A SUNDAY SERVING OF SOUNDS: ALRAUNE, HAUST, AND QUEST OF AIDANCE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Apr 212013
 

Happy Sunday, motherfuckers (and I mean that in the most affectionate possible way). My ass is dragging this morning because (duh!) last night was Saturday night. I won’t go into detail about what I did, but it was the kind of activity that produces Sunday morning ass-dragging. Still, I found time while attempting to kick my ass-gear out of idle to listen to a scattering of new music, some of which I’d like to share with you now.

ALRAUNE

Allow me to introduce you to Alraune. They are from Nashville, but there ain’t no country in their music. There is, instead, a whole lot of napalm, poison, razor blades, heavy drum artillery, and truckloads of musical talent. They’ve put a two-song album preview up on Bandcamp. The songs are named “Exordium” and “Kissed By the Red”. They’re both about 8 minutes long. I love them both.

“Exordium” is a black metal blast furnace — a strong, hot wind of hell-ripping guitars, off-the-hook drumming, and throat-ruining shrieks — and as added bonuses, it includes not only an ass-kicking black ‘n’ roll break and but also very cool melodic lines that slither through the music like snakes. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: DJEVEL, POWER TRIP, AND IN THE BURIAL

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Apr 202013
 

Here are three excellent new songs that caught my attention over the last 24 hours. The bands are Djevel (Norway), Power Trip (U.S.-Texas), and In the Burial (Australia).

DJEVEL

This band is composed of musicians from other well-known Norwegian bands, including vocalist Erlend Hjelvik (Kvelertak), bass-player Lloyd Hektoen (“Mannevond”) (Koldbrann, NettleCarrier), and drummer Dirge Rep (NettleCarrier, ex-Enslaved). But despite the impressive collective talent of those people, the star of this show is songwriter/guitarist Trond Ciekals (also in NettleCarrier). He shines on one of the band’s new songs, “Stjernesluker”, which premiered last week and will appear on Djevel’s second full-length, Besatt av Manne og Natt.

Even when the song is blasting and whipping like a cyclone, the tremolo melody casts a dark spell, but the music also transitions into a slow groove that will get your head nodding while more swirling guitar melodies work their magic. The rhythm section is also top-notch on this song, and Hjelvik delivers a sulfurous vocal performance. I like this song a lot, and it’s a promising sign for the album as a whole. Continue reading »

HEAVEN SHALL BURN: “HUNTERS WILL BE HUNTED”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Apr 202013
 

We’ve been anxiously awaiting Heaven Shall Burn’s official video for “Hunters Will Be Hunted”, one of the best songs on one of this German band’s best albums — Veto (which Andy Synn reviewed here for us and which will be released by Century Media in North America on April 30). The premiere apparently happened yesterday via Impericon and Tape.tv. Unfortunately, the video service is geographically restricted and only seems to be available in selected European countries, including Germany, Austria, Switzerland, and The Netherlands.

However, the internet being the internet, the video has been uploaded in high quality to YouTube by some enterprising soul, and so those of us outside those three countries can see it — though I suspect it won’t be up on YouTube for long.

Lyrically, “Hunters Will Be Hunted” is an attack on the killing of animals, and the vehemence of the condemnation comes through in the music, though the song also includes a shimmering melody (to use Andy’s words). The snow-bound video is beautiful to watch (in more ways than one), and makes its point in an unexpected way — which I won’t spoil for you. Have a look, and a listen, after the jump . . . for as long as this lasts. Continue reading »

VIDEO BONANZA (Pt 2): ABNORMALITY AND FORCEPS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Apr 182013
 

Yesterday turned out to be a banner day for new music videos, and I’ve collected the ones I didn’t have time to write bout yesterday, dividing them into two posts. This one is Part 2, and it’s devoted to the new vidz from Abnormality (U.S.-Mass.) and Forceps (Brazil).

ABNORMALITY

DGR reviewed this Boston band’s 2012 debut album Contaminating the Hive Mind last July, calling it “solid brutal death with very little in the way of compromise or ridiculousness . . . a meat-and-potatoes death disc with a lot to offer genre fanatics and [that’s] also accessible enough to lure new people into the madness”.

Yesterday Metal Injection premiered Abnormality’s music video for the track “Fabrication of the Enemy.” The video is sure to be controversial — especially the narrated preamble and its claim that for most of the world, it is the U.S. who are the terrorists. The fact that the video appeared only two days after “Marathon Monday” will no doubt inflame the controversy. Continue reading »

VIDEO BONANZA (Pt 1): LEGEND AND DEATHCHAIN

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Apr 182013
 

Yesterday turned out to be a banner day for new music videos, and unfortunately I didn’t have time to write about all of the good ones I saw. So I’m making up for lost time by collecting them in two posts, this one being the first. Herewith, for your listening and viewing pleasure, are new videos from Legend (Iceland) and Deathchain (Finland).

LEGEND

I found out about this Icelandic band’s new video via a Facebook post by Sólstafir, who are apparently friends of the two men who make up Legend — Krummi Björgvinsson and Halldór A Björnsson. I confess that neither Legend nor those two gents were familiar to me, and the music isn’t metal, but the song and the video have hooked me right through the gills.

The song is “Benjamite Bloodline” and it’s from the band’s most recent album Fearless. The music is a building swarm of electronica that eventually unfolds into a thunderous beat, with vocals that are mainly clean but ultimately caustic. The strange video is as interesting to watch as the music is to hear — though I make no attempt to describe it. It’s next . . . Continue reading »

MY KIND OF CHAMBER MUSIC: OBLIVION’S VERY COOL VIDEO FOR “CANON 1 IN E MINOR”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Apr 172013
 

In September 2012 we published what I think was the first review of Called To Rise, the debut album by Bay Area death metal heavyweights Oblivion. It was so early that the album hadn’t yet been released, so early that no release date had even been set. Since then, of course, the album has debuted, and Oblivion have earned themselves quite a following. One of the things the band have had going for them since the beginning was a lot of instrumental talent, plus the significant songwriting contributions of a guy (vocalist/bassist Nick Vasallo) who happens to be an accomplished classical composer.

Vasallo’s classical training and interests shine through in different ways on Called To Rise, but most clearly on the song “Canon 1 in E Minor”. As Vasallo has explained, the song was “a conscious effort to bridge the worlds of Metal and Classical music”:

“A canon is a compositional technique that requires strict repetition in all musical voices. This is also an example of triple counterpoint–a very old contrapuntal device that is rarely (if ever) used in modern popular music, especially anything branching from rock and roll. There are essentially three different lines: the middle guitar (Alto) begins, then the high guitar (Soprano) answers, and finally the low guitar and bass enter (Tenor and Bass). All voices play the same line in 3 different positions so that the melody exists as the top voice, middle voice, and bottom voice. The trick is getting all the voices to work melodically, harmonically, and functionally.”

Today Oblivion released a music video for this song, with the three guitar parts performed by Vasallo, Ted O’Neill, and Victor Dods and the bass part played by Ben Orum. And what’s extra cool is that the performance was staged as you would expect to see if the piece had been performed by a chamber music ensemble. Continue reading »

THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT PREMIERE ANOTHER NEW SONG: “TODESNACHT VON STAMMHEIM”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Apr 162013
 

We have been looking forward to the release of many albums in 2013, but perhaps none so eagerly as Tetragrammaton, the new sonic assault by the 6th most popular and almost-award-winning Supreme Avantgarde Deathmetal band from Kampen, The Netherlands, THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT. In the hope of earning a swift and relatively painless death when the album is unleashed, we dutifully featured the lyric video for the album’s first single, “Gods Amongst Insects”. To hedge our bets even further, we now present to you our humble and barely articulate feature about the album’s second song.

The song’s title is “Todesnacht von Stammhein”, and like much of the music TMDC creates, a history lesson lies behind the lyrics. The title refers to the so-called “Death Night of Stammhein” (October 18, 1977) on which three members of the Red Army Faction imprisoned in Stammheim Prison were found dead in their cells. You can learn more about these events via this link to The Font of All Human Knowledge. There will not be a test — at least not one that we will administer — but when the album comes out on May 10 (May 14 in the U.S.), assimilation of such learning may be all that stands between you and the uncontrollable destruction of the Deathcult.

Shit, where was I?

Oh yeah . . . these dudes have a new song available for listening. Continue reading »

A TASTE OF DEAFHEAVEN’S NEW ALBUM: “SUNBATHER”

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Apr 162013
 

I don’t know if it’s ever been right to call deafheaven a black metal band. They’ve always worn their hearts on their sleeves, and although their music can be searing, it may not be quite vicious enough to warrant the label. But I don’t spend a lot of time wrangling over the right label to apply — I’ve just always really liked the music. And I’m really looking forward to their next album, Sunbather, which is coming on June 11, 2013 from Deathwish Inc.

Today brings us a taste of the music via a studio video that includes samples of different songs while guitarist Kerry McCoy, vocalist George Clarke, and new drummer Daniel Tracy track their stuff. I do like what I hear.

Check out the video below, and if you’re moved to explore further, you can find George Clarke’s detailed thoughts about the meaning behind each of the album’s songs at this location. Continue reading »

PTAHIL, COLISEUM, AND PUSHMEN

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Apr 162013
 

Last night I took my net and waded into the swamp of the interhole looking to catch some fresh fish to serve up for you on a platter this morning. Turns out, I caught a bunch of damned piranha, which suited me just fine, since I was in a foul mood over the carnage in Boston and was having fantasies about feeding the gutless, life-taking perpetrators to something carnivorous.

All three of the new songs I found have something in common — there’s some punk down at the core of each of them, and varying degrees of 666 charred into their skins with a hot brand. They’re all also catchy as fuck. We’ll start with the nastiest piranha in this group.

PTAHIL

If you don’t know about Indiana’s Ptahil, then you haven’t been paying close enough attention to my babbling. They give no fucks, they do what they please, and what pleases them is singing about Satan in a way that will burn out your brain but leave a grin on your melted face. Both of their albums (reviewed here and here) have fired me up like an arson job, and now they’ve released a new single on Bandcamp named “Lamashtu”. In no time flat, it’s become one of my favorite things they’ve done yet. Continue reading »

DARK TRANQUILLITY PREMIERE A NEW SONG: “FOR BROKEN WORDS”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Apr 152013
 

As previously reported here in late March, the new album from Sweden’s Dark Tranquillity, Construct, will be released by Century Media on May 27 in Europe and May 28 in North America. At the time of our last report, we only had a snippet of music from the album as part of a video trailer, but it sounded pleasingly vicious. In the last half hour, however, the band have premiered the first complete cut from the album — a song named “For Broken Words”.

It’s mid-paced, dark, doom-y, atmospheric, with a mellow, melodic instrumental segment, a catchy drumbeat, and nasty, cracked-ice vocals for contrast.

I suspect this song is going to draw very mixed reactions as a choice for the first full track premiere. It’s neither galvanizing nor particularly vicious and it may be closer to doom than to DT’s usual style of melodic death metal. But I’m liking it, and I suspect the album is going to be musically varied, with “For Broken Words” being merely one kind of taste of what’s coming.

Have a listen after the jump. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries