NECRONAUTICAL: “BLACK SEA MISANTHROPY”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jul 252014
 

(Andy Synn delivers the following review of the debut album by England’s Necronautical.)

Let’s keep this one simple, shall we?

Do you like Old Man’s Child?

How about Naglfar?

Or Hour of Penance?

Do you like your metal Deathly, Blackened, and antagonistically heavy, yet brimming with scything melodic hooks?

Then head on over to their Bandcamp page and check out the debut album by misanthropic metal mariners Necronautical right now.

For those of you who want a little more to chew on before making that move, however… read on. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WOCCON — “IMPERMANENCE”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Jul 252014
 

 

We were really impressed by the 2013 debut EP (The Wither Fields) by Athens, Georgia’s Woccon and we’ve been anxiously awaiting the band’s debut album Solace In Decay, which is now scheduled for release on October 21, 2014, by Deathbound Records.  Earlier this year, Decibel premiered the album’s first single (“Giving Up the Ghost”), and today we’re bringing you a second one — “Impermanence”.

Tumbling drums and spiraling guitar notes announce the multifaceted song, which moves between passages that are shimmering and crystalline and moments of jolting, hammering power. Tyrannical, gravel-throated vocals deliver harsh proclamations as the band build an atmosphere steeped in melancholy, with melodies that are both beautiful and bereft. It’s another fine offering of melodic death/doom from an album that promises to be worth the wait. Continue reading »

FREE SHIT: A389 2014 DIGITAL MIXTAPE

 Free Shit, Metal News  6 Responses »
Jul 242014
 

The people at A389 Recordings may have temporarily lost their minds, but their lost sanity is our gain. First, at the A389 webstore all orders are 25 percent off this week with the following code: A3892014MIXTAPE. Second, all downloads at the label’s Bandcamp site are set to free/pay what you want for the week as well.

And third, A389 has released a free mixtape that includes more than 50 tracks by a host of excellent bands — and many of the tracks are brand new.

I don’t recognize the names of all 50+ bands, but I sure do recognize a lot of them, and it’s a great list — the kind of list that makes you eager to explore the names of the bands you don’t know. Continue reading »

KEYBOARD WARRIORS: TOM CAMPAGNA (aka SNAGON)

 Interviews  12 Responses »
Jul 242014
 

 

(In this post, Dane Prokofiev returns to NCS with a new installment in his Keyboard Warriors series, in which he poses unpredictable questions to metal writers of all kinds. Here, he interviews our friend Tom Campagna.)

Pokémon and metal. You never thought these two words would appear in the same sentence, eh? The two objects seem like polar opposites, sharing a relationship resembling the one shared between light and darkness, hot and cold, truth and Tyranny of Tradition, God and Satan, etc.

But metal writer Tom Campagna (ex-The Number of the Blog, ex-Metal Injection), who is an ardent fan of the Pokémon role-playing videogames, thinks the two share similarities. As one of those dudes pining to be “the very best like no one ever was,” you really wonder how he still finds the time to teach high school mathematics, write for About.com Heavy Metal, and occasionally contribute articles to some other metal websites.

 

Why do you like metal?

I love metal because of the excellent release of emotions that one has while listening to it. The history of the genre is also something that really strikes me as important, too. For a kid who was constantly quizzed by my father about “who is this band” and “what song is this,” I kind of developed that into my own world of music.The small size of the scene is also nice because you can certainly talk to members of your favorite band and sense the sheer level of appreciation from these individuals. People who scoff at heavy metal have never given the genre a chance; but if everybody loved heavy metal like I do, the scene would be enormous, and we wouldn’t want that would we? Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ALBEZ DUZ, MORTALS, THRÄNENKIND, KHTHONIIK CERVIIKS, HIDEOUS DIVINITY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jul 242014
 

 

Yesterday’s round-up was a big one. So is this one — and it’s still not big enough to cover everything worth mentioning that I saw and heard yesterday. But it will have to do. Here we go…

ALBEZ DUZ

Albez Duz are a two-man German band whose name apparently consists of two words in a Germanic language used 800 years ago, with “Albez” meaning “swan” and “Duz” meaning “noisiness”, or “rush”. It is the side project of Impurus (aka Eugen H.), the drummer of the long-running German band Dies Ater.

At the time of their 2009 self-titled debut album, which drew comparisons to the early work of Paradise Lost, Tiamat, and My Dying Bride, the band’s vocalist was Lars Kaeding. Kaeding died in 2011, and was replaced early this year by Alfonso Brito Lopez (aka “Grifonso“). With this new line-up, Albez Duz have recorded a new album, The Coming of Mictlan, which will be released by Germany’s Iron Bonehead label later this year. Its fascinating cover is above.

Yesterday Iron Bonehead began streaming a song from the new album named “Mictlan”, and it’s very impressive. Continue reading »

THE ALGORITHM (“OCTOPUS4”) AND THE LUNA SEQUENCE (“FEARFUL SHEPHERDS HUNT THEIR SHEEP”)

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Jul 232014
 

(We’re veering off our usual beaten paths in this post, as DGR reviews the latest releases from The Algorithm and The Luna Sequence.)

We don’t generally cover techno/electronica/dj acts here at No Clean Singing, and I know that my presence has largely been the reason we might have in the past. You’ll likely never see the more straightforward of such acts here, but I will wholly admit to being drawn to the hybrid monsters — the ones that have combined their music with heavy metal and over time have morphed into some strange creatures. Those have been a huge draw for me, and when it comes to artists who I think are doing it particularly well, then you’ll see that I’ll make some continuing attempts to cover them. However, I understand that taking up the front page when there is so much more traditional metal news out there might irk some folks, so I’ve combined two of the more recent works into one huge mega-review article.

Both of these names, The Algorithm and The Luna Sequence, should be familiar to a bunch of you more regular readers, as I have made efforts in the past to share their work, which I’ve quite enjoyed over the years. It just so happens that both artists managed to have new albums, Octopus4 and Fearful Shepherds Hunt Their Sheep respectively, hit around the same time. And thus we find ourselves in a huge review where you can witness me talk out of my ass about electronica music — of which I know between fuck-all and absolute zero — and heavy metal, about which I’ve made writing a huge hobby. Below, you can watch me thrash about between the two moods while I try my best to articulate why exactly I’ve found myself enjoying the hell out of both The Algorithm and The Luna Sequence releases in recent months. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: NIGHTBRINGER, BEYOND CREATION, INHUMAN REMNANTS, MORDBRAND, MARTYRDÖD, AND ERLING BRONSBERG

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jul 232014
 

Here’s a typically random and diverse collection of recommended new music and metal news that I came across over the last 24 hours. It ranges from highly anticipated black metal to a metal banjo cover, with all sorts of different musical trajectories in between.

NIGHTBRINGER

The fourth album by Colorado’s Nightbringer is entitled Ego Dominus Tuus (I Am Your Lord), and it’s due for release by Season of Mist on September 20 in NorthAm (September 26 elsewhere). Yesterday, SoM revealed the cover art by David Herrerias (above), which is wonderful. At the same time, the first advance track from the album began streaming at various sites around the globe. Its name is “Et Nox Illuminatio Mea In Deliciis Meis”, which refers to a line from Psalm 139. According to the band:

“The lyrics draw heavily upon this psalm, which we feel, via a perhaps more heretical approach, elucidates symbols relevant to the ‘midnight sun’ and the ‘night of light’. Furthermore we touch upon the Greek melancholia and the sovereignty of Saturn over those of us who are born with his mark and our relation to the former concepts as well as the significance of the ‘black light’ of our Lord. It speaks much of the ecstatic furor one may enter in which wisdom is imparted both from above, below and within, via a state of ‘divine madness’. “

Should you be interested in reading the 139th Psalm, you can do so here (the song’s title refers to the phrase “and night shall be my light in my pleasures”). Whether you do or don’t peruse the psalm, I strongly recommend listening to the song (it’s streaming at Stereogum here). Continue reading »

WHAT I HAVE COME TO REALIZE ABOUT MINNESOTA’S OBSEQUIAE

 Album Reviews, Metal News  11 Responses »
Jul 232014
 

(During my recent stay in Wisconsin for Gilead Fest I had the pleasure of meeting both Tanner Anderson (Obsequiae, Celestial) and his friend Ben Smasher. I later discovered that Ben had written for his own blog about Tanner’s band Obsequiae (formerly Autumnal Winds), and I asked for and received permission to reprint it here (slightly edited), since we have inexcusably failed to review Obsequiae’s music before.)

written by Ben Smasher

Today I am feeling relieved.  My trouble began when I met Tanner Anderson in the winter of 2007, and soon after was the first time I’d heard Autumnal Winds.  Upon loving it immensely (see my review), there was always this distracting itch that I couldn’t scratch.  I really wanted to be able to say the typical phrase, “Oh, this is just like ______ crossed with ______.”  There was such a tangible familiarity, which I am usually able to quantify easily by describing it as “A thrashier ______” or something to that effect.

This trouble is even further fueled by Tanner’s and my mutual and unforgivably rampant obsession with melodic black and death metal bands of the 1990’s.  Knowing that Tanner’s and my CD collections are largely interchangeable makes it all the more frustrating that I couldn’t easily reverse-engineer Tanner’s music — be it Autumnal Winds or Obsequiae — into a palatable formula that could be stated in a short sentence.

The satisfaction and relief that I have found to this conundrum can be reduced to this article, by giving the music of Obsequiae the reverence it humbly commands.  With the recent release of Obsequiae’s debut album on the vinyl format, I have been seeing an increasing number of comparisons, ranging from Agalloch to Hammers of Misfortune to Pentangle to Bathory.  Each time I see this I inadvertently stomp my foot down because these associations are lazy, and do all parties a disservice. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: BURNING SAVIOURS — “BURNT OFFERINGS FOR ELDERS”

 Interviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jul 222014
 

 

(In this post Russian contributor Comrade Aleks delivers an interview of Mikael Monks of Sweden’s Burning Saviours.)

The combination of doom metal and rock from the 70’s has became actual genre nowadays. It feels like a damned lot of people miss the good old days when things looked more or less simpler. Good melodies, a recognizable retro sound, and lyrics on familiar themes are enough to satisfy our needs, and it’s not necessary to be original in that case.

The Swedish band Burning Saviours have been playing doom metal / hard rock since 2004 in the name of almighty Pentagram! A few successful releases have brought Burning Saviours a well-known reputation, and I Hate Records has decided to remind us about the band’s deserts with the release of a compilation named Boken om förbannelsen. I got in contact with Mikael Monks (guitars, vocals) to clarify details of the album.

******** Continue reading »

FALLUJAH: “THE FLESH PREVAILS”

 Album Reviews  18 Responses »
Jul 222014
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli reviews the new album by Fallujah.)

One of the things that consistently surprises me about music, in general, is how much some artists can change in their evolution yet still remain fundamentally the same. Fallujah released a pretty killer debut with The Harvest Wombs, a blitzkrieg of melodic technical death metal madness with a seasoning of Allan Holdsworth fusion thrown on top of it; the sound was the essence of ethereal yet feral. It was their way of achieving a sort of space-death sound, and it worked.

Of course, the other elements in the music helped, too. Fallujah pulls from a strange bag of tricks and smashes them together. The combination of death metal with a lot of post-y elements, including some borrowed from that end of the Black Metal spectrum, has cemented a sound I would argue is recognizably Fallujah, signature in nature.

The Flesh Prevails is a logical step forward, an attempt to bridge the technical showmanship of The Harvest Wombs with the spaced-out fusion atmosphere of the Nomadic EP. The end result is death metal that is equal parts brutal and Zen. Depending on your mood, you could windmill to this until you get whiplash, or sit around stoically contemplating the meaning of your life. It’s an odd paradox of sound that’s hypnotic. Continue reading »

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