HOW ABOUT A FREE MESHUGGAH REMIX AND A DYING FETUS ALBUM PREVIEW? WELL, FUCK YES, DON’T MIND IF I DO

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Apr 262012
 

I’m commuting home from my fucking day job on a floating bus called a ferry boat and what do my bloodshot eyes spy but two items that I thought my NCS brethren and sistren might enjoy.

The first is a remix of “I Am Colossus”, which as any heathen knows is a Meshuggah track off Koloss. Now, remixing Meshuggah could be (and probably will be) considered a form of blasphemy punishable by castration, but this remix turns out to be good. Not as good as the original mind you, but I think it’s still worth hearing. And if you like what you hear, you can get it for free at this location, courtesy of those inexplicably generous metalheads at Scion A/V.

The remix was created by Engine-Earz & Foreign Beggars. I have no idea who they are, but they’ve made the song sound . . . both more and less evil. If you ain’t into electro even a little bit, you won’t like it. If you dabble some, then this might be your thing. I thought it was cool. Check it out following the jump. Continue reading »

HEAD EXPLOSION: DECAPITATED PREMIERES OFFICIAL VIDEO FOR “HOMO SUM”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Apr 262012
 

The band, playing against a black backdrop, filmed in black and white. The camera, cutting and moving like a hornet swarm. The song, both brutal and hypnotic.

In a nutshell, that’s the brand new video for “Homo Sum”, the fourth track off of Decapitated’s amazing 2011 album, Carnival Is Forever. The video was directed by Marcin Halerz of Redpig Productions.

On an album full of gems, “Homo Sum” has over time become my favorite track. It is the epitome of pummeling, but that guitar solo makes such a striking contrast. When that solo starts, my eyes begin to glaze over and a little drool starts to run down my chin (on both sides, because I am level-headed). And then the pummeling begins again, and I get whiplash. Doesn’t that happen to you, too?

Watch after the jump. Continue reading »

CATCHING UP (Part 2): MISERATION, WRECK AND REFERENCE, CATTLE DECAPITATION, FEAR FACTORY, AND VILDHJARTA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Apr 262012
 

As explained yesterday, I’ve been kind of off my game here at NCS recently and I’m now trying (hurriedly) to make up for lost time. While investigating the many things I’ve missed in the world of metal over the last week or two, I’ve found a shitload of things I think are worth sharing — both news items and new music. I’m collecting some (but not all) of them in this “Catching Up” mini-series. Here’s Part 2, and there will be one more installment coming.

MISERATION

This is a news item, which is the most recent part of this post.  This morning, Sweden’s Miseration revealed the cover art (above) for their next album (on Lifeforce Records), Tragedy Has Spoken. The artwork is by the ubiquitous and dependably awesome Pär Olofsson. I thoroughly enjoyed this band’s ass-blasting last album, The Mirroring Shadow (2009), and have high hopes for the new one. Conceptually, it’s described as an exploration of the nature of tragedy, both man-made and the result of natural disasters.

The new album was also recorded with 8-string guitars and get this: According to Lifeforce, it also incorporates “folk instruments such as the Indian harp Esraj, the Persian hammered dulcimer Santur, sawblade, organ, mandolin and piano, as well as Mongolian throatsinging”!!! I think we have many “what the fuck?” moments in store for us. Continue reading »

CATCHING UP (Part 1): LANDMINE MARATHON, ENSLAVED, EMPTINESS, KREATOR, ARCH ENEMY

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  34 Responses »
Apr 252012
 

If you’re really perceptive (or you’re one of those people who have no real life outside the confines of the internet), you may have noticed that over the last 10 days or so, I haven’t contributed as much to NCS as I usually do. There are reasons for that, but describing them in detail would be boring. Let’s just say it involved unsuccessful transplant surgery, an inter-species paternity suit, and a rigged auction of antique trepanning implements, and leave it at that.

Anyway, I’m behind on all sorts of things, including current events in the world of metal. I was able to spend a little time today catching up, and I found lots of interesting stuff — a combination of news items and new music. Even after I filtered out items that every attentive metalhead already knows (because those items have already been covered on a dozen other metal sites), what’s left is still too much to cram into one post. So, I’m dividing them between at least two posts, and maybe a third. Here’s the first installment:

LANDMINE MARATHON

The first item is a news item. The news is that Arizona’s Landmine Marathon have recorded a new, self-titled 7″ EP. I like this news (a) because it involves Landmine Marathon, who are awesome, (b) because the cover art (above) is cool, and (c) because I’ve finally made the decision to buy a turntable, so I’ll actually be able to listen to this thing when it comes out. The EP will be released on May 14 and will consist of two songs that were recorded at the same time as the band’s last full-length (Gallows); reportedly, the songs won’t be available anywhere else. You can pre-order the EP at Deep Six Records. I am highly confident that it will be good.

Also, because I haven’t owned a turntable since dinosaurs roamed the Earth, I have no idea what to buy, so please leave a comment if you have any recommendations, because that would make it easier on me than doing actual research. Continue reading »

AND FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO WERE HOPING WE’D SHOW YOU A VIDEO ABOUT JEFFREY DAHMER, CANNIBALISM, AND SIMULATED SKULL-FUCKING, YOUR WISH HAS COME TRUE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Apr 242012
 

I guess I made the title of this post really long so I wouldn’t need to write as much in the body of the post. I guess I also felt that with DGR posting the new videos from Storm Corrosion and Epica, I needed to post something really rancid and disgusting, y’know, to provide balance. I guess the UK’s Flayed Disciple was reading my mind, because this afternoon they served up just the thing.

Phro reviewed this band’s new album Death Hammer for us here. Among other things, he wrote: “They’ve successfully taken the thrash groove riffing and drumming (which I like), gotten rid of the thrash vocals (which annoy the shit out of me), added some modern death metal elements, and got a growler who sounds like he lives in the bottom of a well. Not because he has nowhere else to live, because, fuck you, he likes it closer to hell.”

“Closer to hell” could have been the sub-title for this video. Of course, the song is called “Shrine of Dahmer”. The video includes all those things I mentioned in the post title, plus lots of other nauseating images, which of course made it irresistible. It’s not safe for work, unless you work in a slaughterhouse. Continue reading »

TWO STORM-THEMED VIDEOS FOR THE DAY

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Apr 242012
 

(DemiGodRaven brings us news of two new videos . . .)

The Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth) / Steven Wilson (Porcupine Tree) collab known as Storm Corrosion unleashed the video for their song “Drag Ropes” today. I’ve listened to the whole disc, it’s more dark themed prog. The video is about as odd as anything else Steven Wilson has been connected to lately.
 

Continue reading »

MORE DEVOTION TO DEATH: DEATHEMBER AND DEALS DEATH

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
Apr 222012
 

Yesterday, I pulled together music from three old-school death metal bands who’ve been honing their craft for about two decades each. Today, we’re dealing with death again, but these are much younger bands and their linkage to death comes more from their choice of names than from the style of metal they play. But listen, although it may not be steeped in pus and corpse-meat stew, it’s still mighty tasty.

Both Deathember (Sweden) and Deals Death (Sweden again) are bands we’ve covered before at NCS, and both of them have recently released new videos that are worth seeing and hearing.

DEATHEMBER

We first encountered Deathember in October 2010, featuring a brief review of their first EP in one of our MISCELANNY posts. Last November, they released a second EP with the title of A Thousand Flatlines. It includes six songs and is available via iTunes, Amazon mp3, and the band’s BigCartel site.

Yesterday, they premiered their first music video for one of the new songs — “Scapegoat”. The band and their friends financed and made the video themselves, and especially for a “homemade” project, it’s unusually well done. It’s devoted to the band performing the song, and the performance looks like I imagined it would from listening to their music — a balls-to-the-wall blast of screaming fun. Continue reading »

DEVOTED TO DEATH: VORE, UNCANNY, AND CATASTROPHIC

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Apr 212012
 

I like almost every kind of metal yet invented, though not to the same degree. Straight-up death metal holds a special appeal, and so periodically I need to return to the great swollen bosom of the death mother and nurse on the sticky, putrescent fluids that leak like winter sap, viscous and foul-smelling, from her maggot-swarmed nipplage.

Umm . . . I don’t know if that last sentence came out quite the way I intended.  Maybe it needs more work.  On second thought, nah.

Anyway, last night I sampled the music of three bands whose music is new to me, though the bands have been devoting themselves to death metal for a long time. I really liked what I heard from all three. There’s some eye-catching cover art in here, too. So, nurse on this music from Vore (Arkansas), Uncanny (Sweden), and Catastrophic (New York).

VORE

This three-man band have been churning out punishing music since 1994. They’ve self-released an EP and three full-length albums, the most recent of which is Gravehammer, which appeared late last year. But yesterday, the band announced that they had signed a deal with Germany’s AFM Records. AFM is going to re-release Gravehammer in CD and vinyl formats on July 20. That’s the news that grabbed my attention, and I decided to check out a song from Gravehammer that’s been released for streaming. And holy death mother, it’s a great song. Continue reading »

MOONSPELL: “LICKANTHROPE”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Apr 212012
 

I’m getting yet another slow start this morning, but I have something to hold you while I finish the post I intended to finish last night.

If you couldn’t deduce it from their name, the Portuguese band Moonspell have a thing about werewolves.  They also have a new album due for release by Napalm Records on April 27 (May 8 in NorthAm) called Alpha Noir. There will also be a special edition of the album that includes a second CD called Omega White. The album features dual cover art by Seth Siro Anton, one of which you can see above.

Now, back to the werewolves. About a week ago, the band released an official video for an Alpha Noir song called “Lickanthrope”, the title of which is kind of a play-on-words for another name for werewolf — “lycanthrope”. There’s some licking in this video, as well as other scenes of debauchery and weirdness in a bar that’s probably not like the ones you may patronize. Red Riding Hood also makes an appearance, and of course there’s . . . the change. Must have been a full moon rising when they filmed this.

The video has way-above-average production values, and the song is a scathing yet addictive romp. Amuse yourselves after the jump, and I’ll be back with something else soonish. Continue reading »

MORTAD: “THE VOICE”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Apr 202012
 

It’s 4/20, and Reefer Nation will be mostly mellow today. But since we already ran BadWolf’s post about Mastodon and Feist, I think we’ve tipped our hat to mellowness, and so it’s time to get pissed off again.

Nedā Āghā-Soltān was a beautiful young Iranian woman whose death during protests over the phony 2009 Iranian elections became a rallying point for people around the world. If you were paying any attention at all to the news of what was happening in Iran during those tumultuous days, you couldn’t miss the video of her bleeding to death in the street from a chest wound.

Mortad is a London-based metal band whose 2012 debut album is called The Myth of Purity (the album was included with the February 2012 issue of Metal Hammer magazine, but will be getting an official release later in the year. According to a press release, the band was formed by an Iranian vocalist and songwriter named Somi Arian, “whose lyrics take aim at the hypocrisy of religion and the government as well as seeking inner truth and strength in the face of such oppression.”

Today, Mortad released an official video for a song called “The Voice”, which takes as its theme the death of Nedā Āghā-Soltān. It’s a good song, a thundering slice of Scandinavian-style melodic death metal with hints of Eastern melody, and Somi Arian’s harsh vocals build an aura of caustic vehemence and rage. Continue reading »

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