VALLENFYRE: “DESECRATION”

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  22 Responses »
Oct 042011
 

If you haven’t yet heard about Vallenfyre, then you must be new to NCS, because we’ve been frothing at the mouth about them ever since August, when we heard samples of a couple of songs and few people knew the identities of the band members (see our first post here and our update here). Now, the mystery has been solved, and the debut Vallenfyre album, A Fragile King, is due for release by Century Media on November 1.

Since our last post, there have been lots of developments coming out of the Vallenfyre camp. Most recently, as in today, a new song from the album premiered on the DECIBEL web site. The song is called “Desecration”, and in a much-appreciated display of generosity, DECIBEL has made the song stream embeddable, allowing us to play it for you right after the jump — but it will only be streaming for two days. I’m rushing at the moment, so I won’t try to craft a description — I’ll just say you need to hear it. (DECIBEL did provide a nice description of the music, and I’m including that after the jump, too.)

Also, (1) Vallenfyre now has a Facebook page (here); (2) you can hear snippets of all the songs on Amazon UK here; (3) you can pre-order the CD and a shirt here; and (4) the eye-catching album art is out (though you probably guessed that one already, didn’t you?).

After the jump, the song. Also, Vallenfyre rules. Continue reading »

WORMROT: “NOISE”

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
Oct 042011
 

This just in from our Noise correspondent, Phro: SCION A/V has made available for free download a collection of five new tracks from Singapore grind masters Wormrot. The compilation is called Noise. It went up for download on Sept 20, but I missed that news (thank you Phro for the alert). Here’s the track list:

1.  Loathsome Delusions
2.  False Assumptions
3.  Outburst of Annoyance
4.  Breed to Breed
5.  Perpetual Extinction

After the jump, I’ve got a stream of all five songs, plus the download link. But almost as amazing as that, I’ve got Phro’s custom-crafted, NCS-appropriate, pictorial encouragement, urging all of you to listen to Wormrot. Continue reading »

WHITECHAPEL: “RECORRUPTED”

 Metal News  1 Response »
Oct 032011
 

Well, well, well.  What a coincidence. This morning I included a new Whitechapel song called “Section 8” in a somewhat random hodgepodge of music. At that point, it appeared the song was going to appear on a new EP. Now, we have confirmation of that, plus more details, plus a video for the song. So, for the sake of completeness . . . I give you this post.

The EP will indeed be called Recorrupted and it will indeed be released by Metal Blade on November 8. In addition to “Section 8“, the EP will include a cover of Pantera’s “Strength Beyond Strength”, an acoustic version of “End of Flesh”, a Big Chocolate remix of “Breeding Violence”, and a remix of “This Is Exile” by Ben Weinman from The Dillinger Escape Plan. “Section 8″ and “Strength Beyond Strength” are also the first recordings with new drummer Ben Harclerode. 

Recorrupted is a limited edition print run and will only be available through the Whitechapel Webstore, Metal Blade’s Webstore, iTunes, and at the band’s merch table.

The video features studio footage shot and edited by guitarist Alex Wade, with animations by Vince Edwards. You can see it after the jump. Continue reading »

GOJIRA UPDATE

 Metal News  3 Responses »
Oct 022011
 

If you’re like your friends here at NCS, you occasionally wonder, “what the fuck is going on with Gojira’s Sea Shepherd EP?” Well, we spotted the following note posted by Gojira on the band’s Facebook page earlier today. Now you will know what we know:

“A lot happened since our last message so we wanted to give you some news today and let you know we are still alive! We know you are all eagerly awaiting the Sea Sheperd EP release. We are sorry for the delay. Some of the material was on a hard drive that crashed but we are nearing the end of a long and difficult recovery process. Now the Good news: the new Album is ready! All the music and lyrics are waiting to be recorded. Joe is already in NY to check out the Studio and make sure everything is sorted so we can begin to record next month. A new website is being built and we are working on ways to improve the communication between the band and our fans. You guys fucking rule! Thanks!”

Uh, well, okay, we’re trying to remain calm, but having some difficulty doing that, because that little tossed-in bit of “good news” is pretty fucken cool, ain’t it? Sort of compensates for the lateness of Sea Shepherd.

DEAR TORI AMOS

 IQ Subtraction, Metal News, Phro's Posts  39 Responses »
Sep 232011
 

(Here we have a tender letter from guest contributor Phro to Tori Amos, who seems to have riled up metalheads far and wide with THIS.)

Dear Tori Amos,

Don’t take this the wrong way, but who are you?

I’m guessing you think you’re pretty important… Which maybe you are. But either way I have no idea who you are. Oh! Wait! Are you the little puppy who sang about ironic things in the 90s? …Or was it apples? I’m pretty sure there was a woman singer who sang about stuff. I know you’re not the nice lady who was God. And the Google image search gave me a red head instead of a cute blonde, so you’re not Jewel…well, I’m at a loss.

Anyway, this is a letter for you.  I hope it will justify your sense of importance.  By the way, this might seem like it was written for a five year old, but that’s only so it’s easy to understand for you.

Anyway, apparently you have challenged metal. Which…what…when…where…who?  Who, exactly, do you think that is? Limp Bizkit? I mean I may not know who you are, but I also don’t issue challenges to  random…umm…things, because that’d just be weird. (You know music can’t hear or read, right? I mean, technically, it doesn’t even exist since it’s just sounds waves, but let’s keep this at the five year old level.) Continue reading »

A VIOLATION OF THE GENEVA CONVENTION

 Metal News  11 Responses »
Sep 192011
 

I’m beginning to think that the Geneva Convention should be amended to prohibit album teasers, unless the music sucks like a toothless meth whore, in which case, y’know, the sooner it’s over the better. But when the music sounds awesome, it’s torture to be given just a few seconds of tease and then be left tumescent and unsatisfied.

I used to think Tamás Kátai and his band Thy Catafalque were great. I’ve been singing their praises recently (here, for example). What a fool I’ve been. I’ve learned the hard way that they’re just a bunch of teases. I wake up this morning, bleary eyes still crusted with sleep and belly badly in need of caffeination. I stumble over to the computer and check the e-mail to see if any of my supposed African benefactors have actually made arrangements to provide the bags of gold dust and multi-million-dollar wire transfers they promised in return for my personal details, and what do I see instead but a note from Tamás about the dose of torture at the top of this post.

Yes, it’s a fucking album teaser. Just long enough to produce a swelling sensation in my pants and then . . . silence. It’s an especially heartless thing to do since the new album (the band’s first on Season of Mist) won’t be released until November 11 in Europe and fucking January 10, 2012 in North America. I bet dollars to donuts that they’re not finished with the torturing either. I bet they’re going to release a song sometime between now and then followed by more tumescence and then more . . . . . . . . . . waiting.

I am one of those people who believes that my own suffering will be ameliorated if I cause other people to suffer in the same way. Don’t you just love people like that? So, listen to the teaser, won’t you? It’s after the jump. Continue reading »

NEW FALL TOURS

 Metal News  6 Responses »
Sep 172011
 

As a public service, I thought I’d let you know about two North American tours I just noticed yesterday, plus two others announced earlier but not previously mentioned at NCS. The first of the newer ones is advertised by the poster above. What caught my eye, in addition to the name Korpiklaani, was the fact that Russia’s Arkona is on this tour. Arkona is a recent discovery for us here at NCS, thanks to our friend Trollfiend, who provided a guest review of the band’s new album Slovo. Also included on the tour are Polkadot Cadaver and Forged in Flame. I don’t yet know anything about those two bands, but I’m very tempted to see this show simply because of Arkona (though I like Korpiklaani, too), especially because the Seattle stop will be at a relatively small club.

The second tour is the 2011 edition of Thrash and Burn. This has been a summer tour since its inception, but it was a no-show in the summer just past and now appears to have emerged as a re-branding of Winds of Plague’s fall headlining tour. Following in the footsteps of Summer Slaughter, Winds of Plague and the promoters of this tour nominated a group of bands to fill the last tour slot and let fans vote for a winner. A couple days ago, the winner was announced, and it’s Volumes. Interestingly, Volumes was also one of the nominated bands on the Summer Slaughter ballot, but didn’t make the cut that time and instead were included on the Slaughter Survivors Tour. Volumes has a new album called Via that’s getting some buzz, though I haven’t heard it yet.

The rest of the bands on this version of Thrash and Burn are Chelsea Grin, As Blood Runs Black, For the Fallen Dreams, Upon A Burning Body, In the Midst of Lions, and Like Moths to Flames. In other words, the tour should be renamed Deathcore and Burn. No tour schedule has yet been announced.

I must admit that among the fall tours we haven’t yet mentioned at this site, I’m personally more interested in the Mastodon/Dillinger Escape Plan/Red Fang tour and the Mayhem/Keep Of Kalessin/Hate/Abigail Williams tour (which will be joined by Woe on 13 dates not yet specified). The schedules for the Korpiklaani tour and those others I just mentioned are after the jump. Continue reading »

JUNIUS REPLACES GHOST ON ENSLAVED’S FALL TOUR

 Metal News  1 Response »
Sep 132011
 

We previously reported that because of difficulties obtaining visas, Ghost would be forced to drop off the fall North American tour headlined by Norway’s Enslaved, which begins September 23. We mused that such a cloud might have a silver lining, ie, that another awesome band might be recruited to take the place of the missing phantoms.

Well, a replacement has indeed been found. Their name is Junius. I knew fuck-all about them when I saw the press release announcing their appearance on the tour. I have done some very quick research, and I now know (a) that they are from Boston; (b) that they describe their music as “art rock” and have been described by others as “a perfect hybrid of Neurosis and The Smiths”; (c) that they premiered a new song this morning on Brooklyn Vegan (here), which will appear on a new album to be released by Prosthetic Records called Reports From the Threshold of Death; and (d) the cover art for that new album is cool.

In case you were wondering, I did listen to that new song, “All Shall Float”. It’s not metal, at least not by my definition. It’s what I think of as emotional indie rock, and therefore (given my own tastes) it’s not something I would listen to on my own in a million years. So, it doesn’t enhance my anticipation for this tour, although I don’t really need any enhancement with Enslaved and Alcest already on the bill. Have a look at the cover art after the jump, and if you’re going to this tour and want to see what you’re in for from Junius, you can listen to “All Shall Float” after the jump, too. Continue reading »

ARCHITECTURE OF AGGRESSION

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Sep 132011
 

I’ve been writing an irregular series on South African metal, relying largely on recommendations from South African metalheads to pick the bands. So far, I’ve managed three installments covering 9 bands. I’ve made some very nice discoveries, and I do plan to do a fourth installment sometime soon.

Architecture of Aggression were one of the widely recommended bands who were the subject of the third installment (here). Formed by two brothers, Van Zyl and Anton Alberts, they’ve been in existence for 16 years, creating their first demo album (Under Destruction) in 1997. That was followed by another demo album in 1998 (self-titled), a further demo in 2000 (Cruci-fiction), a 2004 EP (Manifest Destiny), and two albums:  Democracy: Consent to Domination (2006) and Acts of God – 4000 Years of Phallusy (2009), the last of which is the album I sampled for the third installment of the SA metal series. To crib from what I wrote about AOA previously:

As for the music, think of a heavily armored tank propelled by a couple of jet engines. It’s massive and bone-grinding, but at the same time it flies. The riffing is technical and varied, the rubbery bass is bounding, the un-triggered drums are crushing, and on top of all that you get a variety of agile guitar solos that sometimes sound downright jazzy.

This is complex, technically demanding, and amazingly inventive death metal. Think of Necrophagist, Autopsy, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, and Hate Eternal, but with avant-garde bursts of instrumental extravagance, and you’ll begin to get a sense of what AOA is all about.

With that background, here’s the reason for today’s post: AOA has uploaded their EP and two full-length albums to the Bandcamp platform, at this location: https://architectureofaggression1.bandcamp.com. (more after the jump, including song streams . . .) Continue reading »

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