SEEN AND HEARD: THE SLOW DEATH, KHONSU, AETHERIAN, INFINITE DEATH

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Mar 232014
 

I put together one round-up of newly discovered music in today’s first post, but I have more discoveries I want to share with you.

THE SLOW DEATH

The Slow Death is an Australian doom band whom I first wrote about last fall. I paid attention to them at that time because I had learned that they would be joining with the awesome Majestic Downfall in a forthcoming split, to be released by Chaos Records (the cover art is above). Yesterday, the band released a complete version of their contribution to the split for streaming, and it’s mighty good.

“Criticality Incident I” begins slowly, drifting like clouds lit from above by the sun, casting deep shadows but edged by a radiant glow. Shimmering, chiming guitar melodies swirl around the power of stark drumbeats and booming bass notes, and effervescent soloing adds more light to the darkness. The singing varies between soaring clean expressions (Mandy Andresen) and ultra-deep guttural growls (Gregg Williamson). As the song progresses, it accelerates into a hammering drive. It’s a beautiful kind of sorrow. Continue reading »

GAZE UPON THE COVER ART FOR VADER’S NEW ALBUM

 Metal News  8 Responses »
Mar 212014
 

There it is, the cover art for Vader’s next album (their 12th), Tibi Et Igni. My Latin is a little rusty, but I’m pretty sure Tibit Et Igni means “we will hammer the back of your head so hard your eyeballs will be ejected at the speed of sound and then we’ll start on your spine”.

The cover is damned cool. It was created is by veteran artist Joe Petagno, and the album was recorded by the Wieslawski brothers at Hertz Studio in Bialystok, Poland (we already mentioned them earlier today because they recorded Beneath’s new album). The album will be released on May 30 by Nuclear Blast. A two-song single will be released on April 18, both digitally and on 7″ vinyl.

Actually, I just checked, and my Latin is rustier than I thought. Tibit Et Igni apparently means “For You and Fire”. I think this is just another way of saying “we will burn you like dry kindling and scatter your ash to the four winds”. The track list is after the jump for those who are into that kind of thing (the bonus tracks look interesting). Here also is the band’s previously released quote about the new music: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: OPETH, ARCH ENEMY, THE AGONIST, BLOODBATH

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  34 Responses »
Mar 212014
 

Well, yesterday at NCS didn’t go exactly as I had planned. We did have a couple of excellent song premieres and an interesting play-through video, but my old fucking day job prevented me from pulling together a round-up of new developments in the world of metal — of which there have been many in the last 48 hours. So I’m gathering a few in this post even though the reports aren’t as timely as I would have liked. By coincidence, all the items (but one) involve venerable Swedish bands.

OPETH

Few albums in recent years have generated as much controversial commentary at our site than Opeth’s Heritage. It seems that all we had to do was mention that 2011 album, and conflicting opinions would come out of the woodwork like termites. It has been used as an example of both a band who betrayed their fans and one who felt free to let their artistic impulses dictate their direction rather than commerce. Some thought it was a fine album, others thought it was as dull as dishwater.

Yesterday, we got news about the band’s next album. Via an interview of Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt and Fredrik Akesson, Loudwire reported that the 11th studio (not yet titled) has been completed and projected for release in June. Loudwire has heard the album and wrote this: “Opeth’s songwriting is top notch on the album, but once again, the record features no guttural vocals.” Continue reading »

AN NCS-SPONSORED TOUR: ABIGAIL WILLIAMS, LECHEROUS NOCTURNE, PANZERFAUST

 Metal News  17 Responses »
Mar 192014
 

Ever-evolving black metal purveyors Abigail Williams have announced new North American tour dates for May-June, and NO CLEAN SINGING is proud to sponsor this special run of new performances. Joining AW for this rampage will be two extreme black/death bands, Willowtip recording artists Lecherous Nocturne from South Carolina and Toronto-based Panzerfaust.

Long-time readers of our site will be quite familiar with Abigail Williams and Lecherous Nocturne because we’ve written about them repeatedly, and both bands put on killer live shows. Panzerfaust may be a new name around these parts, but they’re a band whose music is also well worth getting to know.

The tour is scheduled to begin on May 15 in Wisconsin and to conclude on June 14 in Illinois. Abigail Williams’ main man Sorceron told us he’s excited to be hitting the road again with the band’s long-time brothers in Lecherous Nocturne, “and getting out there to show people some new songs.” Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: TEITANBLOOD, CASTLE, INFERNAL CURSE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Mar 182014
 

As explained in an earlier pissing-and-moaning post today, I was way out of touch yesterday and have been spending some time today catching up on what I missed. But of course I found a whole lot of new likable things that appeared today as well. To avoid falling too far behind, I’m gathering a few of today’s goodies in this post and will collect some of those catch-up items in a piece for tomorrow.

TEITANBLOOD

Teitanblood from Madrid, Spain, were one of my first introductions to the kind of apocalyptic music that some people call blackened death metal and others term war metal. I wrote about them here, not long after making the discovery, in a post that also included music from Blasphemophagher and Diocletian. At the time, I was hunting for the right phrase to describe the music — “Atmospheric death metal”? “Apocalyptic prog”? “Post-death metal?” I decided “war metal” was as good as any label.

Teitanblood’s second full-length, entitled Death, is now scheduled for release on May 13 — five years after Seven Chalices. It’s available on CD and double LP from The Ajna Offensive. It features suitably black cover art (and to see a much larger image, click the one above.)

I’m pleased to say that I have an advance copy of the music. I’m displeased to say that I haven’t yet listened to it. BUT, I have heard one song that has became available on YouTube — “Anteinfierno”. Continue reading »

SHAKE-UPS: COBALT AND ARCH ENEMY

 Metal News  37 Responses »
Mar 182014
 

Phil McSorley — Cobalt

I had to deal with a load of personal shit yesterday, and I do mean a load of shit. For the second time in about six months, my car was broken into on Sunday night while parked in a lot on Seattle’s Capitol Hill. Passenger side window smashed in — again. Laptop and other personal valuables stolen — again. When will I learn? I’d like to come across the motherfucker who did this. Killing would be excessive, but I could live with myself if I permanently crippled him.

And then, after spending a crapload of time trying to figure out how to get my car window replaced (again), changing internet passwords to be safe, and working on replacing everything that was stolen, I somehow managed to load malware into my PC at work — the one I almost never use because I prefer to use my MacBook (the one that was stolen) because shit like that never happens to it. And so I had to surrender that PC to our IT department to figure out how to clean it up, leaving me to sit around with my thumb up my butt.

To sum up, my feeble plans to live some kind of blog life yesterday were basically fucked like a tethered goat. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: DEATHWINDS, KHONSU, NIGHTBRINGER, SARCOLYTIC

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  11 Responses »
Mar 162014
 

Hey there. Happy goddamn Sunday to one and all. Most metal blog proprietors take the weekend off, to rest from their work-week labors and to recover from their binge drinking on Friday night. We’re not smart enough to do that. For the last four-plus years we’ve treated Saturdays and Sundays as just two more opportunities to mess with your earholes. Onward to the messing, with four items I filtered from the effluent of the interhole yesterday, presented in alphabetical order:

DEATHWINDS

I came across this Vancouver band via a Facebook post by Vault of Dried Bones, who will be releasing a cassette EP or album (I’m not sure which) by Deathwinds named Endless Wastelands. The only other thing I know about the band is that their three-person line-up (Nocturnal Black, Filth Destroyer, and Desolator) includes members of Chapel and Radioactive Vomit.

Yesterday Vault of Dried Bones began streaming a song named “Black Tombs’ Spirit” on SoundCloud, but after a little poking around I discovered that both “Black Tombs’ Spirit” and another song (“Death Rule”) are up on Bandcamp as pay-what-you-want downloads. I think I can safely say that I love the shit out of them. Continue reading »

NEW MOSH MEAT FROM XIBALBA AND SUBURBAN SCUM

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Mar 152014
 

Some people have no use for a mosh pit. They prefer to go to shows and watch and listen and do their own thing in their own space. In my case, I’m too old and too big to mosh very much any more. My cat-like reflexes have dulled to the point of being loris-like, and there’s now a high risk I’d either wind up on my ass or inadvertently send someone else to the ER. But I’m damned sure if I heard either one of these next two songs at a live venue, I wouldn’t be able to resist.

The songs come from a new split by California’s Xibalba and New Jersey’s Suburban Scum. It will be released May 13 by Closed Casket Activities, both digitally and on 12″ vinyl. I liked the fuck out of Xibalba’s 2012 Southern Lord album Hasta La Muerte and have been eager to hear what they came up with for this split. I hadn’t come across Suburban Scum before; their last release was a 2012 EP entitled Hanging By A Thread (on 6131 Records).

Yesterday Closed Casket Activities started streaming one song from the split by each band. Xibalba’s “Death Threat” is heavier than the massed assemblage at your average truck-stop diner. Continue reading »

LISTEN TO TWO NEW TRIPTYKON SONGS: “BREATHING” AND “BOLESKINE HOUSE”

 Metal News  3 Responses »
Mar 142014
 

In early February, Century Media announced that it and Prowling Death Records Ltd. intended to release the second album by Triptykon on April 14 in Europe and April 15 in North America. The title is Melana Chasmata, which according to Century Media means (roughly) “black, deep depressions/valleys”. It will feature nine songs and a playing time of around 67 minutes. The cover art is above, and yes, we have yet another pairing of HR Giger and Triptykon. And now we’re pleased as fuck to bring you a stream of two album tracks: “Breathing” and “Boleskin House”.

“Breathing” is absolutely bruising and massively headbangable (massively). The riffs are titanic, V. Santura turns in a screaming guitar solo, and Tom G Warrior sounds like Tom G Warrior and no other. Of its own accord, this chugfest of a song vaulted right onto our list of candidates for 2014’s most infectious extreme metal songs.

“Boleskin House” comes next, and it’s something else altogether — a slow, rumbling, grinding, bleak behemoth that lumbers and stomps, with a change in vocal style and a fat load of tribal drumming, concrete-scraping bass leads, and psychedelic guitar melody. And still… it’s massively headbangable, too. Continue reading »

THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT / TALANAS / BEYOND GRACE — UK TOUR REPORT

 Concert Reviews, Metal News  8 Responses »
Mar 142014
 

(Andy Synn provides this report on the recently completed UK tour by The Monolith Deathcult, Talanas, and Andy’s band Beyond Grace.)

So I’ve been harangued into putting together a short (relatively) report of the happenings and happenstances of our tour last month. Frankly, I’m not entirely sure where to start as I’m writing this now, other than to say that – despite the inevitable stresses that came about – I wish I was still on tour now. Playing a show every night, to new people, in a new place… well, that 30 mins onstage you get makes all the rest of it worthwhile.

DAY 01 – BRIGHTON, STICKY MIKE’S FROG BAR

My first piece of advice for any of you going on tour – try to get a good night’s sleep the night before you leave. Definitely don’t stay up late sending out digital promos and organising the launch of your new EP so that you only have time to get in 3 hours before having to go collect the van, drive it back to load your backline, then drive down to London (and then on to Brighton). Yeah, don’t do that. Continue reading »

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