GHOST’S NEW VIDEO FOR “MONSTRANCE CLOCK”

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jul 032013
 

To the sound of the monstrance clock
Air is cleansed, assembled flock
Black candles burn all night tonight

As the parish sighs in smoke
Enters lady revealed of cloak
To the haunting sound of the monstrance clock
Singing:

Come together, together as a one
Come together for Lucifer’s son

The music of “Monstrance Clock” sounds so sweet, but really, it isn’t. It isn’t my favorite track on Ghost’s latest album Infestissumam — that would have to be “Year Zero” — but it’s my second favorite, and so I’m quite happy to report that Ghost have released a new video for it. Directed by Rob Semmer, it sets the magnetic music to scenes of the band’s performances at the El Rey in Los Angeles and Webster Hall in New York City. Watch it next… Continue reading »

WATCH ABYSMAL DAWN’S “IN SERVICE OF TIME” VIDEO

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jul 022013
 

It’s been a long time coming, but California’s Abysmal Dawn have just premiered their official video for “In Service of Time”, a track from their very strong 2011 album Leveling the Plane of Existence. The video was self-financed, and the production apparently encountered a variety of hurdles, with the final creation taking more than a year to complete. But everyone involved should be proud, because it’s very cool to watch.

Set in a dystopian urban future that’s intentionally reminiscent of the classic German silent film Metropolis, the video tells a tale of dehumanization and ultimately rebellion (and it may remind other viewers unfamiliar with Metropolis of an updated Bride of Frankenstein story, too). Kudos to director Robert Mestas for creating such an eye-catching work, and to the band for their perseverance.

With about two years having passed since the album’s release, you’re probably already familiar with the song, but if you’re not, that’s an added treat that lies in store for you. Check out the music and the visuals next…. Continue reading »

BLACK TUSK: “INTERNAL/ETERNAL”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jul 022013
 

Savannah, Georgia’s Black Tusk are staring into the teeth of a July 23 release date for their new EP Tend No Wounds via Relapse Records. I’ve already got the hots for the cover artwork, which was created by Brian Mercer (Eyehategod, Lamb of God, Zoroaster). I’m getting pretty steamy over the music, too. First, there was the band’s official video for “In Days of Woe” (which debuted about two weeks ago), and then today we got another new track — “Internal/Eternal” — via Crave Online.

The new song is a crusty bucket of Southern fried riffs, alcohol-ruined vocals, and cannonball drum hits. It’s primo headbang material, but there’s something ominous about the smoke-filled air in this room, like you better finish your shot in a hurry because you’re about to get knifed.

Listen to this song after the jump (and watch the previous video, too). I’m really diggin’ it, and looking forward to listening to all 6 tracks on the EP. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: BLACK CAP MINER, EXHUMED, COFFINS, AND TWO AUTHOR & PUNISHER REMIXES

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jul 022013
 

Here’s a collection of selected items your humble editor witnessed and heard while stumbling around the interhole yesterday. As usual, the stuff is all over the musical map.

BLACK CAP MINER

Black Cap Miner is the side project of West Virginia vocalist/guitarist Chris Ojeda of the mighty Byzantine (whose 2013 release ought to get some kind of award for comeback album of the year). The objective of the project is to get you to headbang like it’s 1988. To be more precise, OJ and friends are recording covers of some old school thrash songs. But not just any songs, and not just any friends. Check out his list of guest performers:

JAMES MALONE (Arsis)
GREG BURGESS (Allegaeon)
TONY ROHRBOUGH (Byzantine)
JAY HANNON (Gizmachi)
KYLE THOMAS (Exhorder, Trouble)
CHRIS POLAND (Megadeth)
CHUCK BILLY (Testament)

I think a robust HOLY SHIT! is in order, don’t you?  I mean, not to take even one little thing away from Chris Ojeda, but that’s a mighty fine group of comrades to assemble for the recording of some thrash. Continue reading »

NEW CARCASS: “CAPTIVE BOLT PISTOL”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  34 Responses »
Jun 302013
 

In terms of headline-making news in the global world of metal, you’d be hard-pressed to find anything with more ooomph than the news that the legendary CARCASS will be releasing a new album this year, their first in 17 years. The album, Surgical Steel, will be released by Nuclear Blast this fall.

Today, the first track from the album leaked. It surely won’t be up on YouTube for very long, so you might want to catch it ASAP. The name is “Captive Bolt Pistol”. I doubt I can completely separate my reaction from the fact that this is a new Carcass song, but it sounds sweet to me. It’s more on the Heartwork end of the band’s musical trajectory, which is to say melodic death metal, and that might disappoint some really old-school Carcass worshippers, but it’s still got a cutting edge and I do like that guitar solo.

Listen fast . . . after the jump. Continue reading »

BACK AND FORTH (NARGAROTH, MOON DUO, VITHR, DIIV, AND OBSIDIAN TONGUE)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jun 302013
 

All yall muthafukkers can shoot me later, but I’m playing these songs first. The trigger-finger impulse may come from the fact that not all these songs are metal.

About 10 days ago I found myself in mixed company, getting fucked up in an apartment late at night with some friends and everyone taking turns playing music from YouTube on a big-screen TV. And by mixed company I mean that I and one other person were metalheads and the other two weren’t. But I liked some of the not-metal songs I heard, and they’re in this post. Every other song in here is a metal song I’ve heard recently that I really liked, songs I hadn’t heard before.

Hey, this is what people do when they have a blog. It’s better than telling you what I had for breakfast or about my last bowel movement.

That photo up there has got nothing to do with any of the music. It’s a photo of Canada’s WEAPON. It’s up there because my NCS comrade Andy Synn notified me this morning of the extremely sad, breaking news that Weapon is disbanding. According to a statement on their Facebook page, “There is no drama surrounding this decision: it is time for us collectively, and more importantly, as individuals, to move onwards and upwards towards other paradigms.” Thanks for the metal, dudes.

Let’s start with some metal. The song is “Spectral Visions of Mental Warfare” from the 2011 album of the same name by a German band called NARGAROTH. First song I’d ever heard by them, but I thought it was downright beautiful, and it includes throat singing, which is a rarity and a big plus in my book. Continue reading »

AND NOW FOR SOME (OCCULT) CLEAN SINGING BY TWO ASS-KICKING OLD FRIENDS: VENOMOUS MAXIMUS AND ARKHAMIN KIRJASTO

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jun 282013
 

We’re about to slide right on into the weekend, and I’d like to help grease the skids with a couple of new things from two bands I’ve praised in the past. They are “Exceptions to the Rule” around here, because both include clean singing, but it’s the kind of singing that doesn’t offend me in the least. And “clean” is kind of a relative term anyway.

VENOMOUS MAXIMUS

I fuckin’ love Venomous Maximus. I fuckin’ loved their 2012 album Beg Upon the Light. I really fuckin’ loved the song “Moonchild” from that album, so much so that I included it on my list of 2012’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. This spring the band signed with Napalm Records, who are giving Beg a proper label release in North America on July 2 (as well as in Europe). And to help promote the album to a new audience, Napalm has released an official music video for . . . “Moonchild”! Hell yes.

Rather than work myself up into a new linguistic lather over the song, I’ll just quote again what I’ve previously written about it: “I mean to tell you, the central riff in this song (which slams right out of the gate) is an absolute headbanging killer. Seriously, you’d need a neck brace to keep your skull from bouncing like a basketball. And the surprise (for me) is how much I like the (mostly) clean vocals. They conjure up visions of old-school Ozzy but with some sandpapery grit emerging here and there.” Continue reading »

WATCH THE NEW NINE INCH NAILS VIDEO: “CAME BACK HAUNTED”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jun 282013
 

“Came Back Haunted” is the name of the new video from Nine Inch Nails, which debuted not long ago. It’s noteworthy for two reasons. First, it was directed by filmmaker David Lynch. Second, the song is from Hesitation Marks, which is the first album from NIN album since 2008’s The Slip. Hesitation Marks is scheduled for release on September 3.

Trent Reznor has described “Came Back Haunted” (which is now available on iTunes) as “familiar, it’s very self-referential and purposely. I think that’s the most like that there is on that record.” And when you hear the song, you can see the sense in that quote.

I won’t spoil the video for you, other than to say that it’s not exactly straight-forward, but it’s David Lynch, so what did you expect? The video comes with this warning: “This video has been identified by Epilepsy Action to potentially trigger seizures for people with photosensitive epilepsy. Viewer discretion is advised” Watch it next… Continue reading »

ODINMONKEY: AMON AMARTH INSPIRES FIREFOX

 Mosh Pit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  17 Responses »
Jun 282013
 

This news item isn’t the kind of thing you see every day. In March, the company that makes the Firefox web browser (Mozilla) rolled out in test mode a significant new module for the browser called OdinMonkey — and gave credit to Amon Amarth as the musical inspiration for the name. And as of this week that module is now included in the latest Firefox release.

Now I know a few things about computer hardware and software, but the knowledge doesn’t go especially deep, so there will be a limit on how well I can explain what OdinMonkey does. But here goes (and I hope readers who know this stuff better than I do will correct me if I fuck it up):

Every web browser includes a JavaScript engine, which is software that interprets and executes JavaScript (a type of programming code) delivered by web servers, and that allows users to see and interact with web pages on their computers and other personal devices. OdinMonkey is a module for the JavaScript engine embedded in Firefox that will dramatically speed up the execution of JavaScript, boosting performance by 1000% or more, improving the ability to play games online and to use web-based applications. According to an article I found on the ExtremeTech web site:

“With OdinMonkey optimizing this process, code executed this way is only two times slower than native execution (as if the code was executed locally, outside the browser, without the JS-to-assembly transcompiling). While this might not sound particularly fast, normal JavaScript (such as when you load the ExtremeTech website) is maybe 20 or 30 times slower than native code. For comparison, Chrome executes asm.js code at around 10 times slower than native speed, and Firefox (without OdinMonkey) is around 12 times slower than native.

…Not only does it boost performance by a huge margin, but it could also act as a cornerstone for web apps that actually perform like their installed, native cousins. In short, OdinMonkey could finally allow for a web-based Adobe Photoshop or Crysis.”

And now here’s the metal part of this story. According to Luke Wagner, a software engineer at Mozilla who announced OdinMonkey on his blog, this was “the musical inspiration for OdinMonkey”: Continue reading »

FIVE OF MY FAVOURITE . . . INSPIRATIONAL FRONTMEN

 Mosh Pit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  28 Responses »
Jun 272013
 

(Here’s another in Andy Synn’s irregular series of things that come in five’s.)

This edition of the “Five of my favourite…” column should be pretty self-explanatory. For those of you unaware, I’m currently in two bands here in the UK, a high-velocity technical/melodic death metal band called Bloodguard, and a slower, doomier melancholic death metal band called Twilight’s Embrace. So, stemming somewhat from the recent clamor over “Five albums that changed your life”, I thought it might be interesting to list five of the frontmen who inspired me to pick up the microphone myself.

Now, to be clear, these aren’t necessarily the frontmen/singers I count as my current influences as a vocalist (there’s little to no correlation between some of their vocal styles and the way I sing today), but they are the ones who I looked up to and who made me want to be like them.

TIM WILLIAMS – VISION OF DISORDER

One of my early loves, I actually only got to see V.O.D. live for the first time earlier this year. Thank god it lived up to my long-gestating expectations. Tim Williams (above) is an absolute ball of barely contained fury onstage, a mix of frustrated repression and calculated rage, with a voice that simply bleeds passion. You can tell he means every word that passes from his tortured throat. Continue reading »

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