BLATANT PLUG PART 2 (A NEW ERA OF CORRUPTION)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Apr 082013
 

(Andy Synn wrote this post. I obviously need to give Andy some lessons in blatant self-promotion, since he devotes most of this post to plugging the competition!)

So here we go again… time for a blatant plug to abuse my position here at NCS for the benefit of my band. Deal with it. Also, please go here and vote for Bloodguard because we would quite like to play Bloodstock this year, and this is one way for us to attract attention from the individuals responsible for booking the bands!

Now one of the issues to navigate with being in this competition is balancing my role as a “musician” (parentheses intended) with my role as a “journalist/critic” (parentheses probably even more intended). So I have to try and separate these two sides of myself. There’s an issue that being critical about other bands (warranted as it may sometimes be) might reflect badly on me and my band mates, and might adversely affect our chances.  But why let that fear strangle honest opinion and debate? Do you agree? Disagree? Don’t care either way?

Still, looking through the veritable host of bands signed up to the competition, a few trends have become clear (mentioned some of them last time around as well). Continue reading »

NEW HYPOCRISY: “TALES OF THY SPINELESS” IN VIDEO

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Apr 042013
 

On March 22, 2013, Sweden’s Hypocrisy performed at a record release show in Stockholm for their new album End of Disclosure, which is out now on the Nuclear Blast label. Director Ville Lipiäinen was on hand to film some of what transpired. Lipiäinen was also the director of Hell Over Sofia, the band’s live 2011 performance DVD, and today Nuclear Blast released his video of Hypocrisy performing “Tales of Thy Spineless”.

There’s a lot of old-school, thrashing, grinding death metal in this track, but with a nice little catchy melody that sneaks into the front and back of the song. Actually, the song is like a Hypocrisy sandwich, with one song sandwiched in between parts of another quite different one. I’m happy with both parts (listen for dat base in the middle segment).

The video is, of course, well done. It was filmed from multiple camera angles, including one trained on the front row of the audience. Watch it after the jump. Continue reading »

NEW VIDEO FROM MESHUGGAH: “I AM COLOSSUS”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Apr 042013
 

Meshuggah now have an official video for the song “I Am Colossus” from Koloss that adds layers of the alien and the grotesque to the song’s atmospherics. Or perhaps the video merely brings out elements of the alien and the grotesque that were present in the song all along.

The video is an animation created by Magnus Jonsson, who is to be congratulated for a really amazing job.

That’s really all I have to say . . . now be good to yourselves and watch “I Am Colossus” after the jump. Continue reading »

GRIFT: “DÖDENS DÅD”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Apr 032013
 

On most days at this site I try to pull together a round-up of new music, album art, and/or news that most interested me over the preceding 24 hours. It’s usually in the range of 3-5 items, packaged together in one long post. Today, just for the hell of it, I’m spreading what interested me over the course of the whole day, one item at a time.

Grift are a two-man Swedish band formed in 2011 (consisting of Perditor on vocals and strings and J. Hallbäck on drums) whose music I just discovered yesterday. They’ve recorded a four-song debut EP, Fyra elegier, that’s scheduled for release on April 15 by the Nordvis label. And what I heard yesterday is a song from the EP named “Dödens dåd”.

The song begins with a mournful, folk-inspired violin solo set against the sound of falling rain . . . or maybe the hiss and crackle of an old platter of vinyl on the turntable . . . and then it rapidly transitions to a different kind of bleak atmosphere, one that unfolds to the muffled rumble of drums, the winding chords of tremolo guitar, and the anguished, scarring cries of Grift’s vocalist. Both stately and intense, the song reminds me of mid-stage Burzum, and its melancholy sounds have infected my head.

The EP can be pre-ordered here. Listen below. Continue reading »

KALMAH: “WINDLAKE TALE”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Apr 032013
 

On most days at this site I try to pull together a round-up of new music, album art, and/or news that most interested me over the preceding 24 hours. It’s usually in the range of 3-5 items, packaged together in one long post. Today, just for the hell of it, I’m  spreading what interested me over the course of the whole day, one item at a time.

And so the morning begins Finnish style. I started with Finntroll’s new video and now move on to a new track from Kalmah called “Windlake Tale”. And not just a new track — I’m also happy to share the news that Spinefarm will release a new Kalmah album on June 17 and that its name is Seventh Swamphony.

And no, that isn’t a typo. What else would you call a symphony by a bunch of metal swamp lords?

Man, is this new song hitting me in the sweet spot . . . you know the one I mean . . . the spot that gets engorged when listening to racing, rollicking, Finnish-style melodic death metal with flashing guitar solos, folk-influenced melodies and rhythms, caustic vokills, and a big injection of catchy-as-fuck-ness. You should hear it. You can hear it . . . next: Continue reading »

FINNTROLL: “HÄXBRYGD”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Apr 032013
 

On most days at this site I try to pull together a round-up of new music, album art, and/or news that most interested me over the preceding 24 hours. It’s usually in the range of 3-5 items, packaged together in one long post. Today, just for the hell of it, I’m trying something different, something more like what certain other metal sites do — spreading what interested me over the course of the whole day, one item at a time.

A renowned tribe of Finnish trolls have emerged from their underground lairs for another round of pillaging and plundering, spreading their wicked humor and destructiveness like the plague. In other words, Finntroll’s new album Blodsvept is out now, everywhere (on Century Media).

This morning Finntroll premiered an official video for one of the new songs,”Häxbrygd”, which apparently means “witch broth” or “witch stew”. The song goes straight to our list of candidates for 2013’s most infectious extreme metal songs. Music to jump to, music to bounce to, music to fornicate to. A little bit of accordion, a little bit of brass, a whole lotta nasty.

And the video? A feast for the eyes, the trolls decked out in their finery with pointy ears a-flapping, tricking out their own special ride. Ready, set, GO . . . Continue reading »

HACKTIVIST: “ELEVATE”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  16 Responses »
Apr 022013
 

Just minutes ago, UK-based Hacktivist released a new song named “Elevate” for free download, with an accompanying video. I am posting this news and the video in part because I like the song and video and in part because I always enjoy the comments we provoke when we write about Hacktivist.

Hacktivist do have their supporters around these parts, but like the Marines logo says, they are the few, though they are proud. As for everyone else, you’ll just have to suck it up and soldier on (and leave your comments).

Hacktivist haven’t yet turned into a black metal band. It’s still rap + djent. I have no ability to judge the quality of the rhymes (I listen to very little rap), but at least they’re still going on about something serious, and those rhythms still get my head bobbing.

To download the track for free, go HERE. To watch and listen, just follow along after the jump. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: CHTHONIC, AMORPHIS, REPTILIAN DEATH, WASTED LAND, AND REGARDE LES HOMMES TOMBER

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Apr 022013
 

I didn’t have time to compile a daily round-up yesterday, so there’s a lot of shit to cram into this one. I’ll try to keep words to a minimum and let the music, the videos, and the imagery speak for themselves.

ITEM ONE: CHTHONIC

2011’s Takasago Army marked the time when I finally got into Taiwan’s Chthonic. It was interesting and multi-textured, in addition to kicking large amounts of ass. So I’m now quite interested in their next album, Bú-Tik, which will be released by Spinefarm this summer. Today, the sexy cover art was revealed. Apparently, nearly 100 people volunteered to be the model for it.

The album cover is eye-catching for sure, though it doesn’t exactly suggest that the new album will be devoted to history and tradition. Yet in this new interview the band’s eye-catching bassist Doris Yeh suggests that it will. I’m up for it. Continue reading »

BANDS YOU NEED TO HEAR: EMPYRIOS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Apr 012013
 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli introduces us to a new discovery from Italy.)

Here at No Clean Singing, while the name is definitely partially tongue in cheek, it actually is partially serious.  We like our metal pure, undiluted, and free from the corruption of things not carnage-inducing.  However, some exceptions to the rule are simply too good to ignore.

Empyrios are a band from Italy that not many are aware of.  Italy in recent years has really been earning a reputation based on death metal exports such as Fleshgod Apocalypse, Hour of Penance, and Hideous Divinity.  Empyrios, I imagine, are not as well-known because they are not death metal, but rather play an aggressive style of proggy groove metal that really channels the spirits of Nevermore and Symphony X, among others, with tastefully incorporated influences that are rather alien in the midst of sounds you might hear from the likes of Meshuggah or Fear Factory.

I suppose, to define it further, they play a combination of groove metal, power metal, industrial metal, and thrash, with heavy syncopation in the groove aspect.  No one sounds like these guys, even if the influences are obvious and familiar. Continue reading »

METAL ARCHIVES HITS 90,000 — AND SENOBYTE IS THE LUCKY 90,000TH

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  16 Responses »
Mar 312013
 

Thanks to a tip from Happy Metal Guy, I learned this morning about an interesting status that went up on the official Facebook page for Encyclopaedia Metallum – The Metal Archives:  They have now reached 90,000 bands listed in the database.

That’s a really impressive accomplishment for one of the most useful sites on the web for lovers of metal, and I thought congratulations were in order. So, CONGRATULATIONS!

In that same FB status, Metal Archives also identified the band who became their 90,000th addition to the band database — a new 3-man outfit from New Brunswick, NJ named Senobyte. Yesterday, Senobyte released a two-song demo, which is now listed on their Metal Archives entry, and both songs — “Pumpkinhead” and “The Beyond” — happen to be available on Soundcloud. So, of course, I had to check ’em out. After all, this is history in making!

And guess what? Senobyte have really got something good going on. Continue reading »

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