STANGALA AND STONEBIRDS: “KREIZ-BREIZH SESSIONS VOL. 1”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Dec 242013
 

(With this post we welcome Comrade Aleks, a new guest contributor from Russia who writes prolifically for other sites under different names.)

It will be useful to remind our readers about the region located in the northwest of France, and of course I mean Brittany. It is a region washed by the English Channel from the north, the Bay of Biscay is located to the west, and look – there’s fairy forest Brocéliande right in the middle, with Carnac stones and ancient alleys of menhirs. Fucking informative and romantic! Glorious sons of forests and mushroom glades StoneBirds and Stangala did record a solid unit under the name “The sessions in central Brittany”. Turn on the music and you will hear that Stangala really demonstrates proximity to the Celtic culture. And what about StoneBirds?

StoneBirds are good in their own way, and they’re on top of their form now. The band’s first release Slow Fly did not surprise me; yes, it was a not-bad traditional stoner album with songs laden with fat and groove, not very original, but that’s not to say it was of secondary quality. The new stuff sounds more straightforward, heavier, dreary, and more restless. The men have switched to the dark side of the Power. Darth Vader approves, and I would not like to argue with him. Continue reading »

PESTILENCE: “OBSIDEO”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Dec 232013
 

(Earlier this month TheMadIsraeli finished a review of the entire discography of seminal Dutch death metal band Pestilence prior to their newest work. And now he fills that gap as well.)

“Grotesque” is the word when describing Obsideo.  Its bloody, puss-dripping, rotted-flesh, hulking frame can be seen coming from miles away with the last gasps of a human life that open the record.  Pestilence have been vicious, feral, filthy even, but never have they sounded more obsessed, fetishized, and depraved than on this record.  When it’s done turning your body into a sandbag of shattered bone fragments, it drowns you in its putrid excrement afterward without mercy.

This is the kind of shit Pestilence have always done well, and this particular turn of sound has produced the band’s heaviest record since Consuming Impulse.  The thing that really makes this record is just how fucking carnivorous its assault is.  Everything sounds eager for blood, eager to destroy, eager to desecrate.  I don’t know whether it’s the dank tone of the eight-string guitars this time around, the deeper, more feral nature of Mameli’s vocals, David Haley’s tribal blunt-force drum performance, which sounds like a cacophonous death rattle, or what, but this record has me frothing at the mouth for carnage.  In a sense, Obsideo is the record that most fits the Pestilence name.  It’s corrosive, pernicious, destructive, and polluting in all possible ways. Continue reading »

INNER MISSING: “PERJURY”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  8 Responses »
Dec 232013
 

(DGR felt compelled to review the new album by a Russian group named Inner Missing before this fine year draws to a close. Approach this with an open mind, won’t you?)

I still haven’t written my top list. I know the site is in the midst of Listmania, but there are still albums that came out this year that I feel like we owe something to. This is always the case at the end of the year, though. A million discs come out and we swear up and down we’re going to get to them, but we never do, for whatever reason. And thusly, we find ourselves playing catch up, or in my case discovering shit that came out way earlier this year that I really enjoy and want to share with you fine folks. Such is the case with Perjury, the 2013 self-released disc by St. Petersburg, Russia-based group Inner Missing.

Somehow, the band’s video for the song “The Sea Of Grey” wound up in our staff discussion space, and I really took a shining to it. I know everyone else reacted pretty strongly to it, but for some reason I was drawn to this band’s style. Maybe it is the whole underdog nature of it all: a Russian group who take themselves very seriously put out a disc that is incredibly goth, so much so that all the tropes of that style of music are identifiable to a ‘T’ from the get-go. For some reason, I found it so goddamn endearing that the group has always been on the back of my mind, and only now have I found myself determined to review this album.

So, for a change of pace and something a little different from the usual No Clean Singing slate of madness, I give you Inner Missing’s Perjury. Continue reading »

WOMANOWAR: THE ARGUMENT FOR BALANCE & EQUALITY — AN INTERVIEW WITH SUBROSA (KIM PACK, SARAH PENDLETON, & REBECCA VERNON)

 Interviews  20 Responses »
Dec 232013
 

photo by Brandon Garcia

(We welcome the return of guest writer Alain Mower and the second in his series of interviews of women in metal. In this edition, he talks with three of the members of Utah-based SubRosa — Kim Pack, Sarah Pendleton, and Rebecca Vernon — whose 2013 album More Constant Than the Gods has been appearing on many year-end lists around the world, including this recent one on our own site, and whose answers to Alain’s questions are both eloquent and inspiring.)

This series is dedicated to creating discussion and awareness by expressing the observations, thoughts, and opinions of current prolific metal musicians who, in their spare time, also happen to be women. This is in direct response to the few stragglers in the community who think that there is still a place for sexism in metal.

If this results in you punching some loud-mouth, drunk sexist at the next show you go to or calling someone out when they question the attendance, attire, or musical capabilities of a woman at a show, then that’s all I could ever ask, and then some. Continue reading »

BADWOLF’S TOP 25 METAL ALBUMS OF THE YEAR (AND HIS PERSONAL FAVORITE)

 LISTMANIA 2013  3 Responses »
Dec 232013
 

(In this post, NCS staff writer BadWolf delivers his list of the year’s best albums.)

Every year I make one of these lists, and every year it comes out different, probably because my feelings on year-end lists changes. Honestly, guys, we’ve had an absolute wealth of information on this site and others over the past month, and more album streams than anyone could possibly wade through (though, god help me, I’m trying to listen to everything Austin Lunn recommended). I know I’ve missed tons of underground shit. Honestly, If i’m going to recommend anything obscure, I’d rather do so by itself, in a full review, than buried in one of these lists. Ultimately, I didn’t want to give anything a meaningless rank. Rather, I wanted to highlight those albums that I feel are worth revisiting this year.

So, here they are, my top albums of the year, presented in alphabetical order, and at the end my personal favorite (which should come as no surprise). Bon appetit.

Altar of Plagues – Teethed Glory and Injury

I had disregarded this band before—the previous Altar records felt like retreads of sounds I preferred from other bands. But this thing! On their final record, Altar took an oblique, rhythmic left turn into some of the most upsetting-but-fascinating music in the past few years. I’m sad to see them go, but what a send-off.


Continue reading »

A YEAR-END LIST BY SURACHAI

 LISTMANIA 2013  2 Responses »
Dec 232013
 

(We invited Chicago’s Surachai to share with us some of his favorite music from 2013 because we suspected it would be an unusual list. We were not wrong. And if you happened to have missed Surachai’s 2013 album, Embraced, which BadWolf reviewed here, check it out on Bandcamp.)

 

Bernard Parmegiani – De Natura Sonorum (Recollection GRM)

Unfortunately, I found out about Bernard Parmagiani only recently, and only recently did he die. He left behind an immense catalog of some of the mind-bending compositions and sounds from last century. I’ve been collecting all the reissued GRM titles and most of them take you to school, then you realize some of these reissues are anywhere between 30-50 years old. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MEDECOPHOBIC, PURTENANCE, AETHERIAN

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Dec 222013
 

Here’s a selection of metal I discovered yesterday from bands both new and old. It’s a diverse mix of sounds, from bone-mangling and decimating to beautifully melodic, and I found all of it excellent.

MEDECOPHOBIC

Medecophobic is a two-man operation from Munich, Germany. Almost exactly three years ago they self-released their debut album Pandemic of Existence (available on Bandcamp here), and recently they’ve signed with a label called Permeated Records, which will be releasing a new three-song demo in January. The new demo’s name is Escalation, and yesterday the band started streaming one of the new songs — “Cornered”.

Brutal, slamming death metal is intrinsically visceral music, and “Cornered” punches really hard, right in the gut. The darting, jabbing riffs come fast and furious, and the off-the-hook drum attack is merciless (damn, am I loving the snare-drum weaponry on this song!). The instrumental work displays a lot of technical flair, the grooves are abundant, and the vocals sound like the cross-bred yowling of a sabretooth and a bear. Tasty! Continue reading »

LITHOTOME: “LITHOTOME”

 Album Reviews  9 Responses »
Dec 222013
 

I first heard the name Lithotome last March via an e-mail from an Australian label named Fall of Nature, offering a promo of the band’s new self-titled debut album. I don’t remember why, but I didn’t follow up. Then I saw the name again on a year-end list by NCS reader 365chaosriddendays. And then I saw that Lithotome had made the album available on Bandcamp yesterday.

I listened to the first three songs, and then stopped and bought the album, because I already knew I would want to clutch it to myself like a misshapen offspring.

Lithotome began as a collaboration between Philadelphia musician Alex Poole (Chaos Moon, Esoterica, Krieg) and vocalist N. Imperial (Krieg, Twilight), and eventually came to include Jack and Steven Blackburn (Esoterica), and Dan Martin (Vrolok) as well The e-mail I received last March drew comparisons to Australia’s Portal and early 90s Finnish death metal, and having now heard the music, I can understand why. Continue reading »

A YEAR-END LIST FROM SEAN GOLYER (OAK PANTHEON)

 LISTMANIA 2013  9 Responses »
Dec 222013
 

(We again invited recording engineer and musician Sean Golyer (Oak Pantheon) to give us his year-end list of personal favorites, and he again agreed.)

As is customary for three years now (wow, really?), my list primarily consists of the albums that got the most spins, as well as a few blasphemous unmetal picks for those willing to explore a bit. This may leave out otherwise very choice albums from a year jam-packed with crazy good metal. Seriously, 2013 has been extraordinary, particularly for those of us with a penchant for the blackened side of things. Unfortunately, as of late I’m just too busy in my personal life to check them all out or give them more time. But these are the albums that stood out to me the most and kept my interest well beyond the first listen.

Caladan Brood – “Echoes of Battle”

What’s there left to say beyond what I’ve already said over at Metal Bandcamp? This album came out of nowhere early in the year and I’ve been listening to it pretty regularly ever since. All the coolest, heaviest parts of Summoning wrapped into a very well-produced and mixed package. One of those few examples that truly live up to the title of “epic”. Feathers might be ruffled, but I enjoyed this release far more than the actual Summoning album that came out this year. This is always how I’ve wanted them to sound, which is purely subjective and selfish on my part, but hey, we’ve all got our own tastes. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: “OBLITERATIONS” BY OBLITERATIONS

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
Dec 212013
 

With as diverse a group as Leperkahn, Phro, and Sean Golyer all uttering surprised exclamations about this EP on Facebook, it had “can’t miss” written all over it, right? And on top of that, there was the mention on Obliterations’ Bandcamp page of the members’ musical pedigrees (with time spent in the likes of Black Mountain, Saviours, Bluebird, Night Horse, and Pink Mountaintops) and their love of both Black Sabbath and Black Flag. Also, photos of nuclear detonations.

So, although I’m buried up to me neck in unheard promos and other recommendations that have been gathering dust, I ventured into this L.A. band’s self-titled debut release. With four songs flying by in 8 1/2 minutes, it’s over before you know it — but it leaves its mark. Or rather, it leaves marks, the kind that will scar when the scabs come off.

The music is a galvanizing blend of bolting punk rhythms and fat guitar and bass tone, with gut-pummeling drum beats, rambunctious bass work, and blinding solo bursts. The riffs are immediately catchy and compelling, Sam James Velde lets it all hang out in his enraged vocal shrieks, and the sound quality is damn-near perfect for the hybrid punk/metal animal these dudes have created. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries