THINGS SEEN AND HEARD TODAY: WINTERSUN, EVOCATION, AND TOMBS

 Metal News  8 Responses »
Aug 172012
 

Man oh man, I encountered a flood-tide of post-worthy shit in my morning ramblings through the interhole. So, I’m breaking it up into two posts, this one being the first.

WINTERSUN

Uh huh, the massive PR ramp-up to this Finnish band’s loooooooong-awaited duo of new albums is beginning. As previously reported, the first of those albms — Time I — is due for release by Nuclear Blast on October 19. Today brought us the unveiling of the cover art for that album, which you can see above. It was created by Cameron Gray, who also created the cover for the Born of Osiris album The Discovery, among others.

EVOCATION

I saw that Century Media started streaming the first new track from the next album by Sweden’s Evocation, Illusions of Grandeur. About a week ago, I created a feature about the band that was occasioned by the unveiling of the awesome Xaay cover art for the album (here). I didn’t have any new music to share at that time, so I loaded up the post with videos for previous Evocation songs. But now we’ve got the new album’s title track. It makes me very happy. Continue reading »

APOSTATE: “Λ ♦ Λ ♦ Ø”

 SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Aug 172012
 

If the name Apostate or that cover art up there seems familiar to you, it may be because I wrote about this band (here) in early June. At that point, they had put up a video for a song called “The Town”, which was to appear on a five-song EP entitled Λ ♦ Λ ♦ Ø. The song and the video hooked me right in the gills, and I wondered aloud what else Apostate had in store for us on that EP.

Well, now I know, because they self-released the EP on August 3, and I finally made time to hear it this week. It fulfills the considerable promise of that first song.

The five songs are named in a way that implies a story — “The Road”, “The People”, “The Speech”, “The Rupture”, “The Town”. The EP title itself, though expressed in symbols, stands for “against all odds”. And the band’s name, at least in the dictionary definition, means someone who has abandoned, renounced, turned away from, a religion — or less commonly, a non-religious cause or belief.

There are more clues the the theme of this EP in the lyrics to the four songs that have lyrics (which are available here). Contrary to the usual meaning of “apostate”, they don’t seem to be one of the usual metal rants against religion, at least not clearly so. In fact, they could be considered a profession of belief against un-belief. They’re very well-written, and they appear to be about a specific time and place, events on a bigger scale than a mere individual’s experience. But they’re deliberately mysterious, and so they’re subject to interpretation.

The words convey a sense of triumph against fear and violence, but also weariness and regret, condemnation of self almost as much as condemnation against an un-named enemy, and a lot more. I rarely bother with song lyrics, partly because they’re usually so unimportant to an appreciation of metal (they’re usually unintelligible), and partly because when you take the time to read them, they’re so often terrible. But in this case, the music made me curious. And yes, I really am getting to the music . . . in fact, I’m there. Continue reading »

DEXTER AND DEFTONES

 Off Topic  24 Responses »
Aug 172012
 

SPOILER ALERT: If you’re new to Dexter and haven’t yet made your way to the end of Season 6, skip this post.

I don’t watch a lot of TV, but one show I do watch like an addict watches for his dealer is Dexter — the ongoing story of a police blood spatter analyst who moonlights as a serial killer (or vice versa). For six seasons I’ve been glued to it, caught up in every twist, turn, and cliffhanger. And speaking of cliffhangers, Season 6 ended with a real doozie, as Dexter’s police-detective sister Deb enters the church that Dexter has outfitted as a kill room just in time to see him plunge a knife into the demented Travis Marshall.

This is obviously going to mark a dramatic turn in everything about the show and its central characters. Dexter’s success, against all odds, in passing as “normal” is over. He can’t possibly think his way out of this mind-blowing revelation. Or can he? That’s what Dexter addicts like me will find out when Season 7 begins on September 30.

Yesterday, Showtime started streaming a trailer for Season 7 that got my blood racing — a montage of eye-popping scenes that hint at awesome things to come (and of course raise far more questions than answers). And in one last bit of coolness, the music of “Change (In the House of Flies)” by Deftones can be heard at the end. Watch it after the jump. Any other Dexter addicts in the audience? Continue reading »

HERESIARCH, NICK KELLER, AND DARK DESCENT

 Album Reviews, Eye-Catchers, SHORT BUT SWEET  11 Responses »
Aug 172012
 

I saw this stunning painting long before I knew what it was or that it had any connection to metal. Only yesterday did I find the connection. The artist is a New Zealander named Nick Keller, and the painting is the gatefold interior artwork for an EP named Hammer of Intransigence by a New Zealand band named Heresiarch. To see any even higher-res version, click on the image.

The cover art for the EP, also painted by Nick Keller, is also amazing (and you can again click on it to see a larger version):

Now that I have your attention, let’s talk about Hammer of Intransigence — though I’ll be coming back to Nick Keller shortly. Continue reading »

SERIOUSLY, DON’T GIVE MEGADETH ANY MORE OF YOUR MONEY

 Uncategorized  55 Responses »
Aug 162012
 

It’s so rare that anything connected with heavy metal breaks into the mainstream consciousness that I can’t help but pay attention when it happens. Today it was kind of unavoidable. I was in my car with the radio tuned to a local talk channel just about the time that the CBS national radio news came on, and sure enough, right there at the end, after stories about things like wildfires and drought in the Midwest and Mitt Romney’s latest insistence that, yes, he pays his taxes, was Dave Mustaine’s latest and perhaps most outrageous pronouncement yet. CBS even aired a clip from Mustaine’s August 7 commentary in Singapore. You know, the one where he said this:

“Back in my country, my president … he’s trying to pass a gun ban, so he’s staging all of these murders, like the ‘Fast And Furious’ thing down at the border … Aurora, Colorado, all the people that were killed there … and now the beautiful people at the Sikh temple.”

Later, Mustaine went on to suggest that he may move to Singapore — a state not exactly known for its libertarian values — to escape the terror of “Nazi America.”

Dave, please move. Please, please, please, please, please!! If you move to Singapore, there’s less chance that the people at CBS will hear the next piece of ignorant garbage that spews from your pampered mouth.

It’s true that Dave Mustaine is not the only member of the community of metal with paranoid goofball ideas who insists on sharing them with the world. Unfortunately, the patronage of generations of metalheads have given him a platform from which his blathering gets noticed a lot more than the blathering of other lunatics who play in metal bands. It’s way past time that fans took the platform away from him. Continue reading »

NEW NASTINESS FROM ALL OVER: VENOMOUS MAXIMUS, TURBOCHARGED, AND DEIPHAGO

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Aug 162012
 

Oh baby, have we got some hot tracks for you today. I’ve donned the biohazard suit and gathered up three new tunes that bring the nasty and bring it hard. I’m not sure how or when the lexicon of metal got to the point where “filthy” became a word of praise, but this shit is filthy. Very different styles of music, but all three songs will get their hooks in you. The music is from Venomous Maximus (U.S.), Turbocharged (Sweden), and Deiphago (Costa Rica).

VENOMOUS MAXIMUS

This first item is just good timing. Less than a month ago I discovered this Houston band via their new music video for “The Mission” (featured here), and they surprised the hell out of me — surprising in the sense that their style of music isn’t one I’m usually into, but I fuckin’ loved that song, as well as the rest of the 2011 EP from whence it came.

Now I come to find out that Venomous Maximus have a new album projected for release this fall by the name of Beg Upon the Light, and yesterday they started streaming one of the new songs — “Moonchild”. And I mean to tell you, the central riff in this song (which slams right out of the gate) is an absolute headbanging killer. Seriously, you’d need a neck brace to keep your skull from bouncing like a basketball. A definite candidate for our 2012 “most infectious song” list. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MORDBRAND – “CONSUME THEM” FROM “KOLUMBARIUM”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Aug 162012
 

Mordbrand is a three-man death metal juggernaut from Sweden whose work has appeared frequently at NO CLEAN SINGING and drawn considerable attention elsewhere, too. Consisting of vocalist Per Boder (ex-God Macabre), guitarist/bassist/backing vocalist Björn Larsson, and drummer Johan Rudberg, Mordbrand have chosen (so far) to release their music in small portions. There was a 2010 split with Evoke, an attention-grabbing EP in 2011 entitled Necropsychotic (reviewed here), and a split with Bombs of Hades released earlier this year under the title No Life (featured here).

Since the release of the No Life split, Mordbrand have recorded two more songs destined for release by Deathgasm Records as a 7″ vinyl bearing the name Kolumbarium. The two songs are “Consume Them” and “Let Them Slumber”. The second one features guest vocals by Nox from the excellent Swedish band Craft.

Originally expected this summer, manufacturing delays have pushed off Kolumbarium’s availability — the latest word is that it will be released by late September or early October. However, because we are awesome, we have been allowed to hear the two songs in advance. Because you are awesome, you will also get to hear one of them before you finish reading this post. Yes, in a moment of weakness, Mordbrand agreed to allow NCS to provide the world premiere of “Consume Them”. And man, does it rip hell. Continue reading »

WHICH WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE?

 Metal News  8 Responses »
Aug 162012
 

Welcome to another edition of “The World of Merch”!  Actually, it’s the first edition of the series, and most likely the last.

I just saw these pics on the web this morning. On the left, Shining (Sweden) bring you logo panties, along with this announcement. “Shining are playing Summer Breeze Open Air this Saturday (Party Stage 19:50) and are bringing along new merch items! These and others will be on sale at www.shininglegions.com later as well, but if you’re heading towards Germany, why not surprise yourself or your girlfriend with a nice festival souvenir.”

I really didn’t see this one coming, not from a band like Shining. The least they could have done would have been to go crotchless or scratch ‘n’ sniff. Though I would definitely surprise myself if I bought one for me. My wife would be surprised if I gave one to her, too. However, I would not be surprised if she then stuffed it down my gullet.

Is metal underwear a big seller? For all I know, it could be. I haven’t exactly made a study of the market for band-logoed thongs. I dunno, maybe bands enjoy the thought that their name is on something that rides up the ass of their fans, male or female, and catches skid marks and stray drops of pee pee.

Shirts, on the other hand, I know that shit sells, especially when they’re as eye-catching as that new Cerberus t-shirt that the awesome Fleshgod Apocalypse are hawking. That shit is strong. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: HOT GRAVES / WHITEHORSE SPLIT

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Aug 162012
 

That eye-catching cover art depicts an epic battle in the making, the zombie hell horse and the ferocious battle cat about to throw down. Hooves vs. claws (though it looks like the cat is trying to even the score by wearing the cat equivalent of brass knuckles — cats are ruthless when it comes to horse fighting).

The artwork (by Glenno) graces the cover of a split release by Hot Graves of Gainesville, Florida and Whitehorse from Melbourne, Australia. I was introduced to Hot Graves when they released their 2011 album Knights In White Phosphorus and it was featured in a guest NCS post by SurgicalBrute (here). He described their music as “crusty blackened thrash” and recommended them to fans of Possessed, Hell Hammer, and Sodom. I’ve been following them ever since.

Whitehorse, on the other hand, is a new discovery for me. They’ve put out two albums (the most recent of which was last year’s Progression), plus EPs and numerous splits. I’ll be following them now, too.

Hot Graves contributes two tracks to this split. “This Is For You” and “MetalBlaster”. The music sounds like mad scientists mixed thrash, punk, and d-beat, cooked it in whatever makes metal black,  and then spun it in a centrifuge at high speed until it exploded and spattered the walls with filth. It’s mainly fast, abrasively raw, and smokin’ hot. It’s the music of a demon moshpit at a dive bar in Hell. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD TODAY: WINTERFYLLETH, GOAT THE HEAD, ONE INCH GIANT, AND MASS HYPNOSIS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Aug 152012
 

Here we have yet another random assortment of things I saw and heard today that I thought merited some attention. And the bands are: Winterfylleth (UK), Goat the Head (Norway), One Inch Giant (Sweden), and Mass Hypnosis (Croatia).
 

WINTERFYLLETH

I saw that another new song from Winterfylleth’s next album, The Threnody of Triumph, has started streaming. As previously reported here, the album is due for release on September 25 via Candlelight. The new song is “The Svart Raven”, and it’s streaming at Stereogum. I won’t blather on about the song; I’m saving my blathering for a review. For now, I’ll say only that the song is excellent and that you should hear it without fail if you have any interest in black metal. Go here to do that.

GOAT THE HEAD

I saw the image at the top of this post appear on the Facebook page of our favorite contemporary primal cavemen death metallists, Goat the Head. This looks suspiciously like cover art for some new collection of contemporary primal caveman death metal. My suspicions were further aroused by this accompanying statement by the Goats: “Exposing evident symptoms of imminent deathrash”.

I must say that I find this highly encouraging. It has been FAR too long since we’ve received new original material from this band, who we have written about a multitude of times in the past (collected here). They are, after all, the band who introduced us to the dreaded Cube, the mere mention of which gives me the nervous shakes. Although the Goatsters haven’t released new material in a while, earlier this summer they did record a cover of “Burner” by Motörhead, which I somehow overlooked. It rocks. It’s right after the jump. Continue reading »

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