SEEN AND HEARD: CLERIC, PHUTURE DOOM, GATES OF AARU

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Nov 062013
 

Collected here are new songs I heard yesterday that are way off all the usual beaten paths. I have no idea whether you’ll like them, but I sure did. The bands are Cleric (Philadelphia), Phuture Doom (Detroit), and Gates of Aaru (Johannesburg).

CLERIC

There are two bands named Cleric who we’ve written about in the past. The one I want to talk about today is the one from Philadelphia, the one whose 2010 album Regressions I once described as “something like Portal, Blackjazz-vintage Shining, and Behold… the Arctopus communing in a hurricane. During an earthquake.” The fact that the instruments used on the album included the saz, the tenori-on, and the theremin had something to do with my general “what the fuck?!?” attitude about the music.

Cleric are now on tour (check the dates here) and will soon be in Seattle (hell yeah), and today DECIBEL started streaming a new Cleric work named “Resumption”. That’s a fitting title for the song, because Cleric have more or less picked up where Regressions left off three years ago. The song is almost 12 minutes long, and it comes off as a free-form storm of instrumental acrobatics, highly unstable tempos, and throat-rupturing vocals. It jabs like a welterweight, hallucinates like an opium addict, and somersaults like a high-wire acrobat. Continue reading »

FREE SHIT: THE SINISTER PATH UNSIGNED METAL BAND COMPILATION VOL. 1

 Free Shit, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Nov 052013
 

Thanks to a Facebook post by our friend Vonlughlio, I learned about a new compilation made available on Bandcamp today by Australia’s Sinister Path Promotions. It’s quite a hefty offering — 45 tracks from 45 bands located all over the world. But there is quality here as well as quantity. Just to pick out the names of bands we’ve written about here at NCS, the comp includes songs by Hemoptysis (U.S.), Feared (Sweden), Begging For Incest (Germany), Bhayanak Maut (India), Take Over and Destroy (TOAD) (U.S.), and Necrosis (UK).

After the jump you can listen to the tracks on this monster compilation — and you can also download it for free (or pay what you want) at Bandcamp. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 62: EASTERN SPELL, HYBRID REALITY, HOLLOW BRANCHES, THE DOWN TRODDENCE, THOSE DARN GNOMES

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  17 Responses »
Nov 052013
 

We get messages every day from bands who ask us to check out their music. I wish I had the time to listen to everything that comes in, but I don’t. I don’t even have time to write about everything I hear that I like. But I thought for this MISCELLANY post I would write about the music of the last five bands who wrote us over the weekend. Obviously, there’s not much rhyme or reason to the selection, and as you’ll see, the bands don’t have much in common with each other.

But that’s the way MISCELLANY works: I pick underground bands whose music I’ve never heard, I listen to one or two recent songs, I write up my impressions, and I stream the tracks so you can make up your own minds. Here we go:

EASTERN SPELL

Eastern Spell are a group of hairy, doomy dudes from Portland, Maine. Earlier this year they released a single via Bandcamp entitled Entraced, and about two weeks ago they also released a video for the song. Eastern Spell bring the misery with seismic resonance. It’s slow, pulverizing music, with burly riffs, agonized, gravel-throated vocals, and a drummer who sounds like he’s trying to drive his kit straight into the ground. Deep into the 11-minute song, the band briefly rumble into more animated life, and there’s a surprising (and beautiful) acoustic finish to the song, but in the main this is suffocating sludge/doom — done very well. Continue reading »

AN NCS DISCOGRAPHY DOWNLOAD: PREY FOR NOTHING

 Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Nov 052013
 

(TheMadIsraeli brings you an overview of an Israeli band named Prey For Nothing and free downloads of their two albums.)

Prey for Nothing are currently the best melodic death metal band in recent years you’ve never heard of. Their relative obscurity is unfortunate and the reasons hard to imagine; maybe they’re simply the victim of the tidal wave of music that circulates the internet, or maybe it’s their location (Israel), from which very few bands have made a name for themselves outside the country.  All I know is, this band, while relatively young, have not gotten their just due.  Their last record, Against All Good and Evil (2011), was a stunning sophomore effort and one of the best albums of its year.

So who are Prey for Nothing?  Basically, think of an amalgamation of sounds that borrow from schools of thought ranging from Death, to Kreator, to Insomnium, and beyond.  While definitely melodic death, Prey For Nothing would verge on simply being progressive death metal were it not for some of the more pedal-point riffy moments  and harmony/theme heavy guitar sections that are typically not native to death metal.  They are excellent songwriters, more progressively inclined than most, but only to spice things up and keep them interesting and not so much to show off how good they are.  The same goes on the technique front, as all of these guys are immensely talented at their craft, particularly guitarist/main composer Yaniv Aboudy, whose biting character of riffage is exceptionally complemented by his neo-classical flourishes and ferocious napalm spray tech displays.  The music is venomous, dignified, enigmatic and soul-reaping. Continue reading »

WILLOWTIP SIGNING BONANZA: NAUSEA, MITHRAS, PLAGUE WIDOW

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Nov 032013
 

In the last three days I saw three signing announcements for three bands who kick so much ass that they produce epidemic proportions of asslessness. It finally dawned on my foggy mind that all three signings were with the same label: Willowtip Records, based in the incomparably named borough on the left bank of Connoquenessing Creek — Zelienople, Pennsylvania. The three bands are Nausea, Mithras, and Plague Widow. In case these names are unfamiliar to you, here’s a bit of background along with more details about the new albums that are headed our way — and some music to hear from each band.

NAUSEA

An introduction is probably unnecessary in this case, but here goes: Nausea are a seminal SoCal grind band whose earliest demos go back to 1987, yet their only full-length album was 1991’s Crime Against Humanity. They split up in 1994 but reformed in 2001, and they’ve been playing a lot of live shows in the last three years, including Maryland Deathfest and a recent European tour. The current line-up consists of original vocalist/guitarist Oscar Garcia and original drummer Eric Castro, plus two new members: Bassist Alejandro CB (Pounder, Chemical Bitches) and guitarist Leon del Muerte (Murder Construct, ex-Exhumed, Phobia, Impaled, Intronaut).

The new album is entitled Condemned To the System, and Willowtip will be releasing it on January 7, 2014. It will include both new songs and previously unreleased vintage tracks. Continue reading »

YIN AND YANG: BLOOD MORTIZED AND AQUILUS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Nov 022013
 

I’m late with this Saturday post. I have excuses: I was out carousing until the wee hours of the morning and then slept in, and then have been dealing with intermittent power outages (3 so far) at my island home due to high winds in the Puget Sound area. I can’t tell you how much fun it has been to be in the middle of listening and then writing, only to have the computer go black in mid-stream, and then have to start over — three times. Fuck.

Anyway, before it happens again, here are two new songs that began streaming on the web over the last 24 hours. You’ll figure out the “Yin and Yang” title to this post after you hear them.

BLOOD MORTIZED

Sweden’s Blood Mortized have a new album due for release by Chaos Records (I’m told it will be around mid-November). I reviewed it here about a week ago. The punch line of the review was this: “You can look far and wide and you won’t find a better offering of old school Swedish death metal this year than The Demon, The Angel, The Disease.”

With the review I streamed a track named “Bastard”, and this morning Blood Mortized made a second advance track available. This one is “My Soul Your Flesh”, which I described in my review as a “hell-king headbanger”. Now you’ll be able to understand what I was talking about. You might want to strap on a neck brace before the rampaging begins. Listen next . . . Continue reading »

NEW MUSIC FROM HOODED MENACE AND BONES

 Eye-Catchers, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Nov 012013
 

I’ve been distracted today, more than usual, by my fucking day job (the nerve of them expecting me to work for my pay!), but I didn’t want to let this Friday crawl to a close without one more post. I’ve seen and heard a handful of new things today that are worth spreading around, but time being short, I’ll limit this to two excellent items, and perhaps include the rest tomorrow.

HOODED MENACE

The ultra-crushing, doom-dealing blood drinkers in Finland’s Hooded Menace appear to have been working on a follow-up to their gloriously heartless 2012 album Effigies of Evil. The new work will be released as a 12″ EP by Doomentia entitled Labyrinth of Carrion Breeze. The beautiful cover art (and by “beautiful” I mean loaded with fuckin skulls and ghouls) was unveiled on Halloween, and credit goes to Joshua Brettell (Ilsa’s drummer) and Adam Geyer for the creation (Brettell drew, Geyer did the gorgeous coloring). The front panel is above and the gatefold layout can be viewed after the jump (click for bigger views).

In addition to sharing the cover art, Hooded Menace has also made a part of a song called “Chasm of the Wraith” available for streaming. It’s low, slow . . . and actually beautiful, in a dreadful way. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: CRYPTICUS, ZMEY GORYNICH, GRAILIGHT, SCORNED DEITY, SUCHTHAUS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Nov 012013
 

Halloween Day turned out to be quite a day for discovering new songs and video debuts. In our first post of this post-Halloween Friday, I collected five new videos that came out yesterday, and in this post I’ve got some other recommended new songs that I discovered on Halloween (or first thing this morning), presented in the order of discovery.

CRYPTICUS

Crypticus is a collaboration between American vocalist/guitarist/bassist Patrick Bruss and Norwegian drummer Brynjar Helgetun that I came across (and wrote about) through their 2012 EP, Insieme Verso Terrore. That was enough to land them a place on our recent list of the best Swedish-style death metal released in the last five years by newer bands. Their third album, The Barrens, is due for release on December 1 and can be pre-ordered on Bandcamp now.

To celebrate Halloween, Crypticus released a free Horror Grind Mixtape on Bandcamp, which they describe as “an original Death Metal mini-anthology”. It’s one nearly 11-minute adrenaline rush called “The Belasco Bequest”, the kind of expertly executed, blast-force chainsaw death metal (with surprises) that Crypticus do so well. Tasty riffs, tasty drumming, tasty lead guitar melodies, varying rhythms, carnivorous vocals — and it’s free! Continue reading »

VIDEOGRAPHY: BELPHEGOR (“IN BLOOD”), DEICIDE (“THOU BEGONE”), GROAN (“WOMEN OF DOOM”), PYREXIA (“INFLICTION”), and VENOMOUS MAXIMUS (“HELLENBACH”)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Nov 012013
 

In the realm of metal, Halloween has become a big day for news and for the premiere of new music and videos. We had more than our average number of posts yesterday in an effort to keep up, but we still didn’t even come close. So to start this post-Halloween Friday, here are five new videos that premiered yesterday.

Because there’s so much to see and hear, I’ll be cutting back on my usual verbose introductions — literally — by largely eliminating the use of verbs. In the next post, we’ll present some new Halloween Day songs that debuted in non-video form.

BELPHEGOR

The music: “In Blood — Devour This Sanctity”, a song inspired by “The Hungarian Dances” by Johannes Brahms. The album: Blood Magick Necromance (2011) (reviewed here). The video: filmed live at “Moskva Hall”, Moscow, October 6, 2013, plus assorted Belphegorian imagery.

Impressions: spine-tingling; heat lightning indoors; holy shit that drumming; satanic imperialism extends its reach; next album due May 2014, bring it! Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (A HALLOWEEN EDITION): BLACK ALTAR, NECROPHAGIA, OLD SKIN, THE CHASM, GAPED, AND SARTEGOS

 Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  5 Responses »
Oct 312013
 

We’ve already delivered quite a flood of posts today, at least measured by our modest standards, but since tonight is the most metal holiday of the year, I couldn’t end our posting day without a round-up of newly discovered music suitable to the occasion. This is a big bag of special treats for your ears, the musical equivalent of those apples embedded with razor blades and worms that I like to keep around in case any neighborhood brats come calling. Just think of it as a big playlist of putridity, and feel to skip my words, as long as you don’t mind the thought of me weeping.

BLACK ALTAR

Black Altar are a black metal band from Olsztyn, Poland, with two albums and assorted shorter releases to their credit since 1997. Their latest offering is a five-song EP named Suicidal Salvation. I had never heard Black Altar’s music before, and all I knew about this EP was that it includes songs that were intended for a split with Shining that apparently didn’t come to pass.

I found two streaming examples of the EP’s music — a full track named “The Sentence” and a teaser reel of excerpts from all the songs. I’ve embedded both of them below. But I’m so taken with the band’s music that I also found two of the four tracks that they contributed to a 3-way split (Emissaries of the Darkened Call — Three Nails In the Coffin of Humanity) with Thornspawn (Texas) and Varathron (Greece) that came out at the end of 2012. Those songs are “I’m Demon” and “Nighthunter”. Continue reading »

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