CLOUDKICKER’S “FADE” IS NOW OUT, AND THERE’S A SONG ABOUT SEATTLE ON THERE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Aug 022012
 

Well, hell, that didn’t take long. On July 31 I reported the news from Ben Sharp’s tumblr that a new Cloudkicker album would be released in August, and today it was released. It is August, after all, and who needs to mess with a big, protracted run-up to a release anyway, with teasers and studio reports and singles and hints all over the social media? I mean, other than every metal label and 99% of all metal bands.

Anyway, yes, the album is up on Bandcamp now where it can be downloaded for the unfuckwithable price of $WhateverFeelsRight.

It consists of seven tracks. I’m in such a rush to spread the word about the release than I only paused long enough to listen to one song, because the song is named “Seattle”. I don’t often see a song by a metal band I like that’s named for this beautiful, cool place where I live. Actually, I’ve never seen one.

“Seattle” is more than 10 minutes long. It makes me really curious to hear the rest of this album, because there’s a blackened/doom feel to this song, which I wasn’t expecting. It rolls through phases, the intensity building and subsiding, and I really liked the drum programming on this song, too. Continue reading »

RECENT HEARINGS AND SIGHTINGS: DEVOLVED, TROLL BENDS FIR, MECHINA, AND YOU-TAB

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Aug 022012
 

Here are some things I saw and heard this morning.

DEVOLVED

I heard a new song by Devolved. They’re a band I’ve been following for more than two years here at NCS. They have a new album (their fourth) entitled Reprisal that’s due for release by Unique Leader on November 20. Drummer and lyricist John Stankey is still at the helm, but the rest of the line-up is new. As we reported last December, he’s now joined by guitarist Mark Hawkins (who is also handling the bass parts) and vocalist Mark Haggblad.

We’re told that the album will include a guest vocal appearance by Tony Campos (Soulfly, Prong, Ministry, Asesino, ex-Static X) plus guest solos by Francesco Artusato (All Shall Perish), Nate
Vennarucc (Ontogeny, Anomalous), Malcolm Pugh (Diskreet, A Loathing Requiem), and Vishal Singh (Hawkins’ bandmate in Robots Pulling Levers).

We featured a demo version of a new track the last time we wrote about Devolved, but as of this morning we now have the first finished song from the album — “Supremacy Enforced”. Holy hell, is it a face-shredder! Continue reading »

NEW MUSIC FROM KRALLICE AND ARCHSPIRE AND A STUNNING NEW VIDEO FROM ALARIC

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Aug 012012
 

Here’s the second part of the two-part feature we began here, spotlighting a slew of new videos and new songs from some of our favorite metal bands that surfaced over the last 24 hours.

In this Part 2: release information and a brand new song from Krallice (U.S.), a new video from Alaric (U.S.), and a new song/video from Archspire (Canada).

KRALLICE

Well, this is the third of our posts about Krallice’s forthcoming album since July 15, which is an indication of our enthusiasm for what’s coming.  And what’s coming is Years Past Matter, a collection of five songs totaling about one hour of music. The album, which is being self-released by the band in a limited edition, will begin shipping on August 25 and is now available for pre-order here. We’re told that a double LP version of the album will be released by Gilead Media soon after.

There will be a record release show on August 25 at St Vitus in Greenpoint Brooklyn, NYC, where Krallice will be performing with Ancient Wound and Sea of Bones.

And today, we are beyond stoked to stream for you one of the new songs from Years Past Matter. The title is “IIIIIIII”. It’s a whirlwind of slashing/ringing guitars, bounding basslines, and percussive pandemonium that rumbles and thunders. It’s a lightening strike, sizzling with electricity. It’s also a black dream of rushing clouds, the kind of music that’s hypnotic as well as violent. Dense, dynamic, atmospheric, compelling — this is a long song that well-justifies its length. So much happens that the song rewards repeat listening – indeed, demands it. Here it is: Continue reading »

A LIFE ONCE LOST

 Metal News  1 Response »
Aug 012012
 

I confess that as you read this I will still be fast asleep.  I was out late last night with a big group of hard-partying friends and didn’t finish what I wanted to post for the beginning of this day. So there will be a delay, because who fuckin knows when I will wake up and how long it will take me to finish what I intended to deliver for you.

But all is not lost.  I do have this beautiful piece of news:  A Life Once Lost recently completed the recording sessions for their next album, and it’s name is Ecstatic Tranc, and it will be released by Season of Mist on October 23rd in North America and on November 16th in the rest of the world.

I love this band, though I have a feeling the new album won’t sound much like their last one, since that was five years ago, and the world of metal has changed.

But the news makes me remember this song from their 2007 album, Hunter:

“Rehashed”

[audio:https://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/01-Rehashed.mp3|titles=A Life Once Lost – Rehashed]

SEEN AND HEARD ON THIS LAST DAY OF JULY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jul 312012
 

Here are things I saw and heard today.

OUR WEATHER

I saw a temperature gauge at high noon here in The Emerald City: 63°F. And the sun is shining. All of you poor fuckers who are broiling like burgers on a charcoal grill everywhere east of the Pacific Coast can hate me now, and along about January you can remind me that I made this obnoxious crack at your expense.

BUNCH

I saw that awesomely phantasmagoric piece of artwork up above. It’s by Ken Sarafin of Sarafin Concepts. It’s for a death metal project called Bunch, of which Sarafin seems to be a member — one of many. Here’s this description from the Bunch FB page: “Bunch is a band formed from 28 different members, each playing one note a song. Occasionally during recording, a member might repeat a note several times. If that happens, a break with cookies is required afterwards. Bunch likes cookies.”

There are a bunch of Bunch demo tracks at this location. I picked one to stream after the jump. Continue reading »

SOLO INSTRUMETAL: CLOUDKICKER, ALEXANDER BATEMAN, YOU BIG OX, AND MAT PASCAL (GOROD)

 Free Shit, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jul 312012
 

In case people have forgotten, instrumental metal works just fine at this site, because . . . if there is no singing in the metal, then there can be no clean singing in the metal. Get it?

Over the last few days, I’ve accumulated enough new discoveries to justify this post. The first one is just a news item (no music, unfortunately), but for the rest I have listenings — quite varied listenings, and quite good, and all by solo artists. The subjects are Cloudkicker (U.S.), Alexander Bateman (U.S.), You Big Ox (U.S.), and Gorod guitarist Mathieu Pascal (France).

CLOUDKICKER

Cloudkicker is Ohio denizen Ben Sharp. Cloudkicker was the first of the so-called “bedroom guitarist” projects to hit my radar screen, and I fell hard for the music. I was late to the party, of course. I found out about Cloudkicker in 2010 after one of this site’s original co-founders turned me on to Sharp’s 2008 debut album, The Discovery. His 2010 album, Beacons, made many of our 2010 lists of the year’s best albums, and I even picked one of the songs from the album for our list of 2010’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs.

I subsequently discovered many other then-solo guitar instrumentalists, including Tosin Abasi, Dan Dankmeyer, Keith Merrow, Tre Watson, and Chimp Spanner, but the memory of that first Cloudkicker discovery has stayed with me. So I was excited to see the report on Ben Sharp’s tumblr that he plans to release a new Cloudkicker album called Fade in August. It will go up on the Cloudkicker Bandcamp page, and we’ll report when that happens, as soon as we find out. Continue reading »

MID-DAY NEWS AND MUSIC ROUND-UP: WINTERFYLLETH, ILSA, DESALMADO, AND TESTAMENT

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jul 302012
 

Here are a few items of interest I came across this morning that I thought were worth spreading around.

ITEM ONE: WINTERFYLLETH

Winterfylleth are a UK black-metal band whose name should be familiar to long-time NCS readers, since I’m high as a kite about this band, having fallen head-over-heels for their second album, The Mercian Sphere (2010). In May, I reported that Candlelight Records was re-issuing the band’s debut full-length, The Ghost of Heritage, after a remastering by Colin Marston. What I didn’t realize then but have discovered this morning is how close the band were to completing their third album.

Now I know that Candlelight is prepared to release a new Winterfylleth album — The Threnody of Triumph — in September. I also saw that the September issue of Zero Tolerance magazine will include a feature on the band AND a track from the new album — “Void of Light” — on a bonus CD. I’m hoping that song will surface on the web soon. I’m eager to hear the new album. You should be, too. Find Winterfyleth on Facebook here.

ITEM TWO: ILSA

I saw today the album art for the forthcoming album by D.C.-based crust/doom occultists Ilsa. It’s a real eye-catcher: Continue reading »

DARKNESS OVER LONDON

 Metal News  3 Responses »
Jul 302012
 

On August 12, 2012, the Closing Ceremony will mark the end of the 2012 London Olympic Games.  Two days later, on August 14, Demonic Resurrection, Bloodguard, Karybdis, and one more band to be announced will finish off whatever is left of London with a free live show at The Unicorn Camden.

The Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games will be entitled “A Symphony of British Music” and will be broadcast worldwide. The DR-Bloodguard-Karybdis show will be entitled “Darkness Over London” and it will not be broadcast anywhere. Only those fortunate enough to appear in person at The Unicorn will get to witness the darkness, and they will not have to endure an endless parade of commercials, or an endless parade of athletes. They will also not have to pay anything to enter the venue, because the show is free.

A total cast of 4,100 performers will take part in the London 2012 Closing Ceremonies. A somewhat smaller cast will take part in “Darkness Over London”. However, it is unlikely that they will be wearing ridiculous costumes, opting instead for tasteful band shirts, or no shirts at all. We have not been advised as to whether they will be wearing pants. It will not cost anything to find out what they are wearing or not wearing, because the show will be free.

Organizers of the Closing Ceremony have reported that the August 12 event will feature “some of the country’s most globally successful musicians, along with some of the industry’s stars of tomorrow”. This means it is highly unlikely that the Closing Ceremony will include any metal bands, and therefore it is highly likely that it will be boring as shit. “Darkness Over London”, however, will feature some terrifically ass-kicking metal by three rising stars in the only industry that matters — The Industry of Metal. Continue reading »

THE MONOLITH RISES

 Metal News  16 Responses »
Jul 282012
 

This may look like a big hole in the ground, but I have it on good authority that there is something underneath, something that’s rhythmically thrusting toward the surface, like Titans in the Earth in the throes of a mad coupling, grinding and pumping and heaving through the magma, smashing and slapping wetly in the crush and grind of godlike pelvises, the heat of their passion bursting upward like superheated steam exploding through volcanic vents, gargantuan roars of ecstasy rumbling through miles of bedrock as they push and pound toward our frail civilizations, almost ready to spew the black effluvium of their creation over the Earth, engulfing the tiny fleshlings of this feeble world with the magisterial dankness of the great rising, the dark tower that is becoming, the glistening, spiked shaft of our undoing.

Fuck, where was I?

Oh yeah, there’s this thing called The Monolith. They want your e-mail address. Something to do with your personal survival. Warnings about what is coming as it rises. Go here and give ’em what they want now, because what you may have to pay later as a sign of your obedience may be much, much worse.

There.  I’ve done it.  I’m safe now.  The rest of you are on your own.

MORS PRINCIPIUM EST: AN UPDATE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jul 272012
 

Among all the many genres of metal, melodic death metal was my personal pathway into the realms of extreme music. Although I eventually branched off in more dissonant and atonal directions, I still get off on that first love.

Mors Principium Est is one of the melodic death metal bands whose albums I go back to for a periodic fix. When I found out that guitarist and primary songwriter Jori Haukio had split from the band soon after release of their last album (2007’s Liberation = Termination), I worried about their future. Second guitarist Jarkko Kokko also left, and my worries were exacerbated when time passed and it seemed like MPE was having no luck in finding a new guitar tandem that would be the right fit for the band.

Well, it seems like the problem has finally been solved. Venturing outside their native Finland, MPE have found two new guitarists in British musician Andy Gillion and New Zealand-based guitarist Andhe Chandler. The new line-up is now finally recording a new album, and they’ve signed contracts with AFM Records for release of the album in Europe and the U.S., with Truth Inc Records for release in Australia, and with Marquee Records/Avalon for Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. WIth luck, we’ll see MPE’s first album in five years by the end of 2012.

Usually, I avoid posting news piece unless I have something tangible to go along with them, such as new album art or new music. Here, I don’t have either. All I have is a new promo photo, in which drummer Mikko Sipola seems to be using the great outdoors as it was intended, i.e., as a giant urinal. So, although we have no new song to stream, I guess we do have a stream.

Hell, we must have musics! So, after the jump, I’ve added a couple of MPE tracks from Liberation = Termination. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries