BANJO METAL: ERLING BRONSBERG COVERS DISFEAR

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Feb 122014
 


It’s been a while since I last wrote about Erling Bronsberg, so to recap: He’s a skilled banjo player based in Örebro, Sweden, and performs with an acoustic group called Six String Yada, who play old-time American mountain music — with some metal and punk in the mix as well. Every now and then, he records a banjo cover of a metal tune on video. Yesterday he e-mailed me about a new one. This time he has picked a Disfear song named “Fear and Trembling” from their 2008 split with Doomriders, All Paths Lead To Nothing, There Is Only Death.

So, how does Swedish d-beat punk sound on the banjo? Damned good, that’s how. Erling has slowed the song into a doomy backwoods ballad that really works. Dude can sing, too.

I didn’t know this until reading his note on the video, but the lyrics are just one long quote from Søren Kierkegaard: Continue reading »

SPLITS: CORTEZ / BORRACHO AND UNRU / PARAMNESIA

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Feb 122014
 

Here are some thoughts about two new splits I’d like to recommend, with streaming music for each. They make for quite a contrast.

CORTEZ / BORACHO

My last mention of DC’s Borracho came in connection with a video, which combined a stunning piece of music from the band’s 2011 debut Splitting Sky with a stunning piece of film; since then, Borracho have released several short works and, in 2013, a new album (Oculus). Cortez are from Boston, and this split  was my first exposure to their music. The new split will be a 7″ vinyl from AM Records scheduled for shipping around April 1, and a pre-order of the vinyl will bring you an immediate download of the music on Bandcamp.

Each band contributed one song to the split. Borracho’s “Know My Name” is a real skull-breaker. The riff is king, but a king so soaked in radioactivity that the Geiger counter is going off the scale. It’s ultra-swampy and ultra-groovy, a stoner metal monster with a chorus meant for sing-alongs (except few people will be able to hit Steve Fisher’s gritty highs). Awesome track. Continue reading »

PAPA EMERITUS II UNMASKED? (AND NEW IN-STUDIO GHOST PERFORMANCES)

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  15 Responses »
Feb 122014
 

Part of the popular attraction of Sweden’s Ghost B.C. is their anonymity — and the masks, make-up, and costumes with which the members conceal their features. Fans and music writers have speculated about who the Nameless Ghouls and the band’s frontman really are, but no names have ever been officially revealed. Last September, the current frontman — Papa Emeritus II — appeared without make-up in a mini-documentary about the band. In the clip, he spoke Italian, and, having revealed his face,  it became clear that he had also appeared in Ghost’s official video for “Year Zero”. But he didn’t sing, and there was still some lingering doubt about whether we were seeing the real deal. Any doubts have now been erased. Or have they?

During their recent Australian tour, Ghost stopped by the studio of Music Feeds and played three songs live: “Ritual”, “Year Zero”, and their cover of Roky Erickson’s “If You Have Ghosts” (from their 2013 covers EP). Videos of the three song performances surfaced on YouTube yesterday, and Papa Emeritus II appears without make-up — and yes, it’s the same dude who is interviewed in that mini-documentary.

I still don’t know who the guy is, and his position in the band appears to have a shelf life — one day, there will be a Papa Emeritus III. But the dude can sing, and for all Ghost fans, the following videos will be fun to hear and see. I’ve collected them after the jump, followed by that documentary clip.  (via Blabbermouth).

But… it appears that even Papa’s face without the skull make-up is still… a mask. See for yourself. Clever Ghost trolling. Continue reading »

VIDEOGRAPHY: MANTAR, CHROME DIVISION, BARREN WOMB, BABYMETAL + CHTHONIC

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Feb 112014
 

Culled here from the ever-flowing effluent of the interhole are four new ear- and eye-pleasing treats, with a bit of impressionistic verbiage. The songs have nothing in common, except my liking for them.

MANTAR

Mantar (above) are a new two-piece band, half German and half Turkish, whose debut album Death By Burning is scheduled for North American release by Svart Records on February 25. I previously wrote about one advance song, “Spit”. Today DECIBEL delivered the premiere of a music video for a second one, “White Nights”.

Men at work, wolves at work, strobes in the studio, shadows in the forest (and something else in the forest), amps and pines. The squeal of feedback, the squall of a fuzz-bombed guitar, riffs that open wounds, vocals that cauterize them, drum strikes that will bring you to your knees. Stripped-down and flesh-stripping, obliterating and head-nodding. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2013’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 25

 Exceptions to the Rule, MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2013  8 Responses »
Feb 102014
 

Welcome to Part 25 of our list of 2013′s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. For more details about what this list is all about and how it was compiled, read the introductory post via this link. To see the selections that preceded the three songs I’m announcing today, click here.

It’s a Monday, the beginning of a new week, and time for me to make an important though painful decision: I am going to finish this list by Friday.   Friday is the halfway point in the second month of the New Year, so it really seems like I ought to finish a 2013 year-end list by then. Plus, I’ve already forced myself to pick the remaining songs, and having done that, my habitual indecisiveness won’t get in the way of bringing the list to a close. As for today, here are three songs from 2013 I’m pretty high on.

RUSSIAN CIRCLES

Down to the last week, and only now am I coming to a purely instrumental track. The name is “Deficit” and it appears on Memorial by Chicago’s Russian Circles. To borrow from what I’ve previously written about the song: For anyone who still thinks instrumental “post rock” doesn’t pack enough visceral kick to shake your skeleton from skull to tarsus, listen to “Deficit”, because it’s a heavy beast. It sets a doomy tone with a moving wall of guitar noise and a hypnotic drumbeat at the outset. The intensity builds from there, and beginning at the 3:00 mark it’s fuckin’ headbang city all the way forward (accompanied by a memorable chiming melody).  Continue reading »

UPDATES: BABY METAL (A NEW ALBUM) AND THE WAGAKKI BAND (A NEW VIDEO AND A NEW ALBUM)

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Feb 052014
 

Here are a couple of quick update items about Japanese bands we’ve written about in the past.

BABY METAL

Long-time readers of the site know that we have a thing about Baby Metal. A non-pervy thing, I hasten to add. If you’re new to the site, you can find all our prior blathering here. The breaking news is that Baby Metal, at long last, have announced they will be releasing an album. Entitled BABYMETAL, it will become available on February 26 via iTunes and assorted other sites (for CDs), which you can find via the band’s FB page or their web site.

The band have released a trailer for the album. It’s mainly just a string of clips from previous videos, but I’ll stick it up here anyway: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SEPTICFLESH, KYPCK, PROFANE OMEN

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Feb 042014
 

I’m in catch-up mode for new things. This is the second round-up of news and new music for today, and there will probably be a third. The first one is here. The following collection should keep you off-balance.

SEPTICFLESH

Yes, it appears that the band have decided to join the two words of their name into one, but a rose by any other name will smell just as sweet. Or, in this case, will sound just as sweet. I saw this announcement on the band’s Facebook page this morning:

“We have completed the recordings of our upcoming full length album. The album will consists of 10 songs that were recorded once again at Devasoundz Studios Athens Greece and at Prague with the collaboration of the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. The album will be released this summer via Season of Mist for Europe and via Prosthetic Records for America.

“We are really exhausted, but also very proud from the result. We worked very hard with Logan Mader (former MACHINE HEAD and SOULFLY guitarist that has worked considering album sound, with bands as CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, FEAR FACTORY, GOJIRA) to bring you the ultimate death metal soundtrack for your darkest dreams. The compositions are progressive with a lot of emotional peaks, while at the same time the songs sound very aggressive. Also we had the chance to work for the first time with a full children choir, beside the regular adult choir, and that helped us dive deeper into darker cinematic atmospheres.”

Continue reading »

DGM: “MOMENTUM”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  6 Responses »
Feb 032014
 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the latest release by Italy’s DGM, out now on the Scarlet Records label.)

Time for one of those “exception to the rule” thingies.  Another 2013 catch-up.

I think it’s safe to say we collectively at NCS think power metal is not the uh… most desirable ear candy.  While I’ve always felt the staple elements of the style were cool (particularly the neo-classical Stratovarius or Yngwie persuasions), it’s unfortunately a style of metal that seems to do everything within its power to pigeonhole itself.  The bands are nearly indistinguishable except for a very few like Rhapsody of Fire, Dark Moor, and my personal favorite prog legends Symphony X.  Mostly I think what draws me to these bands, particularly Symphony X, is the fact that they actually fulfill the power part of their genre tag.  Symphony X, to reference them again, have everything great metal at its core needs.  Russell Allen’s vocals have the impact of a fucking monsoon, the riffs and melodies are great, the songwriting is solid, and the music is consistently driving in nature; what metal should be, if it isn’t going for melancholy.

DMG are a fairly long-running band from Italy.  I mainly know them because their guitarist Simone Mularoni is also the ax-wielder for another band I love dearly — Empyrios.  My Symphony X focus is relevant, because DGM specialize in the same sort of driving, thrash-riff-intensive, virtuoso displays of instrumental skill that Symphony X are so often known for.  That isn’t to say these guys sound like a clone of Symphony X at all, but the influence is quite obvious.  Although, I will admit, current vocalist Mark Basile could seriously be a Russell Allen stunt double.  Distinguishing the two is only possible if you really scrutinize the vocals.  The opening track “Reason” features the Symphony X vocalist as well.  People I’ve shared the song with mostly can’t tell the difference. Continue reading »

AN A CAPELLA COVER OF FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE THAT WORKS BETTER THAN YOU COULD IMAGINE

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jan 232014
 

Dan-Elias Brevig is a wonder. He has taken “The Violation”, by those Italian maestros of utterly bombastic death metal, Fleshgod Apocalypse, and created a completely a cappela cover of the song in a YouTube video. And by “a capella”, I mean that he has not only recorded the growls and falsetto cleans from the song, he has also used his voice to mimic the song’s instrumental arrangements.

Think about the original for a moment, and ponder what this would entail. After you’ve stopped shaking your head and going “No Way!”, move past the jump and see/hear for yourselves. Mr. Brevig calls it a parody, but it’s pretty damned impressive.

(Dan-Elias Brevig is from the vicinity of Oslo, Norway; he has a band named Immetic (whose music may be found here); and his Facebook page is at this location. To give you another example of his pipes in action, I’ve included an Immetic song after the video; it’s partially an exception to our rule, but I’m digging it — and it sort of helps explain his affinity for Fleshgod Apocalypse.) Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: HANGING GARDEN, DRUG HONKEY, VALLENFYRE, VETUR

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  29 Responses »
Jan 212014
 

I’ve been in a state of Seahawks-inspired delirium since Sunday morning. Apart from my own ridiculous heights of excitement, the city I call home as been completely engulfed in a similar type of out-of-body experience. Everyone wants to talk about Sunday’s win and the impending Super Bowl trip, even the people who are still trying to figure out how many innings it takes to complete a football game. You can’t listen to radio or watch any kind of sports-related TV without being engulfed in Seahawks talk (although much of it has consisted of uninformed yammering about Richard Sherman). Some of you have probably found yourselves in a similar environment in past years, but it hasn’t happened here in Seattle in a long, long time.

One result of all this is that I’m way behind on my usual search for metal news and new metal. This morning I did tear myself away from Seahawks mania long enough to check out a few things and put this post together.

HANGING GARDEN

If you haven’t heard the 2013 EP by Finland’s Hanging Garden, stop wasting time and go find it. I don’t want to have to tell you twice. I Was A Soldier (Lifeforce records) is worth your 15 minutes, and all the other minutes you’ll spend with it after the first listen. To give you some evidence of why the EP is so worthwhile, allow me to show you a video that premiered today for its final track, “Will You Share This Ending With Me?” Continue reading »

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