NEW SONGS FROM HYPOCRISY, OCTOBER TIDE, AND VREID

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jan 252013
 

Thanks to tips from DGR, I learned about two attention-grabbing developments this morning — new details about the forthcoming albums by Sweden’s Hypocrisy and October Tide plus new songs from each of them. And then on my very own I found a new single from the next album by Norway’s Vreid. It is a good day to be alive.

HYPOCRISY

Here’s how I progressed toward the new Hypocrisy song: First, I saw the cover art for the new album, End of Disclosure, which was created by Wes Benscoter (Slayer, Kreator, Nile, Vader, and more). I found it pleasing. Kind of a Zen demon. Also, many skulls. Second, I read, and was intrigued by, this quote by Hyporcisy’s main man Peter Tägtgren in the Nuclear Blast write-up on the album:

“This time I wanted to go back to basic, felt like we lost it for the last couple of albums , it’s straight to the point, it’s more Hypocrisy than ever, the fast, the heavy, the epic.. Enjoy!”

And then I listened to an edited version of the album’s title track, “End of Disclosure” — which you are about to hear, too, and which is available for free download. Continue reading »

OBSERVATIONS: PAGANFEST 2013 DATES, DETAILS ABOUT THE NEW AMORPHIS ALBUM, AND A FRESH NEW BLOODSHEDD SONG

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Jan 242013
 

I thought I’d provide a quick update of things I noticed while web-surfing and reading e-mails this afternoon. As always, I’m sharing mainly what interests me, while hoping it interests you as well.

PAGANFEST IV

We first reported about this tour on December 2 when its existence became public but before any schedule had been announced. Today, all the dates and places were finally announced. And as a reminder about why this matters, the tour features Finland’s Ensiferum as the headliner, as well as Tyr (Faroe Islands), Heidevolk (The Netherlands), Trollfest (Norway), and Helsott (Los Angeles). Plenty of ass should be kicked by these pagan brethren.

The schedule consists of 21 shows, launching in Denver on March 30 and concluding in New York City on April 21, and it includes Canadian dates, too. Here’s the complete schedule: Continue reading »

WITNESSED: FINNTROLL, NECROWRETCH, AND SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP

 Eye-Catchers, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jan 232013
 

Between last night and this morning, I finally found a little time to resume my usual spelunking through the interhole in search of metal nuggets of interest worth sharing. And here are a few of the items I found.

FINNTROLL

I found that Finland’s Finntroll have been rolling out versions of the cover art for their forthcoming, as-yet-untitled 2013 album. The artist is Samuli “Skrymer” Ponsimaa (whose FB page is here). They began with a pencil sketch of the cover and today they added the fully inked version that you see above. Presumably, we will eventually get the color version (the images are appearing on Finntroll’s FB page). Fuckin’ cool, no? To see a larger version of the art, click the image above.

NECROWRETCH

I first discovered (and wrote about) this French duo  a year ago when I saw they had been based solely on two demos (in 2009 and 2010) and a four-song EP in 2011 — Putrefactive Infestation, which I reviewed in that first post. Later, I also reviewed a two-song 7″ named Now You’re In Hell. I’ve been looking forward to their debut album, Putrid Death Sorcery, scheduled for release in North America on February 5 (order here). I previously featured the eye-catching album art by Montenegran artist Milovan Novakovic (which you can see again next). Continue reading »

GET YOUR SATANIC RITUALS RIGHT HERE: NEW OFFICIAL VIDEOS FROM WEAPON AND LIGHTNING SWORDS OF DEATH

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jan 222013
 

Today has brought us new official videos from two infernally good bands: Canada’s Weapon and L.A.’s Lightning Swords of Death.

Weapon’s video is for the title track to their excellent 2012 album Embers and Revelations, a seething but quite memorable fusion of black metal and death metal. The LSOD video is also for a title track, in this case the band’s third album Baphometic Chaosium, which was released today by Metal Blade. To learn more about that album, check out Andy Synn’s detailed review, which we posted earlier today at this location.

Given the subject matter and the genres in which the two bands toil, it’s not terribly surprising that both videos are built around Satanic rituals. Both also briefly include nudity, so be forewarned if you plan to watch these in a public setting. Also, goats, skulls, and the quaffing of unseemly fluids. Continue reading »

KVELERTAK: “BRUANE BRENN”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jan 222013
 

Norway’s Kvelertak have a new album (Meir) coming in 2013 via Sony Music. Last fall they performed one of the new songs, “Bruane Brenn”, for the first time at a live show in Oslo. This past weekend it appeared on Spotify and as of yesterday it’s also now available as a download via iTunes in Scandinavia, accompanied by Seldon Hunt artwork, though it won’t become available on other iTunes sites worldwide until January 28.

You may once again scratch your heads over the logic of record labels in making staggered releases of music in the modern digital age. Something appears in Country X, and in no time at all it appears on YouTube everywhere else. And then we often see the game of YouTube Whack-A-Mole in which the labels demand that YouTube take down the leaks, only to see them surface again.

And so, “Bruane Brenn” is now on YouTube, and after the jump we’ll have that song clip for however long the particular link we found may exist, along with video of that live performance in Oslo (which is pretty fuckin’ cool in its own right).

Oh my, is this a catchy motherfucker of a flailing, upbeat punk rock romp, with juicy guitar chords, a hook-y chorus, a blend of scarred and clean vox, and a sweet, slowed-down guitar solo. This is more a road-burning, sing-along rocker than anything infected by the black metal virus that seeped into songs from the band’s debut album. Very nice way to start this Tuesday. Continue reading »

CALL OF THE VOID AND A RELAPSE SAMPLER

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jan 202013
 

I previously mentioned that because I’ve been squeezed in a work-related vice all week, I’ve fallen way behind in reading NCS e-mails. I’m still way behind, but I did stop to explore one from a few days ago because of the strikingly ghastly artwork you see above, which is by Anthony Lucero.

It’s the cover for Dragged Down A Dead End Path, the debut album from a Colorado band named Call of the Void that’s scheduled for release by Relapse Records on March 19 in North America and earlier in Europe. Having been struck by the artwork I wanted to hear music, and a song from the album happens to be included in a free Relapse sampler on Bandcamp.

The sampler seems to have been released in October, but I missed it. Maybe you did, too, so more about that after the jump. But first, here’s why I’m spending NCS space on Call of the Void.

The one song that’s streaming from the new album so far is “Failure”. As soon as it starts, the music feels as if the band have dropped a crushing weight right on top of your head — slow, massive, sludgy chords mix with the shriek of feedback and a battery of battering from the kit. That turns out to be just a prelude to a faster frontal assault. Continue reading »

CORTEZ: “ARROGANTS QUE NOUS SOMMES”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jan 192013
 

For just a three-man group who don’t bother with a bass, Cortez kick up a hell of a ruckus. I wrote about this Swiss trio in a MISCELLANY post last December (here), about a month before release of their latest album Phœbus. It will be out on vinyl come January 25 via by Throatruiner Records (with CD releases coming from Basement Apes & Lost Pilgrims), but it’s already streaming and downloadable on Bandcamp now.

A few days ago Cortez premiered an official video for one of the new album’s songs, “arrogants que nous sommes”. The music itself is definitely worth hearing, but the video is even more exceptional.

The song is a burst of hardcore intensity. It seethes with fury and it’s loaded with head-bashing riffs and very cool (non-blasting) drumwork. I don’t miss the sound of the bass — the song makes up for its absence by drawing heaviness from emotional intensity. Continue reading »

PORTAL: “THE BACK WARDS”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jan 182013
 

NPR’s Lars Gotrich has been a fan of Australia’s Portal for a long time. I’m pretty sure that seeing a Portal video in one of his columns a couple of years ago was when it dawned on me that NPR’s music focus was beginning to spread out into darker places than I knew. Because seriously, music doesn’t get much darker than Portal’s.

Mr. Gotrich has scored another Portal debut. Today he premiered a track named “The Back Wards” at NPR, which comes from the band’s next album, Vexovoid, due for release on Feb 19 via Profound Lore.

It’s four minutes and sixteen seconds of grinding noise, needling guitar leads, calamitous percussion, and Cthulhu vocalizations. The aura is dank and destructive, pummeling and perilous.  Continue reading »

WITNESSED: SYNESIS ABSORPTION, A NEW SOILWORK SONG, AND MY DICK

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jan 182013
 

Wouldn’t you know it. After whining in the last post about how little blog/metal time my fucking day job has left me this week, I got enough of a break to make a quick sweep through the interhole in search of new things, and to write this little round-up about what I found.

SYNESIS ABSORPTION AND ELIRAN KANTOR

My roving eye came to a fast stop as soon as I saw the artwork featured above. It’s a painting by the great Eliran Kantor for a self-titled debut album by Synesis Absorption, which will be released sometime this year.

I’d never heard of this oddly named band, but man, check out the line-up: Steve Di Giorgio (ex-Death, Sadus) on bass; Mike Smith (Suffocation) on drums; Robbert Kok (Disavowed) providing vocals; and Miloš Batoćanin (Disdained) weaving guitar magic. After seeing the art and this line-up, I went in search of music — and I found some. Continue reading »

GRAVEYARD RETURNS

 Eye-Catchers, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jan 172013
 

About a year ago I came across a Spanish death metal band named Graveyard via their just-released EP, The Altar of Sculpted Skulls. One of the initial attractions was the eye-catching, dread-inspiring, black-and-white artwork by Matt ‘Putrid’ Carr (Autopsy, Impetigo, Coffins, Hooded Menace, etc). The EP turned out to be just as spine-cracking, skull-bleaching, and deliciously morbid as the artwork (the review is here).

I am so happy to report that Matt Carr and Graveyard are back. Today the band announced that their new full-length album (their second) will be released on March 8 via War-Anthem Records. Its title is The Sea Grave, and Matt Carr has again created a great cover, with a Lovecraftian theme. Cthulhu! Tentacles!

Graveyard also released an edited version of a brand new track for streaming. The song is “The Visitations of the Great Old Ones”, and I’m really digging it. It alternately romps, stomps, and crawls, and it’s thoroughly saturated with the black ichor of occult horror. Have a listen after the jump. Continue reading »

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