BLACK GOATS AND CANDLELIGHTS: 10 Metal Record Labels on Bandcamp

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  15 Responses »
Nov 112011
 

(We’re really pleased to feature today this guest post by MaxR, the proprietor of Metal Bandcamp, an extremely useful site that maintains a close watch on new metal being added to the Bandcamp platform. In this post Max focuses on labels who have established Bandcamp outposts and he provides a ton of great music to illustrate what’s available.)

You probably know about Bandcamp, the place where bands can release their music as free downloads or for a price (including the popular name-you-price option). You can get awesome free demos like the one from epic doomsters Pallbearer or you can buy albums from DIY bands like progressive black metallers Cormorant. What you may not be aware of is that many metal record labels have set up camp (harh harh) on Bandcamp. I will describe some of them and provide links and Bandcamp players to a great selection of metal – much of which hasn’t been covered on No Clean Singing before.

CANDLELIGHT

First up is Candlelight Records. They add five albums per week to their Bandcamp, either new releases or from their catalog. And they are pretty smart about it. New Opeth released? Hey, we got their first three albums. New Insomnium out? We have Above the Weeping World and Across the Dark for ya. And they even have Bandcamp exclusives – apparently the original mix of Quietly, Undramatically was pretty crappy, so now you can get a remix by Woe mastermind Chris Grigg. Check it out, it’s raw and melodic black metal. Continue reading »

PSYCROPTIC NEWS (AND A REMINDER ABOUT WHY YOU SHOULD CARE)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Nov 102011
 

Today’s e-mails brought this piece of welcome news to NCS: Australia’s Psycroptic has announced that their fifth studio album, The Inherited Repression, will hit stores on February 7 in North America and February 10 in Europe. The album, which will be the band’s second release on Nuclear Blast Records, will include nine tracks. Here’s what Psycroptic guitarist, Joe Haley, had to say about the new music:

“The Inherited Repression is far and away my favorite Psycroptic album thus far – all of us in the band think this. It’s the age-old cliché from bands when they talk about their current album as being the best of their career, blah, blah, but I have to say it because it’s true. We wouldn’t think there is a point of going on if we couldn’t outdo each album prior. We are certainly not playing music for anything else than the love of creating it and performing it.

“The Inherited Repression is quite different from anything we have done in terms of song writing and structure, and we spent a lot longer writing and demoing the songs before we recorded it, which you can tell. It’s a very dynamic album – the fast elements faster, the slow elements slower, and a lot of light and dark binding it together. It’s a very catchy album as well – you can tap your foot, bang your head or anything else you want. Basically it has a lot of groove on it from start to finish.”

This all sounds good to me, but then again, I would be in the market for this album even if Joe Haley had said, “I don’t know what went wrong, but the new album sounds like utter shit, yet we’re releasing it anyway because there ain’t no fuckin’ way we’re going to start over after all the fucking time we put into it.”

As for why I would get this album sound unheard, go past the jump and check out the official video for “Initiate”, one of the songs from Psycroptic’s last album, Ob(Servant). Awesome song, and an awesome video, too. Continue reading »

DIE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Nov 102011
 

In the brief minutes of each vacation day that I yield to the tug of metal, the great cosmic dice-roller of chance has been serving up death metal the last couple of days. Yesterday it was Bodyfarm and My Own Grave, and today it’s a Danish band called DIE. Yes, that’s DIE with all capital letters. No exclamation point, but there might as well be.

I owe this discovery to the NCS reader, commenter, and source of useful information who calls himself Utmu. He wrote me about this band back in July and then again yesterday, when I didn’t take the hint the first time. Blessings be upon his horned head for persistence, because I am really liking what I’ve heard so far. It has gone upside my head in ways both thuggish and surgical.

The dependably brutal Unique Leader record label released DIE’s debut album, Rise Of The Rotten, in March 2010. It was mixed and mastered by Tue Madsen at his well-known Antfarm studio in Århus, Denmark, and he did one helluva slick job. The music is on the blistering, tech-heavy side of the death-metal spectrum, but this is not skittering, spider-like tech-death; the production preserves the grit and power of an avalanche in motion. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

MEMFIS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Nov 092011
 

Memfis is a Swedish band formed in 2003. In 2006, they released their debut album, The Wind-Up. It entered the Swedish album chart at #20, and garnered some gushy reviews in mags such as Kerrang (”These Swedes could develop into one of the most important metal bands of the decade”) and Metal Hammer (“Visionary”). Swedish public metal radio gave the band an award for “Newcomer of the Year”.

In 2007, Memfis played at a series of well-known Swedish festivals, as well as Bloodstock Open Air in the UK, a Nordic tour with Satyricon, and shows with The Haunted, Entombed, and Wolf. Pretty good start for a new band, huh?

Brimming with enthusiasm, they recorded their second album in 2008 — and then their record label sued them. Two years of litigation followed before the label called it quits, and in the meantime the album was in limbo. Now, Memfis has decided to self-release the album digitally. It’s available on Amazon, iTunes, and the band’s own web site (where it’s available for a “name your price” option). It’s called Vertigo.

Thanks to an e-mail recommendation from Vince Neilstein (who has now written about this release at MetalSucks), I’ve been listening to the album this morning, and it’s definitely worth checking out. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

METAL O’ DEATH

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Nov 092011
 

I have a brain that seeks simplicity (because actual life is frustratingly complex), and therefore symmetry is appealing. We began the day with a Box O’ Poops, and so I believe we need a bookend. I thought about titling the post Ducking Meth Fetal, but I think we used that once upon a time. Plus, it would be asymmetrical. And therefore, we have Metal O’ Death.

As I noted yesterday, because I’m on vacation I’m not devoting the time I usually spend each day scouring the interhole for new music and news items of potential interest to our readers. However, in the space of about 30 minutes of snooping yesterday, I magically came across two new videos that waked me from my vacation-induced coma, like being bitch-slapped by an evil doctor that wants to make sure you’re alert and full able to appreciate the physical invasion about to come. Prepare for bitch-slapping by Bodyfarm (The Netherlands) and My Own Grave (Sweden).

BODYFARM

Bodyfarm is a new name to me. In 2010, they released a self-titled EP, and that induced Abyss Records to pick them up. The band are now working on a full-length album called Malevolence that Abyss will release in 2012. What I saw yesterday was a brand new official video for a track from the EP called “Slaves of War”. It’s one of those songs constructed to punch all sorts of buttons in people like me who like a good thrashing of thrash-paced death metal, with irresistible riffs and canyon-sized grooves. It ain’t fancy, but it does the job quite nicely. Continue reading »

POLSKIEGO EKSPORTU

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Nov 092011
 

(Today’s first guest post was contributed by UK-based grind wizard Alex Layzell, who shines the spotlight on Polish grind.)

Good day No Clean Singing Collective. Now, Grind isn’t a genre many are fond of, but hopefully this short expose may do something to kindle that flame and spark your interest in what truly is a glorious genre, and for those of you wanting to feast further on such glory, feel free to benefit from my own useless attempt to explore this art form over at Grind to Death.

Today I will be taking you through an informative journey of exploration, with the subject being Poland’s ever so wondrous Grind export. As a country, Poland isn’t really one that immediately conjures up significant Grind prestige. Even amongst devout fans of the genre, naming good Polish Grind bands might press them somewhat. However, there are treasures to be found. Now hold hands and journey with me through the rough and tumble badllands of Poland’s Grind scene. Those with weak heart conditions may wish to abstain, an admonition that goes double for any who don’t like the idea of the musical equivalent of a nail bomb subjecting you to aural punishment.

SQUASH BOWELS

First up are Poland’s woefully underrated purveyors of Gore, Squash Bowels (whose logo is pictured above). Their 2009 Willowtip Records debut Grindvirus is mandatory listening for all — and this is coming from someone who 99% of the time has a deep-rooted loathing for Goregrind. Rather than offer anything explosively truculent, they opt for a slick offering of superior songwriting, bringing the groove to grind, a formula sadly neglected though successfully achieved here through exceptional stylistic hardships — a testament to the band’s punk-driven superiority. It’s contagious and addictive — you have been warned! Continue reading »

BOX O’POOPS 3

 Phro's Posts, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Nov 092011
 

(Phro had so much fun with the first two installments of this series that he decided to dump a third one on us. So to speak. Remember, you have to click on Phro’s weird graphics in order to see the surprise.)

Good autumn, fellow scat-munchers!  How’s it all hanging??  (I’m pretty sure that is a gender neutral term, since labias kinda hang too.)  Are you all bundled up nice and warm (apologies to antipodeans, but, seriously, stop standing on your heads)??  Maybe drinking some hot chocolate by the fire?  WELL, IT’S NOT HOT CHOCOLATE—IT’S HOT DIARRHEA!!! AND THE MARSHMELLOWS ARE PIG TESTICLES!!!  EWWWWWWWWW!!!

Sorry.  I have no idea what happened in that first paragraph.  I think the meerkats are getting better with their brain-control waves.  We’re doomed, I tell you, doooooooooomed!

Anyway, here’s a little something to take your mind off the imminent doom.


(more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

F#@%!?£ VIDEOS: HOW DO THEY WORK?

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Nov 072011
 

(Andy Synn ventures outside his usual meat and potatoes with this one. I’m not objective, of course, but this post includes many observations that ring true to me, and maybe will to you as well. Also, this post includes a heavy cargo of highly-worth-watching videos.)

I’ve been looking at doing some shorter pieces on various topics for a while now, spreading myself a little more widely and letting the material do most of the talking for me, and Islander’s sabbatical seems like the perfect opportunity to do so.

So I wanted to bring your attention to a couple of music videos which you may have overlooked, and highlight why I like them and what I think makes them a good example of the video “art-form”. Equally, however, the success (relative or otherwise) of these videos highlights some of the regrettably common failures of most metal videos!

Now bear in mind that most metal videos are a missed opportunity. I’m a fan of a good solid performance video, this is true, be it live footage (purpose-shot or amalgamated) or the traditional warehouse/barren-field performance, as long as it gives you a sense of the intensity and power of a band really getting into their music and their instruments. However, this is where most of them fall down, simply giving us a general shot of “hey look, this is what we look like when we’re playing” rather than any sort of “feel” for the intensity of the experience. And I’m not saying this is easy, far from it.

I do, however, want to highlight the issue that for so many bands (and most recently I’m looking at the plethora of metalcore/deathcore/djent bands) videos become merely a case of being SEEN without actually SAYING anything with the opportunity they’ve been given. Just because you’re moving/jumping/posing does not mean you’re coming across as doing anything more than singing into a hair-brush in front of the mirror.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

A BRUTAL ASS MORNING (Part 2)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Nov 062011
 


(I had a few hiccups with yesterday’s posts because I was hurrying to get them formatted and scheduled for appearance while at the same time trying to bolt from my abode for the vacation I am now enjoying. One of my hiccups was to post only half of a piece that TheMadIsraeli had sent me called “A Brutal Ass Morning”. So, pretending that I did that on purpose, today we’re running “Part 2” of that two-part post.)

I featured Rooks in a little EP download package I posted a long-ass time ago (here) which included their debut EP Infinite. I completely forgot they were coming out with a second EP Infinite II, and it completely passed me by. It’s more of the same brutally-pissed-off-as-all-consuming-fuck djeathcore that attracted me to them in the first place. How anyone can deny the power behind this music is beyond me. I also enjoy the fact that the lyrics of the tune I’m including — “Bounce” — are basically a vehement mission statement against black metal bands. You can check out Rooks on Facebook here. And there are more bands and music to come after this clip:

(moar after the jump . . .)
Continue reading »

SENSELESS RAMBLES – DJENT

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Nov 062011
 

(Ramblings from TheMadIsraeli . . .)

Until yesterday, I’d been a bit scarce around NCS recently, mainly due to illness, school being fucking lame, and the well being rather dry in terms of good shit for me to review.  I’ve only got five major reviews on the horizon that I give a damn about at the moment — Vallenfyre, Demisery, Vildhjarta, Vektor and Ever Forthright.  So as you probably guessed, this ain’t none of that reviewin’ shit.  Instead I’m gonna just talk.  Talk about stuff within metal, within the scenes, share my thoughts.

I figured a good start would be to talk about this djent thing.  I just reviewed a djent album in Uneven Structure’s Februus (here), and two of my above-mentioned choices for future reviews, Vildhjarta and Ever Forthright, are also djent bands.  I know that before I hopped on board with NCS they covered Ever Forthright quite a bit here, though Vildhjarta not so much.  Fuck, part of the reason I think I was picked up to write for NCS was to be the designated “djent guy”, since it was an interest of mine outside the tastes I shared with the other writers.  So I thought, finally, I might try to collect my thoughts about djent. Continue reading »

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