SEEN AND HEARD: BYZANTINE, EYE OF SOLITUDE, FALLS OF RAUROS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Aug 292014
 

 

Those of you who can’t let a day go by without visiting our humble site, by which of course I mean all of you, have undoubtedly noticed that I haven’t been very good about posting round-ups this week. There are reasons, but I’ll just acknowledge my failure, express my deep regret, ask for God’s forgiveness, and try to turn the page (I got that sentence out of the Official Politicians’ Handbook For What To Say When You’re Caught In Bed With A Dead Girl Or A Live Boy).

Many, many things have happened over the last few days that are worth noting, but I’ll just mention three of them for now.

BYZANTINE

The resurrection of West Virginia’s Byzantine has been all but complete, with the release of a stellar comeback album in 2013 and the commencement of work for a follow-up record (To Release Is To Resolve) now in progress. But one thing has been missing: A Tour!

Well, finally, it appears that’s going to happen, too. Today the band announced the Release To Resolve Tour, which will be their first tour in 7 years. It begins and ends in West Virginia and includes an appearance at the CMJ Showcase in New York City. They will be supported by New York’s IKILLYA and by Thy Will Be Done from Providence, RI. The schedule as it currently exists (with a few specific locations still to be announced) is below: Continue reading »

BEYOND CREATION: “NEUROTICAL TRANSMISSIONS”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Aug 282014
 

 

(Austin Weber provides the following introduction to a new song by Canada’s Beyond Creation that premiered yesterday.)

While lyrically speaking, the newly premiered Beyond Creation track, “Neurotical Transmissions”, may indeed mirror its title, the song itself resembles anything but the byproduct of a neurotic disheveled mind. It’s a graceful and epic song that diverges into a bevy of progressive moments amidst its fierce, full-throttle storm.

A back and forth trade-off of spiralling melodies and Dominic Lapointe’s warm, effusive bass rumblings sets the tone, quickly outgrowing its mid-paced beginning and switching direction on a dime toward a plane of mind-boggling pyrotechnics and machine-gun drum bursts, while the band make sure along the way to supplement the cutthroat moments with a series of titanic grooves that add plenty of contrast. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SUMAC, ELEMENTAL NIGHTMARES II, THE HAUNTED, PYRE, SONNE ADAM, MORNING MODE, FALLOCH

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Aug 262014
 

I haven’t written one of these round-ups since late last week, and much has happened on the metal front since then, so I’m cramming quite a few items into this post that I thought were worth sharing. It’s a jumbo-sized playlist that should appeal to many tastes (and I still didn’t include every good thing I found!).

SUMAC

In late July, the super-talented drummer of Vancouver’s Baptists, Nick Yacyshyn, gave an interview to CVLT Nation in which he mentioned that he had recently spent a week writing, rehearsing, and recording with Aaron Turner (Old Man Gloom, Mamiffer, and Isis [the BAND, ferchrissakes]. He also posted a photo of Aaron Turner’s drum kit on his Facebook page, and he further mentioned that Brian Cook of Russian Circles, These Arms Are Snakes, and Botch was also involved in the project.

This juicy piece of news wasn’t widely reported, but yesterday brought further details via a Facebook announcement by Profound Lore. According to that announcement, the project’s name is Sumac; its core members do indeed consist of Yacyshyn, Turner, and Cook; and Profound Lore will be releasing Sumac’s “monumentally heavy debut album” in early 2015.

I’d call that some hot shit news. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: MISÞYRMING, YELLOW EYES, LABYRINTHINE, BHLEG, CEMETERIUM

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  2 Responses »
Aug 242014
 

Black metal today comes in so many shapes and textures that’s it’s almost as diverse as “death metal”, its original thorned orthodoxy having blossomed into a garden of unearthly delights. In this post I’ve collected the diverse music of five black metal bands who I discovered last week. If there’s one thing they do have in common, it’s a skill in crafting melody (of all things).

MISÞYRMING

Misþyrming (“Mis-thyr-ming”) are an Icelandic band whose name came my way in rapid succession from an e-mail by NCS supporter eiterorm and an Eistnaflug-themed article by Kim Kelly. According to Kim’s article, “The Reykjavik-based project started out as a one-man endeavor and expanded when founder D.G. added drummer H.R.H. (also of Carpe Noctem) on drums.” I’ve written admiringly about Carpe Noctem before, so that kind of made three reasons to go exploring.

Misþyrming’s debut album Söngvar elds og óreiðu will be released in a collaborative effort by Fallen Empire and Terratur Possessions, and two of the songs are on Bandcamp now. The music is incendiary — perhaps the most destructive music of the five bands in this post — but when they back down from the flame-spewing they cast mesmerizing riff spells. And they do a damned fine job of flame throwing (with eerie ambience), too.

Don’t forget this band’s name — I’m confident it’s going to spread. Brilliant stuff. Continue reading »

DEAFHEAVEN: “FROM THE KETTLE ONTO THE COIL”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Aug 222014
 

Adult Swim is releasing a new track from SF’s Deafheaven on Monday. It will be available for free download. The song’s name is “From the Kettle To the Coil”. It bears many of the by-now well-known Deafheaven musical characteristics — it includes lush melodies, George Clarke shrieks his guts out, and the guitarists and drummer blaze away when they’re not going for slow and shimmering.

But… Clarke also hits some roaring lows (and some low cleans) this time around, and the riffs get jagged and punchy. But in a nutshell, if you like Deafheaven (as I do), you will like this song (a lot, because it’s one of their best), and if you don’t you probably won’t. Listen next, and if you do like what you hear, this is the place to get it on Monday: Continue reading »

NAME YOUR OWN PRICE BANDCAMP THROWDOWN; AN ALBUM, AN EP, AND A SONG: FRACTALLINE, ASYLUM, AND REMAINS OF THE TYRANT

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Aug 222014
 

(In this post DGR reviews music from three bands, with complete music streams for each one.)

Fractalline – Polymath Theory

Fractalline are a Los Angeles-based death metal band who have been around for a while now, with two prior releases to their name. However, those came out in 2010, and a lot can happen in four years, as evidenced by this group’s June 2014 release Polymath Theory.

The band currently have the album listed as “name your own price” on Bandcamp. As a whole, it’s a concept disc with a heavy science fiction bent. Part of what makes Polymath Theory interesting is that it pursues the theme without the album art just being a picture of a planet and the words ‘SPAAAAAAAAAAAACE’ underneath it, as so many other bands who’ve tried their hands at this subject matter seem to have done.

In the words of the band themselves:

Polymath Theory is a concept album that is a “commentary on humankind’s evolution from basic beings subject to the whims of their universe, to intergalactic explorers and energistic entities in search of purpose – while touching upon our present state in the final trek – DeEvolution.”

The album is full of infinitely complex mid-tempo grinders that see the band in a markedly different market than the current string of light-speed hyperblasting bands out there. Since the group don’t have the benefits of pyrotechnic speed on their side to help in their appeal, they have instead chosen to build Polymath Theory out of odd shapes and weird, angular structures. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SCAR SYMMETRY, THE STONE, SANCTUARY

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Aug 222014
 

 

Here are a trio of new songs that I heard this morning that I enjoyed. Perhaps you will enjoy them, too. Obviously, I couldn’t resist grouping these three S bands together. Cool album covers for all of them, too.

SCAR SYMMETRY

Scar Symmetry’s sixth album is on the way. The title is Singularity (Phase I: Neohumanity). It has a cool album cover, don’t you think? Today the band released a lyric video for a single from the album named “Limits To Infinity”. The announcement came with these quotes from band members:

Per Nilsson: “I thought to myself… am I allowed to fuse death metal with AOR, and go extreme in both directions? I didn’t ask for permission, I just went and did it, and I’m pretty excited to hear what people are gonna think about it.”

Henrik Ohlsson: “‘Limits to Infinity’” unveils the malevolent plan of the elite, the hidden hand, and their discoveries regarding the secrets of the universe. The lyric elaborates on the decision makers’ long-term plan to merge with machines and colonize other planets.”

The music is a high-powered combination of jolting riffs/rhythms and catchy melody, deliciously ugly growls and soaring cleans, tumbling drums and a flickering solo. It hammers and it glides and I don’t think you’ll be able to remain still while it does its thing. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SÓLSTAFIR , DAWNBRINGER, DARK FORTRESS, UNCLE ACID & THE DEADBEATS

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Aug 202014
 

Photo by Guðný Lára Thorarensen and Guðmundur Óli Pálmason

Here’s a quartet of things I saw and heard over the last 24 hours that I thought were worth your time. I could have sub-titled this “The Exception to the Rule Round-Up”, because the vocals are almost all of the clean variety.

SÓLSTAFIR

I’ve written about every advance track that has appeared from Sólstafir’s new album Ótta, which will be released by Season of Mist on August 29 in Europe and September 2 in North America. So I guess it stands to reason that I’m going to write about the full-album stream that premiered yesterday at Noisey.

I love the album, but I’m not sure were going to review it. We didn’t get our promo copy of the album from the label until less than 24 hours before the stream went up (and only about 10 days before the European release date), and I do sometimes wonder what the point is of writing a review when everyone can hear the album for themselves, especially when there are so many other albums whose music is less accessible that are also worth praising. There’s always a point to bringing music to the attention of people who might not be aware of it, but anyone who regularly visits our site couldn’t possibly remain unaware Ótta.

Anyway, whether we write more about the album or not, you really should go listen to it. Among the previously unreleased songs, “Non” in particular has been getting repeated spins among our staff. The goddamn riff at the end is just glorious. Go here — you’ll be glad you did: Continue reading »

GAZE UPON THE STUPENDOUS ARTWORK FOR THE NEW NE OBLIVISCARIS ALBUM

 Eye-Catchers, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Aug 182014
 

 

Not long ago we posted Part 2 of Ty Lowery’s list of personal favorite album covers for 2014 to date. And then about 5 minutes later, I saw THIS ^^^^!!!

It’s the cover art for Citadel, the new album by Australia’s Ne Obliviscaris. The artist goes by the name Xen, (aka Xenoyr) who is the band’s lead vocalist and lyricist, and whose Facebook page is here:

https://www.facebook.com/svartw3rk/

And wow, isn’t that a fantastic cover?

We have very high hopes for the music on this album, too. It’s set for release through Season of Mist on November 7 (November 11 in the U.S.).

And since Ne Obliviscaris is on my mind, I think I’ll just put this music stream of their debut album right here: Continue reading »

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