the video has to do with the meaning of the song. Actually, I’m unclear about the meaning of the song itself.  So far, I haven’t come across anything from the band that explains it. 

The lyrics don’t help me understand what the song is about. The title doesn’t either. I’ve heard of supposed “deathbed conversions” and even “deathbed Christians”, and I get what those phrases mean. But the title of this song is “Deathbed Atheists“. And the lyrics don’t have any obvious connection to the title. 

After the jump you can see the video, if you haven’t already, and we’ve put the lyrics up, too. And if you have any insights into what any of it means, please leave a comment. Hasta la vista. Continue reading »

7TH NEMESIS

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jul 222010
 

Imagine this: You’re sitting on a bus, minding your own business. A pale young man next to you, with blue hair, begins to twitch, and then to convulse. The eyes roll back in his head and his limbs begin to flail in a full seizure.

Before you can think what to do, he seizes your arm — and you begin to convulse too. Your eyes roll back in your head, and all the synapses in your brain begin to fire at once — and you continue to flail even when he lets go, because your brain has been sucked into a vortex of transfixing complexity.

That image begins to approximate the experience of listening to the music of a French band called 7th Nemesis. The songs are incredibly intricate and inventive. They collapse the walls between multiple genres. They are executed with a fine balance of precise skill and explosive emotion. And they thrash like the seizure of a blue-haired epileptic.

7th Nemesis was founded in 2001 with the avowed objective of “mixing the violence of extreme metal with the complexity of progressive rock structures.” They recorded a 3-track demo and a split CD and then released (in 2006) a full-length debut called Violentia Imperatrix Mundi, which they made available for free download on their website (through a link that unfortunately no longer works).

Then, after getting some attention and festival spots on the strength of that album, they did a strange thing. After adding a new drummer, they re-recorded and remixed their debut and, in July 2008, released the revised songs in the form of an album called Archetype of Natural Violence.

I don’t know how the revised songs compare to the originals, but considering them as they are, Archetype of Violence is a riveting experience — one we highly recommend.  (more after the jump, including a song to stream and a video of another one . . .) Continue reading »

BLOWN AWAY

 Metal News  11 Responses »
Jul 212010
 

Before I started trying to put something together for this NCS blog every day (while also dealing with my day job and the rest of my life), I used to spend quality time browsing other metal blogs. Hell, doing that is what inspired me and my two sometimes co-authors to start this thing.

Nowadays, I don’t spend nearly as much time as I’d like on other sites, because I just don’t fucking have the time. The consequence is that when I come across a long piece on another blog, I tend to just wince, make a mental note to come back “when I have time”, and move on to something that’s shorter. (Knowing this you’d think I would be less verbose on the stuff I write for NCS. Yes, you might think that, but then you have to remember that I have a brain the size of a plum that’s been drying in the sun too long.)

Usually, when I make one of those mental notes, I never go back to read the long piece I skipped over.  Today, I actually did. I went back to MetalSucks and I read a July 19 posting of an e-mail that MS received from Ryan McKenney, the vocalist for a band that constantly blows me away, Trap Them. He was responding to an earlier post by one of MetalSucks’ more-or-less regular columnists, Sacha Dunable (of the band Intronaut) on the subject of whether corporate-sponsored metal shows are killing the live concert market.

You don’t have to read Dunable’s post to understand McKenney’s. I could just put up a link to McKenney’s post, urge you to go read it (here’s the link), and move on. But that’s really not good enough. For all sorts of reasons, it just fucking blew me away. I think it will hit you pretty fucking hard too. So, after the jump, I’m taking the liberty of just re-printing the whole bleak, brilliant, passionate, eye-opening, thing. Continue reading »

MORE BREAKDOWNS ANYONE?

 Metal News  8 Responses »
Jul 212010
 

Shit, we might as well just surrender the day to deathcore (not counting my goofy MYSPAZZ post). As punishing breakdowns go, that clip we put up earlier today from Thy Art Is Murder is pretty satisfying, if you can get past the foam-at-the-mouth-and-belch-blood vid accompaniment — or maybe you’ll greet that as a plus factor.

But now we’ve just stumbled across a newly minted, almost freshly unwrapped official goodie from our Seattle homeboys I Declare War performing “Federal Death Alliance” from their new album Malevolence — which my man IntoTheDarkness gushed about in our review here.

And no, we still don’t have any more light to shed on the rumored departure of IDW’s frontman Jonathan Huber, except it definitely is true that he’s not playing with the band on the current tour and Molotov Solution‘s Nick Arthur is standing in. We’re still hoping for more news.  The vid is after the jump. It’s murderous . . . Continue reading »

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