I DON’T THINK PRAYER IS GOING TO HELP THIS DUDE, DO YOU?

 Metal News  1 Response »
Jul 222011
 

Pathology is a brutal death-metal band from SoCal. I’m a fan, partly for reasons that don’t have much to do with the music. Jonathan Huber, Pathology’s vocalist, used to be the frontman for Seattle’s I Declare War, and I had fun watching that band rise up from their starting days playing local gigs to their current prominence on the deathcore scene. I also had fun watching Jonathan periodically destroy himself in one Seattle mosh pit after another.

Pathology’s new album, Awaken to the Suffering, will be their first since Huber joined the band. It’s scheduled for release on September 13 via Victory Records. Yesterday, courtesy of a tip from NCS reader Utmu, I discovered that the band has now released the cover art for the album, created by the awesome Pär Olofsson. I couldn’t resist posting about it. Just feast your eyes on the grisliness above — and imagine the feasting that those monsters are about to enjoy.

After a festival in California and a few headline dates in Texas beginning August 26, Pathology will start a nationwide tour as support for Grave and Blood Red Throne, and Gigan is also on the bill. That will be a grisly, blood-drenched, head-busting extravaganza. The schedule is after the jump. Continue reading »

WHERE DO SONGS COME FROM?

 Metal News  11 Responses »
Jul 182011
 

I’m pretty pumped up about Machine Head’s new album, Unto the Locust (due in September on Roadrunner). The first single, “Locust”, sounds good, and — well — it’s fuckin’ Machine Head. But in addition to being excited, now I’m also curious.

Thanks to Blabbermouth, I watched an interview that Machine Head vocalist/guitarist Rob Flynn gave to Nikki Blakk of the San Francisco, California radio station 107.7 “The Bone” at the second show of the Rockstar Energy Drink Mayhem Festival on July 10 in Mountain View, California. At one point, Blakk asks Flynn what song on the new album is his favorite. There’s a pause, and then he tells a story about the creation of a song called “The Darkness Within”.

He calls the song “pretty left-field for us” and says “it’s gonna be a song that just flips people on their heads.” Flynn continues: “it’s a very dark song, and it’s a really good song. I think it’s maybe one of the best songs we’ve ever written, and I’m really proud of it.” There’s also a hint that it may have some “mainstream” appeal.

Okay, so I was intrigued by that.  I got more intrigued when he explained how the song came to life. Each song has its own story, no doubt. Each songs comes from someplace in the mind and experiences of a musician and a lyricist. This song seems to have had part of its genesis in a Jeff Bridges performance in the movie Crazy Heart.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

IF YOU LIVED IN WESTERN CANADA AND COULD ASK ROB ZOMBIE AND SLAYER WHATEVER CAME TO YOUR PUTRID MIND, WHAT WOULD IT BE?

 Metal News  50 Responses »
Jul 172011
 

This is not an entirely hypothetical question. It could happen. Our brothers in blog at Heavy Blog Is Heavy are giving away two tickets to the Vancouver stop of the Hell On Earth Tour on August 3, plus a chance for a meet-and-greet session with tour headliners Rob Zombie and Slayer (Exodus is also on this tour, but to ask them questions, you’ll have to get up stage in the middle of their set and see if you can get their attention).

Those tickets and passes are the grand prize in a contest HBIH is currently running, with the second prize being two more tickets (but no meet-and-greet). To enter, you just have to answer this imminently practical question: If all hell were to break loose and zombies came out of the woodwork, how would you slay them?

I keep answers to questions like this on a little notepad in an emergency kit, which includes such other potentially useful items as a can of catfood, a block of C-4 explosive, two packs of Ding-Dongs, and a used-only-once band-aid. My notepad also includes words of greeting in seven known extraterrestrial languages. In other words, I’m fuckin’ ready for anything.

I know how to kill zombies, too. Kill ’em so they won’t be coming back — ever. Unfortunately, since I’m within the secret, monolithic brotherhood of blogdom with the HBIH people, I’m ineligible to enter this contest. Probably for the best; it wouldn’t be fair to everyone else. I also know what to ask Rob Zombie and Slayer, but if I told you, I’d have to kill you.

To get more details about the HBIH contest, go here. Contest ends on July 26.

CONTRAST THE WATER (UPDATE)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jul 152011
 

We’ve run a couple of features in the past about Metal From South Africa and have made some awesome discoveries. We’re waaaaaay late running the third installment of that series, but I’m still on the road in work-drone mode for my day job, and that’s slowing down everything I’d planned to do, including that next installment on SA metal.

But, I do have an update about one of the bands featured previously: Durban’s Contrast the Water. When we wrote about them before (at this location), they were working on completion of their sophomore album and had posted two songs from it for free download. Now, the album (Perseverance) is complete and scheduled for release in August — and the band has decided to put all the songs from the album up on YouTube.

As a selfish fan, I like that strategy — making it easy for people to listen to the album and share individual songs, which is exactly what I’m about to do.  I haven’t yet listened to the entire album. What I did was jump to the last track first, because I’m used to doing things ass-backwards at least half the time (and the rest of the time, I’m ass-forwards).

Track 10 is called “Fallen”, and man, it surprised the hell out of me. It pulls you in right from the start with a hell of a groove and an explosion of jittery riffage — and then it starts changing in some unexpected and fantastic ways. I fucken love the song. Check it out after the jump, and then we’ll give you a link for the rest of the songs. When I get a bit more time, I’m diving into the rest of Perseverance. Continue reading »

I CAN’T PRONOUNCE THE NAME OF THIS SONG, BUT IT’S FUCKIN’ KILLIN’ ME

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  17 Responses »
Jul 122011
 

Goreaphobia is a Philadelphia-based death metal band with deep roots in the death-metal underground. Not long ago, we saw the news that the band had joined up with the Dark Descent label for the release of their new album, Apocalyptic Necromancy. It’s scheduled for release on August 9, and it features the band’s new guitarist, VJS (Kult ov Azazel, Crimson Moon, Demoncy).

It also features that awesomely eye-catching piece of cover art above, created by Linsey Wasiuta.

Today, Decibel premiered a track from the album called “Xurroth Rreeth N’ves Helm”. I nearly swallowed my tongue trying to pronounce that. I found it easier to use the English translation that appears in parentheses next to that title — “City of Rot and Decay”. And don’t ask me from what language the title words are drawn, because I have no fucking clue.

What I do know is that the song is an absolutely monstrous delight. Goreaphobia guitarist Alex Bouk describes it thusly: “This is one of those songs that just came very easy. To me it has a Venom meets Iron Maiden-type feel to it. This is more of a straight heavy metal track. It sounds like nothing else on the record.”

Well, I sorta hope he’s wrong, because the song is a killer — gore-drenched vocals paired up with a slaughterhouse full of riffs, a filthy guitar solo, and a hard-rockin’ beat. I’m definitely now stoked to hear the rest of this album. Go bang your head at Decibel and let us know what you think, won’t you?

OAK PANTHEON UPDATE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  19 Responses »
Jul 122011
 

On June 30, we posted a little feature on three very promising bands who had come our way. The music was quite different, but what the three bands had in common was less than 100 Facebook “likes”. One of those bands was a three-piece group from Minneapolis called Oak Pantheon. At the time, our friends at Death Metal Baboon had premiered a wonderful track from the band’s then-forthcoming EP, The Void.

Well, as of today, Oak Pantheon have released The Void EP as a “name your price” download on their Bandcamp page (here is the link). I’ve been streaming these five tracks while attempting to do paying work today, and I’m having trouble keeping my mind on my job — because the music is hugely distracting and tremendously appealing. As a gross generalization, it’s folk-influenced black metal with memorable acoustic and electric melodies, infectious rhythms, and a scarifying dose of Nordic vocals. Sweeping beauty and the beast, indeed.

I’m particularly carried away by the predominantly instrumental track called “Architect of the Void Pt I” — carried away and hooked like a fish. If you’d like to check out that song and the rest of the EP while you continue browsing around here, we’ve embedded a player after the jump. I’m already sold — and downloading the EP now.

By the way, Oak Pantheon are up from 74 to 96 Facebook likes since our last post. Go help put them over the century mark, won’t you? (And thanks to reader/musician Ray Heberer for reminding us that today was release day for this EP.) Continue reading »

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM – THE COUNTDOWN BEGINS

 Metal News  8 Responses »
Jul 112011
 

We received a press release earlier today. It made me sit up straight. It elevated my pulse. It may have elevated other parts of my body, but that’s between me and, uh, the other parts of my body. In a nutshell, we now know the release date and name of the next album from Wolves in the Throne Room, plus information about guest appearances on the album and advance news about the band’s touring plans. I’m just gonna lay it on you as I got it:

“After devoting late Winter season to writing and recording, Wolves in the Throne Room are in the final stages of completing their fourth full-length opus of epic, earthen Black Metal ceremony.

“For over six months the Weaver brothers, Aaron and Nathan, have been immersed in the painstaking writing and recording process of their newest album, and this week the process is nearly complete; at press time the album is in its final mixing stages. The Wolves in the Throne Room clan clan have confirmed the title of this forthcoming astral black metal document as Celestial Lineage.

“The transmutation reaches a new level with the completion of the album. In contrast to the bleakly hypnotic architecture of Black Cascade, the lifespan of Celestial Lineage breathes more expansive and visionary life into the duo’s work. The Wolves in the Throne Room trademark long-form approach to arrangement remains intact, but there is a stronger thread of Popul Vuh-inspired underworld synthscapes and star-lit pulse woven with the intertwining guitar figures.

(more after the jump . . .)

Continue reading »

THIS IS COOL TOO

 Metal News  23 Responses »
Jul 112011
 

Well, well, well. No sooner had I finished posting that clip of Opeth’s live performance at Sonisphere-UK than I saw this news — that the new album from Disma (Towards the Megalith) is now streaming in full at . . .

Take a guess where it’s streaming. I’ll wait.

I bet you didn’t guess NPR. But, amazingly, that’s where it’s streaming. Do you know about Disma? It’s Craig Pillard from Incantation, plus members of New Jersey’s awesome Funebrarum, Methadrone live bassist Randi Stokes and former live Incantation guitarist Bill Venner.

The album will be released on July 19. I’ve taken one spin through my promo copy so far. I think it may well be the heaviest record I’ve yet heard in 2011. Go check out the album stream HERE, unless you’re feeling . . . fragile.

RITES OF DARKNESS 3: THE FIVE BANDS YOU CAN’T MISS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  15 Responses »
Jul 102011
 

(Surgical Brute — NCS reader, commenter, and reliable source of skull-cleaving musical recommendations — returns with the second part of his preview of the Rites of Darkness 3 festival.)

Okay, after my original post, it quickly came to my attention that some of you reading No Clean Singing were probably unaware of the best festival to happen in the U.S. this year. The organizers of Rites of Darkness 3 have been quietly assembling one of the best line-ups of underground metal that I’ve ever seen. This one is going to be a marathon, with very little opportunity for rest stops.

In my last post I mentioned 5 lesser-known bands I thought people needed to check out. As we slowly get closer to the day of the festival (December 9-11th in San Antonio), I think it’s time to check out a few more bands scheduled to appear at this monster. So here are 5 bands that you absolutely cannot miss.

FUNEBRARUM

One of my personal favorites, and probably one of the heaviest bands out there right now.

These guys were playing dirty, old school death metal long before it caught on again in the underground. I got the chance to catch their live set at MDF 2011, and I can vouch for them. Only getting an incredibly short 30 minutes, this band pummeled me harder than anyone else that day. For fans of Incantation and Disma.

(There’s lots more after the jump, including Surgical Brute’s hand-picked sample tracks from each band featured in this preview, beginning with Funebrarum . . .) Continue reading »

NOW, IF HE HAD LOST HIS MIDDLE FINGER, IT WOULD HAVE BEEN A PROBLEM

 IQ Subtraction, Metal News  13 Responses »
Jul 082011
 

I just took my usual mid-day break at work to check up on doings in the world of metal, just to see if something earth-shaking had happened while I was droning away, something that would be of such vital interest to NCS readers that I’d need to post about it. No such luck. But I did find this (thank you Blabbermouth):

Guitarist Tim Carley of U.K. punk-infused death metallers THE ROTTED severed the top of his finger yesterday (Wednesday, July 6) when a 60-kilogram flight case fell on it from a van. Tim received treatment in hospital to remove the damaged parts of the finger, including the nail and the torn flesh. The doctors then sewed the remaining parts back together. The incident has left the top of Tim‘s bone unattached to the rest of his finger, which the doctors have said in time will heal.

In a statement, Tim said, “The doctors have told me it will take at least 10 weeks to heal. When I asked her if I could still play the guitar, she replied ‘I’ve heard your records, and to be honest, I can’t see this making much difference.’

Laughed my fucken ass off when I got to that last sentence. But wait! There’s more, including video!  (after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

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