TRAIL OF TEARS: “OSCILLATION”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  5 Responses »
May 282013
 

(In this post, DGR reviews the latest — and last — album by Norway’s Trail of Tears, which is due for release in North America on June 11 by Massacre Records.)

Listening to Oscillation, Norwegian group Trail of Tears’ seventh and ostensibly final album, is something of a bittersweet experience. The group’s acrimonious breakup played out in a pretty public fashion (reported here, for example), and once you read stories about how the working environment within the band had been difficult for a year prior, you can’t help but let it color your perceptions of the disc — especially if you’re the type to pontificate on each choice as it exists on an album, its overall effect on the sound, how you think things went down. Instead of seeing this as a remarkably risky album for a group who have been relatively conservative with their formula, you instead find yourself thinking,”Wow, they must have been fighting this whole time,” and it really does put a damper on what should be thought of as – and empirically is – a pretty good batch of Trail of Tears songs.

So that’s why this is something of a difficult review, because there are things on Oscillation that you could reason away or just simply describe that are now somewhat tainted by the group’s somewhat dramatic breakup. As a result, this review will be considering the disc in a vacuum, written by someone who liked Existenia and Bloodstained Endurance. Those two discs albums are probably the closest comparison to Oscillation, because this new one feels like the continuation of the two previous releases, with enough experimentation and shifts in sound that it still stands on its own. But it could just as easily be polarizing, simply based on which of the two warring vocalists is in the front of the band for most of the songs. Continue reading »

FALKENBACH AND FROSTSEELE

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
May 272013
 

Here are two more recent songs I heard over the weekend. They seemed like a fitting pair, and (as you’ll discover) not only because the band” names both begin with F.

FALKENBACH

Falkenbach is the German one-man project of Vratyas Vakyas. Since 1996 he has released five albums on an irregular and unpredictable schedule, the last being 2011’s Tiurida. Apparently, a new one named Asa is now in the works, and about 10 days ago Falkenbach released a lyric video for the first single from the album, a song named “Eweroun”. It has hypnotized me in short order.

From the beginning introductory passage, which features acoustic strumming and a somber folk melody voiced in a clean baritone, straight through the balance of the song, with heavier instrumentation joining the acoustic guitar and the vocals rising in range, it’s extremely memorable. It makes a virtue of simplicity, though it’s far from simplistic. If that makes any sense. Which it probably doesn’t. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: GHOST B.C., THE DEATHISODES, AND DIRE NECRO CERBERUS

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
May 272013
 

My NCS comrades and I were busy little beavers over the weekend (scabby, rabid ones, of course), making headway on new reviews. But I also heard a lot of new individual songs that grabbed me, so I’ll be dropping those morsels into round-up posts today in between a slew of album reviews — starting with this one.

GHOST B.C.

When Ghost B.C. released their new album, Infestissumam, in Japan, they included a bonus track. It’s a cover of “Waiting For the Night” by Depeche Mode, from their 1990 album Violator. Late last week Ghost released the song to YouTube for those of us who like the band but can’t get our paws on the Japanese version of the album. The original song doesn’t mention Belial, Behemoth, Beelzebub, Asmodeus, Satanas, or Lucifer, but it does include some other Ghost-ly lyrics: “I’m waiting for the night to fall / I know that it will save us all / When everything’s dark…”

Even though there’s not any typically overt Satan worship in the words, Ghost do put their own spooky stamp (and some beefy low-end riffs) on the music. Cool song (and an exception to our Rule, of course). Check it next. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 55: SERPENT OMEGA, CREMATORIA, PUREFILTH, AND ASPHODEL

 Exceptions to the Rule, Free Shit, MISCELLANY  4 Responses »
May 262013
 

Many of you already know how this MISCELLANY game works, but for everyone else, here’s what it’s about: Using no rhyme or reason whatsoever, I pick bands whose music I’ve never heard (usually bands whose names I’ve never heard either), I listen to one recent track from each of them (though sometimes I cheat and listen to more than one), I write my impressions, and I stream the music for you so you can judge for yourselves.

Every other musical feature on this site, other than this one, involves metal that I or the other writers have heard in advance and want to recommend. MISCELLANY, on the other hand, is a shot in the dark. I don’t know what these selections will sound like. We’ll both find out together. Today’s bands are from all over: Serpent Omega (Sweden), Crematoria (Denmark), Purefilth (Ukraine), and Asphodel (Greece).

SERPENT OMEGA

I found out about this relatively new Swedish band via a Facebook recommendation from another band whose doings I follow. They’ve recently released a self-titled debut album via the Mordgrimm label, and it turns out that they have a female frontperson (Pia Högberg). I decided to check out their music in part because of that recommendation but mainly because I thought the new album’s cover art was cool. Continue reading »

NEW AND NOTABLE: COPROLITH, ORPHANED LAND, AND POWER TRIP

 Exceptions to the Rule, Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
May 222013
 

In this post I’ve collected a small group of new songs that I came across while wandering through the interhole over the last 24 hours.

COPROLITH

I’ve been keeping an eye on this Finnish band (pictured above) since hearing their 2012 EP Hate Infected. When I reviewed it, I characterized the music as “the military-industrial complex of the nether regions, an effective fusion of titanic death metal might and melodic black metal hooks” and compared the band to the likes of Behemoth and Hate. They now have a new album on the way entitled Death March, which will be released in the fall of this year by Violent Journey Records.

Yesterday they released a music video for one of the new songs, “Life=Disease”, which is now available digitally through Amazon and probably elsewhere. The song reminds me less of those Polish behemoths than Hate Infected. It has more of an old-school death metal flavor, with a bit of a charred crust. It hammers and howls forcefully, with teeth bared and claws raking. Continue reading »

A NEW LEPROUS VIDEO: “THE CLOAK”

 Exceptions to the Rule  3 Responses »
May 142013
 

Here’s one of those posts that causes people unfamiliar with our site to become confused. It concerns Norway’s Leprous, who create music vastly different from the vast majority of music we cover here.

I am providing this post as a public service, because I know some of our other writers and many of our readers were quite taken with this band’s last album, Bilateral. The new one, entitled Coal, is scheduled for release on May 28 in North America and May 20 in Europe by InsideOut Music. I really like the cover art, by Jeff Jordan.

Today, Leprous released an official video for one of the new songs, “The Cloak”. Fittingly, it was filmed in a mine — the Konnerud Hill Mines in Norway, to be precise.

The song is languid, pared-down, ethereal, haunting, and memorable — and Einar Solberg unquestionably has got a set of quality pipes, if you’re into pipes that aren’t corroded beyond recovery. There’s some heaviness in the riffs, too, which I appreciate.

So, have a look and a listen while I go hunt for some metal that will strip paint from the walls. Continue reading »

SENDING YOU AWAY: MAN’S GIN, SIGHT OF EMPTINESS, ELDKRAFT, AND KATECHON

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
May 142013
 

We like having you around here, but I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave. That’s because a quartet of new songs debuted yesterday that I’m recommending to you, but you’ll have to go elsewhere to check them out. They’re exclusively streaming at other sites, so I can’t embed them here. Actually, I could, because no page code is safe from me, but I’m being atypically respectful.

MAN’S GIN

Man’s Gin is the brainchild of New York-based Erik Wunder, who is also one-half of another band I like a lot — Cobalt. He’s joined in Man’s Gin by New Yorkers Scott Edward and Josh Lozano. I thought Man’s Gin’s debut album Smiling Dogs (2010) was fascinating, and it seems the same will be true of the second one, Rebellion Hymns. It’s scheduled for release by Profound Lore on June 25. The new song that premiered yesterday is “Deer Head & The Rain”.

This song isn’t our usual fare. The vocals are more clean than unclean and the music is more folk than metal, though it’s not exactly folk music either. There’s a disturbing undercurrent in the music, and from the acoustic-guitar-and-hand-drum intro straight through to the discordant electrified finish, it’s been relentlessly tunneling through my head since yesterday. Continue reading »

A BIT OF WEEKEND READING AND A NEW KILLING JOKE VIDEO

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
May 112013
 

Here are three things I read yesterday that I thought were worth recommending. And because we always have to have music in our posts, I’m ending this one with a couple of videos by UK post-punk legends Killing Joke, one old one and one that just premiered yesterday.

“THE TEN MOST METAL DEATHS OF METAL MUSICIANS”

Yeah, that headline caught my eye, too. It appeared on the online music blog of The Riverfront Times, a St. Louis alternative newsweekly that’s been around since 1977. As the headline suggests, the writer (Rick Giordano) compiled stories about 10 metal musicians who died in metal ways. Here’s Rick’s introduction and disclaimer:

Death has always been one of the most dominant themes in heavy-metal music, taking a back seat maybe only to Satanism. Death, disease, murder and chaos have accompanied heavy riffs since Sabbath first began playing them back in ’68. This dark subject matter is part of what has always made metal controversial — revolting to some, but appealing to those musicians interested in facing the things we all fear. But there’s often a strange irony that comes into play when we have to realize that these musicians are also human beings, capable of falling victim to the very horrors they seem to embrace. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS: IMMOLATION, ARCKANUM, NECRONOMICON, AND BOMBUS

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
May 082013
 

Although I’ve been temporarily distracted by such things as Tim Lambesis getting arrested for soliciting murder, Frank Palmeri getting his shit zapped in Russia, and this guy (who used to play some licks for Obituary and Six Feet Under) getting arrested for running a meth lab — after calling the cops himself — I finally remembered that metal is about the music. So here’s some actual music and music news that I came across this morning.

IMMOLATION

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you know that NYDM legends Immolation have a new album (Kingdom of Conspiracy) coming out on May 13. Although I’m the sort of fan who would buy the album without hearing any of it (because it’s fuckin’ Immolation, and they seem to just get stronger with age), others may wish to hear it first. And you can now do that because today the full album went up for streaming exclusively at Terrorizer. Go HERE to listen.

ARCKANUM

Sweden’s Arckanum also have a new album coming. Entitled Fenris Kindir, it’s due for North American release by Season of Mist on May 14. Explaining the album’s name and concept, Arckanum main man Shamaatae is quoted as saying this: “The sounds and music on this album are my auditory vision of the march of Fenrir convoyed with his hordes of giant wolves from the depths of the underworld to face Ragna Rök with warlike glory – deformed giant-wolves swarming in thousands. This is my tribute to the wrathful, harsh and untamed anti-nature of Fenrir’s mighty essence! The anti-cosmic enemy of the worlds! Heill Tungls Tjúgari! Heilir Fenris Synir!” Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: HAGGIS AND BONG, NEKKAR, MADLEAF, AND DARKALL SLAVES

 Exceptions to the Rule, Free Shit, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
May 072013
 

I’m hoping everything in this post will tickle your fancy. It includes four quite diverse songs that I heard this morning. They’re nothing alike, but I thought they were all cool . . . and not the kind of thing you’re likely to come across elsewhere (at least not packaged together and hand-tied with a pink bow, like I’m doing for you).

HAGGIS AND BONG

Still one of the best metal band names ever. And still some of the most stirring bagpipe-injected metal you can find. Haggis and Bong come not from Scotland but from South Africa, and they’ve been a favorite topic of mine here at NCS dating all the way back to January 2010, when the band was just a duo of pipers and a drummer (you can find all of my blathering about them over the years via this link).

Since those early days they’ve expanded themselves into a genuine metal band — but one in which the pipes still play a prominent role — and today they’ve released a free single that’s their heaviest work yet. In addition to including some mosh-worthy distorted riffing and pounding rhythm work, “Battle Destroyer” incorporates the pipes in an unusual way — no jigs or reels this time. Check out the song after the jump and go download it here if you dig it as much as I do. Continue reading »

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