Metal News Archives - Page 102 of 253

SEEN AND HEARD: BLOODWAY, ANTROPOFAGO, OVERCLIFF, PHOBONOID, SLOW, RAMAGE INC.

Sep 072015

My calendar says it’s Labor Day here in the U.S. I am a law-abiding citizen, and therefore I will do as commanded, and labor. But it’s not exactly hard labor. It’s just writing about a lot of excellent new metal that I heard over the weekend. Also, our pal Grant Skelton made it even easier by writing one of the following features himself (I’ll point out which one when we get to it.) This collection is a fine example of the diversity of metal — hope you’ll enjoy it, while you are laboring.

BLOODWAY

When I last wrote (here) about Bloodway, the Romanian group led by talented graphic artist Costin Chioreanu (Twilight13 Media), it was to praise a song called “Walking Past Near the Lighthouse” (and its accompanying video) from the band’s then-forthcoming album Mapping The Moment With The Logic Of Dreams. The album is now out, and in recent days the band released another video for the album’s second track, “The Transfinite Castaway”. Continue reading »

SHADOW WOODS METAL FEST: AN UPDATE

Metal News 6 Responses »

Sep 042015

Way back in April of this year I discovered the Shadow Woods Metal Festival, an open-air and camping festival then being planned for the Mountain Lake Summer Camp in Fannettsburg, Pennsylvania, in the heart of the Appalachian Mountains. Apart from the attractive setting, what really spiked my interest was the phenomenal line-up of bands who were scheduled to appear. I’m writing now to provide a few updates — the dates are the same, the line-up is even more impressive, but the venue has been changed. It’s still something I would damned sure attend if I weren’t on the other side of the continent.

Now the festival will take place — on September 25-27, 2015 — in White Hall, Maryland, about 30 minutes north of Baltimore. The exact street address will be provided to ticket purchasers. Camping and workshops on topics such as runes, guitar maintenance, and yoga will still be offered without additional charge, and artists and record labels will also have merch areas alongside several onsite food stands.

There aren’t a lot of tickets left. The festival will only sell 350 tickets, three-quarters of those are gone, and there will be no sales at the gate. This is a 21-and-over show, and it’s BYOB. To get advance tickets online, go here:

www.shadowwoodsmetalfest.com

Now, let me remind you about the line-up, which has evolved since I first wrote about it. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ALL HELL, SHADOW OV FENRIS, OSMOSE, VELUM

Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET 6 Responses »

Sep 042015

My trip to Alaska for my fucking day job proved to be a quick one. I got back home to Seattle late last night, about 36 hours after I left. If I’d had any sense, I would have gone right to bed. Instead, I spent time listening to new music, following up on links that friends sent me. And now here I am, five hours of sleep later, pecking on my keyboard about what I heard. By chance, what I enjoyed the most were songs in the vein of black metal, and so we have another Shades of Black collection. As usual, the music is quite diverse.

ALL HELL

My friend and NCS contributor Leperkahn messaged me about the promo of a new album by a band named All Hell that he had just received, with these words: “Trust me when I say stop whatever you’re doing and listen to it, or at least the track at this link, immediately”. Continue reading »

SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED FOR BLACK SABBATH’S FINAL TOUR

Metal News 6 Responses »

Sep 032015

I’m interrupting the work I’m supposed to be doing for my fucking day job because this seemed like important news: Black Sabbath have announced that their farewell North American tour, The End, will begin in January in Omaha and end in February at New York City’s Madison Square Garden. The band will do a leg in Australia and New Zealand in April and will be announcing more shows next month.

The lineup will consist of Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, and Geezer Butler — but not drummer Bill Ward, of course. Here’s the schedule announced today: Continue reading »

EYE-CATCHERS: AUTOPSY, YELLOW EYES, REVULSED, SANZU

Eye-Catchers, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 9 Responses »

Sep 032015

I find myself in Alaska this morning, preparing for a day of toil for my fucking day job. This means that posts on our putrid site will be scarce today. I’m also behind (again) in putting together round-ups of news and new music. Before I have to immerse myself in what I’m paid to do, I thought I would at least compile a selection of things I spotted over the last couple of days — and this selection is based principally on the attractiveness of the album art.

AUTOPSY

As announced yesterday, the almighty Autopsy have two new things headed our way. First, on November 13 Peaceville Records will release a jumbo set entitled After the Cutting that includes four discs “full of classics, new tracks and previously unheard rarities from deep within the band’s own archive”. This special release will also include “an expansive book penned by Dennis Dread recounting the career of the gore legend, featuring unseen photos and exclusive artwork”.

Wes Benscoter again handled the Autopsy artwork for After the Cutting. As you can see, it’s sick. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (Part 2): MORDBRAND, HOODED MENACE, OAK PANTHEON, ONIRIK, EARTHSIDE

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

Aug 272015

One of these days I’ll learn that part-time, half-witted metal bloggers shouldn’t make promises about what they’re going to do. Yesterday I wrote that I would post two round-up’s of new music in an effort to partially catch up on all the new songs that had emerged since the last one I compiled five days earlier, but that obviously didn’t happen.

However, thanks to Austin Weber, we do have two today, with this being the second one. One silver lining to the cloud of my tardiness is that since yesterday I discovered one more item worth recommending to you — and it’s the first one in this post.

MORDBRAND

For those who haven’t religiously followed my scribbling over the last few years, I will confess that I’m a slavish fan of Sweden’s Mordbrand. It’s not that they have any compromising photos of me, it’s because they’ve been so consistently good at what they do. Out of all the outstanding songs they’ve released, perhaps my favorite track is “That Which Crawls” from their 2014 album Imago — and today they released a video for that very song. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: CEREBRIC TURMOIL, BEATEN TO DEATH, INTERNAL SUFFERING, HELPLESS

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 3 Responses »

Aug 272015

(Austin Weber steps up for round-up duty, with new music from four bands.)

While we already shove enough music down your throat on a daily basis to have your anus crying musical notes for a year, I figured I might as well present some more killer metal to up the rectal/ear discomfort of our readers. Below you’ll find a smattering of new songs by groups about to release new material, as well as a heads-up about a new release worth investing time in. A feast for the fetid-minded awaits you. In either a pleasant or unpleasant way. Your choice.

CEREBRIC TURMOIL

Oftentimes promising metal bands I’ve been interested in have sadly bitten the dust before they were able to release a proper album or EP. So often, all we have in memoriam is a brief demo or split material. For a number of years now, it’s looked like that very fate might befall German death metal band Cerebric Turmoil. After a 2006 demo, the band started off at a very high level, releasing a split album with none other then Defeated Sanity, which should give you an idea of their sound and also the quality of their music. In fact, at one point, the band actually had Defeated Sanity’s bass player in their ranks, and they also had famed oddball guitarist Fountainhead (now in Obscura) in their line-up at one point too.

After releasing their split with Defeated Sanity in 2008, the band broke up that same year. And while they re-formed in 2010, a full-length statement was nowhere in sight. Only now in 2015 are the band on the cusp of releasing their very promising debut, Neural Net Meltdown (on November 13th) through Amputated Vein Records. They just released the first song from it called “Grotesque Dreaming”, which I’ve embedded below for you to jam. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): ÆVANGELIST, ABIGAIL WILLIAMS, VHÖL, CRUCIAMENTUM, HORRENDOUS, NIGHTFELL

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 8 Responses »

Aug 262015

I haven’t been able to pull together a round-up of news and new music in five days, and you know what that means: I’ve got a backlog that’s so big I’ll never catch up. But instead of just uttering a big sigh and looking ahead instead of behind, I decided I should at least pick some of what interested me out of the last five days’ discoveries (in the hope that they will interest you, too).

The entries in this first part of a two-part post are almost all news items — and they include a ton of great cover art — but since this feature is called Seen and HEARD, I’ve tacked on one new song at the end that you can stream right here. Part 2 will be all music.

ÆVANGELIST

This interests me greatly: Through 20 Buck Spin, Ævangelist will release their fourth album on October 9 in the U.S. and October 23 in Europe. A vinyl edition is projected for December. The name of the album is Enthrall To the Void of Bliss. I have to find out who created the cover art, because it’s very good. (UPDATE: I’ve learned that the wonderful art was created by Stephen Wilson [FB page here], and more of his work will appear in the digipak of this album.) Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: BLACK BREATH, ABHORRENT, SCYTHIAN, LONGHOUSE, WAN SKIN, FUNERAL STORM

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 6 Responses »

Aug 212015

I’m still trying to catch up on recommending new music I discovered earlier this week. I unloaded a bunch yesterday, I have more today, and I’m hoping to pull together some more this weekend (although I’m leaving town today for a short vacation, and that may interfere with my blog compulsions).

BLACK BREATH

As I reported when I first found out, Seattle’s Black Breath have a new record coming from Southern Lord on September 25. It’s their third, with the title Slaves Beyond Death. Kurt Ballou recorded the album, Brad Boatright mastered it, and Paolo Girardi painted the cover art — and that’s some good help to have.

I thought it would be tough for Black Breath to top their great last album, Sentenced To Life, but based on the title track that premiered at Noisey yesterday I think they just might. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: THY CATAFALQUE, TYRANNY, GOATPSALM, INVOKER, VI, FLESH SS

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 5 Responses »

Aug 202015

I haven’t had time to compile a round-up of new music since Monday. I enjoy posting premieres and accompanying reviews when I like the music, and we’ve had a lot of those this week (more are coming later today), but they do tend to cut into the time available to search out other new songs worth recommending. When three or four days pass without a round-up, it’s not possible to cover everything I’d like to cover — too much good music comes out every day. So this is just an initial group of things I’d like to recommend for now; with luck I hope to prepare another round-up for tomorrow.

THY CATAFALQUE

There are few bands whose music I admire as much as Thy Catafalque. Thanks to praise about the band I first read at The Number of the Blog back in early 2011, I discovered the wonders of Thy Catafalque’s discography and began writing about the music, which in turn led me to make the acquaintance of the band’s remarkable mastermind Tamás Kátai. And then later that same year I was simply blown away by the band’s newest album, Rengeteg. I’m terrible at making narrowed lists of things I like, but if I were to attempt to make a list of my 10 favorite metal albums of all time, I know it would be a strong contender. Continue reading »

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