Feb 272013
 

 

(DGR provides some thoughts about the band Long Distance Calling as a prelude to their new album, which has recently become available for streaming.)

This one is more of a personal share because I know for a fact that Long Distance Calling probably don’t line up with much of this site’s stated ethos (although to be fair, we’ve had to explain the No Clean Singing thing being like the speed limit – a suggestion) but Long Distance Calling are a really good group of musicians who haven’t failed me yet when it has come to making enjoyable music.

I first got into these guys with 2006’s Avoid The Light – which saw Jonas Renske of Katatonia performing on the song “The Nearing Grave” —  and found out that the rest of their disc was entirely instrumental, something I had only known groups like Scale The Summit to do. It was a similar atmospheric, progressive approach but seemed less reliant on atmosphere and more on melody.

I plowed through the group’s back catalog and then enjoyed the hell out of their self-titled disc when it hit back in 2011. Now we find ourselves in the opening of 2013 and the group are releasing a new album entitled The Flood Inside, and there have been some big changes. Continue reading »

Feb 272013
 

This is Part 2 of a round-up of new things I saw and heard last night that I thought were worth sharing. Part 1 can be found here.

WITHIN RUINS

As the years have rolled on my interest in deathcore has waned, but I haven’t completely lost the taste for it. Within the Ruins (from Westfield, Mass.) is one of the bands in this genre who have maintained my interest, and from what I’ve heard of their new album Elite (released on Feb 26 by eOne Music), I’m still interested.

Yesterday the band premiered a music video for one of the new album’s tracks, “Feeding Frenzy”. The song brings high-caliber pneumatic thrusting, bestial hardcore vox, and a bunch of instrumental flourishes that remind me of a carnival atmosphere.

And the video (directed by Kevin J. Custer) is a complete hoot to watch. I’ve never been to a dinner party like this one, and I honestly can’t say that I worked up an appetite watching it. But I do pronounce it egggzelent. Here ya go: Continue reading »

Feb 272013
 

As previously reported, your humble editor’s blog time is being squeezed mercilessly by the old fuckin’ day job. There is no relief in sight yet. The consequence is that I can’t spend as much time as usual checking out new music and news. But I did make a quick survey of my typical sources last night and saw and heard many things of interest. Details about 3 new tours and 2 cool live videos are in this post, and I’ll have more goodies in a second one later today.

DEATH TO ALL TOUR 2013

In Tourism news I saw the following report on Metal Injection: The Death To All tour, which pays tribute to the late Chuck Shuldiner is returning for another run in 2013. The tour had its first run last year and featured an all-star lineup of former members of Death, “but was later plagued with drama surrounding the financials of the event, with some musicians not getting paid by one of the promoters.”

Unlike last year, the 2013 tour will feature one line-up, the Humanera lineup consisting of guitarist Paul Masvidal, bassist Steve DiGiorgio, and drummer Sean Reinert. In addition, Metal Sucks is reporting that Max Phelps, Masvidal and Reinert’s bandmate in the most recent line-up of Cynic, will be providing the vocals. The tour will focus on Human, and the three Death albums that came before it, Scream Bloody Gore, Leprosy, and Spiritual Healing. Hell yes. Continue reading »

Feb 262013
 

(Andy Synn provides the following introduction to the brand new lyric video by NCS favorites The Monolith Deathcult. “Gods Amongst Insects” just premiered on Terrorizer and it will appear on the band’s new album TETRAGRAMMATON, which will be out on May 10 (May 14 in North America) on Season of Mist.) 

Peace… no peace…

Thus begins the new Monolith Deathcult album. An album which covers religious warfare, genocide, and all the horrors humanity inflicts upon itself. As well as the looming horror of an unstoppable alien invasion. That’s right, there’s definitely some inspiration from Independence Day in there too.

“Gods Among Insects” is, fittingly enough, an absolute monster of a track. A sprawling behemoth of huge, grinding riff-salvos, pulverising barrages of high-intensity drumming, berserker death vocals, and ominous symphonic shrouds.

The grandiose oration by one Peter Cullen – that’s right, the human incarnation of Optimus Prime – is both absurdly impressive and impressively absurd, fitting the band’s modus operandi to a T.

“I have existed from the morning of the universe
And I shall exist until the last star falls from the night
My ultimate peace would be granted by the destruction of all life,
Stars and nebulae, leaving only nothingess and void”

Continue reading »

Feb 252013
 

Maybe we should just re-name February “Ola Englund” month at NO CLEAN SINGING. Not long ago we launched a full-album stream of the new release by his band Feared (here), and today brought us a brand-new track that it appears he wrote for the band he joined last year, the formidable Six Feet Under.

The new song is “Prophecy” and it will appear on Six Feet Under’s new album Unborn, the “demented fraternal twin” of last year’s Undead, which will be released by Metal Blade on March 19.

The song stomps the holy hell out of the landscape with body-moving, chug-heavy riffs and an infernally catchy melody. It’s prime headbang candy, and of course it’s propelled by the distinctive growls of founder Chris Barnes. Eat this up (or let it eat you up) right after the jump. And after that, you can also check out the previously released lyric video for another new track, “Zombie Blood Curse”. Continue reading »

Feb 242013
 

Here are a few things I saw and heard this morning. I hope you enjoy them. And by “enjoy” I mean “whimper fearfully and moan miserably”.

PRISTINA

I was bowled over by this Connectuicut band’s 2010 debut album, The Drought (Ov Salt and Sorrow), and I wasn’t the only one. It has received plenty of attention and critical praise.  You can peruse my review of the album here, and check out a revealing interview of Pristina’s mainman Brendan Duff by using this link.

I have really been looking forward to Pristina’s second album, Hopeless•Godless, which is now scheduled for release on February 26 through The Path Less Traveled Records. I’ve made my way through it once . . . but needed time to recover and hear it again before attempting to make notes for a review. It’s just utterly crushing and searing. I felt like a raw steak that had been tenderized with a mallet and then char-broiled over a hot open flame. Continue reading »

Feb 232013
 

When it comes to music debuts and hot breaking news, Friday’s aren’t usually very eventful. But yesterday was an exception. I posted a lot of new things yesterday as they were happening, but still didn’t cover everything, due to day-job bullshit. Today I’m catching up, with a collection of more sweet new items.

ROTTING CHRIST

These Greek heavyweights have been rolling out many new songs from their new album Kata Ton Daimona Eaytoy, which Season Of Mist will be releasing next week. But yesterday, the entire album became available for streaming on several sites, including Metal Hammer.

I’m completely sold on this album, though I’ve been holding fire on explaining why because we do have a review in the works. I will once again merely say that you should hear this album. And now you can — via the player I’ve embedded right after the jump. Continue reading »

Feb 222013
 

Last night, by chance, I listened to six new songs in a row that really grabbed me. In different ways, they were all horrific . . . and horrifically good. The first three were featured in Part 1 of this post earlier today, and here are the next three — from Gravewurm, Plague Widow, and Cursed Altar.

GRAVEWURM

Gravewurm are a band who started life in Pennsylvania in the early 90’s and now appear to be based in Virginia. They’ve released eight albums and a slew of demo’s, splits, and EPs — yet I’m fairly certain that last night was the first time I’ve ever listened to their music. My education continues.

The track I heard last night is named “Mistress of Blood and Fire”. It’s available for download on Bandcamp and will appear on the band’s next album, Infernal Minions, which is due for release by Hells Headbangers on May 14. I got a Bandcamp alert about the appearance of this song yesterday, and once I saw the name Hells Headbangers, I knew I had to check it out. Damned glad I did. Continue reading »

Feb 222013
 

When I first learned that Soilwork’s new album would be a double disc, I was skeptical. It’s difficult for most bands to create even one album’s worth of solid music at a time, and releasing two at once seemed like an idea fraught with risk — especially because of the unevenness of the band’s last album.

But man, The Living Infinite has confounded my expectations. It’s extremely solid from end to end over the course of 20 songs. That’s not to say that the songs are all of equal quality, but this really is an excellent album that justifies the dual-disc format.

We have kind of an unusual review planned for the album next week, which TheMadIsraeli will tell you about below, along with his own preview thoughts about the album. And then after that you’ll find yet another new song from the album that debuted today: “Long Live the Misanthrope”, from disc 2. Continue reading »

Feb 222013
 

“Grace” means different things to different people. In the case of Suffocation, it seems to mean guzzling booze, moshing your nuts off, tossing your cookies, and getting your head thoroughly wrecked by a blowtorch blast of death metal. I can get behind that philosophy.

Not long ago the band released their official video for the song “As Grace Descends” from their new album Pinnacle of Bedlam. As for the album as a whole, check out our review here, as well as our entertaining interview with the band’s bass player Derek Boyer. As for this individual song and the video, let’s just say that they’re both badass.

See and hear for yourself right after the jump. Pinnacle is out now on the Nuclear Blast label. (thanks to DGR for the prompt tip about this) Continue reading »