SEEN AND HEARD: ABYSMAL DAWN, CANNIBAL CORPSE, ENTOMBED A.D.

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Sep 242014
 

This has been a big day for song and video premieres. In fact, all we’ve done today is post about song and video premieres. And in this post you’ll find three more.

ABYSMAL DAWN

As previously reported (with glee), Abysmal Dawn have a new album named Obsolescence coming out October 24 (Ger/Benelux/Finland) and October 27 (US/UK/World). It will be released by Relapse Records on CD, LP, and digitally. About an hour ago the band dropped another new song from the album named “The Inevitable Return To Darkness”.

It’s one heavy-assed ripper that kicks open the door to a death metal blast furnace. It’s fully loaded with technically impressive (and inventive) instrumental performances and voracious vocal filth, and it includes some cool dual-guitar harmony. Also, I can pretty much guarantee you’re going to want to bang your head like a bobble-head on a roller-coaster. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: VARATHRON, NIGHTBRINGER, 1349, MYRKUR, ASHES, VIDEMUR

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  11 Responses »
Sep 232014
 

 

I sometimes play fast and loose with that “Shades of Black” title, but this time it genuinely fits the music I’ve collected here. The song streams represent many different shades and phases of black metal, and regardless of your preferences within the genre, I suspect you will find something to like before you reach the end. Of course, I like all of it.

VARATHRON

The long-running Greek black metal band Varathron will be releasing their fifth album, Untrodden Corridors of Hades, later this fall.  It comes five years after their last full-length, but based on the strength of the new album’s first advance track, this is one of those cases where I’m inclined to say, “It was worth the wait!”

“Realm of the Obscure” is thoroughly galvanizing, a non-stop rush of multi-faceted riffs that writhe like serpents, stab like knives, and hammer like mallet blows. The acrobatic and often pyrotechnic drumwork is equally varied and matches up beautifully with the varied movements of this long song, and the vocals are thoroughly ravenous. It’s the kind of music that’s voracious and malignant but with a highly seductive melody and an aura of imperial might. Really excellent. Continue reading »

NECROMANCING THE STONE: NEW “SUPERGROUP” SCORES FIRST WIN WITH SELECTION OF BAND NAME

 Metal News  6 Responses »
Sep 222014
 

 

“Supergroups” are hit or miss affairs. The combination of musicians drawn from well-known and very talented bands sometimes turns out to be less than the sum of its parts. That may turn out to be true of Necromancing the Stone (though I’m betting it won’t), but at least they’ve scored a win with the selection of their band name.

Necromancing the Stone is a new band whose line-up includes these musicians:

James Malone (Arsis) (guitars)
Ryan ‘Bart’ Williams (ex-The Black Dahlia Murder) (bass)
Jeramie Kling (The Absence) (drums)
Justin Wood (Brimstone Coven) (guitars)
John Williams (Brimstone Coven) (vocals)

As for the music, the band have recorded a three-song EP named Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead that will be released tomorrow. It will be available on Bandcamp, and shirts are already available at this location. The EP was mixed by Peter Tagtgren at Studio Abyss, with additional mixing by Eyal Levi at Audiohammer Studios. The EP’s cover art, which you cane see next, was created by Mark Riddick: Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 1)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Sep 212014
 

I haven’t had much blog time available since last Thursday because of job-related travel and activities, so I’ve fallen behind in posting about new songs and videos that I think you might enjoy. To catch up, I’m including a giant fuckload of them in this two-part post. And in a rare display of brevity, I’m letting the music speak for itself.

I’ve also salted this post with a smattering of older music that I discovered only recently. So here we go, presenting the music in alphabetical order by band name. Part 2 will follow late today.

1349

New Video: “Slaves”
Album: Massive Cauldron of Chaos (to be released in NorthAm on Sept 30)
Band location: Norway
Label: Season of Mist

https://www.facebook.com/1349official Continue reading »

EYE-CATCHERS: SKÁLMÖLD, ZOM, SEMPITERNAL DUSK

 Eye-Catchers, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Sep 182014
 

 

This morning I spotted three new album covers that grabbed my attention, not only because the cover art in each case is very cool, but also because the bands are, too. In the first two instances, we don’t have music yet, though we do in the third case.

SKÁLMÖLD

We’ve written many times about this fine Icelandic band, most recently in Gemma Alexander’s review of their 90-minute set at this year’s Eistnaflug festival, and so I was especially excited to see the artwork you’re now looking at, because it’s a harbinger of a new Skálmöld album.

The new album, MEÐ VÆTTUM, will be released by Napalm Records later this year. The cover art was created by Ásgeir Jón Ásgeirsson, whose website is here and who also made the cover art for the band’s last album, Börn Loka. I don’t have any of the new music to share with you at this point, but I’m sure we’ll be featuring it as soon as the songs begin to appear. Here’s the staggered release schedule for the album: Continue reading »

ANAAL NATHRAKH PREMIERE “MONSTRUM IN ANIMO” FROM “DESIDERATUM”

 Metal News  3 Responses »
Sep 172014
 

 

Last month Anaal Nathrakh premiered “Idol”, the first advance track from their new album Desideratum, which is coming from Metal Blade on October 28. And today Decibel premiered a second song — “Monstrum In Animo”.

If you’re in the mood for a violent, howling, skin-flying barrage of blackened industro-alien-grind-demolition with concrete-splitting grooves and lead-melting soloing, you damned well need to hear this, because I don’t know where else you would be able to get that fix. It sure as hell did the job for me.

This is an exclusive stream, so you’ll need to go here to listen to the song — as well you should: Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: POSTHUM, THE STONE, NOCTEM, SAILLE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  3 Responses »
Sep 172014
 

 

I’ve had quite a fruitful morning of listening to new music, and among the fruits I tasted were the following three premieres and one teaser, which I’ve grouped together as examples of razor-edged black metal that will jolt you wide awake.

POSTHUM

That album art at the top of this post is so damned cool. It grabbed my attention immediately and led me to explore what it signified. And what it signifies is the coming of a new album (the third one) by Norway’s Posthum. Entitled The Black Northern Ritual, it’s scheduled for both CD and vinyl release by Indie Recordings on October 13.

Having been seduced by the album cover, I discovered that Norway’s NRK P3 Pyro (the internet radio station of the state-owned Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation) has begun streaming an advance track from the album named “To the Pit”. It’s loaded with riffs and rhythms that both rip and rock, and at its core is a sombre melody that will get its hooks in you. Beautiful guitar solo in this song, too. Continue reading »

THE RETURN OF THE CROWN: “DEATH IS NOT DEAD”

 Metal News  5 Responses »
Sep 172014
 

 

I’m a couple of days late with this news, but it’s too exciting to overlook.

Almost exactly four years have passed since Sweden’s The Crown released their comeback album Doomsday King, which Andy Synn praised in one of his earliest posts for our site as “a masterpiece of wild fury and calculated aggression, blurring the lines between razor-sharp thrash and full-speed death metal.” The album made several of our 2010 year-end lists, and I included the song “Blood OD” on our list of the year’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. Needless to say, we’re very stoked about The Crown’s announcement that on January 15, 2015, they will be releasing their eighth album, Death Is Not Dead. Above, you can gaze upon the album’s cover art by Björn Gosses of Killustrations.

The announcement appeared on a new web site that the band have established, which also includes the news that on October 27 the band will be releasing (via Century Media) their first 7″ single, which will include one of the new songs — “Headhunter” — plus the band’s cover of “Unfit Earth” by Napalm Death. Pre-orders for that will begin on September 27. Here’s the cover art for the single, rendered by Giannis Nakos: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: BLOODBATH, MESHUGGAH, FUCK THE FACTS, KAUAN

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Sep 162014
 

I’ve arranged the following new video and song premieres in a way that spurs imaginings of you trapped on the upper floor of a building being demolished by jackhammers of an alien design, plummeting toward the ground while shrieking in terror, and then being buried in a drizzling rain. Well, I don’t mean you in particular, I mean listeners and viewers in general. You’ll see.

But first, Sweden’s Bloodbath have finally revealed the identity of their new vocalist — a subject about which I and many others have been speculating since much earlier this year.

BLOODBATH

Yes, that’s right — just a couple hours ago Metal Hammer officially revealed that Bloodbath’s new vocalist is none other than Nick Holmes, the vocalist of Paradise Lost. He was indeed born in 1971, which was the first clue that Bloodbath offered way back in February. He was not the person I guessed then (I guessed Jörgen Sandström). I didn’t even seriously contemplate Mr. Holmes, given his predominant vocal style — but Metal Hammer reports that the new album (Grand Morbid Funeral) “will see the return of the ravenous and cavernous growl that marked Paradise Lost’s debut album, Lost Paradise.”

Metal Hammer further reports that the album will include guest appearances by Chris Reifert and Eric Cutler of Autopsy.

Surely you have some thoughts about this revelation, so feel free to sound off in the Comments. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ATRUM TEMPESTAS, CULTURA TRES, PHANTOM WINTER, KHALDERA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  7 Responses »
Sep 152014
 

 

Usually when I label one of these round-ups “Shades of Black”, I’m focusing on newly discovered black metal songs — but not always. Today, for example, there’s only one song in the collection that’s black metal. But all four songs, in addition to be strikingly good, do share a very dark and dramatic aura.

ATRUM TEMPESTAS

Atrum Tempestas are a Finnish band whose debut album Nêant will be released by Nordavind Records on October 13.  It consists of two long songs and one in the six-minute range, for a total of almost 32 minutes of music. Yesterday Nordavind began streaming one of the two long tracks on Bandcamp — “Quitter ceux qui étaient déjà partis” — and I’m really liking it.

The song is a work of dramatic atmospheric black metal and will probably draw comparisons to the more hard-edged works of Deafheaven as well as possibly Ash Borer and Agalloch. It’s a mix of storming guitar distortion, reverberating clean notes, and shimmering atmospheric melody accompanied by wretched howls. It’s a gripping though melancholy song, and one marked by an effective rhythm section that becomes a source of engagement all its own, especially during the wall-of-sound guitar parts. Check it out below; the album can be pre-ordered at the following Bandcamp link: Continue reading »

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