SEEN AND HEARD: EMPEROR, PTAHIL, EXECRATION

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jun 232014
 

As I mentioned yesterday, I’ve been fucking off in Texas since last Thursday. Finally got back to Seattle last night after a thoroughly enjoyable four days in Austin. I didn’t listen to much metal while I was away, but I did make lists of things I wanted to check out after I got home. And so I did, and so here are a few of those discoveries.

EMPEROR

The 2014 edition of HELLFEST in Clisson, France, ended last night, and most (if not all) of the performances are available for viewing at the French site Arte.tv (collected here). Yesterday I embedded streams of the sets by Sólstafir and Watain, and I thought I’d include one more this morning. This one is the full set by Norway’s Emperor, who have been celebrating the 20th anniversary of In the Nightside Eclipse with a series of festival performances (they will also be performing at Wacken Open Air in Germany and headlining the 2014 installment of Bloodstock Open Air in the UK).

A person could spend days watching the HELLFEST videos, which of course you won’t do because that would divert your attention from reading every word of every post at NCS. But you might at least make time for this one.

(thanks BadWolf) Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: HORNED ALMIGHTY, HYPERIAL, CONDUCTING FROM THE GRAVE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jun 202014
 

In this round-up I’ve collected a few new songs and videos I noticed over the last 24 hours from a variety of metal sub-genres. I really like all of ’em. Hope you will, too.

HORNED ALMIGHTY

This Danish black metal band have recorded their fifth album, and the first since 2010’s Necro Spirituals. The new one is named World of Tombs and it’s projected for release waaaay down the road on September 1, 2014, by the band’s new label, Scarlet Records. Yesterday brought a stream of one of the new tracks, “Diabolical Engines of Torment”, and it kills.

It kills in two ways — with electrifying thrash riffs and punk rhythms (which will grab you by the neck right from the first second), and with a down-paced pounding so irresistible that heads cannot help but bang. The vocalist alternately sprays acid and roars like a death metal beast, and the production makes the music sound especially powerful (and clear). Continue reading »

MUSIC FROM THE BLISTERING EDGE: FALLUJAH, EATEN, OMNIHILITY

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
Jun 192014
 

I’ve collected here new music from three bands. As suggested by the title of this post, the songs have something in common, though they are different in other respects: They all include certain instrumental elements that are very, very fast. Your hair may be singed. The skin on your face may bubble like a broiled fetus. You may void your bowels. I myself only experienced the last of these effects, but I thought it best to provide a complete set of warnings.

FALLUJAH

Damn, but I surely do love that album cover, don’t you? It’s a collaborative effort between Polish artist Tomasz Alen Kopera, whose work I’ve featured about a dozen times in the daily art posts on our Facebook page, and the band’s vocalist, Alex Hofmann. The album’s name is The Flesh Prevails and it’s due for release by Unique Leader on July 22.

What I heard yesterday was a new song named “Carved From Stone”. It’s an interesting song. Certain instrumental tracks are moving at about 1,000 mph. The kick drums eject shells at the rate of am M134 minigun, and the riffs whip like hurricane winds and pummel like a jackhammer. On the other hand, Mr. Hofmann growls his lyrics as if patiently telling a bedtime story, presumably to a brood of orcs. And the lead guitar carefully unspools an eerie atmospheric melody like a coil of razor wire. Continue reading »

VIDEOGRAPHY: ALLEGAEON — “OUR COSMIC CASKET”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jun 182014
 

I haven’t yet listened to all of Allegaeon’s new album (Elements of the Infinite), but my comrade TheMadIsraeli has. He says it’s their best album yet. I’m not going to contradict him without hearing it, especially because the three songs I’ve heard so far tend to substantiate his claim. Those three are “1.618” (streaming here), “Threshold of Perception” (streaming here), and the one that debuted today in video form — “Our Cosmic Casket”.

The video for “Our Cosmic Casket” is Part 2 of a story that began in the video for “1.618”. There will allegedly be two more parts coming our way. Whereas “1.618” brought us the highly amusing Wheel of Sub-Genres, “Our Cosmic Casket” bring us the event horizon of a black hole approaching Earth, with the song’s instrumental pyrotechnics delivering the kind of adrenaline flow you’d get in the final minutes before the atmosphere got sucked into a wormhole, assuming you didn’t decided to beer up for the final cataclysm. Continue reading »

ARCHNESS: ARCHSPIRE AND ARCH ENEMY

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jun 182014
 

Here are some arch-ie things I spotted this morning.

ARCHSPIRE

Spencer Prewett is the drummer for Canada’s Archspire, whose new album The Lucid Collective we reviewed here in April. On a superficial level, he appears to be human — two arms, two legs, eyes, ears, nose, mouth, realistic looking skin and hair. But appearances can be deceiving, because based on the video I’m about to show you he is clearly a Cyberdyne Systems model T-1000 cyborg. Fortunately, John Connor can rest easy because Spencer Prewett was sent from the future only to destroy drum kits.

In this drum play through, the song you’ll hear is the new album’s first track, “Lucid Collective Somnambulation”. I dropped my jaw and the damned thing bounced somewhere I didn’t see because my eyes were glued to this video. You watch it while I go look for my damned jaw.

(thanks to DGR for linking me to this. He prefaced the link in his message with this:

“WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE” Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: BLOOD OF KINGU, HATE, CULT OF FIRE, TERROR OATH, CEMETERY FOG, YORBLIND

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
Jun 182014
 

I never got around to posting a second round-up yesterday, as I had planned, so I’m loading up this one not only with what I had intended to feature yesterday but also with some other items I discovered last night. Yeah, that makes this a really long post, but what else have you got to do?

As you’ll see, I’m indulging my taste for blackness, death, and deathly blackness, though for those of you less interested in slaughter and depravity, you can skip to the more melodious song at the end. There’s actually a bit of clean singing in that last one.

BLOOD OF KINGU

Earlier this month I reported that Ukrainian black metal band Blood of Kingu (started by Roman Sayenko of Drudkh) would be releasing their third album via Season of Mist on September 2 in North America (and August 29 everywhere else). The title is Dark Star on the Right Horn of the Crescent Moon. Yesterday, thanks to my friend Vonlughlio, I learned that Terrorizer has now premiered the first advance track from the album, “Enshrined in the Nethermost Lairs Beneath the Oceans”.

The song wastes no time unleashing a torrent of blasting drums and rippling tremolo runs that carry a seductive melody behind gargantuan vocal proclamations. An aura of infernal darkness radiates from the music in waves, but man, it’s also highly infectious. You’ll need to go HERE to listen. Blood of Kingu have a Facebook page at this location. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS: AUROCH, MOURNFUL CONGREGATION, ZOMBIEFICATION

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Jun 172014
 

Lots and lots of excellent new metal has begun streaming on the web over the last 24 hours — too much for me to gather together in a single post. But I’m going to make a start with this round-up of flesh-eating goodness, beginning with news of two full-album streams.

AUROCH

Taman Shud, the forthcoming new album by Vancouver’s Auroch, is already garnering a slew of highly favorable reviews. It will get one more as soon as I can kick myself in the ass hard enough to translate my own feelings into feeble words.

But in the meantime, you can hear the entire album for yourselves, because yesterday Profound Lore launched a full stream on YouTube — and I’ve embedded it after the jump. The album will be released on June 24 and can be pre-ordered here or purchased in digital form at Bandcamp. Continue reading »

WATCH THE NEW MISERY INDEX VIDEO: “THE CALLING”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jun 162014
 

Hot off the presses, we present a brand new music video by Baltimore’s Misery Index for “The Calling”, from their most excellent 2014 album The Killing Gods. It’s a fast-cutting montage of black-and-white, close-up film of the band performing the song and B&W scenes from one or more old movies with occult themes.

As you will see, the imagery suits the song very well. It was assembled by director David Hall at Handshake Inc., and he has once again done a bang-up job. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: KILL-TOWN DEATH FEST, THRONE, VILKACIS, FELIX MARTIN

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  10 Responses »
Jun 152014
 

Well, it’s Sunday, and that means … more blog posts! I have three in mind for today. Of course, having them in my mind and getting them out on the web are two different things, but at least there will be this one — a Sunday round-up of things I spotted yesterday.

KILL-TOWN DEATH FEST

This first item falls into the category of Things Worth Applauding Even Though I Will Never Hear Them. This is a very small category, especially when it comes to tours and festivals that I can’t see, because if they look really enticing they usually just make me green with envy and kind of ill-tempered and not in an applauding mood.

Where was I?

Oh yeah, the Kill-Town Death Fest. It will take place on September 4-7, 2014, in Copenhagen, Denmark, which might as well be Mars as far as I’m concerned. But good god almighty, look at that just-announced FINAL line-up on the above poster! (If you’re having any trouble reading it, clicking on it will make it bigger.) I mean, all those bands are so up my alley that I can’t even take a piss in it any more because there’s no room left! Hail Santa and all his elves!

If you’re lucky enough to live within striking distance of this thing, please don’t tell me because that will open my bile ducts I’m very happy for you. More info and ticket sales can be found here. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: PANTHEON I, IMPERIAL TRIUMPHANT, UNFATHOMABLE RUINATION, BASTARD SAPLING, ESKAPI

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jun 142014
 

Hey motherfuckers, what up? (I feel I can call you a motherfucker because this is a metal blog and about half the metal bands I’ve seen on stage call me and everyone else in the audience a motherfucker at least a dozen times per set.) I’ll tell you what up with me.

I’m not watching the World Cup, because if I wanted to watch dudes run around for 90 minutes trying to score, I’d rather go to a bar. (I read that on the internet.) Or I’d go outside and set an ant bed on fire (they’d run around faster, though no more intelligibly, and it would all be over sooner). What I’ve been doing is crawling through the interhole finding things to write about on a Saturday morning. In particular, these things:

PANTHEON I

I saw the recent news that this Norwegian band have prepared a new album named From the Abyss They Rise and have signed with Non Serviam Records for its release on August 11. In fact, it’s already available for pre-order (here). From what I read, it appears the album will be a compilation, beginning with an EP’s worth of new songs and ending with music from their first demo. This is their first work in four years, and based on what they’ve done before, it should be worth checking out. Continue reading »

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