NEPAL EARTHQUAKE RELIEF: A METAL COMPILATION

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jun 132015
 

 

The massive earthquake that struck the Himalayan nation of Nepal on April 25 of this year was the worst natural disaster to hit the country in more than 80 years, killing more than 8,000 people and injuring more than 23,000. And as if that wasn’t bad enough, two more major quakes occurred on May 12, killing more than a hundred other people and injuring thousands more.

Those of us like me who live many thousands of miles away may not have personally known anyone affected by this almost unimaginable disaster. One of my few acquaintances in the region is Aabeg Gautam, the co-founder, vocalist, and bass-player of Dying Out Flame, whose 2014 debut album Shiva Rudrastakam I reviewed here (it’s wondrously good, and if you haven’t already discovered it, you should — at this location). Continue reading »

MADDER MORTEM: “RED IN TOOTH AND CLAW” TEASER

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jun 112015
 

 

(KevinP wrote this introduction to a teaser of new music from Norway’s Madder Mortem.)

There’s nothing more enjoyable than when Islander gets his panties so deeply in a bind over a NO HARSH SINGING band, that it takes the skills of SurgicalBrute to remove them.  And as much as I relish his temporary misery, I am grateful that he essentially gives me free reign to talk about what I want (and feel is warranted).  Which brings us to perhaps the most important musical thing for me this year, new MADDER MORTEM music.

It’s been 6 years since their last album, Eight Ways, and while the wait has been semi-agonizing, it also makes the heart grow fonder.  The band released a 3-minute teaser last week with samples of 3 songs to their forthcoming sixth full length album, Red in Tooth and Claw.  Even though it’s only a teaser, it’s enough to get me very very excited, maybe almost too excited. Continue reading »

FREE SHIT FROM DARK DESCENT, WITH NEW SONGS FROM ADVERSARIAL, BLOOD INCANTATION, AND THEVETAT

 Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jun 112015
 


The Dark Descent label has recently released a 10-track sampler of music from the label’s artists that’s available on Bandcamp now (“name your price”). It includes music from recent releases plus previews of unreleased material from Adversarial, Blood Incantation, and Thevetat.

Those three previously unreleased tracks are all great, and for me proved to be welcome introductions to the fascinating, brain-scrambling death metal exuberance of Blood Incantation (their track will appear on an EP named Interdimensional Extinction) and the blood-thirsty death metal explosiveness of Thevetat (their track will appear on a forthcoming 7″ named Desecration of Divine Presence).

I was especially hot to hear the new Adversarial track, “Eonik Spiritual Warfare”, which will appear on their forthcoming second full-length, Death, Endless Nothing and the Black Knife of Nihilism, scheduled for release in August with album artwork that has again been created by the awesome Danille Gauvin.  The band’s set at Maryland Deathfest this year was one of the event’s high points for me, and I’ve been a big fan of everything they’e recorded to date. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: DEMONWOMB, ISVIND, HARDBANGER, ABYSSGALE, THRONE OF MOLOK

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jun 102015
 

 

Well, just this past weekend I made a big deal about how I was going to be out of town for 2 weeks in Texas working day and night for my fucking day job and dismally watching the content on our site fall to a trickle. I am indeed in Texas for my day job, and it won’t be long before I really do have to knuckle down and earn my keep — but things haven’t been that crushing so far. And so… I continue to blog!

Here are some musics I enjoyed over the last 48 hours that I hope you will enjoy, too — reviews of three new short releases, some praise for one more new song from an eagerly anticipated album, and a feature on three tracks from a recently discovered album.

DEMONWOMB

Demonwomb are from Wien, Austria. Powertrip Records is going to release a self-titled, five-track 7″ by the band on June 19 (their second EP) — but you can hear all of it on Bandcamp right now, and you damn well should. Why should you? Well, let me count the reasons: Continue reading »

WOMBBATH: “UNDERNEATH THE ROTTEN SOIL”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jun 102015
 

 

Well, it was only yesterday that we posted a big feature about the first album from Sweden’s Wombbath in 22 years and a video teaser reel of song excerpts from the album — which is entitled Downfall Rising. And maybe we should have been a little more patient, because today an entire new song from the album hit YouTube — “Underneath Rotten Soil” — and you can hear it below.

As reported yesterday, the reincarnation of this long-missing cult band now consists of original guitarist Håkan Stuvemark (Skineater, ex-In Thy Dreams) plus vocalist/bassist Jonny Petterson (Ashcloud, Syn:drom, etc.), guitarist Al Riglin, and drummer Henrik Åberg — although Jeramie Kling (Infernaeon, The Absence) did the drumming on the new album and additional guitar parts on the record were contributed by Taylor Nordberg (Infernaeon). Continue reading »

NU SCENE AND HERD: THE SCHOENBERG AUTOMATON, WARFORGED, LAMB OF GOD, BLACK FAST, PERIHELION, DYSTROPHY, NEKROGOBLIKON, DIRE NECRO CERBERUS, GLADIUS SKY, INIQUITOUS DEEDS, SHAPE OF DESPAIR

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jun 102015
 

 

(Austin Weber has stepped up for round-up duties today, with a collection of new music and videos from 11 bands.)

Seeing as Islander is once again away in a work-related hell setting, I figured I’d step in again and keep our readers up to date with several newly released jams as well as newly released albums from a variety of bands.

Unfortunately, however, I’m low on spare time, as you may or may not have noticed from my recent absence from posting here at the site these last few weeks. So, I’m going to try something new and say nary a word about the songs/albums posted below — much as that fucking pains me to do! Not because I don’t feel strongly about each and every one of them, but simply because it’s almost 6 AM here, I haven’t gone to bed, and need to be up again in 4 hours. Thankfully, you came here for the music more than anything I would hope.

Without further ado… Continue reading »

WOMBBATH: A MUSICAL TEASER FOR “DOWNFALL RISING”

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jun 092015
 

 

I have many musical weaknesses, but as I’ve confessed more than once, perhaps the most crippling one is old school Swedish death metal. I have something akin to a Pavlovian response when I hear HM-2 distortion in action; the saliva just starts flowing in a disgusting torrent. And so you may imagine how grossly I soiled myself when my friend Tito V. tipped me late yesterday to the fact that Wombbath were about to release a video teaser reel for their new album — Downfall Rising.

I’m not going to assume that everyone knows who Wombbath are, because hell, they haven’t released a new album since 1993 (Internal Caustic Torments) — and probably not many of you have yet heard the split they released with Warhound this past spring. But that 1993 album is a true classic (it was reissued earlier this year — more about that in a minute), and anything that comes out with the Wombbath name attached to it is going to be worth exploring. Continue reading »

NEW MUSIC FROM MÖTORHEAD AND HELLBASTARD

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jun 092015
 

 

I’m late to this party, but it’s a hell of a party, so late is way better than never. And plus, these two bands and their new songs just seemed to call out for a union (jack).

MOTÖRHEAD

Mötorhead’s 22nd studio album, Bad Magic, is due for release on August 28. Sometime last week one of the album’s new songs, “Thunder & Lightning”, was uploaded to YouTube, and it’s still there — for which I’m grateful, since I missed it when it first surfaced. It’s such a fuckin’ good song. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: VIALS OF WRATH, LETHAL CREATION, ABYSSAL ASCENDANT

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jun 082015
 

 

On days like today, when we have unexpectedly flooded our site with posts, I worry that we may be overloading our readers with new music — even though we’re actually not writing about everything we’d like to write about. Chalk it up to a genuine enthusiasm for what we’re hearing. With that said, here’s some more new music!

The first item in this collection is introduced by occasional NCS contributor Grant Skelton… and for the second time today we’re featuring wonderful cover art by Sam Nelson (Stigma).

VIALS OF WRATH

Special thanks to DC Mills for sending me this song — Grant Skelton.

Back in January, I mentioned (here) that Vials of Wrath’s upcoming album Days Without Names was one of my most anticipated releases of the year. At that time, the band teased less than 1 minute of a song called “Burning Autumn Leaves (Under A Harvest Moon).” Today, I am happy to report that VoW have released a new song from Days Without Names. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: CLARET ASH, OLD GRAVES, SANCTUAIRE, VLK, SPITEFUL URINATOR, TREPANATION

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  5 Responses »
Jun 082015
 

 

Although I’m on the road for my fucking day job, I found more time to myself last night and this morning than I expected. Of course, I used that time to blog like a maniac — so, we will actually have a mammoth amount of content on our site today, beginning with this collection of new music I’d like to recommend. The songs are all quite different from each other, but most of them have some connection to the realms of black metal.

CLARET ASH

Claret Ash, from Canberra, Australia, have recorded a sophomore album named The Cleansing, which will be released on July 8. Yesterday the band revealed the album’s cover art and a new song named “Desolation of A Pierced Soul”. The album cover was created by one of my favorite metal art talents, Sam Nelson (Stigma), and I think it’s wonderful. So is the new song. Continue reading »

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