SLOWDOWN

 Off Topic  24 Responses »
Feb 252013
 

I’m feelin’ kinda fucked up today. Unfortunately, that feeling probably isn’t going away any time soon.

Here’s the deal: Unlike certain other metal sites and a very small number of metal blogs, this one isn’t a business and creating content for it isn’t a full-time job for me or any of our regular writers. In my case, the old fuckin’ day job usually leaves me enough time to devote significant attention to NCS, but every now and then it demands its pound of flesh in a rather extreme way — and it’s doing that now.

Beginning today and for the next 3 weeks (and possibly a bit longer) I will be away from home and immersed in a project that will kill off not only my days but most of my nights. I’m lucky that these kinds of assignments happen rarely, but when they do happen, they become nearly all-consuming. Don’t ask me for details — I could tell you, but then I’d have to kill you.

The only silver lining to this cloud is that the project could end much sooner than I’m predicting — but whether or not that happens is beyond my control. Continue reading »

SIX FEET UNDER DEBUT A NEW SONG: “PROPHECY”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Feb 252013
 

Maybe we should just re-name February “Ola Englund” month at NO CLEAN SINGING. Not long ago we launched a full-album stream of the new release by his band Feared (here), and today brought us a brand-new track that it appears he wrote for the band he joined last year, the formidable Six Feet Under.

The new song is “Prophecy” and it will appear on Six Feet Under’s new album Unborn, the “demented fraternal twin” of last year’s Undead, which will be released by Metal Blade on March 19.

The song stomps the holy hell out of the landscape with body-moving, chug-heavy riffs and an infernally catchy melody. It’s prime headbang candy, and of course it’s propelled by the distinctive growls of founder Chris Barnes. Eat this up (or let it eat you up) right after the jump. And after that, you can also check out the previously released lyric video for another new track, “Zombie Blood Curse”. Continue reading »

THE REINVENTION OF NINE INCH NAILS — AND BIG TOUR PLANS FOR 2013 AND BEYOND

 Metal News  6 Responses »
Feb 252013
 

(photo by Rob Sheridan)

This morning, Pitchfork reported some very good news for fans of Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails: Reznor is “reinventing” NIN from the ground up, with a new lineup that will include Reznor, Eric Avery of Jane’s Addiction, Adrian Belew of King Crimson, and Josh Eustis of Telefon Tel Aviv, as well as previous NIN collaborators Alessandro Cortini and Ilan Rubin. The purpose of this reinvention is to mount a campaign of extensive touring later this year and extending into 2013.

Here is Reznor’s recently released statement:

“Nine Inch Nails are touring this year.

I was working with Adrian Belew on some musical ideas, which led to some discussion on performing, which led to some beard-scratching, which (many steps later) led to the decision to re-think the idea of what Nine Inch Nails could be, and the idea of playing a show. Calls were made to some friends, lots of new ideas were discussed, and a show was booked – which led to another, which somehow led to a lot of shows. Continue reading »

DARK DESCENT SHIFTS GEARS ON BANDCAMP

 Metal News  24 Responses »
Feb 252013
 

Many of you are already quite familiar with Dark Descent Records. For those who aren’t, it’s a small independent label based in Colorado Springs, Colorado. It specializes in death, black, and doom metal — music that’s dark as night and dangerous as a mine field.

I wish I had time to dive deeply into every one of their releases, because the ones I’ve heard have been dependably lethal.

Dark Descent have had a Bandcamp site for some amount of time, but until recently I’m pretty sure they’ve only used the site to stream music, with actual sales limited to physical media. However, NCS supporter Vonlughlio alerted me to the fact that over the weekend Dark Descent began offering some of their releases for download on Bandcamp — and they’ve been adding new albums to their Bandcamp page, with more to come this week.

Last night Dark Descent also announced the creation of a “sub imprint” named Unspeakable Axe, which will focus on “bands influenced by and existing in the same indefinable territory as some of the founders of extreme metal – bands like Possessed, early Sepultura, and Hellhammer – as well as the ones that deliberately blurred the lines after they were already established, like Messiah, Merciless, Deceased…, Varathron, Mortuary Drape, and others.” Continue reading »

ROTTING CHRIST: “KATA TON DAIMONA EAYTOY”

 Album Reviews  9 Responses »
Feb 252013
 

(In this post, NCS writer Andy Synn reviews the forthcoming release by Rotting Christ, their 11th album since 1993.)

True to thine own spirit – such has always been the mantra of Rotting Christ. And Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy certainly holds true to this. While it continues the martial atmosphere established on Theogonia and Aealo, there’s actually less of a traditional folk-ish vibe to the music, and a much greater feeling of occult darkness (“Grandus Spriritus Diavolus”).

The distinctly Hellenic melody patterns still underpin the twisting, serpentine guitar lines (“In Yumen–Xibalba”), but the album feels less in thrall to history and tradition, and more concerned with underlining the foundations of the “modern” Rotting Christ sound.

That’s not to say that the album is in any way a “stripped down” or “back to basics” release – as it still litters the musical battlefield with strange apocryphal signs and mystical elements (“Ahura Mazdā-Aŋra Mainiuu”), ritualistic murmurings and reverberant war-like chants echoing across the blood-soaked field – but it is, to my mind at least, a heavier and more aggressive album altogether, and one that wraps itself in a more black metal aesthetic than we have seen from the band in some time, recalling the bands Non Serviam years, but with added extremity and muscle (“Gilgameš”). Continue reading »

THIS AND THAT: PRISTINA, AETERNUS, ZETALAMBMARY, AND VEKTOR

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Feb 242013
 

Here are a few things I saw and heard this morning. I hope you enjoy them. And by “enjoy” I mean “whimper fearfully and moan miserably”.

PRISTINA

I was bowled over by this Connectuicut band’s 2010 debut album, The Drought (Ov Salt and Sorrow), and I wasn’t the only one. It has received plenty of attention and critical praise.  You can peruse my review of the album here, and check out a revealing interview of Pristina’s mainman Brendan Duff by using this link.

I have really been looking forward to Pristina’s second album, Hopeless•Godless, which is now scheduled for release on February 26 through The Path Less Traveled Records. I’ve made my way through it once . . . but needed time to recover and hear it again before attempting to make notes for a review. It’s just utterly crushing and searing. I felt like a raw steak that had been tenderized with a mallet and then char-broiled over a hot open flame. Continue reading »

ENTHRONED – LONDON, MARCH 2ND – WITH SOME OF THE CRÈME DE LA CRÈME OF THE UK UNDERGROUND BLACK/DEATH METAL SCENE

 Metal News  2 Responses »
Feb 242013
 

(Andy Synn wishes to bring a show to your attention.)

So Islander’s been kind enough to let me use NCS for more of my own nefarious purposes, in this case bringing some attention to a big show we have down in London next week.

Now I’m not sure how many of our readers are UK-based, nor how many of you crazy foreign-types have friends over here in this green and pleasant land, but if you are/do, then perhaps you’ll consider coming along and witnessing nine of the UK’s finest black and death metal bands tear up the stage at The Electrowerkz at an event headlined by Belgium’s finest purveyors of obsidian majesty, Enthroned.

That being the case, I thought it would be prudent to introduce you all to the various bands performing, so you can pick and choose your own favourites.

Aeon Promotions in association with Nazgul Agency presents… Continue reading »

REVISITING THE CLASSICS: SOILWORK – “THE CHAINHEART MACHINE”

 Album Reviews, Revisiting the Classics  7 Responses »
Feb 242013
 

(After an extended hiatus, TheMadIsraeli revives the Revisiting the Classics series with a look back at an album from a band who are on the verge of dropping their latest bombshell.)

I figured this series needed to make a comeback some time ago; it was just getting the time to do it.  It’s rather ironic that the album I decided to use for this revival was one I selected five or so months before The Living Infinite was even announced.

The Chainheart Machine represents old-school Soilwork at its absolute finest.  The sharp, punctual, technical riffing, the frantic changes in tempo and time signature that occurred on some songs, the bewilderingly virtuoso-caliber shred of guitarist Peter Wichers, the epic melodies — this album has it fucking all if you ask me.  All the instrumentation is impeccable; the mix for its time is just PERFECT for what was going on here (a dense, industrial tone — odd choice for melodeath); and I just fucking love it, back to front.

The thing that really makes this album is the songs as a whole.  Let me explain. Continue reading »

ROUND-UP: ROTTING CHRIST, HYPOCRISY, TRAIL OF TEARS, VHÖL

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Feb 232013
 

When it comes to music debuts and hot breaking news, Friday’s aren’t usually very eventful. But yesterday was an exception. I posted a lot of new things yesterday as they were happening, but still didn’t cover everything, due to day-job bullshit. Today I’m catching up, with a collection of more sweet new items.

ROTTING CHRIST

These Greek heavyweights have been rolling out many new songs from their new album Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy, which Season Of Mist will be releasing next week. But yesterday, the entire album became available for streaming on several sites, including Metal Hammer.

I’m completely sold on this album, though I’ve been holding fire on explaining why because we do have a review in the works. I will once again merely say that you should hear this album. And now you can — via the player I’ve embedded right after the jump. Continue reading »

TOURISM: “DESPISE THE WORLD 2013” – SUFFOCATION AND FRIENDS PREPARE TO STOMP NORTH AMERICAN FLAT

 Metal News  7 Responses »
Feb 232013
 

It seems like every other day the past few weeks is we’ve been writing about Suffocation. We reviewed their new album Pinnacle of Bedlam, we published an interview with Derek Boyer, we posted their new official video for “As Grace Descends”, and now we have details about their first North American tour in support of the new album.

Honestly, if Suffocation were touring by themselves or with support from their postman, I’d roll out for it in a heartbeat — this band is one of the best live acts I’ve ever seen. But this tour includes a bunch of other strong attractions: Exhumed, Jungle Rot, and Rings of Saturn — plus two other bands I have a feeling I need to learn more about: Adimiron and (for West Coast dates) Lord of War.

Though it’s called a North American tour, Montreal and Toronto are the only Canadian stops and the Deep South and Mid-Atlantic regions are getting passed over, but for those of you who aren’t within driving distance of this monster you’ll feel much better when I tell you that I will be able to go. Continue reading »

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