MASTODON UPDATE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  20 Responses »
Jul 072011
 

Can you guess what the update is? Go ahead, make a guess! I’ll even give you a hint. It involves three mouths, four sets of ears, scales, and horns.

Yes! It’s the just-revealed cover art for Mastodon’s next album, The Hunter. It’s not your typical metal-album style of artwork, and it’s not the work of Paul Romano, who was the artist behind all of Mastodon’s previous cover art. Instead, it was created by AJ Fosik, a wood carver who’s also responsible for the backdrop the band uses in their live shows. 

I think it’s damned cool, not only in the composition, but also in the use of vivid colors. You can see some of AJ Fosik’s other work at this location. It’s damned cool, too.

Mastodon is currently in Europe for a summer-long tour that includes all the dates on this year’s Sonisphere festival as well as the Rock Im Park, Rock Am Ring, and Roskilde festivals, among others. The band is also scheduled to play a one-off show at The Gorge near Seattle on July 30, with Soundgarden, Queens of the Stone Age, and the venerable Meat Puppets.

Speaking of the Roskilde Festival in Denmark, after the jump we’ve got some quality fan-filmed video of Mastodon’s July 1, 2011 performance there. Continue reading »

DYING FETUS COVERS NAPALM DEATH, AND THE RE-ISSUE OF DEATH’S “HUMAN” IS STREAMING

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Jul 062011
 

Many death metal and grindcore bands have got great names, the kind of names that are fun to trot out when a non-metalhead asks you what kind of music you listen to, just to see the resulting facial expressions. Dying Fetus and Napalm Death are among the names I like to use. Of course, it helps that I actually really like both bands.

Death metal and grindcore song names are good for this purpose, too — like “Unchallenged Hate”. Now, if a non-metalhead asks you what you’ve been listening to today, you can tell them: Dying Fetus’s cover of Napalm Death’s “Unchallenged Hate” — because that’s what we’ve got for you in this post. It was just put up for streaming by Metal Hammer, via Muzu.tv, and because the player is embeddable, we’ve got it for you after the jump.

This is the second Dying Fetus cover we’ve featured, the first one being their cover of “Unleashed Upon Mankind” by Bolt Thrower (here). Both songs are from Dying Fetus’ cover album, History Repeats…, which will be released by Relapse on July 19 in NorthAm and internationally on July 25.

And in other news, the re-issue of Death’s Human album (which we covered here) is now streaming in full — all 49 tracks. The link for that is also after the jump. Continue reading »

GOROD: “TRANSCENDENCE” STREAMING

 Metal News  1 Response »
Jul 012011
 

Not long ago I sang the praises of Gorod’s wonderful new EP, Transcendence. Now, thanks to a Facebook post by Dubai-based Streaming Chaos, I’ve discovered that the entire EP is streaming in full on a French web site called VS-Webzine. On the same page as the VS-Webzine music player, you’ll see the band’s track-by-track discussion of the EP. It’s in French, but this is why the universe gave birth to Google Translate.

So, if you haven’t yet checked out Transcendence, this is a great way to do so.  Go HERE, and look for the link that says “page ecoute”, which will open the player page.

FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE: SUMMER SLAUGHTER TOUR UPDATE

 Metal News  11 Responses »
Jun 302011
 

Yes, yes, yes, Your Honor: I plead guilty to the charge of  Fleshgod Apocalypse sycophancy in the third degree. It’s true that whenever I see something that’s FA-related, I have a nearly irresistible urge to post about it on NCS. And when the “something” concerns a chance, finally, to see them perform live right here in The Emerald City, the urge is not just nearly irresistible, it’s completely irresistible.

And so it is that I’m embedding here at NCS the just-released video update from FA about the forthcoming SUMMER SLAUGHTER tour of North America in which they will be participating. It’s entirely possible I would have posted this even if it had only showed the dudes sitting around scratching themselves and picking their noses. However, it includes clips of the band rehearsing the song “Thru Our Scars”, which is just a fucken fantastic song.

It also includes a few words of tour promotion by frontman Tommaso Riccardi. I smiled at the fact that the only other band on the tour that he mentions is Dying Fetus. It’s certainly not an intentional slight directed at any of the other bands, just interesting that it’s the one that popped into his head. Allow me to say, Fuck Yeah!

We’ve posted before about the tour schedule, but this link provides the most up-to-date info. So, Your Honor, go ahead and pass sentence. I am unrepentant and do not request mercy.

BEHEMOTH RISES AGAIN

 Metal News  1 Response »
Jun 282011
 

Like all good Behemoth slaves, I followed frontman Nergal’s battle with leukemia with a shifting feeling of dismay, dread, sorrow, hope, and eventually a sympathetic feeling of victory. Today I saw news of yet another milestone in Nergal and Behemoth’s comeback that I thought was worth sharing: For the first time in over a year, Behemoth is back in their rehearsal space rehearsing both old and new songs, and we’ve got pictures to prove it. Nergal issued this statement:

“Sooo, first rehearsals after the transplant are under our belts! I didn’t want to get overexcited at first, just wanted to see how things would go, but I have to tell you…the second rehearsal we fuckin’ nailed “Ov Fire And The Void”, “Lucifer”, “Conquer All” or “Antichristian Phenomenon” flawlessly! One of us even asked: ‘Did we really take a year off from each other?’ Ha ha… it was good times in great company! But the biggest surprise were the songs we NEVER played live ever and planning to do on the upcoming “Phoenix Rising Tour”. I won’t reveal any names yet, let it be a mystery til we hit the stage, all right?”

“In other news, I started jamming out some NEW shit too…too early to give any further comments but it sounds VERY disturbing and eerie. Can’t fuckin wait to unleash those ideas to my friends…”

I don’t know about you, but this gave my day a boost. In these photos, Nergal looks like he’s been through a fucking meat-grinder, physically, but he’s on two feet with axe in hand. Hails and horns, man. More photos after the jump. Continue reading »

A NUCLEAR BLAST OF FREE NEW METAL

 Metal News  2 Responses »
Jun 232011
 

‘Tis the season for free music samplers, and we’ve just gotten word of the latest — a sampler being offered for free download by Nuclear Blast Europe. You have to be on Facebook to get it, because you have to “like” the Nuclear Blast Europe Facebook page in order to receive a download link (and you’ll need to provide an e-mail address to get that). But if you’re willing to do that, as I was, here’s what you’ll get on the sampler:

01.  Hell – “On Earth As It Is On Hell”
02. Demonaz – “All Blackened Sky”
03. While Heaven Wept – “Destroyer of Solace”
04. Samael – “In the Deep”
05. Chrome Division – “Bulldogs Unleashed”
06. Hammerfall – “One More Time”
07. Mayan – “Drown the Demon”
08. Amorphis – “My Enemy”
09. Pain – “The Great Pretender”
10. Origin – “Expulsion of Fury”
11. Rhapsody of Fire – “Aeons of Raging Darkness (Edit)”
12. Symphony X – “Dehumanized”
13. Sepultura – “Kairos”
14. Lock Up – “Life of Devastation”
15. All Shall Perish – “Divine Illusion”

In my book, this is a damned attractive list. HERE is the link to the Facebook page where you can initiate the download process.

NEWZ FROM ALL OVER (INCLUDING A MASSIVE INTERVIEW FAIL) AND ONE ACTUAL SONG

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  28 Responses »
Jun 222011
 

I’ve never been entirely sure about the point of metal news releases about music you can’t yet hear, albums you can’t yet buy, and tours for which you can’t yet acquire tickets, but people still seem to be interested in this kind of shit. Not me, of course. I’m so fucking zen-like in my outlook that these kinds of pointless cock-teasers just flow over me like a soft summer breeze, barely ruffling my hair. My pulse rate doesn’t move a beat from its normal, slothlike resting state. I remain as steady and unmoving as a hummingbird.

Wait, that didn’t end right. Okay, well maybe it did. Truth is, I am metal-nerd enough to get excited about this stuff, though I can’t provide any rational reason why. In keeping with our unintentional Finn-centric theme of this week’s posts, several of these items focus on Finnish metal.

So, here’s the top-level summary of news for this post: Announcement of two new European tours — one featuring Gorgoroth and Vader and the other headlined by Machine Head; a progress report on Insomnium‘s new album; word of an all-star album (and the label “all-star” is no bullshit) in the planning stages from Finland’s Spinefarm Records; and perhaps the most glaring example I’ve seen in months of an interviewer failing to ask a follow-up question (in this case, about Opeth‘s new album).

While I’ve got your attention, I might as well also throw in some music you can actually hear right now — high-quality footage of Suicide Silence performing a song from their forthcoming new album.  (all that stuff after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

TAKING IT ON FAITH: NEW CHIMAIRA SONGS PLUS MAYHEM, AT THE GATES, AND MORE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jun 202011
 

Surely, I’ve done stupider things here at NCS than I’m about to do, though I can’t remember when.

So, in catching up with metal news this morning, I found a whole bunch of shit that peaked my interest. To decide whether it was all worth sharing with you, I needed to listen to some music. I reached for my trusty iPod to get the earbuds and plug them into my laptop, and . . . no fucking iPod. No fucking earbuds.

I’m in Texas visiting my mother and brother, and I think I left my iPod at my mom’s place yesterday, but at the moment I’m earless (and my hearing is too shot to make out very much from the tinny, crappy little speakers on my laptop). But I decided, fuckit, I’m going to share the items I’ve found with you even though I haven’t heard most of them. Maybe you’ll tell me whether it was worthwhile.

Here’s the line-up: Chimaira has debuted two new songs from The Age of Hell album, which is due for release in late August by Long Branch Records in Europe and eOne Music in NorthAm. One is streaming exclusively at MetalSucks (here) and one at Revolver (here). You can buy both of them at iTunes right now. As I said, I haven’t heard them, though I’m a Chimaira fan. I hope they’re good. I bet they will be. If you haven’t already heard, the new Chimaira line-up includes two of the dudes from Daath — Emil Werstler (on bass!) and Sean Z. (on keyboards!).

After the jump . . . performance videos from Mayhem and At the Gates at festivals this past weekend, plus news about full-album streams from In Flames and The Devin Townsend Project. Continue reading »

NECRONAUT SUPERGROUP: FIRST AND PROBABLY LAST LIVE PERFORMANCE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jun 182011
 

Necronaut is the all-star project of Fred Estby, the former drummer of Dismember and Carnage. He recruited an impressive line-up of guests to help create an album that was released last year. It was one of many 2010 albums that rocked my head but I never got around to reviewing for NCS. All I could manage was a short “teaser” that I wrote before disappearing on vacation last November. Hardly what the album deserved, but all my feeble self could manage.

Now check out the names of the people who collaborated with Estby on this album, and note that I’ve put an asterisk alongside some of them:

* Hellbutcher (NIFELHEIM)*
* Tyrant (NIFELHEIM, DAGGER)*
* Andreas “Drette” Axelson (TORMENTED, ex-EDGE OF SANITY)*
* Chris Reifert (AUTOPSY, ex-ABSCESS)
* Ulf “Uffe” Cederlund (DISFEAR, ex-ENTOMBED)
* Janne “J.B.” Christofferson (GRAND MAGUS)*
* Tomas Lindberg (DISFEAR, AT THE GATES, THE GREAT DECEIVER)*
* Nicke Andersson (DEATH BREATH)*
* Joakim Nilsson (GRAVEYARD)
* David Blomqvist (DISMEMBER, SHREDS OF DEATH)*
* Erik Danielsson (WATAIN)*
* Robert Pehrsson (DEATH BREATH, DUNDERTÅGET)*
* Robert “Strings” Dahlqvist (DUNDERTÅGET)

So, why did I add those asterisks?  Because those people joined Estby for a Necronaut concert at this year’s edition of the Sweden Rock Festival, which was held June 8-11, 2011 in Sölvesborg. And in addition to them, L.G. Petrov (Entombed) also performed with the band. And some decent-quality video of that show has surfaced. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

DECAPITATED! (UPDATE)

 Metal News  5 Responses »
Jun 172011
 

Poland’s Decapitated have a new album scheduled for release via Nuclear Blast on July 12 in North America and July 15 in Europe. Entitled Carnival Is Forever, it’s been on our “most anticipated” list since the beginning of the year. We’ve been greedily tracking the news, with our last update about the album here (focusing on the cover art and the title). Now we’ve got more exciting news to report.

Nuclear Blast has uploaded a sampler consisting of excerpts from the album. It gives you enough of a taste of the music to form some impressions. For example, I’m hearing a lot of djenty riffs in these songs, plus lots of crushing groove, squalling guitar solos, off-kilter rhythms, and technically interesting rhythmic counterpoint going on.

But the dominant impression I’m getting is that this is going to be an absolutely killer slab of extreme metal that justifies all our high expectations. Why I haven’t already listened to the copy I’ve got is a mystery. Well, actually, it’s not such a mystery. I’m just a fucking moron, and that’s all there is to it.

Go past the jump and listen to that sampler. You’ll be glad you did.  (credit to Heavy Blog Is Heavy for alerting me to this sampler) Continue reading »

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