NEVERENDING PLAYLIST

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jun 102013
 

Here’s an interesting discovery (via a Facebook post by a record label that I saw this morning). It’s a feature on StumbleUpon.com. I don’t know how long it’s been available because I don’t frequent StumbleUpon, so maybe this is really old news. It’s called “Neverending Playlist”. You type in the name of a band and it creates a playlist of songs by that band.

I typed in the name “Immortal”. I don’t know why, but that’s the first name that popped into my head. I got a playlist of 50 songs. The songs play automatically, from one to another, so you can start it going and then do something else. You can pause and skip songs, too, if you want.

It looks like all the songs are retrieved from YouTube, so StumbleUpon hasn’t compiled its own library of music. But there’s obviously a lot available on YouTube. For example, 50 songs by Immortal. It’s not really “neverending”, though. I was interested to see if StumbleUpon would make new Immortal music once it had exhausted Immortal’s entire existing discography and continue playing from now until the end of forever. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: PARASITE INC., PÕHJAST, DISGRAVED

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jun 092013
 

Hey motherfuckers (and I mean that in the nicest possible way), I hope all of you have been having a kickass weekend. I know I have. Among other things, I finally got introduced properly to the music of a Seattle band that friends of mine have been raving about forever (more about that in another post). And I also came across a lot of new music and videos that put a stupid grin on my face (and by that I mean “more stupid than usual”). In no particular order, here’s a random selection of things that rocked my world over the last 24 hours.

PARASITE INC.

Thanks to a Facebook post by Madam X (of Angry Metal Guy fame), I heard the song you’re about to hear in the next video (and while I’m thinking about Madam X, I’ll throw in a plug for her recent review of Svart Crown’s new album). The band is Parasite Inc., a German collective whose second album Time Tears Down (mixed and mastered by Jens Bogren) is due for release on August 2 by Good Damn Records. The song is “The Pulse of the Dead”.

Do you want riffs that grab you hard from the first few seconds and capable soloing? Check. Would you enjoy some pneumatic rhythms that punch like jackhammers? You got it. How about vicious vocals that sound like a werewolf on the hunt? Yep, you’ll get those, too. A modern, powerhouse production that will ram holes in your walls? Covered. Continue reading »

THE ABSENCE: “OCEANS”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jun 092013
 

I’ve been waiting anxiously for “Oceans” ever since Tampa’s The Absence first announced back in early May that it would be coming — and then I completely overlooked its debut last week, finally hearing it only yesterday. I was anxious to hear it because in my humble opinion The Absence are one of the finest melodic death metal bands the U.S. has yet produced. To this day, their 2007 album Riders of the Plague remains high on my personal list of “most-played” releases ever.

What set The Absence apart from so many other U.S. bands who piled on to the Gothenburg bandwagon was a combination of vibrantly vicious vocals, intensely memorable melodic riffs, and brilliant guitar leads and solos by the duo of Patrick Pintavalle and Peter Joseph. And of course the music was also heavy as hell. But almost three years have passed since the band’s last album (Enemy Unbound), and they’ve had a bit of a rocky road since then, including a split from Metal Blade (who released all three of their full-lengths) and the departure of Peter Joseph, which was announced this past January.

But it definitely seems like The Absence have turned the corner. First, they enlisted the awesome Per Nilsson (Scar Symmetry) as Joseph’s replacement. And second, “Oceans” is great. Continue reading »

“BE READY FOR AN ASS WHOOPING, FLORIDA STYLE”

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Jun 082013
 

You probably already have important plans for this Saturday night. Maybe you’re going to wash your cat in the kitchen sink using dishwashing soap. Maybe you’re planning to light bags of dogshit on fire in front of the door where your fuckwad of a neighbor lives. Perhaps you’re going to stand on a street corner and yell passages from The Iliad at passers-by on a bullhorn. But if you’re stuck at home with nothing to do but stare at the walls and regret your miserable existence, I’ve got an idea you might consider: Grab a brew, strip down to your underoos, and watch Obituary live in the comfort of your own squalor.

That’s right, Obituary is performing live tonight in Tampa, Florida, and they’re going to stream their entire concert, as it happens, in multi-cam HD quality over the interhole. The performance begins at 8:30 p.m. Eastern Time and will feature sets of music from Slowly We Rot, Cause of Death, and The End Complete. It will cost you $4.99 US dollars to watch.

Also, the band has invited you to take a pic of yourself watching the show and they will put it on their web site, with the winner of the best pic to be rewarded with a “classic” Obituary t-shirt. I’m foreseeing a lot of ugly pics in this band’s future.

I’m going to have to miss this concert myself. I have bodies to bury that are starting to fill up my home with stink. But if not for that, I’d definitely be doing this. Because FUCKING DEATH METAL. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: PLANKS / O SPLIT

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
Jun 072013
 

I first heard the music of Germany’s Planks last September and wrote about them here. What I heard then was a Bandcamp stream of Planks’ amazing 2012 album, Funeral Mouth. Not much later I discovered that Planks had recorded a split with a band named Lentic Waters that was released on vinyl in June 2012 by Apocaplexy Records, and was made available for free download via a link on this page. I wrote about that split here. Now, Planks are on the verge of releasing another split with a band named O.

For this new split both bands recorded cover songs. Planks picked “A Forest”, which was originally recorded by The Cure and appears to be one of the all-time favorite songs of the band’s vocalist/guitarist Ralph Schmidt. Mike Hill from Brooklyn’s Tombs contributed guest vocals on the track.

The other band, O, consists of members from the border region of Germany, The Netherlands, and Belgium. The song they picked to cover is the “Laura Palmer Theme” from the David Lynch TV series Twin Peaks. It appears that show is a favorite of everyone in O (I like it a lot too). Continue reading »

VIDEOGRAPHY: DARKTHRONE AND THE AMENTA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jun 072013
 

At the end of this post are two metal videos. You should watch them and listen to the music.

The first one is for the song “Lesser Men” by Norway’s Darkthrone. It appears on the band’s latest album, The Underground Resistance, which is out now via Peaceville. For my tastes, the song is one of the best that Darkthrone have produced in the last five years. It’s part black metal, part punk, part thrash, and heavy as hell. If you haven’t heard it yet, it’s the kind of song that you’ll have trouble getting unstuck from your head.

The video is damned cool, too. Directed by Lowe Seger, it’s a black-and-white montage of urban images. The film has no story or footage of a band performance, but it somehow suits the music.

The second offering here is a lyric video from The Amenta (Australia). The song is “Sewer” and it appears on the band’s 2013 album Flesh Is Heir. In the words of the band, it “shows off the creepy, dirty side of The Amenta. These lyrics are one of two songs written by vocalist Cain Cressall and describe the use of sex to obliterate the self.” Continue reading »

LOW: LYCUS AND ORTEGA

 Album Reviews, Eye-Catchers, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  8 Responses »
Jun 062013
 

This is the second part of a two-part post about new music that swallowed me up last night. By blind chance, all four of the songs I heard sound like granite must feel, sitting on your chest or coming down in an avalanche on your head. Part 1 (here) dealt with Geryon and Hollow Leg. This one focuses on Lycus (Oakland) and Ortega (The Netherlands).

LYCUS

In addition to delivering crushing music, all four of the bands featured in this two-part post bring us striking cover art for their new releases. As you can see, the debut album by Lycus, Tempest, is adorned with the awesome painted art of the Italian madman Paolo Girardi (go past the jump to see more of the album art).  Tempest is scheduled for release by 20 Buck Spin on July 9 (digitally and on CD/LP).

I haven’t yet carved out time to listen to the album, and nothing from it is yet available for public streaming, but I did check out the first song from the band’s Demo MMXI. That demo was released two years ago by Graceless Recordings (run by Mike Meacham of LOSS) and on vinyl by The Flenser Records, and it’s a name-your-price download on Bandcamp. Continue reading »

LOW: GERYON AND HOLLOW LEG

 Eye-Catchers, Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jun 062013
 

Sometimes the hands of blind coincidence shuffle the cards of life and deal you a flush. And so they did for me last night. In addition to other blog-related activities, I had time to listen to four new songs, and by happenstance they all turned out to be from the same suit — and they were also a winning combination. I know four cards don’t make a flush, but one of the songs is 18 minutes long, so I think that counts as two cards (at least).

The songs are actually from somewhat different genres of metal, but when I say they’re from the same suit I mean that they have this in common: BASS

I’m dividing this post into two parts, with two songs in each one. The next post will come later this morning.

GERYON

The first song I listened to was brand new, the first track released by a new band named Geryon. I listened to it mainly because Geryon is composed of two members of Krallice, Nicholas McMaster and Lev Weinstein, and the song was produced by a third, Colin Marston. I do like me some Krallice. But there were two other reasons, and you’re looking at one of them at the top of this post. Continue reading »

BANJO METAL REDUX: ERLING BRONSBERG COVERS GHOST’S “RITUAL”

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Jun 052013
 

Two and a half years ago I wrote a post about “Banjo Metal” that continues to be visited and still leads to the occasional e-mail contact from people interested in the subject (Google “banjo metal” and see what comes up first). That post focused on metal bands who have used the banjo in some of their songs (plus an obligatory item on the magnificent Béla Fleck). Today brought us news of a different type of banjo metal — a banjo cover of a metal song.

Okay, some of you might quarrel with applying the term “metal” to Sweden’s Ghost. Hell, I’ve quarreled with myself about that. But hey, they do sing about Satan!

The cover is of Ghost’s best-known song, “Ritual”, and it’s performed on video by Erling Bronsberg, a skilled banjo player who e-mailed me about the cover last night. He’s based in Örebro, Sweden, and performs with a group called the Black River String Band. He uses “standard sawmill tuning” for this song, which probably means something to banjo players but to me simply sounds cool. His cover is cool, too. He puts a bluegrass spin on the melody without completely losing the song’s familiarity, and the picking is tasty. Check it out: Continue reading »

BABYMETAL GROWING UP: “MEGITSUNE”

 Phro's Posts, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  26 Responses »
Jun 042013
 

Long-time NCS readers know that we have a weakness (in a totally non-pedophile way) for BABYMETAL, the three-member female group who made a name for themselves by fusing Japanese idol music and metal. This obsession began with former frequent visitor and occasional contributor Phro (who is based in the Tokyo area). Even though Phro is occupied with other pursuits and doesn’t show up around here very often, he still stays in touch, and this morning he fired off an e-mail alerting me to the premiere of a new BABYMETAL song and video: “Megitsune”

In fact, we have Phro’s own introduction to the video (which will be followed by some more Phro words and some of my own):

“Alright you sad sacks, sit down, shut the fuck up, and press play, because Baby Metal have a new song and video. It’s bombastic in all the right ways, slightly cheesy in all the best ways, and just barely cute enough to still be recognizable as Japan’s finest pop metal band.

“I won’t bother explaining it to you, because, seriously, there’s a fucking YouTube video right here. If you can’t press play because you’re at work, I forgive you, but otherwise this should be fucking your eardrums like a giant, zombie tyrannosaurus rex cock hungry for your ear cherry.” Continue reading »

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