DIVERSITY: BRAND NEW SONGS FROM PORTAL, STARKILL, AND BLOODY HAMMERS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Dec 132012
 

I’m feeling like a man of leisure today. Which is to say I got hammered last night at a 12-12-12 bash to celebrate my wife’s birthday and am taking the day off from work in order to have my blood processed through a machine that will remove all the toxins in the hope of being able to function at a level better than slime mold by tomorrow.

And, while waiting for my corpuscles to finish cycling through the tubes, I sifted through NCS e-mails and the tangled pathways of the interhole to find what new metal this day hath brought. And holy shit, it hath brought a bonanza. In this post I’m including three new songs that are stylistically quite different from each other, but I thought they were all really good. So here we go:

PORTAL

I’ve experienced mixed feelings of dread, horror, and glee at the thought of a new album from Australia’s Portal. As previously reported here, it’s called Vexovoid, and Profound Lore is threatening to release it on February 19. Today brought the first song premiere from the album. I wouldn’t have guessed that Pitchfork would be the vehicle for the unveiling. Yes, Pitchfork has a big audience, but if I were PL I’d be worried about the liability risk of so many non-metalheads experiencing irreversible psychic trauma.

The new song is named “Curtain”. It’s the third of the album’s seven tracks. It’s a sonic plague of threshing guitars, booming/blasting drums, bass-level hammer blows, and grotesquely distorted abyssal vox. It’s a moving stormfront of boiling black bestiality, heavy as hell and mercilessly destructive. I fuckin’ love it. Go HERE to listen, and then come back and let us know your reactions. Continue reading »

12-12-12 (WITH INFANT ANNIHILATOR, ULCER, AND ROTTEN SOUND)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Dec 122012
 

Today is a milestone day. It’s really just an unusual alignment of numbers in the Western world’s completely arbitrary way of measuring the passage of time on a calendar, but it’s cool nonetheless: The last 100% repetitive date that most humans now alive will ever see. It’s a long wait until January 1, 2101.

So, how shall we commemorate this arbitrary milestone? In the same way we commemorate the advent of every blessed new day: with some fucken metal. Here are a few things that caught my eyes and ears since last night (and we’ll also have an eviscerating video premiere by Krisiun coming up soon).

INFANT ANNIHILATOR

We have flogged the name Infant Annihilator mercilessly since discovering their artistic, bunghole-plugging video for “Decapitation Fornication”. And now the day has arrived when the band’s debut album The Palpable Leprosy of Pollution has been vomited forth in a steady stream of incendiary munitions and vocal filth guaranteed to fracture spines and necrotize flesh.

After the jump, press play — and then duck and cover. You can buy the album on Bandcamp via this link. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: DEAFHEAVEN, NECROCURSE, CREST OF DARKNESS, AND DEATH I AM

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Dec 112012
 

Here’s a round-up of things that caught my eyes and ears today. Eventually, they will let go and I will be able to see and hear again. The first thing is a news item about a band I like a lot. The other three items involve deviant musical filth of the supremely headbangable variety, which of course I also like a lot.

DEAFHEAVEN

I admit it: I’m intensely devoted to the music of San Francisco’s Deafheaven. The last time I wrote about them was in this review of their superb recent split with Bosse-de-Nage.  Today I received a press release stating that they have reserved studio time in January for the recording of their second full-length album, which will be entitled Sunbather and is projected for a Spring 2013 release by Deathwish Inc. They’re sticking with the same engineer (Jack Shirley) who worked with them on the debut album, Roads To Judah.

I was intrigued, though made nervous, by the included quote from Deafheaven vocalist George Clarke: “While the new material is more developed, we’ve strayed from what was previously a more melancholic approach. The black metal aspect to our music is prevalent in the new material, but I don’t think it’s necessarily the focus this time around.”  Lead guitarist Kerry McCoy continued, “There are a lot of harsh, dark vibes on Sunbather, but don’t be surprised at how lush and rock-driven, even pop-driven certain aspects will be.”

It’s pointless to begin forming impressions about music you haven’t heard, but I repeat: The term “pop-driven” makes me nervous. To calm my nerves, I decided to get filthy. Continue reading »

FIST BUMPS FOR RIVERS OF NIHIL

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Dec 102012
 

We were first introduced to Pennsylvania’s Rivers of Nihil by NCS guest writer The Baby Killer (who still needs to stick his head back in our lair). The focus of his post back in January was not only the band’s ripping recorded music but also their ability to play a fire-breathing brand of technical death metal with immaculate skill on stage, stirring the shit out of the pit while delivering spot-on execution of their complex music. More recently, we featured the band’s official music video for an ass-blasting song called “(sin)chronos”, which appeared on their 2011 EP, Temporality Unbound.

Today, we learned the happy news that Rivers of Nihil are now signed to Metal Blade Records and will be recording their full-length debut for the label with Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal) at Mana Recording Studios next March. And today we also got a demo version of a new song that will appear on the album — “Rain Eater”.

I had the volume on my computer turned up a tad too loud when I started streaming “Rain Eater”, and I think it blew some of my brains out my nose. I lost a little blood out of my eyes, too. It’s a roaring blaze of tech-savvy death metal with a flurry of progressive guitar and bass flourishes (and yes, I’m still a sucker for the prominence the bass enjoys in this band). Very nice.

Check out the new song after the jump, after you check your volume controls. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MORS PRINCIPIUM EST, NECROWRETCH, EXIVIOUS, AND BODY COUNT

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Dec 102012
 

Metal does not honor your putrid rules.

Okay, I’m not talking about YOUR rules, especially if they include visiting this site like your life depends on it. I’m talking about the rules of all those other people, like the rule that says Mondays must suck. Because metal hath brought these gems to your Monday.

MORS PRINCIPIUM EST

I think this is my fourth post about the new album from Finland’s Mors Principium Est (pictured above) since I found out about it in July. Entitled …And Death Said Live, it has already been released in Japan, it’s due for release in Europe and Australia on December 14, and North Americans will be able to get it on January 15.

As you can tell, this is an album I’ve been eagerly anticipating. Over the weekend I discovered that it’s now streaming in full at the Finnish Inferno web site. At that same location, you will find a track-by-track commentary by the band’s vocalist Ville Viljanen, and that of course will give you English-only speakers the always-hilarious opportunity to let Google Translate work its magic on the Finnish language. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SKELETAL SPECTRE, DARKTHRONE, KAOTOXIN, AND OBLIVION (the movie)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Dec 092012
 

In no particular order, here are things I saw and heard this morning that I thought were worth tossing your way.

SKELETAL SPECTRE

I really fuckin’ enjoyed this multi-national band’s last album, 2011’s Occult Spawned Premonitions (reviewed here). The band includes an extraordinary extreme vocalist named Vanessa Nocera as well as Roger “Rogga” Johansson of Ribspreader and Bonegnawer fame. I’ve been watching Skeletal Spectre pretty closely as they move forward toward the release of their next album, Voodoo Dawn. This morning I saw the unveiling of the finished cover artwork by Adam Geyer, which is up above. Very nice.

I’m still blasting “Bone Dust”, the one song from Voodoo Dawn that has surfaced to date. In case you missed it the first time it was featured at NCS, here it is again; the album is due out in early 2013 from Pulverised Records.


Continue reading »

BANDCAMP UPDATE: EARACHE AND DEBEMOR MORTI

 Free Shit, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Dec 072012
 

Not long ago we reported the awesome news that pioneering metal label Earache Records had established a Bandcamp site, launching it with an interesting mix of both new and older releases from their formidable catalogue. Just days after that, they increased the awesomeness by adding Bolt Thrower’s legendary 1991 album War Master to the site.

That was one of 8 albums we suggested that Earache add to Bandcamp, and guess what? Yesterday they added another album from our list:

Entombed: Left Hand Path (1990)

We pushed for the addition of that album because . . . well hell, if you don’t know why, I don’t know how to begin to explain. It is one of your humble editor’s favorite metal albums of all time, world without end, amen.

And holy shit, that’s not all. When I wasn’t paying attention Earache also added two more albums from the NCS list: Altars of Madness (1989) and Blessed Are the Sick (1991) by Morbid Angel!!!

And that’s STILL not all . . . Continue reading »

HAPPY SUOMEN ITSENÄISYYSPÄIVÄ!

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Dec 062012
 

Today, December 6, is Finland Independence Day (“Suomen Itsenäisyyspäivä”). It’s a national holiday in that most metal of nations (judging by the number of metal bands per capita of population). It commemorates the day in 1917 when Finland declared its independence from the Russian Empire.

To help celebrate Finland Independence Day, my home state of Washington decided, beginning today, to let same-sex couples get married and people over 21 legally smoke weed. How’s that for being a good neighbor!

It’s true.  At midnight last night, two initiatives passed by Washington voters on November 6 became effective. Same-sex couple can now legally marry under state law, and it’s now legal for adults to possess limited quantities of marijuana. People who obtain state licenses will also be able to grow and sell marijuana in Washington (and pay taxes on the sales), though that part of the new law won’t go into effect until the State develops rules and regulations for how the new system will work.

Of course, growing, selling, and possessing marijuana is still illegal under federal law, and it’s not quite clear how this conflict between state and U.S. law is going to work out. Federal law (the “Defense of Marriage Act”) also refuses to recognize same-sex marriages for any federal purposes, including insurance benefits for government employees, Social Security survivors’ benefits, and the filing of joint tax returns.  But hey, at least my state wants to help Finland celebrate their independence, even if the Feds don’t.

NCS would also like to celebrate Finland independence day with some Finnish metal. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MAGOA, MAVETH, BATILLUS, AND HACKTIVIST

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  20 Responses »
Dec 042012
 

This morning I found three new videos and a new full-album stream that I want to send your way. Sending now:

MAGOA

Magoa’s new EP Animals is finally out, and as of this morning so is yet another Magoa music video. Since we’ve already featured the first two videos for this French band’s EP, why stop now?

The new one for the song “A Thousand Lives” was directed by the same man who was responsible for the first two: Benjamin Cappelletti. The first two were so good that I had high hopes for the new one, too, and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s just as much fun to watch as the first two. Mr. Capelletti cannot fail.

I also now have a new appreciation for the seriousness with which Magoa approach their craft. A lot of bands performing in a bedroom would stop what they were doing if hot chicks in their underwear invitingly climbed into bed and started caressing the band members, but Magoa soldiers on with their song. Impressive display of willpower. I also didn’t see the underwater shots coming, but it was a really nice surprise — which I’ve now sort of spoiled for you. I’m such a dick sometimes. Continue reading »

WATCH DECAPITATED’S NEW “VIEW FROM A HOLE” VIDEO

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Dec 032012
 


Scion A/V continues to deliver the metal goods. They’ve just released a new music video for “View From A Hole”, a song that appeared on the stupendous Carnival Is Forever album by Poland’s Decapitated.

The video is a live performance professionally shot from different camera angles. It’s after the jump. I can’t think of anything more to say. Continue reading »

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