MOOD MUSIC FOR MONDAY: PYRAMIDS, KJELD, DECLINE OF THE I

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
Jan 192015
 

 

I was getting bored with those “Seen and Heard” post titles, so I changed  it for today — but that’s still what this is: a collection of new songs that I spotted and heard over the last 24 hours and would like to recommend to you. And since it’s Monday, you know what kind of mood I’m talking about.

P.S. This is a holiday in the U.S., and although I still have to work, we won’t have the usual volume of posts today. Hope you enjoy this one, and the next installment of our “Most Infectious” song list, which will be up a bit later.

PYRAMIDS

When I first saw the album cover (above) for the new album by Texas-based Pyramids, I quipped to some friends: “This is what happens when you let monkeys play with a tape dispenser”. I’m still not sure what the photo signifies, but the music is no joke.

The new album is named A Northern Meadow and it’s set for release by Profound Lore on March 17. And on this album the Pyramids line-up is augmented by some notable guests: Vindsval of Blut Aus Nord; Colin Marston of Gorguts, Dysrhythmia, and Krallice; and composer/musician William Fowler Collins. This will be my first exposure to the band’s music (so far as I can remember), but I’m now very eager to hear the album because the first advance track has now premiered. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ACHERONTAS, A.M.S.G., EXTIRPATE, THE WAGAKKI BAND

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jan 182015
 

I’m feeling kind of under the weather, thanks for asking. And by “under the weather”, I mean that I got shit-faced last night in Houston, went to bed really late, woke up less than four hours later — hungover as fuck — in order to make a flight back to Seattle, and am now sitting on that airplane gamely fighting waves of nausea with the outcome still too close to call. How’s it going with you?

Apart from not exactly being at the top of my game, I’m also impaired by my inability to easily stream music on this airplane wi-fi, so I haven’t been able to listen to anything new since the plane took off, but in addition to some news items I do have a couple of videos and a song in here that I saw and heard yesterday before getting shit-faced.

Also, I’m thinking about ordering a copy of that book up there. Do you think it would help me the next time I get in my current situation? Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MORGOTH, NAR MATTARU, GEHENNAH, SELVANS, HEREZA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jan 172015
 

As I explained in yesterday’s round-up, there’s been such a flood of new songs and album announcements since the first of the year that I’m feeling overwhelmed. I haven’t been able to pounce on them with my usual catlike speed and agility this week, so I’m behind. And although catching up is already out of the question, I do want to throw a few more goodies your way this weekend.

MORGOTH

After releasing a collection of albums and EPs in the early ’90s, Germany’s Morgoth disbanded in 1998, but re-formed in 2011. They released a single named God Is Evil last year, and now they’ve completed a comeback album with the title Ungod. The album will feature vocals by new member Karsten “Jagger” Jäger (Disbelief), who replaced Marc Grewe in December. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SANNHET, CRYPT SERMON, THE BANNER, ABOMINATOR, GALAR

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jan 162015
 

My memory of what happened a year ago is hazy (my memory of what happened yesterday is hazy, too, but more like partly cloudy instead of overcast with dense fog). But this January seems to have brought an unprecedented tide of new music. Wholly apart from all the new album promos we’ve received since the first of the year, every day has bought new song or video premieres that are worth hearing. It’s as if labels and bands were just waiting for the holidays to end and then opened the floodgates.

I’ve got a list of new music to check out that’s grown absurdly long, and since I haven’t managed to write a round-up in five days, it’s unrealistic to catch up in a single post. So even more so than usual, I chose this collection of songs on a truly random basis. I have a lot more I’d like to throw your way — with luck I can do that this weekend.

SANNHET

Sannhet are from Brooklyn. Their second album, Revisionist, is coming from The Flenser on March 3. Yesterday Stereogum premiered the album’s first advance track, a song named “Lost Crown”. Continue reading »

BASIC NEEDS (A COMPILATION)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jan 142015
 

 

This morning’s arrivals at the NCS e-mail in-box included news from a label named Divergent Series, which appears to be located in Boston. The e-mail alerted me to the fact that Divergent Series had recently released a black/death/doom/grind compilation entitled Basic Needs. I clicked on the Bandcamp link in the e-mail just to take a quick look at what’s included in the comp, and sat bolt-upright when I saw the list.

The comp includes 14 tracks from 12 New England bands, about half of which we’ve written about and recommended at this site — including Human Bodies, Sexcrement, Ramlord, Grue, Fórn, and Morne.

It doesn’t seem to matter how much new metal is being unleashed on a daily basis — lovers of metal (or at least people who frequent our site) are always hungry for new discoveries. Just based on the names in this comp that I know, this seems like a good vehicle for exploration. Continue reading »

WEEKEND ROUND-UP (Part 3): MASTERY, ATTEN ASH, GODLESS ANGEL

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Jan 112015
 

 

Here’s Part 3 of a weekend effort to catch up on what I missed late last week. Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here. I might have one more installment tomorrow morning, unless I suffer an attack of laziness.

MASTERY

Mastery (not to be confused with the Toronto thrash band of the same name) is the solo black metal project of Ephemeral Domignostika of Bay Area black metal groups Pale Chalice and Pandiscordian Necrogenesis . The Flenser will be releasing Mastery’s debt album VALIS on February 17 and recently premiered an advance track named “V.A.L.I.S.V.E.S.S.E.L.”

The song is more than 17 minutes long. Almost all of it is a flame-throwing mindfuck — a berserker blastwave of boiling-in-oil vocals, maniacal drumming, shrieking guitar dissonance, and frenzied bass lines. Except for an unexpected acoustic breather, it’s always just a hair’s breadth away from coming apart at the seams, but I found myself in its grip. Maybe I was just waiting to see if it could succeed in melting down my headphones into a pile of slag. Continue reading »

WEEKEND ROUND-UP (Part 2): NAPALM DEATH, SEA OF BONES, SYLOSIS, ANGELUS APATRIDA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jan 102015
 

 

Here’s Part 2 of a weekend effort to catch up on what I missed over the last couple of days. Part 1 is here. I’ll have at least one more installment tomorrow.

NAPALM DEATH

Would you believe that by the end of this month Napalm Death will have released their 15th studio album?!? It’s true. January 26 is the European release date and January 27 is the date for North America, and the album’s name is Apex Predator – Easy Meat. It will be released in NorthAm by Century Media.

A couple days ago the second advance track from the album appeared at selected sites on either side of the Atlantic. Its name is “How The Years Condemn”. Lyrically, it reflects bassist Shane Embury’s realization after being hospitalized a few years ago that he had “to make a choice which was either to carry on down the same path of selfish destruction as I had seen some of my friends embark on or stay around for the people I loved and who loved me.” Continue reading »

WEEKEND ROUND-UP (Part 1): INCANTATION, HATE, DEIVOS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Jan 102015
 

 

Whenever I let a day or two go by without checking the web or my NCS e-mails to see what’s new, I always miss a lot, because the ocean of metal is always at high tide. Because of my day job, I couldn’t pay much attention to metal happenings over the last two days. But I had a 6-hour flight back to Seattle from the east coast last night and a decent internet connection, so I tried to catch up. And goddamn….

The great and powerful Engine of Metal has awakened after dormancy during the holiday season and it’s now running in the red zone. (Yeah, I just mixed my metaphors, so sue me.) I found more than 20 new songs and videos during that plane flight that I thought were worth exploring.

The net connection wasn’t good enough to stream anything on the flight, so I just made a list, and now I’m going through it. There’s sooo much worth writing about that I’m breaking this round-up into multiple parts that I’ll spit out in pieces today and tomorrow. (I missed an installment of the Most Infectious Song list yesterday, but I’ll get back on track with that today, too.) Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (SORT OF): BROTHERS OF THE SONIC CLOTH, COLD BLUE MOUNTAIN, CVLT NATION DOOM, ERYN NON DAE., MISÞYRMING, NEOLITH, ONTOGENY, TEKSTI-TV 666

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Jan 072015
 

 

Every now and then I feel the need to elevate myself to about 40,000 feet above the Earth so as to more clearly receive extraterrestrial emanations and special guidance from the cosmos itself. I happen to be doing that right now. Thanks to the marvels of modern technology I can snoop the web for news and new music and post what I find, even as I receive mysterious communications from entities far beyond our own sphere.

Actually, to be brutally honest, which is the only kind of honest we know how to be at this site, I’m cooped up on an airplane flying across the country for my fucking day job, and the only emanations I’m getting are from the whine of the jet engines outside my window; I can’t make sense of them.

Although there’s an internet connection on board, it’s not good enough for me to hear music streams or watch videos. So, I’ve picked all but one of the music streams in this round-up based on educated guesses that they will be good. Maybe you’ll leave a comment and let me know if I guessed right. Presented in alphabetical order: Continue reading »

LOOKING AHEAD: GRANT SKELTON’S LIST OF EAGERLY ANTICIPATED 2015 RELEASES

 Metal News  35 Responses »
Jan 062015
 

 

(We’re not quite finished with our 2014 LISTMANIA series, but NCS contributor Grand Skelton is looking ahead to what the new year will bring, and writes about some releases he’s particularly eager to hear. In the comments, let us know what you’re anticipating.)

Some of the biggest names in metal have albums in production for next year. Black Sabbath are reportedly recording their final album and then disbanding. Faith No More recently released the first single from their upcoming album. Slayer will be releasing their first album following the passing of Jeff Hanneman and the resignation of Dave Lombardo. Since the Prague incident, Lamb of God have been laying low, but it seems they are finally working on new material. Megadeth look to be entering the studio at the beginning of the year, despite being down to only 2 members. Rumors of Pepper Keenan returning to Corrosion of Conformity for a new album have begun to circulate.

Perhaps Metallica will get around to finally releasing their follow up to Death Magnetic as well. I may be in the minority on this site, but I’m a fan of “Lords Of Summer,” the new song they debuted this year. Even though not one album has gone platinum in 2014, a new Metallica album would no doubt sell very well… unless of course they do something asinine… like Lulu 2. As much as I love Metallica, I would rather listen to tone-deaf American Idol rejects than that revolting heap of musical excrement. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries