TWO SIDES OF THE SHRED COIN: JEFF LOOMIS AND DANIEL BERGSTRÖM (VILDHJARTA)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Mar 072012
 

Your humble editor’s fucking day job has stripped away almost all free time over the last 24 hours, and will continue to strip, strip, strip throughout today, and it’s not sexy. What that means is that my own poor contributions to NCS today will be skimpy. In fact, this is probably the only post I can contribute.

This will be greeted with applause in some quarters. But I’m sure that in many more quarters — many, many more — it will be greeted with weeping and wailing and gnashing of teeth and rending of clothes. Also, please send quarters so I can quit my fucking day job.

Yesterday, I saw two new videos featuring the music of two very different guitarists — from two different generations and two very different styles of shredding. The first is an “album sampler” of music from the new album by ex-Nevermore member and all-around widely worshipped guitar wizard, Jeff Loomis. The second is a guitar play-through by Vildhjarta’s Daniel Bergström, who is himself a Grand High Wizard in the Exalted Order of Thall.

JEFF LOOMIS

On April 10, Century Media will release the new solo album by Jeff Loomis, titled Plains of Oblivion. To enhance the Seattle connection (and another reason why we’re paying so much attention to this album), it was produced by Aaron Smith of 7 Horns 7 Eyes, who themselves have a new album on the way. The album includes an array of tantalizing guest appearances.

Ex-Megadeth members Marty Friedman and Chris Poland make appearances with guest solo’s. Christine Rhoades, who provided guest vocals on the Nevermore track “Dreaming Neon Black”, does a vocal turn on  song called “Tragedy and Harmony”. Hungarian guitarist Attila Voros is in the mix, too, as is guitarist Tony MacAlpine. And last, but most certainly not least, Ihsahn contributes to a song called “Surrender”. Continue reading »

GOJIRA, DEVIN TOWNSEND, AND FREDRIK THORDENDAL LIVE: “OF BLOOD AND SALT”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Mar 062012
 

I bet the title of that post got your fuckin attention. The news sure as hell got mine.

Last May, Gojira released a song called “Of Blood and Salt” from the still-missing-in-action Sea Shepherd EP. It included guest vocals by that Renaissance man of metal Devin Townsend and a guest appearance on guitar by Meshuggah’s Fredrik Thordendal. At the time, it produced a worldwide mass ejaculation not seen since . . . uh . . . some other mass ejaculatory event (my metaphor machine failed me there, sorry).

Yesterday (March 5), at the Soundwave Festival in Perth, Australia, Gojira performed the song live in what I think was the world premiere live performance of the song. And wonder of wonders, guess who joined them on stage for the song? Yep — Devin Townsend on vocals and Fredrik Thordendal on guitar.

I’ve found two different fan-filmed clips of this thing on YouTube. Neither of them are great, unfortunately, but given what was being filmed, I’m sure as fuck going to put them up here on NCS — right after the jump. Continue reading »

AURA NOIR: “FED TO THE FLAMES”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Mar 062012
 

I’ve written before that thrash is one of my least favorite genres of metal. It’s not that all thrash puts me off, but for some reason the thrash bands who really get me excited tend to be fewer and farther between than bands in certain other metal genres. I think part of the lack of attraction is the traditional vocal style. I like thrash riffing, but not thrash screaming.

What I’m discovering, however, is that black thrash tends to hit my sweet spot, particularly when it’s especially filthy and infernal. I like the ugly, glass-scraping vocals; I like the tremolo drilling; I like the dirty distortion. While we’re on that subject, I also like what I’m hearing from the new album by Norway’s Aura Noir.

They were formed in 1993 by Aggressor (also in Virus) and Apollyon (also a member of Immortal) with the goal of incorporating influences from bands such as Slayer, Sodom, and Kreator into black metal. Their first official release was the Dreams Like Deserts EP in 1994. Later joined by guitarist Blasphemer, (ex-Mayhem guitarist Rune Eriksen, who now also leads his own band Ava Inferi), they’ve created four full-length albums, though the last one (Hades Rise) is now four years old.

The next album, Out To Die, is scheduled for release on March 23 through Indie Recordings. Today Terrorizer premiered a song from the album called “Fed To the Flames”, which follows an earlier premiere by Brooklyn Vegan of a track called “Abaddon”. You can hear both of them after the jump. Continue reading »

CANNIBAL CORPSE: “ENCASED IN CONCRETE”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Mar 052012
 

So, because a certain record label has mistaken NCS for a legitimate organ of metal journalism (when in fact we were born out of wedlock), we have already heard the new Torture album by the almighty Cannibal Corpse. On March 13, when it issues forth from whatever kind of womb gives birth to something like this, everyone can hear it. But until then, the public streaming of new songs from the album is like a present for the ears.

Just moments ago, the quite awesome DECIBEL magazine gave us one of those presents when they began streaming the fourth track from the album, “Encased In Concrete”. This motherfucker is like the detonation of a giant riff bomb. I counted three killer riffs (after I picked my teeth up off the floor), any one of which could have solidly anchored your average death metal onslaught. And that’s not counting the song’s intro, which is like the musical equivalent of being hosed down with a flamethrower.

Go visit DECIBEL at this location to read the cool write-up about the album and stream the song. And if you’re too lazy to do that, the player is also here, after the jump. Continue reading »

SHAMISEN ROCK

 Off Topic, Phro's Posts, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  26 Responses »
Mar 052012
 

(You can’t say we don’t try to broaden your musical horizons here at NCS, but today’s guest post by Phro may push them farther than we ever have before.)

Well, there’s been a lot of talk recently about Celtic/bagpipe metal around these here parts. Which is pretty fucking awesome, if I may be so bold as to force my opinion on you like a political advertisement. Nothing wrong with a little sack in your metal, right? (Yeah, that’s the best I have right now…don’t expect anything too funny from this.)

Anyway, all this “traditional instruments doing dirty things with my metal behind closed doors and having babies that clearly are far more awesome than simply genetics should allow” got me thinking about a traditional instrument that I love: the shamisen. (Click here to get some Wikiknowledge dropped on your ass.)

Now, I know every FrownyFaceTrveCvltMetalHeadOfDoom out there thinks his or her favorite thing is the most metal thing of all, so that’s not what I’m going to say. However, if you don’t find yourself rocking (at least just a little) to some good tsugaru-jamisen, I’d say. . . well, I’d say this music probably isn’t for you and that’s tots cool. Seriously. Tots. Cool.

Before we really get started, I’d just like to explain very briefly what the fuck a shamisen is. A lot of people describe it as a Japanese guitar, which is just stupid. I think “Japanese lute” is the most commonly accepted description, but I prefer to think of it like a banjo. (They sound pretty similar to me.) Anyway, they have three strings, a long, thin neck, and a small box body.

Depending on the kind of shamisen, the form and size will be different.The Okinawan shamisen is smaller and the body is usually round and made of snake skin. The “standard” shamisen is about a 3 or 4 feet long with a body of about 10 inches which looks like a box. (It is a box, but the top and bottom are covered with animal skin.) The tsugaru-jamisen is basically a bigger version of the standard one.

Important note: there are no frets and the damn things go out of tune like a drunken sailor, so players are often re-tuning between songs. The largest string also has a natural reverb to it, so it’s the only acoustic instrument I know of that has built-in distortion. (I could just be stupid. Let us know how stupid in the comments below!)

Alright, so, today, for your totally-not-really-all-that-metal-but-kinda-metal entertainment, I’m going to be presenting some shamisen rocking. Pull on your hakama, throw some sen in your wallet, and let’s get this matsuri going. Continue reading »

SOME FREE SHIT FOR YOUR EARHOLES: ESCHATON, GRANTED EARTH, LASCAILLE’S SHROUD, AND STUBB

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  14 Responses »
Mar 042012
 

(groverXIII drops manna from Hel into your auditory canals.  No charge.  Lots of song streams at the end of this bad boy, too.)

Howdy, folks. I know everyone loves good free music, so I’m just going to jump right into the bands here. Fuck yeah.

ESCHATON – ISOLATED INTELLIGENCE

Eschaton have been mentioned ’round these parts before (here and here), but I first discovered them back when they emailed me about their initial EP release An Instrument Of Darkness a while back when TNOTB was still up and running, and I’ve been a fan ever since. Isolated Intelligence is their first full album (at least, I think it qualifies as a full album… it’s only five tracks, but it is over 45 minutes), and it’s as fascinating a listen as one might expect from these guys.

Stylistically, the album is Eschaton’s usual take on black/death metal, which is to say that it is anything but usual. There is a lot of experimentation going on here, with sprawling post-metal soundscapes rubbing elbows with clean female vocals and discordant guitars, all contained with the basic framework of black metal. Get it on the Bandcamps, honky.
Continue reading »

BARREN EARTH: “THE RAINS BEGIN” VIDEO

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Mar 022012
 

I really liked The Curse of the Red River, the 2010 debut album from Finland’s Barren Earth. I had high expectations for that album because the members of Barren Earth include such Finnish metal veterans as vocalist Mikko Kotamäki (Swallow the Sun), Olli-Pekka Laine on bass (Ex-Amorphis, Mannhai), drummer Marko Tarvonen (Moonsorrow)
, and Kreator guitarist Sami Ylisirniö.

With such a strong debut, I’ve had even higher expectation for the band’s second album, The Devil’s Resolve, which is scheduled for release on March 13 in North America (via Peaceville Records). It was mixed by Dan Swanö, it features cover art by Paul Romano, and it includes guest appearances by Mathias Lillmåns (Finntroll) and Jaakko Lemmetty (Korpiklaani). Based on an initial listen to The Devil’s Resolve, I’d say my expectations have been satisfied once again.

In an earlier post, we told you about a chance to download a song from the album called “The Rain Begins”, and as of today the band have now released an official video for the song. The song itself is immensely memorable, with a dramatic, piercing melody delivered by keyboard and guitar that easily takes up residence in your mind. It’s a melodic blend of doom and death marked by Kotamäki’s contrasting clean and harsh vocals.

But the video is almost as fun to watch as the music is to hear. Rather than try to explain why, I’ll just let you see it for yourselves . . . after the jump. (And unlike the song from Spawn of Possession featured in our last post, the lyrics to this song matter, and they’re wonderful.) Continue reading »

ANOTHER SPAWN OF POSSESSION SONG PREMIERE: “SERVITUDE”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  20 Responses »
Mar 022012
 

I’ll spare you a lengthy introduction, because I’ve already written a novella-length review of Spawn of Possession’s new album Incurso, which is rapidly approaching its March 13 release date. I’ll repeat only this over-the-top concluding paragraph from the review:

“Incurso is a landmark album. In the rarified air of technical death metal, it has re-set the bar to a new height. Compared to it, the vast majority of even very good albums in this field seem . . . rudimentary.  We may see its equal someday, but to this simple mind, it’s difficult to conceive how it could be surpassed.”

The first two songs from the album that have been officially released are included with the review, and today we have a third: “Servitude”. It appears in the form of a lyric video. I find the words distracting. I recommend that you close your eyes and just allow the music and the sound of the vocals to tie your neurons in knots. Thanks to Metal Injection’s premiere, we have the lyric video after the jump. Continue reading »

NEW MUSIC: GOD FORBID AND WRETCHED

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Mar 022012
 

Once upon a time, when metalcore was a new thing, I ate it up, all I could get and as much as I could hold. And one of my favorite bands was God Forbid. My listening tastes have moved off in different directions, but I’ve still got a soft spot for this band, and I’m getting curious about what’s happened to their music. We’re all about to find out, because their sixth album, Equilibrium, is going to drop on March 26 via Victory Records.

The line-up hasn’t changed much since the early days — Dallas Coyle is gone and Matt Wicklund is in — but the world of music has changed a lot since the days of Determination, and God Forbid have done their share of changing along the way, too, with a more dominant thrash attack, jacked up by the head-spinning guitar solo’s of Doc Coyle and even the incorporation of progressive influences. But three years have passed since Earthblood, and I’m wondering where we’ll find God Forbid now.

Well, so far we’ve got two pieces of evidence — a portion of one song called “Cornered” and as of yesterday a full song called “Don’t Tell Me What To Dream”. And I’d certainly say, based on yesterday’s release, that God Forbid have . . . “modernized.”

More thoughts about that, plus the new song, after the jump. Also after the jump is a new song from another Victory band, North Carolina’s Wretched, whose 2010 album Beyond the Gate I praised in this NCS review. They also have a new album due for release — Son of Perdition. Continue reading »

TUNE-UP: NEW JAMS FROM HOUR OF PENANCE, ENTHRONED, HIGH ON FIRE, FOUL BODY AUTOPSY, AND JEFF LOOMIS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Mar 012012
 

Lots of new music relevant to my interests debuted yesterday. Because it interests me, I presume that it will interest you, because of course if something is interesting to me it will necessarily interest you simply because I find it interesting. If you disagree with that statement, please keep it to yourself so that I can retain my high opinion of myself.

Because this post includes so much music, I will attempt to keep my verbal diarrhea in check by using the patented NCS butt plug, figuratively speaking of course. Not literally. Literally, I’ll limit my song descriptions to two words each.

HOUR OF PENANCE

We previously featured the artwork for this Italian band’s new album. It will be called Sedition and will be released on March 27 in North America, April 2 in the U.K., and April 6 in mainland Europe via Prosthetic Records.

HoP will be following the release of Sedition with a North American tour — their first — which will be headlined by The Black Dahlia Murder and will also include Nile and Skeletonwitch. I already climbed out on a limb and predicted that this will blow up Hour of Penance in North America much as their fellow Romans in Fleshgod Apocalypse blew up through NorthAm touring in the wake of last year’s Agony.

Now we’ve got the first track from Sedition:, which Terrorizer premiered yesterday: Bone splintering. Continue reading »

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