NETRA FEATURING WE’REWOLVES: “DREADING CONSCIOUSNESS”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  7 Responses »
Nov 242013
 

I’m probably one of the least qualified people imaginable to review this new EP. However, every day I read about, and occasionally meet, all manner of motherfuckers who are unqualified to do what they are doing, so I don’t know why that should stop me. Besides, unlike all the motherfuckers to whom I refer, at least I’m being honest about my lack of qualifications. Putting to one side the question why you should continue reading this review in light of my disclosure, I shall forge ahead.

The title of this EP is Dreading Consciouness and it was released on November 18 by Canada-based Hypnotic Dirge Records. That label releases an eclectic range of music, but Dreading Consciousness is an odd one even for them. It’s a collaboration between netra (the one-man project of Steven LeMoan, a Frenchman who now lives in Norway) and an underground rap duo (Hockeymask and Konsept) who call themselves We’rewolves. Netra provides the music, We’rewolves the rhymes.

And here’s where my lack of qualifications come in — because I am not well-versed in either the kind of trip-hop backing music that dominates most of the three songs on the EP or hip-hop, yet I do like this. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: TORTURE DIVISION — “THE SACRIFICE”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Nov 242013
 

Two days ago Torture Division released their latest offering of “the world’s best death metal”, The Sacrifice. I’ve written about Torture Division so often at this site that explaining who they are and their approach to releasing music runs a high risk of redundancy, yet there’s always the slim chance that a few lost souls are discovering them for the first time. For them, here’s the back story:

The three members of this Swedish band – Lord K Philipson (guitar), Tobben Gustafsson (drums), and Jörgen Sandström (bass/vocals) — collectively have over 60 years of combined death metal experience, including membership in bands such as Grave, Entombed, Vicious Art, The Project Hate MCMXCIX, Vomitory, and God Among Insects. Their modus operandi is to release short demos and give them away for free. Every time they finish releasing a group of three demo’s, they or a record label package them up and sell them as a compilation CD. So far, this has happened three times; the latest compilation, The Army of Three, was released as a digipack earlier this month and has already sold out.

In June of this year, Torture Division gave away the first three-song demo in a new trilogy. That one was named The Worship, and I reviewed it here. The new one, which was again mixed and mastered by Dan Swanö at Unisound, delivers three new songs — “Queen Sacrifice”, “Fähund”, and “Flesh Before My Eyes”. Continue reading »

NEW MUSIC FROM TENGGER CAVALRY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Nov 232013
 

In the daily discourse about metal, whether it be online, in print, or in face-to-face conversations, it’s common for the music to be described in physical terms. In fact, I can’t think of any other genre of music where fans, critics, and musicians so frequently discuss and describe what they’re hearing by reference to the physical sensations that the sound triggers in their imaginations.

For example, when someone describes a song as “galloping”, most metal heads immediately have at least a general idea about the pace and rhythms of the music. And that word is always the first one that springs to my mind when I listen to China’s Tengger Cavalry — and not just because the word “cavalry” appears in the band’s name or because their music is so heavily influenced by Mongolian culture, in which the horse occupies such a central place (The Font of All Human Knowledge tells us that nomads living in the traditional Mongol fashion still hold more than 3 million horses, which outnumber the country’s human population).

Tengger Cavalry have completed recording a new album entitled Ancient Call that will be released on February 1, 2014, and thanks to a tip from my NCS comrade DGR, I learned that they’ve just made it available for pre-order on Bandcamp and have started streaming two new songs (which can be downloaded immediately by those who pre-order the album). Continue reading »

CAN MARYLAND DEATHFEST 2014 GET ANY BETTER? YES, IT JUST DID.

 Metal News  10 Responses »
Nov 222013
 

Even before today, next year’s edition of the Maryland Deathfest had already been shaping up as a truly stunning festival. But about an hour ago MDF announced a slew of additional confirmed appearances that further increase the stun power — and they’re still not finished. Check out the list of bands announced today:

DARK ANGEL (One of only a few US shows)

TRIPTYKON (Switzerland) – (Exclusive US appearance)

INQUISITION

CRIPPLE BASTARDS (Italy)

ANTISECT (UK)

SOURVEIN

LEFT FOR DEAD (Canada) Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: KAMPFAR, ADVENT SORROW, THEATRE NOCTURNE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Nov 222013
 

For reasons I won’t bore you with, over the last 24 hours I haven’t been able to devote my usual efforts to scouring the world of metal for new sightings and hearings. However, with a little help via links from friends, I did compile the following brief round-up of items that are very much worth mentioning.

KAMPFAR

The first item is at the top of this post. It’s the cover, released today, for the next album by Kampfar — Djevelmakt, which appears to mean “devilpower” in Norwegian. This is noteworthy for two reasons: First, because Kampfar chose a painting by the masterful Zdzisław Beksiński for the cover art. And second, because Kampfar is an excellent band, and whatever they do next will be worth hearing.  Continue reading »

littledidweknow SIGNS WITH SUBLIMINAL GROOVE RECORDS, RELEASES NEW SINGLE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Nov 222013
 

(NCS contributor Austin Weber brings us news of a new label signing and a new single from littledidweknow.)

A few months back I wrote here at NCS about a talented local group from my hometown of Louisville, KY, called littledidweknow. At the time, they had just released their lengthy spectacular debut called Lucid Happenings. Now a few months later, and Subliminal Groove Records just announced that they have signed littledidweknow.

A guitar playthrough for a new song called “Permagrin” was released to accompany this signing announcement. This song gives us more of their chopped-up presentation of metal, both technical and brutal, and quite groovy with piercing death metal outbursts spiraling out of control while erupting with vicious vocal assaults and some excellent tapping- and shred-accompanied breakdowns: Continue reading »

WHERE DOES THE TIME GO?

 Mosh Pit  4 Responses »
Nov 222013
 

(Andy Synn wrote this post. Your humble editor picked the photos. Andy is in them, somewhere.)

So not only has it recently been the 4th anniversary for NCS, but apparently my own 3-year anniversary as a writer for the site came and went without me noticing.

Now, that’s not too surprising, since I can’t remember much of what happened six months ago, let alone three years, but I feel like the occasion deserves some acknowledgement from me anyway.

I don’t remember exactly how I came across the site, but clearly I liked what I found, and decided to stick around for a while. A long while. Perhaps Islander’s biggest regret will one day be that he failed to get rid of me while he had the chance! Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: TOWERS OF FLESH, I EXIST, PUTREFACT, ALTAR OF BETELGEUZE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Nov 212013
 

Yesterday I came across new music from four bands with whom I hadn’t previously crossed paths. I really liked what I heard and hope you will, too. Part of what makes this quartet so appealing is that none of them sounds like any of the others, and together they give us another reminder about the amazing diversity of metal as an art form.

TOWERS OF FLESH

Towers of Flesh are a three-man band from the UK who released their debut album in 2010 (The Perpetual Paradox). All three of the band members (Anil Carrier, Tom Hinksman, and Jack Welch) have been active in other projects, but they have now managed to complete a new album entitled Antithetical Conjurations, which is projected for release in early 2014. It’s adorned by an eye-catching cover panting by Aisha Louisa Al-Sadie (edited by Bryan Hancox).

Yesterday the band released a sampler of music from the new album. I didn’t know what to expect, since I hadn’t heard their first album, but man, the sampler sounds excellent — a blend of of melodic black metal and death metal elements with dark, reverberating guitar melodies that are attention-grabbing even after only a few seconds, and plenty of low-end thunder. Continue reading »

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US

 Metal News  72 Responses »
Nov 212013
 

Guess what? NO CLEAN SINGING is four years old today. That’s right, we made our first post on November 21, 2009. There’s a word for metal blogs who are still around after four years. They’re called “survivors”. “Stubborn” and “too dumb to quit” would be alternative descriptions. Many other metal blogs who started around the same time we did (or even later) are no longer with us. We’re still very happy to be here.

My two original co-founders fell by the wayside long ago (though rumor has it, one may be making a guest appearance in the near future). In their place I’ve been very lucky  to work with the four dudes who have helped keep the site going and growing over the last two or three years. For the hell of it, I went back and identified their first appearances at NCS.

Andy Synn’s first post was a review of Dimmu Borgir’s Abrahadabra on September 23, 2010. BadWolf’s first post came on November 15, 2010 — a review of Terraphobic by Dagon. TheMadIsraeli made his debut with a review of The Interbeing’s debut album Edge of the Obscure, published on May 11, 2011. And DGR’s first post was a series of year-end lists on December 28, 2011. I’m proud to call all of them friends as well as colleagues, and I’m so grateful they’ve hung in there with me. Continue reading »

WRECKAGE IN 2014: MITOCHONDRION, AUROCH, BÖLZER, WOODS OF DESOLATION, OBSCURE BURIAL

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Nov 202013
 

This is really just another “Seen and Heard” post, but something about this collection of things I noticed over the last 24 hours put the image of “wreckage” in my mind. You’ll see why. And all of the items concern 2014 releases.

MITOCHONDRION AND AUROCH

I saw that Hellthrasher Productions is going to release a 7″ split by two Vancouver wrecking machines who are favorites of this site, Mitochondrion and Auroch. It is described “a conceptual song divided in two halves, with one title and one set of lyrics”, and it’s expected in early 2014. Both of these bands are at work on new full-length albums for Profound Lore, which will be on our highly-anticipated list for next year — and so will this split. Artwork and further details will be forthcoming.

BÖLZER

This next item consists of relatively recent updates that I just noticed concerning the titanic black/death entity from Switzerland known as Bölzer. First, they will have a new three-song EP entitled Soma released by Invictus Productions in 2014 (and yes, that also goes on our highly-anticipated list of 2014 releases). This is expected to be a fitting complement to the band’s stunning 2013 EP, Aura. Second, they will be performing at next year’s Maryland Deathfest. And third, the band’s 2012 demo Roman Acupuncture, which was originally released on hard-to-find tape, is going to be issued on vinyl next year by Iron Bonehead Productions. Continue reading »

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