FREE SHIT: DEATH HAMMER VOL I

 Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jul 112013
 

We do like to keep our eyes open for free shit worth recommending to you, and here’s one that comes highly recommended. It’s a “mixtape” of death metal compiled by CVLT Nation — 25 songs by 25 bands, with a total run time of 2 hours, 18 minutes. It’s a mix of older and newer songs and includes a variety of death metal styles.

You’ll find some Immolation and Ignivomous, some Mithras and some Mitochondrion, some Cryptopsy and some Ulcerate, some Spawn of Possession and some Wormed, some Antediluvian and some Ævangelist, and much more. I really like the selection of music picked for this thing, which is why I’m pimping it.

The compilation is divided into two files that are downloadable via the Soundcloud players you’ll find at CVLT Nation or here, after the jump. Enjoy. Continue reading »

REVOCATION: “INVIDIOUS”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jul 112013
 

Not long ago Metal Sucks premiered another new song from the next album by Boston’s Revocation, which is set for release on August 6 in NorthAm via Relapse. The new one is called “Invidious”. It is . . . how shall I say this? . . . a big-booted kick in the ass, plus banjo.

It romps, it stomps, it rocks, it rolls. It thrashes, it smashes, it swarms, it shreds (of course). It has a bass drop, it has a clean-ish chorus, it has gang shouts. It has hooks, it’s arena-ready. Plus banjo.

My only complaint? Needs more banjo.

Go HERE to listen for yourselves. If you haven’t heard the first song from the album that premiered previously, you can catch that after the jump.

P.S. This whole album is awesome. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: GRAVE, PELICAN, WRUST, AND SHEOL

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jul 102013
 

The avalanche of new and noteworthy metallic items that’s been going on all week has continued today. I caught a few of today’s new items in an earlier post, but already there are more. So, another fully loaded round-up follows . . .

GRAVE

More details about the new EP (Morbid Ascent) from Sweden’s Grave surfaced today. First, the release date was announced: August 26. Second, we got the tasty cover art by Costin Chioreanu (above). Third, we learned that Autopsy’s Eric Cutler will be contributing guest vocals on one of the two new songs on the EP — “Venial Sin” (the other one being “Morbid Ascent”). The EP will also include a cover of Satyricon’s “Possessed” as well as a remixed version of “Epos” from Risen From the Tomb and a track from Grave’s 1989 Sexual Mutilation demo (“Reality of Life”). Sounds like a very cool collection.

The EP is going to be released as a 12″ vinyl (in multiple colors) as well as a digital download, and Century Media says both formats will be offered for “a fan-friendly price”. Continue reading »

GORGUTS DELIVER ANOTHER NEW SONG: “OCEAN OF WISDOM”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jul 102013
 

Is it too soon to add the new Gorguts album, Colored Sands, to Best of 2013 year-end lists? I suppose it is, since we only have two songs from the new album to go on, but holy hell, are they good!

The newest one just premiered at Blabbermouth. It’s called “An Ocean Of Wisdom”. It’s heavy as hell, dark as night, and instrumentally acrobatic (as you would expect). It manages to be a dense, dynamic, complex, brutal, and atmospheric song all at the same time, while also providing the kind of top-shelf instrumental performances we knew the talent in this band would deliver.

Colored Sands will be released on August 30 in Europe and September 3 in North America via Season Of Mist. Here’s “An Ocean of Wisdom” (and big thanks to Vonlughlio for tipping me about this): Continue reading »

NEW SOUNDS: CARCASS, MERCENARY, MISERY SIGNALS, BEYOND, ENTRAILS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jul 102013
 

I mentioned in today’s first post that I was cut off from the interhole most of yesterday and missed lots of stuff that should have been the subject of yesterday’s posts. So I’m catching up. I’ve found so many interesting developments from both yesterday and this morning that I’m going to hold my verbiage to a rare minimum and let the music speak for itself.

CARCASS

The band’s first single (“Captive Bolt Pistol”) from their new album (Surgical Steel) proved controversial. (The song appeared on a CD exclusively sold with the 85th issue of the German “Legacy” Magazine in order to promote the Party.San Metal Open Air festival, and someone uploaded it to YouTube from there). The haters (I’m not one) seemed primarily to be those fans who think Carcass jumped the shark after Necroticism, and therefore they’re disappointed in the Heartwork-style stylings of the new song.

Yesterday brought us another taste, an official video teaser that appears to be a playthrough of an instrumental part of another song. Haters will still hate. I am still not one of them; I still like what I hear. You can listen to the teaser after the jump. But today also brought us the very cool album cover for Surgical Steel, which you can see above. It was created by British photographer Ian Tilton, who also did the cover for Necroticism. Now, here’s the teaser: Continue reading »

PREMIERES: ELITE, OATHBREAKER, ASG, AND NEXILVA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jul 082013
 

This Monday has turned into a day of premieres (not even counting the one we did ourselves for Razormaze). I’ve collected in this post a handful that I enjoyed, from Elite (Norway), Oathbreaker (Belgium), ASG (US), and Nexilva (UK).

ELITE

I was originally turned on to Norway’s Elite more than two years ago via one of Andy Synn’s SYNN REPORTS about the band. Almost five years have passed since Elite’s last album, We Own the Mountains, but it appears the band are planning to release a new one before this year ends. Today they released a promo version of a new track called “This Is Where All Ends”. It reflects some changes from much of what has come before.

The song is mid-paced and majestic in its atmosphere, with a soaring chorus to match whispers of black metal darkness in its jagged verse. For most of the song’s duration, the vocals are near-clean, though ragged and anguished in their passion. The song has gotten stuck in my head, too. Check it out next. Continue reading »

GRINDING FOR A CURE: VOLUME 2

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jul 062013
 

I’m going to repeat some of the back story about “Grinding for a Cure” that I described (here) back in February, for those of you who have forgotten and for new readers. It’s a project that started small and has truly exploded. The organizers set up shop and started spreading the word about their mission only in mid-January of this year — and their mission was to raise money to fund research into a cure for Alzheimer’s disease by selling a grindcore compilation. In a surprisingly short amount of time, they assembled a genuinely impressive line-up of bands and released a 100-track Volume I comp, which is still available here. The compilation was assembled by Dorian Rainwater of Noisear, Christine Coz, and Chris Messina of Swamp Gas.

Even as that comp was being released, the organizers had a bunch of other songs already in hand for a follow-up, and more have been coming in since then. Yesterday, they released Volume II for download on Bandcamp. Although they still have 10 more submissions coming their way, Volume II as it now stands includes 90 songs from 90 bands from all over the world. And the music isn’t limited to grind, though that’s the dominant style of music that’s represented. I’m just going to mention the names of some of the bands we’ve written about at NCS (from memory), and even this abbreviated list will give you an indication about the range and quality of the music on offer:

Psudoku, Drug Honkey, Horsebastard, Flourishing, Impetigo, Human Cull, Noisear, Dephosphorus, Phobia, and Sarcolytic. Continue reading »

TEASERS: KALL, BLACK CAP MINER, BLACKOUT, AND FETO IN FETUS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jul 062013
 

In this post I’m pulling together new music from four bands that I heard yesterday which made quite an impression. All of them are tracks from forthcoming releases, and all of them succeed in building interest for what’s coming. None of them sounds remotely like the others.

KALL

Over the space of four albums released from 2006 to 2011, Sweden’s Lifelover built a large and intense following, and many people have credited them with being an important influence in the development of depressive black metal as a recognizable sub-genre. However, 2011’s Sjukdom proved to be the band’s last album. In September 2011, Lifelover’s principal songwriter Jonas “B” Bergqvist died of what was reported to be an overdose of prescription medication, and the remaining members decided to end the band.

However, about a year later, word surfaced that three of Lifelover’s former members — vocalist/guitarist “( )” (Kim Carlsson), guitarist “H” (Henrik Huldtgren), and bassplayer Fix — had decided to start a new band. The band’s name is Kall (Swedish for “cold”), and yesterday I discovered that Kall has released a song from a forthcoming EP. The song’s name is “Då, nu – Jag och Du”, which according to Google Translate means “Then, Now — Me and You”. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: GORGUTS, KARTIKEYA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jul 052013
 

Happy 5th of July to one and all!  Though often overshadowed by yesterday’s holiday, July 5 is the anniversary of the date in 1775 when the Continental Congress adopted the so-called Olive Branch Petition attempting to convince King George III of the colonies’ affection and loyalty (while appealing for relief from various grievances). King George, of course, rejected the petition and declared the colonies to be in a “state of open and avowed rebellion”. I bet he later wished for a do-over on that decision.

Anyway, while indulging in solemn remembrance of the Olive Branch Petition this morning, as well as the 76th anniversary of the introduction of Spam to the market by Hormel Foods Corporation and the 67th anniversary of the first public sale of the bikini, I found time to observe a couple items of metal interest, which are discussed below.

GORGUTS

Little more than two weeks ago, we finally learned the album title (Colored Sands), track list, and release dates for the first studio album by Gorguts in 12 years — as well as hearing the album’s first single, “Forgotten Arrows”. I think it’s fair to say that the song was greeted by a boisterously enthusiastic reception. Gorguts’ Luc Lemay took notice, and yesterday he recorded a video thank-you to the band’s fans. Continue reading »

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