CHIMAIRA RELEASE A NEW SINGLE: “ALL THAT’S LEFT IS BLOOD”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
May 152013
 

Chimaira have had their ups and downs over the years, but at their strongest they’ve made some powerful, compelling music, and I’ve had the pleasure of witnessing a couple of their live shows that were an absolute blast. In recent weeks they’ve grabbed press attention with a successful indiegogo campaign to finance a special fan edition (a combined CD/DVD) of their next album, Crown of Phantoms, which will be released by eOne on July 30; they exceeded their $30,000 goal in less than two weeks. And now they’ve started streaming a new single and video.

The song is called “All That’s Left Is Blood” and it will appear on Crown of Phantoms. Like much of what Chimaira have done in the past, it’s a genre-bender. It incorporates elements of hardcore and melodic death metal, with hammering riffs, thundering breakdown moments, and a flashy guitar solo by new guitarist Emil Werstler (Daath, Levi/Werstler).

And speaking of new members, the band has basically been reinvented since their last album in 2011, with Mark Hunter recruiting an entirely new line-up. The current membership of Chimaira is: Mark Hunter (vocals), Emil Werstler (guitar), Austin D’Amond (drums), Matt Szlachta (guitar), Jeremy Creamer (bass), Sean Zatorsky (keyboards).

Check out the new song next . . . . Continue reading »

ABBEY OV THELEMA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
May 152013
 

As occult band names go, Abbey ov Thelema is a good one. I didn’t immediately recognize the reference, but when I began to do a bit of research about this band, I quickly came across an article at The Font of All Human Knowledge which explained as follows:

The Abbey of Thelema refers to a small house which was used as a temple and spiritual centre founded by Aleister Crowley and Leah Hirsig in Cefalù, Sicily in 1920. The name was borrowed from François Rabelais’s satire Gargantua and Pantagruel, where an Abbaye de Thélème is described as a sort of “anti-monastery” where the lives of the inhabitants were “spent not in laws, statutes, or rules, but according to their own free will and pleasure.”

Based on what I’ve heard from the band so far, the name is appropriate as well as kvlt: the songs are eclectic musical manifestations of the mantra “Do what thou wilt”. In two words, it’s utterly wild.

In its current incarnation, the band itself is the brainchild of Delgrast, a Slovakian musician who handles vocals, synths, and programming. He and Polish guitarist Quadrun have recorded the most recent Abbey ov Thelema album, Liber DCLXVI, a conceptual work of almost 80 minutes concerning the Apocalypse of John, with lyrics entirely in Latin. It’s now planned for release via Wraith Productions, and two songs from the album have surfaced to date. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: PATHOLOGY, FIRST REIGN, CHALICE OF DOOM, AND ENSHINE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
May 152013
 

Here are a few new things I came across since our last post from yesterday that got me excited.

PATHOLOGY

The first item is at the top of this post. It’s another creation of the masterful Par Olofsson, the cover for the next album by San Diego’s Pathology. Yesterday the band announced that the album will be entitled Lords of Rephaim and will be released on September 3 by Sevared Records (the band having completed their three-album commitment as the fish out of water at Victory Records). Based on previous reports, this new album will feature the return of singer Matti Way and original guitarist Tim Tiszczenko. I’m ready.

http://www.pathologymusic.com/
https://www.facebook.com/PathologyMusic

Next, get a load of this new cover art: Continue reading »

DEEDS OF FLESH: “AMIDST THE RUINS”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
May 142013
 

I thought we were finished posting for the day, and then I got a message from TheMadIsraeli that Deeds of Flesh had premiered a new track from their long-awaited eighth album, Portals To Canaan.

The song is “Amidst the Ruins”. It’s utterly fascinating. It scrambles the mind quite thoroughly, and in my case, left me gap-mouthed in a silly smile.

The technical acrobatics are top-shelf, of course, but the song is also cleverly constructed in a way that ties together the flurry of notes, the bullet-spitting percussion, and the big-barking-dog vocals. Threaded through all the impressive instrumental work and the unstable rhythms are magnetic little melodies and repeating motifs that begin to seem like old friends after a few listens.

But what really widened my grin are the few bars of warm guitar melody with which the song opens and closes. Brilliant.

Do listen right after the jump. The album is due on June 25 from Unique Leader.

Continue reading »

VIDEO ROUND-UP: BLOOD RED THRONE, REPTILIAN DEATH, INTERNAL BLEEDING, AND WREKMEISTER HARMONIES

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
May 142013
 

I already posted one kind of round-up this morning, one that involved sending you away to other sites to hear new songs that are exclusively streaming elsewhere. But the last 24 hours were so chock full of new musical discoveries that I need to add a second round-up. In this one, however, I can give you the music to hear and the videos to watch at our very own humble site.

BLOOD RED THRONE

And the first offering comes your way from the icy fastness of southern Norway where Blood Red Throne sit on their blood red throne. As previously reported, this band are celebrating the 15th year of their existence with a new, self-titled album in a special edition LP box set that’s been up for pre-sale on Blood Red Throne’s Bandcamp page (here) since March. It will be released by Sevared Records on May 21. It features that sweet cover art by Rafael Tavares that’s staring at you above.

Today, the band premiered a music video for one of the new songs, which bears the wonderfully descriptive title of “Primitive Killing Machine”. It’s a merciless meat-grinder of a song, but as your head is pulled down into the teeth of the machine, it will be ringing with an exotic melody and banging happily away as it’s being pulverised and pulped. Nasty video, too. Continue reading »

SENDING YOU AWAY: MAN’S GIN, SIGHT OF EMPTINESS, ELDKRAFT, AND KATECHON

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
May 142013
 

We like having you around here, but I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to leave. That’s because a quartet of new songs debuted yesterday that I’m recommending to you, but you’ll have to go elsewhere to check them out. They’re exclusively streaming at other sites, so I can’t embed them here. Actually, I could, because no page code is safe from me, but I’m being atypically respectful.

MAN’S GIN

Man’s Gin is the brainchild of New York-based Erik Wunder, who is also one-half of another band I like a lot — Cobalt. He’s joined in Man’s Gin by New Yorkers Scott Edward and Josh Lozano. I thought Man’s Gin’s debut album Smiling Dogs (2010) was fascinating, and it seems the same will be true of the second one, Rebellion Hymns. It’s scheduled for release by Profound Lore on June 25. The new song that premiered yesterday is “Deer Head & The Rain”.

This song isn’t our usual fare. The vocals are more clean than unclean and the music is more folk than metal, though it’s not exactly folk music either. There’s a disturbing undercurrent in the music, and from the acoustic-guitar-and-hand-drum intro straight through to the discordant electrified finish, it’s been relentlessly tunneling through my head since yesterday. Continue reading »

YOU MAY HAVE SEEN MESHUGGAH’S LIGHTS OPERATOR AT WORK; NOW SEE THE LIGHTS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
May 132013
 

In late April you may have seen a video that showed Edvard Hansson — the light technician for Sweden’s Meshuggah — operating the control board for the band’s show in Paris last December (I saw it via The Monolith). By all accounts, the lighting on the band’s current tour is a true extravaganza, and what made the Hansson video such a jaw-dropper was the realization (in The Monolith’s words) that, “Rather than having programmed a static lighting show, he actually ‘plays’ along with with them, triggering parts of the setup in time with the complex rhythms of the music.

Unfortunately, the Hansson video didn’t show the light show itself, other than through the strobing flashes in the corner of the screen. But I just saw a video of the band performing at the Cirkus venue in Stockholm on May 9 that provides a good view of what happens as Hansson pushes all those buttons. It’s really amazing.

WARNING: For those prone to strobe-induced seizures, don’t watch this. It comes next . . . . Continue reading »

A BEHIND THE SCENES LOOK AT RYAN BEGLEY’S COVER ART FOR HOWL

 Eye-Catchers, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
May 132013
 

If you’re a regular NCS stalker, you’ve seen this cover before. Twice before, actually, because I keep looking for new excuses to stick it on the site. It’s the hellaciously eye-catching gatefold artwork for Bloodlines, the new Relapse Records album by Rhode Island’s Howl — which is also hellaciously good, by the way. To see an even larger image of the artwork, click the pic above.

The artist who created the cover is Ryan Begley, and this is his third record cover for Howl (the other two are also killer). Today we have the pleasure of giving you a behind-the-scenes look at how the Bloodlines artwork came into existence, including the rough and final pencil sketches that evolved into the finished inked-and-colored piece you’re looking at. As Ryan explains:

All the visuals were inspired by lyrical content and both the band and I wanted to have an image with a lot of elements that would take time for the viewer to soak in. I tried to have all the characters and elements interacting and overlapping as much as possible.  The blood was one of the more difficult but fun elements to draw for the cover. Figuring out how it would flow and move throughout the frame and around the characters took a while to sketch out.

The band wanted a bright and vibrant cover and I thought it would translate best if we kept the colors in the same family. Once I settled on a specific red for the blood the rest of the palette was pulled from that.

Continue reading »

CHILDREN OF BODOM PREMIERE THE “TRANSFERENCE” VIDEO

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
May 132013
 

Nuclear Blast is set to release the eighth album from Finland’s Children of Bodom on June 11 in North America. This morning COB premiered an official video for one of the new songs, “Transference”, which has already debuted and which is also being made available as an immediate download for fans who pre-order the CD. And these are a few things that guitarist/vocalist Alexi Laiho said about the song and the album:

‘Transference’ is a straight-up CHILDREN OF BODOM to-the-core-type song and therefore was a good pick for a video and obviously is one of our favorite tracks. It always had an evil vibe to it, which I wish I knew how to explain because it still gives me chills… Enjoy!

Halo Of Blood is the eighth studio album from CHILDREN OF BODOM, and believe it or not, but we still managed to keep it fresh and new while still maintaining the elements that make COB sound recognizable. It’s got the fastest and the slowest song we ever made and lyrics wise there are themes we had never had before. It’s 10 new songs of pure Nordic metal and whether you enjoy it with a beer or a glass of water, I’m sure you will have a good time.

Continue reading »

A BIT OF WEEKEND READING AND A NEW KILLING JOKE VIDEO

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
May 112013
 

Here are three things I read yesterday that I thought were worth recommending. And because we always have to have music in our posts, I’m ending this one with a couple of videos by UK post-punk legends Killing Joke, one old one and one that just premiered yesterday.

“THE TEN MOST METAL DEATHS OF METAL MUSICIANS”

Yeah, that headline caught my eye, too. It appeared on the online music blog of The Riverfront Times, a St. Louis alternative newsweekly that’s been around since 1977. As the headline suggests, the writer (Rick Giordano) compiled stories about 10 metal musicians who died in metal ways. Here’s Rick’s introduction and disclaimer:

Death has always been one of the most dominant themes in heavy-metal music, taking a back seat maybe only to Satanism. Death, disease, murder and chaos have accompanied heavy riffs since Sabbath first began playing them back in ’68. This dark subject matter is part of what has always made metal controversial — revolting to some, but appealing to those musicians interested in facing the things we all fear. But there’s often a strange irony that comes into play when we have to realize that these musicians are also human beings, capable of falling victim to the very horrors they seem to embrace. Continue reading »

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