WATCH A NEW LIVE GOJIRA VIDEO FROM THEIR FORTHCOMING DVD: “FLYING WHALES”

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jan 232014
 

 

Not long ago a certain web site that referred to the almighty Gojira as “French art-metallers” (wha???) premiered a live video of the band performing “Flying Whales” at London’s Brixton Academy last year, and holy shit, is it good!

The video is included in a CD/DVD of the entire performance at Brixton Academy, which will accompany an art book entitled Les Enfants Sauvages. One of the photos from the book appears above and more can be viewed at that other web site. You can order the book here.

Watch the video after the jump. You’ll be glad you did. Continue reading »

V IS FOR VAMPIRE, VULGAR TRADE, AND VISCERAL HATRED

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jan 232014
 

I love it when a plan comes together, particularly when I have no plan until it comes together. Just tripping along through the interhole and the in-box this morning, and I come across one fine new song by a band named Vampire. And then I come across another one by a band named Vulgar Trade. I think to myself, “Self, wouldn’t it be cool if I came across another fine new song by a band with a ‘V’ name?” And then it happened! And here they are…

VAMPIRE

Thanks to a Facebook post by my friend Vonlughlio I learned that there is a newish Swedish band named Vampire. Surely, I thought, that name was taken long ago, and I don’t mean by Bram Stoker. Anyway, after producing a demo in 2012 (available on Bandcamp) this band landed on the Century Media label, which will release their self-titled debut album in March. And through the good graces of said label a song from the album was premiered yesterday by Stereogum on this side of the Atlantic and by Terrorizer on that side.

The new song is named “Howl From the Coffin”. True to the band’s name, it sinks its fangs deep into the jugular with the kind of toothsome, rocking/thrashing riffs that hail from an earlier time and ravenous howls of gruesome glee. Hellishly good soloing, too! Listening is an electrifying experience that will conjure memories of feral death metal from the late 80s and early 90s. Continue reading »

TWO NEW CANDLELIGHT SIGNINGS WORTH NOTICING: ANCIENT ASCENDANT AND COLTSBLOOD

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Jan 222014
 

The last 24 hours brought news of two new signings by Candlelight Records that I thought were worth some attention.

ANCIENT ASCENDANT

We’ve been following the progression of UK-based Ancient Ascendant (pictured above) very closely, with very positive reviews (by Andy Synn) of both their 2011 debut album The Grim Awakening and their 2012 EP Into the Dark. With the EP, the band transitioned to a somewhat different style than had been evident on their debut album and the EP that preceded it (The Heathen Throne). To quote Andy:

“The thrashier stylings of The Grim Awakening have been drastically pared back to make room for a more cutting, blackened approach, replacing thrashing vigour with blackened vitriol, while maintaining the monstrous death metal heart of the band. The songs now have more of a cut and thrust to them, slashing and slicing with psychotic precision, where before they were, at times, simply content with a more bludgeoning form of sonic brutality.”

They’ve now written and recorded a new album (with Dan Swanö again handling the production) that Candlelight plans to release later this year, and it’s one we’re very interested to hear. Congratulations to both Candlelight and the band on this promising new partnership! Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: HANGING GARDEN, DRUG HONKEY, VALLENFYRE, VETUR

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  29 Responses »
Jan 212014
 

I’ve been in a state of Seahawks-inspired delirium since Sunday morning. Apart from my own ridiculous heights of excitement, the city I call home as been completely engulfed in a similar type of out-of-body experience. Everyone wants to talk about Sunday’s win and the impending Super Bowl trip, even the people who are still trying to figure out how many innings it takes to complete a football game. You can’t listen to radio or watch any kind of sports-related TV without being engulfed in Seahawks talk (although much of it has consisted of uninformed yammering about Richard Sherman). Some of you have probably found yourselves in a similar environment in past years, but it hasn’t happened here in Seattle in a long, long time.

One result of all this is that I’m way behind on my usual search for metal news and new metal. This morning I did tear myself away from Seahawks mania long enough to check out a few things and put this post together.

HANGING GARDEN

If you haven’t heard the 2013 EP by Finland’s Hanging Garden, stop wasting time and go find it. I don’t want to have to tell you twice. I Was A Soldier (Lifeforce records) is worth your 15 minutes, and all the other minutes you’ll spend with it after the first listen. To give you some evidence of why the EP is so worthwhile, allow me to show you a video that premiered today for its final track, “Will You Share This Ending With Me?” Continue reading »

A NEW AT THE GATES ALBUM?!? YES PLEASE!

 Metal News  19 Responses »
Jan 212014
 

I just read a post at Metal Injection that elevated my heart rate significantly above its usual slothlike repose. I have nothing else to add to what Greg Kennelty wrote, so I’m simply going to post it here to spread the exciting news. Feel free to excrete reproductive juices in the Comments.

“Oh my God I am so excited right now. Just minutes ago, At the Gates took to their Facebook page to post the below video. There was no description given or title for the video, and there is no description listed on YouTube. The comments section is also disabled.” Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ONTOGENY, PROFANE OMEN, RUINE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jan 172014
 

This will be my last post for today because my fucking day job is taking me out of town and I’ll be disconnected from the almighty inter hole for the next 7 or 8 hours.  That means no new installment of the “Most Infectious Song” list until tomorrow.  However, I did have time to pull together three new things I saw and heard last night — which I obviously think you need to see an dear, too.

ONTOGENY

I received this message from my comrade DGR:

“Ontogeny are going again, which is cool. They’re a San Francisco based Tech-death band that includes members of the group Anomalous. They have a new disc coming called Hymns Of Ahriman. It’s been three years since the last one. These guys write epic death metal songs that become whirlwinds at the drop of a hat, and Ontogeny have a tendency to just go straight into grind right in the middle of a song.

“I guess they couldn’t wait to have a fully produced song out so they just posted the pre-pro demo of the song “Phantom Love”. It’s 8:30 of just sheer madness. They put it up on the 10th of last week and it seems no one picked up on it.” Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ALTERBEAST, ETHEREAL, HORIZON ABLAZE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jan 162014
 

Earlier today I posted a delayed round-up of new music and newsy things that I intended to post yesterday. This round-up is somewhat more timely, and collects three songs and related news that I just discovered today and that I heartily commend to your attention, in alphabetical order.

ALTERBEAST

Alterbeast (formerly comically known as the Gary Busey Amber Alert) are a Sacramento band I first heard about through my NCS comrade DGR (who wrote this review of one of their live shows last October). They are now among the Unique Leader stable of artists, and this spring Unique Leader plans to release their debut album Immortal.

Yesterday we got a first look at the album’s striking cover art by the talented Raymond Swanland (click the image above to see it in its full glory), and we also got a premiere of the album’s first track, “Flesh Bound Text”. You may momentarily be lulled by the piano and violin intro, but you will be jolted fully upright by the tech-death onslaught that follows. It flies like a highly accelerated horde of bats awakened from their slumber by a grenade detonation. But as jet-fueled and acrobatic as the instrumental performances are, what makes the song even more noteworthy are the start-stop dynamics and the deft incorporation of a swirling guitar melody. Awful damned impressive. Continue reading »

CARNIFEX: A SONG PREMIERE + ALBUM DETAILS + TOUR NEWS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jan 162014
 

Once upon a time, long ago, when deathcore was a new thing, I was a fan. One of the bands I particularly enjoyed was Carnifex. As has been true of other early deathcore progenitors, their music has slowly evolved more in the direction of straight death metal. But their latest song, which premiered today in a lyric video, is a bit of a return to their roots. Its name is “Dragged Into the Grave” and it comes from their new album Die Without Hope, which will be released on March 4 in North Am and March 7 in Europe by Nuclear Blast. The cover art was created by Godmachine.

The new song will please Carnifex fans, and it will not change the minds of anyone who has written off the band based on previous experience. I’m featuring it here as much for nostalgic reasons as anything else (you can hear it after the jump).

In related news, it was announced yesterday that Carnifex will begin a U.S. Tour next month with support from Betraying the Martyrs, I Declare War, Here Comes the Kraken, and Assassins. Here’s the schedule: Continue reading »

AN ABIGAIL WILLIAMS UPDATE

 Metal News  13 Responses »
Jan 162014
 

You can’t keep a good band down, or at least not this one. In July of 2012, we reported the dismal news that USBM band Abigail Williams were going to call it quits after a farewell U.S. tour that started later that month. But Abigail Williams are back, in a big way.

First, the band’s main man Ken Sorceron has recruited a stellar line-up of musicians to accompany him on a nationwide Abigail Williams tour that’s now in progress: guitarist Jeff Wilson (Chrome Waves, Wolvhammer); bassist John Porada (Terminate), and drummer Jesse Beahler, (ex-Jungle Rot, Nightfire). Along for the ride (though their participation in the tour has been delayed) will be another band we’ve praised at NCS, Erimha. Dates are after the jump.

Second, a slightly different though no less eye-catching line-up will be entering the studio with Sorceron in April to record a new Abigail Williams album: Jeff Wilson; long-time Abigail Williams guitarist Ian Jekelis; drummer Alex Rudinger (The Faceless); and bassist Will Lindsay (ex-Nachtmystium, Wolves In The Throne Room). We are told that fans should expect a release on Candelight Records in late August or early September. This goes on our “highly anticipated” list of 2014 releases. Continue reading »

FREE SHIT: A DISCHARGE COVERS ALBUM BROUGHT TO YOU BY CVLT NATION

 Free Shit, Metal News  1 Response »
Jan 162014
 

I know for many of you Discharge require no introduction. For others, allow me to provide this synopsis from The Font of All Human Knowledge:

Discharge are a British hardcore punk band formed in 1977 by Terence “Tezz” Roberts and Royston “Rainy” Wainwright. They are often considered among one of the very first bands to play hardcore punk…. The band’s 1982 debut album, Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing, went to number two on the UK Indie Charts and number 40 in the UK Album Chart…. Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing paved the way for thrash metal, black metal, crust punk, grindcore and various extreme metal subgenres. The musical genre of d-beat is named after Discharge and their distinctive drumbeat…. Many bands that followed Discharge’s stylistic approach, primarily in Sweden, began using the “Dis-” prefix and “-charge” suffix in their names….

With that preamble, here’s the point of this post: CVLT Nation has assembled a free compilation of the Discharge songs on Hear Nothing See Nothing Say Nothing, as covered by a hellacious (and diverse) line-up of bands that include the likes of Unru, Plagues, Absvrdist, Dephosphorus, and Occultist, just to name the ones I already know about and like. The full line-up is after the jump, along with a link where you can find out how to download this beast. Continue reading »

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