STILL MORE DIVERSIONARY TACTICS: FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, EASTERN FRONT, AND TAAKE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Mar 062011
 

We seem to be stuck on triads. On each of the last two days, we featured the music of three bands. This being the third day, it appealed to our rudimentary desire for symmetry to feature three more. A triad of triads. Today, we’ve got a fairly new video of Fleshgod Apocalypse (Italy), a song from the recent U.S. label debut of Eastern Front (UK), and a not-new video of a not-new song from a not-new band — but one we finally decided to check out — Taake (Norway). Let’s get right to it:

FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE

Don’t know how I missed this.  On February 21, a video appeared on YouTube of Fleshgod Apocalypse performing live at The Bonecrusher Fest 2011 in Utrecht, Holland, the night before. If there were such a thing as an official NCS “mascot”, this band would be it. We’ve probably dropped their names in posts and comments more than any other band.

We fantasize about offering them vast sums of money to come live in Seattle and be our official house band, y’know, after one of those stupendous offers of cash from Nigeria or Ghana or Mali or Hong Kong materializes — which we know will happen if we’re patient and continue to lead a clean, godly life and do good works for those less fortunate than ourselves. Can I get a big “Amen!”?

No, no, no, I did not ask for a big “Hail Satan!” Let’s try that again:  Can I get a big “Amen!”?

Well, I can tell that ain’t gonna fuckin work with this crowd, so let’s just go back to FA.  (after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

MORE DIVERSIONARY TACTICS: NEW MUSIC FROM TARDIVE DYSKINESIA, AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED, AND CARCERI

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  10 Responses »
Mar 052011
 

So, yesterday we threw together a hodge-podge of new music and videos that proved very diverting to us, and maybe to you, too. And then, in an awesome display of synchronicity — or serendipity, or kismet, or some other word that’s supposed to signify things that are coincidental but maybe were meant to happen — more new music appeared on our NCS radar screen, as if sent from an all-knowing über-mind that tracks and understands the strange and twisted paths of our neural connectivity.

Here’s how this happened. One of the bands we included in yesterday’s post was Outcast, from France, and their new song “Elements”. The music put us in mind of some other bands, one of which (as we said) was Tardive Dyskinesia — a Greek band whose music we’ve been hooked on for a while. And then the next thing we knew, we got an e-mail from none other than Tardive Dyskinesia giving us (and everyone else in the world) an entire live album to download for nothing, nada, bupkis.  Fuck.

And that was just the start. We then got another e-mail telling us that one of our grindcore gods, Agoraphobic Nosebleed, had put up two new songs from a split they’ve done with a band called Despise You. Fuck.

And then we got another e-mail from Misha, the vocalist/guitarist for Akelei (a Dutch band whose very impressive 2010 debut album we reviewed here) asking us to check out Carceri, a death-metal band in which Misha’s brother Josha is the drummer, and in which Misha also used to play. In his e-mail, he used words like “fast”, “brutal”, “technical”, and made reference to “twisted lyrics”. Fuck. That pushed all the right buttons for me. And there you have the story of how today’s post took shape.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

DIVERSIONARY TACTICS: NEW MUSIC FROM PESTILENCE AND OUTCAST, AND A NEW MASTODON VIDEO

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  21 Responses »
Mar 042011
 

Are you in the mood for a diversion from whatever else you’re doing or were about to do? Good!  Because we thought we’d share some new music that we heard in the last 24 hours from Pestilence and Outcast, plus a new video clip of Mastodon playing “Crack the Skye”, which will appear on their forthcoming DVD. It’s all ridiculously good. Why else would we want to share? Get ready to be . . . diverted.

PESTILENCE

Dutch death metal band Pestilence has been cranking out skull-crushers since 1986 — not counting that extended hiatus between 1994 and 2008.  The band count among their alumni the likes of Tony Choy (Atheist, Cynic) and Martin Van Drunen (Hail of Bullets, Asphyx). Their current line-up is also loaded with talent, including fretless bassist Jeroen Paul Thesseling (Obscura) and original or near-original members Patrick Mameli (vox/guitar) and Patrick Uterwijk (guitar).

They’ve got a new album due in late April on Mascot Records called Doctrine, and it’s been on our “highly anticipated” list. Two days ago, Pestilence made the seventh track from the album available for streaming, and we’ve got it here. It’s called, appropriately enough, “Sinister”.

It combines enormous pile-driving riffs with near-experimental, prog-sounding guitar leads/solos, and pummeling double-bass. It’s a head-smasher of a song, but it also engages the non-reptile part of the brain (ie, the part you sometimes think with). For some of you, the throaty vocals may take some getting used to, but trust me, this is a cool song. It’s coming your way right after the jump . . . Continue reading »

MOONSORROW: VARJOINA KULJEMME KUOLLEIDEN MAASSA

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Mar 032011
 

(UK contributor Andy Synn is back with a review of the brand new release from Finland’s Moonsorrow.)

One of the greatest, and grandest, of all folk-derived metal acts, the proud men of Moonsorrow have always been consummate storytellers, mining a rich seam of Finnish folk-history in order to weld its themes and melodies onto a more traditional metal backbone of heavy, surging guitars and rampaging drums.

Never a band for catchy choruses per se, the songs on this album instead feature numerous recurring melodic themes which act as character pieces, holding the narrative of each song together via their tasteful deployment and haunting hooks. These variable refrains serve as our guides through the often linear progression of the album, keeping us invested whilst the band ignores the standard trappings of metal composition and song-writing in favour of a more organic approach to story-telling, performed at its own pace and with little regard for the more stock conventions of the modern album as a commercial entity.

The folk elements are perhaps less vibrant this time around, as the subject matter of the album requires a more sombre tone, although there remain moments of uplifting melancholy and heroic themes which rise and swell as the songs dictate. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 26

 MISCELLANY  21 Responses »
Mar 022011
 

Yeah, I did one of these MISCELLANY posts just two days ago, but I’m doing another one now anyway. See, I’ve been getting e-mails from one of the original co-founders of this site, IntoTheDarkness. He doesn’t write for NCS any more despite my nagging, but he does send me e-mails periodically with new music to check out. He seems to hit times in his life when he just consumes massive amounts of new metal for what must be hours, if not days, and then I hear about it.

So, this post is a variation on the usual MISCELLANY, because none of these bands came off the “official” NCS list of new music to check out (that would be the list I keep on scraps of paper, post-it notes, and crayon-scrawlings on the wall). Instead, I’ve pulled bands off the rush of e-mails ITD sent me over the last week. Still, they’re two bands I’ve never heard before, so they do fit that part of the MISCELLANY rules.

And to cap off this post, I’m adding music from two more bands I’d not heard before that were recently sent my way by NCS readers. So, yes, it’s a lot of music, some of it pretty wild, but I think you’ll find it worth exploring.

After the jump, my brain-scrambling experience with songs from Monumental Torment (Russia/Arizona), Kakuna vs Metapod (Australia), Blut Aus Nord (France), and Walking With Strangers (Sweden). Continue reading »

HOLY FUCK: NEW XERATH

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  28 Responses »
Mar 012011
 

Xerath is one of our favorite UK metal bands. Their 2009 release was called “I” (that’s a Roman numeral one). We liked that album so much that we’ve written about Xerath here, here, and here in the past. If you haven’t listened to Xerath before, here’s their own description of what they do (which is pretty accurate): “Xerath is a modern cutting-edge orchestral metal band – combining crushing metal riffs and grooves with cinematic symphonic arrangements.” For short, they call the sound “orchestral groove metal” or “chug-score”.

Think of an amalgamation of Strapping Young Lad, Meshuggah, and Dimmu Borgir. Think of the kind of syncopated guitar rhythms that make djent fanboys slobber combined with meaty melodeath riffs and epic keyboards.

Xerath has finished work on a new album, entitled “II”. It’s due for release by Candlelight Records on May 3. And the reason for this post is that yesterday Xerath made the first track from that album available for streaming, plus they revealed the cover art for the album, which is an eye-catcher. We’ve got the song and the artwork after the jump . . . Continue reading »

NOMAD

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Mar 012011
 

In sporadically sampled reviews of previous releases by Poland’s Nomad, the phrase “brutal death metal” appeared often (along with words like “evil”, “blackened”, and “satanic”). Four years have passed since the band’s last release (The Independence of Observation Choice). In that time, perhaps their musical interests have evolved, because that “brutal death” label doesn’t fit Nomad’s forthcoming album, Transmigration of Consciousness.

What label does fit? Must we afix a label? No, we don’t. Gazing at the stupendous album cover by Michael “Xaay” Loranc, we can instead think of the music that paces the stroke of oarsmen on a giant longship plowing the waves of interstellar gas, emerging from a galactic vortex to carry cities and citadels into an ominous void where no humans have gone before.

Or, to be more prosaic, we could tell you that Transmigration of Consciousness is a kind of death-metal rave, a seamless flow of syncopated rhythms and synth-driven interludes that effectively combines elements of melodic black metal, industrial metal, and tyrannical death.

Or we could just tell you that we’ve near-destroyed our neck muscles repeatedly snapping our rattled heads to this album.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

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