AMORPHIS DEBUTS SECOND NEW SONG FROM NEXT ALBUM

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
May 022011
 

Today Amorphis began streaming a second song from their next album, The Beginning Of Times, which is scheduled for release on May 27 via Nuclear Blast Records. This one is called “My Enemy”.

Now, we already warned you in our post about the first song released from this album (“You I Need”) that although we weren’t blown away by that song, we were going to continue covering developments about this album like a wet blanket. Actually, what we said was this: “. . . we’re probably going to run a feature every time anyone in the band belches or farts between now and May 27.” So far, we haven’t been tested on that boast. Fortunately, what we have today is an actual song rather than an expulsion of nether-wind.

So what about this song? Well, you can tell it’s an Amorphis melody from about the first 2 seconds — and then the first vocals you hear are GROWLY (yes!). The song includes some heavy riffing too go along with those gruff vocals, and the chorus melody is just fine. I’m calling this a step up from “You I Need”). Speaking of that first song, Amorphis is filming a video for it, which will be available in the coming weeks — and I’m sure we’ll stick it up here at NCS pronto.

Now go past the jump and listen to the new song. Continue reading »

KRODA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  17 Responses »
May 012011
 

Assume that you’re a near-slavish fan of Agalloch. Now assume that you saw this post by the band on its Facebook page, preceding a link: “New KRODA album sneak peak. It is awesome!” What would you do? As a near-slavish fan of Agalloch, I clicked on that link with my trusty mouse. That took me to a web page for a Ukrainian black metal band called Kroda. On that page was a music player streaming five songs from a forthcoming album entitled Schwarzpfad (which Google Translate tells me is German for “black path”).

The player was preceded by this cryptic verbiage: “Don’t download this promo-version due to low bitrate and because this mix miscontains something. Furthermore, please, don’t upload this promo-version to mp3-traders portals as ‘album’. Respect musicians and their wish to give you possibility to listen new material for free before it is officially released. The promo-player will be active only ’til 02.05.2011. Schwarzpfad album will be released via PURITY THROUGH FIRE in closest time.”

I’m really only guessing about what that means, but my guess is that some of the mixing and mastering remains to be done for the songs as they’re delivered via the player (though it sounds finished to me). I wondered why Kroda bothered to put up the stream with those kinds of reservations. But Agalloch vouched for the awesomeness of the music, even in its not-entirely-finished state, so I started listening.

I listened to every song. And then I started over and listened again. Why? Because it’s . . . awesome. And it doesn’t sound quite like any black metal I’ve heard this year. I figured out a way to embed that player here on our site (after the jump). Check it out now, because if that cryptic note is correct, the stream is about to evaporate. Continue reading »

SAVAGE, SWEET, AND IN BETWEEN

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  16 Responses »
Apr 302011
 

The weekend is upon us. Don’t know about you, but I’m fucking ready for it. Tonight I’m going to see Between the Buried and Me, Job For A Cowboy, The Ocean, and Cephalic Carnage, which is certainly one of the more diverse touring line-ups of the year, so far. I’ve seen three of those bands multiple times in the past, and they do not disappoint, and I’m very curious about the fourth, who I’ve never heard on stage — The Ocean.

I hope you’ve got something to look forward to this weekend, too. But even if you plan to wallow in misery because life decided to burn a bag of shit on your front porch, we can at least give you some new tunes to brighten the weekend outlook. Not knowing what kind of metal you may be into, I tried to round up a mix of styles, while staying with the theme of new music.

Maybe you enjoy having your face clawed off by demon spawn. If so, we’ve got yet another new piece of otherworldly scariness from Malfeitor (Sweden). Maybe that’s not enough, and what you really want is music that will leave your flesh so scavenged that even hyenas will lose interest in your carcass. We have an answer for that, with a compilation from CVlt Nation. Maybe you get your rocks off from technical guitar wizardry, with music that transports you into a sublime plane which makes you feel connected to something larger than your own feeble soul. If yes, then you’ll want to hear a taste (two tastes, actually) of the solo release from Christian Muenzner (Obscura).

And maybe you want something in between, something that captures the emotion of your life, with every high and low, from the rocket-ship into the stratosphere to the utter desolation of your worst depression, from the sunrise to the bottomless pit. Yeah, we have that too, from Germany’s Ära Krâ. But before that we have a brand new song from Origin, and we really shouldn’t have to explain how many kinds of awesome that means. Stay with us, after the jump . . . Continue reading »

WOULD YOU LIKE A NEW SONG FROM THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER? OF COURSE YOU WOULD

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Apr 292011
 

I have a sneaking suspicion that among our readers we have more than a few fans of The Black Dahlia Murder. So, this seemed newsworthy. Actually, “newsworthy” is a very restrained way of saying, “Holy fuck, have we got some shit that will engorge your erogenous zones!” Or something like that.

Newsworthy/Erotic Item No. 1: The Black Dahlia Murder’s new album, Ritual, will be released on June 21 in the U.S. and in Europe on other dates in June. The album is up for pre-order on Metal Blade’s site (here).

Newsworthy/Erotic Item No. 2: Metal Blade has premiered a new song from Ritual called “Moonlight Equilibrium”. I’ve heard it. I like it a lot. It’s a blaster, with a sweet groove and some invigorating shred. You can hear it, too, right after the jump. Continue reading »

CAPSULE UPDATE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Apr 292011
 

Man, time do fly. Last July we discovered a head-spinning South Florida metal band called Capsule. At that time, they had only released one album (not counting a previous demo) called Blue. We reviewed that unpredictable but always crushing album here. Jump ahead to the here and now, and Capsule have released a second album called No Ghost on Rohrschach Records.

On top of that, Capsule scored an exclusive album stream on DECIBEL magazine’s web site. To borrow from the DECIBEL intro: “To loosely quote Ice Cube, today is a good day. The Deciblog is proud to be the only site on the Internut streaming the new album from Miami, FL, hardcore melody makers Capsule. No Ghost is a deliciously dizzying slice of adrenalized pogo-ready jams. It gives you the illusion that your brain is expanding in your skull, making you feel momentarily wiser than you actually are. We have no qualms with that.”

I would have no qualms about that either, except my brain started out so small that it would take a shitload of expanding to bring it up to human-normal size. So, although I don’t feel wiser listening to No Ghost, the music did cause me to slam around the room like a pinball and bust up all the furniture. That counts for something, right?

We think DECIBEL has hogged the album stream long enough, so we’re putting it up on our site, too. Plus, we’ve got more good news: Capsule is on the road as we speak. In fact, if you happen to live in Seattle, you can catch their show tonight at The Black Lodge. After the jump, we’ve got the rest of the remaining tour dates and places, plus that album stream. Check that shit out. Continue reading »

THE PROS AND CONS OF COVERS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Apr 292011
 

Anachronaeon is a two-man band from Sweden consisting of Andreas Åkerlind on drums and Patrik Carlsson providing guitars, bass, vocals, and keys. We first heard their music last summer on a tip from our blog-bro Niek at Death Metal Baboon (yes, it seems we’re destined to mention DMB in every post we run this week), and we then featured the band in one of our MISCELLANY posts last August (here).

Yesterday we got an e-mail from Patrik Carlsson telling us that Anachronaeon have recorded a cover of “Wasting Love” by Iron Maiden, which the band are making available for free download. I took a deep breath when I saw that, (a) because I love the original Maiden version of “Wasting Love” (despite the clean singing), and (b) because I couldn’t imagine what Anachronaeon would do to the song, given the band’s own musical style — which is a dark fusion of melodic black- and death-metal.

And right after that deep breath came a rush of thoughts about song covers in general — how rarely they succeed, and how “success” should be defined and measured. After the jump, those thoughts (on which we’d like to see your comments) plus Iron Maiden’s official video for “Wasting Love” and Anachronaeon’s cover. Continue reading »

DEALS DEATH: “FORTIFIED”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Apr 272011
 

Deals Death is a melodic death-metal band from — where else — Gothenburg, Sweden. I first heard about them last September when Death Metal Baboon posted a track called “Fortified”, which Deals Death had recorded in 2010 as part of an album called Elite (their second full-length). Not long after hearing that song (which I though rocked the fuck out), I saw that the band had decided to scrap all of the recordings for Elite and to have them re-mixed by none other than Jonas Kjellgren of Scar Symmetry.

Deals Death now reports that the re-mix is finished, the album artwork is complete, and they’re “considering different options” for the release of Elite. I would like to suggest, as one option, that they release the album to me so that I can listen to all of it. I think this is an excellent option, because I’ve now heard the re-mixed version of “Fortified” and it’s my kinda thang — thrash-paced melodic death metal with a catchy melody, infectious grooves hammered out by the rhythm instruments, and a vein-bursting screamer.

I’ve heard that remixed song, not because I’m special or anything, but because Deals Death just released a music video for “Fortified”. It’s a professionally filmed video of the band performing the song and looks good. I predict the ladies are going to like shirtless vocalist Olle Ekman. No slight intended to the other dudes in Deals Death, but Olle has clearly been putting in some time at the gym.  Check out the vid after the jump, and get prepared to bang yo fucken head. Continue reading »

RAY’S MUSIC

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  24 Responses »
Apr 272011
 

Sometimes we get into e-mail exchanges with NCS readers, and sometimes we learn a few things about them that you wouldn’t know just from reading their comments here on the site. Take Ray Heberer, for example (he uses only his first name when he leaves comments). Ray is 15 years old, approaching his 16th birthday. He lives in Taiwan. He goes to a demanding school, he’s on the track team, and he began visiting this site not long ago.

Ray is also a guitarist, and he also plays bass. He’s been playing for about 2 years, which would mean he started when he was about 13. I think I was still breast-feeding at 13. The only instrument I could play with when I was 15 was the one attached to my body. So, in one sense, what Ray does sort of depresses me. And, for those of us who are a bit insecure about our own talents, this story gets worse.

Ray also composes and records his own music, he’s a fair hand with synthesizers, and he’s the centerpiece of three bands (Haemic, Dreams of Winter, and Bloodred Fullmoon), plus his own solo project (Reclusive Forest Council). It’s all metal, but because Ray evidently hasn’t yet settled on the style of music he wants to make his focus, each of these projects explores different styles.

And to top it off, Ray is good. How good? Well, you’re about to find out. We’re going to play you some of Ray’s music, including a medley of melodies from the forthcoming Dreams of Winter album that Ray created just for NCS. We predict the time will come when you’ll be proud to tell people, “Hey, I heard that dude’s music on NCS when he was only 15!” (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

HAVE A FEST WITH TROLLS!

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Apr 222011
 

What do you get when you give metal-playing trolls a shitload of beer, an accordion, a saxophone, some folk-ish melodies, a drummer who spits blasts like an automatic weapon, a mix of shrieking and clean vocals, and then ramp their delivery up to the speed of balls-to-the-wall grindcore? Well, I’m so glad you asked. What you get is Norway’s TrollfesT playing “Die Verdammte Hungersnot”.

We’ve written about TrollfesT a bunch in the past (most recently, here). They’ve got a new album coming out (En Kvest For Den Hellige Gral) on Noiseart Records on April 29. To help promote the album’s debut, they’re releasing weekly videos, and today’s installment is a live performance of that song  “Die Verdammte Hungersnot”. Since almost every NCS post today has involved videos, we thought, why not toss in a little TrollfesT mayhem to round off the day and get us in a proper swilling mood for the weekend? Indeed, why the fuck not?

Everything about these dudes screams, “Party now because tomorrow you die!” As further evidence, watch this hell-raising video. I like the way the lead singer manages to work in gulps of beer in between bouts of screaming like a banshee, and how the rest of the guys, who have their hands full with instruments, look longingly at the imbibing in between banging their heads and blasting away on their instruments. So, check the rocking video after the jump. I feel like chugging a six-pack and sailing on into the good night ahead . . . Continue reading »

BLOODBATH OVER BLOODSTOCK: “EATEN”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  20 Responses »
Apr 222011
 

Bloodbath is fucking sick. To quote Noisecreep, because they called it right: “When you can count vocalist Mikael Åkerfeldt (Opeth), guitarists Anders Nyström and Per Eriksson (Katatonia), bassist Jonas Renkse (Katatonia), and drummer Martin Axenrot (Opeth) in your band’s lineup, you definitely have the right to brag.”

Bloodbath’s three studio albums and two EPs kill shit, and they’re among our favorites here at the NCS Island. Unfortunately, the band doesn’t play live shows very often, but the one they did at the UK’s Bloodstock festival was captured on film and it’s about to be released (on April 25) by Peaceville Records in a DVD called Bloodbath Over Bloodstock. The DVD is also supposed to include a 16-page booklet, bonus footage taken from the PartySan Festival in 2008, and extensive band member interviews.

Today, the aforementioned Noisecreep exclusively premiered an excerpt from the DVD, with Bloodbath playing the song “Eaten”, from the band’s Nightmares Made Flesh album. It’s fucking sick. Watch it here after the jump (and thank you, Noisecreep). Continue reading »

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