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 »

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO US: NCS TURNS THREE

 Birthday Posts, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  103 Responses »
Nov 212012
 

NO CLEAN SINGING is three years old today. We opened the doors on November 21, 2009, and we’ve posted something (or several somethings) every damned day since then. Of course, the fact that we’re still here after three years doesn’t mean we’re worth a shit, only that we haven’t given up.

Whether this birthday is a cause for celebration or for mourning, depending on your perspective, it does seem like a good time to do three things: Explain who we are (because we seem to have accumulated a lot of new readers in the last year); take note of some accomplishments; and offer a few words of thanks.

WHO WE ARE

On birthdays it’s always nice to reflect upon your origins. This blog began as a protest against the kind of clean singing that was infiltrating metalcore music at the time (what temporarily happened to Bury Your Dead three years ago was the specific provocative incident). My two co-founders and I weren’t dead set against all metal with clean vocals — we announced from the beginning that there would be Exceptions to the Rule — we just found that the kind of extreme music we preferred usually didn’t include them.

Since then, we’ve expanded our horizons to include a much greater variety of metal, with more clean singing in the mix, though I’ve hung on to the site’s original name despite (or maybe because of) how confusing it may be to newcomers. My original co-founders fell by the wayside long ago, ultimately to be replaced by a cadre of regular writers and many irregular ones. Actually, to be brutally honest, we’re all pretty irregular. So’s the music. So, it’s a good fit. Continue reading »

POWERLESS, PART 3: NIGHTFALL, PINKISH BLACK, AND SAILLE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Nov 202012
 

For most of yesterday and last night, the NCS headquarters was running on generator power and brutally cut off from the internet due to a DSL failure produced by one of our lovely Puget Sound winter storms. At some point while yours truly was sleeping the sleep of the just, the internet connection came back on, and I spent a few hours this morning catching up on what I missed in the world of metal.

Turns out I missed a lot. This is the third of three posts in which I’m collecting the best of what I missed while the NCS HQ was cast into outer darkness yesterday. I’m running through the music in alphabetical order. Featured in this Part 3 are Nightfall, Saille, and Pinkish Black.

NIGHTFALL

Astron Black and the Thirty Tyrants, the 2010 album from this long-running Greek band (now with an international cast), was my introduction to their music. It was a hell of an introduction: I became an immediate fan. Nightfall have now recorded the follow-up to that album, with the title Cassiopeia. The new one is due for release by Metal Blade on January 18, 2013, and pre-orders are being taken here. Yesterday brought the premiere of a lyric video for the album’s first single, “Oberon and Titania”. Continue reading »

POWERLESS, PART 2: BOSSK, CHAOS INCEPTION, AND DECADES OF DESPAIR

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Nov 202012
 

For most of yesterday and last night, the NCS headquarters was running on generator power and brutally cut off from the internet due to a DSL failure produced by one of our lovely Puget Sound winter storms. At some point while yours truly was sleeping the sleep of the just, the internet connection came back on, and I spent a few hours this morning catching up on what I missed in the world of metal.

Turns out I missed a lot. This is the second of three posts in which I’m collecting the best of what I missed while the NCS HQ was cast into outer darkness yesterday. I’m running through the music in alphabetical order. Featured in this Part 2 are Bossk, Chaos Inception, and Decades of Despair.

BOSSK

Bossk are a band from Kent in the UK whose name rings bells, but whose music was an undiscovered country to me until this morning. It appears that after releasing a couple of EPs, a DVD, and a split, the band called it quits in 2008 or 2009. However, Bossk revived earlier this year and have recorded a new single named “Pick Up Artist” that debuted in September and is still available for free download here.

I found out about the song earlier today and liked it immediately. It begins with pounding drums and sludgy chords and breaks into an up-tempo, post-metal bone-breaker with caustic vocals, lots of low-end punch, and swirling guitar leads. Past the half-way point, the hammering power abruptly stops and the song turns into an almost dreamlike flow of chiming notes and hypnotic rhythms. Damn cool music. Continue reading »

POWERLESS, PART 1: CONVERGE, ACRANIA, ACRIMONIOUS, AND AMENDFOIL

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Nov 202012
 

I stayed home from work yesterday. I picked a bad day to do that. Yesterday afternoon we lost power on our island due to a really nasty day-long storm that raged through the Puget Sound area. We got the generator going, but the DSL service in our area went down at the same time the power did, and it didn’t come back before I went to bed. This morning, the power and the DSL were both back.

The experience vividly demonstrated how obsessive I’ve become about this fucking blog. Being disconnected from the internet for about 12 hours prevented me from keeping up with what was happening in the world of metal. I experienced feelings of anxiety and intense frustration. I didn’t know what to do with myself.

It got so bad that I drove in the darkness  through the driving wind and rain to the ferry terminal, where the power was on and an internet connection was available. I sat there for about 30 minutes, getting this morning’s first post ready to appear automatically and doing a bit of web surfing, and then decided I shouldn’t leave my wife alone in our powerless house any longer and went home. Fucking sick, that’s what I am. I need help of some kind.

This morning I spent hours catching up on what I missed while the net connection was down. I found dozens of interesting-looking things. Even after winnowing out the ones that turned out to be less interesting than they first appeared to be, I still have more shit to share than would manageably fit in one post, so I’m dividing them into three posts, of which this is the first. I’m going to cover the new music and videos in alphabetical order.

But before diving in, here’s one piece of breaking news: Year-end listmania is almost upon us, and it begins with DECIBEL magazine selecting All We Love We Leave Behind by Converge as its Album of the Year. Here’s the proof, as it appeared on the Converge Facebook page: Continue reading »

MEMORABLE MOMENTS IN METAL: EXTREME NOISE TERROR AND FIRING BLANKS

 Mosh Pit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Nov 192012
 

(This guest post was written by an Australian writer who calls himself Hoss.)

The other week, while researching for an article on John Peel and grindcore, I came across a nice little moment in metal history. When I first read about it, I thought it was just about one of the coolest things ever. I’m going to share it with you now.

In 1992 British art-electro-hip-hop-kinda-thing band The KLF were invited to perform their hit “3AM Eternal” live at the Brit Awards. The KLF are perhaps best known for being justified, ancient, driving an ice cream van, and, most importantly, being endorsed by Tammy Wynette. Ever the pranksters, they invited Ipswich grinders Extreme Noise Terror to perform in their stead.

Yes, I know what you’re thinking – ‘getting a metal band to perform a pop song!? THAT’S HIL-AR-IOUS!’. But you must remember that in 1992 this irony-laden chestnut was not yet old, and still might have caused at least a few bemused smirks. Part of the joke also included firing machine guns filled with blanks into the crowd (rad) and dumping a dead sheep at the afterparty.

Sounds awesome right? I mean, this photo of The KLF head guy Bill Drummond certainly makes it look that way: Continue reading »

NEW LIVE GOJIRA TRACKS: “LOVE” AND “TOXIC GARBAGE ISLAND”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Nov 172012
 

Photo credit: Romain Dronne

Those French titans of metal in Gojira are coming back to North America early next year to tour with The Devin Townsend Project and The Atlas Moth. I bought advance VIP tickets for the January 20 show at Seattle’s Studio Seven as fast as I could. One of the perks of doing that was the promise that I would get a download of two live recordings now and another one closer to the start of the North American tour.

Yesterday the download link arrived in my in-box. The two songs included in the download were “Love” and “Toxic Garbage Island”. They were recorded during Gojira’s performance at at the Studio at Webster Hall in New York City on August 14, 2012. They’re crushing, and too good to keep to myself. So, after the jump I’m going to stream both of them for you.

Also after the jump, in case you missed it, is a video of the band performing “Explosia” from the new album L’Enfant Sauvage at the same Webster Hall show.  To get the North American tour schedule, check out this previous post about the tour.

Enjoy. Continue reading »

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