WEEKEND ROUND-UP (Part 3): MASTERY, ATTEN ASH, GODLESS ANGEL

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Jan 112015
 

 

Here’s Part 3 of a weekend effort to catch up on what I missed late last week. Part 1 is here, Part 2 is here. I might have one more installment tomorrow morning, unless I suffer an attack of laziness.

MASTERY

Mastery (not to be confused with the Toronto thrash band of the same name) is the solo black metal project of Ephemeral Domignostika of Bay Area black metal groups Pale Chalice and Pandiscordian Necrogenesis . The Flenser will be releasing Mastery’s debt album VALIS on February 17 and recently premiered an advance track named “V.A.L.I.S.V.E.S.S.E.L.”

The song is more than 17 minutes long. Almost all of it is a flame-throwing mindfuck — a berserker blastwave of boiling-in-oil vocals, maniacal drumming, shrieking guitar dissonance, and frenzied bass lines. Except for an unexpected acoustic breather, it’s always just a hair’s breadth away from coming apart at the seams, but I found myself in its grip. Maybe I was just waiting to see if it could succeed in melting down my headphones into a pile of slag. Continue reading »

WEEKEND ROUND-UP (Part 2): NAPALM DEATH, SEA OF BONES, SYLOSIS, ANGELUS APATRIDA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jan 102015
 

 

Here’s Part 2 of a weekend effort to catch up on what I missed over the last couple of days. Part 1 is here. I’ll have at least one more installment tomorrow.

NAPALM DEATH

Would you believe that by the end of this month Napalm Death will have released their 15th studio album?!? It’s true. January 26 is the European release date and January 27 is the date for North America, and the album’s name is Apex Predator – Easy Meat. It will be released in NorthAm by Century Media.

A couple days ago the second advance track from the album appeared at selected sites on either side of the Atlantic. Its name is “How The Years Condemn”. Lyrically, it reflects bassist Shane Embury’s realization after being hospitalized a few years ago that he had “to make a choice which was either to carry on down the same path of selfish destruction as I had seen some of my friends embark on or stay around for the people I loved and who loved me.” Continue reading »

WEEKEND ROUND-UP (Part 1): INCANTATION, HATE, DEIVOS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Jan 102015
 

 

Whenever I let a day or two go by without checking the web or my NCS e-mails to see what’s new, I always miss a lot, because the ocean of metal is always at high tide. Because of my day job, I couldn’t pay much attention to metal happenings over the last two days. But I had a 6-hour flight back to Seattle from the east coast last night and a decent internet connection, so I tried to catch up. And goddamn….

The great and powerful Engine of Metal has awakened after dormancy during the holiday season and it’s now running in the red zone. (Yeah, I just mixed my metaphors, so sue me.) I found more than 20 new songs and videos during that plane flight that I thought were worth exploring.

The net connection wasn’t good enough to stream anything on the flight, so I just made a list, and now I’m going through it. There’s sooo much worth writing about that I’m breaking this round-up into multiple parts that I’ll spit out in pieces today and tomorrow. (I missed an installment of the Most Infectious Song list yesterday, but I’ll get back on track with that today, too.) Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (SORT OF): BROTHERS OF THE SONIC CLOTH, COLD BLUE MOUNTAIN, CVLT NATION DOOM, ERYN NON DAE., MISÞYRMING, NEOLITH, ONTOGENY, TEKSTI-TV 666

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Jan 072015
 

 

Every now and then I feel the need to elevate myself to about 40,000 feet above the Earth so as to more clearly receive extraterrestrial emanations and special guidance from the cosmos itself. I happen to be doing that right now. Thanks to the marvels of modern technology I can snoop the web for news and new music and post what I find, even as I receive mysterious communications from entities far beyond our own sphere.

Actually, to be brutally honest, which is the only kind of honest we know how to be at this site, I’m cooped up on an airplane flying across the country for my fucking day job, and the only emanations I’m getting are from the whine of the jet engines outside my window; I can’t make sense of them.

Although there’s an internet connection on board, it’s not good enough for me to hear music streams or watch videos. So, I’ve picked all but one of the music streams in this round-up based on educated guesses that they will be good. Maybe you’ll leave a comment and let me know if I guessed right. Presented in alphabetical order: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): BABYMETAL, LINDEMANN, CURSE OF THE NORTH

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jan 052015
 

 

I collected enough new pieces of music and news items over the last 24 hours to justify a two-part Monday round-up. This is Part 1. I guess everything in here violates the rule of our site, as reflected in its name.

BABYMETAL

Our Tokyo-based friend and former NCS contributor Phro spotted something new from the Japanese J-pop/metal sensation Babymetal. It’s a three-minute trailer that appeared this morning for a new song named “Road of Resistance” that features some surprise guests. Phro wrote about it for his regular gig at Rocket News 24, and I’m just going to quote a few of his words below (you should read his whole write-up at this location). Like Phro, I happen to be one of those people who have enjoyed what Babymetal are doing to spread the gospel of metal to the uninitiated.

Stop what you’re doing and get ready to lose your… ummm… stuff. Kawaii-meets-coffins idol group BABYMETAL just released a trailer for a new song featuring guitars by Herman Li and Sam Totem, the semi-legendary guitarists from DragonForce. The song is called “Road of Resistance” and our only complaint is that the trailer is too short…despite being over three minutes long.

Put your kitsune up and get ready to headbang…

Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: LOIMANN, VHOLDGHAST, ITHAQUA, BLACK CILICE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jan 032015
 

 

Here’s a collection of new songs I came upon over the last 24 hours. It’s not happy music, but it make me happy.

LOIMANN

Loimann are from Torino in the Piemonte region of Italy. They released a debut album in 2010 named Towards Higher Consciousness, and their second full-length — Drowning Merged Tantras — will soon be released on CD by Behold the Ruins Records. I was drawn to it by the cover art (above), created by one of my favorite metal artists, Costin Chioreanu.

I’ve been making my way through the album as a whole (with thanks to Loimann for the opportunity), and I’m really enthralled by what they’ve accomplished. I’m unable to write as many album reviews as I would like, so I at least want to encourage you to listen to the two songs from the album that are now publicly available — “Haeresis” and “Tantras… Drowned”. Continue reading »

FREE SHIT: THE A389 MMXI ANNIVERSARY BASH SOUNDTRACK

 Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jan 032015
 

 

Baltimore-based A389 Recordings is hosting a music festival on January 15-17, 2015, to commemorate its 11th anniversary. The show will take place at three Baltimore venues (Sidebar Tavern, CCAS, and Metro Gallery) and will feature performances by 20 bands. The awesome poster for this year’s festival (above) was created by Human Furnace of Ringworm.

To help promote the festival and to salve the wounds of those who will be unable to attend, A389 has made available a free digital compilation called the A389 MMXI Anniversary Bash Soundtrack with songs from all the bands who will be performing at the festival. The soundtrack includes brand new tracks by Ilsa and Genocide Pact, as well as music from Noisem, Full of Hell, Magrudergrind, In Cold Blood, Weekend Nachos, and many more. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: BASTARD GRAVE, CRYPT SERMON, GHOULGOTHA, INTEGRITY, WOODEN STAKE

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Jan 012015
 

 

Well, Happy Fucking New Year to all you motherfuckers out there (to bring good luck, I think it’s important to call all our readers “motherfuckers” on the first day of 2015). I hope everyone is beginning the new year in one piece and not too much the worse for wear from whatever you did last night to commemorate the calendar change.

I’m in unusually good shape myself, which is to say that I had a fairly peaceful and alcohol-free evening with my spouse, who resisted my entreaties to get shit-faced. This morning, I want to thank her for once again being the level-headed part of this partnership.

I spent part of this morning web-surfing for new music and found quite a lot worth recommending. Here’s part of what I found, presented in alphabetical order, since I am able to remember the order of the alphabet because I was good last night.

P.S. For those who came here looking for the next installment in our 2014 “Most Infectious Song” series, I’m taking a break for today — so I can figure out which two songs to post next! Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: DEIPHAGO, DOOMAS, IRREVERSIBLE MECHANISM, IZAH, SOLSTICE

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Dec 302014
 

 

I’ve fallen a bit behind in my efforts to collect news items and new songs I think are worthy of attention. There was some holiday recently that proved to be a distraction, plus I’ve been spending time on year-end lists of one kind or another. So this collection includes items of interest I spotted over the last 4 or 5 days, presented in alphabetical order, along with a recommendation from NCS contributor Grant Skelton at the end.

DEIPHAGO

I checked — 18 months have passed since the last time I wrote about Deiphago, reviewing the vinyl edition of a 2012 split release they did with Ritual Combat. But as far as I can tell, that split was the last recording these Filipino marauders released, and we’re now more than two years on from their last full-length, the devastating Satan Alpha Omega. Therefore, I’m really pleased to report that Deiphago have recently finished recording a new album with producer Colin Marston that should see release early next year on the Hells Headbangers label.

The name of the album is Into the Eye of Satan, and the cover art by Axel Hermann (above) is a real eye-catcher.

I have no music to share with you yet, only high hopes for a highly anticipated assault of blackened death metal. Continue reading »

SATURDAY SLAUGHTER, SWEDISH STYLE: TORTURE DIVISION, MORDBRAND, PAGANIZER, JOHANSSON & SPECKMANN

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Dec 272014
 

 

It’s been a little while since I posted some real Swedish fucking death metal on the site, long enough that I was starting to get the shakes, the night sweats, the dry mouth, and the volcanic gut rumbles. So I decided to do something about it. I’m tending to my needs, and bringing you some slaughter for your Saturday at the same time. But as you’ll find out, this is also a very bittersweet post for me to write.

TORTURE DIVISION

I first discovered Torture Division in March 2011, when they released a cover of Mastodon’s “Iron Tusk” from the Leviathan album, accompanied by an introduction that included these words:

“This is how we would have made this song, had we written it in the first place. But we didn’t, we just thought it would be nice to MASTODON to make a proper tune out of it. Kidding, kidding… MASTODON‘s cool. They are no TORTURE DIVISION, but hey — can’t win them all.”

I became an immediate fan, and have remained one in the years that followed (you can still hear that “Iron Tusk” cover in the first Mordbrand feature I prepared). I wrote about most of their other releases over the last three years (collected here) and liked every goddamn one of them. And now, sad to say, I’m writing about their final effort. Continue reading »

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