SEEN AND HEARD: WOMBBATH, INQUISITION, PHANTOM GLUE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Mar 282016
 

Wombbath-Revel In Flesh split cover

 

Man, it annoys the hell out of me when I actually have to work at the job that pays me instead of sitting around all day listening to metal and foaming at the mouth about it here. But I can only stand so much of that serious work before I have to take a break and see what new music the day has brought me. Here’s what I found — new music from a trio of bands that has greatly improved my sour mood.

WOMBBATH

For me, one of the bright spots of 2015 was the revival of Sweden’s Wombbath and the release of Downfall Rising, the band’s first album since 1993’s classic Internal Caustic Torments (and the source of this killer track that I included in our 2015 Most Infectious Song list). And now Wombbath are starting out 2016 in fine form by participating in a split release with Revel in Flesh called Dragged Into the Obscure — which will be released on April 1 by Unholy Prophecies and features grisly artwork by Juanjo Castellano. Continue reading »

V IS FOR VALGRIND, VIBRION, AND VIRULENCY

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Mar 272016
 

Valgrind-Speech of the Flame

 

Today some people are celebrating what they believe to be a victory over death. I’m more in the mood to celebrate the victory of death (metal). And so I’ve rounded up a selection of new songs from bands whose names begin with V — and the first two have resurrected themselves after long absences from the scene, with roots that go back into the early ’90s.

VALGRIND

Valgrind are an Italian death metal band who (according to Metal Archives) released four demos and an EP between 1995 and 2002 — and then seemed to go into hibernation until the appearance of their debut album, Morning Will Come No More, ten years later. Another four years have passed, but Valgrind’s new album Speech of the Flame was recently released by Lord of the Flies Records.

I learned of the new album through a Facebook friend who described their music with references to bands like Morbid Angel and Deicide. Although I haven’t heard the whole album, the two songs that are available for streaming sound damned good. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: BESTIA ARCANA, MORTUUS, LORD IMPALER, DIZZINESS, HELL POEMER, NEGATIVE VOICE, WOMAN IS THE EARTH, CHIRAL, ULULATUM TOLLUNT

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  11 Responses »
Mar 272016
 

Bestia Arcana art

 

It’s Easter Sunday, so of course I have a Shades of Black collection to share, with new music in a mainly blackened vein from 9 bands, because we need an extra large round-up of black today. The first two selections are more in the nature of teasers, while the balance of these selections are complete songs, EPs, or albums. There are lots of contrasts in this collection, from the utterly savage to the dreamlike and spellbinding.

BESTIA ARCANA

Last week Daemon Worship Productions launched a YouTube video which said nothing more than “Bestia Arcana. Holókauston is coming.” After doing further research I was able to find… no more details.

I presume that Holókauston is the name of the new second album by this Colorado black metal band, whose members were last reported to include Naas Alcameth of Akhlys and Nightbringer, K. (formerly of Nightbringer), and drummer Menthor (Nightbringer, Enthroned, Lvcifyre, etc.). And if those names don’t make you sit up and pay attention, then you’re in need of serious remedial posture training. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (WEEKEND EDITION): SORCERY, BE’LAKOR, GEVURAH, DECEPTIONIST, CRYSTALMOORS, KALMANKANTAJA, SŪRYA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
Mar 262016
 

Sorcery-Garden of Bones

 

I blogged like a blogging fool last week, shirking my fucking day job to an embarrassing extent. Now I have to pay for all the shirking by working this weekend. Or at least that’s the plan; I wouldn’t bet a lot of money on that if I were you. But before I attempt to make good on that noxious plan, here’s a collection of news and new music that’s not noxious, except in a good way.

SORCERY

I discovered yesterday that Xtreem Music will be releasing a new Sorcery album named Garden of Bones on May 15. I’m as excited as a springbok being chased by a cheetah. Continue reading »

BENEATH THE NCS RADAR (PART 9)

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Mar 252016
 

0 - collage2

 

(Straight outta Norway, our friend Gorger is back with a new edition of his series recommending releases that we’ve managed to overlook. And be sure to check out Gorger’s Metal.)

“Hot on the heels” after part 8, here’s part 9 of stuff that Islander and other contributors have overlooked in the abundance of releases. Well, that’s what I wrote almost two weeks ago before slipping into a new hiatus anyway.

Today I bring you black metal and atmospheric/symphonic derivatives thereof, thrash, tech-death, blackened death, and a blackened thrash gem from down under that you could sort of sort under Islander’s Tourism posts. Not in that order, though.

Also, I originally increased this post from the usual four to five, as I recently came across an elder piece that I’ve fallen in love with. But than, when assembling the collage above, I realized that five just wasn’t doing, and thus it grew to six.

Let’s get to it, shall we? Continue reading »

COVERS: BENIGHTED IN SODOM AND KAUAN

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Mar 252016
 

Benighted In Sodom

 

I’m working on a Friday round-up of new songs, but I decided I would carve these two out from the larger group and post them separately. Both of them are covers of well-known songs. The first one is actually a cover of a cover.

BENIGHTED IN SODOM

The prolific Matron Thorn seems to be one of those people for whom making music is as essential to his continued existence as oxygen and food are to the rest of us. He’s the principal creative force in Ævangelist — whose next release will be a split with Blut Aus Nord (!) — as well as a new project I’ve written about before named Death Fetishist, but one of his longest-running solo projects is Benighted In Sodom, and that’s the name under which he recorded the first song in this little collection. Continue reading »

POWER ELECTRONICS AND NOISE-LIKE OBJECTS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Mar 232016
 

The Body-Full of Hell-One Day You Will Ache

 

(Early last month Allen Griffin brought us a round-up of three power electronics releases, and that provoked enough interest that he returns with another collection.)

It is time once again to go trawling around the abyssal outside of the Extreme Music scene to find the harsh and unknowable. But what is somewhat surprising this time around is how much some of these releases are popping up in more conventional circles.

THE BODY AND FULL OF HELL

Case in point is the new collaboration between The Body and Full of Hell titled One Day You Will Ache Like I Ache, out on March 25th via Neurot. Despite being classified as  a Grindcore/D-Beat band, Full of Hell are no strangers to harsh sonic abstraction and worked with Merzbow on their previous album. The Body are also no strangers to collaboration, bringing in guests on almost all their releases. What we have here is an intermingling of The Body’s punishing Industrial aesthetics with Full of Hell’s more experimental noise-based side. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: IN MOURNING, IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT, SINISTROUS DIABOLUS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Mar 232016
 

In Mourning-Afterglow

 

Here are a trio of selected songs that caught our eyes and ears over the last 24 hours.

IN MOURNING

As previously reported, Sweden’s In Mourning have a new album on the way named Afterglow, which features wonderful cover art by Kristian “Necrolord” Wåhlin and also marks the first appearance of the band’s new drummer, Daniel Liljekvist (ex-Katatonia). This morning the band debuted a lyric video for the first advance track from the album, a song named “Below Rise To the Above”. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: WITHERED, NECROMANTIC WORSHIP, WASTEWALKER, NORNAHETTA, CHELSEA WOLFE

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Mar 222016
 

Withered-Grief

 

This is a collection of new songs and videos, most of which I intended to share yesterday before I discovered a torrent of other hot-off-the-presses debuts that appeared the same day. And of course, as a result of the delay I spotted more new things that appeared since then — including the first and last items in this round-up.

WITHERED

As previously reported a couple of weeks ago, Atlanta’s Withered are primed to release their first new album in more than five years. This one is entitled Grief Relic and it’s coming out on May 27 via Season of Mist. One song named “Husk” got its debut at DECIBEL on March 7, and today Revolver brought us another one named “Feeble Gasp”. Here’s a statement about the song from guitarist/vocalist Mike Thompson: Continue reading »

CONFLICT OF INTEREST: AN NCS INTRODUCTION TO THRILL JOCKEY

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Mar 222016
 

Thrill Jockey logo

 

(Our old friend Leperkahn finally gets around to doing something he forecast he would do in early February, with a selection of music that includes not-metal as well as metal.)

I mentioned at the end of my overlong 2015 EOTY list about a month ago that there would be an addendum to said list.

Since the end of September of last year, I’ve been an intern at Thrill Jockey Records, assembling and packing all of your beloved records, among other things (if you’re looking to steal my fingerprints so as to implicate me in a crime later in life, now’s probably gonna be your best opportunity). The job has introduced me to a ton of new music, some of it of the metallic variety, some not, though I would contend that the non-metallic stuff that’s appealed to me might appeal to some of you, as open-minded music listeners who come from a primarily metal background, such as myself.

In a move of unprecedented cronyism and self-promotion, I’m going to use this post to take you through a tour of some recent TJ output, some of it metal, some not. Admittedly, this isn’t a perfect addendum to a 2015 best-of list, since some of what’s featured came out in the first few months of this year, and some came out before 2015. But truly, good music need not consider age; so let’s get on with it. Continue reading »

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