ALTAR OF PLAGUES: “TEETHED GLORY AND INJURY”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Apr 252013
 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Ireland’s Altar of Plagues.)

“Nothing endures but change.” – Heraclitus of Ephesus

This maxim holds as true today as it ever did, and it’s one that Altar Of Plagues seem to have taken to heart with Teethed Glory And Injury, their third full-length album.

Previous records, both EPs and albums, conjured a sense of dramatic, living decay. The lengthy songs pulsed with a heartbeat of draining entropy, a shadowy warmth, and a visceral, elemental feeling of life – albeit a life in inevitable decline. But at some point even entropy has its end. Every decline reaches its conclusion. Nothingness. Nullification. Void. What comes after?

Teethed Glory and Injury is a rebirth unlike any other. This is no phoenix-like triumph, no glorious resurrection. It is a cold, malevolent awakening. A sound born from the other side of nothing. Continue reading »

MUMAKIL TEASES “FLIES WILL STARVE”

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Apr 252013
 

Here’s a bit of welcome news that snuck up on me: Mumakil have a new album coming out on June 25 in North America (and on slightly earlier dates in Europe). The name is Flies Will Starve, and the enticing album art by Remy Cuveillier of Headsplit Design is above.

This is the band’s third album and the first in four years. Relapse Records has set up a “landing page” for pre-orders (here), and it includes a trailer for the album. I also found a Bandcamp page that Relapse set up for Mumakil that includes a digital pre-order option for Flies. It also includes the three songs that Mumakil recorded for their 2012 split with Blockheads. So I thought I’d put the new album trailer in here, plus the Bandcamp player for those three songs for the split, to assist those who are unfamiliar with Mumakil in becoming more familiar with them, and to help relieve sinus blockage.

If you think you might be interested in a howling hurricane of low-tuned, technically proficient, death-infused grind, or you’d simply like to wake yourself the fuck up, then check out the streams after the jump. Continue reading »

UNCOMFORTABLE WORDS

 Mosh Pit  42 Responses »
Apr 252013
 

Yesterday I mentioned that I had recently made a trip to Austin, Texas, to visit my brother. Whenever I go to Austin I also check in with my oldest friend and his spouse, who is also an old friend. They’re not lovers of metal, but they’re definitely metal, if you know what I mean. One of the times I hung out with them, they mentioned that they had heard some kind of program (I can’t remember if it was radio or TV) about uncomfortable words. These are words that make most people uncomfortable for one of two reasons.

First, they can be uncomfortable because of the way they sound, even if what they mean isn’t discomfiting at all. It helps if you enunciate such words in a way that draws them out, preferably with a layer of creepy accents (I’m thinking of Vincent Price, but anyone who sounds like a child molester would work).  Second, they can be uncomfortable because they actually mean something that makes people uneasy, or queasy.

Of course, we had to play the game. I think we did a pretty good job, taking turns swapping uncomfortable words. I think it helped to have a few shots and beers, though conceivably some of the words we picked might be less humorously uncomfortable to a sober listener. But even though my old friends were pretty good at this, I thought we could extend the list by turning to the pro’s, and by “pro’s” I mean people like you. Y’know, lovers of extreme metal — people who make everyone around them uncomfortable just by existing, people with a diseased turn of mind, people who don’t blanch at song lyrics that would get you jailed in 99% of the geographic United States if spoken aloud.

Here are the words we came up with: Continue reading »

THIS AND THAT: TERATISM, 7 H.TARGET, AND MONAHANS

 Exceptions to the Rule, Eye-Catchers, Off Topic, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Apr 242013
 

Here are a few things I’ve been listening to recently. They’ve been bouncing around my head, insisting that I say something about them, and so I am. They have no connection to each other and one of them isn’t even metal at all. But for different reasons all three songs have sunk their claws into the mushy gray matter and won’t let go. Let me know what you think.

TERATISM

I latched on to this Minneapolis band because of the artwork you see above. It’s a Mark Riddick creation for the vinyl LP version of the band’s 2010 album Via Negativa (which was their fourth full-length), and it fuckin’ kills — one of my favorite pieces he’s ever done. The vinyl will be released at some point later this year by Behold Barbarity Records, and the album is available for streaming at the Teratism Bandcamp page. Unfortunately, you can’t download it there but CDs are available here.

But the song that’s been wrecking my head recently isn’t from that album (though the album is massively good). Instead, it’s one I found after the Riddick art drew me to the Teratism FB page. It’s called “Shadows Flee the Burning Sons of Light” and it will be included on a forthcoming vinyl 12″ EP named La Bas, which consists of four previously unreleased Teratism tracks (recorded in 2009) and a cover of “Come To the Sabbat” by Black Widow. And that EP also features this vicious Mark Riddick cover art: Continue reading »

AUTARCH: “THE DEATH OF ACTIACUS”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Apr 242013
 

When I reviewed Autarch’s self-titled debut EP last August, I wrote that it was “plenty good as it stands, but it may be even more significant for the promises it holds of even more interesting music to come.” The time has arrived to find out whether the band have made good on those promises, because they’ve just released their first album, The Death of Actiacus.

What interested me about Autarch’s EP was the largely successful way in which they combined the grit and aggressiveness of crust-punk with the atmospheric, guitar-driven melodies of post-rock. It’s a combination that’s still at the core of their sound on the new album, but the songs are even better written and better performed, and they’ve pushed the potential of the juxtaposition even further. The result is a memorable and compelling experience.

With songs of above average length, Autarch have given themselves room to expand and to explore the dynamic contrasts in the styles to which they’ve dedicated themselves. Take the third song, “Comarre”, as an example. It begins with head-gripping guitar-picking, an infectious beat, and a shimmering melody that gets you nodding in an ethereal flow. The music builds in volume and intensity — and then the guitars really bite down and sink their teeth into your neck, the pace eventually accelerating and the rhythms transitioning into a punk stomp, the guitars kicking up both dirt and light as the vocalist lets go in a hoarse bark. Continue reading »

KVELERTAK: “MEIR”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Apr 242013
 

(Our man BadWolf reviews the new album by Norway’s Kvelertak.)

Spring ’13 brought with it a bumper-crop of highly-anticipated follow-ups to albums I loved in 2010, and perhaps not one of those records came with higher expectations than Kvelertak’s Meir, the followup to their self-titled debut.

If you missed the boat, Kvelertak’s bizarre and infectious mix of black metal, hardcore punk, and classic rock blew through the internet, and later the international tour circuit, like a storm, complete with professional endorsements from respected musicians like Baroness mastermind John Dyer Baizley (who painted the covers to both their debut and Meir) and Converge guitarist/master-producer Kurt Ballou (who produced both records).

Let’s put this in perspective: Four years ago this band was a bunch of nobodies, and in 2013 they opened for Kiss in Norway. Kvelertak played support to Torche and Converge in the autumn of 2012 and are about to embark on a US headlining tour, playing after The Cancer Bats, a more senior band. Meir, a record sung in Norwegian, got love from mainstream blogs like Stereogum, and was released by Roadrunner who, lest we forget, puts out Nickelback records

As far as I’m concerned they deserve every ounce of praise and success they’ve received. Continue reading »

ROB ZOMBIE GOES BLACK METAL; WHY AM I WRITING ABOUT THIS?

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  22 Responses »
Apr 242013
 

I’ve seen the Woolite commercial that Rob Zombie made because Phro linked to it in an NCS comment once upon a time, but I’ve never seen a Rob Zombie movie. This is because (a) I don’t particularly enjoy horror movies (I scare easily), and (b) because I’ve never particularly enjoyed Rob Zombie’s music. I would add, (c), that I prefer not to spend money on bad movies, except I can’t say the movies are bad since I’ve never seen one. So, I will not be seeing his new movie, The Lords of Salem. However, I have now seen a music video that may be in the movie and is at least connected to it.

The video is for a song by a fictional black metal band named Leviathan The Fleeing Serpent, who apparently appear in the movie, as does the song, “Crushing the Ritual”. Rob Zombie and guitarist John 5 wrote and recorded the song, and I guess that’s Rob Zombie appearing as the corpse-painted frontman, who bears a passing resemblance to Gaahl in his Gorgoroth days.

I guess the song and the video are parodies — but I’m not 100% certain of that. On the one hand, Rob Zombie’s bug-eyed, campy facial expressions, the ridiculous headgear worn by his bandmates, and the selection of words flashing across the screen suggest this is satire. Also, the song has about two chords in it (plus non-stop blast-beats, of course). Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS

 Metal News  11 Responses »
Apr 232013
 

Within the last few days (and mostly today), seven albums I’m very high on (and have written about here) have begun streaming in full on various web sites. They shouldn’t be missed — it’s a great chance to check out the music before deciding whether to plunk down money for them.

Each of the sites where these streams are now available includes info on how to order or pre-order the albums, so I’m not going to take time to repeat that info here. I’m also not going to take the time to write about the music (though we do plan to review some of these albums) because . . . you can hear them right now! The relevant links are below, in alphabetical order.

ALTAR OF PLAGUES: TEETHED GLORY AND INJURY

http://pitchfork.com/advance/81-teethed-glory-and-injury/ Continue reading »

THE DILLINGER ESCAPE PLAN: “WHEN I LOST MY BET” (THE VIDEO)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Apr 232013
 

I’m going to pretend I’ve never heard of The Dillinger Escape Plan. I’m going to imagine that I have no idea what their music is like. I’m going to forget that I’ve heard “Prancer” from their new album and develop temporary amnesia about the fact that they convincingly lose their minds on stage, just as they often do in the studio. I’m just going to watch this brand new DEP video for a song called “When I Lost My Bet” and react to it with no preconceptions. I know I can do this. Here we go:

HOLY FUCKING SHIT, WHAT DID I JUST HEAR AND SEE?!?

The music is totally off the chain — bursts of grind-like freakazoidica, explosions of spastic riffing and un-strung rhythms, vein-bursting yells, fast and slow, loud and soft, insane and . . . insane.

And the visuals? Thoroughly surreal — umbilicals that go where they don’t go in nature, walls with mouths, feathers and blood, faceless heads, dust and dirt, and too many other things to even comprehend on a single viewing. Mitch Massie directed this video, and you can’t not watch it once it starts. So, brace yourselves . . . and watch it! Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries