NACHTMYSTIUM DEBUT “BORROWED HOPE AND BROKEN DREAMS” ON SOME NON-METAL GERMAN SITE WHOSE PLAYER WON’T WORK FOR ME

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Jun 152012
 

Nachtmystium’s new album Silencing Machine is due for release on July 31 via Century Media. I’ve been really interested in this album because of Blake Judd’s interview comments about it (promising that it’s a move away from the Meddle albums and more of a follow-up to Instinct: Decay, i.e., “It’s a fuckin’ black metal record”.) and because of what I heard on the first song to be released from the album for streaming (the title track).

Today, Nachtmystium premiered a second song titled “Borrowed Hope and Broken Dreams” exclusively through some German site called Visions.de (here).

I’ve been trying off and on to get the goddamned music player on that site to stream the song for the last half hour, without success. I press play, and it just sits there like a lump of inert code. On the computer I’m using, I’ve only got Firefox and Safari, so maybe it’s a browser issue, or maybe it’s a slow net connection, which sometimes plagues me where I’m currently located. Or maybe Visions.de is just lame.

But really, why did Chicago-based Nachtmystium (or Century) pick some apparently non-metal site in Germany which features a bunch of annoying flashing ads as the locus for this song debut instead of an ad-free site whose music player works and whose verbiage can be read by stupid monolingual Americans, i.e., our site? There is no justice.

Anyway, if you can hear this song, let me know what you think. Meanwhile, I’m going over to Pitchfork to listen to the title track again, because it rips and rolls.

ENSIFERUM: “UNSUNG HEROES” ON THE WAY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jun 152012
 

I must have been one of the 84% of Ensiferum’s Facebook fans who didn’t see the announcement about their new album in late May. However, I was one of the 16% of Spinefarm’s Facebook fans who did see the status update today about their uploading of a new cover photo, which you can see above, and which depicts Ensiferum in all their half-dressed, kilt-clad, face-painted, badass finery, and which led me to explore why Spinefarm was featuring an Ensiferum photo at the top of their FB page. And here’s why:

Spinefarm will be releasing a new hour-long album of Ensiferum music titled Unsung Heroes on August 24. It will be released as both a CD and a vinyl LP, plus there will also be a two-disc digipak set, with the second one being a bonus DVD consisting of almost 3 hours of material. It will include album art by the godlike Kristian Wahlin (Necrolord), and will feature special guests including members of Apokalyptischen Reiter (which is very weird) plus “legendary Finnish singer & actor, Vesa-Matti Loiri” (about whom I am clueless because Vesa-Matti Loiri is not yet legendary where I live).

Knowing the ways of Spinefarm, August 24 will be a European release date, and the album will be released in North America sometime in 2014, and I will not receive a promo for review purposes until sometime in 2015, if ever. HOWEVER, all the available versions are now available for pre-order at Finland’s Record Shop X (here), which ships worldwide. I have just pre-ordered the two-disc digipak for myself in lieu of waiting for the promo copy in 2015, if ever, at a price of 25.85 Euro, including shipping, which I think is about $5,000 U.S.

I did this because I love Ensiferum. I love you, too, which is why I’m telling you about this news, in addition to the fact that I haven’t posted a feature about Finnish metal all week, and that’s a wrong that must be righted.

Also, I have another Ensiferum promo shot after the jump, plus an older song, because I’m in the Ensiferum mood now. Continue reading »

HALT! HERE BE THINGS OF YORE THAT PENETRATED MY EAR HOLES AND TO WHICH MY EYES PAID HEED

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  17 Responses »
Jun 152012
 

I’m still trying out reader suggestions for the title of these posts in which I collect recently discovered music and news items, but I’m thinking it still needs work. Anyway, here are things I saw and heard over the last 24 hours that I thought were worth passing along. Most of the music is brand new, and it’s all good.

There are six very diverse songs in here, with accompanying art, from Tyrant of Death, Destroyer 666, Early Graves, Death I Am, and Polarization. That’s a lot of music for a single post, but just think of this like a packaging together of three or four posts you’d read on any other metal blog. If you like, you could read and listen a little at a time over the rest of the day. I just don’t feel like chopping it up.

TYRANT OF DEATH: “FROM EARTH TO HELL”

I saw that Tyrant of Death have released a new song. This one is especially easy to pass along, because DGR wrote the following introduction.  Copy and paste . . .

“While not as ridiculous on the release scale so far this year, Tyrant Of Death is still putting out a mighty chunk of music for people to listen to. I reviewed (and introduced some of you to) his work earlier this year with the release of Re-Connect, and in between the time I started and finished that review he released two songs.

He’s released another one now, this time inspired by the new Ridley Scott ‘Not Alien but totally Alien’ movie Prometheus that just came out. Man, is it a doozy, clocking it at almost nine minutes of crushing industrial death. It’s a solo guitar work this time, with the only vocals being samples from the movie and distorted screams (although a couple do sound like T.o.D contributor Lucem Fero). It is, however, totally free and available on The Tyrant Of Death Bandcamp. Plus it does have an awesome song title in, “From Earth To Hell”.

With that intro, enjoy the song right after the jump, and feel free to share thoughts about Prometheus while we’re on that subject. Continue reading »

HEATHEN BEAST’S VIDEOS DO NOT FUCK AROUND – AND NEITHER DOES THEIR MUSIC

 Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  9 Responses »
Jun 142012
 

I’m no expert on India, and really, who could be? The country is so vast, its population so large and diverse, its history so ancient and complex, its cultures and traditions so multifaceted, that to me it seems almost incomprehensible. But though I’m no expert, I know from reading that it is the birthplace of four of the world’s major religions — Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism — and on top of that it has the third largest Muslim population in the world, as well as adherents of Christianity, Judaism, Zoroastrianism, and many other faiths. Looking at it from afar, it’s a place where daily life seems dominated by religious rituals, observances, and traditions of one kind or another.

Heathen Beast don’t like what they see. They are an Indian black metal band based in Mumbai whose focus is on religion, which they view as a destructive plague on mankind. This alone doesn’t necessarily distinguish them from black metal bands the world over, but they have a particular focus on religion in India, which means that the object of their anger and scorn is not Christianity (as it is for BM bands in so many other countries), but the influence of more locally important religions such as Hinduism and Islam and what they perceive as the destructive effect of those faiths on the people, the environment, and even the animals of their country.

Back in November 2010, I wrote about their debut EP, Ayodhya Burns, in this post. Recently, they’ve released a second three-track EP called The Drowning of the Elephant God. Thematically, the title track is about the Hindu festival of Ganesha (the elephant god of the EP’s title), which culminates in the immersion of painted Ganesha statues made of plaster in rivers, lakes, and the sea — a practice that has been releasing a multitude of toxic elements into water systems throughout the country (according to this article) for many decades. Continue reading »

MINISTRY: “RELAPSE” (and the new “GHOULDIGGERS” video)

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jun 142012
 

(DGR is in some kind of keyboard-pounding fugue state, with his third review in three days . . . and more are coming. Today, the subject is Ministry’s latest release, which is out now on 13th Planet Records. And at the end, we’ve got the just-released official video for the song “Ghouldiggers”.)

This disc right here. Man.

If any of you read my Electronica Clusterfuck of 2012 post, where I took on three decidedly not metal albums, then you’ll probably remember that I mentioned having a fondness for the various aggrotech genres, including industrial metal. No name is more synonymous with industrial metal than Ministry. They’ve influenced hundreds of bands, and frontman Al Jourgensen has to be eating people’s souls in order to stay alive long enough to kick out more music, given what the man has been through.

You may also recall that I sort of reservedly mentioned that I would try to work on something about Ministry, and well, here it is: My thoughts composed (as best I could) on Relapse, Ministry’s comeback album, and a hot mess in the form of about an hour of industrial metal.

What a goddamn odd release. That’s not saying anything new when it comes to Ministry, considering that they pretty much pioneered the way on odd things. With Uncle Al being completely batshit insane, taking on anything from politics to drugs to politics to…drugs, Ministry have always been a band with a ton of character. They’ve probably rubbed more people the wrong way than I could even think to count by being so far left that they’ve pretty much shot off of the planet and wound up near Alpha Centauri by this point. The fact that Relapse continues this trajectory isn’t shocking, not one bit. What is shocking is how much of a time capsule this disc really is. Continue reading »

EYE-CATCHERS: HELCARAXË AND MANIC SCUM

 Eye-Catchers, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Jun 132012
 

As you know, I’m a sucker for cool album art. Long ago, I started an experiment, testing the hypothesis that if the album art is cool, the music will probably be cool, too. There’s absolutely no reason why the two should necessarily go together, but it just seemed that way to me. So, I started a series of NCS posts where I picked music to check out based solely on the album art. You can see the previous installments through the EYE-CATCHERS category link on the right side of this page.

I haven’t done one of these posts in ages, but decided to revive the series today with new music from two bands: Helcaraxë and Manic Scum.

HELCARAXË

I knew nothing about this New Jersey band until seeing the stupendous painted album art (above) for their forthcoming album (their third), Red Dragon. The artist is Alan Lathwell, who it turns out also did the awesome cover for the latest album from The Horde (check that HERE).

I didn’t find any definitive word about a release date, but I did find that Helcaraxë have recently uploaded their entire discography to Bandcamp, including a song-stream for four tracks off of Red Dragon — one of which (“Skin Changer”) features guest vocals by Mikael Stanne of Dark Tranquillity. So I listened to those four songs, and they support the EYE-CATCHERS hypothesis: This is a genuine bonanza. Continue reading »

INTERLUDE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jun 122012
 

This is a day for album reviews at NCS. We started with Andy’s SYNN REPORT on V.A.S.T., and a couple more are on the way. But I thought I’d mix things up a bit by posting two videos before the next review appears. These are not new, but they made this grey Seattle day brighter for me, and I thought they might brighten your day, too, unless you’ve already been staring at the sun, in which case I guess you probably can’t read this. You could get a friend to play the videos and just listen while you get used to your new burned-out retinas.

ASG

Until yesterday I had never heard of this band. I found them through a Facebook link from XII Boar. The link took me to a video for a song called “Horeswhipper”. With a name like that, I had this powerful psychic intuition that I would like it, because in general I like metal that makes me feel like I’m being horsewhipped. And no, I’m not into BDSM, or maybe I am and just don’t realize it.

Anyway, I think maybe one reason I liked it so much is because I had been listening to Borracho, and I think their music re-aligned my neurons into a configuration that increased receptivity to this song. Or it could have been because the song is such a titanic riff-fest, with such attention-riveting dynamics and acidified by punk-like vocal snarls and balls-out attitude. Headbanger heaven. Continue reading »

AN UPDATE: KARTIKEYA AND ARSAFES

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jun 122012
 

I’m thinking about having the words “Kartikeya Pimp” tattooed on my forehead. I’d have to convince my wife that Kartikeya is the name of a Russian metal band instead of a middle school cheerleader with a budding crack habit, but other than that it should be clear sailing, don’t you think?

I’m just trying to be honest, because we do write about this band a lot at NCS, and for good reason. They put the BAD in badass and the ASS in ass-kicking. Their latest release is the Durga Puja EP, which emerged last fall. It included two rewritten songs from the band’s debut album, two outstanding covers, and one new original song — the EP’s title track.

Yesterday, TheMadIsraeli tipped me to the fact that the band’s main man Arsafes had uploaded a video of himself performing a guitar playthrough of “Durga Puja”. It’s a reminder of how great that song is, and it’s just fun to watch Arsafes extract such beastly rhythms in the flesh.

The video is after the jump. It will tide us over until June 22, when Kartikeya has promised delivery of their next single (“Vayu”), which we presume (though we’re not sure) will appear on their next album, Samudra, and which will include guest appearances by NCS favorite Keith Merrow and Serbian vocalist Aleksandra Radosavljevic.

While I’m on the subject of Kartikeya, I want to mention that the band has now made all of their releases available for streaming and download on Bandcamp, which you can find via this link.

And while I’m on the subject of Arsafes, I also want to provide an update about one of his other bands — Above the Earth, which last week released their first single, “Trapeze”. Continue reading »

BALANCE: BORRACHO, PALLBEARER, AND YES SIR! MISTER MACHINE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jun 112012
 

I spent so much goddamned time this past weekend researching and writing today’s ridiculously long post about Facebook that I fell even further behind in doing what I like to do best: finding new metal to feature on this site. So, unfortunately, I don’t have much ready for the site today in the way of music. But I’m not totally empty-handed. I have the following collection of musical goodies, which should provide some balance to the site today.

BORRACHO

Borracho are a band based in Washington, DC, who recently made us aware of a new music video they’ve created for a song called “Concentric Circles”, which is the first single from their June 2011 debut album, Splitting Sky. The video was self-produced by the band, directed by their friend Dicky Southcott, and edited by Kevin Bradley. It’s a combination of the band performing the song live, interspersed with film clips of “destruction, atrocity and mayhem” — the band’s words, but quite accurate.

And on top of that, the band have suggested a drinking game of “Boom!” to be played while watching the vid: Every time you see an explosion, chug a beer. Having seen the video, I’d suggest you get a shitload of beer and be prepared to drink fast.

But frankly, you can have a shitload of fun with this video even without a shitload of beer, because the song is irresistible. It’s a high-energy, heavy-assed, rifftastic blast of stoner/doom that will brighten your day and give you a natural buzz. But wait . . . there’s more! Continue reading »

APOSTATE: “THE TOWN”

 Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Jun 102012
 

I came across this song and video after I had finished the post that preceded this one today, or I would have included it there. On the other hand, that post was pretty long anyway, and besides, this song deserves a spotlight of its own.

The band is Apostate. They’re from Prague in the Czech Republic. Almost exactly a year ago, I reviewed their debut EP, Seaborne. They’re now putting the finishing touches on a follow-up, five-song EP called Λ ♦ Λ ♦ Ø.

Near the end of last week, they put up a video in collaboration with Vice magazine for the first track on the new EP, “The Town”. I’ve been listening to it over and over again since yesterday afternoon. It’s a beautiful piece of music — beautifully imagined and beautifully rendered. It’s almost entirely instrumental, in a style I suppose could be branded post-rock, until the explosion near the end (and I love that they ended it the way they did). 

There were hints of this kind of song in Seaborne, but in most ways it seems quite different to me, and makes me even more curious to see what else Apostate have gotten themselves into on Λ ♦ Λ ♦ Ø. They’re showing that, musically, they’re mature way beyond their years.

The video shows the band playing the song in what looks like a rehearsal studio, with no distractions from the music other than the sights of some serious dudes playing some serious music, which works just fine. Check it it out following the jump and let me know what you think.

UPDATE! Apostate has just made “the Town” available for free download on bandcamp (though I’d encourage you to chip in some bucks to help the band finish recording their latest release). HERE is the link for that. Continue reading »

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