A NEW BURY YOUR DEAD VIDEO

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jul 292011
 


As long-time readers of this site know, our genesis and growth have been intertwined with the fortunes of Bury Your Dead.  When we decided to start this blog, it didn’t take me long to think of the name, because at the time I was still royally pissed off about the departure of Mat Bruso from BYD, his replacement by Myke Terry, and the conversion of the band’s music into near-generic metalcore with way too much clean singing. The old BYD had the ability to crank out some incredibly catchy hooks, grooves, and melodies without coming untethered from a solid center of hardcore fury. The “new” BYD wouldn’t have scared a kitten.

Thankfully, this interlude in the band’s history was finite. Bruso is back, and the band’s sound has reverted to what it was before, ie, the kind of galvanizing, crowbar-to-the-head rhythms guaranteed to stir up the pit into a fine froth, and plenty of brawling attitude. Next week, we’ll see the official release of BYD’s return-to-form album, Mosh ‘N’ Roll, and the title pretty much tells you all you need to know. In the run-up to the album launch, a couple of tracks have debuted — most recently “Deadeye Dick”, which appeared within the last week — and today we have the first official video, for the song “Slaughterhouse Five”.

The song would have been right at home on Beauty and the Breakdown — an atonal, downtuned, groovy gut-puncher of a song, rolling like an avalanche of rebar rods clanging down concrete steps. The video suits the music, too — the kind of fun that leaves you looking for your teeth on a beer-stained floor and picking glass out of your scalp the next morning. Check it after the jump, and then after the video we’ve also got the song released erlier in the week — “Deadeye Dick”. Continue reading »

NOW THIS IS A DRUM-CAM CLIP I CAN GET BEHIND

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jul 282011
 

On July 24, 2011, Amon Amarth played the Tuska Open Air Metal Festival in Helsinki Finland. The first song on their set was “War of the Gods”. The video after the jump records the performance from just behind and to the left of drummer Fredrik Andersson. It helps if you know the song already — as well you should — because the sound of the other instruments and Johan Hegg’s vocals are muffled on the audio track, given the camera’s position — but this is still very, very cool.

I don’t know shit about drumming. Basically, to me, watching any capable extreme metal drummer in action is like witnessing a form of supernatural achievement. This is no different. Maybe what Andersson is doing on this song would be basic, ho-hum stuff to a metal drummer watching it. To me, it’s phenomenal.

But that’s only part of the attraction. That supernatural quality is enhanced in this clip by the eruptions of flame that occur throughout the video, as if ejected from the drum kit itself, and by the smoke that eventually enshrouds Andersson before ultimately clearing near the end. True Viking shit.

This gave me a giant [insert slang term for erect penis]. It fucking [insert verb] my [insert testicle reference]. I shot [insert semen idiom] all over my computer screen.  Video after the jump. Continue reading »

OPETH: “THE DEVIL’S ORCHARD”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Jul 262011
 

Not long ago, Stereogum premiered the first song to be released from Heritage, the next album from Opeth. It’s the album’s second track, following a piano-led intro. I haven’t tried to embed it, because I’m hurrying off to SUMMER SLAUGHTER, but HERE IS THE LINK to Stereogum, where you can listen. In fact, I’m in so much of a hurry that I haven’t heard this song either. Let me know what you think.

CATTLE CORE! (I’M UDDERLY ENTHRALLED)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Jul 262011
 

A tip like this could only have come from our buddy Phro, and so it did. I believe it has made my day, even if SUMMER SLAUGHTER turns out to suck, which it won’t.

In a previous life, I used to work on a ranch. I have attended cattle auctions. I found them fascinating, not because I like to look at cows and bulls, which gets old pretty fast, but because of the auctioneers. If you’ve never heard an auctioneer going full-blast, you’re about to get your first exposure. If you’ve never heard an auctioneer going full-blast with demented speed metal for musical accompaniment, well, you’re about to hear that, too.

Who would think of such a thing? Why, none other than Hank3, a/k/a Hank Williams III. He has a new album scheduled for release on September 6 called 3 Bar Ranch Cattle Callin. Actually, he has three albums scheduled for release that day, including Ghost to a Ghost/Guttertown, a double disc of country tunes, and an album of doom metal by the name of Attention Deficient Domination. But it’s two tracks from 3 Bar Cattle Callin that have made my day.

I guaran-damn-tee you that you have never heard anything like this before. It takes metal craziness to a whole ‘nuther level. To quote from Jeanne Fury’s write-up on the DECIBEL web site, “it’s so deliriously nuts, it’ll singe your utters and have you reaching for the Bag Balm.” And to top it off, both songs are available for free download. Podna, you really owe it to yourself to stay with us past the jump and expose your delicate ears to this unique form of mayhem. Seriously, Phro and I can’t be the only NCS denizens screwy enough to find this appealing. Can we? Continue reading »

MOURNING CARESS / GODSIC / LANDMINE MARATHON

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jul 262011
 

While continuing with my increasingly pathetic attempt to catch up on reviews and other NCS projects that fell by the wayside while I was away from home over the last two weeks — and relying in the meantime on people like Israel, Andy, and Phro to do the heavy lifting around here — I continue to be distracted by the lure of new music. And “lure” is exactly the right word, because I often feel like a stupid fish that can’t resist impaling myself on a barbed hook because there’s something tasty-looking attached to it, instead of doing something productive like . . . uh . . . eating or procreating.

This morning, the lures dangling in front of my wondering, gap-mouthed face came attached with the names Mourning Caress and Godsic. These were new names to me, but I took the bait anyway, and am now trying to get the fucking hooks out of my gills. Why, I asked myself, should I be the only fish in the NCS sea to greedily chomp down on these razored morsels of distraction? Unable to think of any good reason, I’m serving them up to you, too.

Both bands have new albums on the way, of course, which is why they’ve lowered these new songs into the water . . . hoping to hook some fan-fish and lift them, flopping and gasping, into their skiffs for later consumption. Mourning Caress is from Germany, and their third album, Deep Wounds, Bright Scars (a title that aptly suits my now-overdone metaphor for this post) is tentatively scheduled for release in November on MDD Records. The new song I heard is called “Panic”.

Godsic is a new band from Sweden composed of former members of Construcdead and current members of Carnal Forge. They’ve created a debut album called As the Heavens Burn, with the objective of releasing it this fall once they’ve lured a label into signing them. To date, they’ve released two songs for streaming — “Scars Inside” and “Premeditation” (which features yet another Carnal Forge member, Petri Kuusisto, as a guest on lead guitar). I like the alluring cover art, so I stuck it at the top of this post.

Of course, I like what I’m hearing from both bands, or I wouldn’t be bothering with this post. Can I lure you into nibbling around these hooks after the jump? And at the end, you can see the just-released cover art for the next album by one of our favorite bands — Landmine Marathon. Continue reading »

THE SOUND OF A BLACK TONGUE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Jul 252011
 

I BURNED OUT MY EYES / I CUT OFF MY TONGUE
I SEALED THEM WITH ALL OF THE SILVER
AND NOW I HAVE NONE /YOU KILLED THE LIFE
YOU TOOK THE DIAMOND / YOU KILLED THE VINE
DEATH OF THE…
YOU OWN THE DARKNESS / AND TAKEN MY SIGHT
YOU BURIED THE STARS UNDERGROUND
YOU’VE STOLEN THE NIGHT
YOU CAN RUN TO THE SEA / YOU CAN RUN TO THE FOREST
YOU CAN HIDE / BUT YOU’LL NEVER ESCAPE

Up above? Those are the lyrics to “Black Tongue”, a song from Mastodon‘s new album, The Hunter. And just below is the song itself, which was copied earlier today from a radio stream and spread like wildfire around the web. According to Mastodon’s Facebook page, more about the album (including more music?) was to be revealed at www.mastodonrocks.com at about 9:00 PST tonight. And sho’ nuff — now we have an actual official Mastodon video for “Black Tongue”:

TWO NEWS ITEMS ABOUT MESHUGGAH AND ENSLAVED, AND TWO SONGS TO HEAR WHILE YOU MOPE ABOUT THE FACT THAT WE DON’T HAVE ANY NEW MESHUGGAH OR ENSLAVED MUSIC TO ACCOMPANY THE NEWS ITEMS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Jul 252011
 

I have this compulsion to deliver music in our posts. Possibly it derives from a subconscious insecurity about my writing, but at least I tell myself that it’s because this is a music blog, and so there should be music. All the fucking time. This is why we so rarely post about news items that we can’t accompany with the music that’s the subject of the news. But this time, I’m making an exception, because the bands are pretty damned special: Meshuggah and Enslaved.

On the other hand, I can’t get rid of that compulsion, so I’m throwing in some music, too. The songs aren’t from Meshuggah or Enslaved (sigh), but they’re new and they’re good, so there’s that. The first track is from the new album by Cipher System (Sweden), and you can download it for free if you like what you hear. The fetching album cover by Seth Siro Anton (Septic Flesh) is up above. The second song is from another Swedish band, Apostasy.

MESHUGGAH

Guitar World magazine recently conducted an interview with Meshuggah guitarist extraordinaire Fredrik Thordendal. When asked about whether Meshuggah has been working on new music and if he has any new gear he is using, he said, “Yes, we are working on a new album and have been for a long time. I’m so excited about this one. We’ve always tried to change how we write songs to keep it exciting, but on recent albums we’ve also been moving further away from working together as a band. On this album, though, everyone is working together. Every day that we’re in the studio, we’ll play whatever song we’re working on, record a demo version of it to analyze at home, and then come back the next day, talk about it and try to make it better. I think because of this, it’s going to be our best album yet.” (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

SUNDAY SHARING

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  34 Responses »
Jul 242011
 

Slowed down by two weeks of work-related travel, I’m now in the middle of a bunch of catch-up projects for NCS, none of which are finished. So what have I been doing this morning? In typically ass-backwards fashion, I’ve been listening to a bunch of random tracks thrown my way by NCS contributors and readers.

I have no idea whether this goes on in other genres of music, but one of the great things about metal is how people pass around tracks they’ve discovered (thank you, YouTube). We’ve all got bands we love and follow, and the bands we like are collectively cranking out music at a torrential pace, almost beyond our ability to consume, but we still want to find new music from new bands. Of course, that’s a big part of our mission here — to pass around what we’re hearing and liking.

So, this is a really random collection of stuff I heard just this morning, courtesy of the people whose names I’ll credit as we get to each song. And the line-up is . . . Jamey Jasta (U.S.), M.A.N. (Sweden), Barghest (U.S.), Haemorrhage (Spain), and Sifar (India). Lots of music all across the map of metal genres (actually, Sifar is right off the map), so I’ll keep the verbiage short.

JAMEY JASTA

Yes, that Jamey Jasta — Hatebreed, Kingdom of Sorrow, Icepick, and who knows what else. To be honest, I lost interest in Hatebreed a while back (though I used to be a big fan in their early days), and I didn’t find much to like in Kingdom of Sorrow’s albums, so I was going to take a pass on Jasta’s solo album, which is scheduled for release this week. But NCS writer Israel Flanders told me I really needed to give this solo album a chance.

I’ve listened to three songs that Israel recommended, and I gotta say I’m very pleasantly surprised. There’s some quasi-clean singing on the songs that’s quite good, though that wouldn’t be a big attraction for me. The big attraction is that the songs are HEAVY AS FUCK, and include some seriously headbangable riffs. So, I’ll tell you what Israel told me — give this shit a chance. The song I liked the most follows right after the jump. Continue reading »

VOODOO CHILD

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jul 232011
 

That’s what Jimi Hendrix was, a voodoo child. What made me think about him: I just got back from being away from home for two weeks because of my fucking day job. A couple nights ago, I was standing on a sidewalk having a cancer stick outside a restaurant where some co-workers and I had just finished dinner. It’s one of those places where the music they play inside was playing on a speaker outside, too. As I stood there puffing away, lost in thought and wishing I were home, “Voodoo Child” began playing.

I hadn’t listened to that song in at least 10 years. I’d forgotten how amazing it is. It also hit me that the song is metal. Of course, it’s not really a “metal song”, but the crunchy, distorted tone of Hendrix’ phenomenal riffs and the shrieking solos on the song sure hit me that way. “Voodoo Child”  continues to play in my head, so I thought I might as well just exorcise the demon by writing this post.

Some people who read this blog will know the song immediately. For others, it will be something new. For some readers, maybe even Hendrix will be new. Whether new or old, the song is worth hearing. Guitar wizard Joe Satriani said this about it: “It’s just the greatest piece of electric guitar work ever recorded. In fact, the whole song could be considered the holy grail of guitar expression and technique. It is a beacon of humanity.” Fuck yeah, I can’t disagree with that.

So, after the jump, a few more factoids about the song, and then 3 different streams: The album version of “Voodoo Child” from Electric Ladyland, a live version as performed by The Jimi Hendrix Experience at London’s Royal Albert Hall in 1969, and then a live version of the song as performed by another guitar wizard we lost too soon, Stevie Ray Vaughan. Continue reading »

CLIFTON SAVES THE SPACE VIKINGS FROM LORD TODD

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jul 192011
 

Becoming the Archetype is a band who qualify as one of our Exceptions to the Rule: We like dem even wit all dat clean singing. Andy Synn expressed our common admiration for the band’s latest album, Celestial Completion, in this review, published here in April. For Andy, the highlight of the album was a song called “Breathing Light”.

Yesterday, Noisecreep premiered BtA’s video for that very song. It’s a Metalocalypse-style animated story, with the band members appearing as themselves, except . . . uh . . . somewhat physically enhanced and clad in Viking skins. Beardo Vikings ftw! Returning from space to Planet Earth, the boys encounter all manner of vicious minions in the service of dictatorial Lord Todd (including tentacled minions — Phro, take note) and engage in all manner of to-the-death combat with them. The outcome is in doubt until the appearance of . . . well, I don’t want to spoil the ending.

David Prindle did the video, and it’s a nice change of pace from standard metallo video fare. And the song is still catchy as hemorrhagic fever. Check it out after the jump. Continue reading »

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