ALL SHALL PERISH: “THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS”

 Reviews  5 Responses »
Jul 202011
 

(NCS contributor Israel Flanders has found an album by a deathcore band that he actually likes — a lot.)

All Shall Perish is one of those deathcore bands everyone always tells you DON’T suck massive loads of horse shit through a straw, at least from my experience.  If I get into a conversation with someone about whether such a thing as “good” deathcore exists, this band always is mentioned.  I never really checked them out before, but for purposes of this review I actually tracked down the discography up until now and listened to it to evaluate this new album, This Is Where It Ends.  My conclusion: All Shall Perish sucked massive loads of horse shit through a straw . . . until this album.

There is a HUGE line-up change here to take into account, and that is Jason Richardson, now of Born Of Osiris, leaving and in-coming a guitarist by the name of Francesco Artusato.  He put out a solo album recently before this album, and if you are familiar with that solo album you know this dude DESTROYS UNIVERSES!  But to get back on topic . . . this album rules.

This is a whole new band.  The musical similarities between this and their last album, Awaken The Dreamers, are almost nil, if not totally absent.  There is a lot of speed here, a lot of ultimately pure melodeath moments, and a good dose of that death metal atonality, but it feels genuine here — when it comes to the death metal elements on this album, I don’t get that manufactured, half-assed deathcore feel I usually complain about.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

CLIFTON SAVES THE SPACE VIKINGS FROM LORD TODD

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jul 192011
 

Becoming the Archetype is a band who qualify as one of our Exceptions to the Rule: We like dem even wit all dat clean singing. Andy Synn expressed our common admiration for the band’s latest album, Celestial Completion, in this review, published here in April. For Andy, the highlight of the album was a song called “Breathing Light”.

Yesterday, Noisecreep premiered BtA’s video for that very song. It’s a Metalocalypse-style animated story, with the band members appearing as themselves, except . . . uh . . . somewhat physically enhanced and clad in Viking skins. Beardo Vikings ftw! Returning from space to Planet Earth, the boys encounter all manner of vicious minions in the service of dictatorial Lord Todd (including tentacled minions — Phro, take note) and engage in all manner of to-the-death combat with them. The outcome is in doubt until the appearance of . . . well, I don’t want to spoil the ending.

David Prindle did the video, and it’s a nice change of pace from standard metallo video fare. And the song is still catchy as hemorrhagic fever. Check it out after the jump. Continue reading »

NOCTEM: “NOW IS THE TIME FOR OBLIVION…” (AN NCS INTERVIEW)

 Interviews  2 Responses »
Jul 192011
 

(NCS writer Andy Synn follows his review of the new album by Spain’s Noctem with an interview.)

After my recent review of the rather excellent Oblivion (HERE) by Spanish extremists Noctem, I have been emailing back and forth with the band’s guitarist (and general mastermind) Exo, garnering some background information on the group’s formation, transformation and the creative process which informed both their debut release and their latest album.

A thoroughly pleasant and clearly passionate individual, Exo passed my questions on to his dedicated partner-in-crime, lead singer Beleth, who has been with Exo since the band’s inception. After the jump you can read the responses Beleth provided to my email interrogation, offering his own distinct perspective on the group’s past, present and future . . . Continue reading »

NEW FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE VIDEO VIOLATED ME

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  22 Responses »
Jul 182011
 

I’ve been away from my computer all day. I blame my fucking day job. I just got back, and almost the first thing I see is a press release advising that the almighty Fleshgod Apocalypse have released a video for a song from their new album called “The Violation”. It was directed by Salvatore Perrone. I wasted no time in watching it.

I feel violated now. Man, it’s a good feeling. I would like to be violated again.

The song is more overtly symphonic than anything on Mafia, the band’s last release. It includes extravagant, high-flung flights of clean singing from Paulo Rossi that are even more prominent than his contributions on Mafia. It’s also a head-exploding rush of blowtorch death metal. It’s all of that — a combination that Fleshgod Apocalypse pulls off triumphantly, and uniquely. I fucking loved it.

The video is a head-kick to watch, too. Check it out after the jump — and then be on the lookout for FA’s appearance on the SUMMER SLAUGHTER tour, which begins tomorrow. Continue reading »

WHERE DO SONGS COME FROM?

 Metal News  11 Responses »
Jul 182011
 

I’m pretty pumped up about Machine Head’s new album, Unto the Locust (due in September on Roadrunner). The first single, “Locust”, sounds good, and — well — it’s fuckin’ Machine Head. But in addition to being excited, now I’m also curious.

Thanks to Blabbermouth, I watched an interview that Machine Head vocalist/guitarist Rob Flynn gave to Nikki Blakk of the San Francisco, California radio station 107.7 “The Bone” at the second show of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival on July 10 in Mountain View, California. At one point, Blakk asks Flynn what song on the new album is his favorite. There’s a pause, and then he tells a story about the creation of a song called “The Darkness Within”.

He calls the song “pretty left-field for us” and says “it’s gonna be a song that just flips people on their heads.” Flynn continues: “it’s a very dark song, and it’s a really good song. I think it’s maybe one of the best songs we’ve ever written, and I’m really proud of it.” There’s also a hint that it may have some “mainstream” appeal.

Okay, so I was intrigued by that.  I got more intrigued when he explained how the song came to life. Each song has its own story, no doubt. Each songs comes from someplace in the mind and experiences of a musician and a lyricist. This song seems to have had part of its genesis in a Jeff Bridges performance in the movie Crazy Heart.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: CARCINOGEN’S “HUMAN ATROPHY”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  10 Responses »
Jul 182011
 

When last we checked in with New York-based Carcinogen, they were building up to the release of their debut EP, Unholy Aggression. That was last October, and now they’ve released a follow-up EP with four new songs called Human Atrophy. For the cover art, they’ve turned once again to that Indonesian underground artist who calls herself Oikwasfuk (of Nothing Sacred Artwerks). Nice to see that she hasn’t toned down the grisliness.

Carcinogen haven’t toned anything down either (thank goodness). When we wrote about the band in October (here), we praised their “stripped-down, fuzzed-out, palm-muted, drop-tuned, guttural-voiced, percussive approach” to old-school, thrash-paced death metal. On the new EP, Carcinogen continue to perfect their daunting assault on the senses, enhancing the technicality of their playing and jazzing up the pyrotechnics with even more pronounced tempo dynamics.

What Carcinogen haven’t done is turn down the temperature in their blast furnace. Pressing play on this EP is like sticking your unprotected head into that furnace. You’ll come out at the end with all your hair burned off and your face converted into a charred ruin — but your crispy, senseless head will still be bangin’. (more after the jump, including a stream of the whole EP . . .) Continue reading »

IF YOU LIVED IN WESTERN CANADA AND COULD ASK ROB ZOMBIE AND SLAYER WHATEVER CAME TO YOUR PUTRID MIND, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

 Metal News  50 Responses »
Jul 172011
 

This is not an entirely hypothetical question. It could happen. Our brothers in blog at Heavy Blog Is Heavy are giving away two tickets to the Vancouver stop of the Hell On Earth Tour on August 3, plus a chance for a meet-and-greet session with tour headliners Rob Zombie and Slayer (Exodus is also on this tour, but to ask them questions, you’ll have to get up stage in the middle of their set and see if you can get their attention).

Those tickets and passes are the grand prize in a contest HBIH is currently running, with the second prize being two more tickets (but no meet-and-greet). To enter, you just have to answer this imminently practical question: If all hell were to break loose and zombies came out of the woodwork, how would you slay them?

I keep answers to questions like this on a little notepad in an emergency kit, which includes such other potentially useful items as a can of catfood, a block of C-4 explosive, two packs of Ding-Dongs, and a used-only-once band-aid. My notepad also includes words of greeting in seven known extraterrestrial languages. In other words, I’m fuckin’ ready for anything.

I know how to kill zombies, too. Kill ’em so they won’t be coming back — ever. Unfortunately, since I’m within the secret, monolithic brotherhood of blogdom with the HBIH people, I’m ineligible to enter this contest. Probably for the best; it wouldn’t be fair to everyone else. I also know what to ask Rob Zombie and Slayer, but if I told you, I’d have to kill you.

To get more details about the HBIH contest, go here. Contest ends on July 26.

LOUCIFER SPEAKS AND VOICE OF THE SOUL ANSWERS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Jul 172011
 

Loucifer Speaks is a U.K.-based metal/rock webzine and forum. Earlier this week, I saw the news that they had released a music comp for free download called The Louciferian Gathering. What really caught my eye was the fact that the comp includes a brand new song from Voice of the Soul called “Cast Away in Betrayal”.

I got into Voice of the Soul last October through one of our MISCELLANY excursions and wrote about them here. Back then, I listened to a four-song EP called Eyes of Deceit and was really impressed. The band is a mini-United Nations, consisting of a Lebanese, an Iraqi, an Indian, and a Persian, who are currently living either in the United States or various locations in the Middle East, and guitarist/vocalist Kareem Chehayeb is an NCS reader.

Despite their geographic separation, the members are still collborating on the cretion of new music. They’ve got yet another EP in the works (their third) and now, courtesy of The Louciferian Gathering, we’ve got that new track, “Cast Away in Betrayal”. Stick with us past the jump, and you can hear the song — which is most certainly worth hearing. Continue reading »

“THAT’S METAL!” – BUT IT’S NOT MUSIC (NO. 41)

 That's Metal -- But It's Not Music  14 Responses »
Jul 172011
 

Yessir, it’s time for another installment in this series where we collect miscellaneous items that aren’t music but still make us think, “Fuck, that’s some metal shit right there!” Once again, we had help from a few of our readers, who will be duly credited by us (and perhaps blamed by you) for their contributions. We have quite a lot of killer items today, so let’s just just dive right in.

ITEM ONE

Our first item is really a series of items, all of which appeared in a feature at Cracked.com called “8 Real Photographs That Prove Hell Exists On Earth” (credit/blame to our reader Black Shuck who pointed us to this feature). Not only are all the photos metal as fuck, but the accompanying descriptions are also funny as shit. For example, here’s the narrative accompanying the photo at the top of this post:

“If doves are the messengers of the Lord, then the Satanic Leaf Tailed Gecko is probably Old Scratch’s preferred postal carrier. Though you should know that these guys are utterly harmless. They’re tiny — usually two to five inches long — and are endemic to the little island of Madagascar. So you’re not likely to stumble across one in the first place, and it certainly won’t hurt you if you do.

“It won’t hurt you at all. It needs you.

“It might ask you to hurt others, though. Oh, softly enough at first, in half-heard whispers borne on the wind, but they will grow louder, more frequent and more insistent — until one day you wake up to find yourself in a bathtub filled with liquid that used to be your family. And what will the Satanic Leaf Tailed Gecko do? Why, just take a gander at that picture again: It will smile, friends. It will smile.”

(more after the jump)

Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: SENTINEL’S “E.P.”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jul 162011
 

Back in mid-February we wrote about a hellaciously good Massachusetts metal band called Sentinel, who we’d come across in one of our MISCELLANY posts. Back then, the band had only produced two songs for public consumption, but they were really impressive — a fusion (as we wrote then) of “no-holds-barred speed, technical complexity, ass-on-fire vocal delivery, djent-style bass execution, and a successful combination of deep groove and head-exploding mayhem.”

Early last week, we found out that Sentinel had released a new five-song EP. I’d intended to put up a quick post about it on Wednesday, but as I got into the songs I realized that I’d need more time to do it justice. But before getting to the music, is that cover art an eye-puncturing bit of awesomeness or what? It’s by Wes Benscoter (Slayer, Dio, Sabbath, Hypocrisy, Cattle Decapitation, Mortician, etc.), courtesy of a contest selection by Revolver magazine’s editor-in-chief based on those first two Sentinel songs.

With artwork like that plus the hugely promising debut songs, I had high expectations for the new EP — and guess what? It does not disappoint. The music is a genre-bending avalanche of technically impressive metal extremity that will rivet your attention from start to finish. And to add icing to the cake, Sentinel have made the EP available for download at Bandcamp with a “name your price” option.

After the jump, we’ve got a few more words about the EP, plus a stream of one of the five songs, plus the Bandcamp link. Continue reading »

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