LISTENABLE TEASERS: LIVARKAHIL, DEW-SCENTED, SYBREED, AND ZONARIA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
May 162012
 

Over the last 24 hours I saw different kinds of web teasers about new music from four bands whose past material I’ve really liked, and by coincidence I found out about all of them through Facebook posts by the French label, Listenable Records (even though Listenable is not currently the label for all the bands).  So it made sense to collect all those teasers in one post, right?

LIVARKAHIL

Last September I featured (here) the new official video from this French band for a song called “Above All Hatred”, which was then due to appear on their second album, Signs of Decay. The music reminded me of Behemoth-style blackened death metal with some DevilDriver groove in the mix, and man, did it have one motherfuckin’ head-smasher of an opening riff. Actually, the whole song was a sweet head-smasher. Signs of Decay was a wonderful album, too — one of many I just never got around to reviewing last year.

Livarkahil are following up Signs of Decay with a free digital EP named Wrath of God, which will be released later this month. I like that strategy of following a full-album release with a free EP.  Today, Listenable and the band started streaming a track from the EP called “Through Hatred and Devotion” — and yes, hatred is a consistent theme for Liverkahil. The song proves once again that Livarkahil know how to start a song strong — and how to follow the intro with pummeling rhythms, blistering vocals, and catchy melodies. Have a listen to this brutal beast right after the jump. Continue reading »

FREE SHIT FROM A389

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
May 162012
 

A389 is a new discovery for me.  A389 is a DIY record label and distro based in Baltimore, Maryland.  I found out about them through a FB post by Masakari, a Cleveland band whose music you should get to know if you don’t already.

Truth is, I’m not familiar with the majority of the bands whose music A389 distributes, because the music tends to be in genres that I don’t follow closely. But I do know about some of them, and the ones I know about are adept at using music to split skulls and ignite the bloodstream.

A389 have just compiled a digital mixtape for free download. There are . . . wait for it . . . 52 tracks on this thing. It includes a mix of previously unreleased or forthcoming songs plus material from recordings that are already in circulation. As before, I didn’t recognize most of the bands on this comp, but the ones I did recognize are strong:

Ilsa
Ringworm
Young And In the Way
Gravehill
Full of Hell
Trapped Under Ice
Masakari

Now a comp this big will take up some room — 211MB on your hard drive. Fortunately, you don’t have to take the plunge blindly, because A389 is streaming every song on the comp. And after the jump, I’ve picked out a few songs to stream here — yeah, I downloaded this comp already, and I’m glad I did. It’s a mix of styles — death/doom, hardcore, crust-punk, d-beat, grind, and more — and it will beat the holy hell out of you. Continue reading »

PHOTOSHOPPING (AND ILSA) FTW

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  16 Responses »
May 152012
 

I saw this on a friend’s FB status. Too damn good not to share.

That isn’t the original photo, however.  This appears to be the original photo:

Hell, for all I know, the second one was Photoshopped, too.  Regardless, it’s also awesome.  I’m all in favor of reasoned, dispassionate, intelligent discourse about the issues of the day.  But sometimes you just gotta say Fuck This Guy, which is a sentiment I’ve been having a lot since seeing some of the predictable right-wing reactions to President Obama’s coming out in support of gay marriage. Continue reading »

ABS (and DEATH OF SELF)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
May 142012
 

I have never seen my abs.  I will never see my abs.  It’s just not in the cards, despite the fact that I’m pretty close to the weight I’m supposed to have for my height.  Even when I was at my trimmest, most athletically fit, I couldn’t see them . . . and those days are far back in the rear-view mirror.

Angela Gossow, on the other hand, has abs. Having seen this photo taken at Arch Enemy’s Wages Of Sin Anniversary show in Tokyo on April 14, 2012, I don’t know why she ever wears shirts and tops that drop below her upper ribcage. Man, when you got it, flaunt it.

Look at her fucking arms, too! I know that with Arch Enemy as big as they are, she travels in better style than 99% of all metal bands, but still: Where does she find the time to work out this intensely, and how does she avoid all the alcohol and shit food that comes with touring?  Oh, wait.  I know.  You don’t have to fucking tell me.  It’s called self-discipline.  A concept I’ve read about, but one that’s totally academic to me.

I’m sorry, but as awe-inspiring as Angela looks in this photo, it fucking depresses me on another level. By coincidence, about 5 minutes after I saw this photo, I heard a song that kind of sums things up. It’s called “Visions Of A Shit Life”, which is kinda what I see when I catch myself naked in a mirror. It’s by a Denver grindcore band called Death of Self (yeah, that’s a fucken appropriate name, too), which features the vocalist/guitarist (Ethan) from Clinging To the Trees Of A Forest Fire. It has the benefit of being a goddamned kickass song, too. Continue reading »

A SMALL VAT OF SLUDGE: DUKATALON AND COWARDS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
May 142012
 

I think it’s fair to say that I have eclectic taste in metal. I enjoy a wide range of music (as long as it has little or no clean singing, of course), and I make a conscious effort to cover a broad spectrum of genres/sub-genres in my own contributions to NCS. But that’s not to say I like everything to the same degree, and I certainly don’t claim to be well-educated in everything metal has to offer. Of course, as is true of most fans, there’s a connection between the intensity of my liking for certain styles and the extent to which I feel knowledgeable about them.

Sludge — and particularly doom-heavy sludge — is an example of a genre style that I’ve consumed only rarely, and consequently I don’t claim any expertise in the area, nor any legitimate basis for saying what’s best and what isn’t. I tend to prefer faster, more explosive music, and I’ve yet to fully appreciate the beauty of being dragged at a crawling pace through sucking tar, particularly when the music doesn’t provide the relief of at least a momentary glimpse of light or a lungful of air.

HOWEVER, I’m a riff addict, and I do love a big, heaving, massively distorted guitar-and-bass tone. I also often enjoy really ugly music that feels like an alien larval parasite eating its way through my chest and eventually exploding in a spray of blood and soft tissue. And so today, after that long wind-up, I bring you music from Dukatalon (Israel) and Cowards (France).

DUKATALON

I also enjoy eye-catching album art, and (as you can see above) Orion Landau created a real winner for the debut album by this three-man Israeli band, 2009’s Saved By Fear (which was later re-issued by Relapse Records after they signed Dukatalon). What, you may ask, am I doing writing about an album that’s two and a half years old? And the answer is: Last week Dukatalon released a music video of a live performance of a song from that album called “Vagabond” that really grabbed me. Continue reading »

MAGOA, SWALLOWED, AND HIDEOUS DIVINITY

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
May 132012
 

In this post I’ve collected music from three bands I came across yesterday that I thought was worth sharing. I tried to think up some kind of Mother’s Day theme for this round-up. All I could come up with was the idea of calling all of you motherfuckers, but that doesn’t really work, does it? Anyway, for all of you whose moms didn’t kick you out of the house, don’t forget to wish them a Happy Mother’s Day. Even those of you who got kicked out might give it a try. They might let you back in.

MAGOA

This band is from France. These days, that means there’s about an 8 out of 10 chance they will be good. Magoa released a debut album last year called Swallow the Earth, which I haven’t heard. More recently, they’ve finished recording a 6-song EP that I presume will be released later this year. Last week, they released a single from the EP for free download, along with an accompanying video. The name of the song is “Animal”.

As their principal influences, Magoa cite Slipknot, Lamb of God, Pantera, and In Flames. Based on this song, I’d add Meshuggah to the list, which I suppose is a way of saying that it includes some djent stylings. I get the Slipknot reference, but based on this song I wouldn’t say the usual stylings of those other bands are much in the mix.

I do like the song — it’s groovy, it’s brash, it’s high-energy, it includes a catchy melody — but the main reason for posting about it is the video, which I couldn’t take my eyes off of. In the category of videos that exclusively depict the band performing the music, it’s one of the best I’ve seen this year. Continue reading »

THE WEEKEND ON ROLLER SKATES — WITH YELLOWGOAT, WINDS OF GENOCIDE, ONE INCH GIANT, AND SEVERED CROTCH

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  17 Responses »
May 112012
 

True story:  I tried to roller skate once.  It didn’t end well.  I kind of careened all over the place, totally out of control, veering in one direction and then another.  Eventually I came to rest — on my ass, with a severely sprained ankle.  It was a hell of an adrenaline rush, followed by a fuckton of pain.

The point of this post is to throw some music your way to help you skid into the weekend ahead, to get some adrenaline pumping, and to bring the pain.

YELLOWGOAT

We know Joel Grind can thrash. He’s the driving force behind Portland’s one-man wrecking machine, Toxic Holocaust, a “band” that quite effectively churns out a holocaust of punk/thrash mayhem. Now we can hear a slightly different side of Mr. Grind.

He has a one-man side project called Yellowgoat and has finished recording a 9-track album under that name. Yesterday he put up on the Tube of You an 8-minute preview of the album, with excerpts from the songs. Based on those previews, I’d describe the music as a nasty, fuzzed-out fusion of black thrash, d-beat, and punk — a throwback to the early days of black metal. It makes sense that he picked a name that pretty obviously came from the cover of Bathory’s first album.

The music is vicious, raw, and thoroughly energizing. So get this skate show on the road by rockin’ out to the Yellowgoat album preview right after the jump, and after that you’ll see some of Joel’s comments about this project. Continue reading »

METAL NARROW-MINDEDNESS OVERCOME BY TITANIC RIFFAGE: COMMUNIC’S NEW VIDEO FOR “FACING TOMORROW”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
May 102012
 

My personal listening prejudices are spread in big spiky letters across the top of every NCS page. I’m not here to defend them, because I know it’s a matter of personal taste. It’s simply a fact: I just really and truly prefer not to have much, if any, clean singing in metal.

But at this site we do have Exceptions to the Rule. Some of our other writers invoke Exceptions because sometimes they genuinely enjoy the clean singing found on some albums. I usually invoke it when I like everything else about the music, and the everything else is so strong that it outweighs the vocals. That was my reaction when I saw and heard the new video that Norway’s Communic released today.

The song is “Facing Tomorrow”, and it appears on the band’s 2011 album The Bottom Deep. Andy Synn reviewed the album here, and he made Communic the subject of a SYNN REPORT here. I’ve heard the song once before, back when Andy reviewed the album, but I don’t think I had the volume turned loud enough back then. I really cranked the mother up when watching the video this time.

I would be plenty happy with this song if it consisted of nothing more than the intro and the finish, because the riffage and the drummage are stupendous — pulverizing, physically compelling, and heavier than a truckload of paving stones. Continue reading »

DYING FETUS DELIVER A NEW SONG: “SECOND SKIN”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
May 102012
 

If you bothered to read the pathetic little piece of excuse-making that was my last post, which was made tolerable by the inclusion of a ripping new song from Miseration, then you’ll know I was up waaaaay past my bedtime last night. I’m awake now, bleary-eyed and not thinking at even my usual muddy level of mental clarity. However, one need not be clear-eyed and sharp-minded to appreciate the new song by Dying Fetus that Revolver mag premiered this morning at this location.

The song is called “Second Skin”. It is drawn from the band’s next album, Reign Supreme, which will be released on June 19. The song is primo ass-kicking material. It brings a suffusion of the brutalz. It performs brain surgery with blunt instruments. It has flashy, schizophrenic tech riffing and ugly slams. It includes irresistible chugs and pulverizing breakdowns. I likey very, very much. You will likey, too. Listen after the jump while I get some coffee. Continue reading »

THERE WILL BE A DELAY

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  26 Responses »
May 102012
 

I feel compelled to explain myself, because I have some kind of obsessive-compulsive disease, albeit in a mild form.  I had to work until 2 a.m. this morning, Pacific Time, and the day started really early on top of that.  And I don’t mean working on this blog.  I mean working on my fucking day job, which periodically fucks up NCS but at the same time makes NCS possible.

So, I haven’t finished any posts for early this morning, even though I have an album review from TheMadIsraeli sitting in my in-box.  I don’t have to do very much to get such reviews posted, but at this point, I  can’t even do the miniscule things I do as an editor, which include reading the posts before posting them.

So I will leave you with this — and then whenever I can wake myself up tomorrow, I will do more. I am leaving you with the new full-track teaser from Miseration, which TheMadIsraeli coincidentally recommended, and which is worth a post all by itself.

Unless I die in my sleep, I will see you soon . . . an  until then, the video is after the jump. Continue reading »

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