SEEN AND HEARD: CODE, AOSOTH, DEGIAL, PILLARS, BOUND TO PREVAIL, GRITTER, CHALK HANDS, UNTIL THE SKY DIES

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Oct 182017
 


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It occurred to me that the tag I came up with for these round-ups of new tracks — “Random Fucking Music” — could be misconstrued. The idea wasn’t that this would be random music you could actually fuck to, although I guess you could fuck to some of it if you were like certain members of the non-human animal kingdom who pound away in a frenzy for a few minutes (or less) and then go off to find more food or take a shit, leaving the female of the species looking either confused or bored and wondering, “Is it in yet?”

Yeah, don’t remind me, I know human males do that too. I guess maybe an album-length funeral doom track could provide some reciprocal coital benefits, but I assume most people like to shift into a higher gear at some point, except for those who pass out somewhere along the way. I’ve never seen a sloth have sex. Might be worth investigating. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: TENGGER CAVALRY, AETHERIAN, OUTER HEAVEN, DYPHTÊ, FRAMEWORK, DREAMSHIFT

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Oct 162017
 

 

You may have noticed that my posts have been scarce over the last few days — nothing at all over the weekend (Andy’s Best of British kept us from going dark altogether) and only one post on Friday and one on Thursday. The reason is that last Thursday my employer hosted its annual retreat, which was in Montana this year.

As usual, it has a very good time. But between the travel, the work-related meetings, the staying up late while getting hammered with co-workers, and the watching of some playoff baseball, NCS temporarily fell far down the ladder of my life. I wasn’t even been able to keep up with our e-mail traffic or my usual daily searching through statuses of friends, bands, and labels on Facebook.

Needless to say, I’m way behind. So what I’m doing here is collecting some music I actually had planned to post last Thursday, but ran out of time before leaving Seattle — though I have added two more songs I became aware of since then. Continue reading »

SOL DE SANGRE AND DESPISING AGE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Oct 072017
 

 

I thought about not putting anything together for the site today, just taking a break and working on some round-ups and reviews I’ve planned for Sunday and Monday. After all, there have been some other Saturdays and Sundays over the last 8 years when we haven’t posted anything. Maybe 9 or 10, total. Still bugs me when that happens. So it won’t happen today after all.

But I am scaling back. I’ve picked just two songs to share. I noticed them for the first time this morning; things I found earlier in the week are part of the bigger round-ups mentioned above. These two helped get my sluggish morning blood get going when I heard them.

SOL DE SANGRE

I’ve rapidly become a fan of Sol De Sangre, even though I’ve now only heard two songs by them. The first one I wrote about here a month ago is a tribute to Altar of Madness-era Morbid Angel named “Más Abajo del Infierno” — which is now available on Bandcamp. The second one, “Muertos Con Ojos Estallados“, popped up on YouTube just yesterday, and is yet another summoning of the evil death metal these dudes grew up with. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MORBID ANGEL, AUROCH, PAROXSIHZEM, SICARIUS, THE NEGATIVE BIAS, HÄIVE, THE KAHLESS CLONE, WITCHES MOON

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Oct 062017
 

 

The weekend is nearly upon us. And before we close the books on the work week and begin whatever we cook up for the site on Saturday and Sunday, I thought I’d collect a few recent and recently discovered items of interest — two items of news at the outset, and then five new songs. I should mention that we also have two more premieres coming today… don’t miss those!

MORBID ANGEL

Morbid Angel being the iconic band that they are, even their belching after a sumptuous meal would provoke strong and inconsistent reactions among a vast fan base. Just imagine the reactions to yesterday’s announcement of a new album, one whose name begins with a “K” and is framed by the cover art you see above.

I usually don’t read extended comment threads on the internet, unless they appear on this site, because it’s like walking at night through a park littered with dog turds where the owners didn’t have the common courtesy to put them in flaming bags. But I read a few yesterday on Morbid Angel’s announcement. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ASEITAS, GHOLD, LUSTRE, NEKRASOV, DSKNT, HVILE I KAOS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Oct 042017
 

 

For various reasons I fell a couple of days behind in scouring the web and our in-box for new music that might be worth hearing. Last night I made an effort to catch up on what I’d missed the last two days. I created a list of links to the song streams that I found, which I thought would be worth checking out. There were more than 30 streams on my list by the time I stopped looking. That’s on top of the dozens that I haven’t yet heard from other recent lists.

This isn’t an uncommon experience. It’s for this very reason that posts like this one are tagged “Random Fucking Music” — because there’s just no methodical or thorough way to keep abreast of everything. And there’s an unavoidable element of randomness in deciding what to check out.

Last night I made my way through about 10 of the tracks on the list, and picked the ones you see here to recommend. That selection, however, isn’t random. I picked these streams because I thought they were very good, and to provide a bit of variety. (I’ve also included one news item near the middle.)

ASEITAS

If you’re not already sitting down you probably should before you listen to this first song, because it has the kind of pulverizing punch and drive that can make one wobbly in the knees. Continue reading »

TERATISM: THE SECOND DEATH DRAWS NEAR

 Metal News  2 Responses »
Oct 042017
 

 

I’m going to begin this revelation of news by quoting from something that Krieg’s Neill Jameson wrote about Teratism here at our site in April of this year:

“So many new bands are getting smoke blown up their ass because they use a dark occult look, mostly achieved with witch hats and an outfit that sort of looks like the KKK but that’s ok because they sing in Sanskrit. You’d think a band like Teratism, who have been around for quite some time, would be at the top of the heap of popularity but that would mean you’d also believe that most people prefer substance over style.

“Teratism are a uniquely dark band, thinking-man’s black metal, who create an encapsulating atmosphere live but one where the visuals, while obviously important, are only a method of adding to the experience.

“Fans of Inquisition and Nightbringer should take note. Hopefully there will be a release of a full-length that has been in the works for a while.”

Well, take a wild guess about the news from Teratism that I’m about to share with you, and everyone else.

This is it: We are authorized to report that Teratism is nearing completion of its fifth studio full-length offering, The Second Death. As you can see, we have obtained the striking cover art, and we have learned these additional details from the band: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: RADIATION, REDENIK, LETHVM, DEADSMOKE, DEATHFUCKER, PEACE IS JUST A BREAK

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Sep 302017
 

 

September ends today. If history is a useful guide, we’re only about six weeks away from the point at which year-end lists will begin appearing (DECIBEL’s is the first high-profile one that I usually see, in mid-November). And yet, while a lot of people will soon be looking backward, we still have a full three months of new metal ahead of us.

Fortunately, those of us here at NCS have undergone body modification so that we have eyes in the back of our heads as well as those gazing forward. Using the latter pair, I’ve spied four forthcoming releases from which I’ve selected song streams in this round-up. Using the backward-looking orbits, I’ve also chosen some music from a pair of other releases that have already come out, though very recently. I’ve arranged the music so that we’ll start fast, slow down, and then ramp up again.

RADIATION

Bratislava, Slovakia, is home to the death/thrash band Radiation, whose debut album The Gift of Doom will be released by Witches Brew on October 17. I would like to draw your attention to a pair of songs from the album now streaming on Bandcamp, “Praise the God of Nuclear Fusion”, and the title track. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: AOSOTH, ANTARKTIS, APOLOGOETHIA, ARROGANZ, ATAVISMA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Sep 222017
 


Cover art for Aosoth by Benjamin A. Vierling

 

Greetings and Happy Fall Equinox, one of two days in the year when every place on earth gets the exact same amount of daylight (almost exactly 12 hours today) and four days since my last round-up. I’m awash in good new music again (always). The fact that I chose songs from five bands whose names all begin with “A” should tell you something: Just imagine how many other new songs fill out the rest of the alphabet.

It may be the end of the working week for many of you (and I hope that’s so), but for us this isn’t really work, though it requires effort, and so we’ll just ramble on through the weekend as usual. For today, until you get to the last band in this post, you’ll hear nothing but new stuff from forthcoming releases. The last one I’ve been meaning to say something about for a while, and the time now seems right… since Atavisma begins with “A”.

AOSOTH

Like many others, I’ve had great expectations for the new album by Aosoth, which has been named V: The Inside Scriptures. The first single from that album validates all the eagerness with which it has been anticipated. Continue reading »

DEATH BY FESTIVAL: HURRICANE HARVEY RELIEF EVENT

 Metal News  No Responses »
Sep 182017
 

 

(We welcome Lonegoat, the creator behind the necroclassical project Goatcraft, who is helping spread the word about a forthcoming Texas music and movie event where all of the proceeds will be donated to assist in the relief of Hurricane Harvey’s devastation.)

Hurricane Harvey devastated the Texas gulf region which led to at least 71 confirmed deaths, and over 100 billion dollars worth of damage. It’s the first time in twelve years a storm of this magnitude has made landfall in the US. Houston had flooding of biblical proportions which ripped many people away from their lives. Many Texans and companies are donating money to help with the relief efforts, but who knows how long it’ll be until normalcy returns. Some others, like David Vincent, ventured to the affected areas to lend a vital helping hand.

In the wake of Harvey, Austin’s inaugural Death By Festival, which is produced and organized by Nic Brown and Susie Winfield, has decided to donate all of the proceeds from the festival to Hurricane Harvey relief efforts. It’s excellent that even the entertainment portion of Texas society comes together for those who stand in need of benefaction. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: AT THE GATES, PERIHELION, NEKRASOV, FORGOTTEN TOMB, CLOAK, PLAGUE CROSS, LARES, BILLY BOY IN POISON

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Sep 132017
 

We’ve arrived at the middle of the work week and I find myself in the mood to round up and share with you a couple of news items and six new songs, two of which are accompanied by videos that are well above average. I’ll cut this introduction short and just dive right in…

AT THE GATES

Three years ago At the Gates returned with their first new studio album in 19 years. The reception seems to have stoked the fires even further, because they’ve written 11 new songs that they plan to begin recording soon. And according to their announcement from earlier this week, they are feeling “more inspired than perhaps ever before”. They also allege that the new record will be “by far the most comprehensive album of the band to date, and will span all the way across the different elements of the band’s sound”. Continue reading »

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