MISCELLANY NO. 51: AMONG GODS, DEAD WARRIOR, BURY THE CROWN

 Album Reviews, Free Shit, MISCELLANY, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Dec 022012
 

From the inception of NCS, one of our goals has been to put the spotlight not only on bands whose names are well known but also on lesser known creators of extreme music. This MISCELLANY series has always been one way of doing that, but over the last year I’ve let lots of time go by in between MISCELLANY installments.

So I’m making a new resolution: I’ll start running a new MISCELLANY post once a week going forward. I hope that one works out better than the one I made about not spitting in other people’s beer.

Remember the MISCELLANY rules: I pick bands whose names are unknown to me, using a very impulsive and usually random selection process; I listen to one or two songs (though sometimes I cheat on the number); I write my impressions of the music; and I stream what I heard so you can judge for yourselves. These posts are obviously less than full reviews, but they’re better than no reviews at all — and unfortunately we just don’t have time to review everything that comes our way.

And also remember this: Though I’ve had uncannily good luck with most of the MISCELLANY selections, I don’t know in advance what the music is going to sound like or whether it’s something I’d normally recommend. By definition, this series is all about surprises.

So, here we go: Today’s picks are Among Gods (Norway), Dead Warrior (Argentina), and Bury the Crown (U.S. – Houston). Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 50: INTO DARKNESS AND DEATHCODE SOCIETY

 MISCELLANY, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Nov 282012
 

A milestone has been reached!  Our 50th installment of the not-so-regular MISCELLANY series! And here are the self-made rules of this self-made game:

I pick bands whose music I’ve never heard using a methodology akin to throwing darts at the wall; I listen to a song or two from each band; I write some brief impressions; I embed the music so you can listen, too. It’s an experiment, because I usually have no idea what the music is going to sound like, and it’s a way to make new discoveries.

In this installment of the series, I checked out the music of Into Darkness (Italy) and Deathcode Society (France).

INTO DARKNESS

Why did I pick this band? Well, to be brutally honest, which is the only kind of honest we know how to be at NCS, you’re looking at two of the reasons at the top of this post. That’s right, the one in the middle has cool shades and a cool jacket.

The other reason is that MaxR at Metal Bandcamp strongly recommended them. I guess that’s sort of a cheat on the MISCELLANY rules because even though I hadn’t listened to the music before beginning this excursion, I know Max has good taste. So this wasn’t a complete shot in the dark. Unless of course Max was drinking heavily when he sent me that message. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 49: SATAN’S SATYRS, VERDUNKELN, AND ASGARDSREI

 MISCELLANY  1 Response »
Nov 102012
 

This installment of MISCELLANY could be sub-titled “The Tr00 Nate edition”, because it was that former writer for The Number of the Blog who recently recommended to me each of the bands discussed in this post.

As a reminder about the rules of this game, I pick bands whose music I’ve never heard before (and usually know nothing about — which is certainly true in this case), I listen to a song or two without knowing what they’re going to sound like, I write up my impressions, and I stream the music I heard so you can make up your own minds.

In the past, I’ve had good luck with bands Tr00 Nate has recommended. Though he usually finds them much deeper underground than I usually dig for new music, that’s part of why I’ve enjoyed paying attention to what he thinks . . . because I’m pretty damned sure I’d never come across the bands on my own.

So, for today’s MISCELLANY excursion, I’m checking out Satan’s Satyrs (U.S.), Verdunkeln (Germany), and Asgardsrei (The Phillipines). Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 48: NIGHTBRINGER, CYANIC, LORELEI, NICK MILLEVOI

 Album Reviews, Free Shit, MISCELLANY  14 Responses »
Nov 042012
 

It’s been so damned long since I made a MISCELLANY excursion that I had to check the date of the last one: No. 47 was on Sept. 23. Pathetic. Way past time to do it again.

A reminder about the MISCELLANY rules: I pick bands whose music I’ve never heard before (and usually, as in this edition, bands whose names I’ve never heard before); I listen to one or two songs, not knowing what the music is going to sound like; I write some impressions here; and I include the music I heard so you can check it out for yourselves.

With a big list of bands stretching back months that I could pick from, what did I do? I chose four bands who I heard about for the first time during the past week. In fact, three of them I heard about only yesterday. I obviously have poor impulse control.

I nearly called this installment the “Friends Helping Friends” edition because each band was recommended by a friend, each of whom will be identified in due course. These are the bands, and for a change, all four are from the U.S.: Nightbringer, Cyanic, Lorelei, and Nick Millevoi. And here’s a hint about the outcomes of this experiment: My friends know how to pick winners.

NIGHTBRINGER

Nightbringer came my way via NCS writer BadWolf — no comments from him, simply a link to this band’s Bandcamp page, where I found a variety of music streaming. The most recent release is an April 2012 singles collection called Fight Like Hell, which includes all the songs from two previous short releases plus a couple of new tracks. It’s available at a “pay what you want” price for a download on Bandcamp, and you can order the CD there as well.

This Nightbringer, by the way, is not the black metal band of the same name from Colorado. This Nightbringer is from fuckin’ Motor City. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 47: LIMB FROM LIMB, INSET, AND TO DUST

 Free Shit, MISCELLANY  5 Responses »
Sep 232012
 

Good lord, has it really been two months since the last MISCELLANY post? I knew I had neglected this series, but didn’t realized how pathetically neglectful I’d been. With that much of a lag, I ought to remind everyone of the rules of this game: I randomly pick a few bands whose music I’ve never heard and whose names are new to me. I listen to one recent song by each band (I try to limit myself to just one song, but I sometimes I get carried away). I record my impressions here, and then I stream the song(s) I heard so you can make up your own minds about whether to explore the music further.

I try to limit this game to newer DIY bands as one way for us to help give some visibility and support to underground upstarts. We get so many e-mails and FB messages from bands and fans these days, and so much time has passed since the last time I played this game, that there are dozens and dozens of bands I could pick from. So, how to choose? This time I decided to just pick the last three bands who contacted us on Facebook.

This may lead to even more bands messaging us on Facebook. I wish I had time to give all of them a fair listen and some visibility on our site, but unfortunately I don’t. So I’ll just say in advance: Don’t think I’m a douchecannon for ignoring you. I may be a douchecannon for lots of other reasons, but being unable to expand the number of hours in the day isn’t one of them.

Onward to today’s bands: Limb From Limb (Australia), Inset (Poland), and To Dust (Sweden). Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 46: JANAZA, NETHER REGIONS, APOTHEOSIS, AND BLACKLISTERS

 Free Shit, MISCELLANY  22 Responses »
Jul 162012
 

Time for another edition of MISCELLANY, a game I made up for myself in the early days of this blog and still play on an irregular basis. The rules of the game: I randomly pick a few bands whose music I’ve never heard and whose names are new to me. I listen to one recent song by each band (I try to limit myself to just one song, but I sometimes I get carried away). I record my impressions here, and then I stream the song(s) I heard so you can make up your own minds about whether to explore the music further.

Usually, I pick bands to explore from e-mails I’ve received from the bands themselves or from NCS readers, and sometimes from links I see on Facebook. But two of today’s picks I came across in other ways. Today’s test subjects: Janaza (Iraq), Nether Regions (U.S.), Apotheosis (U.S.), and Blacklisters (UK).

JANAZA

Last week The Atlantic magazine published a piece by “Grim Kim” Kelly (one of my favorite metal writers) under the headline “When Black Metal’s Anti-Religious Message Gets Turned On Islam.” I received links to it from several NCS readers and writers and saw more links from bands in my Facebook news feed. To read Kim’s article, go here.

The focus of the article is an example of “art and dissent [intersecting] in a region where dissent can sometimes have deadly consequences,” and specifically on a handful of black metal bands in the Middle East who have re-directed “black metal’s historically anti-Christian ferocity to rail against Islam.” The lead example chosen by Kim was a one-woman Iraqi black-metal band known as Janaza. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 45: INDESINENCE, VIMANA, AND SHAJOL

 MISCELLANY  2 Responses »
Jul 052012
 

Yeah, I know I did one of these MISCELLANY posts just two days ago, but I had so much fun doing it that I’m just gonna fuckin’ do it again! And even though I included a refresher on the rules of MISCELLANY in that post, I’m doing that again, too:

I randomly pick a few bands whose music I’ve never heard and whose names are new to me. I listen to one recent song by each band (I try to limit myself to just one song, but I sometimes I get carried away). I record my impressions here, and then I stream the song(s) I heard so you can make up your own minds about whether to explore the music further. That’s it.

Today’s bands: Indesinence (UK), Vimana (U.S.-Colorado), and Shajol (Equador).

INDESINENCE

Truth be told, I’m pretty sure I’ve heard of this band before, but I’ll be damned if I can remember how or when. I do know I’d never heard their music before this MISCELLANY expedition. What put them on my radar was the revelation a few days ago of the album cover art you see above. It was created by Jaume Mayans & Daniela Kropeit, and it’s apparently only part of a larger image that will grace the hardcover digibook (which will include a 24-page booklet!) for this band’s new album, Vessels of Light and Decay, which Profound Lore will be releasing in late August.

Speaking of Jaume and Daniela, they also did the artwork for a forthcoming album on the Dark Descent label that I’ve heard good things about by a UK band named Binah. Check that out right after the jump. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 44: FREE SHIT FROM FALSE LIGHT, RØSENKØPF, DEPRAVATION, AND HE WHOSE OX IS GORED

 Free Shit, MISCELLANY  No Responses »
Jul 032012
 

The last time I made one of these MISCELLANY excursions was in late April. It may be September before I do another one, or it might be tomorrow. As you know, planning isn’t one of my strong suits, nor is impulse control.

Because so much time has passed since the last one of these installments, here’s a refresher on the rules of MISCELLANY: I randomly pick a few bands (usually ones who are pretty deep underground) whose music I’ve never heard and whose names are new to me. I listen to one song (but sometimes more than one — see above re lack of impulse control), I record my impressions here, and then I stream the song(s) so you can make up your own minds about whether further exploration would be worthwhile.

For these excursions, I used to pick bands from a running list of names drawn from the e-mails we get every day from bands, press agents, and readers, or from things I see while browsing the interhole. The list got so long and I got so lame in writing these posts that I gave up on updating the list. Now I’ll just have to go with whatever I’ve seen recently, based on . . . impulse.

Today’s MISCELLANY candidates are False Light (U.S.-Charleston), Røsenkøpf (U.S.-NYC), Depravation (Germany), and He Whose Ox Is Gored (U.S.-Seattle). As it turns out, all of the songs I heard for this post are available for free download. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 43: PSEUDOGOD, BOMBS OF HADES, SECTIONED, AND DWELLERS OF THE TWILIGHT

 MISCELLANY  12 Responses »
May 012012
 

Jeez, it’s been something like six weeks since the last MISCELLANY post. I’m swarmed by new music from bands or PR agents who have written NCS or left posts on our FB page, and it has become even more difficult for me to check out everything. I’m doing a piss-poor job of even answering all the messages, for which I make this abject public apology. I wish I could say I will do better in the future, but who am I kidding?

Still, I have to start somewhere in an effort to make headway, so I’m starting here, with music by Pseudogod (Russia),  Bombs of Hades (Sweden), Sectioned (Scotland), and Dwellers of the Twilight (France).

As a reminder, these MISCELLANY posts are devoted to bands whose music I’ve never heard before. I pick the bands pretty randomly, I listen to one or two songs (not knowing what they’re going to sound like), and then I record impressions here and provide streams of the same songs for you to check out. I usually try to pick bands who don’t have a high profile in the world of metal, though today’s second band is fairly well-known (though new to me).

PSEUDOGOD

I discovered this band because I received an urgent e-mail from Tr00Nate (ex-TNOTB) commanding me to listen. Nate doesn’t write that often, so I concluded this must be serious. It became even more serious when I discovered that their new album Deathwomb Catechesis (the album cover is above) has been released in the U.S. by Hells Headbangers, who are recommending it to fans of Archgoat, Katharsis, Teitanblood, and early Belial. That was a pretty good indication that the music would cause nightmares, so of course I bit. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 42: BLASPHEMOPHAGHER, TEITANBLOOD, AND DIOCLETIAN

 MISCELLANY  10 Responses »
Mar 112012
 

 

Almost a month ago I paid homage to the often disturbing but intensely magnetic “war metal” of Canada’s Mitochondrion. That led to a discussion in the Comments about what to call this kind of music. “Atmospheric death metal”? “Apocalyptic prog”? “Post-death metal?” Maybe “war metal” is as good a name as any.

The Comments also filled up with suggestions for other bands who have created similar kinds of soundtracks for Armageddon — not necessarily the exact same kind of music, but similar in the violent, apocalyptic atmospheres they conjure up. I picked three of those bands to feature in this post. This is a MISCELLANY post because I was unfamiliar with the music of each band (with one slight exception that I’ll mention later).

As per the self-imposed rules of MISCELLANY, I’ve randomly picked a song or two from each band, recorded my impressions, and then included the same songs for you to hear. The bands are: Blasphemophagher (Italy), Teitanblood (Spain), and Diocletian (New Zealand).

BLASPHEMOPHAGHER

This first band is the slight exception I mentioned. Blasphemophagher’s October 2011 album The III Command of the Absolute Chaos made Tr00 Nate’s list of his 30 favorite albums of 2011 that we published here, and I listened at that time to the sample song he picked, “Beyond Absolute Chaos”. So this time I decided to pick two different songs from the album. I chose “Chaostorm of Atomization” and “Abominable Nuclear Penetration”, because the names sounded so pleasant. Continue reading »

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