Islander

LAGO, RHINE, RAT KING: LIVE AT THE FUNHOUSE

 Concert Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
May 012015
 

 

Life is so unpredictable. Some days, it just rains shit in torrents. Other days, it’s almost magical. I had one of those magical days — actually, a magical night — earlier this week (April 29), when Lago, Rhine, and Rat King played in Seattle.

The show was at the resurrected Funhouse, which has now occupied the lounge at El Corazon. Lago (from Phoenix) have been touring the West Coast, and their Seattle stop was the occasion for this event. I’m a big fan of the band, and have been really impressed with Rhine’s recorded music too, so I was very curious to see what both bands would be like live. In my case, Rat King was a complete unknown.

To start with a summation: All three bands were fantastic. And although this is ostensibly a show review (with photos I snapped using my phone), it’s also intended as an introduction to our readers (or re-introduction) to the music of these bands; I’m including streams of their most recent releases along with my comments about their live sets. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MARE INFINITUM, GOAT TORMENT, JUPITERIAN, STRAUSS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
May 012015
 

 

This is a collection of new music I heard yesterday that I hope you will explore. It’s all over the map, both musically and geographically (in terms of the bands’ locations).

MARE INFINITUM

Usually, the music I include in these “Seen and Heard” round-ups consists of individual new songs or videos, released in advance of the albums or EPs on which they will appear. But this first song is from an album that you can now hear in its entirety because I was too slow to jump on it — but believe me, that’s not a bad thing.

The band is Mare Infinitum and they’re based in Moscow (Russia, not Idaho). Their debut album Sea of Infinity came out in 2011, and their second one, Alien Monolith God, was released by Solitude Productions one week ago. It consists of five long tracks, totaling almost one hour of music. So exploring even one song is going to take more than a little of your time. Continue reading »

DOWNFALL OF NUR: “UMBRAS DE BARBAGIA”

 Album Reviews  10 Responses »
Apr 302015
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the debut album of Argentina’s Downfall of Nur.)

Every year I hope that there’s going to be an album/EP/artist in general that becomes the year’s big discovery, not just for me, but for our readers here at NCS.

Previously I’ve directed your attention to bands like Amiensus, Khonsu, and Ion (and I’m more than willing to take credit for Hellish Outcast as well), while other writers here have in turn uncovered such amazing bands as Progenie Terrestre Pura and Wildernessking, which have gone on to become not only personal favourites of mine, but well-deserved favourites of this site and its community as a whole.

And although I thought I’d already stumbled upon this year’s entry when I came across the debut EP by Exgenesis (reviewed here) there’s no rule saying that a year can’t have more than one big surprise up its sleeve.

Which, of course, leads us to Umbras de Barbagia by Downfall of Nur. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MIRAI KAWASHIMA (SIGH)

 Interviews  1 Response »
Apr 302015
 

 

(Wil Cifer provides this interview with Mirai Kawashima of Sigh, whose new album will be released on May 4 by Candlelight Records.)

I recently got to catch up with and pick the brain of Sigh’s main man Mirai Kawashima to discuss the new album Graveward and the ghosts of metal past, present, and future.

******

With Scenes From Hell you took a sharper turn into a more progressive sound. Graveward retains that but steps back into a more metal direction as well. What inspired this?

Mirai: The biggest inspiration on this album is 70s / 80s Italian zombie flicks. At first I was planning to make it filled with old keyboards like Minimoog, Mellotron, Hammond, Fender Rhodes etc., as a dedication to those movies. The final result was pretty much different from the initial plan, but I think you still sense the atmosphere of zombie movies.

I’m not sure what you meant by “metal direction”, but Graveward is filled with mid-paced to up-tempo songs, I mean they’re slower than those on Hangman’s Hymn or Scenes from Hell. In that sense, Graveward is a very metal album. Other than that, the change of guitarist affected a lot on the sound. I’ll talk about it later. Continue reading »

GODLESS ANGEL INTERVIEWS… ZHEMA RODERO (VULCANO)

 Interviews  3 Responses »
Apr 302015
 

 

(Our Kansas-based friend Derek Neibarger — the man behind the Godless Angel death metal project and the inventor of the Cat Hand Rest©, brings us this interview of Zhema Rodero of Brazil’s long-running Vulcano, who will be performing at this year’s Maryland Deathfest in the U.S.)

The Brazilian death metal scene has provided me a seemingly endless source of exciting new discoveries for many years. Like many other metalheads, my introduction to South America’s deadliest export came in the form of now-legendary Sepultura. My insatiable appetite for new music inspired me to dig deeper into the Brazilian metal scene. My efforts have been rewarded with one savage and crushing band after another, and in the case of one band in particular I strongly believe that I might have discovered ground zero of the Brazilian death metal movement. The name of that band is Vulcano.

I don’t remember the exact circumstances under which I was introduced to Santos, São Paulo blackened death metallers Vulcano, but I definitely owe the Metal Gods of the Universe a massive “Thank You”! The death metal pioneers have released nine slabs of audio warfare since forming in 1980, and influenced an entire generation of extreme metal artists, Sepultura among them.

I was extremely fortunate to have been granted an interview with founding guitarist, Zhema Rodero. Continue reading »

SHOW REVIEW: ELECTRIC WIZARD LIVE IN CHICAGO (APRIL 7, 2015)

 Concert Reviews  4 Responses »
Apr 302015
 

 

(Electric Wizard recently completed their first North American tour in over ten years, and Leperkahn caught their show at Chicago’s Metro on April 7. He provides these thoughts and photos of the event.)

I feel like I should start this off by saying that I’m really sorry that this is three weeks late. This school might have it in for me, but every once in a while I try to stick it to the man by neglecting work to do things like write this review.

Anyway:

Electric Wizard recently rolled through Chicago, as well as quite a few other cities across North America, bringing Satan’s Satyrs along as support. Unbeknownst to me at the time they announced the tour, this was the first time they had toured North America, barring a performance at MDF 2012, since 2002. This may explain why the Chicago show, as well as quite a few others, sold out quicker than I would’ve expected (granted, I’m used to a San Diego turnout, where almost nothing will sell out in advance, and you can comfortably buy a ticket for a show the day before). Continue reading »

A KATAKLYSM UPDATE: “OF GHOSTS AND GODS” IS COMING — WITH TEN VIDEOS TOO

 Metal News  2 Responses »
Apr 292015
 

 

Here’s a bit of fairly hot-off-the-press news from Canada’s Kataklysm:  First, they’ve announced that their twelfth studio album Of Ghosts and Gods will be released on July 31 (via Nuclear Blast Records).

Second, as you can see, they’ve disclosed the cover art, which was created by an artist called artist Surtsey. I like it. (According to the band, the background shows an ancient incantation written in Aramaic.)

And third, they’ve announced that there will be music videos created for every one of the album’s ten songs, with each video crafted to reflect the concept behind the music. Continue reading »

AN INVITATION FROM GRANT SKELTON

 Uncategorized  20 Responses »
Apr 292015
 

(NCS supporter and occasional contributor Grant Skelton is looking for help… )

Fellow NCS Comrades –

I was recently brought on board with Local X Radio, a station here in my hometown of Memphis, TN. I run the station’s metal format, Metal X, which airs a show each Monday from 7pm – 9pm CST. Our April 20th show featured music from No Clean Singing alumni Beyond Grace (“Omega Point”) and Godless Angel (“Containment Breach In Sector 6”). With Islander’s permission, I wanted to tell you a little about this opportunity and my vision for it.

Hosting a metal radio show has been a dream of mine for more years than I’d like to admit. I initially contacted the station back in November (ironically, right around the same time I began contributing to this lovely website). Fast-forward to February. Evidently my email had been lost in the cyberbowels (if Austin Weber can make up words, I can too) of the Internet. Alas, it was rescued and my query was answered. After a couple of initial meetings, the station manager offered me a chance to make a dream into a reality. I have carte blanche when it comes to Metal X. But this isn’t just about me playing what I want. It needs to be about something more than that. Continue reading »

ABJVRATION: “THE UNQUENCHABLE PYRE”

 Album Reviews  17 Responses »
Apr 292015
 

 

KevinP sort of stole my thunder yesterday on our site when he named Abjvration’s debut one of the Top 5 releases of April. But I’ll go him one better: The Unquenchable Pyre is one of the best releases I’ve heard all year.

The EP comes our way from Caligari Records. Originally, it was to be released exclusively on tape, but yesterday the label decided to begin making some of its offerings — including this one — available for digital download on Bandcamp. In the format in which I’ve listened to the EP, and as you can hear it on Bandcamp, the five tracks are in a single audio file. With just a couple of exceptions, it’s not entirely clear when one song ends and the next one begins; they flow from one to another, for the most part without discernible breaks. And they work supremely well that way. It’s like a single concerto of horror and pain. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: ASCENDED DEAD — “THE ADVENT”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Apr 292015
 

 

Imagine you’re behind the wheel of a steroid-fueled muscle car going too fast through a hairpin curve on a mountain highway — and your brakes suffer catastrophic failure. You blast through the guard rail, briefly experience the thrill of flight, and then proceed to barrel down the mountain listening to your ride violently shake itself apart, bolt by bolt, while some inhuman horror in the back seat roars at you to stop fucking with the brakes and give it more gas.

You got that vision in your head?  Okay, good.  That’s kind of like what Ascended Dead’s new EP sounds like. If you don’t find the metaphor helpful, just picture your own brain: same thing will happen to it. Continue reading »

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