ANOTHER EXTOL TEASER — LOOKING MORE AND MORE LIKE A DOCUMENTARY

 Metal News  5 Responses »
May 152012
 

Andy Synn posted on NCS not long ago about a brief video teaser that suggested something is in the works concerning Norway’s Extol — a beloved metal band who have been on indefinite hiatus, with their last album released in 2005. The first teaser appeared on a Norwegian-registered web site called extolfilm.com.

This afternoon, “extolfilm” left a comment on Andy’s post tipping us to the fact that a second teaser has now appeared on the extolfilm.com site. Based on the latest teaser clip, it’s looking increasingly likely that what’s in the works is a documentary about the band, or at least a DVD compendium of live performances and commentary by others, because the clip features people talking about Extol. We don’t know who’s talking, because their heads aren’t shown in the clip (you can imagine why this was attractive to me).

Now, of course, even if this is a documentary or performance DVD, there might still be new music — or there might not be.  We shall continue to snoop around, because “nosy” is our middle name, and to report anything more concrete that may eventually surface. You can watch the latest piece of video titillation after the jump.

And for the hell of it, we’ll have some Extol music after the jump, too. Continue reading »

DUAL DESTRUCTION TOUR CONTEST: WE HAZ A WINNER

 Metal News  3 Responses »
May 152012
 

Through the good graces of Century Media, we sponsored a free ticket give-away for the DUAL DESTRUCTION TOUR of two of our favorite up-and-coming bands, 7 Horns 7 Eyes and Stealing Axion. The contest is now closed, and we had a random drawing for the winning entry.  Congratulations to Nicole B!  Nicole, we will be e-mailing you shortly with info about your ticket.

Thanks to everyone who entered.  Even though we aren’t getting you a free ticket, this will be a tour well-worth paying to see anyway. Check out the tour dates here.

SÓLSTAFIR: “SHE DESTROYS AGAIN”

 Metal News  5 Responses »
May 132012
 

“She Destroys Again” is a song from Sólstafir’s Köld album, which was released in February 2009 by Spikefarm Records. When the band’s official video for the song originally went up on YouTube in 2010, it was taken down, presumably because of the full frontal female nudity. Later, it was re-uploaded and has been age-restricted on YouTube since then.

I suppose in some sort of jousting match with YouTube, it has been uploaded again today without the age restriction. I’m sure that won’t last long.

It’s a cool song and a cool video, which I was reminded about by the new upload.  The video is just a montage of still photos compiled by the band’s drummer Guðmundur Óli Pálmason using Final Cut, without any digital post-processing; he says all the visual effects were manually created. It’s interesting to watch.

I’ll embed the non-restricted version after the jump.  When it eventually gets blocked, you can go HERE to see the age-restricted cut, if you’re of age. Continue reading »

THE WEEKEND ON ROLLER SKATES — WITH YELLOWGOAT, WINDS OF GENOCIDE, ONE INCH GIANT, AND SEVERED CROTCH

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  17 Responses »
May 112012
 

True story:  I tried to roller skate once.  It didn’t end well.  I kind of careened all over the place, totally out of control, veering in one direction and then another.  Eventually I came to rest — on my ass, with a severely sprained ankle.  It was a hell of an adrenaline rush, followed by a fuckton of pain.

The point of this post is to throw some music your way to help you skid into the weekend ahead, to get some adrenaline pumping, and to bring the pain.

YELLOWGOAT

We know Joel Grind can thrash. He’s the driving force behind Portland’s one-man wrecking machine, Toxic Holocaust, a “band” that quite effectively churns out a holocaust of punk/thrash mayhem. Now we can hear a slightly different side of Mr. Grind.

He has a one-man side project called Yellowgoat and has finished recording a 9-track album under that name. Yesterday he put up on the Tube of You an 8-minute preview of the album, with excerpts from the songs. Based on those previews, I’d describe the music as a nasty, fuzzed-out fusion of black thrash, d-beat, and punk — a throwback to the early days of black metal. It makes sense that he picked a name that pretty obviously came from the cover of Bathory’s first album.

The music is vicious, raw, and thoroughly energizing. So get this skate show on the road by rockin’ out to the Yellowgoat album preview right after the jump, and after that you’ll see some of Joel’s comments about this project. Continue reading »

THE FIRST TASTE OF ENSLAVED’S NEW ALBUM

 Metal News  9 Responses »
May 112012
 

There may be other metal bands somewhere in the world whose musical journey has been as long, as varied, and as successful as that of Norway’s Enslaved, but there surely can’t be many.

They began life under the name Phobia, playing Autopsy-style doomy death metal, but they made their mark as a pioneering black metal band. They adopted their current name from the Immortal demo cut “Enslaved to Rot”. They shared a split with Emperor in 1993. And then they made a big impact with their 1994 debut album Frost. Their 1997 album Eld appears in the No. 8 position on the well-regarded list of black metal’s Top 100 albums at the Norsksvartmetall site.

But musically, Enslaved have been in almost constant motion, evolving in progressive directions. They have now finished recording their as-yet unnamed newest album, which is projected for release by the band’s new label Nuclear Blast in October. Today, the Lydverket web site (affiliated with the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, NRK) published an interview of the band by Totto Mjelde, which was conducted in the studio as the band were putting the finishing touches on the recording before sending it to Fascination Street Studios in Sweden for mixing.

We’ve written about NRK’s coverage of Norwegian metal in the past, and Totto was nice enough to tip us to this piece — which is in English and is definitely worth reading, not least because it includes a report about the music on Enslaved’s new album, an audio excerpt from one of the songs, and some nice photos from the studio.

After the jump, I’ve included a couple of highlights from the interview and Totto’s description of this first taste of music from Enslaved’s new album. Continue reading »

NEW MARDUK VIDEO: “SOULS FOR BELIAL”

 Metal News  8 Responses »
May 102012
 

Marduk’s new album, Serpent Sermon, will be released by Century Media on June 1. I hear through the grapevine that our man Andy Synn will have a review in the near future. Today, the band debuted the official music video for a track called “Souls For Belial”.

There are black metal posers in the world. Marduk are not among them. With the exception of a well-timed, reduced-pace segment past the half-way point, “Souls For Belial” is a bestial, bile-drenched, soul-scraping, take-no-prisoners attack that flies fast and hard. The well-made video by Håkan Sjödin fits the music. The imagery, both of the band and of imagined creatures, exudes occult vitriol.

The next time someone pokes fun at black metal by linking to one of those lol-some Immortal videos, show them this one. Watch it after the jump. Continue reading »

DEATHSPELL OMEGA: “DROUGHT”

 Metal News  13 Responses »
May 072012
 

Well, this sure as hell snuck up on me silently and quickly and pounced from behind without warning. Season of Mist has begun taking pre-orders for a new EP titled Drought by Deathspell Omega that’s scheduled for release on June 22. The pre-order page (HERE) says that artwork will be revealed soon, but the image above appears right alongside the order info, and it looks like artwork to me.

Deathspell Omega have no official web site or social media pages, and they don’t talk much, so I suppose that explains why this arrived unheralded and without fanfare. But I have no doubt word will spread quickly. Here’s the verbiage that accompanies the order info at the Season of Mist e-shop:

“Drought has the sour taste of the inexorable; it is a musical journey through the last moments before disaster hits. This recording displays some of the most lethal song writing ever witnessed from the band while retaining their unmistakable sound.”

My first exposure to the band was their 2010 album Paracletus, which made me an immediate fan. I suspect we have more than a few equally devoted fans among the readers of this site. This post, therefore, should make your fucking day. And since Deathspell Omega is now uppermost in my mind, I think I’ll play a song for you after the jump. I picked this one because, for those of you not familiar with the band, it happens that Season of Mist is still offering it for free download HERE. Also after the jump is the track list for Drought. Continue reading »

SUMMER SLAUGHTER SURVIVORS TOUR

 Metal News  1 Response »
May 072012
 

Last year, the SUMMER SLAUGHTER tour promoters came up with the clever idea of sponsoring a fan vote for the tour’s opening band and then organizing a second tour for the bands on the ballot who lost the election. This year, they’ve done it again, giving metal consumers two tours instead of one.

This year’s SLAUGHTER SURVIVORS tour is headlined by Pathology and includes Enfold Darkness, Fallujah, Fit For An Autopsy, and Aegaeon. We’ve complimented the music of all these bands in previous NCS posts (if you don’t believe me, type their names in the search box), and this should make a worthwhile show for those who live in the right U.S. cities.

Speaking of which, the schedule is after the jump. Continue reading »

ANNOUNCING THE GREAT NCS TWITTER PROJECT

 Metal News  23 Responses »
May 062012
 

(BadWolf is sacrificing what’s left of his peace of mind for the greater good of NCS, beyond which there is no greater good.)

HAILS!!!

Dear loyal readers, haters, and bad skaters

It has come to my attention that many of you out there do not receive nearly enough furious metal nerdrage delivered instantly to your mobile devices.

To this end, I have joined twitter.

For my first act as future Alpha Male of the instant-communication inforverse, I declare that I will follow every single metal-related twitter user that you readers insist I follow, in order to filter out the filler and relay to you killer bits of inane, digitized NOTHING!

Follow me at @BadWolfNCS and leave me suggestions as for who to follow in the comment thread below. Here’s the profile link: https://twitter.com/#!/BadWolfNCS

BARK AT THE MOON!!!

TITILLATING UPDATES FROM SIGHT OF EMPTINESS

 Metal News  No Responses »
May 042012
 

“Titillating”: pleasantly stimulating or exciting; also: erotic.

That’s the definition of the word provided by the Merriam-Webster online dictionary. It looks like the Spanish translation of the word would be “excitar, estimular placenteramente”. It’s a great word, because it sort of sounds like what it means, at least to me. But that may be because it begins with “tits”, as in “this is the tits”.  Speaking of which, THIS is the tits, and it’s also titillating:

Costa Rica-based metal band Sight of Emptiness have finished recording their third album, to be released later this year, and it features a line-up of guest appearances that will make you look twice. If you’ve been a regular NCS reader, you already know about this talented band because we’ve written about them frequently and even helped them premiere a new song and video. If you don’t know about them yet, check this out.

Now, let’s start with the name-dropping: First, the album was recorded at SoloHits Studios in San José, Costa Rica by Swedish producer Thomas “Plec” Johansson (Scar Symmetry, Watain, Solution .45, Miseration), who traveled all the way to Costa Rica to work with the band for 22 days. Johansson will also handle the mixing and mastering at Panic Room Studios in Skara, Sweden.

Second, here’s the list of guest appearances:

Glen Drover (King Diamond & Megadeth)

Christian Älvestam (Scar Symmetry, Miseration, Solution .45

Whitfield Crane (Ugly Kid Joe, Another Animal

Ralph Santolla (Deicide, Iced Earth, Obituary)

Ole Halvard Sveen (Extol, Mantric, Lengsel)

and last but not least . . . Continue reading »

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