THREAT SIGNAL UNLEASHES A NEW SONG

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Aug 222011
 

One week ago, we took note of the release date and album art for the new Nuclear Blast release by Canada’s Threat Signal. We also took note of a statement by the band that the whole new self-titled album would mark a return to the days of Under Reprisal, “but with bigger balls”. Well, as they say, talk is cheap. We welcomed that statement, but were cautiously awaiting the real proof.

Now we have some proof, because not long ago the band posted the first track from the new album on their Facebook page, and they’ve also made it available for free download (though you’ll have to share it on Facebook or Twitter to get the download). It’s called “Fallen Disciples”. Too soon to render a verdict on the whole album based on one song, but I will say this — the song do have some big testes.

The song is built around a pneumatic jackhammer of downtuned riffage working overtime. The vocals sound authentically pissed-off, even when they’re hurling the melody straight at your face. The guitar solo swirls and screams with abandon. It’s a swift kick in your own testes.  Worth checking out I think.

To hear the song for yourself and to download it, the band’s Facebook page can be accessed here. I don’t yet have the ability to embed it, or I’d do that right here. [UPDATE: YES I DO NOW HAVE THE ABILITY TO EMBED IT!] The new album is scheduled for release in physical and digital formats on October 7 in Europe and October 11 in North America. It was produced and mixed by Zeuss at Planet-Z Recordings in Hadley, MA, and that’s usually a good sign — already being borne out by the sound of “Fallen Disciples”.

Go listen to the song after the jump. And hey, will someone get those poor dudes a bunch of towels and a hot toddy? Continue reading »

VIRUS: “THE AGENT THAT SHAPES THE DESERT”

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Aug 222011
 

A Facebook friend of mine, a talented metal guitarist and songwriter with eclectic musical tastes (The Binary Code’s Jesse Zuretti), posted a comment last night about a song from a Norwegian band called Virus that caught my eye. He wrote: “Check this band out if you like David Bowie, Black Metal, East of the Wall, and GROOVE. Some of the best lyrics I’ve read in years.” Really now, how could I resist?

The song that was the subject of that FB post is the title track to the band’s 2011 album (their third), The Agent That Shapes the Desert. The band itself is largely the brainchild of a guitarist and vocalist named Carl-Michael Eide (“Czral”), who at times past has been a part of bands such as Ulver, Satyricon, Ved Buens Ende, and Nattefrost, with collaboration from a very talented drummer named Einar Sjursø (“Einz”), and on this album, a terrific bassist who calls himself Bjeima.

Since listening to the song (plus a couple of others), I’ve done some reading and seen descriptions that refer to desert-rock and Voivod, but I’m not sure what desert rock is and the Voivod comparison is certainly an imperfect one. I prefer Jesse’s description, though personally I’d substitute David Byrne of The Talking Heads for David Bowie. And yes, the odd, sometimes campy-sounding clean vocals do take some getting used to, but the music is fascinating. It’s definitely avant-garde, with segments of jazz-style bass and drum instrumentals and other-worldly guitars that have to be heard to be believed. But yes again, it does include some massively irresistible grooves.

It’s also heavy enough to qualify as metal in my book, and I’m categorizing it as an Exception to the Rule around here, not because of the clean vocals but despite them (though I confess they’re growing on me). And finally, I also agree with Jesse that the lyrics are way cool. In fact, after the jump I’ve set them out right after the song. Check this out. You won’t hear anything else like it today, or possibly for the rest of the year. That may or may not be a compliment. You decide. Continue reading »

BYZANTINE

 Album Reviews  8 Responses »
Aug 222011
 


(TheMadIsraeli looks back at the discography of West Virginia’s Byzantine — and he’s spreading the music around, too.)

Byzantine is one of the most original, most kick-ass, most awesome metal bands in the last 10 years and SHAME ON YOU IF YOU DON’T KNOW WHO THEY ARE.  No one else has yet reproduced their combination of Bay Area thrash metal, death metal, Meshuggah math-metal stylings, jazz fusion, and the grooves and melodic nature of the post-thrash movement and made it all work so seamlessly and so well.

I’ve always felt that the future of metal lies in bands who engage in fusions, and I think we’ve seen this become quite clear in current bands such as Revocation. But Byzantine, as an idea, is THE epitome of the modern metal band.  Theirs was (and I hope will be) the kind of direction we need to see more in this age of brutality.

So yes, the subject of today’s feature is what, in my mind, is one of metal’s most important bands.  Reviews of their (thus far) three album discography follow, and guess what?  That’s right, another download of the full thing.  Except this time we’re indefinitely hosting it, with no time limit on your freedom to grab these slabs of goodness. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

TONY ROHRBOUGH: “THE WORK”

 Album Reviews  8 Responses »
Aug 222011
 

(NCS writer TheMadIsraeli reviews the solo instrumental album from ex-Byzantine guitarist Tony Rohrbaugh.)

This review has been a long time coming and is VERY overdue. Tony Rohrbough, for those who don’t know, is the lead guitarist of progressive groove-metal masters Byzantine (a band who will be the subject of a retrospective, with a full discography download, in the post that follows this one), and if you’ve never heard of Byzantine, you need to get educated about them, because you’ve been missing out on one of the best bands of the last 10 years.

I’ve had this album for 3 months now, trying to absorb all that it is. I didn’t want to give this a rushed review, a sloppy review, because this man is one of my favorite guitarists of all time. As a guitar player myself, I IDOLIZE this dude’s playing. The riffs he wrote in Byzantine and his solos in that band’s recordings were just enrapturing to me. I wanted to do this dude proper justice on his first solo outing, and even as I sit here and try to review this now, I don’t think I’m going to do it justice, but I will try.

Let’s establish one thing at the outset: This is a solo album, but this is not a solo album meant to show off Tony Rohrbough’s beastly shred capabilities. This is an exercise in song-writing. Yeah, there are more leads and solos than on your average album, because of the lack of vocals, but that’s far from the point. Rohrbough is creating compositions here, something most shred masters can’t do for shit on their own. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 33: ILLUMINATUS, ARKONA, AND SATEVIS

 MISCELLANY  44 Responses »
Aug 212011
 

Here we are with another edition of MISCELLANY, in which I listen to bands I’ve never heard before and report the results, whether they be good, bad, or indifferent. The ground rules:  We keep a running list of bands who contact us, or who are recommended to us, or who seem interesting based on things we read. When time permits, I grab a handful of names off the list, I listen to at least one song per band, and I write about my reactions. Then, I let you listen to what I heard so you can make up your own minds.

Them’s the rules, and I usually (though not always) stick to them. For today’s post, I picked two bands who were recommended and one who contacted us: Illuminatus (UK), Arkona (Russia), and Satevis (US).

These bands turned out to be significantly different from each other, and the musical variety was a good reminder of the diversity that metal has to offer. The music also turned out to be quite good, though given my own tastes, I did have a favorite. So, with that preamble, follow along after the jump and please do let us know what you thought of this music after you’ve heard it. Continue reading »

ARKHUM UPDATE (INCLUDING A PREMIERE OF NEW MUSIC)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Aug 202011
 

There’s a happy symmetry about this post. Exactly one year ago today we posted our review of Anno Universum, the debut album from Oregon’s Arkhum, along with an interview of brothers Stephen and Kenneth Parker. On that day, we were thrilled to report that Arkhum had signed with Vendlus Records, who released Anno Universum last fall. We were “early adopters” of Arkhum’s music, but over the last year they’ve racked up a slew of positive reviews worldwide and enthusiastic fan response to Anno Universum.

The band are now working on songs for their second album for Vendlus, with the goal of releasing it in 2012, and on this one-year anniversary of those previous posts, we have a few tastes of what’s to come. First, we have the premiere of a pre-production version of a brand new song called “Cenancestor”, which will appear on the next album. The vocals and instrumentals are scratch tracks and the recording reflects a rough mixing and mastering, but this is still a sweet song, and you’ll be able to download it.

Second, we’ve also got some icing on this cake — we’re also premiering video of the band’s excellent guitarist Stephen Parker playing along to “Cenancestor”.

Today also marks the official digital release of a new, three-song Arkhum EP called Olalain Linal Tutulu. It features a reimagined version of the song “Bloodgutter Encircling” from Anno, a remix of the song by electronic artist Beta Project, and a remixed, remastered version of the “Bloodgutter” track as it appeared on the album. We’ll give you a link for a free download of this EP. Stay with us after the jump for all this fine shit. Continue reading »

CARTHAGE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Aug 202011
 

(TheMadeIsraeli has an urgent message for you . . .)

My friend Tre Watson finally got the EP of his band Carthage put out today.  Progressive deathcore that brings in a lot of interesting influences and is worth checking out for sure.  Head over to their bandcamp before midnight tonight; until then, this EP is “pay what you want,” meaning yes, you can get it for free.  Once it hits midnight, it goes back to 5 dollars.  Expect a review of this soon.

http://carthageband.bandcamp.com/album/carthage-ep

Follow Carthage on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Carthageband

EXONERATION WEEK

 Metal News  10 Responses »
Aug 202011
 

Here at NCS, we avoid the daily news like the plague (unless it involves metal), because it offers constant reminders that human beings are fucking nuts, and not in a good way. For every small step of advancement toward civilization, there seem to be about 10 steps in regression as the self-centered and the arrogant persist in reenacting acts of gob-smacking idiocy that have been a feature of the human landscape for millenia and inflicting their prejudices on people who don’t think or act as they do.

But there are just enough, just barely enough, episodes of rationality to keep hope alive that a day will come when most people will act like the higher-order creatures they are supposed to be, instead of just bigger-brained versions of water buffalo and warthogs.

This week we had news about the lifting of legal clouds in two criminal cases that most metalheads have come to know quite well — the murder case against the West Memphis 3 in Jonesboro, Arkansas, and the prosecution of Adam Darski (a/k/a Nergal) of Behemoth for giving offense to religion in Poland.

According to this story, a Polish judge found Nergal innocent of offending religious feeling when he ripped up a Bible during a 2007 Behemoth concert, called the Bible “a deceitful book”, and branded the church a “criminal sect.” The judge held that Nergal’s actions were “a form of artistic expression consistent with the style of his band.” Duh. He added that the court had no intention of limiting freedom of expression or the right to criticize religion. That’s an encouraging pronouncement.

Nergal can now go about the business of continuing to recover from leukemia and practicing for Behemoth’s next live performances this fall. No doubt, his detractors in Poland are seething over this turn of events, still stubbornly refusing to understand that trying to jail people who speak ill of churches, no matter how “offensively,” or who tear up “holy books,” won’t silence criticism of churches or religion. If people aren’t secure enough in their own faith to ignore what people like Nergal do in performances for their own fans, then enforcing laws against religious offense won’t save them. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

TRVE NORWEGIAN BUTT-KICKING

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Aug 202011
 

Byfrost

Bloodstock Festival, Walton-upon-Trent, England

August 10, 2011

“Horns To the [Fucking] Sky”

Looks like it’s going to be a beer-for-breakfast kind of day at the NCS Island.

P.S. I’ve decided I need to gaze at Byfrost’s album art while I savor my breakfast beer and contemplate the primal appeal of black battle metal, Byfrost-style: Continue reading »

LANDMINE MARATHON: “GALLOWS”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Aug 192011
 

(Andy Synn reviews Gallows, the forthcoming album by Landmine Marathon.)

To start with, let me confess that Landmine Marathon’s last album, Sovereign Descent didn’t thrill me as much as I expected it to. It was a good record, no doubt, possessing some particularly great songs with which to bludgeon the listener into submission. Yet the production seemed too… cold… lifeless even, robbing the songs of the fire and vibrancy the band display live. It was neither one thing nor the other, neither larger than life nor clinically precise, leaving the band adrift in a void of directionless sound and fury – through no fault of their own!

In truth, it remains their debut album Wounded that I love best out of Landmine Marathon’s discography, thanks partially to its massive guitar tone and chaotic, cacophonous drum sound, accented by some incisive, scalpel-sharp melodies, whose presence makes the devastating display of focussed violence all the more effective by contrast. However Gallows may be the album to change all that.

The group’s latest album sees a return to the more monolithic tone of Wounded, resulting in a thicker and more muscular sound married to a sleek and supple series of sinuous song structures, all claws and teeth and broken bones. Capturing a more propulsive form of energy, much of the album recalls Maryland natives Misery Index, albeit with a dirtier overall vibe, expressing urban blight and sprawl in all its decadent, decaying glory. Eschewing the overtly politicised polemic of their Baltimore brethren, the sandpapered vocal chords of Ms Grace Perry vomit forth a virulent stream of putrid bile and hateful invective over a plethora of gut-wrenching, street-level death metal riffs and sharpened knife-fight guitar melodies, which flicker and stab without warning. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

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