CATCHING UP (Part 1): ENSLAVED, DAN DANKMEYER, NAPALM DEATH, AND CONVERGE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jul 102012
 

So much happens so fast in the world of metal that even being out of touch for two days means that you miss a lot, and some of what you miss is actually worth knowing about. I was in a remote location over the last two days with no internet connection, and since returning last night I’ve made an admittedly incomplete effort to find out what I missed that was important/entertaining to me. Turns out, there was a lot — so much that I’m dividing what I found into two posts, of which this is the first. The second one will start off our postings tomorrow.

In no particular order, this post includes news, new music, or new videos from Enslaved, Dan Dankmeyer, Napalm Death, and Converge.

ENSLAVED

Enslaved made a few announcements about their twelfth studio album RIITIIR — including the name of the album, the disclosure of the cover art (above) by long-time collaborator Truls Espedal, and the release dates (via Nuclear Blast): September 28 in Europe and October 2 in North America.

“Riitiir” doesn’t appear to be a real word, even in Norwegian or ancient Norse. As the band explained today, it’s a version of the words for “rites” and “rituals” and is intended to mean “The Rites of Man”. How that concept or the artwork connects to the lyrics or the music hasn’t yet been revealed, but the band say they intend to “discuss some key concepts and potential interpretations in deeper song-by-song analysis” in the weeks and months ahead. Enslaved are so talented and so creative that I’m actually interested — though of course I’m most interested in hearing the music. Continue reading »

HEAD-EXPLODING TOUR NEWS: “CONQUERORS OF THE WORLD 2012” — AND HEAD-EXPLODING PIG DESTROYER NEWS

 Metal News  15 Responses »
Jul 102012
 

Oh my fucking dog. Take a close look at that tour poster above. Upon returning from my birthday Blog Break, I found a message from BadWolf with a link to this beautiful thing, and I nearly peed myself with excitement.

Okay, to be brutally honest, which is the only kind of honest we know how to be at NCS, I did pee myself, though it’s possible that’s the result of general diminution in bladder control that comes with advancing age and an “I can’t be bothered” attitude about going to the bathroom when the first tingling urges appear. Some people would say that I ought to quit fucking around and start manufacturing the NCS-branded adult diapers I’ve written about before, with the “Massive Wall of Penis” logo in the front and the Blastanus logo in the rear, and then start wearing them myself. But for me, I think a little urine stank improves my personal aroma.

Where was I? Oh yeah, the Conquerors of the World 2012 Tour. It’s a North American tour and it features these bands:

Septic Flesh
Krisiun
Melechesh
Ex Deo
Inquisition

As for the tour schedule, it’s still developing, but it starts in October, and after the jump you can see the initial list of 13 dates. Also . . .  PIG DESTROYER! Continue reading »

NEW MUSIC FROM DEPHOSPHORUS, GREAT FALLS, AND AEGAEON

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jul 082012
 

If the name Dephosphorus rings a bell, it may be because Phro recently reviewed this Greek band’s April 2012 split with Wake (here). Yesterday, thanks to a tip from NCS kvrmvdgeon KevinP, I found out that the band have finished recording a debut album called Night Sky Transform, the cover to which you can see above.

The album will be released soon on heavy vinyl by the underground German distro 7 Degrees Records. Two songs from the album are now streaming on the Dephosphorus Bandcamp page (here) — “Cold Omen” and “Uncharted”.

But that’s not all.  In June, Dephosphorus participated in a 7″ split with a Seattle band named Great Falls, which is being distributed by a vinyl subscription club called Hell Comes Home. For people like me who are turntable-deprived (yeah, I still haven’t bought one), both bands’ tracks are also streamable and downloadable at the Hell Comes Home Bandcamp page (here).

After the jump, I’ll offer a few words about the music and play the songs for you. Also after the jump: a brand new song from Aegaeon from their forthcoming EP, Being. Continue reading »

BRINGING METAL TO THE MASSES: THE PRO’S AND CON’S

 Metal News  52 Responses »
Jul 062012
 

I don’t know about you, but I’m usually very entertained when I read efforts by the more-or-less mainstream media to introduce the more-or-less mainstream population to extreme forms of metal.

To be clear, I like the idea in concept. Unlike some people I know, I’m all for opening up the music to new listeners. I’m not really worried that this will destroy the underground or ruin the fuck-you ethic of most bands, because I’m secure in the knowledge that no matter how much mainstream publicity extreme metal receives, the audience size is really never going to explode. The music just clashes too hard with the sensibilities of most music lovers. But there will be some converts, and that’s a good thing in my book.

Apart from welcoming the attention, I’m entertained for two other reasons: First, I enjoy seeing good writers grapple with the challenge of trying to describe the music in terms that people who have little if any previous exposure to it will comprehend, without causing them to immediately run for the hills — and I’m not talking about writers who have no real interest in educating their readers and instead just want to titillate them with some shock value.

Second, it’s fun thinking about the controversy that such educational pieces would generate if they were read by the kind of knowledgable, died-in-the-wool metalheads who are patrons of sites like this one. We all know that most metalheads are a quarrelsome, picky bunch who enjoy finding fault, even with each other, when it comes to things like genre classifications, the quality rating of a band’s music, and descriptions of albums.

I’m thinking about these topics because of an article by Jason Roche that appeared yesterday in the online version of LA Weekly under the headline, “Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Metal But Were Afraid To Ask”. And yes, that photo of Elena Vladi from some band named Demona Mortiss (photo credit: W.B. Fontenot) is what illustrated Jason’s article. Continue reading »

WINTER IS COMING: A WINTERSUN UPDATE AND A WINTERUS SONG

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jul 052012
 

We previously reported that after 8 long years, Finland’s Wintersun will soon be returning with, not one, but two new albums: Time I and Time II, with each album containing approximately 40 minutes of music — 80 minutes of new Wintersun altogether. Based on an earlier press release, the mixing and mastering of Time I is scheduled for completion this month. Today, we learned that Nuclear Blast has finally set a release date for that album: October 19, 2012.

And that’s not all. Yesterday, Nuclear Blast posted a short video trailer on YouTube showing Jari Mäenpää playing orchestration effects for a part of the song “Sons of Winter and Stars”.

Man, am I looking forward to this album. It will be difficult to resist posting every future teaser and trailer that leads up to the album’s release. Maybe I won’t resist. This first video trailer is after the jump.

Yesterday also brought new music from another wintry band — Winterus, who we first featured way back in October 2010 through a MISCELLANY post. This Michigan-based USBM outfit is at work on a new album to be titled Dark Womb, and yesterday they released the cover art and a first demo track from the album, “Hell Form”. A rumbling current of drums flows beneath, tremolo’d guitars rise and fall above, a clean lead guitar weaves an enchanting melody, acid vocals slice through the middle, and an acoustic interlude provides a change of mood. It’s a promising teaser for the album.

The cover art for Dark Womb and a stream of “Hell Form” are after the jump, too — but first, that Wintersun trailer . . . Continue reading »

MORE FUN FROM FACEBOOK: THE LATEST CHANGES

 Metal News  15 Responses »
Jul 042012
 

SUMMARY: Within the last day or two, Facebook has removed the statistics previously reported to Page Admins showing the percentage of Page fans who see their posts. Also, Facebook also made two other changes which reveal that until quite recently, Facebook has been both under-reporting and over-reporting the number of people who “see” Facebook Page posts.

DETAILS: About three weeks ago I wrote an article on this site called “The New Facebook: Fact, Fiction, and Unanswered Questions”.  Wouldn’t you know it — that article has become one of the most-read posts we’ve ever published at NO CLEAN SINGING, despite the fact that we’re a blog devoted almost entirely to extreme metal. Go figure.

The focus of the article was on Facebook’s new “Promoted Posts” feature, which allows administrators of FB Pages to pay Facebook for the privilege of getting their Page posts in front of more of the people who like the Page.  That new policy focused attention on something that had been true for a long time but was unknown to many FB Page admins, i.e., that only a small percentage of our fans are actually seeing what we post on Facebook — and that this happens in large part because Facebook is deciding who ought to see what posts.

That fact became painfully evident because of a new “Page Insights” feature that Facebook rolled out in late May, timed to coincide with the Promoted Posts service. This Page Insights feature included lots of bells and whistles, but the simplest one was a line at the bottom of each Page post that was visible to the Page administrator (in the case of NCS, that would be me), but not to fans of the Page or anyone else who sees a Page post. It showed two statistics: (1) the number of unique people who saw the post — which Facebook calls “people reached”, and (2) the percentage of people who like your Page who saw the post.

It’s that second statistic which made it so obvious to Page admins that their posts were reaching only a small minority of the people who liked their page. It was like an ever-present reminder that if you wanted more people to see your Page posts, you would need to pay FB — and if you did knuckle under and pay, it would also show you how much bang you were getting for your buck in the form of a higher percentage of people reached.

All of this led to a massive bitch fest directed against Facebook. Well, guess what? All that bitching had an effect! Yes, Facebook responded to the barrage of criticism: In the last day or two they removed the statistic that tells Page admins what percentage of their fans see Page posts. But that’s not all . . . Continue reading »

SHARING IS CARING: WINDFAERER, DEW-SCENTED, LOCRIAN, ROBOTS PULLING LEVERS, AND ACOUSTIC CATTLE DECAP

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jul 032012
 

In this post I’m collecting things I saw and heard yesterday that I thought were worth passing on. As you can see, I’m still trying out titles for these posts. Do you like “Sharing Is Caring”? I think it conveys the kind of love we feel for all of you, and it captures the reason why we do these posts — because we care. In fact, in the immortal words of Faith No More, we care A LOT.

Yeah, you’re right, that title is pretty vomitous. I’ll keep thinking about it. Maybe  I’d be better off lifting the immortal words of Bruce Willis: YIPPI KI YAY, MOTHERFUCKERS! Anyway, in this post I’ve got new songs from Windfaerer (US), Dew-Scented (Germany), Locrian (US), and Robots Pulling Levers (US), plus what has to be a worldwide first: an acoustic version of Cattle Decapitation’s “A Living Breathing Piece of Defecating Meat”.

WINDFAERER

Yesterday I listened to a song from this three-man New Jersey band (guitarist/bassist/vocalist Michael Gonçalves, violinist Benjamin Karas, and drummer JP Andrade) called “A Glimpse of Light”. It’s the second track from the band’s Solar EP, which will be self-released on July 10. It grabbed me right off the bat.

The bolting rhythm took hold of my head quickly and began slamming it up and down, and never did let go. But my head was happy, too, and not just because I got a good headband going. The swirling tremolo guitar melodies and soulful solo’s were as entrancing as the hammering drums and thrumming bass were galvanizing. The caustic vocals added an extra layer of bleeding passion to the mix. And the song has a brutal, bang-up, bass-heavy finish, too. Continue reading »

ABIGAIL WILLIAMS IS BREAKING UP

 Metal News  11 Responses »
Jul 022012
 

As the post title says, Abigail Williams has just made a public announcement on their Facebook page that they are breaking up following the completion of what will be their last U.S. tour, which begins this month and runs into September.

News like this is bittersweet. On the one hand, it is most unfortunate for the band’s diehard fans — which include many of us here at NCS. The band’s latest album, Becoming (2012), was their best, and one of the year’s best black metal releases, period. It was a milestone along a path of evolution that pointed toward even brighter horizons ahead.

On the other hand, the band’s announcement made explicit something that we would have assumed, given the creative talent in this group — that the members of the band are already involved in other projects that will be releasing new music before this year is over. I have some guesses about what Ken Sorceron will be doing, but I’ll keep those to myself; it’s better to await official news than engage in speculation (yes, this is a new and uncomfortable rule for me).

After the jump, you can read the full Abigail Williams announcement, and I’ve included some music as a reminder of how good this band is / was. I’m also including the current schedule for what will be the band’s farewell tour. Continue reading »

AGALLOCH’S “FAUSTIAN ECHOES” NOW AVAILABLE FOR IMMEDIATE DOWNLOAD

 Metal News  1 Response »
Jul 022012
 

Concerning Agalloch’s new EP, Faustian Echoes, which BadWolf reviewed for us here, the following announcement appeared on Agalloch’s Facebook page yesterday:

Due to the overwhelming demand for “Faustian Echoes,” we have decided to make the digital download available now. We have also made both the “Grey” and “White” EPs available for digital download. Please visit our bandcamp page for these releases and other B-side and rare material. “Faustian Echoes” will be available on LP and CD at our record release show in Portland, Oregon on July 11th where we will also begin the “Faustian Spirits” month-long tour of North America. The LP and CD will continue to be sold on tour and made available to the world after the tour. Thank you for your support and please spread!

That is fine news. The Faustian Echoes download will cost you $6. You can get it, along with The Grey, The White, and a lot more Agalloch music at their Bandcamp page (HERE).

WATCH ONE OF THE BEST VIDEOS OF THE YEAR: A FOREST OF STARS — “GATHERER OF THE PURE”

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Jun 292012
 

A Forest of Stars (or more precisely The Gentlemen’s Club of A Forest of Stars) is a 7-person UK band whose music I haven’t previously explored, though their name is wonderful. My ignorance about them vanished rapidly today. They’ve collaborated in the creation of a new music video that’s probably the best one I’ve seen this year. I have a difficult time imagining that it will be surpassed.

The video is for a nearly 10-minute song called “Gatherer of the Pure”, which is drawn from the band’s new concept album A Shadowplay For Yesterdays. The album is scheduled for release on August 13 by Lupus Lounge / Prophecy Productions.

The music is a kind of very eccentric black metal. In keeping with the Victorian garb of the band members and their archaic names (e.g., “Mister Curse”, “The Gentleman”, “Katheryne, Queen of the Ghosts”, “Mr John “The Resurrectionist” Bishop”), the song sounds like history re-imagined — an occult conflation of the old (and odd) and the new.

The music is sometimes symphonically bombastic, sometimes waltzing, sometimes skin-scaping, and much else besides. It tells a story. I don’t know that from the lyrics, much of which I can’t make out, but the mere progression of the music makes that undeniable.

The animated video tells a story, too — a very dark and dramatic one. Visually, it’s stunning — no other word for it. It’s like watching the Indonesian shadow puppet theater called wayang kulit set against a backdrop of Victorian London and seeing it through a 19th-century stereopticon (don’t ask me where I pick up all this trivia). The visuals are so amazing that they almost overshadow the music, though I think that’s because what you see and what you hear mesh so seamlessly. Continue reading »

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