SEEN AND HEARD: CARCASS, OMNIUM GATHERUM, GOD SEED, AND GOAT BAGPIPES

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Nov 302012
 

I didn’t get a chance to pull together at the end of yesterday what I found in my daily web crawl and e-mail excavation, so I’m doing that this morning. And because I waited so long to patch together this round-up, there are quite a few items of interest in here:

CARCASS

This item comes first because it’s the kind of news that shakes the earth. Late yesterday Blabbermouth reported: “Reactivated British extreme metal legends CARCASS are rumored to be putting the finishing touches on their first studio album in 17 years with acclaimed producer Colin Richardson (FEAR FACTORY, MACHINE HEAD, NAPALM DEATH, SLIPKNOT, BULLET FOR MY VALENTINE). The band has yet to secure a label home for the effort, which is expected in early 2013.”

As previously disclosed in assorted interviews, guitarist Michael Amott and drummer Daniel Erlandsson, who toured with Carcass following the announcement of their reunion in 2007, are no longer involved with the group due to scheduling conflicts with their main band, Arch Enemy. Blabbermouth reports that original guitarist Bill Steer and bassist/vocalist Jeff Walker are actively involved in the studio for the new CD recording sessions, along with drummer Matthias Voigt of Germany’s Heaven Shall Burn.

According to the report, Carcass is also in the process of booking a number of live shows for 2013, including the previously announced appearance at next year’s Maryland Deathfest and Chile’s Metal Fest. Continue reading »

BABY METAL!

 Phro's Posts, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  29 Responses »
Nov 302012
 

(Yes, Japan’s Baby Metal are back with something new, and as the sun follows the night that means our Japan-based correspondent Phro is back, too.)

So, Islander said he’d take away my food supply if I didn’t get this written up and sent to him before nightfall. As such, you have only him to blame if you find the writing subpar. Well, okay, more subpar than usual. Whatever. I need my horsey cock.

Baby Metal, the semi-official house band of No! Clean Singing!, has released a new song, titled “Ijime, Dame, Zettai.” (Roughly translated by a group of feces-tossing, anus-slurping, toe-jam-eating howler monkeys as: “Bullying, Don’t, Definitely.” We slapped them around a little bit, and they came up with this slightly less steamy pile of rancid eggplant puree: “Just Say No to Bullying!” The howler monkeys have been fired.)

Now, if you think that’s a strange change of focus for a band that thus far has mostly sung about…something, well, you’re not entirely wrong. However, there is a method to this madness. (Ummm…a dim glimmer of a reflection of a method.) Continue reading »

KRODA ON BANDCAMP!

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Nov 292012
 

News flash: Kroda have just put their brand new previously unreleased live album up on Bandcamp.

Long-term NCS readers will know about Kroda because we’ve written about them so often at NCS (their 2011 album Schwarzpfad was probably my favorite black metal album out of all the ones I heard last year, and I included a song-stream from the album on our list of the 2011’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs).

As previously reported at this site, Kroda recorded a live album at a concert in Moscow on April 14, 2012, planning to release it in the form of a combined CD and DVD under the title Live Under Hexenhammer: Heil Ragnarok!.  Last month, we streamed one of the tracks from the new live album, an awesome cover of a song called “Noregsgard” by the Norwegian band Storm (which included Fenriz of Darkthrone and Satyr of Satyricon) from Storm’s 1995 Nordavind album.

Just minutes ago, however, Kroda made public a new Bandcamp page and are now offering Live Under Hexenhammer for digital download. It’s a monster release, consisting of about 100 minutes of music, with live performances not only of original Kroda songs but also covers of songs by Summoning, Absurd, and the aforementioned Storm. The entire album is available for $8.99, and the songs can be downloaded individually as well.

And of course the entire album can now be streamed.  We’re planning a review of this release, which Kroda were nice enough to let us hear in advance. But you won’t have to take our word for it. Listen for yourselves after the jump: Live Under Hexenhammer kills. Continue reading »

EYE-CATCHERS: BYZANTINE, PORTAL, AND KONGH

 Eye-Catchers, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Nov 282012
 

Time for another daily round-up of things I saw and heard this morning while snooping around the web that I thought were worth sharing. There’s one thing (and only one thing) that all three of the following items have in common: They all involve genuinely eye-catching cover art. The bands are Byzantine (U.S.), Portal (Australia), and KONGH (Sweden).

BYZANTINE

It was a very sad day when West Virginia’s Byzantine dissolved roughly five years ago following the release of Oblivion Beckons. The band broke a lot of ground while they were up and running, they had talent in spades, and they clearly weren’t the kind of outfit who were going to remain static in their musical approach as time passed. Much time did pass without new Byzantine music, but as we were thrilled to report much earlier this year, Byzantine have reunited.

They’ve completed recording a new album, self-titled, that’s currently scheduled for release on February 26 via Gravedancer Records. We’ve been tremendously fortunate to get an advance listen to the album, and all I can say at this point is that it more than makes up for those long years of silence. This is a mature band who have created something quite diverse and really special from end to end.

Today, they’ve unveiled a new song from the album by the name of “Signal Path”. I said the album is diverse, and so I don’t think any one song could really stand as representative of the whole, but “Signal Path” does display the kind of masterful integration of disparate elements that’s indicative of what the album brings — in this case, massive groove, infectious melody, soulful/gritty vocals, blazing guitar leads, and jazz-influenced soloing. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 50: INTO DARKNESS AND DEATHCODE SOCIETY

 MISCELLANY, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Nov 282012
 

A milestone has been reached!  Our 50th installment of the not-so-regular MISCELLANY series! And here are the self-made rules of this self-made game:

I pick bands whose music I’ve never heard using a methodology akin to throwing darts at the wall; I listen to a song or two from each band; I write some brief impressions; I embed the music so you can listen, too. It’s an experiment, because I usually have no idea what the music is going to sound like, and it’s a way to make new discoveries.

In this installment of the series, I checked out the music of Into Darkness (Italy) and Deathcode Society (France).

INTO DARKNESS

Why did I pick this band? Well, to be brutally honest, which is the only kind of honest we know how to be at NCS, you’re looking at two of the reasons at the top of this post. That’s right, the one in the middle has cool shades and a cool jacket.

The other reason is that MaxR at Metal Bandcamp strongly recommended them. I guess that’s sort of a cheat on the MISCELLANY rules because even though I hadn’t listened to the music before beginning this excursion, I know Max has good taste. So this wasn’t a complete shot in the dark. Unless of course Max was drinking heavily when he sent me that message. Continue reading »

MORE DISCOVERIES FOR THE DAY: SETH SIRO ANTON, DAEMON WORSHIP, AND TOMBSTONE HIGHWAY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Nov 262012
 

New discoveries don’t always come in threes around here.  I think it’s just some deep-seated superstition that makes me collect groups of three things in most of my posts.  I’m sure there’s some scientific learning out there about why people do this (and don’t tell me it’s about the Holy Trinity because the power of three’s pre-dated JC by millennia). Someday I’ll have to get educated.

But for now, I got three items. They concern Seth Siro Anton and Septic Flesh (Greece), Daemon Worship Productions (Hell), and Tombstone Highway (Italy).

ITEM ONE

Yeah baby, you’re lookin’ at it! That’s the latest album art that Seth Siro Anton created for his band Septic Flesh. I really like everything he does, whether for Septic Flesh or other bands, and this is no exception. It’s the just-released cover for a special re-issue of the band’s 1994 debut album, Mystic Places of Dawn. It’s the first of four Septic Flesh reissues that Season of Mist is planning for 2013, with this one hitting the streets on January 22 in North America (and Jan 25 elsewhere). This reissue will also include the four tracks from the 1991 EP Temple of the Lost Race.

It looks like Season of Mist is already selling pre-orders for the album, including vinyl, CDs, and shirts featuring this new artwork, at this location. Awfully damned tempting. That shirt is calling my name . . . Continue reading »

A FEW NEW THINGS FROM EVOCATION, SONS OF AEON, AND KOLDBRANN

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Nov 262012
 

Happy Fucking Monday.  What else is there to say about a Monday?  On this Monday, I actually do have a few more things to say.  Specifically, I want to tell you about three new sharp shards of metal I heard (and saw) this morning: new videos from Evocation (Sweden) and Koldbrann (Norway) and a new song from Sons of Aeon (Finland).

EVOCATION

Evocation’s new album Illusions of Grandeur is out now on Century Media. I’m a big fan of this band, and have really enjoyed the new album. This morning DECIBEL premiered an official video for the song “Divide and Conquer”. It was filmed by German director Carlo Oppermann in an abandoned hospital in Offenbach, Germany, with interspersed scenes from World War II and Evocation performing the song.

As you listen to this awesome song, you will be forgiven for thinking you’ve heard the second coming of Amon Amarth.  Continue reading »

I, VOIDHANGER RECORDS: ÆVANGELIST, TEMPESTUOUS FALL, AND MORE!

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Nov 252012
 

 

(Our friend Utmu hath delivered this guest post, introducing us to a some great bands who share the same label.)

Hello all! I’m Utmu and I’m back with my second article for NCS this year—I’m on a roll! Anyway I was on From the Dust Returned recently and I came across Ævangelist; intrigued by the artwork and the band’s name, I decided to look into them. I also saw reviews for the bands Nar Mattaru and The Wakedead Gathering and I came to find out that they are all on the same label, I, Voidhanger Records.

The first part of I, Voidhanger’s manifesto reads, “Born in 2008 as an independent division of the Italian metal label AeternitasTenebrarumMusicaeFundamentum (ATMF), I, Voidhanger Records tolerates musical categorizations, but doesn’t like any kind of boundaries.” It goes on to say in the second part, “We are interested in black metal, death metal, avant-garde metal, progressive metal, doom metal, heavy rock, psychedelia, 70’s dark sounds, dark ambient and drone music, as long as they are the result of an obscure, unique, and uncompromising artistic vision.” That’s pretty accurate when comparing that to the bands they’ve signed. Continue reading »

SATURDAY WITH SONNE ADAM, PTAHIL, AND ALPTHRAUM

 Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Nov 242012
 

As I write this, it’s a Saturday morning in the vicinity of Seattle, where the rain gods are taking a breath before going to work again. Actual rays of sunshine are illuminating the water drops that hang from every living thing in the forest around where I live, and the earth looks like a saturated sponge that can’t hold any more. I might take a walk later, before the sky starts peeing again. But for now, I’m just listening . . .

. . . and what I’ve been hearing are new tunes from Sonne Adam (Israel), Ptahil (U.S.), and Alpthraum (Canada).

SONNE ADAM

Israel’s Sonne Adam have recently loosed two bestial releases. The first is a vinyl EP entitled Doctrines of Dark Devotion, the magnificent cover of which is staring you in the face at the top of this post. That one was released by Imperium Productions.

The second release is Messengers Of Desolate Ways, a CD compilation from Century Media containing all the tracks on that new EP plus all the music from two previous vinyl-only EPs, Armed With Hammers and The Sun Is Dead, and three previously unreleased songs.

Recently, Sonne Adam began streaming “The Day I Chose to Rot”, which appears on both of the new releases. The song is fucking immense, a shattering mid-paced crusher of blackened death metal might. It brings down a dank, heavy shroud of doom, shot through with indigo melody and made all the more disturbing by truly horrific vocals. It sucks souls into the abyss and consumes them with grisly relish. Continue reading »

WHILE WAITING TO GORGE: AUTHOR & PUNISHER, NILE, and CHURCH OF DISGUST

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Nov 222012
 

Happy Tryptophan Coma Day to one and all. I’ve been sitting here at my computer all morning with my gut rumbling and my mouth salivating as my wife and assorted other female culinary magicians  perform wondrous works in our kitchen. Eventually, a horde of gluttons will descend on the feast and the gorging will begin. I hope this happens soon, before the flood of gastric juices triggered by all the aromas eats a hole through my esophagus.

While resisting the urge to barge through the kitchen like a rabid wolverine and start stuffing my gullet with both hands, I’ve been listening to a few random selections of new metal that I thought I’d share with you. The offerings come from Author & Punisher, Nile, and Church of Disgust.

AUTHOR & PUNISHER

If you don’t know about Author & Punisher (the nom de guerre of one Tristan Shone), I suggest you read this post by BadWolf, which was my introduction to this dude’s amazing music. Wholly apart from the way the hellish music sounds, it’s noteworthy because much of it is made on machines that Shone designs himself and then performs. One of the devices he created is something called the Mute Mask, and he employs it in a new song called “Magnetik” that debuted about a week ago. Continue reading »

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