Exceptions to the Rule Archives - Page 43 of 76

ASTRONOID: “AIR”

Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule 13 Responses »

Jul 012016

(Andy Synn wrote this review of the new album by Astronoid from Boston)

Previously unknown to me (though the band have, prior to this, released a total of two EPs and one stand-alone single), I’ve been seeing the name “Astronoid” popping up on my radar quite a lot recently, as the release of their debut full-length album Air seems to have caused something of a stirring in certain circles.

And rightfully so, as it’s an incredibly captivating, instantly infectious album, practically bursting at the seams with some of the most gloriously emotive melodies and shamelessly enervating riffage I’ve heard this year.

But I wasn’t entirely certain it was NCS material.

In fact I’m still not.

But, screw it, I’m going to review it anyway. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: IN THE WOODS… — “CULT OF SHINING STARS”

Exceptions to the Rule, Interviews 6 Responses »

Jun 282016

What a long and winding road it has been. Twenty-one years after their debut album HEart of the Ages and 17 years after their last one (Strange In Stereo), the Norwegian alchemists In the Woods… are returning with a new record named Pure, to be released in September by Debemur Morti Productions. After a wait of 17 years, remaining patient until September seems like a small thing to ask. Yet three months is still three months, and so we bring you something to sate the curiosity, at least temporarily.

And yes, we do expect more than a little curiosity, given the visionary nature of this band’s first three albums and the long stretch of years that has passed since their release. For those who may be new to the band, perhaps because you weren’t yet out of diapers when HEart of Ages made its first mark, a bit of history may be worthwhile before listening to “Cult of Shining Stars“. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 3): NOX FORMULAE, PANZERBASTARD, KARCAVUL, NARTHRAAL, FREITOD

Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 5 Responses »

Jun 212016

This is another day in which we have felt compelled to throw more new music at your head than any normal person has time to hear. Many abnormal people (other than us) won’t have time to listen to all of it either. I tell myself this is why I should continue writing some words about the streams we recommend, as a way of helping listeners choose what to play and what not to play, given their own tastes. Obviously, I’m choosing to ignore the likelihood that no normal person has time to read all the words either.

Between Part 1 and Part 2 of today’s round-up, we’ve furnished new or newly discovered music by 10 bands. Five more are featured below.

NOX FORMULAE

On the distant future day of September 16, 2016, Dark Descent Records will release the debut album of a Greek black metal collective known as Nox Formulae. The album’s title is The Hidden Paths to Black Ecstasy. Yesterday I received a Bandcamp e-mail alert that one song from the album had been set up for streaming, a two-part piece named “Hidden Clan NXN – Pt a. Eleven Rays of Sorat, Pt b. Black Magic Assault”, and that’s the first item in this round-up. Continue reading »

ACYL: “AFTERMATH”

Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule 2 Responses »

Jun 202016

(Our long-time New Zealand supporter and occasional guest writer Booker reviews the new album by the Paris-based band Acyl.)

Back in 2012, Islander put out a request for fellow readers to pitch in a review or two while he was otherwise occupied. One of the belated efforts I offered was a review of Acyl’s Algebra album, which I’d been cranking on high rotation since randomly discovering it some months earlier in the nether regions of the internet (it’s amazing what you’ll find back there!). That post was one of my first here at NCS, and just like a bad case of herpes I’ve kept coming back ever since. So long, in fact, that Acyl have had time to tour, hit restart on the writing process, orbit the sun a few times, and record and release a follow-up album: Aftermath, which came out at the start of the month. Continue reading »

THE BEST OF BRITISH 2016, PART 2: FROM SORROW TO SERENITY / KING GOAT / LUNA’S CALL

Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 4 Responses »

May 272016

(Andy Synn brings us Part 2 of a series spotlighting new recent releases by UK bands.)

Ok, so I may have gotten sidetracked in Germany somewhere along the way, but I promised you a second edition, and here it is.

This time around we’ve got another varied crop, featuring the burgeoning Deathcore delights of From Sorrow to Serenity, the expansive doomery of King Goat, and the indulgent Prog-Death of Luna’s Call.

So, without further ado, let’s get to it! Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: THE LONE MADMAN — “DREARY TASK”

Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, SHORT BUT SWEET No Responses »

May 242016

(In this post Grant Skelton reviews the new EP by Finland’s The Lone Madman — an exception to our “rule”.)

“…Finland has perhaps the most heavy metal bands in the world, per capita…” If President Obama himself is aware of Finland’s contributions to heavy metal, then it would certainly behoove us at No Clean Singing to follow suit (and obviously not for the first time). Children Of Bodom, Ensiferum, Shape Of Despair, Amorphis, Omnium Gatherum, Swallow The Sun, Skepticism, Insomnium. And those are only a scant few!

I must give credit to the stellar blog The Shrieks From Below for my discovery of Helsinki’s The Lone Madman. In recent years, I’ve become quite a doom hoarder. You know what they say. “Listening to doom all day keeps the reaper at bay.” If you’ve enjoyed the recent resurgence in heavy, traditional, and/or epic doom from Crypt Sermon, Below, and Pilgrim, then The Lone Madman are the cushion for your proverbial casket. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GOZU — “BIG CASINO”

Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres 4 Responses »

May 172016

Get ready to move. Loosen up your neck muscles and discard any items of tight, confining clothing. Hell, just take everything off. If you feel even a slight urge to go to the bathroom, go ahead and get that out of the way now (I’ll explain why in a minute). All set? Then let’s go…

Here’s a new song named “Big Casino” from Revival, which is the forthcoming third album by Gozu, a group of Boston bruisers whom I’ve only just discovered and whose music has already proven to be powerfully addictive and absolutely, physically, compulsive. The album will arrive on June 10 via Gozu’s new label, Ripple Music. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: HOLY GROVE (TRENT JACOBS)

Exceptions to the Rule, Interviews 2 Responses »

May 102016

(Comrade Aleks brings us his interview with Trent Jacobs, guitarist of Portland’s Holy Grove.)

Nowadays there are a lot of doom bands with female vocals and lyrics about all the mystic stuff you ever could imagine. It is harder and harder to sort out anything in this scene besides the big names that are on everyone’s lips. But here we are! Here we are to help you, and that’s why I want you to pay attention to Holy Grove, a really strong doom-quartet from blessed Portland.

They’ve been in the game for nearly four years, but their first self-titled album was released just five weeks ago. Why so long? That’s the question for Trent Jacobs, Holy Grove’s guitarist. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: WORMFOOD — “COLLECTIONNEUR DE POUPÉES”

Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres 3 Responses »

May 102016

Fifteen years from the beginning until now. That is the measure of Wormfood’s existence, though the band’s composition has been boiled down and risen again during that time, coalescing around the vocalist/guitarist El Worm (Emmanuel Lévy). Posthume was this French band’s last album (in 2011), and the new one is named L’Envers. Some songs from L’Envers have appeared already, and we have another one: “Collectionneur de Poupées“.

The band’s members since about 2010 have also contributed creatively to such groups as Abstrusa Unde, Melted Space, Öxxö Xööx, and Régiment. If you know anything about those bands, or about Emmanuel Lévy’s work in Erdh, you’ll know that Wormfood doesn’t follow a straight path. And on this new album, they’re joined on their unorthodox course by guest artists Paul Bento (ex-Type O Negative, ex-Carnivore, Wrench) and Axel Wursthorn (ex-Carnival In Coal). Continue reading »

DARK ACOUSTICS: OFFRET, TAMÁS KÁTAI, MIKKO JOENSUU, KAM LEE

Exceptions to the Rule, Off Topic 16 Responses »

May 012016

By way of explaining why my own output at the site has been sparse over the last week, I’ve mentioned a couple of times that I have a close friend in the ICU at a Seattle hospital whom I’ve been visiting for hours each day. One week ago she was driving to work in downtown Seattle and was hit in an intersection by a big city aid truck responding to an emergency call. She’s still in a coma, with a brain injury, though there are signs that she is approaching wakefulness.

Yesterday being a Saturday, I spent a few hours at home listening to music before returning to the hospital. I listened to some new metal that suited my mood, which I plan to compile in a Shades of Black post later this morning. But in a sequence of unpredictable but serendipitous events I also happened upon all the music collected in this post. There’s a bit of metal in the first and last items, but mostly this music is way off our usual beaten paths, yet these songs also suited my mood. I hope you’ll appreciate them, too.

OFFRET

A Russian friend in Novosibirsk (and a member of Station Dysthymia) recommended this first band, calling the music “hauntingly beautiful” — and so it is. The band’s name is Offret, from Nizhny Novgorod, Russia. I’m not sure if this is a one-man project or a group. What I heard was a self-titled EP released on April 25, 2016, via Bandcamp. Continue reading »

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