CHRISTIAN MOLENAAR’S GUIDE TO GORENOISE

 Mosh Pit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  41 Responses »
Mar 262014
 

(Christian Molenaar plays guitar (and flute) in San Diego’s Those Darned Gnomes. He also performs, on those or other instruments, in Mortal Bicycle, Static Goat, City of Brass, Cëmetricity, and the Cooldad Memorial Volcanic Orchestra, among others. And as you’re about to see, he knows a thing or two about a host of subterranean sub-sub-sub-sub genres. And he can write. And he’s funny.)

There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man. It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity. It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition, and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge. This is the dimension of imagination. It is an area which we call… The Gorenoise Zone.

Halfway between the utter pretension of so many in the noise scene and the legitimately questionable tenets of goregrind (here’s looking at you, Cemetery Rapist) lies the paragon of human musical innovation, a hybrid creature so truly beautiful it can only be heard by those pure of heart. Welcome, friends, to the world of gorenoise.

After Islander wrote about Phyllomedusa’s most excellent Puddle Dependency I felt compelled to spread the gospel of gorenoise, its history and what may lie in its future. Take my hand, friend, and walk with me into a beautiful new world… Continue reading »

DEATH RITUALS: PHOBOCOSM, MIASMAL, KRIEGSMASCHINE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Mar 252014
 

I haven’t had time to pull together a round-up of new discoveries in a couple of days, but I thought that before I get further behind I would at least call out four recent songs that are worth some attention Two of them are precursors to new albums due for release later this year and otwone come from an album that hit the streets in February.

PHOBOCOSM

Phobocosm are from Montreal and in recent days they were signed by the Dark Descent label for the release of their debut album, Deprived, which was mixed and mastered by Colin Marston (Gorguts, Dysrhythmia, Krallice). NCS scribe Austin Weber brought them to my attention, thinking their music would be up my alley, and man was he ever right.

Just a few days ago the band released the first song from Deprived for public consumption, and it’s a monster. The dreadful chiming chords that begin “Solipsist” are like the bells that herald the final doom, and the rest of the song provides a reasonable approximation of that event. Phobocosm marry crushing riffs and ever-changing drumbeats to bleak, needling tremolo melodies and a gargantuan voice that emanates from some deep pit in the earth. Continue reading »

TOUR UPDATE: ABIGAIL WILLIAMS, LECHEROUS NOCTURNE, PANZERFAUST

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Mar 242014
 

NO CLEAN SINGING is proud to sponsor the forthcoming North American tour by Abigail Williams, Lecherous Nocturne, and Panzerfaust. This promises to be a string of nights that metal fans are going to remember, as soon as they dig out of the rubble left in the wake of this onslaught.

Since we originally the announcement of the tour last week, there have been some changes in the schedule, and so in addition to posting the updated tour flyer you see above, we’ve got the revised calendar and list of locales after the jump (this is now current as of April 25).

And because we always like to have music whenever possible at this site, we’re including music videos of one song from each  bands’ latest album. Continue reading »

CONTRASTS: AMENRA AND ARSAFES

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Mar 242014
 

In this post I’ve paired a new video by an interesting director for “A Mon Âme” by the French band Amenra, and a brand new song named “Dog Eat God” by Russian multi-instrumentalist Arsafes. They’re a study in contrasts.

AMENRA

What happens when a fashion photographer whose work has adorned ad campaigns by the likes of Christian Dior, Jil Sander, and Raf Simons turns his hand to a metal video? You’re about to find out.

Belgian photographer Willy Vanderperre says he was inspired to approach the sludge/doom band Amenra (who are also Belgian) after seeing them play live in Paris. Vanderperre explains: “Growing up in the same area of Belgium as the band members—no one captures the vibe and the spirit of South West Flanders in music as they do. The sound transports me back there instantly…. For the video, I wanted to be almost on their skin, very close in a hypnotic way.” Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: THE SLOW DEATH, KHONSU, AETHERIAN, INFINITE DEATH

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Mar 232014
 

I put together one round-up of newly discovered music in today’s first post, but I have more discoveries I want to share with you.

THE SLOW DEATH

The Slow Death is an Australian doom band whom I first wrote about last fall. I paid attention to them at that time because I had learned that they would be joining with the awesome Majestic Downfall in a forthcoming split, to be released by Chaos Records (the cover art is above). Yesterday, the band released a complete version of their contribution to the split for streaming, and it’s mighty good.

“Criticality Incident I” begins slowly, drifting like clouds lit from above by the sun, casting deep shadows but edged by a radiant glow. Shimmering, chiming guitar melodies swirl around the power of stark drumbeats and booming bass notes, and effervescent soloing adds more light to the darkness. The singing varies between soaring clean expressions (Mandy Andresen) and ultra-deep guttural growls (Gregg Williamson). As the song progresses, it accelerates into a hammering drive. It’s a beautiful kind of sorrow. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ACHREN, DEAD WORLD, VULTURE INDUSTRIES, ABHORRENT

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  14 Responses »
Mar 232014
 

To make your Sunday more metal I’ve collected here a handful of recommended songs and videos I discovered yesterday in my tramping through the interhole and a quick skimming of emails we recently received.

ACHREN

I first discovered Achren (from Glasgow, Scotland) in a June 2011 MISCELLANY post and have written about them a couple more times since then. The last time was more than a year ago, when I featured an song from their excellent debut album The Forgotten King in a round-up of metal from Scotland. I’ve now learned that they will soon be releasing a new EP entitled The White Death, and yesterday they began streaming one of its three tracks.

“The Eschatologist” is a memorable song, made all the more compelling by its powerful production quality. It reminded me immediately of the Norwegian black metal band Byfrost, blending a lot of thunder in the low end with a driving, dramatic guitar melody, which at times seems to draw upon the folk traditions of the band’s homeland. It’s a rocking, romping, slashing song that makes me anxious to hear the rest of the EP. Continue reading »

DOOM, DOOM, DOOM, DEPRESSION AND BEING DOOMED

 Album Reviews, Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Mar 212014
 

(In this post DGR takes us on a globe-hopping tour of recent releases that fall within the varied realms of doom.)

It’s hard to believe that it is already March. Of course, I say that every year because February feels like a bullshit month with its short amount of days, but still. Sacramento has decided to park its hot ass right at about eighty degrees for the next week or so, yet I still find myself feeling bleak and down. Maybe it was the promise of grey skies and rain, but I found myself surfing the web seeking out doom in all its various forms and today I’d like to share with you some of the discoveries that I made.

A couple were found by just wading through circles on Facebook and by the random band button on Metal-Archives, which is always an interesting experiment in its own right. You could probably do a whole feature on that some day with the right amount of time and investment. As I wrote this over the past week or so, I kept adding more and more bands that I was coming across and wanted to talk about, so I apologize if this gets a little too verbose, but I figured it might be worth it to concentrate a bunch of smaller reviews into a post than spread out a bunch of giant tomes on a group of really good EPs.

Plus, maybe we’ll expose people to multiple groups in this one post. On top of that, I’m going to add in a little mini-review of an artist we’ve covered before in one of our ‘free music’ updates — as they released a new album earlier this year and it’ll be a good change of pace from all the roiling waters and restless seas you’re about to get dragged through. If anything, the tempo change will probably be appreciated. Continue reading »

NEW MUSIC FROM INSOMNIUM: “REVELATIONS”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Mar 212014
 

All of us here at NO CLEAN SINGING are eager — eager, I tell you — for Shadows of the Dying Sun, which is the name of the new album by Finland’s Insomnium. Today we got the first example of music from the album via Terrorizer’s premiere of a new song named “Revelations”.

But guess what?  I can’t listen to it!  Because I am writing this from the middle of a meeting for my day job. I can type this without invoking suspicion from the other 7 people in the room with me. But strapping on the headphones and blasting this song would probably be too much. Probably.

So, please listen to it after the jump and let me know this: am I missing something awesome? I bet I am. I will know in about an hour… Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: OPETH, ARCH ENEMY, THE AGONIST, BLOODBATH

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  34 Responses »
Mar 212014
 

Well, yesterday at NCS didn’t go exactly as I had planned. We did have a couple of excellent song premieres and an interesting play-through video, but my old fucking day job prevented me from pulling together a round-up of new developments in the world of metal — of which there have been many in the last 48 hours. So I’m gathering a few in this post even though the reports aren’t as timely as I would have liked. By coincidence, all the items (but one) involve venerable Swedish bands.

OPETH

Few albums in recent years have generated as much controversial commentary at our site than Opeth’s Heritage. It seems that all we had to do was mention that 2011 album, and conflicting opinions would come out of the woodwork like termites. It has been used as an example of both a band who betrayed their fans and one who felt free to let their artistic impulses dictate their direction rather than commerce. Some thought it was a fine album, others thought it was as dull as dishwater.

Yesterday, we got news about the band’s next album. Via an interview of Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt and Fredrik Akesson, Loudwire reported that the 11th studio (not yet titled) has been completed and projected for release in June. Loudwire has heard the album and wrote this: “Opeth’s songwriting is top notch on the album, but once again, the record features no guttural vocals.” Continue reading »

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