A TUMULTUOUS TUESDAY (PART 1): DANTE, DESTRUCTATRON, ENDLESS, FALSEHOOD

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Feb 062018
 

 

I decided to give the “SEEN AND HEARD” title a rest today, if only because DGR used it twice yesterday. And yes, even though his two-part round-up tossed eight new songs and videos at your head to start this week, I have many more I want to hurl your way, too. Most of what I’ve selected tends to hit like a plague of tornados, hence the title to this post.

As the post title also implies, I’ve divided this collection into bite-sized pieces rather than one massive meal (and the next bites will likely be smaller than this first one). I haven’t written the other parts, but will attempt to dribble them out as the day goes on. I’m going to do something similar with a SHADES OF BLACK series as well, picking up where I left off on Sunday. There is just too damned much good metal coming out!

DANTE

It seems that Dimmu Borgir and Vesania drummer Dariusz “Daray” Brzozowski has formed a new band named Dante, along with guitarist/vocalist Lucas and guitarist Yony. Their debut EP Paranoidosaur will be released digitally on February 22nd, and yesterday they revealed a lyric video for a track called “Fathers Die Sunday“. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: MORBOSIDAD, BLACK ROYAL, LEECHED, ARGONAVIS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Feb 032018
 

 

I got a late start on this Saturday’s round-up of new music, and then burned a lot of time trying to decide what to include. I didn’t have time to do much rounding up over the last couple of weeks due to the daily roll-out of my 2017 Most Infectious Song list and the usual platter of premieres, and during that interval my notes of things to check out became mountainous.

I know that DGR is pulling together his own round-up for Monday, which will help us catch up a bit, but there’s still quite a lot to do. I’ll at least make a modest start with the four songs I’ve packed into this post.

MORBOSIDAD

I still have vivid memories of the first time I saw Morbosidad play live, which was also the last time. That was at California Deathfest in 2015. They were absolutely barbaric, a blackened death metal war machine unleashing non-stop savagery from start to finish.

They were fronted by original vocalist Tomas Stench, a menacing shaven-headed figure clad in gauntlets with six-inch spikes and crossed bandoliers fully loaded with bullets. When he wasn’t banging his head during instrumental breaks, he was spewing ghastliness with head thrown back like a wolf calling to his kind. He also set an unbound Bible on fire and tossed the smoldering pages into the audience. Since the pages didn’t fully ignite, some helpful audience members finished the job, starting a small bonfire in the mosh pit. Very cool way to start that Saturday night. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (BY DGR): ROTTING CHRIST, HARAKIRI FOR THE SKY, PSYCHOTIC PULSE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jan 292018
 

 

(DGR presents the following round-up of new music.)

 

My last appearance with a news roundup was, admittedly, a little ridiculous. I will say, however, that I was not initially aware it had gotten so huge as I just kept adding things that I had noticed we had missed in my vain effort to cover everything I thought the NCS crowd might be interested in.

The nice thing about that method, though, is that the act of doing so with such a large dragnet, combined with the massive three-part Shades Of Black post that went up shortly after, means that we’re able to keep this roundup small, covering just three groups that barely missed the bus when those posts went up. One in particular was released right after the post that was perfect for it went up.

So, we return once again to do a little globe-trotting, skirting around the edges of heavy metal and talking about three more newly released songs that have popped up over the past week and a half. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MOURNFUL CONGREGATION, HEADS FOR THE DEAD, NATTRAVNEN, GREBER

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jan 162018
 

 

I had originally planned to get a SHADES OF BLACK post ready for today since I couldn’t do it on Sunday (or yesterday), and I might still finish it before I turn into a pumpkin today. But instead I decided to begin this Tuesday with a collection of other things I spotted over the last 24 hours in the midst of the flood of new metal that’s been rushing out on a daily basis since the first of the year.

MOURNFUL CONGREGATION

More than six years after their last album and almost four years after their last EP, Australia’s Mournful Congregation will release a new album named The Incubus Of Karma through 20 Buck Spin on March 23rd. This morning those details were revealed along with the album art — and the album’s first single, “Scripture of Exaltation and Punishment“. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: VENOM PRISON, SLUGDGE, AGRONA, HRVST, THY FEEBLE SAVIOUR, TOTENWAGEN

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jan 152018
 

 

In 1983 the U.S. Congress passed a bill by a veto-proof majority, subsequently signed into law by President Reagan, establishing Martin Luther King Day as an American federal holiday. It’s being observed here today in the U.S., though one wonders whether such a law would have been passed by the current Congress or signed by the current President, what with all the talk about shitholes and such.

Here in our own metallic shithole we’re conducting our own kind of observance, the kind that doesn’t depend on Acts of Congress or presidential largesse, but only on the continuing brain-blasting creativity of metal musicians, which seems never-ending. The torrent of new music since shortly after New Year’s Day has been kind of staggering. I may have to try to do one of these round-ups every day this week in an effort (one doomed to failure) to keep up.

VENOM PRISON

My colleague Andy called Venom Prison’s debut album Animus “nothing less than a neck-wrecking explosion of audio ultra-violence that fans of Dying Fetus, Cryptopsy, and Cattle Decapitation should already be salivating over”. Roughly 18 months after that all-killer, no-filler advent, Prosthetic Records will reissue the album on February 23rd. To pave the way, the band released a new video late last week (via Revolver mag) for a track off the album called “Immanetize Eschaton“. Continue reading »

NORTHWEST TERROR FEST 2018 ANNOUNCES COMPLETE LINE-UP — TICKETS ON SALE NOW!

 Metal News  No Responses »
Jan 082018
 

 

For the second year in a row, NCS is proud to co-present Northwest Terror Fest, which will take place this year on May 31 – June 2 in Seattle, Washington. We and our co-conspirators in the NWTF crew have been gradually releasing the names of bands who will appear this year, but today we’ve revealed the entire line-up, which in our completely objective opinion is wonderful. And the revelation of the full line-up is timed to coincide with the launch of further ticket sales, following our sale of limited early-bird passes last year.

Here’s a tip: Act quickly, because the ticket sales began at the moment this post appeared — 8:00 a.m. Pacific Time — and we expect the full three-day passes will sell out fast. Info about how to acquire tickets is down below.

And now, let’s talk about that line-up. As you can see, thanks to the festival poster created by Becky Cloonan, the three headliners for the three nights of NWTF 2018 are Panopticon, Integrity, and Agoraphobic Nosebleed. They are supported by a stellar group of other bands, and we’ve organized them all below according to the dates of their performances and the venues. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: PANOPTICON, PHENDRANA, ANCST, ALLEGAEON, VAELMYST, ESTUARINE

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jan 062018
 

 

I had a very busy week, both on and off our site, so busy that I wasn’t able to cobble together a round-up of news and new music. However, I did try to keep abreast of what was coming out, and my list of intriguing tracks that appeared over just the last week is YUGE — so YUGE that I’m afraid I’ll have to resort to an OVERFLOWING STREAMS post on Monday, one in which I don’t do anything but just stitch together new music streams and release details without commentary.

But I decided I would do something for today as a head-start (in addition to working on a SHADES OF BLACK post for tomorrow), and here’s what I’ve done: I picked the latest recommendations from three of my NCS colleagues, and then added one of my own, which happens to be the latest new song premiere that I’ve listened to. But first, a news item…

PANOPTICON

A few days ago the administrator of Panopticon’s official Facebook page posted the artwork you see above, along with these few words: “Slip case cover for the new double album. the scars of man on the once nameless wilderness. Out in March on Bindrune Recordings in the USA and Nordvis in Europe. Art by Hanna Larsson of Sólfjall Design.” Continue reading »

SOMETHING WICKED THIS WAY COMES: ANTICIPATED 2018 METAL RELEASES OF INTEREST

 Listmania, Metal News  81 Responses »
Jan 062018
 


artwork by Kali 15

 

Our LISTMANIA 2017 series isn’t over yet, though it will be soon. I have five more lists to publish for sure, and I hope a sixth one I’m eager to see will arrive soon, but we should be finished during this coming week. And I’ll also begin rolling out my list of 2017’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs next week as well.

But having said that, we’re also looking ahead to what 2018 will bring us… and of course a huge flood of additional releases is headed our way. We’ve been in the midst of a metal Renaissance for years now, and it shows no sign of ending.

I spent hours over the last two days assembling a list of 2018 releases (by band name) that I’m interested in, or that I think our readers would be interested in. I scrolled through our overstuffed e-mail in-box, visited label Facebook pages, conducted internet searches, and canvassed a few members of our own staff. And the result of that effort is a list of 112 albums, EPs, and splits. And almost all of them are expected to be released in just the first quarter of the year! Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: EUCLIDEAN, BALMOG, BHLEG, SAMMATH, BLACK KNIFE

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  12 Responses »
Dec 272017
 

 

I’m three days late with this week’s edition of SHADES OF BLACK, and still woefully behind in sharing new music in a blackened vein that I’ve discovered over the last month. I’m bound and determined to do at least one more of these features before 2017 is interred in a moldy grave, as long as I’m sufficiently unbound by other distractions.

This particular collection includes one complete new album, advance tracks from two more, some new live videos, and a new single.

EUCLIDEAN

To begin this selection of music, I want to strongly recommend Quod Erat Faciendum, the debut album of the Swiss band Euclidean, which was released on December 21 and came strongly recommended to me by starkweather and by Miloš. Continue reading »

POST-CHRISTMAS NECROSIS: ATOMWINTER, LIMOS, REX DEMONUS, HUSK

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Dec 262017
 

 

I hope everyone had a good Christmas Day, even if the day itself is nothing special to you. As you may have seen, NCS was alive and kicking despite the holiday, with three premieres yesterday. And we’ll continue to kick for the rest of the week with a rollout of more year-end lists by NCS contributors and invited guests, plus assorted other posts.

I wasn’t able to get a SHADES OF BLACK post done for Sunday, but it’s coming soon… and may be a two-parter, because there’s a lot I want to write about. But to start the six days that remain before New Year’s Eve, I selected three recent songs and one new EP that sound like the antithesis of peace on earth, good will toward men, because I can only take so many demonstrably impotent platitudes of that nature before I have to dose myself with flesh-eating music.

ATOMWINTER

The consumption of flesh commences with a track from Catacombs, the new third album by the German harbingers of total death in Atomwinter. The album will be released by Trollzorn on February 9 (digital, CD, and gatefold LP). And isn’t that a hellishly fantastic album cover? Continue reading »

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