ENTOMBED: “AMOK”, RE-RECORDED

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
May 252012
 

Almost five years have passed since Entombed released their last album, Serpent Saints – The Ten Amendments. Two days ago, the band finally released a new recording in Sweden, and it’s available for download as of today in the U.S. And what have the band given us after five years of creative hibernation? A re-recording of a song from Serpent Saints called “Amok”.

This “new” single is the result of a collaboration between Entombed and Ninetone Records, a Swedish rock/metal label that has released albums by Soreption, Corroded, and a bunch of other bands whose names I don’t recognize. I don’t know know whether Entombed and Ninetone have plans for something more than the “Amok” single — such as a new album or EP. I guess we’ll find out in due course.

The artwork for the new single is sort of a re-issue as well. It’s a stylized painting of a moth called “Instar” that was created by the super-talented Dan Seagrave (and still seems to be available here as a limited edition print if you’ve got $95 you don’t know what else to do with). As used for the sleeve of this single, it bears a resemblance to the cover of a 1995 album — also called Amok — by the now-defunct but highly influential Finnish band Sentenced. (who were the lead subject of an NCS feature during our Finland Tribute Week series in late 2010). Based on a post by Entombed on their Facebook page, this appears to be coincidental — but man, what a coincidence.

As mentioned, the new single is a re-recording. I haven’t yet found any explanation of why Entombed picked “Amok”, among all the previous songs they could have chosen, for a new recording. it’s a puzzle, especially since the band’s membership hasn’t really changed significantly since they recorded “Amok” for Serpent Saints (bassist Victor Brandt has joined the ranks since then, with former bassist Nico Elgstrand moving to guitars).

Whatever the reason, it’s definitely a different take on the song. Continue reading »

WINTERFYLLETH: “THE GHOST OF HERITAGE” RE-ISSUE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
May 242012
 

In September 2010 I went on a MISCELLANY expedition (posted here), and one of the bands I discovered was Winterfylleth, from Manchester in the UK. At the time, they were on the verge of releasing an album called The Mercian Sphere, and another web site had started streaming a track from the album — “A Valley Thick With Oaks”. Stunning song, and it led me to get the album and begin following the band.

Two days ago Candlelight Records re-issued Winterfylleth’s 2008 debut album, The Ghost of Heritage. The songs on the re-issue have been remastered by Colin Marston , the multi-instrumental member of Krallice, Dysrhythmia, and Gorguts. Candlelight also commissioned the new album artwork you see above.

When the band originally created The Ghost of Heritage, they recorded two songs that weren’t included on the album when Candlelight released it in 2008 — “The Ruin” and “The Honour Of Good Men On The Path To Eternal Glory”. Both of those songs as they were originally recorded in 2008 are now included as bonus tracks for the re-issue. The only reason I can imagine why these songs were left off the album originally is their length. The album was 49 minutes long without them, and those two songs would have added another 18+ minutes.

But that’s truly the only reason I can think of, because the songs are great. Admirers of The Mercian Sphere will recognize the titles of the two bonus tracks, because re-worked versions of both appeared on that album. Continue reading »

FILLER

 IQ Subtraction, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
May 242012
 

Uh . . . yeah . . . I fucked up again. I just woke up, not having finished a post last night. There’s a story behind the failure, but I’ll keep the details to myself because they don’t really put me in a good light, and I’m all about being in a good light.

So, not having prepared a post last night that’s up to our usual supremely high quality standards, I had to grab something really fast to put up on the site that would allow me to finish waking up in a leisurely manner without feeling too guilty about not having a morning NCS post.

Fortunately, I had a few very important items already rattling around in the back of my head. Continue reading »

NEWNESS: DYING FETUS, BLACKLODGE, AND PANOPTICON

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
May 232012
 

Come on now, you didn’t really think I was going to let a new Dying Fetus song pass by, did you? I’ve been a little slow on the draw lately, but I can still clear the holster. And yes, there’s a new Dying Fetus song that’s been released for public streaming. It’s called “From Womb To Waste”, and of course it appears on the Reign Supreme album that will be released on June 19. It’s really good.

In fact, I’ll just go ahead and be a douchebag and say that the whole damned album is really fuckin’ good. In fact, it’s definitely in the running for the best death metal album of the year. Speaking of which, because I have such a hard time comparing albums and ranking them, I’ve decided that I’m going to use a loris race to rank the best death metal albums of 2012. I’ll round up a bunch of them from the NCS loris compound, tie band names around their necks, and let them race for the finish line.

Of course, they’re really fuckin’ slow, so I’ll have to start the race in, like, August.  That will be hard on the bands who release albums in the last four months of the year, but I don’t feel too bad about that because it’s not like bands are waiting around holding their breaths to see if they make the NCS year-end list, especially since we’ve never had an NCS year-end list.

Where was I?  Oh yeah, the new Dying Fetus song. It debuted at AltPress. I borrowed their little player to stream the song after the jump. There’s more new music after the jump, too — from Blacklodge and Panopticon. Continue reading »

GOJIRA: THE “L’ENFANT SAUVAGE” VIDEO

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
May 232012
 

Gojira will be delivering their new album L’Enfant Sauvage to the masses on June 26. We’ve already reported on the release of the album’s fantastic title track, which you can still hear at this location. Today, the band released a video for that song, which is being displayed exclusively at Brooklyn Vegan.

Gojira’s official music videos have been unfailingly interesting to watch, and this new one is no exception. Using black-and-white imagery, a stuttering mix of animation and real people, the video appears to show a transition from urban towers to a state of nature (which is in keeping with the song’s title). Check it out HERE.

ETERNAL HELCARAXE: “AGAINST ALL ODDS”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
May 232012
 

Irish pagan/black metal band Eternal Helcaraxe walk a fine line between the dramatic and the melodramatic on their new album Against All Odds, but for the most part stay on the right side of it. Drawing on Irish mythos and a national identity marked equally by tragedy and a spirit of indomitable resilience, Eternal Helcaraxe have crafted anthems that both tug at the heart strings and rake at the flesh with sharpened swords.

This is not our first exposure to the band. In early 2011, I reviewed their EP, To Whatever End (2010). The distinctive characteristics of the music on that very mature EP are still present on the new album. Even if you lacked access to the lyrics, even if you didn’t know that this is an Irish band, the music itself conveys the obviously heart-felt emotions and principles that inspire Eternal Helcaraxe.

Against All Odds conveys a sense of epic struggle, the will to fight to the death for lost causes, the rising up of subjugated people with weapons in hand — no backing down and no quarter given or taken, ready to fall or to triumph in the service of honor and freedom. Jaded cynics in the audience may start rolling their eyes simply by reading those words, but for those romantics out there, there’s not a single song on this album that will fail to get the blood pumping and the heart soaring. Continue reading »

WAKING UP WITH KEN BEDENE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
May 232012
 

Last night I didn’t quite finish the review with which I had planned to start our posting day at NCS before running out of gas. The fact that I spent most of the night drowning my sorrows in whiskey with some friends may have had something to do with that. So, I need a little time to (a) pound coffee, (b) continue writing my review, (c) pound coffee, and (d) pound more coffee.

In the meantime, please amuse yourselves by watching Ken Bedene. He used to be the drummer for Abigail Williams and is now the drummer for Belgium’s Aborted. The two videos after the jump were originally posted by Sick Drummer magazine. They were filmed during Aborted’s performance at the DNA Lounge in San Francisco on May 8. The two songs are “Источник Болезни (The Origin Of Disease)” from Aborted’s 2012 album, Global Flatline, and “The Holocaust Incarnate” from Engineering the Dead (2001).

Ken Bedene is amazing. He appears to be part cybernetic metronome, part wolverine in full attack mode, and part Zen monk. Watching these videos means I need less coffee to wake up, which means less time peeing, which means more time pounding the keyboard, which means I should be back soon with that review. Enjoy Ken Bedene and Aborted.
Continue reading »

MORE AGALLOCH SUMMER TOUR DETAILS

 Metal News  9 Responses »
May 222012
 

The last time I posted about Agalloch’s summer North American tour with Taurus, I only had 10 dates.  Now the band have made an official announcement, and virtually the entire schedule has become available. In the comments to the last post, a few of you were bemoaning the lack of Denver and Phillie dates, among others. Well, fret no more. Those cities are included, along with a bunch more.

Here’s the official announcement, and the schedule is after the jump.

“AGALLOCH have announced a massive North American tour this summer that they will be embarking on. Support on all dates will come from Taurus which features Stevie Floyd of DARK CASTLE.  The band have also been confirmed to play this year’s Noctis Fest which will be taking place on Sept 28th/29th in Calgary, Alberta. A statement from the band reads as follows:

“This tour will mark the release of our recently recorded EP “Faustian Echoes” on both LP and CD.  We have taken great care in the design of this release.  Sometime before the tour we will have both a streaming and digital download option available.  However, the LP and CD versions will only be available at the shows during the dates on the tour and will be available via mail order after the tour.  We will be adding material (both new and old) to our set list and depending on stage time we anticipate playing between 90-120 minutes.  The set will rotate each night.  We have carefully selected local openers whose music fits the environment of an Agalloch show.  Where there are no openers selected, we will play nearly 120 minutes.  We are all personal fans of the openers and encourage everyone to show up early to see them.  We will have a variety of merchandise for sale including: 2 new shirt designs, our back catalog, “The Demonstration Archive,” “Marrow of the Spirit” vinyl, a tour poster by Stevie Floyd, original photographic prints by Veleda Thorsson, and various other odds and ends.”

“The dates go as follows and the TBA’s will be updated once things are finalized: Continue reading »

METAL IN KENTUCKY: THEORIES OF THE APOCALYPSE, TOMBSTALKER, AND SUCCUMB TO DEMISE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
May 222012
 

(NCS reader Black Shuck, who has introduced us to some great bands in the past, does it again in this guest post.)

Since I left home to get my edjumucation and make my way in the wide world, I’ve been very fortunate to have lived in places with good local metal scenes. I’ve previously written (here) about two bands from my college town (Ashes of Avarice and Awaking Leviathan), and two others from the surrounding area have also been featured here (The Horde and A Hill to Die Upon). I graduated from college about a year ago, and am now doing grad school in Lexington, Kentucky. I didn’t expect there to be any kind of metal scene when I moved here. I grew up in West Virginia, two hours away from Lexington, and aside from Byzantine, Appalachian Terror Unit, and one slightly insane security guard I knew at one of my jobs there, the place wasn’t exactly a hotbed of metal activity. So I wasn’t expecting a whole lot from the neighboring state.

I was quite wrong. There is most definitely a scene in Lexington, full of talented musicians dedicated heart and soul to metal. Here are three bands who kick quite a bit of ass.

THEORIES OF THE APOCALPYSE

Taking a page from the playbooks of some of the better re-thrash bands like Lazarus A.D. and Warbringer, Theories of the Apocalypse (shown above) showcase some pretty excellent riffing. I’ve seen them play about four times now, and each time I wake up with a sore neck the next morning. If there’s one problem thrash has, it’s that it’s repetitive to the point of being boring, but Theories manages to keep things interesting, combining traditional thrash riffs with earwormy little licks that will please your brain even as it’s rattled around from the headbanging. Continue reading »

A STORM OF LIGHT: THE VIOLITIONIST SESSIONS

 Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
May 222012
 

We’ve mentioned The Violitionist Sessions before, but you may have forgotten. In the words of the site’s proprietors: “The Violitionist Sessions are 3 questions and 3 songs with bands from Denton and passing through Denton, Texas. The sessions are all recorded live in a living room with no overdubs and no fancy tricks. The goal is to document a moment in time. This is what happened in Denton, Texas.”

Yesterday, The Violitionist Sessions put up videos of the three songs recently performed in that living room by Brooklyn’s A Storm of Light. They also made the live recordings available for free download (in exchange for an e-mail address).

This is a band I lost track of. I got their debut album, And We Wept the Black Ocean Within (2008), after reading raves about it when it debuted. Somehow, I missed their next two full-lengths, including 2011’s Profound Lore release, As the Valley of Death Becomes Us, Our Silver Memories Fade. What a dumbass I’ve been. Continue reading »

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