BLOODBATH’S “GRAND MORBID FUNERAL” IS COMING

 Metal News  4 Responses »
Sep 112014
 

 

We have three song premieres coming your way on the site today, and I’m busy getting them ready to roll out, but I decided I needed to take a break for this one piece of news (published by Metal Hammer) to which my comrade Andy Synn just alerted me. Because it relates to the new album by Bloodbath.

First, they haven’t yet announced who will be the new vocalist in place of Mikael Åkerfeldt, so don’t bother asking. However, they have announced that the name will be revealed on September 16 via Metal Hammer. I already made my guess back in February (here).

Second, the name of the new album was disclosed today — Grand Morbid Funeral. It sounds like a grand name.

Third, the cover art was revealed — you can glimpse it above.

Fourth, it will be released by Peaceville Records on November 17.

Fifth, the press statement released today includes these titillating comments by guitarist Anders Nystrom: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT, UNEARTH, OCCULTATION, WORMWOOD, 1349, IN DREAD RESPONSE

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Sep 102014
 

I’ve fallen behind in completing some reviews (one in particular) that I had planned to post on Monday of this week. Partly, this is the result of how many new music premieres and press releases of interest I’ve found this week. The last 24 hours have been no different. What follows is a sextet of such things.

THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT

One of this site’s favorite bands made this statement yesterday:

“We have some exciting news! To bridge the gap between TETRAGRAMMATON and our forthcoming album we decided to record some tunes from our first album The Apotheosis. This because The Apotheosis is sold out and we simply aren’t in for an ordinary repressing. We will release it as an EP+ some cool rare recordings we collected through the years. The title of the EP will be BLOODCVLTS & DEATHCVLTS.

At the moment we have no idea how and who will release this EP. Maybe it will be on vinyl, maybe on CD or maybe only on Itunes and Spotify. Stay tuned!” Continue reading »

TOURISM: PALLBEARER, SÓLSTAFIR, AND MORTALS WILL TOUR TOGETHER THIS DECEMBER

 Metal News  9 Responses »
Sep 092014
 

I’ve collected a bunch of new things I want to write about since the last round-up, but the old fucking day job isn’t going to let me do that at the moment. So I’m picking this one thing to write about, because I nearly fell out of my chair when I saw it.

The news is that Little Rock’s Pallbearer, Iceland’s Sólstafir, and Brooklyn’s Mortals will be touring the U.S. West Coast and certain parts of the country’s midsection together beginning on December 2. (There’s also a Vancouver date on the schedule.)

In the opinion of your humble editor, these three bands are collectively responsible for three of the year’s best albums: Foundations of Burden, Ótta, and Cursed To See the Future, respectively. The chance to see them perform together on one show is a chance not to be missed.

This is especially exciting for those of us on the West Coast because I don’t think either Sólstafir or Mortals have previously performed outside the East Coast. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: VARATHRON, JUCIFER, HATESPHERE, DECEASE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Sep 092014
 

Here are a few random metal items I spotted yesterday and this morning that I thought were worth sharing.

VARATHON

It’s been a fine year for Greek black metal, and it’s about to get finer with the release of Untrodden Corridors of Hades by Varathron.

Varathron have been a force in the Greek underground scene (and in black metal generally) since the late 80s, but their last album came out in 2009 (Stygian Forces of Scorn), and that was at a point when yours truly hadn’t waded deep enough into black metal waters to become aware of them. I do know of them now, and based on what I’ve heard, this is an album that goes on the “highly anticipated” list.

Also, the album’s cover art is a very fine piece of work by the almighty Mark Riddick — and unlike his usual pen-and-ink work, this one is an acrylic painting. This isn’t the first piece of art Riddick has created for Varathron — but the last one was in 1994! Continue reading »

VIDEOGRAPHY: DECEPTIC, THE ORDER OF ISRAFEL, EMPTINESS, AND FREE SHIT FROM NAPALM RECORDS

 Exceptions to the Rule, Free Shit, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Sep 082014
 

In this round-up to begin our new week here at NCS, I’ve brought you a trio of recommended videos I spied yesterday plus news of a free music sampler from Napalm Records that’s worth checking out.

DECEPTIC

I discovered this first video via a link sent by our friend “deckard cain“. It’s for a song named “Ocean”, which appears on the debut album (The Artifact) by a band from Gothenburg, Sweden, named Deceptic. deckard wrote that the music reminded him of Textures, Scar Symmetry, and Soilwork, and after I heard the jolting song I thought that was a good summing up of stylistic references.

But the video as a whole is really what landed it at the top of this post. It was made by Igor Omodei, and it is truly a feast for the eyes, with both excellent camera work and editing of the band footage and superb animation and visual effects. I had a smile on my face all the way through, and then my eyes really popped wide in the final 30 seconds. Kudos to Mr. Omodei. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ATRIARCH, CENTINEX, HEIRESS, GHOST BRIGADE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Sep 072014
 


 

I spent a chunk of yesterday catching up on new music premieres and teasers from last week. I’ve collected four of the best in this post, representing a range of metal styles.

ATRIARCH

Portland’s genre-bending Atriarch are preparing for the release of their third album, An Unending Pathway, via Relapse Records on October 27. It’s available for pre-order here. Last week one of the new album tracks had its premiere. The title is “Collapse”.

This new song is well-named — it sounds like both a physical and an emotional collapse, the kind from which there won’t be a rebuilding. The rumbling drums and sour guitar melody dominate the song, with the vocal mix of horrific growls and psychedelic wails giving it the air of a ritualistic chant. Before it ends, all hell breaks loose; the drums become spine-shattering, the vocals turn to ghastly shrieks, the bass and guitars become an explosive wall of sound. Doom on… Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MARTRÖÐ, “…AND JUSTICE FOR ART”, NUCLEAR PERVERSIONS, BEYOND GRACE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Sep 052014
 

 

Here are a few randomly chosen items discovered over the last 24 hours that I thought were worth your time.

MARTRÖÐ

This first item caught my attention because of the artwork up there. It was drawn by Misanthropic-Art for a forthcoming EP by a band named Martröð. But having seen the artwork, my eyes popped open even wider when I saw the line-up:

MkM – Vocals (Aosoth, Antaeus)
Esoterica – Guitars (Krieg, Chaos Moon)
H.V Lyngdal – Guitars (Wormlust)
Wrest – Additional Guitars, Ambiance (Leviathan)
Thorns – Drums (Acherontas, Blut Aus Nord) Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: GORMATHON, VHOLDGHAST, CULT OF FIRE, MIDNIGHT, DARKSPACE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Sep 032014
 

 

This is a second round-up for the day, collecting some of the news and new music I discovered yesterday that I thought were worth sharing around. In no particular order:

GORMATHON

I first wrote about Sweden’s Gormathon this past July upon setting eyes on Eliran Kantor’s wonderful cover art for their new album, Following the Beast, which will be released by Napalm Records during September in Europe and on October 17 in North America. Back then I didn’t have any music to share, but thanks to a tip from TheMadIsraeli I discovered that a few days ago they released an official music video for one of the new album tracks — “Absence of Trust”.

The best comment on the YouTube clip was this one: “New video from Saruman and his band directly from Isengard!” Visual resemblances aside, there’s something about the music that inspires such thoughts as well. It’s catchy-as-hell melodic death metal that bears resemblances to Amon Amarth, but with flavors of folk and power metal in the mix. Here’s the video: Continue reading »

RESURRECTIONS: NEW MUSIC FROM ROB THE BARON (AMEBIX), FAITH NO MORE, KALL

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Sep 032014
 

Amebix, once upon a time…

Yesterday was one of those days. One of those days, which seems to happen about every once every two days in the world of metal, where a big old dump truck of metal backed up to my door and caved it in with a big load of new metal things of varying shapes and sizes, all of which then began to gnaw on my fleshy parts. I won’t try to cover all of it in this one post, but I’ll make a start… with three items that have something in common.

AMEBIX? (NOT AMEBIX)

[The following is a revised version of what originally appeared here.)

A (black) rose by any other name…

No, there isn’t an Amebix any more, more’s the pity. Rob “The Baron” Miller announced the dissolution of Amebix in late 2012 following the release of the excellent Sonic Mass, and although he did say at the time that he and Roy Mayorga intended to work on new music “with a view to a new incarnation of the Amebix legacy, flying under a different banner”, it was clear that after the parting of ways by The Baron and his brother Stig, Amebix would not continue.

Although it appears that work between The Baron and Roy has not yet come to fruition, there is something else on the way that’s very exciting, albeit mysterious:  A few days ago the following clip appeared on YouTube and I saw it last night thanks to a friend (thank you KK).

And here it is: Continue reading »

METAL FROM ALL OVER: SULLEN, NOKTURNEL, CANOPY, GREY HEAVEN FALL, DHWESHA, WOLF BLOOD

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Aug 312014
 

 

Yes, I’m feeling much better today, thank you for asking. My day-long hangover yesterday was so catastrophic that I couldn’t bring myself to listen to any metal at all — so you know it was a really bad one.  Having finally recovered overnight, I decided to do some catching up on this Sunday morning. In thinking about what music to package in this post from what I heard, I decided to make it a globe-trotting musical tour of the underground. It’s all death metal until the final two songs.

SULLEN

Sullen are a fairly new band from beautiful Isla Margarita in Venezuela whom I discovered after the band’s guitarist e-mailed us yesterday. They’ve recorded a four-song EP released earlier this month named Parasite In Agony, which includes a creepy intro, two original songs, and a cover of Venom’s “Resurrection”.

It’s a strong offering of tyrannical death metal that’s both thoroughly malignant and quite memorable. The songs are loaded with big, sour, earth-moving riffs, fine (and surprisingly soulful) guitar solos, viciously pugilistic percussion, and pleasingly throaty, blood-gargling vocals. I thoroughly really enjoyed this stomping, jagged-edged, skull-fracturing EP. It’s well-written, well-performed, and well-produced. Listen below. Continue reading »

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