SEEN AND HEARD: GESPENST, ORTHODOX, PYLAR, ARCH ENEMY

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
May 052015
 

 

Here’s an assortment of new music I discovered over the last 24 hours with some help from friends. Needless to say, I urge you to give all of it a listen.

GESPENST

Gespenst is a new Danish black band with some experienced members — vocalist/bassist Galskab, for example, is also a member of Woebegone Obscured, Dwell, and Black Dementia, as well as a former member of Horned Almighty and a live performer with Glorior Belli.  Gepenst have recorded a debut album named Forfald (Danish for “Downfall”), and yesterday they uploaded for streaming an excerpt of one of the album’s songs that blew me away when I heard it (it comes with some eye candy on YouTube).

The song’s name is “Life Drained To the Black Abyss”, and it’s a long one. Even the excerpt is more than 7 1/2 minutes long; as I learned from the band, the complete track runs more than 12 minutes. The album as a whole includes over 40 minutes of music, but only four tracks, so each of them is likely to be a long-form piece. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: TEMPEL, POTERGEIST, EARTHSIDE

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
May 042015
 

 

We’ve had a very busy day at our site, but I didn’t want to sign off on this May the Fourth (be with you) without recommending three new songs, two of which come with videos. Two of these are also instrumental tracks and the third involves a lot of clean singing — and so you know I really like them, because these kinds of songs tend to be rarities around here. I hope you enjoy them, too.

TEMPEL

Tempel’s new album The Moon Lit Our Path has been very high on my list of eagerly anticipated 2015 albums, in light of how very much I enjoyed their debut album On the Steps of the Temple. I got even more excited when I saw the album’s cover art by Lucas Ruggieri. And I have to say that, somehow, I’m now even more excited after listening to today’s premiere of a song named “Carvings In The Door”. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): GOATCRAFT, PLUTONIAN SHORE, KREUZWEG OST, PRIMEVAL MASS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  6 Responses »
May 032015
 

 

Over the last week I came across a lot of music I thought was worth sharing that could all loosely be labeled “black metal”, so much music that I’ve divided this collection into two parts (Part 1 is here). Part of what interested me in all this music was the diversity of the sounds. In some cases, the main connection to the label “black metal” is simply the spirit I sense in the songs, and in other instances simply the presence of certain musical elements in combination with others that aren’t typically associated with this increasingly amorphous genre.

And so, some of what you’re about to hear in this two-parter may be quite different from what you’re expecting, but I thought it was all very good and I hope you enjoy it.

GOATCRAFT

I haven’t written about this one-man project from lovely San Antonio, Texas, since the spring of last year, when I repeatedly featured tracks from Goatcraft’s last album The Blasphemer — as well as Lonegoat’s answer to this question (which I still find remarkably perceptive and eloquent): “What in your opinion are the essential elements – instrumentally, emotionally and philosophically – that comprise the heart and essence of Metal?” (reprinted at the end of this post). Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): COFFIN HAZE, TAPHOS NOMOS, DEVILSPIT, BLOOD CULT

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  4 Responses »
May 032015
 

 

Over the last week I came across a lot of music I thought was worth sharing that could all loosely be labeled “black metal”, so much music that I’ve divided this collection into two parts. Part of what interested me was the diversity of the sounds. In some cases, the main connection to the label “black metal” is simply the spirit I sense in the songs, and in other instances simply the presence of certain musical elements in combination with others that aren’t typically associated with this increasingly amorphous genre.

And so, what you’re about to hear in this two-parter may be quite different from what you’re expecting — from deathly surf rock to Alcoholic Rural Black Punk Metal to “necroclassical”, and beyond.

COFFIN HAZE

So let’s start with the deathly surf rock. I have no idea who is in Coffin Haze or precisely where they’re located (other than somewhere in the UK) — and believe me, I’ve done some looking. The only reason I discovered them at all is because Caligari Records is going to be releasing their debut demo on tape later this year, and I happened to see a post about it on Caligari’s Facebook page. (In fact, I discovered all of the first three bands featured in this post through Caligari’s Facebook page.) Continue reading »

VIDEOGRAPHY: MISERY INDEX, KING PARROT, HIDEOUS DIVINITY, VATTNET VISKAR, LELAHELL

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
May 022015
 

 

Happy Saturday to all you motherfuckers (and I say that with the greatest affection and respect). A lot of new music videos appeared in the interhole yesterday, and here I’ve collected four of them — plus one somewhat older video that I was tipped to earlier in the week. So grab a big bucket of buttered popcorn, turn down the lights, mute your cell phones, and prepare to be entertained.

MISERY INDEX

The new video for Misery Index is set to the music of “The Harrowing”, which is one of the best songs on one of last year’s best albums, The Killing Gods. The video was made by David Hall (Handshake Inc.), who also directed a previous video for the album for “The Calling” and whose work for other bands we’ve featured here on many occasions.

The new one incorporates film of the band performing on their European tour last summer, new performance footage shot by Jeff Grindstopher, some of the excellent artwork that Gary Ronaldson (Bite Radius Designs) created for the album, and a creepy narrative about a group of Zodiac-style killers. Continue reading »

FULL ALBUM STREAM: KRODA — “GINNUNGAGAP​-​GINNUNGAGALDR​-​GINNUNGAKAOS”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
May 012015
 

 

Within the last hour, the brilliant new album from Ukraine’s Kroda, GinnungaGap-GinnungaGaldr-GinnungaKaos, became available for streaming and download on Bandcamp. Our own Andy Synn reviewed the album two weeks ago, summing it up as  a collection of music that “brims with a vitality and unabashed creative energy that’s simply unmatched”:

“Pulse-raising in its undeniable passion, and surprisingly life-affirming in its boundless energy and vigour, Ginnungagap… is Kroda at their very best, marrying power and pathos, might and majesty, primal fury and grand, storytelling ambition, in a display of absolutely stunning harmony and balance.”

We’re damned happy to now give you a chance to hear the album for yourselves. Continue reading »

LAGO, RHINE, RAT KING: LIVE AT THE FUNHOUSE

 Concert Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
May 012015
 

 

Life is so unpredictable. Some days, it just rains shit in torrents. Other days, it’s almost magical. I had one of those magical days — actually, a magical night — earlier this week (April 29), when Lago, Rhine, and Rat King played in Seattle.

The show was at the resurrected Funhouse, which has now occupied the lounge at El Corazon. Lago (from Phoenix) have been touring the West Coast, and their Seattle stop was the occasion for this event. I’m a big fan of the band, and have been really impressed with Rhine’s recorded music too, so I was very curious to see what both bands would be like live. In my case, Rat King was a complete unknown.

To start with a summation: All three bands were fantastic. And although this is ostensibly a show review (with photos I snapped using my phone), it’s also intended as an introduction to our readers (or re-introduction) to the music of these bands; I’m including streams of their most recent releases along with my comments about their live sets. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MARE INFINITUM, GOAT TORMENT, JUPITERIAN, STRAUSS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
May 012015
 

 

This is a collection of new music I heard yesterday that I hope you will explore. It’s all over the map, both musically and geographically (in terms of the bands’ locations).

MARE INFINITUM

Usually, the music I include in these “Seen and Heard” round-ups consists of individual new songs or videos, released in advance of the albums or EPs on which they will appear. But this first song is from an album that you can now hear in its entirety because I was too slow to jump on it — but believe me, that’s not a bad thing.

The band is Mare Infinitum and they’re based in Moscow (Russia, not Idaho). Their debut album Sea of Infinity came out in 2011, and their second one, Alien Monolith God, was released by Solitude Productions one week ago. It consists of five long tracks, totaling almost one hour of music. So exploring even one song is going to take more than a little of your time. Continue reading »

CHELSEA WOLFE: “IRON MOON”

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Apr 282015
 

 

Oh what the hell, even though it’s well past the time when we usually stop posting, I think you should listen to this new Chelsea Wolfe song, the name of which is “Iron Moon“.

My NCS comrade BadWolf told me about the song; there was a lot of heat coming off him when he did.  He has talked my ear off (actually, both of them) about Chelsea Wolfe over the last year or two. He lusts after her music (and I think her as well) with the fervor of a true zealot.

I do understand the attraction(s), but I have a pretty simple, one-track mind when it comes to music. In general, if it’s not incinerating (and “Iron Moon” isn’t that), it needs to be very heavy or very terrifying. “Iron Moon” gets pretty close to both of those comfort zones. Continue reading »

KEVINP’S ALBUMS OF THE MONTH — APRIL 2015

 Listmania, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Apr 282015
 

 

(We’re nearing the end of the month, and that means it’s time for KevinP to name the releases this month that most impressed him.) 

We’re a quarter of the way through 2015 already.  This month was stacked to the gills with quality releases, the best yet.  Even though they didn’t make my Top 5, I feel obliged to mention Infernal War, Macabre Omen, Tribulation, Haar, and Kommandant, which are all worthy of your time.  But now, on to the creme de la creme.

5.  Abjvration – The Unquenchable Pyre

This was a last-minute entry and pushed one of the bands mentioned above off this list.  Think Portal, if they transformed into a Finnish doomy death metal band.  Sure, that makes no sense.  But does this band being absolutely terrifying and hailing from France make sense?  They are so kvlt, they’re not even listed on Metal Archives and have only a few hundred Facebook likes. Continue reading »

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