March 2016 - Page 4 of 12 - NO CLEAN SINGING

POWER ELECTRONICS AND NOISE-LIKE OBJECTS

Mar 232016

(Early last month Allen Griffin brought us a round-up of three power electronics releases, and that provoked enough interest that he returns with another collection.)

It is time once again to go trawling around the abyssal outside of the Extreme Music scene to find the harsh and unknowable. But what is somewhat surprising this time around is how much some of these releases are popping up in more conventional circles.

THE BODY AND FULL OF HELL

Case in point is the new collaboration between The Body and Full of Hell titled One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache, out on March 25th via Neurot. Despite being classified as a Grindcore/D-Beat band, Full of Hell are no strangers to harsh sonic abstraction and worked with Merzbow on their previous album. The Body are also no strangers to collaboration, bringing in guests on almost all their releases. What we have here is an intermingling of The Body’s punishing Industrial aesthetics with Full of Hell’s more experimental noise-based side. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NO VALE NADA — “DEMAIN”

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Mar 232016

Demain (the French word for “tomorrow”) is the name of the new album by the French post-hardcore trio No Vale Nada, and it’s set for release on March 31. Today we bring you the premiere of the album’s title track.

“Demain” hits like a lead pipe on the back of the neck and rumbles like an avalanche, with unnerving, dissonant guitar melodies coated with a haze of distortion creeping through the pounding, while the blood-spraying vocals add an ingredient of fury and catharsis to this tension-building song. The song and the album may be named for tomorrow, but if the tenor of the music represents a premonition, it’s not a future worth anticipating with a smile. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: IN MOURNING, IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT, SINISTROUS DIABOLUS

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 8 Responses »

Mar 232016

Here are a trio of selected songs that caught our eyes and ears over the last 24 hours.

IN MOURNING

As previously reported, Sweden’s In Mourning have a new album on the way named Afterglow, which features wonderful cover art by Kristian “Necrolord” Wåhlin and also marks the first appearance of the band’s new drummer, Daniel Liljekvist (ex-Katatonia). This morning the band debuted a lyric video for the first advance track from the album, a song named “Below Rise To the Above”. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: REMEMBER THAT YOU WILL DIE — S/T

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

Mar 232016

(Andy Synn reviews the new EP by Remember That You Will Die, whose members come from Australia and The Netherlands.)

When a band decides to call itself Remember That You Will Die, it’s a pretty safe bet that things aren’t going to be all sunshine and roses, and right from the sombre opening bars of “Despoilation” it becomes eminently clear that this intercontinental collective of nihilists and ne’er-do-wells view life only in shades of the darkest, dourest grey.

The band’s intriguing brand of Black Metal dwells somewhere on the more atmospheric end of the spectrum, marrying stinging blasts of venomous fury with distinct elements of “Post”-ish misery and some subtle experimental/progressive touches, drawing parallels with the dearly-departed and much-missed Altar of Plagues, albeit with a rhyme and rhythm all their own. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: THE BENDAL INTERLUDE — “THE BLOCK”

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Mar 232016

We are about to bring you the premiere of a music video for a song called “The Block” by The Bendal Interlude from Liverpool, England. Like all music videos, there are sights and there are sounds. In this one, I think the sounds are very good. As for the sights, IT’S SO DISGUSTING THAT IT’S ALMOST UNWATCHABLE.

I put that warning in ALL CAPS in an effort to ensure that you pay attention. I would add that I’m not a prude, and instead pride myself on having a sick sense of humor that leans heavily on bodily functions for comedic value. But this video made even me want to heave (though in fairness, some people say I have a weak stomach). The band provided this comment about it: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: WITHERED, NECROMANTIC WORSHIP, WASTEWALKER, NORNAHETTA, CHELSEA WOLFE

Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 3 Responses »

Mar 222016

This is a collection of new songs and videos, most of which I intended to share yesterday before I discovered a torrent of other hot-off-the-presses debuts that appeared the same day. And of course, as a result of the delay I spotted more new things that appeared since then — including the first and last items in this round-up.

WITHERED

As previously reported a couple of weeks ago, Atlanta’s Withered are primed to release their first new album in more than five years. This one is entitled Grief Relic and it’s coming out on May 27 via Season of Mist. One song named “Husk” got its debut at DECIBEL on March 7, and today Revolver brought us another one named “Feeble Gasp”. Here’s a statement about the song from guitarist/vocalist Mike Thompson: Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: RAGEHAMMER — “THE HAMMER DOCTRINE”

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Mar 222016

I’m going to give you fair warning: Before you listen to The Hammer Doctrine, you need seat belts on and a shoulder harness strapped down. A crash helmet and an oxygen mask would also be good ideas. And if you’ve got access to a defibrillator and a friend who knows how to use it, you may be glad to have them close by, too. Because this album is as vicious as a rabid dog and flies somewhere between the speed of a jet fighter and the pace of a ballistic missile reaching escape velocity.

The Hammer Doctrine is the debut album from Poland’s Ragehammer, and in advance of its April 8 release by Pagan Records we’re giving you the chance to have your face seared off by it (I forgot to mention that you’ll also want to be wearing an asbestos mask before you press play).

Seriously, Ragehammer are really fast — the technical skill and dexterity of all the musicians is close to jaw-dropping, and the vocalist spits words (in venomous snarls and blistering shrieks) as fast as his bandmates assault their instruments. And their taste in music, which gives them free reign to blaze away like a furnace, favors blackened thrash and speed metal. You really don’t get any chance to catch your breath as this album careens ahead until you reach a breakdown on the fourth track (“Warlord’s Fall”) — but when you hit that point you may be headbanging too hard to gulp air anyway. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PALACE OF WORMS — “FROM THE ASH”

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Mar 222016

More than five years have passed since the last full-length by the Bay Area’s Palace of Worms. This one-man project hasn’t been entirely silent in the interim, contributing to splits with Mastery, Botanist, and earlier this year Thoabath, but next month we will see a new full-length. Not surprisingly, given the elapse of so many years, it reflects some changes in the interests of Balan, the man who inhabits this palace (and also dwells within the ranks of Ordo Obsidium and Botanist). In his words:

“The Ladder is the culmination of nearly three years of work creating a diverse record that properly reflects its creator’s life during the period. Drawing influence from not only black metal, but from death, doom, goth and dark ambient. Each song brings the listener further up (or down) the ladder and at the top is the beginning and the end, the end and the beginning. Acknowledge existence with its limitless horrors and your pain will set you free.” Continue reading »

TOMBS: “ALL EMPIRES FALL”

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Mar 222016

(Wil Cifer reviews the powerful new EP by Brooklyn’s Tombs.)

After wrecking eardrums with 1349 and Full of Hell on the Chaos Raids tour, the Brooklyn band is stepping further into the darkness on their new EP All Empires Fall. It might not seem as grim a journey, with the increased focus of their song-writing lighting the band’s way, but it is a powerful addition to their legacy.

Without a doubt, things have changed for this Brooklyn band since releasing Winter Hours in 2009. Some of those changes include the band’s line-up, which now includes Fade Kainer from Batillus / Statiqbloom. Kainer’s industrial side is set back in the shadows as a slight drone launches them into the solid metal chug of the opening instrumental “The World Is Made of Fire”, with the band lashing themselves into straight-up black metal for “Obsidian”. But it’s not just full blast ahead. These guys have more tricks up their sleeves with Kainer‘s synths adding a new depth to the band’s post-apocalyptic sonic layering. Continue reading »

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: AN NCS INTRODUCTION TO THRILL JOCKEY

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 10 Responses »

Mar 222016

(Our old friend Leperkahn finally gets around to doing something he forecast he would do in early February, with a selection of music that includes not-metal as well as metal.)

I mentioned at the end of my overlong 2015 EOTY list about a month ago that there would be an addendum to said list.

Since the end of September of last year, I’ve been an intern at Thrill Jockey Records, assembling and packing all of your beloved records, among other things (if you’re looking to steal my fingerprints so as to implicate me in a crime later in life, now’s probably gonna be your best opportunity). The job has introduced me to a ton of new music, some of it of the metallic variety, some not, though I would contend that the non-metallic stuff that’s appealed to me might appeal to some of you, as open-minded music listeners who come from a primarily metal background, such as myself.

In a move of unprecedented cronyism and self-promotion, I’m going to use this post to take you through a tour of some recent TJ output, some of it metal, some not. Admittedly, this isn’t a perfect addendum to a 2015 best-of list, since some of what’s featured came out in the first few months of this year, and some came out before 2015. But truly, good music need not consider age; so let’s get on with it. Continue reading »

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