SEEN AND HEARD: MEDECOPHOBIC, PURTENANCE, AETHERIAN

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Dec 222013
 

Here’s a selection of metal I discovered yesterday from bands both new and old. It’s a diverse mix of sounds, from bone-mangling and decimating to beautifully melodic, and I found all of it excellent.

MEDECOPHOBIC

Medecophobic is a two-man operation from Munich, Germany. Almost exactly three years ago they self-released their debut album Pandemic of Existence (available on Bandcamp here), and recently they’ve signed with a label called Permeated Records, which will be releasing a new three-song demo in January. The new demo’s name is Escalation, and yesterday the band started streaming one of the new songs — “Cornered”.

Brutal, slamming death metal is intrinsically visceral music, and “Cornered” punches really hard, right in the gut. The darting, jabbing riffs come fast and furious, and the off-the-hook drum attack is merciless (damn, am I loving the snare-drum weaponry on this song!). The instrumental work displays a lot of technical flair, the grooves are abundant, and the vocals sound like the cross-bred yowling of a sabretooth and a bear. Tasty! Continue reading »

CULT OF LUNA IS GOING TO DISAPPEAR INDEFINITELY

 Metal News  5 Responses »
Dec 172013
 

After Sweden’s Cult of Luna released Eternal Kingdom in 2008, five years passed before they produced another album, but this year’s Vertikal has commanded a spot on a growing list of year-end lists. Now it appears that fans will be in for another extended hiatus before the band bring more new music… if they ever do again. This announcement appeared about an hour ago on the band’s Facebook page:

“The Beyond the redshift festival in London on may the 10th will be a very special show for Cult of Luna. It will mark the end of an era and after that we will slowly disappear before we reappear again in some form in some indefinite future.

Because of that Klas will join us on stage for the last time and we will play a whole lot of old songs which we haven’t played for years or ever.
We might ask for your help to choose songs. More on that later.”

Continue reading »

GILEAD MEDIA UPDATE

 Metal News  6 Responses »
Dec 172013
 

Before this morning I was already excited about something coming our way in 2014 from Gilead Media, that oh-so-tasteful little label run by Adam Bartlett in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. I’m talking, of course, about the 2014 GILEAD FEST coming next July 18-20. I’m planning to go, in part because one of my favorite co-workers is actually a native of Oshkosh and seems interested in attending the show even though he’s not a metalhead (though he has an amazing array of other musical tastes, with that one glaring omission). I’ll remind you after the jump who is scheduled to play at that festival.

But the point of this post is to provide additional reasons to be excited, because today Adam provided a full rundown of the Gilead release schedule for 2014. And man, there are a lot of gems on the line-up. For example, on February 25, Gilead will be release Heathen, the fourth album from doom titans Thou. And on the same day, Gilead will be releasing a self-titled 12″ from Geryon, the bass-and-drum death metal project of Nick McMaster and Lev Weinstein (which I’ve already had the pleasure of hearing, and it’s great). You can see the cover art for both of those after the jump.

And there’s more. Here’s the rest of the Gilead release schedule following those two lead-offs for 2014, along with Adam Bartlett’s notes about each one: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: RED FANG, CARCASS, CHROME DIVISION, COLISEUM, AWAKENING SUN, ACHERON

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Dec 162013
 

For various reasons, including a long vacation, a buttload of work and work-related travel that confronted me in my day job upon returning from said vacation, and the dedication of space to our ongoing year-end LISTMANIA series, I’ve not been doing a very good job of spreading the word about new music and videos. Much new music and videos of interest have been accumulating. I’m collecting five of the recent videos and one new song in this post. Many of them lean more toward hard rocking that the kind of extreme metaling I usually feature in these round-ups, but it’s all good stuff.

RED FANG

Red Fang have consistently produced videos that are sure-fire chuckle fests. Their new one is no exception. Directed by Whitey McConnaughy, it’s for “Blood Like Cream”, one of the songs on the band’s latest album Whales and Leeches. It’s a twist on the zombie theme. These undead monsters want PBR instead of brains — but it is fuckin’ Portland, so that’s not a total shock.

Yeah, there’s clean singing in the song, but it’s crunchy, it rocks out, and it gets its hooks in your brain meat. Chug-a-lug, chug-a-lug. Continue reading »

STRANGE BEDFELLOWS: DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL 2014 TO INCLUDE SIKTH AND AEROSMITH

 Metal News  16 Responses »
Dec 162013
 

Are you like me? Do you shake your head in quasi-disbelief when you see the ordering of band names on posters for hybrid rock/metal festivals like the one above, which provides the latest line-up updates for the 2014 edition of the UK’s DOWNLOAD FESTIVAL? Way up at the top, you see that the headliners include the octogenarians in Aerosmith — and then only down below, almost buried in the fine print, you see the name SikTh.

I mean, considering that SikTh were an influential band who have been defunct for more than five years, the fact that they have reunited seems like the kind of news that deserves a little more prominence, such as perhaps placement on the same line as… uh… Fall Out Boy? Okay, maybe that’s asking for too much. How about SikTh on the same line as Jake E Lee’s Red Dragon Cartel? And no, I have no fucking idea what Jake E Lee’s Red Dragon Cartel is, though if they include actual red dragons, I’d be interested in seeing them.

In other news, it appears Linkin Park will be performing Hybrid Theory at DOWNLOAD. I might pay to see that, if only for nostalgia reasons, as long as Linkin Park promise not to play anything they’ve recorded since 2003.

Also, it appears the festival will also include Battlecross, Dillinger Escape Plan, Dying Fetus, In Flames (appearing on the same line as those red dragons and a rhino that needs to be fed), Thy Art Is Murder, and The Black Dahlia Murder (who just barely made the poster before they ran out of room). Not too shabby. Continue reading »

READ THIS PRODUCT ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT

 Metal News  9 Responses »
Dec 122013
 

The Monolith Deathcult, with whom all loyal NCS readers are amply familiar because we talk about them so much our lips are chapped, are offering a limited-edition box set that isn’t really a box set because it has no box, but does contain these items: Tetragrammaton (2013) 2-LP in 180 grams clear vinyl in gatefold design; Trivmvirate (2008) 2-LP in 180 grams clear vinyl in gatefold design; Obliteration of the Despised Promo (2002 – sold out!) LP in 180 grams clear vinyl; a heavy duty carrying bag for carrying items that need carrying; and a limited “crest” design T-shirt.

But lest you think we’ve become shills for band mercy, the real reason I’m posting about this isn’t the merch (though I’m sure TMDC would appreciate your buying all this shit here), it’s the TMDC product announcement. It’s good. It’s funny. So I thought I’d share it. Because I can:

Hand-pressed in a sweat shop by forced child labour. Purchasing this item ensures that one community in an emerging economy will live in a pit of toxic sludge and abject poverty for at least 15 years. Made from 100% unrecycled material from unrenewable sources. Only slighly lethal to aquatic mammals. Do not use as a toy. Observe proper safety instructions when handling. Keep out of reach of children. Use only in a well-ventilated area. Exposure to this box-but-hey-it’s-not-a-box-box set may cause joint pain, nausea, head-ache, or shortness of breath. You may also experience muscle aches, rapid heartbeat, and ringing in the cars. If you feel faint, call your doctor. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, VALLENFYRE, NILE, CANNABIS CORPSE, GOATCRAFT, DEFECT DESIGNER

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  14 Responses »
Dec 022013
 

I’m still on vacation, and probably should be vacationing instead of spending time on the internet catching up on what’s been happening in the world of metal. Honestly, I expected that nothing would be happening without me there to notice it. You can imagine my shock and dismay in discovering that the world continues to turn even when I don’t pay attention to it. Something is seriously wrong.

Honestly, I didn’t try to dig too deeply into what I’ve been missing, but I did manage to fight through my depression and found a batch of recent things worth mentioning before returning to fucking off.

FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE

The last time a band’s merchandising ploy pulled me up short was when Ghost B.C. started selling dildos and butt plugs. But it happened again yesterday when, thanks to a link sent my way by The Autistic Metalhead, I discovered that Italy’s Fleshgod Apocalypse had started selling their own brand of pasta. It’s true. They’ve got four varieties and they’re shipping worldwide. In my case, it would cost 28 Euro, plus 20 Euro for shipping and handling. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: AVICHI, THE KENNEDY VEIL, KOWLOON WALLED CITY, BATILLUS, GIZMACHI

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Nov 252013
 

Are you like me? Do you think packing for a long trip is much more fun if you wait until the last minute and then scurry around like a rat with rabies, thereby increasing the odds that you’ll forget a bunch of things and then feel like a dumbass when you get where you’re going? Yeah, I thought so. Everyone loves to do that. Which is why I’m sitting here banging out this round-up of diverse new items I saw and heard over the last 24 hours instead of packing for my vacation trip, which begins . . . (shit!) . . . in a few hours.

AVICHI

I saw that Profound Lore’s first release of 2014 will be the much-delayed third album by Chicago-based Avichi, Catharsis Absolute, which was recorded by Andrew Ragin (The Atlas Moth) and mixed by Sanford Parker (Nachtmystium, Twilight). The official release date is January 21. This album will be entirely the solo work of Andrew “Aamonael” Markuszewski (also in Lord Mantis). PL has also begun streaming one of the album’s new songs, “Lightweaver”.

“Lightweaver” is a study in winding the coil and then letting it go. Avichi builds the tension, ratcheting it upward with storming, tremolo-picked scales . . . and then lets the storm break in a rocking beat with a bounding bass line . . . and then proceeds to tighten the spring again. And so it goes, back and forth. And through it all, Aamonael howls like a winter wolf while weaving a trilling (and thrilling) guitar melody, chaining together chaos and something approaching beauty. Listen next: Continue reading »

RECALCITRANT ROUNDUP: REDUX (Part 1)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Nov 252013
 

(NCS contributor Austin Weber has delivered unto us a three-part introduction to new and forthcoming releases by 7 bands. In this first part, he focuses on The Conjuration and Order of Leviathan.)

The end of the year is usually a slower time for new music releases, a time when much alcohol is consumed and countless amounts of money are wasted on bullshit soon forgotten. But fortunately I’ve got plenty of releases and new songs to catch up on and spread the word about.

THE CONJURATION

I wrote about them a few months back regarding their 2012 release The Human Condition, an unhinged album with a schizophrenic avante-garde meets progressive take on death metal unlike anything I’ve heard before. Recently a new album titled Surreal was announced, with a release date coming up soon, sometime in December. They just premiered “Capricorn” through their Facebook. In addition to that track, sole member and composer Corey Jason sent me another track to check out called “Kaleidoscopic Thoughts”.

“Capricorn” starts in a keyboard meets groovy death metal interlocking mass before transitioning to thrashy blasting death metal that is soon layered in the same keyboard flourish that starts the song. As per how The Conjuration usually structure their music, the song suddenly splinters off to somewhere new, which is a tantalizing heavy groove that lasts for only a moment. Continue reading »

NEW MUSIC FROM TENGGER CAVALRY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Nov 232013
 

In the daily discourse about metal, whether it be online, in print, or in face-to-face conversations, it’s common for the music to be described in physical terms. In fact, I can’t think of any other genre of music where fans, critics, and musicians so frequently discuss and describe what they’re hearing by reference to the physical sensations that the sound triggers in their imaginations.

For example, when someone describes a song as “galloping”, most metal heads immediately have at least a general idea about the pace and rhythms of the music. And that word is always the first one that springs to my mind when I listen to China’s Tengger Cavalry — and not just because the word “cavalry” appears in the band’s name or because their music is so heavily influenced by Mongolian culture, in which the horse occupies such a central place (The Font of All Human Knowledge tells us that nomads living in the traditional Mongol fashion still hold more than 3 million horses, which outnumber the country’s human population).

Tengger Cavalry have completed recording a new album entitled Ancient Call that will be released on February 1, 2014, and thanks to a tip from my NCS comrade DGR, I learned that they’ve just made it available for pre-order on Bandcamp and have started streaming two new songs (which can be downloaded immediately by those who pre-order the album). Continue reading »

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