VIDEOGRAPHY: NEW THINGS FROM BLUE STAHLI AND CARACH ANGREN

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Feb 072013
 

Here are a duo of new videos I spied yesterday and this morning that I thought were worth sharing. They stood out because the visuals enhanced the music and were actually very entertaining to watch, which I honestly can’t say about most metal videos.

BLUE STAHLI

I discovered Blue Stahli thanks to an interview with him that DGR did for us last year. I’ve been following his social media and music releases since then, and it’s obvious that he’s a clever, creative, slightly unhinged dude, and I like his style, even though the kind of music he makes isn’t my usual kind of thing.

This morning, Bloody Disgusting premiered a music video for the song “ULTRAnumb”, which comes from Blue Stahli’s 2011 self-titled album, which you can acquire here. The song is a catchy piece of work with an industrial beat and harsh vox that remind me of Devin Townsend’s, plus clean crooning that doesn’t make me run for the exits. And the video . . . the video is a complete head trip, most of it funny as hell, and ultimately full of gore, too. Continue reading »

REMNANTS OF 2012 THAT I HEARD IN 2013: HIVESMASHER, PERHAPS, DISKORD, II II II

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, Free Shit  7 Responses »
Feb 052013
 

(Welcome back Louisville-based music writer Austin Weber with some thoughts about a diverse array of artists and albums from 2012 that he missed in his year-end list for NCS. Might be some new discoveries in here for you, too.)

Last year there were a few bands who released absolutely stunning albums that even I forgot about….until now.

Hivesmasher– Gutter Choir

Pig Destroyer’s Book Burner was rightly hyped as grind album of the year, and while I loved the hell out of it, Hivesmasher does something very different for me. Theirs is a grimey, nastier kind of grind, similar to the utterly hopeless filth Crowpath used to conjure up.

This is on a whole other level, better written and better played than most who reside within the hyper-focus on speed and punk atittude to cover up weak songwriting and poor instrumental capability. The tropes that now consume the genre have led me to try and find those groups who are trying to elevate grindcore instead of just being a barrage of (albeit awesome) sound.

Hivesmasher knocked me on my ass from the first track, which made abundantly clear how good these guys are. Continue reading »

INFECTIOUS SONGS OF 2008

 Exceptions to the Rule, Listmania  4 Responses »
Feb 042013
 

(In this post, Colorado-based writer and guest NCS contributor Mike Yost (whose own blog is here) shares a duo of infectious songs from 2008.)

I have a mind that refuses to be linear.  My spasmodic thoughts love to jump around from past to future to present.  I wanted to contribute to the blog on the most infectious songs of the year, but my head has recently been stuck in 2008.  So, I shall share with the throng of NoCleanSinging readers some of my favorite, most infectious metal songs of that year.  These pandemic tunes are sure to burrow themselves into your brain and inject slimy pulsating egg sacks which hatch a multitude of ravenous squirming larva that devour your mind from the inside out, eventually crawling out of your blood-soaked ears.

This is not an exhaustive list of contagious canticles, so stay tuned for more (as soon as my brain jumps to another year).  And be sure to turn those speakers up.  If the music isn’t knocking over skyscrapers, mountains, or deities, then it’s not loud enough.

____________________________________________________________________________

Continue reading »

EYE OF SOLITUDE: “THE DECEIT”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule, SHORT BUT SWEET  7 Responses »
Feb 042013
 

It’s not often that you get the chance to spend your money on solid metal and know that you’re making a charitable donation at the same time, but that’s the chance Eye of Solitude and Kaotoxin Records are giving you with the band’s brand new EP, The Deceit, which is now available for download at Bandcamp.

First, a word about the charity. All money raised by this EP before June 1s, 2013, will go directly to Asociaţia Nevăzătorilor din România — the Romanian Association for the Blind and Sight Impaired. The amount raised by June 1 and donated to the charity will be posted on the label’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/kaotoxinrecords.

Since Eye of Solitude is a UK-based band, you may wonder about the choice of charity, but the connection probably can be traced to the band’s vocalist Daniel Neagoe, who is Romanian born.

And now let’s get to the music. If the band’s name seems familiar, it may be because I’ve written about them before in connection with an official video for a song from their most recent album, Sui Caedere, which is available for streaming and purchase on Bandcamp here. The new EP includes three songs, totaling about 18 minutes of music. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2012’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 19

 Exceptions to the Rule, MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2012  No Responses »
Jan 282013
 

Welcome to Part 19 of our list of the year’s most infectious extreme metal songs. In each installment, I’ve been posting at least two songs that made the cut. 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 I’m announcing today, click here.

We’re winding down. We’re nearing the end of this list. I’m thinking we’ll stop with Part 21. Or maybe Part 22. I’m still wrestling with my mind over how to finish. It’s like wrestling with a puddle of mercury.

All I’m really sure about are the three songs I’m adding to the list today. They’re all Exceptions to the NCS Rule, but they bring the power of the riff something fierce. They rock so hard they’ll break your dick, even if you don’t have a dick.  So I’m going with them even though they rely mainly on clean vocals.

MOKOMA

I heard about this Finnish band last November via a recommendation from NCS supporter jeimssi, who nominated the song “Kuollut, Kuolleempi, Kuollein” for this list. The song comes from the band’s 2012 album 180 Astetta — which turns out to be Mokoma’s ninth album. They’re apparently quite popular in Finland, though less well known outside the borders, perhaps because they sing in Finnish. Continue reading »

HOLY GRAIL: “RIDE THE VOID”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  2 Responses »
Jan 212013
 

(DGR reviews the new album by California’s Holy Grail, which will be released in North America on January 22.)

A solid chunk of time has passed since Holy Grail’s last release Crisis In Utopia. That was a pretty good piece of old-school-flavored metal that tried to bring in some heavier elements but never enough to really stray from sounding like a modern-day throwback. It was thrash by people who loved it and were able to craft a very good product that could stand right alongside their favorites.

Ride The Void – which had its European release on January 18th this year – is the group’s second full-length in a discography that also includes a smattering of EPs and single releases along the way. There have been some minor line-up changes, but overall the core of the band has remained the same.

This time the group have taken advantage of the close to three-year gap between releases to write a ton of music. Ride The Void comes in at thirteen tracks (fourteen if you get the bonus) of solid, retro-flavored without falling too far into idol worship, thrash music.

Thirteen songs is a lot, so it’s fair to ask whether it’s worth your time to check these guys out? Is it thirteen songs of wind rushing through your ears or is this a good opportunity to look into Holy Grail? Continue reading »

WITNESSED: SYNESIS ABSORPTION, A NEW SOILWORK SONG, AND MY DICK

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jan 182013
 

Wouldn’t you know it. After whining in the last post about how little blog/metal time my fucking day job has left me this week, I got enough of a break to make a quick sweep through the interhole in search of new things, and to write this little round-up about what I found.

SYNESIS ABSORPTION AND ELIRAN KANTOR

My roving eye came to a fast stop as soon as I saw the artwork featured above. It’s a painting by the great Eliran Kantor for a self-titled debut album by Synesis Absorption, which will be released sometime this year.

I’d never heard of this oddly named band, but man, check out the line-up: Steve Di Giorgio (ex-Death, Sadus) on bass; Mike Smith (Suffocation) on drums; Robbert Kok (Disavowed) providing vocals; and Miloš Batoćanin (Disdained) weaving guitar magic. After seeing the art and this line-up, I went in search of music — and I found some. Continue reading »

MUTINY WITHIN: “MUTINY WITHIN 2: SYNCHRONICITY”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  4 Responses »
Jan 172013
 


(DGR reviews the somewhat unexpected new album by Mutiny Within, which was just released a few days ago.)

I should probably just hang up my hat now, considering that even though I write for NoCleanSinging the next couple of reviews that I have in the hopper for this site consist of 80-90% clean singing. Consider yourselves warned, heavier music fans.

Mutiny Within drew something of a raw deal when it came to their debut disc. It didn’t sell all that well (and to hear the band tell it, it was pirated to hell and back), and unfortunately their label wound up letting them go after that one release. I was honestly surprised at the reception they got (some people really hated them) because I thought their debut was something very different: A good combination of the melody and singing from something like power metal and the crushing heaviness of melodic death and groove.

Afterward, it seemed like the group were basically hanging it up, so when word came out that the band had reformed and were releasing a second disc – the lengthily titled Mutiny Within 2: Synchronicity – it came as a bit of a shock. The group were now self-releasing an album after going radio silent and becoming something of a “Wow, they had a lot of potential – too bad that never worked out” story among those of us who enjoyed the first one. Continue reading »

MORE SEEN AND HEARD: OFFICIUM TRISTE, VENOMOUS MAXIMUS, DIABLO SWING ORCHESTRA

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jan 082013
 

Well, I’m afraid I need to take a break from our normal afternoon roll-out of the 2012 Most Infectious Extreme Metal Song list. I could explain why, but then I’d have to kill you.  Well, I wouldn’t kill you myself. I’d send out a squad of ninja lorises.  You’d probably die of old age before they got there.

Anyway, I do have something else for you. Actually, I have three new videos to share. Because time is short, I won’t say much about them other than to say I think you should watch and hear them.

OFFICIUM TRISTE

This long-running doom/death band from The Netherlands have a new album due for release on Hammerheart Records. Its name is Mors Viri, and it was mixed by Ronnie Björnström. The album features vocals by long-time Officium Triste member Pim Blankenstein, and that’s basically all I needed to know.

The video is for a new song called “The Wounded and the Dying”. It’s really just the music, but doom fans will want to hear this. Listen: Continue reading »

FOLKPOCALYPSE 2012

 Exceptions to the Rule, Listmania, LISTMANIA 2012  37 Responses »
Dec 302012
 

(Our trollish fiend friend Trollfiend has emerged from his lair at ALSO, WOLVES and delivers this year-end list.)

One of the things I like about folk metal is that it seems to be largely free of kvlt haters.  You’ll rarely if ever hear someone slag on a band as not being ‘true’ folk metal.  That may be in part because no one can really seem to settle on a definition of the genre; quite a few people suggest that it’s not a genre at all.  But assuming for the nonce that those people are a) asshats and b) wrong, I think it’s safe to say that “metal played with or featuring folk or traditional rhythms and/or instruments” probably covers the spectrum pretty well. In fact it’s a damn loose definition; by those criteria I could easily call Nile a ‘folk metal’ band.

Of course, that’s a lack of kvlt haters within the genre.  Plenty of people outside the genre slag on folk metal all the time, probably because it’s not BRUTAL enough for them.  But that’s okay; not everyone likes the same shit, and if all you care about is BRUTAL, you can look at pretty much all the other “best of” or “top 10” lists that have cropped up everywhere like rancid boils.  I can save you the trouble of slogging through all of those lists, though, because they all say Pig Destroyer.

No, what I’m about to offer you is my baker’s dozen of the best folk metal albums of 2012 as chosen by me, the guy who likes this kind of shit.  That makes me an expert.  Also, because people seem to think folk metal is a fad that died out in 2009 (or should have) I am largely populating this list with new, newish, or up-and-coming bands just to make the point that it hasn’t gone away and is going to stick around like herpes, i.e., whether you want it to or not.  And it will probably itch like a motherfucker.  So you won’t see Enslaved’s RIITIIR or Korpiklaani’s Manala or Eluveitie’s Helvetios on here, which is fine, because I’m sure they’ll be covered elsewhere. Continue reading »

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