SEEN AND HEARD: BLOODWAY, BONEHUNTER, MERCYLESS, ERED

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
May 172015
 

 

Happy Sunday. I thought I would recommend a few new songs. No, not that new Lamb of God song — I like it, but I figure almost every metalhead in creation already knows about it, and I’d rather focus on some things you might not have heard about.  But by all means, feel free to share your thoughts about that song in the Comments, along with any reactions to the following four items.

BLOODWAY

Costin Chioreanu is probably best known in metal circles as an incredibly talented graphic artist whose work appears on the covers of a wide array of excellent albums (including releases by At the Gates, Sigh, Arcturus, Mayhem, and Darkthrone). But he’s also the vocalist/guitarist of a Romanian band named Bloodway, whose fine debut album Sunstone Voyager and the Clandestine Horizon was released on February 27th 2014, by I, Voidhanger Records. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: HIDEOUS DIVINITY, COFFINS, TEMPLE OF DAGON

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
May 142015
 

Hey there. I thought I’d quickly throw a few new things your way that I found earlier today. Then I have to go do something that actually pays my bills. Regrettably, on some days there seems to be a limit to how much unvarnished fucking off I can do at my job.

HIDEOUS DIVINITY

There’s a new play-through video for one of the best songs on Hideous Divinity’s latest album, Cobre Verde. The song is “The Alonest of the Alone”, and though you may be expecting a guitar or drum video, because most people seem to find more sex appeal in those things than a play-through on the humble bass, this is A BASS VIDEO. Continue reading »

HIGH ON FIRE: NEW ALBUM, NEW SONG, NEW TOUR

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
May 122015
 

Lots of news about High On Fire and new HoF music today.

First, we received a reminder that the band’s new album, Luminiferous, will be released on June 16 via eOne Music. It was recorded at Salem, Massachusetts’ GodCity Studios with producer Kurt Ballou. You can see the artwork above,

Second, the group premiered a new song from the album named “The Black Plot” via Rolling Stone — and I’ll have a bit more to say about it in a minute.

Third, the band announced a headlining U.S. tour that begins on July 30 in San Diego and finishes in New Orleans on August 23. Along for the ride will be Pallbearer, Lucifer, and Venomous Maximus. Here are the dates: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: VANUM, HADIT, DRUZHINA, NIDRA

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
May 122015
 

 

From my wanderings through the interhole and the NCS mailbox yesterday I came across four diverse new songs that grabbed me. So I thought I would put you in their clutches as well.

VANUM

I paused in my wanderings to hear this new song from Vanum based on the disclosure that the band consists of K. Morgan of Ash Borer and M. Rekevics of Fell Voices, Vorde, and Vilkacis. All those bands are quite good in my estimation, and so I was curious to hear what the union of these talents had produced. Profound Lore must have been intrigued, too, because they’re releasing Vanum’s debut album Realm of Sacrifice in June (digital and CD), with vinyl coming later via Psychic Violence. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ADVENT SORROW, VALLENDUSK, ISVIND, MORTUUS UMBRA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  11 Responses »
May 112015
 

 

If you made it through all four of my weekend round-ups, or just touched down on the fourth one, then you saw that I still didn’t exhaust all the new music I wanted to recommend. What I saved for this post is a handful of new songs from the realm of black metal. But as you may have figured out from previous installments of Shades of Black, I do my best to include a variety of sounds. “Black Metal” has become a big tent that includes a lot of diversity within its shadowy confines.

ADVENT SORROW

My NCS comrade Andy Synn recommended the first song to me, which comes in the form of a video, though it took me nearly a week to finally listen to it. I shouldn’t have waited. Continue reading »

WEEKEND ROUND-UP (PART 4): VASTATION, MUTILATED VETERANS, FÖRGIFTAD, RAT KING

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
May 102015
 

 

Yesterday I began a four-part round-up of new songs I discovered over the last 5 days — the first three parts are here, here, and here. Even after I started the project, I found more new tracks I’d like to throw your way. All of those are in the vein of black metal, so I think I’ll save them for a “Shades of Black” round-up that I’ll post tomorrow.

For this final installment of the weekend round-up I’m leading off with three bands in the vein of crust punk or death/crust and finishing with an instrumental project. I hope you’ll enjoy all of it as much as I have.

VASTATION / MUTILATED VETERANS

Last month both Portland, Oregon’s Vastation and Mutilated Veterans from A Coruña in the Galicia region of Spain uploaded to Bandcamp one of their respective contributions to a vinyl split that will be released this summer in extremely limited quantities by Morbid Reality Records. Both songs will kick your ass so hard that you’ll be shitting from between your shoulder blades after you hear them. Continue reading »

WEEKEND ROUND-UP (PART 3): ENTRAILS, CUT UP, MAZE OF TERROR

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
May 102015
 

 

I’m forging ahead with my weekend goal of collecting a dozen of the excellent new songs I discovered since the middle of last week. The first two installments of this extended round-up can be found here and here. There will be a fourth installment coming later today, and maybe a fifth one, because I’ve found even more exciting stuff since starting this project on Saturday morning. Also, Happy Mother’s Day. To celebrate, I thought we’d have some music that wants to tear your head off.

Those of you who regularly hang around here know that I’ve got a serious weakness for old school Swedish-style death metal. The first two songs in this collection are orbiting that particular star.

ENTRAILS

By my lights, Sweden’s Entrails can pretty much do no wrong. I already frothed at the mouth over the first advance track from their new album Obliteration (here), and last Thursday we got another new one courtesy of CVLT Nation. Continue reading »

WEEKEND ROUND-UP (PART 2): CRYPTICUS V. NAPALM DEATH, DESTRUKTOR, ENFOLD DARKNESS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
May 092015
 

 

I have a goal this weekend. I have a dozen new songs that I came across since mid-week that I want to commend to your ears. Rather than put them in one humongous post, the plan is to divide them into four posts, with three songs in each one — two posts today and two on Sunday. This is a goal, mind you, not a guarantee. I could be hit by a car, or a fifth of whiskey, before finishing. But I’m now halfway to achieving this goal. To hear the songs in Part 1, go HERE.

CRYPTICUS v. NAPALM DEATH

Crypticus is one of my favorite current death metal bands. The band’s maestro is vocalist/guitarist/bassist Patrick Bruss, who is also a record producer and a remix genius. You think I’m exaggerating with that “genius” label? Judge for yourselves.

This morning Patrick unveiled his remix of the title track to Napalm Death’s 2005 album The Code Is Red… Long Live the Code. The original song is fucking outstanding — but Patrick has made it five times more amazing, converting it into a 15-minute non-stop circle pit. Continue reading »

WEEKEND ROUND-UP: SVARTELDER, COFFINS, KAOS VORTEX

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
May 092015
 

 

I have a goal this weekend. I have a dozen new songs that I came across since mid-week that I want to commend to your ears. Rather than put them in one humongous post, the plan is to divide them into four posts, with three songs in each one — two posts today and two on Sunday. This is a goal, mind you, not a guarantee. I could be hit by a car, or a fifth of whiskey, before finishing.

SVARTELDER

The first song in this collection is named “Askebundet” by a Norwegian band named Svartelder. I listened to it because of an e-mail which explained that the current line-up of the band includes members of Carpathian Forest, In the Woods, Den Saakaldte, Pantheon I, and Old Forest, in addition to founder and frontman Doedsadmiral. The e-mail didn’t disclose which particular individuals from those bands are now part of Svartelder — they’ve taken new names for this purpose: Maletoth (bass, guitars), AK-47 (drums), Kobold (keyboards). But those band names were enough inducement to check out “Askebundet” — and it turns out to be fantastic. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: PARADISE LOST, PRIMORDIAL, DE PROFUNDIS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
May 062015
 


Photo by Ewan Cawood

 

A flood of new music and videos appeared yesterday. I found a dozen of them I’d like to recommend, but I’m squeezed for time at the moment, so I’ve made some hard choices and picked three for this post. Perhaps I’ll be able to collect a few more later today — though it’s likely that as this day wears on even more good new music will appear. Anyone who thinks there’s something wrong with the state of metal in 2015 is just WRONG.

PARADISE LOST

My Facebook news feed blew up with friends posting about the new Paradise Lost video yesterday. Most of the links were accompanied by exclamations of surprise and praise. To those I’ll now add my own.

The song is “Beneath Broken Earth” and it appears on the band’s forthcoming album The Plague Within, due for release on June 1 by Century Media. The video was directed by Ash Pears. Here’s a quote about the song and video by the band’s guitarist Greg Mackintosh (who we hope has recovered from his recent mishap on stage in Seattle with Vallenfyre): Continue reading »

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