MISCELLANY NO. 41

 MISCELLANY  5 Responses »
Mar 042012
 

You didn’t ask, but I’ll tell you anyway: I woke up this morning at the obscene hour of 3:30 a.m. and couldn’t go back to sleep. Unfortunately, this happens to me frequently, but it really chaps my ass when it happens on a Sunday morning.

So I got out of bed, made a pot of black, sludgy coffee strong enough to wake the dead, and decided to catch up on recent NCS e-mails that I’d either neglected or overlooked. And then my sleep-deprived brain had the idea of turning that into fodder for this MISCELLANY post: I decided that I would include in this post the first five pieces of new music I came across, regardless of what they were (and by “new”, I mean new to me).

It seemed like a good idea at the time, because the last MISCELLANY post I wrote was on December 4, and shit, three months is a pathetically long time to go between installments of this series. Now, it’s not like I didn’t have plenty of fodder for a MISCELLANY post already. I already have hundreds of bands on our running MISCELLANY list of music to check out, all of whom I’ve been sadly neglecting. But logic gave way to impulse, as it usually does in my case, and so here we have offerings from the first five bands whose music I came across in my e-mails this morning: Seed (South Korea), Evil Shine (Russia), The Great Sabatini (Canada), Scourge Schematic (Seattle), and Nylithia (Canada, again).

SEED

The first e-mail I found had arrived from NCS contributor Rev. Will overnight (or what little of the night existed during my abbreviated nappy time). He pointed me to a YouTube song clip with these words: “I think this song will make you buy a new pair of boxers!” Well, nothing will make me buy a new pair, since the underoos I have are now seasoned just the way I like ’em, capable of standing up even when I’m not in them. But I decided to check the song anyway. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 40: ERUPTED, FOUL BODY AUTOPSY, ABSENCE OF LIGHT

 MISCELLANY, SHORT BUT SWEET  10 Responses »
Dec 042011
 

Between my vacation in November, trying to catch up on what I missed while I was out of action, and planning for year-end Listmania at NCS, I’ve gotten ridiculously late in doing another MISCELLANY post. The last one was during the third week in October, which already seems like an eon ago. But rather than moan about my tardiness, I decided to just knuckle down and get ‘er done. Or at least get one done.

MISCELLANY started as a bit of a goof. I decided to do something with music kind of like what some people do with their Facebook pages and Twitter accounts, when they obnoxiously tell you hour-by-hour (or minute-by-minute) what they’re doing — except I limited my disclosures to metal and hoped it would be more interesting than describing what I just ate or read or watched on TV, or the pleasures of the man-sized dump I just took.

To be more precise, on July 5, 2010, I posted a log of exactly what new metal I listened to and watched on that particular morning, regardless of whether it was good, bad, or indifferent. I didn’t plan on it being any kind of continuing thing, but I got enough encouragement from readers that I decided to just keep on keeping on.

I’ve been thinking back about how this started because this post is now the 40th in the series, which I guess is some kind of milestone. The first band covered in the first MISCELLANY post was an Austrian act called Mastic Scum, and I wrote about a video they’d released for a song called “Construcdead”. I introduced the video with these words: “If it’s been a while since you snorted coke, shot-up with heroin, cavorted with oiled-up dominatrixes, stuffed your face with food, been bull-whipped, had a golden shower, took it up the bunghole with a black dildo, or dribbled snot uncontrollably — well, you can relive those fond memories by watching this.” Good times. No wonder I decided to keep doing this.

Anyway, here we are again, and the rules haven’t changed: I keep a list of bands who contact us or who I’ve read or heard about somewhere, I pick some names at random and listen to a song or two from each pick, and then I write about the experience. It has turned out to be a good way to discover new music, and I’ve had extremely good luck with the picks. But still, you never really know what’s coming.

Today’s picks: Erupted (Sweden), Foul Body Autopsy (UK), and Absence of Light (Kenya). As it turns out, free downloads are available from all three bands Continue reading »

WASCALLY WABBITS

 MISCELLANY  No Responses »
Nov 212011
 

This is really a MISCELLANY post, but I couldn’t resist using this post title, (a) because I’m a Bugs Bunny fan (is there anyone who isn’t?), and (b) because I happened to chance upon both of the featured bands yesterday, and their names are Rabid Rabbit and dropbunny.

Since this is a MISCELLANY post, I picked these bands to feature without hearing their music first. Once I make that choice, the self-imposed rules of MISCELLANY require that I forge ahead in writing about the selected bands even if the music turns out to be something I wouldn’t normally recommend. To be brutally honest, with names like Rabid Rabbit and dropbunny, I didn’t really expect to dig the music. I would have been more optimistic if they’d been called Rabbit Viscera and fuckbunny. Anyway, here goes!

RABID RABBIT

Bruce Lamont is probably best known for his vocal and saxophone work with Chicago’s Yakuza, though he has recorded with dozens of other bands over a prolific career. Rabid Rabbit is one of those bands. At the core of Rabid Rabbit is the husband-wife team of Andrea Jablonski (vocals/bass) and Mike Tsoulos (drums), and they’re complemented by Arman Mabry (bass) and new guitarist Dan Sullivan on the band’s forthcoming second album, Czarny Sen (which means “black dream” in Polish). Lamont makes a few guest appearances on the album, as do a variety of other musicians from Chicago’s noise, metal, and free-jazz scene. Or at least that’s what I learned from the press release I received recently. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 38: THE 11TH HOUR, SACRAMENT OV IMPURITY, AND ÖXXÖ XÖÖX

 Exceptions to the Rule, MISCELLANY  3 Responses »
Oct 232011
 

I know regular readers must get tired of me explaining what this MISCELLANY game is about, but amazingly, the traffic on our site continues to increase, providing further proof that there are many confused people in the world. For the benefit of new readers, therefore, I continue to explain:

We keep an ever-growing list of bands whose music we’ve never heard. The names come from many sources, including the bands themselves. Every now and then, when time permits, I randomly grab some names off the list and listen to a song or two from each one. I then babble about what I heard in these MISCELLANY posts and play the songs for you, because no one could possibly be so confused that they would just take my word for something without listening for themselves.

For this post, the names I chose were The 11th Hour (The Netherlands), Sacrament Ov Impurity (U.S.-Washington), and Öxxö Xööx (France).  Here we go:

THE 11TH HOUR

I heard about this band via an e-mail from NCS curmudgeon reader Kevin. This wasn’t quite the stab in the dark that most of my MISCELLANY picks are, because every tip Kevin has given me so far has turned out to be a winner. Also, this band has an impressive pedigree. The main man is Ed Warby, whose name you may recognize from Hail of Bullets, Demiurge, Gorefest, and many other past projects. He handles all the instruments on the recorded songs, as well as clean vox. Harsh vocals were provided on the band’s sole album by Rogga Johansson (Demiurge, Bone Gnawer, Ribspreader, and many more). So, I figured the odds were good that I was going to warm up to this music.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 37 (THE SURGICAL BRUTE EDITION) (Pt 2)

 MISCELLANY  64 Responses »
Oct 122011
 

NCS reader SurgicalBrute has turned me on to many excellent bands, and I’ve come to trust his tips. Recently he sent me a new batch of recommendations, and so I decided to just pick three of them for this edition of MISCELLANY. I may do the other three another time.

The way MISCELLANY usually works: We keep a growing list of bands whose music we haven’t heard but who look interesting. The list includes all the bands who contact NCS asking for a review (as it happens, one of SurgicalBrute’s recommendations is also a band who contacted us). Unfortunately, I’ll never be able to get through that list, but when I can, I grab a few names off of it at random, listen to a song or two, write up my impressions, and then stream the same music for you.

This time, of course, I’m using SB’s list instead of the NCS list, and the bands I picked are: Bones (US-Chicago), Embers (US-Oakland), and Undead Creep (Italy). To begin:

BONES

Here’s what SurgicalBrute had to say about this first band: “Crusty death metal, and one of my favorite releases this year. They get a lot of comparison to Chicago’s Usurper.” The Usurper comparisons are inevitable: The band is composed of three ex-Usurper members. They released their self-titled debut (on Planet Metal) in July, recording the album live in the studio with production help from Sanford Parker (Nachtmystium). SurgicalBrute sent me a YouTube link to a track called “Bloodlust”, and that’s the song I listened to first.  Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 36: BRINGERS OF DISEASE, REZISTOR, AND ELDERGAAD

 MISCELLANY  5 Responses »
Sep 132011
 

For new readers and older readers who have memory deficits: We maintain a running list of bands whose music we’ve never heard. Most of the bands on the list have written us with requests that we check out their music. We add other bands to the list based on reader recommendations or things we’ve read. Most of the bands on this list have no label affiliation. When time permits, I pick two or three names off the list, listen to one or two songs from each band, and then write about the experience in these MISCELLANY posts. I also include the music I heard, so you can make up your own minds about whether the bands are worth exploring further.

Sometimes I cheat on the rules of this game and listen to more than one or two songs. I then punish myself for cheating by, for example, listening to indie rock or rap. Or something by Kamelot.

Today’s picks, as usual, turned out to be a varied lot: gritty black metal from Bringers of Disease (US-Ohio), groove-heavy thrash from Rezistor (Romania), and prog-minded death metal from Eldergaad (U.S.-Minnesota). You’ll have to set aside a solid chunk of time for this post, because it’s not a short one, but all the music is worth some serious attention. Here we go — after the jump: Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 35: MANEGARM, EXORBITANCE, AND STROM

 MISCELLANY  10 Responses »
Sep 042011
 

Here we go again — another episode of MISCELLANY, in which I expose myself (figuratively speaking) to music from bands I’ve never heard before and dutifully report the results to you, along with the songs themselves. The rules of the game that I’ve set for myself are to listen to only one or two songs from each selected band and let that be the basis for some judgments about the music.

Recently, I’ve been violating the rules with increasing frequency because I’ve had good luck with the MISCELLANY picks and gotten caught up in the music. For this listening session, I decided I’d really try to stick more closely to the rules because I’m so far behind on other NCS projects. (Here’s a hint: It didn’t work.)

The bands I picked from our MISCELLANY list for this session are Manegarm (Sweden), Exorbitance (US), and Strom (Germany).

MANEGARM

In the last few MISCELLANY sessions, I’ve been intentionally including one pagan/folk metal band on the listening list. It’s a genre about which I’m not terribly well-versed, and I’ve had fun subjecting my eardrums to something different from their usual diet. As usual around here, the comments we’ve gotten on these posts have pointed me to some interesting looking outfits. So, I decided to continue the recent run of pagan/folk music by picking a band called Månegarm, who were recommended by multiple commenters. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 34: EYECONOCLAST, UNDER EDEN, AND HEIDEVOLK

 MISCELLANY  30 Responses »
Aug 282011
 


To recap the rules of this MISCELLANY game for NCS newcomers: When bands or labels write us, or we get reader recommendations, or we see news blurbs about bands who look interesting, we put the band names on a list. We limit this list to bands whose music we’ve never heard, and the majority of the listed bands are unsigned. At irregular intervals, when I’ve got time, I randomly pick a few names from the list and listen to one or two of their songs, and then I write my impressions for this MISCELLANY series. Plus, I make it possible for you to hear what I heard (or saw, if it’s a video).

This exercise is different from our reviews, which we almost always limit to music we want to recommend. For this exercise, like Forrest Gump’s box of chocolates, we don’t know what we’re going to get. It may or may not taste delicious. But the surprise factor is part of the fun (at least for me). For today’s post, the bands I picked were Eyeconoclast (Italy), Under Eden (US), and Heidevolk (The Netherlands). I actually picked a fourth band, too, but I’m discussing them separately, to keep this thing from growing even longer than it already is.

I’ll go ahead and confess right up front: I cheated on the MISCELLANY rules for all three bands, because their music turned out to be too interesting to assess with just one song. Yes, I even cheated on the last one, too, though it’s not the kind of music I typically embrace. All that cheating means there’s a lot of music coming your way after the jump, but none of you has a real life, do you? Of course not, so you have plenty of time to listen. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 33: ILLUMINATUS, ARKONA, AND SATEVIS

 MISCELLANY  44 Responses »
Aug 212011
 

Here we are with another edition of MISCELLANY, in which I listen to bands I’ve never heard before and report the results, whether they be good, bad, or indifferent. The ground rules:  We keep a running list of bands who contact us, or who are recommended to us, or who seem interesting based on things we read. When time permits, I grab a handful of names off the list, I listen to at least one song per band, and I write about my reactions. Then, I let you listen to what I heard so you can make up your own minds.

Them’s the rules, and I usually (though not always) stick to them. For today’s post, I picked two bands who were recommended and one who contacted us: Illuminatus (UK), Arkona (Russia), and Satevis (US).

These bands turned out to be significantly different from each other, and the musical variety was a good reminder of the diversity that metal has to offer. The music also turned out to be quite good, though given my own tastes, I did have a favorite. So, with that preamble, follow along after the jump and please do let us know what you thought of this music after you’ve heard it. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 32: DEUS OTIOSUS, SHANGREN, AND FOREVER REVENGE

 MISCELLANY  18 Responses »
Aug 122011
 

At the risk of boring our longer-term readers, here’s a reminder about how this MISCELLANY game works:

We keep a constantly evolving list of new bands whose music we’ve not yet heard, based on various sources, including band e-mails we get, reader recommendations, press releases, and stickers left on urinals at metal clubs we frequent. Whenever I can manage, I pick a few names off the list, I listen to at least one of their songs, I write about what I heard, and then I stream the same track(s) so you can make up your own mind about whether to explore the bands further.

It’s a good way to discover new music, and I wish I could do it more often. But it’s a bit risky for readers, because even if I hear something I wouldn’t normally recommend to you, it still goes in these MISCELLANY posts. For today’s edition of this dice-roll, I listened to Deus Otiosus (Denmark), Shangren (Australia, I think), and Forever Revenge (China). Here we go . . .

DEUS OTIOSUS

This Danish band e-mailed us late last month and gave us the chance to check out their 2010 debut studio album, Murderer (the band also released a live album in 2010, preceded by a split and a demo). According to The Font of All Human Knowledge, the band’s name is Latin for “idle god” and refers to a “theological concept used to describe the belief in a creator god who largely retires from the world and is no longer involved in its daily operation.”

I’ve always thought this was an interesting concept, and it does provide an answer (if you’re a Deist at least) as to why the human world has been such a brutally fucked up place for thousands of years: The creator had some kind of inexplicable fun creating the earth, and then checked out.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

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