THE ABCs OF THINGS I MISSED IN 2012

 Listmania, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  25 Responses »
Nov 162012
 

(Guest contributor Kaptain Carbon is getting a head start on year-end listmania with a most amusing review of albums he missed earlier in the year. Despite the fact that I laughed out loud on numerous occasions, I haven’t forgotten that the Kaptain owes me a Russian Nesting Doll. Some things you don’t forget.)

Well, I am now a guest in another person’s house. I should take my shoes off and pretend I eat with my pants on. No Clean Singing put out a call for entries and usually I would be hosting board game night in my basement over at Tape Wyrm but now I am here. What a lovely house you have. I really love your collection of Russian Nesting Dolls. Oh dear, I think this one may be broken. I’ll set it down right here.

2012 is almost done and we will soon all be judged before the great cosmic eye. Before our fate is weighed on the gilded scales at an altar of ivory and blood, we all have to go through our end of the year lists. Yes, before the inevitable reckoning, where December is consumed in an omnipresence hellfire, we have to make our top 10s of 2012. Now, we all know it will probably go to the new Marilyn Manson record, but there is also the matter of the stacks of records which now make a castle on your coffee table. Look at this mess. Look at all of this stuff you said you were going to listen to but never did. You are a horrible human. I found this Abigail Williams record in the vegetable crisper.

I recently went through my library and pulled out all of the 2012 records I meant to review but never got around to doing so because I am a terrible metal-hating human being who secretly loves everything which you hate. I just want to make sure I did not miss anything, so I am going to go through this pile of laundry and rifle through its contents before throwing it back on the ground. Sure, things will still be messy, but there was production involved.

It is time to revisit the forgotten, at least by me, and the never-heard of 2012. Sure, No Clean Singing is giving me a wonderful opportunity to share some of my work with you, but let’s be honest, I woke up late and I am doing my homework while running to class. Thank you No Clean Singing for this opportunity and fuck you, you motherfucking stupid cocksucking alarm WHERE ARE MY KEYS? Continue reading »

THE BEST OF 2012 TO DATE

 Listmania  95 Responses »
Jul 042012
 

To all of you red-blooded, blackhearted Americans out there, Happy Fucking Fourth of July. I will be very disappointed if you actually plan to join in that great gorging of gullets with grilled food and cold beer that passes for patriotic observance. Instead, I expect that, like all trve metalheads, you will kill your neighbor’s dog and try to eat it raw, like this dude.

Haha!  Just kidding. LOL. I’m an animal lover, so I don’t really want you to kill and eat your neighbor’s dog. You should kill and eat your neighbor instead. And send me pics.

Well, now that we have the gratuitous tip of the hat to the Grand Old Fourth out of the way, let’s get to the real point of this post . . . which is to take stock of the first six months of metal in this glorious year of 2012. I nagged our regular (and formerly sort of regular) writers to give me lists of their favorite albums of the year so far, with mixed success. Some complied, some couldn’t be bothered — which doesn’t bother me, because I’m not putting together such a list myself. Instead, I want to learn about albums I should be hearing by perusing other people’s lists, which is a lot more fun and a lot less work. I may not be smart, but I’m not stupid!

And if you think I’m going to be content just nagging our own writers for their lists, you would be wrong. Because I WANT YOUR LISTS, TOO! Yes, I would like you to stop eating your neighbor’s liver long enough to add a Comment to this post and tell us which albums this year have really caught your fancy — the ones you’ve been listening to the most and think are the best ones among those you’ve heard in 2012. And while you ponder that, let’s have a look at the Best Album lists of BadWolf, the Professor formerly known as groverXIII, DemiGodRaven, Phro, and TheMadIsraeli. Feel free to comment on their lists, too, but please don’t eat them. Continue reading »

ANNIVERSARY REVIEWS BY WILLIAM SMITH (ARTIFICIAL BRAIN, BUCKSHOT FACELIFT), PART 2

 Album Reviews, Listmania  6 Responses »
Mar 222012
 

(William Smith is the vocalist for Buckshot Facelift and a Long Island band named Artificial Brain that I wrote about twice early last fall — here and here. He also writes a very entertaining blog called Vitos Squid Stop and Death Metal Museum. I asked him late last year if he would write something for NCS . . . and this is it!  Part 1 of this post appeared here yesterday.)

After reading a lot of people’s best of 2011 lists, I realized I have a lot of catching up to do and am in no position to judge what the best albums of 2011 were. On that note,  I’ve  looked through my collection and dusted off  5 albums each that were recorded or released ten and twenty years ago, respectively.  Some under-rated gems that maybe you overlooked or weren’t around for – either way, they deserve a second go around now that they’ve aged a little and can be seen in the context of history. They have all earned a special place in my collection – here I’ll share with you why.  In the words of Pyrexia – where were you?

CLASS OF 1992 (20 year anniversary)

1.   Viogression – Passage (Progressive International / Tombstone Records)

The few people who may remember this under credited Milwaukee Death Metal band would probably chastise this album for its thin and narrow production and the uneven volume problems that more or less straighten out after the first song. The main problem I found with this cd was that it spanned 13 songs in about an hour and it honestly could have probably been boiled down to 9 songs in 40 minutes.  For those who choose to brave the occasional mastering slipups and have the patience to give Viogression an hour of your life, though, you will not go unrewarded.

Camoflauged within Viogression’s warm, fuzzy brand of Obituary-style doom and gloom was a visionary capacity for atmosphere, depth, and technicality. Those who listen to this album in hindsight may find that, at times, it has more in common with what Canadian bands like Cryptopsy, Kataklysm, and Gorguts would be perfecting over the following decade than with the primitive mid-tempo style popular in the Midwest at the time. Beyond that, it also features a guest vocal appearance by Joe Ptacek, himself (R.I.P.). For what it’s worth, this was a “missing link” album that helped churn the evolution of Death Metal forward and is worth a second listen now that it’s almost as old as some of its members were when they recorded it. Continue reading »

ANNIVERSARY REVIEWS BY WILLIAM SMITH (ARTIFICIAL BRAIN, BUCKSHOT FACELIFT), PART 1

 Album Reviews, Listmania  5 Responses »
Mar 212012
 

(William Smith is the vocalist for Buckshot Facelift and a Long Island band named Artificial Brain that I wrote about twice early last fall — here and here. He also writes a very entertaining blog called Vitos Squid Stop and Death Metal Museum. I asked him late last year if he would write something for NCS . . . and this is it!  Part 2 of this post will appear tomorrow.)

After reading a lot of people’s best of 2011 lists, I realized I have a lot of catching up to do and am in no position to judge what the best albums of 2011 were. On that note,  I’ve  looked through my collection and dusted off  5 albums each that were recorded or released ten and twenty years ago, respectively.  Some under-rated gems that maybe you overlooked or weren’t around for – either way, they deserve a second go around now that they’ve aged a little and can be seen in the context of history. They have all earned a special place in my collection – here I’ll share with you why.  In the words of Pyrexia – where were you?

CLASS OF 2002 (10 year anniversary)

1.   Genital Grinder – self-titled cd (Adipocere Records)

The cover art is the type of amateurish cartoony obscenity that seemed popular with French bands of the time and depicts exactly what you’d expect from a band named after my favorite Carcass song. The song titles are all over the place between English, French, and acronyms, giving the overall first impression that this is some type of typical loose-knit noisecore operation at best. Instead what you get is airtight “spacey” sounding Death Metal in the Florida tradition, with outstandingly deep and guttural vocals. What makes things interesting is how GG frequently shrug off the atmosphere set by their stoic and relentless metal assaults with low-brow toilet grind humor similar to Viscera or Gut. Definitely for fans of the old Czech band, Hermaphrodit, if anyone remembers them. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA WRAP-UP

 Listmania  6 Responses »
Jan 092012
 

With one exception, our 2011 edition of Listmania has finally drawn to a close (although TheMadIsraeli still has plans to elaborate on some of his choices with future reviews). The exception is my ongoing list of 2011’s “Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs”, which may still be ongoing this time next year if I don’t force myself to wrap it up soon.

Compared to what we did near the end of 2010, this year’s series of posts really mushroomed — 44 posts in the space of about five weeks.

Among other things, we were fortunate to receive year-end lists from many of the writers who made The Number of the Blog such a great source for discovering new metal. But this year we also significantly expanded the scope of our own coverage, reaching out to more band members, fellow bloggers, and our own readers to get their recommendations of the best music that 2011 had to offer. We also started the series by re-publishing Best of 2011 lists from magazines and “big platform” web sites who included metal in their own retrospectives about the year’s best music.

I thought it might be useful to collect in this one place links to all of the posts we published in our 2011 Listmania series, organized into the following categories:

  • Magazines and “Big Platform” Sites
  • Band Members
  • Other Bloggers
  • Guest Contributors (including NCS readers)
  • NCS Staff

So, if you’re still hunting around for new music or want to see what others have been saying about the albums you liked, check out the comprehensive set of NCS links after the jump. And thanks again to everyone who contributed to this endeavor and to everyone who made time to read what we pulled together. Continue reading »

A TOP 5 LIST FROM MIKA ANDRE

 Listmania, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jan 062012
 

We first made the acquaintance of Mickael André in the early days of this blog when we developed a fascination for the French metal band of which he is the bassist — Eryn Non Dae.. I counted, and we’ve posted about them seven times since 2010, most recently here. The band’s own description of their music is one I would endorse: “Complex and brutal structures, black and apocalyptic moods, an obscure music where dissonant compositions carry an in-your-face, aggressive vocal style… A trip into the depths of the soul.”

I asked Mika if he would share with us a list of the metal he enjoyed most during 2011, and he responded with a list, which I’ll come to eventually. But this post also gives me an excuse to feature music from the many projects in which Mika is involved. Eryn Non Dae. is only one of those projects, though it’s Mika’s main one. The latest news from END. is very sweet news indeed — they are now beginning to record their second album. Their 2009 Metal Blade release, Hydra Lernaïa, was a remarkable debut, and I’m really curious to hear what the band will come up with next.

But END. is not Mika André’s only musical project. He’s also the guitarist for an instrumental band called Nojia (that’s their photo at the top of this post), who recently released a fascinating debut album called Solarchitect. (available here).

The album starts with a 6-minute overture and then proceeds through four long songs, ranging from 11 to 18 minutes in duration. It was recorded live, with all the musicians performing together in the studio — and when you hear the range and complexity of the music, you’ll appreciate even more what that means. I’ve embedded a music player later in this post that will stream the entire album — listening is an intense, mesmerizing experience. Continue reading »

THE TOP 11 OF 2011, BROUGHT TO YOU BY VALLEY OF STEEL

 Listmania  7 Responses »
Jan 062012
 

(As our Listmania series winds down, today we welcome another fellow blogger, whose moniker you may also recognize from his NCS comments. Check out his diverse year-end list of new discoveries below, and be sure to check out the Valley of Steel blog, too.)

Hello, NCS readers! Sitting here on the long bus ride from the Valley to my job in Pittsburgh, I am given the opportunity to do a lot of reflecting. For example, today I am reflecting on the fact that it is FUCKING COLD enough outside to FREEZE A POLAR BEAR’S NUTS OFF. But, since it is also the dawn of a new year, many people like to take the time to reflect back on the year that has just concluded, as well as looking ahead to the one that is just beginning. So I have written posts that look in both of those directions. This first one addresses some of the great music I have discovered during 2011, and if Islander chooses to publish it and if you all don’t completely hate it, there will be a second post to follow which discusses what YOU want the future of metal to look like.

Over the past month or so, I have seen literally OODLES of year-end lists all over the internet. In fact, this website alone has featured damn near an oodle and a half. Many of them (not the ones on NCS, specifically, but just some of those I have seen around) seem to just re-shuffle the same few “big name” releases in various orders, with a couple controversial or “surprise” entries to almost make each list worth reading.

Well, I almost didn’t make my own list, because I really didn’t see the point of just rehashing the same old thing YET AGAIN. The more I thought about it, though, I realized the beneficial part of reading these lists, which is that you might find something new that you otherwise would have missed out on. With that in mind, I spent a lot of time thinking about the joy of discovering new music, and how much awesome music I discovered in 2011. So, then I decided to make a list of some of that music, to share with YOU. Continue reading »

TEN OF THE BEST 2011 METAL ALBUMS FROM DOWN UNDER

 Listmania, Steff's Posts  18 Responses »
Jan 052012
 

(We’re delighted to bring you a special guest post today from New Zealand’s Steff Metal, who among many other activities is the creator of the wonderful STEFF METAL blog. She has a special list for us from down under.)

After reading all the end-of-year lists posted on NCS, and writing my own (Top Ten Metal Albums of 2011), I realised that – despite a few notable exceptions – these lists were once again dominated by the metal powerhouses of the US and Europe. Sure, we don’t exactly have a down-under equivalent to Fleshgod Apocalypse or Origin, but NZ and Australian bands are putting out more and more decent metal albums every year.

I’ve been trying to focus more on reviewing and promoting local metal acts, and what better way to do this than to pick some of the best Kiwi and Aussie releases of 2011?

1. Ulcerate – The Destroyers of All (Willowtip Records, New Zealand)

There’s nothing I can say about The Destroyers of All that hasn’t been said by a zillion other writers who’ve placed this in their top albums for 2011 – simply a stunning piece of experimental death metal. Flawless drumming, dissonant riffs, jarring, doom-laden vocals – the personification of extreme metal perfection. I’ve been going to Ulcerate shows for the better part of 8 years now, and I reckon you’d be thick to miss them on their upcoming tour. Continue reading »

GAIA’S TOP 20 OF 2011

 Listmania  15 Responses »
Jan 042012
 

(We’re blessed with yet another year-end list from one of The Number of the Blog’s writers — Gaia. The previous TNOTB lists have already evidenced the diversity of that site’s musical tastes, but this list makes the case conclusively.)

It’s sad when your favourite old band t-shirt is too tired to wear, the print on the front is cracked and faded, the black now lost it’s hue, for some it’s even ripped from rowdy gigs. But it’s refreshing when you get to buy a new one, the print’s cool, it’s a new recently discovered band, and the logo’s unreadable. Just what you wanted. It doesn’t quite replace that old favourite shirt that you can’t wear anymore, but you look forward to wearing this new one.

I’ll miss you TNOTB, but you’ll always be there. My first favourite.

Of course we’re here to discuss lists and whatnot, not tepid analogies of other things. I wholly enjoyed putting together this list. Previous years have showcased my ineptitude to narrow down my lists and so I hope this year’s at least shows a pretence of being discerning. I could never be so righteous and say these are the ‘best’ records of the year, but they are certainly my favourites.

Before said list, I will now cheekily highlight the honourable mentions and they are Six Organs of Admittance, Turbowolf, Memfis, Elvis Deluxe, At Devil Dirt, and Thorr-Axe, all deserving but had to be omitted from the list then lately annexed here. Oh, Master Musicians of Bukakke was another one. And Moab.

Enough prolixity here, lets ramble on. Continue reading »

BADWOLF’S 10 MOST METAL NON-METAL ALBUMS OF 2011 (plus one song and a split)

 Listmania  17 Responses »
Jan 042012
 

(BadWolf did something like this last year — HERE — and it looks like it’s becoming a tradition.)

You might as well call this list “Bad Wolf’s ongoing love affair with angsty woman-rock.”

Yes, it’s true—I have loves outside of metal. I have lesser-but-significant passions for female-fronted lyrical rock outfits, Trip-hop, underground Hip-hop, Hard Rock, Folk, Pop, and extreme non-metal music like math rock, prog and noise. The best concert I saw all year, except possibly Converge, was Portishead.

2011 was a poor year overall for Hip hop, I think—and there hasn’t been a good year for Trip-Hop in close to a decade. Pop is stuck in an awful electronica-fueled gutter binge, and grungy rock n’ roll has been almost completely devastated by radio friendly emo-metal hybrids. Ugh.

But 2011 brought a bumper crop of amazing femme-rock, much of it drenched in filth and darkness fit for goat-throwers to enjoy (not-included but honorably mentioned would be St. Vincent, Florence + The Machine, Cults, and Zola Jesus). Hell, one of them feels like a black metal wolf in indie sheep’s clothing.

I challenge you all to listen to some of this music, broaden your horizons, and explore those darknesses from foreign shores. Without further ado: Continue reading »

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