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 »

NEW FROM VASAELETH: “PARADISE RECONSECRATED” (PLUS ALBUM ART)

 Eye-Catchers, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Jun 262013
 

Yours truly has been keeping both bloodshot eyes peeled for info about the next album by Vasaeleth. Keeping my eyes open without blinking for hours on end makes them hurt quite a lot, and this may explain why I sometimes make whimpering noises. However, we must all endure pain for our pleasure, because this is the way of the world. Of course, much of the time we must endure pain to no good end at all. This also is the way of the world.

Aw fuck, where was I?  Oh yeah, waiting for Vasaeleth. Well, my painful vigilance was rewarded this afternoon with a boatload of information. First, Profound Lore confirmed the title of the new album (All Uproarious Darkness) and announced its release date (August 20). Second, PL unveiled the album’s cover art, which you can see above. It was painted by the viciously talented Antichrist Kramer. It’s quite eye-catching, don’t you think?

And finally, we have been given a new song to hear, one bearing the title “Paradise Reconsecrated”. I’m of two minds about the song. In one of my minds I’m being torn apart by wild, voracious beasts who are growling and shrieking and tearing and swallowing whole in a feast of ravenous abandon. In my other mind, I’m enveloped by a blackened death metal tornado, the air being sucked from my lungs while the guitars grind and moan and squeal, the bass thunders, and the drums rumble like an earthquake; and then I’m eaten alive by wild animals. It feels so good. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SOCKWEB, STATION DYSTHYMIA, FORLORN PATH

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jun 262013
 

For various reasons, mainly a long trip to the East Coast and back over the last weekend and catching-up to do at my job, I’ve fallen behind in listening to new metal. I’ve made a halting effort to catch up, and though I’ve not made much of a dent, I did select a few of the songs (quite diverse from each other) that I’ve heard since late last week to share with you in this post.

SOCKWEB

I don’t consider myself a cynic. In fact, I think I’m one of the least cynical people I know over the age of 12, more of a glass-is-half-full, give-everyone-the-benefit-of-the-doubt kind of guy. Yet I confess that I keep caged within me a black-eyed little cynic-monster, and the scaly bastard broke free when I first started reading about the duo from Richmond, Indiana, who call themselves Sockweb. Surely, that little monster screamed, this is pure gimmickry, one of those viral internet thingies that thrives solely on novelty (mixed with cuteness) rather than substance or merit.

Because after all, how could a father and his seven-year-old daughter really make grindcore that’s worth a damn, especially when it’s the little tyke who’s the vocalist?

And then I saw an announcement that first appeared late last week which caused me to reconsider: Not only have The Sockweb duo recorded a debut album (Werewolf), it’s being mastered by none other than Scott Hull (Pig Destroyer, Agoraphobic Nosebleed) and it will include guest appearances by Kat Katz (Agoraphobic Nosebleed), Joe Torchia (Flux Conspiracy), Erik Ebsen (Spiralmountain), and Jonathan Chun (Azure Noise, Ozoru Hammer). And so I relented, I shoved the monster back in his cage, and I listened for the first time to the four songs that are now out. And I was glad I did. Continue reading »

THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER’S “GOAT OF DEPARTURE” GETS THE VIDEO TREATMENT

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jun 242013
 

Seeing The Black Dahlia Murder performing while dressed in tuxedos is only one of many “what the fuck?” moments in the band’s new official video for “Goat of Departure” from their new Everblack album. The montage of stills shown above gives a taste of some of the others, but there are a lot of ’em packed into the four minutes of mayhem you’re about to see.

The performance shots were filmed at the downstairs bar at The Magic Stick in Detroit. Ben Meyer directed it. Presumably, no goats were harmed in the making of this video. Watch it next. Continue reading »

LORD WORM REJOINS CRYPTOPSY (BRIEFLY)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jun 242013
 

Okay, sorry about that somewhat misleading headline. I couldn’t resist (and I did put the word “briefly” in there).

Cryptopsy’s first two albums, Blasphemy Made Flesh (1994) and None So Vile (1996) are widely (and rightly) regarded as death metal classics, and the disgusting vocals of Lord Worm were a key part of the music’s violent impact. He left the band in 1997, returned long enough to record Once Was Not (2005), and then departed again.

However, at the Amnesia Rockfest in Montebello, Quebec, on June 15, 2013, Lord Worm joined Cryptopsy on stage, sharing vocal duties with the band’s current growler Matt McGachy. Today, a 9-minute video surfaced on YouTube showing Lord Worm performing a medley of tunes from Blasphemy Made Flesh. The audio quality is iffy (among other things, the volume randomly goes up and down), but it’s damned cool to watch . . . which you can do next. Continue reading »

WATAIN UNLEASHES LYRIC VIDEO FOR “ALL THAT MAY BLEED”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jun 242013
 

As we previously reported, the Swedish horde known as Watain have a new album named The Wild Hunt coming on August 19 in Europe and August 20 in the US via Century Media Records. A two-track single (All That May Bleed) was released last Friday (June 21). And this morning brought us the band’s official lyric video for the single’s title track.

As should be expected from Watain by now, the song is not standard black metal fare. It’s bombastic, thrashing, slightly industrial in its rhythms, and of course completely vehement and venomous. It also includes a memorable (and eerie) guitar solo, as well as a bass solo.

The new single can be downloaded at iTunes and it’s also being offered as a 7″ black or red vinyl, and on a 7″ picture disc. These can be acquired at http://www.wolfwear.net or from http://www.cmdistro.com. The lyric video is next. Let us know what you think. Continue reading »

THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT: LIVE AT DOKK’EM OPEN AIR

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jun 242013
 

If you know of a death metal band other than The Monolith Deathcult who have used the Scottish folk song “Donald, where’s your trousers?” as the intro music for a live set, please speak up. I can’t imagine anyone else doing it. But that’s what TMDC did at the beginning of their performance on June 22, 2013, at the DOKK’EM OPEN AIR festival in The Netherlands.

Of course, they didn’t use the funny, up-tempo version of the song recorded by Andy Stewart. They used the slow, creepy version sung by machine intelligences in an episode of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles. As expected, the voice of Optimus Prime makes a later appearance as well.

But as interesting (and fitting) as these oddities were, the stars of the show were THE 6TH MOST POPVLAR AND ALMOST AWARD-WINNING SVPREME AVANTGARDE DEATH METAL BAND FROM KAMPEN, THE NETHERLANDS. And man, did they crush. How do I know? Because TMDC have uploaded a quality video of the entire set to YouTube. Continue reading »

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