SKULL SCOURING FROM ALL OVER

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Jun 142011
 

In this post, I’m collecting a handful of new songs and videos that made a deep impression on me as I listened/watched over the last couple of days. I’m talking about the kind of impression that a stout piece of lumber would make on the back of your head if swung vigorously. What makes this collection of metal interesting to me, apart from the skull-scouring nature of the music, is the diversity of places from which the music originated.

The first band is called DEAtHtUNE (though from here on, I’m typing it as Deathtune to keep my fingers from cramping up on the keyboard). They’re from Iran. Just a wild guess, but I don’t think Iran is the most hospitable place for a death-metal band. But I’ll tell you what, these guys are really fucken good. The video for their song “No War” gives you the chance to see the band in addition to hearing them — and I think you’ll want to hear them over and over again.

The second band is from Australia. They call themselves The Schoenberg Automaton. Musically, they’re making some freaked-out shit that I think is very cool. Norway is home to the third band whose music we’re featuring in this post — Wrath Passion. They’ve just put up two new songs for free download that are killing me. Knowing they’re from Norway, you get one guess about the style of music they’re pumping out.

Last, we have a “band” from Japan and a song in a style of music called Zeuhl. If you know what Zeuhl is, you get a big cookie. If you’ve heard of Kōenji Hyakkei (a/k/a koenjihyakkei) you get two big cookies. If you make it all the way through the song I’ve got for you, you’ll need those cookies to use in place of your brain, which will have liquified and poured out your nose.  (stay with us after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

I LOVE ZOMBIES, DEATH METAL, CATS, AND DEATH METAL, THOUGH NOT NECESSARILY IN THAT ORDER

 IQ Subtraction, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  21 Responses »
Jun 132011
 


I love many things. I will not name all of them today, because I don’t want to get too personal. I will just name a few of them, so you will feel like you know me better. That way, we can become closer friends, and perhaps do some internet bonding. If I told you all the things I love, this would take a long time, and we might not be friends after I was finished, because maybe some of the things I love would repulse you. Probably not, but I feel it’s better to stick with the things that you’re likely to love as much as I do.

Like zombies. Everyone loves zombies, right? Or at least, everyone loves the idea of zombies. I don’t know anyone who has actually met a zombie. It’s possible that if I met an actual zombie, I would not love it. I would instead be trying to stop it from eating my brain. I think it would be difficult to love something that was trying to eat my brain. I do like certain intoxicants, and from what I understand, many of them are slowly eating my brain, a few cells at a time. But a zombie would want to eat the whole thing, in a hurry. So, I think you can only love a zombie that you don’t personally know, like love in a very abstract way.

I love death metal, too. I basically love all flavors of death metal. I just wanna hug all of death metal — I know it’s crazy, I can’t hug all of death metal, but I just want to! I have a particular weakness for really ill, old-school, super-downtuned, spinning-chainsaw death metal — the kind that goes well with zombies. Actually, to be precise, the kind played by, for, and about zombies. Everyone likes that kind of music, right? So, confessing this kind of love should make me more popular. And since I have a new video from Puteraeon for you that pretty much epitomizes this kind of music, I’ll be, like, the most popular person in your life!

I love cats, too, and cats love me, so you should, too. Many people like cats. Some people like them with a very intense feeling. I have video evidence of that. Watching this video makes me feel like a more normally balanced person. I think it will make you feel that way, too. I think this is why people sometimes enjoy watching unbalanced people, because it makes you feel more balanced, even when you secretly think you’re as unbalanced as your checkbook. The video also inspired me to write this post.

Did I mention that I love death metal? I love it when it has a blackened crust, because I am loving black metal more all the time, too. I have found a new song by Thromdarr that I love. I think you will love it, too. If you don’t, then you probably aren’t someone I would love, except in a very abstract way. (more sharing and bonding after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

TWO NEW SONGS TO KICK OFF YOUR WEEKEND IN STYLE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
Jun 102011
 

Time to start mentally gearing up for the weekend. We’re here to help with a couple of killer new songs from Machine Head and All Shall Perish.

Almost four years have passed since Machine Head’s last album, The Blackening, which garnered mountainous heaps of praise. The next album (still untitled) is now finally scheduled for a September 27 release by Roadrunner Records. To begin building excitement for the album, a single called “Locust” will be released on June 14 for digital distribution on iTunes and Amazon MP3. Earlier this week, a 30-second sample of the song surfaced, but now the whole thing is up on YouTube.

It’s about 8 minutes long and it sounds great. It’s multifaceted, both heavy and melodic — a damned good harbinger for the album to come. Have a listen after the jump.

All Shall Perish also have a new album on the way, one we’re really looking forward to. It will be called This Is Where It Ends, and it’s due for  North American release on June 26 by Nuclear Blast. Two days ago, Lambgoat premiered the second song from the album to receive advance display. It’s called “Procession of Ashes”. It’s a crusher, as you would expect, but it includes a few musical surprises from this band, including an extended outro that I really didn’t see coming.

Both these songs are rockin’ my head this morning. You can hear both after the jump. Continue reading »

OLD SCHOOL / NEW SCHOOL

 IQ Subtraction, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  22 Responses »
Jun 092011
 

Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of a feature we’re calling OLD SCHOOL / NEW SCHOOL.  I usually run on at the mouth in introducing posts around here, but for this one, I’m just gonna let you figure out the theme for yourselves. Given the title we’re using for this series, it seemed fitting to begin with the following contrast. (Don’t worry, there will be music after the jump.)

OLD SCHOOL

NEW SCHOOL

(yeah, more after the jump . . .)

Continue reading »

THREE FOR THREE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  23 Responses »
Jun 082011
 

I randomly watched three brand new videos this morning for three very different kinds of songs. If I were a baseball player, I’d say I went three for three at the plate — three chances, three hits. Three good songs, and as for the videos, I’d call them a triple, a double, and a single.

The triple comes from a UK underground band called Amebix, who haven’t released any new material in almost 24 years — until June 3, when they released a new single called “Knights of the Black Sun” on their own label, Amebix Records. The song includes much more clean singing than we usually tolerate around here, but I’ve fallen for it pretty hard. It soars like an anthem, with ringing guitars and passionate vocals and a memorable melody. The video is a dark, mesmerizing animation created by Andy Lefton and Fin McAteer. It’s beautiful to watch.

The double is the video for a new song by Taiwan’s Chthonic called “Takao”. It has been digitally released today (in Finland) as a single and will appear on the band’s next album, Takasago Army, to be released by Spinefarm Records. Stylistically, the song is very much in the vein of Finnish-brand melodic death metal, and naturally, I’m liking it a lot. Not surprisingly, there’s a “B-side” version of this same song on the single, with the choruses sung by members of Finland’s Ensiferum. To fully appreciate the beautifully made video, it helps to understand that the song is about a group of Taiwanese men recruited by the Japanese army from the Takao harbor to fight in the Pacific during World War II. According to Chthonic’s Doris Yeh, “they became the most revered and most feared combat unit in the Japanese Imperial Army.”

The single is a video for the title track to the new album from Florida’s Catalepsy — Bleed. The song is just a fucking crusher. The subject matter of the video isn’t nearly as interesting as the first two featured in this post, but it’s well made. As for the subject matter, let’s just say that you should remind me not to piss off Catalepsy, should I forget. Watch the videos after the jump. I think you’ll be glad you did. Continue reading »

DYING FETUS COVERS BOLT THROWER

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jun 072011
 

Yes, this is our fifth post for the day, which is way higher than our normal output at NCS. But unexpected things continue to happen to us, and it’s not even 1 p.m., Pacific Time.

This post is explained by the fact that Dying Fetus has just posted their cover of Bolt Thrower‘s “Unleashed Upon Mankind” from their forthcoming limited edition, mini-LP History Repeats… . You can listen to it at this location., or go past the jump and listen here. To us, that’s newsworthy, because it’s motherfucking Dying Fetus covering a classic motherfucking Bolt Thrower song.

The song is a sweet piece of nasty, technical, death metal. Military metaphors leap to mind — lumbering tanks slowly pulverising rocks and remains beneath the treads. High-caliber machine guns spitting death, mowing down ranks of mere humanity. Flamethrowers jetting superheated fuel. There’s definitely a “kill ’em all, let god sort ’em out” attitude about this music. Go past the jump and see for yourself. Continue reading »

IT’S ALL BLACK

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
Jun 072011
 

At the risk of swamping you in too much music for a single post, I’m collecting four items here that I discovered this past weekend. The unifying theme for this collection is blackness.

Black, as in Black Dahlia Murder covering “This Mortal Coil” by Carcass, with Jeff Walker on guest vocals. Black, as in a good-quality video of Anaal Nathrakh performing “Do Not Speak” at a club in Paris on May 31. Black, as in news about a tribute album to Enslaved, featuring 20 bands (plus the schedule for a fall North American tour by Enslaved along with Ghost and Alcest). Black, as in another quality performance video — of Belphegor vomiting forth satanic spew in Denver on May 16. Without further ado …

BLACK DAHLIA MURDER

For some reason, I continue to receive my copy of DECIBEL magazine way early. I’m not complaining. Well, maybe I’m complaining a little. I’ve had the July issue for a week now — the one with Trey Azagthoth and David Vincent of Morbid Angel on the cover and a big feature inside about their new album Illud Duvinum Insanus — which has already generated an insanus amount of controversy in the web-world (much of it among people who haven’t even heard the album yet).

Because I received the issue early, that means I’ve had a week to stare at the “flexi disc” inside — the recording on a piece of plastic of Black Dahlia Murder covering “This Mortal Coil” by Carcass. I’ve been staring at it because listening isn’t an option — since I don’t own a fucking turntable. I’ve been waiting semi-patiently for someone to transfer the music to digital and put it up on YouTube, which has now finally happened. The digital transfer didn’t happen seamlessly — you can hear some of the imperfections on the flexi-disc — but the BDM cover is a slayer.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

AN NCS EP BUNDLE: THE APOCRYPHAL ORDER, SHATTERED SKIES, AND ROOKS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  19 Responses »
Jun 062011
 

(Intrepid NCS writer Israel Flanders has single-handedly convinced three excellent and musically diverse bands — The Apocryphal Order (The Faroe Islands), Shattered Skies (Ireland), and Rooks (Illinois) — to let us offer you their recent EP’s for free download, and we’re bundling them together for you in a package. But first, Israel has a few words of introduction . . .)

Guess what, I have a special treat for you today. Three bands agreed to let me post their EP’s today, so what I got for you is a music bundle! I’m gonna do brief summaries of these for you guys and let you be on your way =)

Go read my review of The Apocryphal Order’s self-titled EP here (“this album is full of furious thrash and death metal riffing, every drum beat you could possibly imagine, tempo changes, brutal hoarse vocals . . . . imagine a love child of Death, Testament, Forbidden, and Deicide“). (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

PIG DESTROYER TO PLAY TWO SHOWS IN THE PACIFIC NORTHWEST

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jun 052011
 

I’m absolutely fawning in my admiration of Pig Destroyer. Fawning, I tell you. Their music is the aural equivalent of a fetal alien ripping its way out of your chest, except in this case it feels damn good to have that toothsome little bastard explode your body cavity in a spray of crimson gore. Plus, the members of the band are just so damned interesting. They lead more-or-less normal suburban lives and work at more-or-less normal day jobs (check this fascinating feature to see what I mean by “more or less normal”) and they play insane music pretty much to please themselves.

They’re all very talented musicians, perhaps most especially Scott Hull, who MetalSucks justifiably named to the No. 6 spot on its nearly finished list of The Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists. In their eloquent words (with which I fully agree): “The guy is just a riff factory, churning out a seemingly endless parade of ear-fuckery. . . . Various forms of punk, speed, and death metal all converge in the tips of Hull’s fingers, spilling out as pretty much the best grindcore and powerviolence currently being created anywhere on the planet.”

So, with that backdrop, you can imagine how excited I was to see that Pig Destroyer is scheduled to play a show at El Corazon in Seattle on September 10. Seeing that (as I was updating our NW Metal Calendar section today), I thought, “Holy fuck, these guys never tour. I wonder if maybe this is part of an actual, national Pig Destroyer tour?” So, I did some web surfing. Unfortunately for those of you who don’t live in the Pacific Northwest of these United States, it doesn’t look like this is part of a tour.

BUT . . . I did find that Pig Destroyer is in the vicinity because they’re appearing at MUSICFEST NW — a five-day festival (similar to SXSW) that will run September 7-11 in Portland, Oregon. Musically, this festival is all over the map, with metal being only a tiny part of the genres represented. But it turns out there are some other well-known metal acts scheduled to appear at the festival. (more after the jump, including a Pig Destroyer song, just for the fuck of it.) Continue reading »

AMON AMARTH EURO TOUR (AND “GUARDIANS OF ASGARD” WITH LG PETROV)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jun 032011
 

I’m a day or two late reporting the schedule for Amon Amarth‘s European tour, but I forgive myself. What other U.S. metal blog is going to say anything about a European tour at all?

Exactly.   So there.

Yes, Amon Amarth will be embarking on a 15-country tour of the UK and the Continent beginning on October 12 in Stuttgart, Germany. Can you guess who will be supporting them on that tour? Go ahead — close your eyes so you don’t see the answer and take a guess.

If you guessed As I Lay Dying, then you’re a fucking genius. I sure wouldn’t have guessed that match-up, even though I like both bands and they’re both in the Metal Blade stable. If you do a word-association exercise, and you say the first band that comes to mind when someone says “AMON AMARTH!”, the odds are you’re not going to say “AS I LAY DYING!”

A band like Entombed would have been closer to what I would have guessed. But as it happens, you can sort of have that cake and eat it, too, because LG Petrov of Entombed provided guest vocals on “Guardians of Asgard” with Amon Amarth when the band played the Metalfest festival in Switzerland on May 29 — and of course it was captured on video. This is fan-filmed footage, so the audio quality isn’t ideal (though it isn’t terrible), but the video quality is pretty good.

Plus, I mean, it’s LG Petrov singing with Amon Amarth on “Guardians of Asgard”. If you’re as big a metal geek as I am (no need for you to confess out loud), you know you have to watch this, just so you’ll be able to die happy if you get flattened by a beer truck while crossing the street today. So, after the jump — Euro tour dates and that video. Continue reading »

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