MARYLAND DEATHFEST 2016: FIRST BANDS ANNOUNCED

 Metal News  20 Responses »
Jun 272015
 

 

Yesterday the organizers of Maryland Deathfest announced the first group of bands for the 2016 edition of North America’s best metal festival. They also released 350 “early bird” passes for on-line sale — which sold out in approximately 15 seconds. Your humble editor wasn’t quick enough on the draw to get one of those. But more tickets will be released for sale after MDF finishes announcing the bands for next year’s event. For now, let’s talk about the first group of 30 bands revealed yesterday.

There’s a lot to talk about.

About three weeks ago, NCS contributor KevinP rolled out his own wishlist for MDF XIV (here), and that led lots of readers to roll out their own lists in the Comments. There were tons of good bands in those lists, and many people got at least some of their wishes granted yesterday. KevinP, for example, is a happy camper because his Number One pick — Hail of Bullets — were included in yesterday’s announcement. On the other hand, none of the rest of his wishlist of 10 bands was included. But of course there’s still time. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: AVULSED, COFFINS, CLARET ASH, CETUS

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  7 Responses »
Jun 262015
 

 

We had a busy day at the site yesterday, and I thought I wouldn’t have time to explore new music. But my wife decided to strand me at home last night while she went out and whooped it up with some friends of hers, and so what was I to do? I damn sure wasn’t going to venture into the loris compound by myself; my wife’s good with a knife and she usually has my back, but without her I’m not getting close to those devious fuckers. So instead I decided leave the loris ninjas to their own devices, hunker down at the computer, and drown myself in new metal. Here is a collection of new stuff from four bands that helped me pleasantly pass the time.

AVULSED

Let’s first have a round of applause for Juanjo Castellano, because goddamn, is his cover art for the new EP by Avulsed the absolute shit, or what? Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MALIGN, BROKEN FLESH, NECHOCHWEN, CREEPING

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  24 Responses »
Jun 232015
 

 

Because I only write about metal that makes me enthusiastic, these round-ups of new music necessarily reflect my own idiosyncrasies. Fortunately, I suppose, I get enthusiastic about lots of different styles of metal (though I vehemently deny the accusation that I like everything I hear). And so it’s true again today that what you’re about to hear ranges far and wide across the metal landscape. Still, to ensure further diversity of viewpoints, you’ll also find a recommendation from Grant Skelton in addition to my own.

MALIGN

Here are some questions for you:  Do you enjoy writhing black metal extremity, with riffs that swarm with reptilian menace and hammer powerfully at the gates of doom? Does your pulse quicken at the sound of a drummer who rocks out as well as he blasts with mechanistic precision? Do you relish bestial growls that come straight for your throat with teeth bared? Do you search for black metal songs that get stuck in your head as well as generating an atmosphere of infernal menace, befitting the rising of a vengeful sun that emanates death? Continue reading »

SVART CROWN’S “CURSED IN AMERICA” TOUR: REVERSE THE CURSE!

 Metal News  4 Responses »
Jun 202015
 

 

I doubt any band has been so brutally fucked by the disintegration of the Metal Alliance Tour as the French band Svart Crown — and for those who haven’t been following the dismal news, I’ll recap it in a minute. But Svart Crown just don’t fucking quit. They’re now forging ahead on their own, with the appropriately named Cursed In America tour, and they need some support.

I’m hoping this post will in some small way spread the word about the shows they’ve got left and that people will turn out for them, so they don’t return to France with a completely shitty taste in their mouths. But don’t get me wrong — this isn’t an appeal for charity. This is a really excellent band, and you’ll be glad you saw them if you get the chance.

To recap:  Svart Crown were booked to tour the U.S. as part of the Metal Alliance Tour headlined by Deicide, along with Entombed A.D., Hate Eternal, Black Crown Initiate, Lorna Shore. On June 8, just a few dates into the tour, Entombed A.D. were removed from the tour, apparently because the promoters didn’t think the tour was making enough money to financially support them. And then two days after that, the entire tour was “cancelled”. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: AMORPHIS, ÆTHER REALM, KRISIUN

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jun 162015
 

 

Still in Texas, still working my ass off (but not on NCS), still not able to listen to much metal — but I did have time for a quick swim through the effluent of the interhole, and these things caught my eye (and ears).

AMORPHIS

Thanks to my NCS comrade Andy Synn, I saw the striking cover art above, by Valnoir Mortasonge, which Finland’s Amorphis posted on their Facebook wall, along with this announcement: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: VALDUR, WOLFBASTARD, IRRITUM, DOMGÅRD, CRUCIAMENTUM

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Jun 152015
 

 

About a week ago I explained that I was leaving Seattle for Texas, where I’d be buried in chores for my fucking day job for the next two weeks. It turned out that the first week wasn’t too bad, and things around the site were pretty much par for the course. But beginning today and continuing through Friday I really am going to have to bear down, day and night, and my blog time is going to be cut to the bone.

For my last hurrah before running the gauntlet, I’ve collected some new and newly discovered music that I hope you’ll check out, plus one new piece of album art and related news.

VALDUR

The mammoth Valdur from Mammoth Lakes, California, have a new album on the way entitled Pathetic Scum. Today the band released a sample from one of the new songs, named “Blessings of the Goat”. It’s a massive, grisly, gruesome death metal monster, with a thoroughly morbid and diseased atmosphere. Continue reading »

NEPAL EARTHQUAKE RELIEF: A METAL COMPILATION

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jun 132015
 

 

The massive earthquake that struck the Himalayan nation of Nepal on April 25 of this year was the worst natural disaster to hit the country in more than 80 years, killing more than 8,000 people and injuring more than 23,000. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, two more major quakes occurred on May 12, killing more than a hundred other people and injuring thousands more.

Those of us like me who live many thousands of miles away may not have personally known anyone affected by this almost unimaginable disaster. One of my few acquaintances in the region is Aabeg Gautam, the co-founder, vocalist, and bass-player of Dying Out Flame, whose 2014 debut album Shiva Rudrastakam I reviewed here (it’s wondrously good, and if you haven’t already discovered it, you should — at this location). Continue reading »

MADDER MORTEM: “RED IN TOOTH AND CLAW” TEASER

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jun 112015
 

 

(KevinP wrote this introduction to a teaser of new music from Norway’s Madder Mortem.)

There’s nothing more enjoyable than when Islander gets his panties so deeply in a bind over a NO HARSH SINGING band, that it takes the skills of SurgicalBrute to remove them.  And as much as I relish his temporary misery, I am grateful that he essentially gives me free reign to talk about what I want (and feel is warranted).  Which brings us to perhaps the most important musical thing for me this year, new MADDER MORTEM music.

It’s been 6 years since their last album, Eight Ways, and while the wait has been semi-agonizing, it also makes the heart grow fonder.  The band released a 3-minute teaser last week with samples of 3 songs to their forthcoming sixth full length album, Red in Tooth and Claw.  Even though it’s only a teaser, it’s enough to get me very very excited, maybe almost too excited. Continue reading »

WOMBBATH: A MUSICAL TEASER FOR “DOWNFALL RISING”

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jun 092015
 

 

I have many musical weaknesses, but as I’ve confessed more than once, perhaps the most crippling one is old school Swedish death metal. I have something akin to a Pavlovian response when I hear HM-2 distortion in action; the saliva just starts flowing in a disgusting torrent. And so you may imagine how grossly I soiled myself when my friend Tito V. tipped me late yesterday to the fact that Wombbath were about to release a video teaser reel for their new album — Downfall Rising.

I’m not going to assume that everyone knows who Wombbath are, because hell, they haven’t released a new album since 1993 (Internal Caustic Torments) — and probably not many of you have yet heard the split they released with Warhound this past spring. But that 1993 album is a true classic (it was reissued earlier this year — more about that in a minute), and anything that comes out with the Wombbath name attached to it is going to be worth exploring. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: VIALS OF WRATH, LETHAL CREATION, ABYSSAL ASCENDANT

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jun 082015
 

 

On days like today, when we have unexpectedly flooded our site with posts, I worry that we may be overloading our readers with new music — even though we’re actually not writing about everything we’d like to write about. Chalk it up to a genuine enthusiasm for what we’re hearing. With that said, here’s some more new music!

The first item in this collection is introduced by occasional NCS contributor Grant Skelton… and for the second time today we’re featuring wonderful cover art by Sam Nelson (Stigma).

VIALS OF WRATH

Special thanks to DC Mills for sending me this song — Grant Skelton.

Back in January, I mentioned (here) that Vials of Wrath’s upcoming album Days Without Names was one of my most anticipated releases of the year. At that time, the band teased less than 1 minute of a song called “Burning Autumn Leaves (Under A Harvest Moon).” Today, I am happy to report that VoW have released a new song from Days Without Names. Continue reading »

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