REVEL IN FLESH

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Mar 212013
 

You would be forgiven if you thought the title of this post was a command from us to you or a statement of your humble editor’s “words to live by”. However, it is instead the name of a German death metal band whose members previously paid dues in bands such as Immortal Rites, Dawn of Dreams, and Apophis. Come April 12, FDA Rekotz will release the second album by Revel In Flesh, Manifested Darkness.

Two songs from the new album are now available for streaming, with the second one going up just yesterday. I was attracted to the music because I heard good things about the band’s debut album (Deathevokation), because I’m really enjoying the new album’s cover art (by Spanish artist Juanjo Castellano), because Manifested Darkness was mixed and mastered at Unisound Studio by Dan Swanö, and mainly because I’m just fuckin’ addicted to the style of metal to which Revel In Flesh pays homage.

And that style (mainly, though not exclusively) is the kind of Swedish death metal popularized by the likes of Nihilism, Entombed, Dismember, and Grave. Now if you’re the kind of listener who does an eye-roll when hearing about yet another band plumbing the well-plumbed depths of that genre, bear with me a few minutes longer. Continue reading »

CATCHING UP, WITH HEAVEN SHALL BURN, CHILDREN OF BODOM, AND ALTAR OF PLAGUES

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Mar 202013
 

I’m pretty sure I’ll be able to go home to Seattle tonight after more than 3 weeks of grueling bullshit for my day job. I even had a couple of hours yesterday to start catching up on all the metal I missed while buried in work. Of course, I found a lot of new things. In this post are a few of the more recent discoveries.

HEAVEN SHALL BURN

Yesterday, Germany’s Heaven Shall Burn released  a second song from their forthcoming album Veto. Its name is “Die Stürme Rufen Dich”, which means “the storms call you” (according to Google Translate). It’s venomous, heavy-booted music with catchy melodic hooks and Marcus Bischoff’s distinctive vox spraying acid all over everything. In other words, it’s recognizably Heaven Shall Burn.

If you’re a fan of this band, I think you’ll like the song.  It’s up next. Continue reading »

“BAD MOTHERFUCKER” IS THE BEST MUSIC VIDEO YOU WILL SEE THIS YEAR

 Exceptions to the Rule, Off Topic, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Mar 202013
 

Yeah, that’s a pretty grandiose claim since it’s only March and I have no crystal ball that would tell me what the rest of 2013 will bring. But I can’t imagine any other music video will be more fun than “Bad Motherfucker” by Biting Elbows.

Our friend Professor D. Grover the XIIIth e-mailed me about this video two days ago, and I’ve been so smashed by work that I didn’t watch it until this morning. His e-mail gave it a big build-up, and man, was he right.

Biting Elbows are an indie/punk band from Moscow, so I guess you’d have to say they’re “off topic” for this site — but the video is definitely metal. After seeing it I did a bit of research and learned that 18 months ago they released another one named “Insane Office Escape” with the music from their single “The Stampede” as the soundtrack. It was directed by the band’s front man Ilya Naishuller, and it apparently racked up 2 million hits in a matter of days.

The new video, also directed by Naishuller, is for a song named “Bad Motherfucker”. Sub-titled “Insane Office Escape 2”, it starts right after the closing moments of the previous video. It’s a piece of branded content for the Russian vodka company Neft, whose product is used at the start of the video as an impromptu disinfectant; if you pay attention, you’ll also see the company’s logo reappearing in odd places later. Continue reading »

ARCHONS CALLS IT QUITS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Mar 192013
 

(Here’s a news update from DGR.)

It sucks to come home from work and start your day off likes this, but sometimes that is the way the world works. Melo-death group Archons are calling it quits, as posted in this message here on their Facebook page. The opening section is in French so I grabbed the pertinent bit for you guys here

We have an important announcement to do today. We officially announce you that ARCHONS has decided to disband. The decision was taken in good will from everybody. We all want to pass on to something else. Sadly, this means the second album won’t be released. Even if most of the recording is done, there is still too much to do. We thank all of you for your incredible support for all these years. We will never forget what we lived with Archons. Thank you!

I really enjoyed these guys and their debut disc The Consequences Of Silence, and while I don’t think the group from Rouyn-Noranda, Quebec, fully escaped sounding a bit like “Arch DarkTranquilArsis”, as one joking user put it, I still thought it was a damn good hybrid and Archons did do a lot with the genre – given its inherent scent of stagnation. They had excellent guitar work and were able to write some damn good music. Continue reading »

HAPPY SAINT SHITFACED DAY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Mar 172013
 

Yeah, it’s fuckin’ St Patrick’s Day. I usually look forward to this day, partly because I have a soft spot in my heart for the Irish even though I have no Irish ancestry and partly because, hey, any excuse to get wasted. And is there more to St Patrick’s Day than getting shitfaced? Does anyone sit in quiet contemplation of the contributions of the Irish people to the development of civilization?

But I have to say I’m not excited about Saint Shitfaced Day this year because I’m on the home stretch of the fuckin’ work project that has kept me away from Seattle for 3 weeks and counting. It’s now like a race to the finish, with Tuesday slated for the project’s completion, and I have no freedom to party at all today.

In fact, this is the only post I’ll be able to manage today, having worked til midnight last night and having started again at 6 a.m. this morning. Consequently, his will be real quick and dirty.

GOATWHORE

I saw that photo up there of the almighty Goatwhore playing at the IndieMerchStore Riverboat Party at SXSW in Austin yesterday. Fuckin’ metal. Also kind of different to see Goatwhore playing in broad daylight. Amazingly, they didn’t burst into flames. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: HACRIDE, DYNASTY OF DARKNESS, ZOMBIEFICATION, AND HATE

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Mar 152013
 

I caught a slight break from the daily work grind last night, long enough to find three items I think are worth your time, and then NCS writer DGR added a fourth.

HACRIDE

I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: Hacride’s new album is in my “highly anticipated” category for 2013. As in, I get high thinking about it. It’s not simply that the band have proven their worth with their past releases, it’s that they’ve proven they’re unlikely to stand still and simply deliver more of the same (though I would be happy enough with that). So, curiosity is one reason I’ve been eager to hear Back To Where You’ve Never Been.

The first taste came yesterday when Metal Sucks premiered a song from the album named “Overcome”, and man, it’s really strong. It’s loud, it’s brash, it’s packed with energy, it’s built around some killer grooves, and it’s interesting. I even dig the clean singing. Don’t waste time, go here to check this out. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ARSIS, AOSOTH, MECHINA, AGONIA RECORDS, AND FINNTROLL

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Mar 142013
 

I thought I’d let you know that despite my inability to contribute much to the site the last few days, I’m still alive. I’m beginning Day 18 away from Seattle, mired in a seemingly endless project for my fucking day job, and largely unable to listen to music, pay much attention to metal news, or write much. However, the end is in sight: it appears I’ll be able to go home next Tuesday or Wednesday.

While my blog life has been fucked up, other folks have been stepping up to fill the hole (if only they could fill the holes in my head), and one of them is DGR. In this post are some items he discovered recently, along with a few I came across this morning that we’d like to share with you — Islander

ARSIS (written by DGR)

The glorious Arsis info dump of 2013 happened yesterday, with the guys announcing pretty much everything you’ve ever wanted to know about their upcoming album Unwelcome, which will see release April 30th of this year. Continue reading »

THE AMENTA BARE THEIR TEETH

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Mar 142013
 

(DGR has a few things to say about the new video from The Amenta.)

If there were a list of bands I had to come up with who I think sounded like the apocalypse, The Amenta would easily rank alongside groups like Behemoth, Xerath, Zonaria, and Ulcerate. They’ve got a really good grip on that loud and hollow sound that one would imagine emanating from a group playing at the end of the world.

Their music has a very loud machine quality that sounds like the grinding of gears on top of a heavy blast of death metal, with the occasional black metal shriek and blast. I personally came in late in the game with this group of Australians back when they made their EP Void avalable for download. Now they have released a music video for their new song ‘Teeth’ that you can view at the end of this post, which they have released ahead of their new album Flesh Is Heir – which hits toward the end of this month.

The way the video plays out is that, well, unfortunate things happen, and a large part of it winds up being a creepy long-haired dude crawling all over a lady with enough chains and grime to have been cleaned out of a prop shop. We must be early in their relationship by the time the video for “Teeth” was filmed because after awhile I imagine she’d probably just have about a half hour set aside for ‘creepy dude to crawl all over me with chains and what not’ as part of her day. Continue reading »

A DGR ROUND-UP: THE OCEAN AND ROBOTS PULLING LEVERS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Mar 122013
 

(NCS writer DGR brings us a round-up of new music from The Ocean and Robots Pulling Levers.)

Here’s a couple of things that caught my eye over the weekend and yesterday.

A couple days ago The Ocean premiered a new song off of their upcoming two disc album Pelagial (one with vocals – the other an instrumental version) entitled “Bathyalpelagic II: The Wish in Dreams”, and it is a solid piece of metal for those who enjoyed the group’s heavier aspect from their two-part release Heliocentric/Anthropocentric back in 2010.

It’s been three years since those two discs hit, and so far this intro song proves that the band have not decided to rest on their laurels during this passage of time. It’s not as moody and introspective as the stuff on Heliocentric – instead going for the much more straightforward bombast and powerful chorus work of something like “She Was The Universe”. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 53: DARKENING, MONTE PENUMBRA, AND BOVINE

 Free Shit, MISCELLANY, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Mar 102013
 

Today is Day 14 of me being away from home for my job. Since last night was a Saturday night, I got a break from the usual day-and-night grind. Carousing with my co-workers, I ate too much, had a few drinks, and then lost an hour of sleep because of daylight savings time beginning here in the U.S. But before collapsing into bed I did play the MISCELLANY game for the first time since last December.

For those people who are new to the site or have forgotten, here’s how this works: I randomly pick an assortment of bands whose music I’ve never heard (usually bands with new releases who are relatively unknown). I listen to one or two songs, not knowing what the music will be like, and I write my impressions. And then I stream for you what I’ve heard so you can make up your own mind.

For this session, there really was no rhyme or reason to what I picked. The music is from Darkening (U.S.), Monte Penumbra (Portugal), and Bovine (UK). Continue reading »

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