ENOCHIAN THEORY: “LIFE…AND ALL IT ENTAILS”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  6 Responses »
Jul 042012
 

(Andy Synn continues his unofficial UK Week of reviews here at NCS with a review of the new album by Enochian Theory.)

If you remember these guys from my previous review, then you’ll know that they are very much an Exception To The Rule here at NCS, but one that I think is worth making, such is the stellar quality of their material. It also helps that I know the audience here at NCS is largely made up of people who love MUSIC, with metal as their chosen speciality (occasionally to the exclusion of all else) and who often express an appreciation for other, tangential musical forms which share the best traits of metal – honesty, integrity, and complexity.

While this album is, on the whole, a prog-rock (rather than prog-metal) album, it shares a similar fearless spirit and an evolving creativity with many of the acts we all look up to today, a fearless ambition and a willingness to be open and vulnerable, perhaps even more impressive without the twin-shields of distortion and rage to hide behind.

The songs on this album are like some sort of rare and unique flower, hiding their complexities behind layers of overwhelming beauty and subtle notes of regret. Undeniably, even effortlessly, melodic and epic in feel, songs like opening duo “This Aching Isolation” and “Hz” take their time to fully unfold, and even longer to be appreciated for their sheer depth and clarity. Continue reading »

KATATONIA: “DEAD END KINGS”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  3 Responses »
Jun 282012
 

(We welcome London-based guest contributor Alex Franquelli, who reviews the forthcoming album by Katatonia.)

Similar but different. The thin line separating criticism and appreciation when discussing the artistic value of the Swedish godfathers of “depressing metal” is such that the resulting balance between the two currents aptly describes the status of the band itself. Both camps are in fact not completely devoid of cynicism, and a subtle but relevant amount of expectation is shared by those who see Katatonia as either an epitaph or an epigraph at the beginning of a new chapter for heavy metal. 2012 marks the return of the band at whose helm Jonas Renkse and Anders Nyström (vocals and guitar respectively) seem to sit pretty comfortably, sharing the role of producers with David Castillo at the mixing desk.

Is Dead End Kings the natural continuation of Night Is the New Day (2009)? The recent additions of Per Eriksson on guitars and Niklas Sandin on bass might be enough to make you draw your own conclusions, but what is revealed by listening to the new album is a thoroughly new concept of music which goes beyond an easily predictable evolution. Dead End Kings appears to be less direct; ambitions are set reasonably high, and the progressive hints, which punctuated the previous full-length album, now play an effective role in making the sound more dynamic and prone to dramatic changes of keys and atmosphere. Continue reading »

VINTERSORG: “ORKAN”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  11 Responses »
Jun 222012
 

(In the following review, Andy Synn assesses the new album by Sweden’s Vintersorg, which is set for North American release on July 10 by Napalm Records.)

A new Vintersorg album? Already? Well that’s always good news. And what’s even better is that Orkan continues the blackened folk vibe re-established first on Solens Rotter and then carried over to Jordpuls.

To be brutally honest with you, back when Vintersorg announced his participation in Borknagar (for 2001’s Empiricism) I was becoming concerned that the line between the two bands was starting to blur – the shinier, proggier stylings of Cosmic Genesis (still one of my all-time favourite albums) and its two successors weren’t all that far removed from the sounds of Empiricism and Epic. It didn’t help that Mr V’s vocals are amongst the most instantly recognisable in metal, often dominating proceedings and serving to tie the two groups a little too tightly to one another, giving neither the necessary room to breathe.

But all that changed with the release of Solens Rotter. A three-year break between albums saw the duo of Vintersorg and Marklund redefine their priorities to produce the first in what has turned out to be a return to the more rustic, folk-ish melodies and earthen black metal atmosphere of their earlier works,  musical miles away from the soaring, Pink Floydian blackened prog of Borknagar. Last year’s phenomenal Jordpuls continued the trend, actively improving on Solens Rotter in nearly every way, and now we are once more gifted with a new piece of blackened folk art in the form of Orkan. Continue reading »

NEW KATATONIA: “DEAD LETTERS” FROM DEAD END KINGS

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jun 202012
 

Following up on 2009’s Night Is the New Day, Sweden’s Katatonia have completed their next studio album, Dead End Kings, which will be released on August 27 (a day later in the U.S.) by the Peaceville label (it’s available for pre-order here). Today, Peaceville and the band released a lyric video for one of the tracks on the new album — “Dead Letters”.

It is an Exception to the Rule here, because . . . clean singing. But ever since my one and only witnessing of Katatonia in a live setting, I’ve had a soft spot for the band’s music (it was quite a show), and so I had to pay attention to this. Glad I did.

The video showcases some of the wonderful artwork by Travis Smith that will appear in the album booklet, and the imagery well-suits both the lyrics and the music. The song is a blending of the heavy and the ethereal, both moody and jolting, dark and meditative. I don’t think fans of Katatonia will be disappointed in what they hear. Check it out following the jump.

In addition, Peaceville has made the song available for free download, in exchange for your email address. To get that, GO HERE. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 23: V.A.S.T.

 Exceptions to the Rule, THE SYNN REPORT  4 Responses »
Jun 122012
 

(In this latest edition of THE SYNN REPORT, Andy Synn reviews the discography of V.A.S.T., with musical accompaniment, of course.)

Recommended for fans of: Nine Inch Nails, Solstafir, Anathema

In a recent conversation with Islander I mentioned some reservations I’ve been having about the format of The Synn Report. Over time they’ve grown a bit lengthy – originally they focussed on key tracks from key albums, but they’ve slowly drifted more toward the track-by-track format I initially reserved just for my album reviews. Now, while each edition of The Synn Report is definitely intended for those of you who have the necessary drive and attention span to sit through something pretty extensive, I feel like they’ve gone a bit too far away from their original intent, which was to simply select the best tracks from each release and use them to promote each album, impartiality be damned.

So today’s edition sees me trying to move back toward the initial intent of The Synn Report, and to do so I’m bringing you the industrial tinged world-music stadium rock Americana of V.A.S.T.

Primarily the brainchild of wunderkind Jon Crosby, V.A.S.T. (Visual Audio Sensory Theatre) have gone through many different physical and musical incarnations over the years. With the key influences being Nine Inch Nails, Metallica, U2, and The Beatles, the group have released a number of records, in a number of styles, over the years, though I’m going to be focussing on the five “core” releases.

So if you’re looking for something with a lot more rock than metal, and don’t mind a host of clean vocal melodies, as well as a shovel-load of musical ambition and progressive intent, this could be the band for you. Continue reading »

THE GHOST INSIDE: “ENGINE 45”

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jun 052012
 

I don’t listen to much hardcore or metalcore these days, which I suppose is obvious because we write about it so infrequently at NCS. But I used to be pretty heavy into that music years ago, and I still follow a handful of bands, The Ghost Inside from L.A. being one of them.

The band have a new album called Get What You Give that’s due for release by Epitaph Records on June 19. This morning, Absolute Punk premiered The Ghost Inside’s official video for a single from the album (which is available on iTunes and Amazon) called “Engine 45”. I fell into the song pretty fast, with a smile on my face, because these guys punch pretty fuckin’ hard . . . and then I got a surprise that I didn’t immediately love: clean vocals.

They definitely weren’t necessary, and The Ghost Inside haven’t needed them in the past. As the first part of the song demonstrates, the emotionally affecting chorus melody could have been carried solely by the lead guitar, without Jonathan Vigil departing from his hardcore vocal style. But I do understand why this was done. The song makes a transition (quite seamlessly) from the physical attack with which it opens to a sweeping melodic finish, with the clean vocals being added to the guitars to underscore the change (a change that’s further underscored in the imagery that’s interleaved with shots of the band performing).

Given the usual profile of this site, I don’t expect many of you are going to fall for this song in the same way I did, but we’ll see. Check out the video after the jump and let me know what you think. I’ve also added a stream of another song from the new album called “Slipping Away”, which came out last week. Continue reading »

FUN WITH DJERV AND AMORAL

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Jun 012012
 

Those of you who don’t have a problem with clean singing in metal will be just fine with this post.  And for those of you who are like me and have a low tolerance for it, well, just bear with me.  In the end, I think you’ll have some fun with this, too.  What I have here are two videos that debuted yesterday, both of which are clever and both of which feature some pretty catchy jams . . . but no growlies.

DJERV

Djerv is a Norwegian band fronted by Agnete Kjølsrud, whose name I recognize only because she sang along with Dimmu Borgir on three of the songs on Abrahadabra, including “Gateways”. You may recall that she appeared prominently in Dimmu’s video for that song. Djerv released their self-titled debut album on Indie Recordings last year, and of course I haven’t heard it, because . . . well . . . you can guess why.

Yesterday marked the appearance of an official video for one of the songs from that album — “Headstone”. I decided to give it a shot, and I’m glad I did. It features the kind of film-making technique that converts footage of real people (in this case, the members of Djerv) into animated characters. I saw a comment on Djerv’s FB page that described it as Frank Miller meets Night of the Living Dead, and that captures it pretty well. It’s fun to watch, and funny, too. Continue reading »

THE DIABLO SWING ORCHESTRA: PANDORA’S PIÑATA

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  15 Responses »
May 142012
 

(In this post groverXIII reviews the new album by The Diablo Swing Orchestra.)

[EXCEPTION TO THE RULE WARNING]

Quite recently, our old pal Islander asked us, “What’s in a name?” I found this pretty amusing, because I had actually planned on addressing this sort of subject in this review, albeit with a more limited scope. Specifically, I was going to address those rare instances where a band’s name is directly evocative of the music that they make. I don’t mean the sort of band names where it’s fairly easy to guess what sort of music they make, like how a band with a pluralized noun is probably a djent band, or a band with a Verb/Gerund The Noun name is probably metalcore/deathcore, or how a band with a name that doesn’t appear to be a real word is probably a black metal band.

No, as you might guess, I’m talking about a name like Diablo Swing Orchestra. I’ve been trying for a while to think of a band whose moniker is more perfectly suited to them, and I really haven’t found one. If for some reason you are unfamiliar with them, Diablo Swing Orchestra mix metal with a smorgasbord of orchestral music styles to create something that is truly unique. They have one of the most interesting back stories I’ve ever read, and while it may or may not be historically accurate, it certainly does a nice job setting the stage for their music. They live up to their name, sounding like the Glenn Miller Orchestra if they were doing a gig as Lucifer’s house band.

I’ve been following the band since I first happened upon their stunning debut, The Butcher’s Ballroom, where the mix of elements blew me away, not only because of the different styles, but also how smoothly they were mixed. DSO’s sophomore release, Sing-Along Songs For The Damned And Delirious, was certainly its predecessor’s equal, maintaining the same level of ferocious weirdness without running it into the ground. And now, we get Pandora’s Piñata, the DSO’s eagerly-awaited third album, and once again, these eclectic Swedes do not disappoint, delivering one of the year’s most creative releases thus far. Continue reading »

THE SAFETY FIRE: “GRIND THE OCEAN”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  3 Responses »
May 092012
 

(TheMadIsraeli reviews the new album by The Safety Fire.)

So it’s time for my first true Exception to the Rule in quite a while. I decided at some point I would try to avoid breaking our site’s moniker as much as I could, but I feel this album deserves the occasion.

The Safety Fire have been picking up quite a bit of steam lately, introducing an interesting sound that has me slightly baffled, yet plenty fascinated. They mix in the low-tuned brutality and odd time signatures of bands we’ve come to know and love such as Textures, CiLiCe, and yes, Meshuggah, with technical, highly interwoven counterpoint dual-guitar mind-fuckery and add a heavy-handed dose of post-rock to taste.

To say that their sound is jarring would be a bit of an understatement, but also considering that I saw them live at The Masquerade in Atlanta last month and experienced this material full force (which convinced me to buy the album on the spot), I’d say this is a band to watch in the future. However, the future is currently irrelevant. What’s relevant is now, and Grind the Ocean is an impressive, technically adept, and progressive morsel of delightfully unorthodox taste.

The album’s opener “Huge Hammers” is immediately indicative of this. A subdued riff plays in the background, only to crash forth into the song’s gravitas-inducing, disorienting verse riff. It’s full of low-tuned rumble, high-end micro-shredding, and lots AND LOTS of pinch harmonic squeals and badass moments of harmony and interplay on the guitar front. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries