FOAM AT THE MOUTH AND BELCH BLOOD

 Metal News  12 Responses »
Jul 212010
 

Our resident deathcore aficionado IntoTheDarkness insisted I listen to a song called “Soldiers of Immortality” from the new album by Australia’s Thy Art Is Murder. The album is called The Adversary and it was released on July 16 (now available on iTunes and elsewhere).

IntoTheDarkness proclaimed that the album features “some of the heaviest breakdowns I’ve heard” — and he should know. His musical library includes more breakdowns than could be counted in a normal human lifetime. He’s snapped his neck to so many breakdowns it’s a wonder any ligaments are still attached. He particularly favors the kind that detonate on impact.

Now I like me some breakdowns too, the more explosive the better. So I checked out the song, which happens to be the subject of a new Thy Art Is Murder video. And it do have a nasty extended breakdown. The rest of the song ain’t bad either, with better than average instrumental work for this subgenre (which may not be saying a lot, given how much mediocrity is to be found in the current deathcore universe).

I haven’t listened to the rest of The Adversary yet, but I like this song enough to take a deep breath and dive in all the way. As for the video, well, see the title of this post.  And see the video after the jump. Continue reading »

MYSPAZZ

 IQ Subtraction  13 Responses »
Jul 212010
 

Not long after we launched this site, one of my sometimes collaborators (Alexis) thought it would be a good idea if we set up a MySpace page to increase our visibility (y’know, like from 3 readers up to maybe 5 or 6) and to reduce the opportunities for people to pirate our awesomely ingenious site name for their own nefarious ends (y’know, like using it to sell dick enlargements or herpes treatments).

So she set up a NO CLEAN SINGING page on MySpace. As it turns out, that was a good idea. Now we’re selling our own dick enlargements and herpes treatments.

Just kidding. It really has been beneficial, for reasons I’ll explain. But we’ve also had some unwanted consequences. To be specific, we get e-mails and strange friend requests via MySpace that we could really do without. But it occurred to us recently (as a result of comments following our “Miscellany No. 2” post) that we could have some fun with this shit (after the jump). Who knows, maybe you will have some fun with it too.

But first, a short list of things we like and don’t like about MySpazz:

LIKE

  • By becoming MySpace “friends” with bands we’re interesting in following, we get bulletins and notices of blog posts from them. That helps us keep track of their news efficiently. Sometimes that helps us think of things to write about on this site.
  • We can use MySpace to send bands e-mail messages. Sometimes, that’s the only way we can find to message bands when we have questions or requests, or to tell em about something we’ve written.
  • Having our own MySpace site provides a way for bands to make us aware of their music by sending us “add” requests. We’ve discovered (and written about) lots of bands we might not have discovered except for those add requests.
  • When people on MySpace add us as friends, they get alerts when we post new blog entries (though there are easier ways to get those alerts). Of course, readers can just make it a point to visit NCS every day, because we always put up something new here every day.
  • MySpace gives us a way to listen to a band’s music to see if we like it, and to find band photos and artwork to use in our posts.

(after the jump, things we don’t like, plus a sample MySpace message we recently received, and our proposed response . . .)

Continue reading »

GRAVE

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Jul 202010
 

Grave stalks the burial ground in its recently released ninth album like an undead thing that knows the territory like the back of its decaying hand.

The nine songs collectively represent a stark contrast to the modern death-metal sound of the band (Noctiferia ) whose album we reviewed yesterday. Over the near quarter-century of its existence, Grave has remained true to the early-stage school of Swedish death metal that it helped found — a school that will flunk your ass out if your mind wanders from the approved curriculum.

But if you’re in the mood to study the evil classics, with some subtle updating, Burial Ground will pay dividends. To mix our metaphors, Grave has got the bone saw gassed-up and running — rough and loud. It won’t be a clean amputation, but as the jocks say, no pain, no gain.

Throughout the album, the bass and guitar hum and buzz and crackle like massive, overloaded transformers, producing the classic, downtuned, distorted sound that reviewers have unsuccessfuly struggled for two decades to describe (for the sake of variety) without using the word “chainsaw.”

It’s not all the sound of a burred grind. Tremolo-picked leads surface in “Semblance In Black”, “Ridden With Belief”, and “Bloodtrail”. Mournful, dissonant melodies peer out of the maelstrom on songs like “Liberation” and “Conqueror”, and squalling solos erupt in rapid bursts in almost every song.

But if the sound of those Swedish death-saws isn’t music to your ears, then you ain’t gonna like Burial Ground, because there’s no escaping them.  (more after the jump, including a track to stream and some eye-catching artwork . . .) Continue reading »

SAY IT AIN’T SO!

 Metal News  3 Responses »
Jul 192010
 

Our sometimes NCS collaborator IntoTheDarkness just alerted me to this piece of news on Lambgoat:

I Declare War (Artery/Razor & Tie) vocalist Jonathan Huber has reportedly left the group, though nothing official has been announced thus far. The band just kicked off a tour with For The Fallen Dreams and Legend and have been using a fill-in singer (apparently Nick Arthur of Molotov Solution).

To which all we can say is, What The Fuck?

We’ve been following these hometown deathcore favorites for a while, and no one was more stoked to learn earlier this year that they’d been signed by a label (as we reported here). We were even happier to discover that their recently released second album, Malevolent, kicked massive amounts of ass (as IntoTheDarkness reported here). And with that release and the label backing, the dudes started hitting the road and building their fanbase.

Now this? It really don’t make sense. We’ve got no explanation at the moment. Maybe it’s all just a baseless rumor. When we find out more, we’ll put it up here for you IDW fans in the audience.

LEFT-BRAIN ASS-KICKING

 Uncategorized  2 Responses »
Jul 192010
 

Near the end of last year, we wrote a feature on math-metal bands that included a short write-up about a Greek band called Tardive Dyskinesia and their new album, The Sea of See Through Skins. Here’s part of what we said:

The band’s 2009 release on Coroner Records, The Sea of See Through Skins, is a fast-paced, infectious barrage of technically sophisticated music played with genuine skill. Yes, you’ll find the abrupt tempo changes and complex time signatures associated with math metal, but the band manages to thread grooves and melody throughout that blazing tapestry. Never boring and quite addictive. These dudes deserve your attention. I wish to hell Greece weren’t so far away — I’d love to see ‘em rip it up on stage.

Our wishes have been granted — sort of. We still haven’t made it to Europe to see their see-through skins in person, and they haven’t made it to Seattle, but Tardive Dyskinesia has just posted a good-quality video of a live performance at the Jammin.G Festival on May 15 in Athens.

If you like the kind of progressive, techy, math-metally, death metal that fires the synapses over on the left side of your brain, and you don’t know about this band, well now’s a good chance to check ’em out.  (after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

NOCTIFERIA

 Album Reviews  8 Responses »
Jul 192010
 

The bands whose new albums we’re reviewing today and tomorrow are a study in contrasts. They’re both death metal bands, but they’re lined up on different ends of that playing field. Grave (the subject of tomorrow’s review) is old-school Swedish death metal. In Grave’s case, that “old school” label isn’t a cliche, because they helped build the school in the first place.

As for Noctiferia, it’s a bit more difficult to sum up their style. For now, let’s call it the bullhorn, jeep-driving, flag-waving school of death metal — except we’re guessing the only thing on the flag is a big “FUCK YOU!” in day-glo red.

Noctiferia is from The Republic of Slovenia, which is in the Balkans, just around the Adriatic to the east of Italy and south of Austria. Based on our research, Noctiferia may be the longest-running extreme metal band in Slovenia; they’re celebrating their 12th anniversary as a band this year. Join with us in throwing some horns their way in honor of their sheer bloody-minded dedication — because let’s face it, Slovenia is another one of those places that just doesn’t seem like fertile ground for a successful extreme metal enterprise.

Earlier this year, Noctiferia signed with Listenable Records, and on July 27 their fourth album will be released in the U.S., following its European release a few months ago. The album was mixed by Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy, Bloodbath), mastered by Jonas Kjellgren (Black Lounge studio), and it’s called Death Culture.

The title isn’t a reference to music. Lyrically, the album is an indictment of capitalist greed, the suppression of individuality by the economic and political elite, the false prophets of institutional religion, and the human propensity to sow death and destruction in ever-more horrific ways.

But as somber as the subject matter, the music is anything but. Noctiferia takes a rock-solid foundation of syncopated death metal, adorns it with everything from industrial to ethnic stylings, and then sets the whole thing on fire in a spirited romp. Noctiferia blazes with speed and fury, but prays at the altar of groove.

And among other things, the new album includes a track (“Demoncracy”) that’s our current favorite for just rocking-the-fuck out.

(more after the jump, including a track to hear and a video of “Demoncracy” . . .) Continue reading »

BANGALORE CHOIR (plus a palate cleanser)

 IQ Subtraction, Metal News  10 Responses »
Jul 182010
 

It seems like every week we read about the reunion of one band or another that we had long thought dead, with plans for new recordings, new tours, new hairdo’s. Sometimes, it’s good news. Sometimes, it’s just kinda sad. Sometimes, it’s funny (and sad).

Usually, we refrain from commenting on such developments. But we’re behind on what we had planned for today’s post, so we’re making an exception. To be brutally honest (which is the only kind of honest we know how to be here at NCS), this is filler.

Think of it as a rain delay. Your ticket will still be good tomorrow. But, if you would like a refund because all you’re getting today is filler, please send us a self-addressed, stamped envelope, and we will gladly refund every dime you paid us for the right to access this site.

From a “news” item we saw this morning on Blabbermouth:

“Cadence”, the new studio album from the reunited melodic hard rock band BANGALORE CHOIR, will be released on September 24 via Metal Heaven Records.

It has been 18 years since BANGALORE CHOIR‘s only release, “On Target”, on Giant Records in 1992, which came out on the same day as NIRVANA‘s “Nevermind”. Shortly after, BANGALORE CHOIR disbanded after being released from the label.

Really, we’re not making this up (and there’s more juice like this to come).  So, to start, everyone out there who remembers Bangalore Choir, raise your hands!  (more after the jump, including a video and a palate cleanser, which you will need if you make it to the end of this filler . . .) Continue reading »

MISCELLANY (NO. 2)

 Album Reviews, Metal News, MISCELLANY  17 Responses »
Jul 172010
 

Almost two weeks ago, we tried out something new here at NCS, kind of like what some people do with their Facebook pages and Twitter accounts when they tell you hour-by-hour (or minute-by-minute) what they’re doing — except we limited our disclosures to metal and hoped it would be more interesting than a lot of the social networking blather.

To be more precise, I posted a log of exactly what I listened to or watched on that particular morning, whether it turned out to be good, bad, or indifferent. I got enough encouragement from readers that I decided to continue doing it.

In the interests of complete candor, I should say that it takes very little encouragement for me to do anything, unless it involves actual work, in which case it takes a great deal of encouragement, plus threats of being pistol-whipped.

So, here we go again — a log of exactly what I heard or saw in one of my recent sessions of poking around for new music to check out, and what I found, for better or for worse.  (after the jump, of course . . .) Continue reading »

GOAT THE HEAD

 Metal News  14 Responses »
Jul 162010
 

The metal world is filled to overflowing with diverse awesomeness. But lately we’ve been thinking that even with 15 gajillion subgenres, something was still missing, that what we really still needed was  . . . . . . . some contemporary primal caveman death metal!

And then yesterday we discovered a Norwegian band called Goat the Head. And you’ll never guess.

They describe their music as “contemporary primal caveman death metal!” What a fucking amazing coincidence! And to think, some people say there’s no such thing as miracles.

Now, we can hear you saying, “Big deal, there’s lots of metal bands that wear skins.” And sure, you can find some pagan/folk-metal bands like Turisas that wear skins, but Goat the Head ain’t pagan or folk. They’re fucking prehistoric.

But prehistoric in a contemporary way. Really, they are. Kind of like cavemen who occasionally wear spacesuits. We’ll prove it to you. And it will be worth your time, because the music is raucous and weird and skull-crushing — in a primal caveman kind of way.  But contemporary.

So, after the jump, we have two songs from the band’s forthcoming second album, one of which is available for free download. You listen to this and you’ll develop a taste for mastodon (and we don’t mean the band).  Oh yeah, we’ve also got a Goat the Head video that’s a truly inspired piece of lunacy with one hell of an ending. (stay with us after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

SOILWORK (Conflicted)

 Album Reviews  9 Responses »
Jul 152010
 

We named this site NO CLEAN SINGING for a reason, which is spelled out in excruciating detail on the “ABOUT” page. In a nutshell, the personal tastes of myself and my two sometimes-collaborators veer toward the more soul-shakingly cathartic side of the extreme metal continuum. And for us, that tends to correlate with the absence of clean singing. But from the beginning, we’ve admitted that there are Exceptions to the Rule.

To be brutally honest (which is the only kind of honest we know how to be), there are some songs by some bands that live with us in our memories precisely because the melodies are so unforgettable — particularly when paired up with adrenaline-laced rhythms and blowtorch power. And sometimes those songs have featured clean singing. Sometimes the clean singing is part and parcel of what makes the songs so unforgettable.

There might be a better example of what we’re talking about than Sweden’s Soilwork, but if there is, it ain’t coming to mind. The first notes of songs like “Exile”, “Black Star Deceiver”, and “Stabbing the Drama” start playing, and the whole, epidemically infectious songs immediately come tumbling out of our corroded mental databases like the vivid images of old, close friends.

At the same time, Soilwork has been capable of harder-edged, melodeath marauders like “Needlefeast”, “Follow the Hollow”, “Like the Average Stalker”, and “The Chainheart Machine”. Those songs, and others like them, have tapped into the reptile parts of our brains that just want to headbang, windmill, and slam into shit.

Soilwork’s hallmark ability to straddle that divide between melodic death metal and metalcore, between mayhem and epic melody, is exactly what’s made them an NCS favorite despite all the clean singing.

So, what are we to make of the new Soilwork release, The Panic Broadcast? As a group, the three of us are conflicted. (what we mean? follow along after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

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