NEW TRACKS FROM ARSIS AND CULT OF LUNA!

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Dec 032012
 

This morning brought us two noteworthy new songs.

The first is “Six Coffins Wide”, which will appear on the new Arsis EP Lepers Caress that Scion A/V will be releasing for free download tomorrow.

The second is “I: The Weapon”, which will appear on Cult of Luna’s new album Vertikal, which will be available in January via Indie Recordings. (Thanks to Karl-Göran for the tip on this one).

Of course, the songs are very different from each other. The Arsis is a blistering, groovy torrent, and of course it includes a sweet James Malone guitar solo. The Cult of Luna is more complex, more atmospheric, more mesmerizing. But I’ve been rocking out hard to both tracks and recommend that you do the same . . . right after the jump. Leave comments, too, with your reactions. Please. Continue reading »

I WANT TO GIVE TROLLFEST A BAD REVIEW AND HALF A POINT

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Dec 032012
 

We’ve clearly been doing it all wrong.

NRK is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and the largest media organization in Norway. Apparently, NRK reviewed Brumlebassen, the latest offering of Trve Norwegian Balkan Metal by our beloved TrollfesT. Apparently, it was a bad review. Apparently, NRK gave the album one point. Only one point!!

Now, your average metal band when confronted with a bad review and one point would either (a) ignore it and keep quiet about it, or (b) lash out in a vulgar display of hurt feelings and hostility, perhaps involving use of the word “motherfuckers”.

But TrollfesT are not your average metal band and they did neither of these things. Instead, they recorded a song about NRK’s bad review, entitled “NRK, vårt barndomshjem”, which apparently means “NRK, our childhood home”. It’s kind of a melancholy, soulful tune, not at all like TrollfesT’s usual carousing. But if you’ve listened to Brumlebassen, then you know TrollfesT is musically capable of doing just about anything they put their minds to.

I would like TrollfesT to write a song dedicated to NCS. I now think I know how to make this happen. We need to abandon our policy against writing bad reviews about music we don’t like. We need to stop devoting our space solely to music we want to recommend. We need to slag TrollfesT. And, at least for now, we need to jettison our policy against giving numerical ratings in our reviews. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: THE RESISTANCE, ENDEZZMA, RAINBOWDRAGONEYES, AND MEDICATED

 Free Shit, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Dec 022012
 

Here’s a daily round-up of new metal I discovered today that I decided was worth your time. And, of course, who better than I to determine what is and isn’t worth your time? Such important decisions can’t be left up to you, because you would fritter away the hours doing ridiculous things like eating, sleeping, playing with your nether bits, and bathing your hedgehog.

What I have for you in this post: The Resistance (Sweden), Endezzma (Norway), Rainbowdragoneyes (U.S.), and Medicated (Finland).

THE RESISTANCE

If you wondered what had become of founding In Flames guitarist Jesper Strömblad after he left that band in 2010, The Resistance is what happened to him. Along with Jesper, the band also includes guitarist Glenn Ljungström (another In Flames alum), vocalist Marco Aro (ex-The Haunted, Facedown), and drummer Chris Barkensjö (ex-Kaamos, ex-Grave). [At one time, the band also included bass-player Alex Losbäck Holstad (ex-Despite), but he was ejected a few months ago.]

So yes, you could call this a super-group, but The Resistance insist that they are an on-going band and not a one-off project. Their debut EP, Rise From Treason, is now scheduled for release by EarMusic on January 25, with a full-length album projected for next April. Continue reading »

THIS AND THAT: SOILWORK, TOMAHAWK, BYZANTINE, SOM PLUIJMERS, AND FREDRIK WIDIGS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Dec 012012
 

In here: A few things I noticed this morning.

SOILWORK

Soilwork’s ninth studio album The Living Infinite, which will be a two-disc release, is now scheduled for release by Nuclear Blast on March 1 in Europe, and March 5 in North America. Late yesterday, the cover art was unveiled. The artist is Mnemic’s Mircea Eftemie Gabriel. He also created the artwork for Soilwork’s Stabbing The Drama album seven years ago. It’s a change from the style of the band’s last few covers, and I’m liking it. It seems to have a nautical theme; I don’t know how that connects to the music, but we’ll find out.

Nuclear Blast also released the album’s track list: There are a total of 20 songs. I’m sure there will be some catchy melodic ones in there, but I’m hoping for some old-school Soilwork head-wreckers, too.

TOMAHAWK

This morning I also saw four new music videos. The first one isn’t metal. It’s for a song named “Stone Letter” by Tomahawk, who we last featured here. Tomahawk consists of Mike Patton (Faith No More, Mr. Bungle) plus a bunch of other interesting musicians: Duane Denison (The Jesus Lizard, Unsemble), Trevor Dunn (Fantomas, Melvins Lite), and John Stanier (Battles, Helmet). Five years have passed since their last release, but they’ve got a new album coming in January called Oddfellows. Continue reading »

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 »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries