SEEN AND HEARD: MARYLAND DEATHFEST, NECROPHOBIC, UNCOFFINED, AND NEOLITHIC VOID

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Sep 262013
 

Here’s a round-up of noteworthy things seen and heard over the last 24 hours.

MARYLAND DEATHFEST

The organizers of MDF XII have been slowly announcing the names of bands who will appear at next year’s edition of the best metal festival in the US. The most recent announcement came earlier this week with four new names: Cancer, from the UK, who will be making their first US appearance since 1993; Sacrifice from Canada, who will be making their first appearance since 1992; Nocturnus (who for legal reasons must call themselves Nocturnus A.D.), who will be playing the entirety of their debut album The Key; Crowbar; and Death Toll 80K from Finland.

I have several friends who are especially hot over the return of Nocturnus, including NCS writer BadWolf, who reviewed The Key in retrospective back in July 2012 (here). There seems to be some uncertainty about which of the band’s original members will be appearing, other than drummer/vocalist Mike Browning. However, Nocturnus performed songs from The Key live in Mexico City last April. Photos of that show can be found here, and videos are on YouTube, too. I wouldn’t recognize the performers, but presumably it will be the same line-up at MDF.

Here’s one of those videos: Continue reading »

GIVE ‘TIL IT HURTS: CORMORANT AND THE ABSENCE

 Metal News  8 Responses »
Sep 262013
 

So many bands are trying to raise money through crowd-funding platforms such as Kickstarter and Indiegogo. Some of them deserve a helping hand. I’ll tell you about two that I think deserve your help, because I like both bands and really hope your money will enable them to get their new music in a form suitable to send to me so that I can have it. In fact, I can think of few betters uses for your money, unless of course you’d prefer to just send it directly to me. If that sounds good, hit me up.

Where was I?  Oh yeah, two bands I hope you will help finance, for me.

CORMORANT

Contrary to early speculation, the departure of vocalist/bassist Arthur von Nagel did not put an end to Cormorant. In fact, they just finished tracking their third album to analog tape with engineer/producer Justin Weis (Slough Feg, Agalloch, Hammers of Misfortune, Ludicra), having first supplemented their remaining line-up through the addition of Marcus Luscombe, who has become the new bassist and lead vocalist.

Luscombe is an Australian-born San Francisco Bay Area native who has been lead guitarist, songwriter, and backing vocalist for for a band named Vengince and lead singer, lyricist, and guitarist for another band named Cloakwheel. According to Cormorant, “His unique stylings and weird, proggy bass lines have added new elements to the Cormorant sound, and we can’t wait for you to hear how he sounds on the album!” Continue reading »

STOP THE PRESSES! BABY METAL WILL RELEASE A CONCERT DVD

 Metal News  9 Responses »
Sep 242013
 

For those of you who thought we’d get tired of pimping publicizing Baby Metal, no such luck. Actually, I guess the first version of that last sentence may have come off as kinda creepy, so I edited it. Here’s the breaking news about our favorite J-pop deathmetal band (thanks to a tip from DGR and a report by Blabbermouth):

Later this fall Baby Metal will release their first-ever concert DVD and Blu-ray, Live ～Legend I, D, Z Apocalypse～. The limited-edition DVD box will come out on October 19 and the Blu-ray will be available on November 20. The set will contain footage of the band’s performances at Shibuya O-East (October 2012), Akasaka Blitz (December 2012), and Zepp Tokyo (February 2013). I’m not yet sure where it can be ordered, but this place will probably have it eventually.

Baby Metal have also just released a video trailer for the new DVD, and it’s a killer. I’ve written before that as time has passed the band have increasingly become less J-pop and more death metal (without becoming any less catchy), and both the imagery and the music in the trailer is evidence that this progression is continuing.

So get your fuckin’ kitsune horns up and watch the trailer next, and if you somehow missed the official video they released this summer for “Megitsune”, I’m adding that, too. Continue reading »

DEICIDE REVEAL MORE INFO ABOUT THEIR NEW ALBUM; WE SPECULATE ABOUT THE TRACK LIST

 Metal News  2 Responses »
Sep 242013
 

Well, we will indeed have a new Deicide album this year. Yesterday Century Media announced that In the Minds of Evil will be released on November 25, which is fitting since it was on that day in 1667 that a deadly earthquake rocked Shemakha in the Caucasus, killing 80,000 people.

Or maybe it’s because November 25 is the anniversary of The Great Storm of 1703, the greatest windstorm ever recorded in the southern part of Great Britain, which reached its peak intensity with winds gusting up to 120 mph and killed 9,000 people.

Or possibly it’s because of the earthquake on November 25, 1759, that destroyed Beirut and Damascus, killing 30,000-40,000.

No, wait! It must be because of the November 25 cyclone in 1839 that slammed India with high winds and a 40-foot storm surge, destroying the port city of Coringa, taking with it 20,000 ships and the lives of about 300,000 people!

Actually, I don’t really know why the fuck they picked November 25. I do know what the album cover looks like, because that was revealed yesterday. It’s from a painting named “Power of the Mind”, rendered by Simon Cowell. (No, not that Simon Cowell, this one.) I also know the names of the songs, because Century Media reminded us of them yesterday as well. Continue reading »

TEASERS: EYE OF SOLITUDE AND VALDUR

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Sep 222013
 

I was already eager for the new albums headed our way from the two bands featured in this post. I really didn’t need to be teased about them, because I’m impatient enough as it is. But they obviously didn’t get the memo.

EYE OF SOLITUDE

This UK band’s 2012 album, Sui Caedere (“to kill one’s self”) was really excellent. So was The Deceit, a three-song EP they released early this year (reviewed here). Both of them are still available on Bandcamp, and I encourage you to check them out. The new album is entitled Canto III and it will be released by Kaotoxin Records on November 25 in Europe and December 3 in the US.

Seems that it’s going to be a monster — six tracks that are lyrically based on Dante’s Inferno, with a total run-time of over 66 minutes. It appears that the album will also include guest contributions by violinist Casper and vocalist Anton Rosa from the Russian band Dominia. It further appears that the band will be adding some black metal touches to their orchestrally enhanced blend of funereal doom and death.

Yesterday I heard a teaser of music from the album that you’ll have a chance to hear momentarily. It’s titanically heavy and sweeping, but of course it’s way too short. However, brief as it is, it’s a potent reminder of how gargantuan Daniel Neagoe’s vocals are. Check it out: Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: CULT OF ERINYES, LORN, AND NOSFERATU

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  4 Responses »
Sep 212013
 

When I staggered to bed last night I had a few ideas percolating about what I would post today. When I staggered out of bed this morning and started wandering through the interhole those ideas went out the window, and instead what you’re about to hear took their place. By chance I listened to three new songs in a row that really grabbed me. By chance, they’re all shades and phases of black metal, with interesting twists. I wasn’t familiar with any of the bands before listening to these new tracks, and with luck like this I should probably buy a lottery ticket today.

CULT OF ERINYES

This three-person Belgian band have recorded their second album, Blessed Extinction, which will be released in digipak format on October 21, 2013, by the Italian label Code666 Records. They’ve just begun streaming an advance track named “自爆 (Jibaku)”, which I discovered thanks to a Facebook post by Nico at Kaotoxin Records, who’s an acquaintance of mine and a friend of the band.

If the song consisted of nothing but the hurricane of cutting guitars, thundering percussion, and acid vocals with which it begins, I’d be happy enough, because that first phase of the song shoots a megawatt charge straight to the brainstem. But the song holds in store much more than that. Continue reading »

RECALCITRANT ROUND-UP: UNHUMAN, NEKROGOBLIKON, ANAGNORISIS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Sep 192013
 

(NCS contributor Austin Weber steps up, but not on my toes, to provide this round-up of new metal.)

Normally these songs and album news round-ups are all Islander, and I would dare not step on his toes lest he cut mine off. However, I had a few things to discuss, and he was busy so here are a few bands to check out.

UNHUMAN

The first item on today’s agenda is Unhuman, a name many do not know yet, but should. They are a supergroup from Canada, with a high degree of quality metal pedigree in their insane line-up.

Which really starts with the sole remaining founding member Youri Raymond (Secret Chiefs 3, Cryptopsy), who brings some punishing and varied vocals to the mix while also composing on guitar. He is joined by Kevin Chartré, the badass guitarist from Beyond Creation and the also excellent Brought By Pain. Following those two is Mathieu Bérubé on 7-string bass; he is also the guitarist in Teramobil, a group I wrote about earlier this year here at NoCleanSinging. Rounding out the line up is the excellent mechanical precision drumming of Alexandre Dupras who also is in Teramobil and also drums for The Plasma Rifle. Together, “Chaotic Equilibrium” shows the totality of what such an incredibly skilled and creative line up can achieve.

“Chaotic Equilibrium” traverses a diverse melding of melodic and aggressive ideas fighting back and forth trying to reach resolution, much as the title would suggest. As much as I hate most metal lyrics, this song is the exception to that rule. The lyrics are intriguing, a sort of positive philosophical musing with a powerful message I can get behind. If you go to YouTube from the link they can be found in the “show more” section. Continue reading »

TOURISM: AMON AMARTH, ENSLAVED, AND SKELETONWITCH!

 Metal News  15 Responses »
Sep 162013
 

I wet myself a little bit when I was informed of this tour, announced not long ago. Okay, to be honest, my bladder completely loosened and I’m now swimming in the processed fluids of last night’s beer. It’s such a good feeling, because seriously, look at that line-up.

Amon Amarth, Enslaved, and Skeletonwitch will be touring fortunate parts of the U.S. during January and February of 2014. Tickets are on sale now at this location.

My bladder-loosening enthusiasm is tempered only by the fact that neither Seattle nor any other city in the Pacific Northwest are on the schedule. Looks like San Francisco is as close as this bladder-loosening extravaganza will come. Fuck, there may be an SEA-SFO plane ticket in my future, though the airline would have to upholster my seat in plastic, or maybe I’ll finally have to splurge on some personal care products.

In case you have trouble seeing the dates in the tour flyer, you can find them listed after the jump. Continue reading »

SUNDAY SAVAGERY: DICHOTOMY, WARCALL, DEMONICAL, CVINGER, AND PSEUDOGOD

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Sep 152013
 

I took  a rare break from metal for most of yesterday, but not a complete break. I did spend time last night checking out new music and found a handful of savage items that I thought were worth featuring in this post. So here we go:

DICHOTOMY

Dichotomy are a band from Dublin, Ireland, who self-released their debut album Paradigm last month. I haven’t heard it, but I did catch a video they premiered through Terrorizer on Friday for one of the album’s songs. The song’s name is “Of Strife Of Discord”, and according to the band: “The song’s title is a reference to Eris, Greek goddess of chaos, strife and discord. The song is about the destruction of the self and allowing chance to rule one’s course; about becoming the embodiment of chaos.”

The song is a dichotomy, too. On the one hand, it’s a jet-fueled blast of melodic death metal with a lot of flying fretwork and some pleasingly serpentine guitar solos. On the other hand, it delivers a boatload of galvanizing grooves that should get heads banging hard. I had fun listening to it. Continue reading »

UPDATES: PESTILENCE, BEHEMOTH, OBLITERATION, AND LUMBAR

 Metal News  3 Responses »
Sep 122013
 

Collected in this post are a handful of news items I spied earlier today. Unlike most of these daily round-ups, no new music is included (other than a teaser for one band’s new album). But read it anyway, won’t you?

PESTILENCE

We’ve been keeping our eye out for new information about Obsideo, the next album by Pestilence, because for fuck’s sake, it’s Pestilence. Today we all get to see the album cover ,and now we also know the release date (by Candlelight Records in North America): November 11.

Although I’ve seen some expressions of anxiety and pessimism about this new album given the generally lukewarm reaction to the last one, I choose to have faith in Patrick Mameli and the 8-string guitar he used to record these new songs. Also, he says, “We have gone beyond our human limits to achieve the highest form of brutal music . . . it is really ten of the most demanding songs written in death metal.”

Bring it on. Continue reading »

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