AUSTIN WEBER ROUND-UP aka FOREVER PLAYING CATCH-UP (Pt 1)

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Apr 262016
 

Nostril CavernsTectum Argenti
 
vipassicrisis actor art

 

(Austin Weber pitches in on round-up duty with the first part of a multi-part post recommending new metal.)

Hey there NCS readers, it’s been far too long since I stopped in with a massive round-up of obscure (and not yet covered at NCS) jams from all over the metal map musically. Seeing that Islander has been busy slaving away on work-related duties in order to raise funds to care for the recently rabies-infected horde of NCS Lorises, it felt like a good time to begin sharing some of the many bands I have piling up endlessly in multiple word files. There will be several more editions of this to come, so be sure to stay tuned.

Ever since Islander was kind enough to let me do some writing for NCS, this site has felt like home to me. Our audience is so special, and clearly more eclectic and willing to explore than visitors at most sites, it seems. So here’s to you, oh seekers of joy within chaos and serrated sounds. And also for those who are musically prog heads at heart! I made sure that none of what I’m covering here has been covered at NCS so far, so make sure to give everything a listen! Without further ado… it begins! Continue reading »

FIVE [SIX] OF MY FAVOURITE… CHIMAIRA SONGS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Apr 262016
 

Chimaira 2011

 

(Every now and then Andy Synn shares with us lists of favorite things that come in fives, and this is another one, though he stretched the number a bit this time.)

You may have noticed that my usual output has decreased somewhat over the last week or so. There’s no need to worry, it’s just been a combination of work/band/personal commitments all coming at the same time, requiring me to shift my priorities around a bit, meaning that NCS has had to take a bit of a backseat for a moment.

That should be coming to an end very soon, however, and I have a bunch of different reviews and columns lined up for May that I think you’ll all really enjoy.

In the meantime, however, since I’m still a little pushed for time and opportunity to write, I’ve dashed off this little piece in tribute to a band I’ll always have a soft spot for. Continue reading »

NEW MUSIC FROM AKERCOCKE: “INNER SANCTUM”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  16 Responses »
Apr 252016
 

Ackercocke

 

When I woke up at an ungodly hour this morning and then woke up my computer, my bleary eyes were immediately greeted by a bombardment of links from friends to the song stream you’re about to hear (or re-hear): The first new song from Akercocke since the band’s dissolution in 2012, with their last album being 2007’s Antichrist.

The song was broadcast on the Radio 1 Rock Show on April 24, and some enterprising soul recorded the radio stream and uploaded it to YouTube. The uploader made this comment: “The intro sounds like it’s slightly cut off but unfortunately the radio station played right into it, so although it sounds like the intro is cut off, it isn’t, the song just starts that way.” Continue reading »

BLOG BREAK

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  31 Responses »
Apr 232016
 

album art

 

Late yesterday afternoon I arrived at a secret location near Bonner, Montana, where I am spending the weekend at the behest of my fucking day job (except at times like this my day job is very fucking good to me). I can’t tell you what I am doing or I would have to kill you.

One thing I am not doing: listening to metal. I haven’t had much time to myself, and the people I am with probably wouldn’t understand if I jammed earbuds in my ears and started ignoring them. So, the round-up I had planned for today ain’t going to happen. I do have a premiere planned for tomorrow, but beyond that, I may not get anything else done for NCS.

However, because I hate to post anything that doesn’t include music, please enjoy an advance track from the forthcoming debut album by Eximperituserqethhzebibšiptugakkathšulweliarzaxułum from Minsk, Belarus. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: TERRA TENEBROSA, GERM, VIRUS, DARKEND, SVARTTJERN, PLAGUE PHALANX

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Apr 222016
 

Terra Tenebrosa-The Reverses

 

Well, this has been another one of those weeks when I was so busy with premieres and assorted personal nuisances that I wasn’t able to compile as many round-ups of new songs as I would have liked. As usual, that means I’m now drowning in things that I think are worth recommending — too many to fit into one post.

So, I’ve done what I usually do in such situations: made the selections on a pretty random basis and tried to restrict my own verbosity and let the music speak for itself. I’ll compile some more discoveries for a post this weekend.

Before getting into the music, I’ll start with one news item that peaked my interest.

TERRA TENEBROSA

Yesterday Debemur Morti Productions announced the projected release of a new album by the unorthodox and fascinating Swedish entity known as Terra Tenebrosa. The new album is named The Reverses and it includes the participation of some impressive guests: Jonas A Holmberg (This Gift Is A Curse), Alex Stjernfeldt (The Moth Gatherer), MkM (Antaeus), and Vindsval (Blut Aus Nord). Continue reading »

A NEW GOJIRA SONG: “STRANDED”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  14 Responses »
Apr 212016
 

Gojira-Magma

 

In late March, when I read Rolling Stone’s interview/listening-session (here) with the Duplantier brothers about Gojira’s new album Magma, I became increasingly uneasy. Reading Kory Grow’s descriptions of some of the songs that he heard while talking with the brothers in their New York City studio made me fear that Gojira had morphed into a French variant of Mastodon, making a big sweeping turn into radio-friendly rock.

He wrote that “the band has taken a different route with the album compared to past riff-fests”, and referred to “almost-industrial rhythm[s]”, “brittle guitar line[s]”, “almost gothier riff[s]”, “Joe singing a monk-like chant”,  “sorrowful, gothy vocals”, flutes and cowbells, and lots of four-minute songs because “people’s attentions are shorter now” (Joe’s words). In the final paragraph, Grow wrote, “they’re eager to show a different side of themselves on the new record and see how their fans react to it”.

Well, now we have some actual music, because within the last two hours, the band debuted a music video for the new album’s first advance track, “Stranded”. Continue reading »

BENEATH THE NCS RADAR (PART 11)

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  16 Responses »
Apr 192016
 

collage

 

(Our contributor from Norway, Gorger, returns with the 11th edition of his series recommending releases that we’ve managed to overlook. To find more of his discoveries, visit Gorger’s Metal.)

Sometimes, my mouth has diarrhea. Other times, I’ve got less crap to share. Oh, wait, I’ve got one thing. One of these scrawlings is longer than the others, and so I find three to be an adequate number of presentations this time. I hope it’s not too long, and that you will at least take the time to listen to the music. And so, without further ado, I present three albums that I for one feel deserve your attention. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: NAÐRA, SVARTIDAUÐI, DEATHBRINGER, OATH, TREES CLOUDS & SILENCE, HERDER

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Apr 172016
 

Nadra-Form

 

So much music, so little time. In this post I’ve collected some recent black (or blackened) metal releases, and a few songs from forthcoming ones, that I’ve been enjoying, plus one other excerpt of a release that isn’t black metal but is pretty fuckin’ black anyway. Hope you find some things to like in here.

NAÐRA

I’ll begin with two Icelandic bands I’ve written about frequently, because their music is so exceptional. The first is Naðra, whose debut album Allir vegir til glötunar was released in January of this year (reviewed here) and whose line-up includes members of other notable Icelandic bands, including Carpe Noctem, Ophidian I, and Misþyrming.

Early last week the band released a new two-song EP named Form via Bandcamp. The first track includes guest vocals by Eirikur Hauksson, a well-known vocalist in Iceland in both pop music and heavy metal. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: SÓLSTAFIR AND LEGEND, ARÊTE, BRITTSOMMAR AND BLOOD AND SUN, DEATHCODE SOCIETY, NECROGOD

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Apr 162016
 

Solstafir-Legend live

 

As you may have discerned by now, I enjoy not only recommending new music in these round-ups but also selecting items for them that don’t all come from the same genres of metal. For this Saturday collection of recent discoveries, however, there’s perhaps more variety than usual because I’ve partially gone outside the realms of metal. This is always a risky maneuver because I so rarely listen to anything that isn’t metal. I don’t know how dependable my metal tastes are, but when I veer off those pathways I’m pretty sure my taste isn’t dependable at all. Self-doubt has never held me back, though, so here we go….

SÓLSTAFIR AND LEGEND

More than two years ago I wrote (here) about a split release by two Icelandic bands, Sólstafir and Legend, in which each of them covered a song originally recorded by the other. In Sólstafir‘s case, they put their stamp on a Legend song called “Runaway Train”.

Yesterday the two bands released a video in which members of both groups joined together last fall for a live performance of that same song from the split (which they had earlier recorded together at Studio Neptunus). The performance occurred in an abandoned industrial factory and was filmed by Brynjar Snær Þrastarson and edited by him and Frosti Jon Rúnólfsson. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SYSTEMIK VIØLENCE, AN ABBATH REMIX BY CRYPTICUS, CULT OF THE HEAD, AETHERIAN, MOTHER WITCH & DEAD WATER GHOSTS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Apr 152016
 

Systemik Violence-Fuck As Punk

 

Hey there. It’s good to be back on round-up duty. As I mentioned at the beginning of the week, I had to spend the last four days in something like the Bataan Death March for my fucking day job, except I was able to eat food and wasn’t scarred for life watching all my friends around me die in misery. I didn’t have to crap myself while walking either. But, I mean, by modern first world standards for a well-paid office worker it felt brutal. Please don’t shed too many tears, ‘cuz it’s over.

Anyway, there ain’t no fuckin’ way I can catch you up on all the good stuff I spotted since last Sunday and couldn’t write about, so I’m not even going to try. And I’m working on not feeling anxious and miserable about it. I don’t understand why people frown on having a few shots at breakfast. It’s very therapeutic. Here are some jewels you probably won’t find at some other metal site.

SYSTEMIK VIØLENCE

Speaking of therapeutic, the debut EP of Portuigal’s Systemik Viølence will do a masterful job of helping you discharge your desire to kick the living shit out of everything and everyone around you, without going to prison. Continue reading »

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