ROULETTE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jan 142012
 

That’s what this post is — just a spin of the metal roulette wheel. The tiny ball (otherwise known as my brain) skitters and bounces around and eventually comes to rest in a slot, and then we spin again. Four slots, four bands, new and old, picked at random based on newly available music, but recommended by my tiny, ball-like brain.

BREACH

I first heard mention of this band in the list of albums recommended by Mika Andre (Eryn Non Dae.) as part of our 2011 year-end Listmania. Mika’s list included an album called The Tunnels by a band called Terra Tenebrosa (which, by the way, has been wrecking my sanity ever since). Mika mentioned that Terra Tenebrosa was a projected started by some guys from a Swedish band called Breach.

Then, last night, I saw that a 2002 EP by Breach called Godbox was being re-released in re-mastered form on vinyl by Apocaplexy Records. Apocaplexy gave this description of the music:

“It starts with weird noises and woman screaming. The drums kick in, this gnarly bass, this groove, these melodies. Audible darkness, 98% darker than most Black Metal bands claim to be. The important thing: This is unique, untouched by cliches, timeless . . .This swedish band which lacked brighter attention in their days because everybody rather focused on Refused. This band people compared with Neurosis because yet again it just lacks comparison. It’s more than hardcore, more than metal, more than any other box you want to put this in.” Continue reading »

OF ASSASSIN’S CREED, AYREON, ANCIENT ASTRONAUTS, AND AWESOME ALLITERATION

 Mosh Pit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  35 Responses »
Jan 132012
 

(DemiGodRaven (ex-TNOTB) looks at the similarities between the Assassin’s Creed games and the albums of Ayreon, and speculates about how the latter may shed light on how the former is going to end.)

Anyone who has been aware of my writing for a while knows pretty well that I’m a pretty huge nerd when it comes to video games. They’re my second love, with the first being music. They’re also the two most expensive hobbies in the world, but that is a whole other subject for some other time. Occasionally, there is an incredible crossover between some form of metal and video games, and I can’t help but give it a knowing wink and nod. Or, in this case it’s a confluence of all sorts of things that just happen to share the same archetypal concept.

The thought for this article began to cross my mind as I wrestled my way through the latest Assassin’s Creed game, which if you haven’t been following the series has basically gone from a sort of Lost-esque conspiracy science fiction to batshit fucking insane within the span of two yearly iterations as Ubisoft (the game’s developer and publisher) attempts to strange as much money out of the franchise as possible.

What is funny about the story of these games is that it has pretty much evolved into the same story told by the Ayreon discography, with its dream sequencer experiments and the end of mankind. Of course, you also have to acknowledge that even though the elements of each story are as fantastic as can be, the bare guts of each one are fairly basic and recognizable. I’ll be analyzing this to some extent while also pointing out the ridiculous similarities between the game series and the concept behind most of Ayreon’s work.

As always this deserves warning: I am going to be spoilery as fuck in the following article. Just a note though, it’s not like you should give a shit. Judging by the latest Assassin’s Creed game, the writing team doesn’t. Continue reading »

KNIVES OUT!

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  27 Responses »
Jan 132012
 

(Are you looking for some twisted, clawing music and some violent, gore-drenched imagery? Well, look no further!  groverXIII has got you covered.)
I used to love nu metal.

I know… that’s not the best way to start off a post. The very mention of nu metal is generally sufficient to earn the scorn of metalheads everywhere, even though a lot of them got started on nu metal just like I did. And to clarify, it’s not like I still listen to a lot of nu metal. I still listen to Incubus’ S.C.I.E.N.C.E. and Mudvayne’s L.D. 50 on occasion, but that’s about as far as I go. Still, I have some fond memories for bands that I discovered during nu metal’s heyday. I mean, System Of A Down (whom I refuse to classify as nu metal) are still personal favorites, and I’m still hoping for a reunion album.

Anyway, that brings me to Knives Out!, a band comprised mostly of former members of two now-defunct bands that I discovered in the nu metal era. Knives Out! features Todd Smith and Jasan Stepp, two guys from Dog Fashion Disco (whose Faith No More/Mr. Bungle worship took the style to a totally new level); Dave Cullen, who plays bass for Polkadot Cadaver, the spiritual successor to Dog Fashion Disco, which also features Smith and Stepp; and Tommy Sickles and Tom Maxwell, formerly of Nothingface, who I suppose played nu metal, but put such a psychotic, violent twist on the music that they seemed to transcend the label. (Maxwell is also a member of Hellyeah, in the interest of full disclosure, but I’m going to ignore that for this band’s purposes.) Nothingface’s Violence and Skeletons were personal favorites for quite sometime and still get a listen now and again, and Dog Fashion Disco’s entire discography still finds a place in my regular listening rotation. Continue reading »

OTARGOS: “WORSHIP INDUSTRIALIZED”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jan 122012
 

Season of Mist released the most recent album of French black metal band Otargos — No God No Satan — back in 2010. The band is working on new music now, but only within the last two weeks relased an official music video for a song called “Worship Industrialized” from No God No Satan. It’s definitely not something that uses the more traditional black metal motifs.

The music doesn’t start until about the 1:45 mark. Before that, you hear narration of a story, while watching pictures of a desolate, volcanic landscape (filmed in Sicily). The story is about Earth in a post-apocalyptic time when a new religious cult has arisen, one with ironic roots.

After the music begins, the members of Otargos eventually seem to represent forces of freedom capable of stripping away the delusions of the new cult, though they, too, appear to be survivors of the apocalypse that destroyed civilization. The visuals have an epileptic quality, which apparently was the result of a simultaneous multicam capture when the song performance was filmed.

Those visuals and the music go well together, because the music is blistering and vicious — but man, it’s also got a massive beat that’s catchy as fuck. This is the only song I’ve heard from No God No Satan, but it’s enough to send me exploring what else that album has to offer. And congrats to Federico Anastasi (Undeci | Decimi) and his team on a cool video. Watch it after the jump. Continue reading »

DIGGING UP FREE MUSIC AND THE FASTEST TRIP TO SEATTLE EVER

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jan 122012
 

(Ex-TNOTB stalwart DemiGodRaven gifts us with another post, and this one brings news of free new music from The Neologist. Also, there’s something in here about Seattle. Personally, I love when people tell the rest of the world how grey and wet it is here.)

I have been to Seattle once before in my lifetime. Back in 2009 I was invited rather suddenly and without warning to join some friends on a pilgrimage to the Seattle Convention Center where the Penny Arcade Expo was being held, and so naturally that resulted in three other dudes and myself packed into a Ford Focus driving up I-5 for 11 1/2 hours so that we could arrive at seven in the morning, about an hour before the show started.

In a way it was everything I had imagined Seattle to be — it rained for two days and was pretty grey the rest of the time. Looking at it long enough, you can almost see how a movement like Grunge grew out of the Pacific Northwest. I personally didn’t find it that miserable, but you’re talking to a guy who enjoys Swallow The Sun, Katatonia, Before The Dawn, and Insomnium. If it’s the sort of beauty you’d find in a field completely blanketed with snow, a desolate city, or in Seattle’s case the sort of melodramatic grey that seems to permeate everything, then you’d better believe that I’m the first in line to enjoy every second of it. Of course, that doesn’t explain why I’m here now but then again there are a lot of things that need explaining.

Such as why this asshole does his job interviews in person. Continue reading »

ABORTED: “THE ORIGIN OF DISEASE” VIDEO!

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  15 Responses »
Jan 112012
 

Remember that Aborted song we premiered last month? That song called “The Origin of Disease”? The one that kicked your motherfucking ass over the hills and far away? The one from the Global Flatline album that Century Media will be releasing on January 24?

Well, today the band premiered an official music video for that very same ass-kicking song. Part of the video is Aborted doing their kicking-ass thing, just ripping all kinds of hell out of the song. And the other, interspersed part of the video is about a private communion that turns out not to go so well for the lecherous priest.

Kudos to Phil Berridge of Creative Junkie Media for a very nice job on the vid. Gaze upon it after the jump . . . and prepare for some gooooore! Continue reading »

DEGRADEAD: THE “HUMAN NATURE” VIDEO

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jan 112012
 

This is turning into a melodic death metal kind of day. We started off cranking a new song from Costa Rica’s Sight of Emptiness, and now we’re jumping the Atlantic to check out the latest video from Sweden’s Degradead.

The last time we wrote about this band was May 2011, when we featured two songs from a new Degradead album (their third) called A World Destroyer, which had been recorded at Peter Tägtgren‘s (Hypocrisy, Pain) Abyss studios in Sweden, with producer Jonas Kjellgren (Scar Symmetry,Centinex, World Below). Now we’re on the verge of a DVD release by the band.

On February 28, Metalville Records will release Live At Wacken and Beyond, which will include Degradead’s complete live set at Wacken Open Air in 2010 plus some other features, including a documentary tracing the band’s progress from their formation outside Stockholm through their tour of India last February.

The DVD also includes an official video of one of those songs we featured the last time we posted about this band — “Human Nature” — and Metal Injection premiered the video yesterday. Based on the video, I think it’s fair to say that Degradead doesn’t have a very rosy view of human nature. And as for the song — the song still fuckin’ rocks. Continue reading »

EXISTO VULGORE: A MASTERCLASS IN HOW TO CHEW THE EVERLIVING FUCK OUT OF THE SCENERY IN FOUR MINUTES

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jan 102012
 


VULGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE

(DemiGodRaven [ex-The Number of the Blog] rejoins us today for this piece of timely commentary.)

It’s on occasions like this when I tend to take pause for a bit and reflect upon things in life. Rarely do you find yourself putting pen to paper without any purpose other than to meander throughout the English language (or your language of choice) and as a result say absolutely nothing.

It’s as if your brain absolutely refuses to give you anything resembling a cognizant thought out of an almost inferno-like spite because you’re attempting to challenge the damned thing. Thus, you find yourself in the endless cycle of tapping your fingers on the table, pen on paper, and zero to show for it. The world spins on and suddenly a half hour has passed. Then it is a full hour, and there has been something in the back of your mind that resembles a constant buzz. It resembles white noise at best, and at worst it resembles something off of Morbid Angel’s latest release, and it occurs to you that you know the exact cause of what in the world has been preventing you from writing anything worth a fuck. There hasn’t been an amazing piece of work from Morbid Angel’s latest as of yet.

Well…until now that is. Continue reading »

NEW GOATWHORE — AND OMNIUM GATHERUM LIVE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Jan 092012
 

Man, what a morning this has been so far. First, we had a brief glimpse of a new Cannibal Corpse song before YouTube yanked it at Metal Blade’s request — and now we have a new Goatwhore official lyric video provided by Metal Blade. The Goatwhore track is called “Collapse In Eternal Worth”, and it’s from the new Goatwhore album Blood For the Master, which will be released on February 14 in North America and is one of my “most anticipated” records of 2012. The song is a slash of black thrash ‘n’ roll that will get your blood pumping. (Thanks to byrd36 for the tip on this one.)

But we’re still not finished with what has made this a sweet morning (for a fucking Monday). When I added “New World Shadows” to our ongoing list of 2011’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs, it was a tough choice, because I was also powerfully drawn to another Omnium Gatherum song — “Soul Journeys”. This morning I was reminded why the choice was so difficult, why “Soul Journeys” is such a great song, and why Omnium Gatherum is such a great band.

What reminded me was a cool video of the band playing the song live at their last show of 2011 — on December 16 at Kerubi in Joensuu, Finland. And for Omnium Gatherum geeks, here’s a bit of trivia: When Jukka Pelkonen steps back and pulls the bass-player forward to take the lead during an instrumental section of the song, the guy who steps up Eerik Purdon, who was with the band when they recorded their last album before New World Shadows, The Redshift (2008).

There’s something about this song and about the positive energy that comes through this performance that just makes me feel (briefly) that all’s right with the world, even when all is very much not right. Watch and listen after the jump — to both the Goatwhore and the Omnium Gatherum. Continue reading »

FUCK. IT’S MONDAY AGAIN. BUT LET’S CHEER OURSELVES UP WITH NEW CANNIBAL CORPSE, AL-NAMROOD, AND NAPOLEON SKULLFUKK.

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Jan 092012
 

I’d like to pretend I have a good attitude about Monday’s, but the truth is I’d rather go through childbirth and then be forced to eat my own placenta than start another fucking work week. I have a feeling I’m not alone in that feeling. I’ve been cheering myself up by listening to new tunes, and therefore I would like to cheer you up with them, too, in case you’re having that feeling that I’m having, y’know, the one about childbirth and the placenta.

CANNIBAL CORPSE

Florida’s Cannibal Corpse are officially the best-selling death metal band of all time. Longevity accounts for some of that success — they released their Eaten Back To Life debut in 1990. More than 20 years later, they’ve completed work on a new album that will crawl forth from the grave this year. We don’t have an album title or artwork yet, but a new song called “Demented Aggression” has just surfaced on YouTube.

This isn’t an official release, so I’m not 100% sure this is real — though it sure as hell sounds like Cannibal Corpse — and because it’s not official, it may get yanked by the Tube at any moment. But until that happens, you can go get your earholes violated right after the jump. (And thanks to Aaron for the hot tip on this baby.) Continue reading »

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