ARCHGOAT: “HEAVENLY VULVA (CHRIST’S LAST RITES)”

 Album Reviews  24 Responses »
Oct 132011
 

We get our fair share of e-mails every day from record label representatives and PR folks. The most intriguing ones are those offering promo’s of new albums for review purposes, especially albums from bands whose music I don’t know anything about. I wish I had time to download and listen to everything that comes our way, but I don’t. So I can’t help but be influenced by what the e-mails say about the music, and how they say it. There’s an art to doing it well.

Some of the most effective pitches we get come from Earsplit PR, an outfit run by Liz Ciavarella-Brenner and Dave Brenner. They represent an extraordinary range of metal bands and labels, and they seem to have a chameleon-like ability to adapt their prose to each band’s music. Liz, in particular, seems to have my number, maybe because the e-mails I get from her trend more toward the very nasty end of the metal spectrum that I like best (and yes, I know she’s not writing these messages for me alone, though sometimes it seems that way). Now, I don’t know who wrote this message I got yesterday, because this one wasn’t specifically signed by Liz or Dave, but shit . . . you have to read this:

“ARCHGOAT’s new mini-album Heavenly Vulva (Christ’s Last Rites) goes straight for the throat of the self-proclaimed messiah and his wretched mother. Featuring six trademark God-slaying tracks torn directly from the Virgin’s violated womb, this brand new EP is gloriously crude, divinely tumultuous and deliciously deviant, as we have come to expect from the filthy, fearless Finn black crusaders. Defiled, invasive unsanctified black/death delivered in a corrupt, vile and demonic fashion, these anti-epiphanies embed themselves in the sacred flesh, spilling blood from the demised dog’s quivering body, funeral bells chiming as paradise is ransacked and the deceptive lie of centuries is exposed. Pounding, ripping, gurgling and mocking, the truth reveals itself. Blood-soaked, battered and humiliated, the deposed former denizens of Heaven cower in a corner. A frantic, blasphemous onslaught on the blind, deluded fraud-worshippers and knee-bending whoremongers who follow the path of the Liar!
The band is not available for interviews.”

(more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

GRAVEWORM: SEE “SEE NO FUTURE” VIDEO

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Oct 122011
 

Late last week in a post about free downloads I included a song by Italy’s Graveworm called “See No Future”, which will appear on their new album (the eighth), Fragments of Death, which Nuclear Blast will be releasing on October 21. In the same post I included a song from Immolation’s new free EP released by Scion A/V.

So, yesterday a video appeared for the Immolation song I featured, and by happenstance one has now appeared for the Graveworm song, too. So, playing that Graveworm video for you seemed like a fitting way to close our posting day, especially since we’ve been kind of death-metal focused in our music this Wednesday.

I gather from a few comments on last week’s post that this song may be something of a departure from Graveworm’s previous sound, perhaps too much goth/pop influence in the chorus melody in the eyes (ears) of some. But I still really like it. The video is decent, too, though I’m not sure I fully understand its meaning. The band has explained that the masks are connected to the view that the planet has no future, but what’s the significance of the schematics that flash on the screen? Comments are welcome, of course, whether about the video or the song — which is still available for download here. Video after the jump. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 37 (THE SURGICAL BRUTE EDITION) (Pt 2)

 MISCELLANY  64 Responses »
Oct 122011
 

NCS reader SurgicalBrute has turned me on to many excellent bands, and I’ve come to trust his tips. Recently he sent me a new batch of recommendations, and so I decided to just pick three of them for this edition of MISCELLANY. I may do the other three another time.

The way MISCELLANY usually works: We keep a growing list of bands whose music we haven’t heard but who look interesting. The list includes all the bands who contact NCS asking for a review (as it happens, one of SurgicalBrute’s recommendations is also a band who contacted us). Unfortunately, I’ll never be able to get through that list, but when I can, I grab a few names off of it at random, listen to a song or two, write up my impressions, and then stream the same music for you.

This time, of course, I’m using SB’s list instead of the NCS list, and the bands I picked are: Bones (US-Chicago), Embers (US-Oakland), and Undead Creep (Italy). To begin:

BONES

Here’s what SurgicalBrute had to say about this first band: “Crusty death metal, and one of my favorite releases this year. They get a lot of comparison to Chicago’s Usurper.” The Usurper comparisons are inevitable: The band is composed of three ex-Usurper members. They released their self-titled debut (on Planet Metal) in July, recording the album live in the studio with production help from Sanford Parker (Nachtmystium). SurgicalBrute sent me a YouTube link to a track called “Bloodlust”, and that’s the song I listened to first.  Continue reading »

BONUSES FROM THE BABOON

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Oct 122011
 

It’s been too long since we last showed some love for our blog brethren at Death Metal Baboon, so we’re remedying that. If you haven’t discovered the delights of DMB, you should. Here at NCS, we pride ourselves on promoting underground metal by spotlighting not-so-well-known bands from around the world, as well as the bigger names that everyone has heard of — but in that department, DMB has got us beat. Especially for metal coming out of Europe, they do an excellent job ferreting out musical gems from bands who don’t get much exposure here in the States, and DMB writer (and frequent NCS commenter) byrd36 does the same for State-side music.

Apart from showing some love and appreciation for DMB, the purpose of this post is to alert you to two recent pieces of content at that site I thought might interest you. The first is an entertaining and informative interview that DMB head-honcho Niek Baboon conducted with Dutch folk-metal band Heidevolk. You remember Heidevolk, don’t you? They were included in one of our MISCELLANY posts in late August (here), and  that mention has led to increased attention to folk metal at NCS (thanks in large part to the energies of our guest contributor Trollfiend). Check out Niek’s recently expanded interview HERE. When it comes to the Dutch, it takes one to know one.

The second piece of DMB content concerns a 3-piece UK instrumental metal band called Bleaklow. Niek reviewed their latest EP (The Sunless Country) HERE. His review led me to listen to the album, and today he alerted me to the fact that it’s now available for download on Bandcamp at a “name your price” option. The EP is one, long, 24-minute song. Like Niek, I have some trouble describing it, except to say that I like it a lot. It’s more on the prog side of the spectrum than most of the music we cover here, but it’s definitely headbang-worthy. Gritty, compelling, stripped-down prog with heavy balls. And a sweet sax solo in Part IV of the song. I’m including the second part of the song after the jump, and you can stream the whole thing via that Bandcamp link. Continue reading »

DEATH FUCKING METAL FOR YOUR WEDNESDAY

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Oct 122011
 


As I did my daily perusing on the interhole last night, two new videos caught my bloodshot eyes. They made me gnash my teeth and scowl. They made me want to bust up shit, but since I owned all the nearby shit and was too lazy to go next door and bust up my neighbor’s shit, I refrained. They made me want to drink blood and dine on fresh fetuses, but all I could find was a beer and a chicken breast. However, I scowled and growled while I ate and drank, because it is death fucking metal and it is black as rotten teeth.

Only five days ago we wrote about Scion A/V releasing a free EP of Immolation songs called Providence. In a bomb-burst of enthusiasm, I called it one of the best death metal releases of the year. I picked my favorite track from the EP to stream with that post, “Illumination”. In a testament to the wisdom of clean living and human sacrifice, I was rewarded last night by the release of an official video for that self-same track, financed by Scion A/V. I hope Scion A/V gets at least one new car sale out of this. I don’t know why they would, but they fucken deserve it. And you deserve to download the EP, which you can do HERE.

The other video is a French band called Svart Crown playing two songs at the Evening of Metal Festival at the Salle Aragon in Saint Dizier, France on October 8. I discovered this band almost exactly one year ago when I reviewed their second album, Witnessing the Fall. Coincidentally, I compared them to a joint venture between Immortal and . . . Immolation. I still fucking love that album, and finally, through this video, I now get to see Svart Crown put a skull-creasing beatdown on a live audience. Vidz after the jump. Death fucking metal. Fuck yeah, as they say in French. Continue reading »

NCS PRESENTS!

 Metal News  24 Responses »
Oct 122011
 

Is that not the most awesomest thing you’ve ever seen? Or at least the most awesomest thing you’ve seen in the last 5 minutes? And unlike the last thing musical event we presented, this one happens to be real, and there are two other real, related events in addition to this one.

Becoming The Archetype have announced an October/November European headlining tour in support of their latest album, Celestial Completion , which was released earlier this summer on Solid State Records and reviewed at NCS here. As part of that BEARDING EUROPE 2011 tour, the band will be playing three four dates in the UK, with support from a stellar line-up of UK metal bands, and we’re doing our part to help spread the word by co-sponsoring this BEARDING THE UK TOUR. The only band playing with BTA on all three dates is Bloodguard, who are fronted by our very own Andy Synn (congrats to Andy and the whole band for scoring these gigs).

On October 24, BTA will play Birmingham at The Actress & Bishop with Bloodguard and Haerken.. Tickets are £4. On October 25, BTA will be playing Manchester’s Roadhouse with Bloodguard and Bisonhammer. Tickets are £7 in advance from http://www.theroadhouselive.co.uk/. On October 26, BTA will be hitting  The Maze in Nottingham, with Bloodguard, Daor, and Incinery; advance tickets on sale HERE. And then on October 27, BTA will wreck Camden’s Purple Turtle with Talanas, Bloodguard, Chapters, and Ruins of Earth. Advance tickets are available for a paltry £7 here: http://www.wegottickets.com/event/137045

And by the way, you can find out more about Talanas by reading Andy’s review of their new album HERE , and you can get an introduction to Chapters via TheMadIsraeli’s write-up HERE. After the jump, check out the other UK tour posters with our humble name appearing on the top and see BTA’s entire European tour schedule, with support from Immortal Souls and Beyond the Dust after leaving the UK. Continue reading »

BLOTTED SCIENCE: “THE ANIMATION OF ENTOMOLOGY”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Oct 112011
 

(We welcome to the site an NCS guest contributor who calls himself The Baby Killer, and he makes his debut with a review of the new EP from supergroup Blotted Science.)

Have you ever listened to an album and thought to yourself, “Wow, I never thought these guys would outdo the last one, but they just did”? Some albums, at the time of their release, such as Anaal Nathrakh’s In the Constellation of the Black Widow or Nile’s Annihilation of the Wicked, and more relevantly Blotted Science’s debut effort The Machinations of Dementia, seem like they just can’t be topped.

The technicality, atmosphere, or even just the sheer level of brutality seem so daunting when the albums come out, and when word later surfaces that the band is working on the follow-up, people tend to get polarized about the subject. Some say they can’t wait to hear what’s next, some say either it’s not going to be as good or it will just be the same album recycled for the fans, and the rest usually fall somewhere in the middle. And then when the next release does come out, everyone puts aside their differences to help pick up each other’s jaws off the ground. Such is the case with Blotted Science’s new EP, The Animation of Entomology.

Ron Jarzombek & co. don’t seem to have lost any of their momentum from their last full length, and instead have only gotten tighter.  The addition of tech-death drum veteran Hannes Grossmann (ex-Necrophagist, Obscura) has given the band just the right shot of adrenaline they needed to really stand head and shoulders above their peers, worthy opponents of Animals As Leaders, Fleshwrought and Sleep Terror.

The Animation of Entomology‘s backbone is still the fluid combination of jazzy drums and rhythms over Jarzombek’s signature free-form weedily-weedilies, but the songwriting and structures are much more varied and diverse this time around, with the tempos ranging from slow and eerie to holy-fuck-my-arms-are-gonna-fall-off. I even found certain parts comparable to djent, but much heavier of course. It’s a veritable musical roller coaster, and the guy who designed it was probably on shrooms. Continue reading »

SOLSTAFIR STREAMING

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  22 Responses »
Oct 112011
 

Sólstafir is an Icelandic band whose fourth album — a double CD — will be released by Season of Mist on October 14. Andy Synn has made passing reference to them in a positive way in a few of his NCS reviews of other bands’ music, but until this morning I’d never heard what they have to offer. But we now have the promo of the new album, Svartir Sandar, and at the same time I discovered that the Finnish web site Inferno began streaming the album in full today (and for one week hereafter).

So, while doing something else I went to Inferno and began streaming the music. The first song on the stream is called “Ljós í Stormi”. It’s more than 11 minutes long. It stopped me dead in my tracks, almost immediately. I ceased what I was doing and just drank in the riveting music. I suppose one could call it post-black-metal, for lack of a better short-hand, but that seems so vague and, frankly, kind of dull — and the music is anything but dull.

After an almost two-minute instrumental intro that’s slow, cold, and hypnotic, the song explodes in rush of crashing chords and convulsive rhythms, supercharged by Aðalbjörn Tryggvason’s vein-bursting vocals. The pacing eases back, with echoing guitars introducing a dark, melancholy melody, accented by strange pieces of electronica, and those slow passages trade off with a distorted rolling gait. It’s both icy and fiery, otherworldly and passionate, as much prog-rock as metal, and worth your time.

GO HERE to stream this album on Inferno, and if I can’t persuade you to do that, at least go past the jump and check out “Ljós í Stormi”. We’ll have a review of this album in the future. Continue reading »

INSOMNIUM: “ONE FOR SORROW”

 Album Reviews  15 Responses »
Oct 112011
 

(NCS writer Andy Synn reviews the new album from Finland’s Insomnium.)

Expectations are funny things. Sometimes they set us up for a fall. Sometimes they serve to prepare us for disappointment. Sometimes they serve only to disappoint us further. But sometimes the simple fulfilment of your expectations can be a wonderful thing.

With their fifth album, Insomnium once again offer you everything you’ve been expecting. Cleanly and powerfully. Proudly and confidently. Consider yourselves satisfied. Consider your expectations not simply fulfilled but effortlessly surpassed. And do not for a moment imagine that you know everything about this album already. Not this time.

The traditional introductory track “Inertia” commences the album in a wholly untraditional manner, its floating, ethereal style and omnipresent keyboard ambience initially bringing to mind their Finnish brethren in Ghost Brigade as it slowly builds in intensity, growing from a tiny seed of melody into a forest of stars and wind-swept harmonies.

From its rolling gait the song transitions naturally into “Through The Shadows”, a powerful number whose thunderous metallic might and grandiose melody is buoyed up by an ocean of shimmering keyboard orchestration. The riffs and vocals strike a potent balance between overwhelming power and restraint, never knowingly aggressive yet effortlessly confident and assured, leading right up to a strident chorus where the clean vocals of guitarist Ville Friman are offset against the familiar, rumbling growl of Niilo Sevänen, offering a tantalising glimpse of a band who have still yet to unfurl all the facets of their glorious wings. A transcendent solo and some magnificent duelling guitar leads crown the second half of the song in majestic grandeur, leading seamlessly into the lengthy and epic vibe of “Song Of The Blackest Bird”. Continue reading »

ELDRITCH FLAMETHROWER

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Oct 102011
 

Isn’t that just the most fucken rad name for a metal band? Actually, Eldritch Flamethrower isn’t exactly a full-fledged metal band just yet, but they’re on their way. I know about them because of their connection to Oregon’s Arkhum, a band to whom we’ve paid a fair bit of attention at NCS (because they are also fuckin rad), most recently here. Specifically, Arkhum’s bassist Matt Edwards is on lead vocals, Arkhum’s vocalist Kenneth Parker is on bass and backing vocals (sounds like a game of musical chairs), and Arkhum’s guitarist Stephen Parker is doing the production work plus yelling along on gang vocals.

But this isn’t an all-Arkhum side project. It also includes Sean Corkum from another (recently deceased) Eugene-based outfit called Rocket Propelled Chainsaws (there’s another fucking rad band name for you) and Nathan Kelley from the sludge band Boneblossom (yep, there’s another one). All I’ve heard from Eldritch Flamethrower so far is a track called “Human Barbeque”, which is a f*cking rad song title. The final mix on the song isn’t even finished, but it’s more than enough to get me up and stomping around the room, scaring the piss out of my cat and disturbing the termites who’ve started a home-sweet-home in the baseboards.

It’s raw, primal, punk-y thrash, but without the classic vocal style that I often find annoying about thrash. It’s party music for a cannibal feast. Sean Corkum has cooked up some nasty headbanging riffs, and he executes a charcoal-fired solo that’s so smokin’ you can almost smell the human flesh on the grill. Yum!

Speaking of which, I really want to yell “Human Barbeque!” along with the gang vocals on this track. In fact, I think I will do that right now, especially because I’m running out of variant spellings for the word FUCKING. You can sing along, too, because I decided to stream the song right after the jump.  (also, the photo I lifted for this post is copyrighted by Tristan Savatier) Continue reading »

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