PYRE AND JESU

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Sep 162013
 

Over the last 36 hours, your humble editor has been preoccupied with matters of both great importance and trivial insignificance, i.e., one being Seahawks football and the other being the demands of my paying job, and of course you know which is which, am I right? While these matters were distracting me from the glorious world of metal, it turns out that a flood of new things swept through the byways of the interhole. At this point, I don’t have time to collect everything of interest that I found, but I thought I’d at least throw two of them your way, selected in order to provide contrast. I’ll round up the rest for a post tomorrow morning.

PYRE

In June I reviewed (here) a new split by Pyre from St. Petersburg, Russia, and Entrapment from The Netherlands. That was only the second release by Pyre (it followed their 2012 EP, Ravenous Decease), but I was mighty impressed. And now I’m impressed all over again.

Today they released a new 2013 demo track called “We Came To Spill Thy Blood”. So far, I haven’t found that any of my own has been spilled, but the song certainly did accelerate its transit through my veins and arteries. The song reminds me of Wolverine Blues-era Entombed. It has that old school guitar tone, riffs galore, and rhythms that will get your head nodding and your feet moving. The vocals still remind me of LG Petrov. Continue reading »

SUNDAY SAVAGERY: DICHOTOMY, WARCALL, DEMONICAL, CVINGER, AND PSEUDOGOD

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Sep 152013
 

I took  a rare break from metal for most of yesterday, but not a complete break. I did spend time last night checking out new music and found a handful of savage items that I thought were worth featuring in this post. So here we go:

DICHOTOMY

Dichotomy are a band from Dublin, Ireland, who self-released their debut album Paradigm last month. I haven’t heard it, but I did catch a video they premiered through Terrorizer on Friday for one of the album’s songs. The song’s name is “Of Strife Of Discord”, and according to the band: “The song’s title is a reference to Eris, Greek goddess of chaos, strife and discord. The song is about the destruction of the self and allowing chance to rule one’s course; about becoming the embodiment of chaos.”

The song is a dichotomy, too. On the one hand, it’s a jet-fueled blast of melodic death metal with a lot of flying fretwork and some pleasingly serpentine guitar solos. On the other hand, it delivers a boatload of galvanizing grooves that should get heads banging hard. I had fun listening to it. Continue reading »

A DGR ROUND-UP: THE AMENTA, DEATH I AM, AND EXHALE

 Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Sep 142013
 

(DGR brings you a collection of goodies from The Amenta (Australia), Death I Am (Japan/US), and Exhale (Sweden).)

THE AMENTA – Soundtrack To A Hidden Earth

In my mind, The Amenta are one of the most interesting and challenging bands out there right now. They play an industrialized style of black metal and write songs that challenge even the most traditional metal listeners. They’re probably doing the most metal thing you can do by presenting music so unlikeable and abrasive in its sound that even though the music underneath is actually pretty approachable, it still causes people to shy away.

I thought their release earlier this year, Flesh Is Heir, was pretty good, so if you haven’t had the opportunity to check these guys out, this is not the article to do so with, go read that. However, I do find what the band posted earlier this week fascinating, and if you’re looking for stuff that definitely isn’t music and is mostly a collage of distorted sound that would go perfectly in a horror film then continue on – because the band is giving away a (formerly) rare five-song collection from their very early days of writing music known as Soundtrack To A Hidden Earth. The band explain on their Facebook page:

“Soundtrack to a Hidden Earth” was originally released on the initial pressing of “Occasus”, the debut album by The Amenta, released by Listenable Records in 2004. The tracks were hidden in the data encoded on the disc.

The recordings were experiments in sound destruction and contextualization of sounds. These experiments led directly to some of the methods used in the follow up album, “n0n”.

Few people have heard these tracks. Continue reading »

FIVE OF MY FAVOURITE . . . BANDS I WOULD LOVE TO RE-FORM

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  37 Responses »
Sep 132013
 

(Andy Synn brings us another installment in his occasional series of favorite things that come in fives.  Leave a comment and let us know what you think of Andy’s picks . . . and who you’d pick if you had your wish.)

So the last several years have seen some amazing ‘comebacks’, I think we can all agree? Everyone from Alice in Chains to Byzantine to The Crown have been lacing up their boots and getting back in the saddle to show the world just how much they’ve been missed in their absence.

Some of my personal favourites – bands I never thought I’d hear another record from, let alone get a chance to see live – have come back with a vengeance, with artists like Antestor, Vision of Disorder, and Extol all returning to justify their near-legendary status.

Still though, there’s a number of bands I just can’t let rest in peace. Bands who need to come back. Bands who have unfinished business. Bands I have to see live!

So here’s five of my favourites, each with a song from their very last album, to show you what we’re all missing. Continue reading »

FLIGHT 666 TO HEL, AND A BIT OF PÕHJAST MUSIC

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Sep 132013
 

There are two Friday the 13th’s in 2013.  Today is one of them: 9-13-13.  Some people won’t leave their homes today.  But for those who want to thumb their noses at superstition, have I got a deal for you.

Actually, this news is a bit late for thumb-nosing today, unless you happen to live in Copenhagen. If you do, you still might be able to find a seat on Finnair’s Flight 666 to HEL. HEL, by the way, is the airport code for Vantaa Airport just outside of Helsinki, Finland. If you could get on that Copenhagen-Helsinki flight, you could really double-down and request a seat in Row 13. Unlike some airlines that skip Row 13 (just as most hotels have no Floor 13), Finnair does have them on their planes.

So does Estonian Air. According to Ulo Valk, professor of comparative folklore at the University of Tartu in Estonia,”Less than 100 years ago the number 13 did not have this sinister meaning. It’s quite recent in the north.” Where does this superstition come from? Here’s Prof. Valk’s explanation: “There are 12 hours, 12 months and in Christianity 12 apostles and this is a divine number. Add one more and it brings in a certain element of chaos.”

So how could Flight 666 to HEL be more chaotic? I mean, other than losing an engine and going down like a fireball into some Finnish farmer’s field? Well, here’s one idea: They could play Põhjast’s “In the Shadow of the Glass Cross” over the PA system en route. Continue reading »

FOREST LAPOINTE TORTURES OTHER BASS PLAYERS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  17 Responses »
Sep 132013
 

Bass players occupy an unusual position in metal. On the one hand, much of the time you don’t really notice what they’re doing on a recording. Much of the time they don’t really stand out, partly because of the way most albums are mixed, and partly because much of the time it’s just not all that interesting by itself; their absence would be more noticeable than their presence.

On the other hand, whenever they can actually be heard in a recording and are doing something . . . interesting . . . people sit up and take notice; they like it, and they tend to comment on it. Kind of like what might happen if you came across a talking dog.

So, on the one hand, when I tell you that I’m about to show you a bass play-through of a song, many of you will stifle a yawn. If you’re feeling a bit prickly, you might even be going, “What the fuck?” On the other hand, when I tell you the play-through was performed by Dominic “Forest” Lapointe of Montreal’s Beyond Creation (and Augury), those of you who are familiar with the band’s music will probably be rubbing your hands together in gleeful anticipation.

Because Forest Lapointe can do things most other bass players only dream of doing. It’s almost cruel for him to make a video like this one. Continue reading »

TESTAMENT: “RISE UP” (LIVE)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Sep 122013
 

We’re working on a news and new music round-up, which should be ready soon, but in the meantime we thought you might want to thrash your nuts (or ovaries) off.

Dark Roots Of Thrash is a forthcoming DVD/2-CD release by Testament, which was filmed at their performance at The Paramount in Huntington, New York, this past February. It’s scheduled for release by Nuclear Blast on October 11 in Europe and October 15 in NorthAm. Not long ago, NB uploaded a clip from the DVD showcasing Testament’s performance of “Rise Up”, which appeared on their last studio release, Dark Roots of Earth.

Even though I’m not the biggest thrash fan, Testament are an exception for me. I do enjoy listening to Chuck Billy howl and Alex Skolnick shred, and they’re both in fine form in this clip, which was shot from about 1,000 different camera angles and strobes between them rapidly. Watch after the jump. Continue reading »

PERCIVAL SCHUTTENBACH: “WODNIK”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Sep 122013
 

I don’t have anything planned for today other than the completion of DGR’s raunchy challenge, which has been sitting at the top of the site for about 4 1/2 hours. I did other things last night and have to be involved in non-blog things this morning. Sorry about that. There will be something else by early afternoon, Pacific time.

Until then, let me leave you with a song named “Wodnik” by a Polish band named Percival Schuttenbach. When I have more time I’ll have to research where that name came from. The song will appear on an album entitled Svantevit, which will be released on September 21. I picked the song for four reasons. First, because we haven’t had any folk metal on the site for a long time. Second, because the song includes guest vocals by Maria “Masha Scream” Arkhipova from Arkona, of whom I am a fan.

Third, because I like the song (and yes, there really is a song in the video I’m embedding below, you just have to wait for it). Fourth, because it reminds me again that just about anything sung in a Slavic language automatically sounds more metal to my American ears.

Listen after the jump. See you again later today. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: IHSAHN, SIGHT OF EMPTINESS, BYZANTINE, URNA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Sep 112013
 

Here are a some things I’d like to recommend from my reading and listening last night.

IHSAHN

On Monday night of this week, a new song from Ihsahn premiered on BBC Radio 1’s “Rock Show” with Daniel P. Carter. The song is “Hilber” and it will appear on Ihsahn’s fifth solo album, Das Seelenbrechen, which will be released on October 21 in North America via Candlelight Records. Fortunately, the program will remain available for streaming for the next seven days at BBC.co.uk, and you can use that link to hear it (just skip to the 21:45 mark on the player you’ll find there).

Also, for now at least, it’s been uploaded to YouTube (I’m shocked, I tell you, simply shocked!) and so you can also listen right here, after the jump.

Man, I do like this song. It swirls and it stomps, it echoes and it pounds, the guitar spirals around complex rhythms, a string section takes wing, and Ihsahn claws with his voice (no clean singing on this one, thank you very much). It’s dark, disconcerting, and occasionally dissonant, but it will also stick with you. Imaginative music. You should hear it. Continue reading »

ANOTHER ROUND-UP: VUTURE INDUSTRIES, ZEMIAL, TRANSIENT, AND SCYTHE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Sep 102013
 

Because of reasons, I haven’t had time to finish any reviews in weeks, but I will have one tomorrow even if it means I have to stop going to the bathroom and begin soiling myself (again). What I have had time to do is browse and listen randomly to new things. Here are a slew of goodies I found today. I promise, they will keep you off-balance.

VULTURE INDUSTRIES

This is almost becoming embarrassing. Three new songs and/or videos have premiered from the forthcoming album by this Norwegian band and I’ve featured every one of them. That’s saying something, because we don’t do this with every damned thing that emerges on a daily basis. The news and new music we choose to cover as compared to everything happening each day is something like the ratio of a gnat’s ass to an elephant’s ass. Yet I’m strangely attracted to all of the strange new music I’ve heard so far from The Tower.

Today’s new piece of vulturization comes in the form of a music video for “Lost Among Liars”. It starts with a saxophone and ends with the strumming of acoustic guitar, and in the middle Bjørnar Erevik Nilsen’s unusual vocals weave dark spells over a moody guitar melody. At least as attractive as the song is the wonderful animated artwork of  Costin Chioreanu.  Continue reading »

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