EYE-CATCHERS: BLOOD FREAK

 Eye-Catchers, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  42 Responses »
Apr 102011
 

I may not be able to write much during the next two weeks, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be completely invisible. Every now and then I’ll expose myself, figuratively speaking of course,  just so you don’t forget me. However, the exposures will mostly be fleeting, hit-and-run, guerilla-warfare incursions. In other words, my posts will be even more half-assed and unoriginal than usual. The only plus side for you is that they’ll be short.

This post will set the tone for more to come. First, it’s completely unoriginal — I stole the idea from The Living Doorway, which is a blog you should check out if you haven’t already. Second, it’s very short, because I haven’t even listened to the album in question, just the one song featured on The Living Doorway post. And third, because I wrote it, it will be half-assed by definition.

The band is Blood Freak, from Portland. The album is Mindscraper, now out on Willowtip Records. The song is “Pink on the Inside”. The style is “a splattery hodgepodge of bass-heavy goregrind, campy thrashiness, and grooving horror-fueled death metal.” I’m quoting The Living Doorway post because I can’t improve on that description. My own half-assed opinion? I love this song. You may listen to it after the jump. Continue reading »

METAL FROM SOUTH AFRICA

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  35 Responses »
Apr 092011
 

You say the words “death metal” — and I do mean “death metal”, not “melodic death metal” — to any metalhead who doesn’t like and appreciate the genre, and they’re likely to lump all of it together in one sweeping dismissal. Of course, as fans of the genre well know, “death metal” encompasses a great variety of sounds and styles. Sometimes the differences are subtle, particularly on the more “brutal” end of the spectrum, but the distinctions are what keep DM addicts diving back into the black pool over and over again.

Those thoughts have been rumbling around my head since I started listening to the music of three South African death metal bands, repeatedly, for this post. I’ve been sitting on music from two of those bands way too long without saying something about them. More recently, we were contacted by a third band from South Africa, and that finally pushed me to get this post done.

Before now, I think the only South African band we’ve featured at NCS has been the ingeniously named, bagpipe-driven Haggis and Bong (here, for example). I’m pretty sure I first heard about one of today’s threesome — All Forlorn — through a post by Haggis and Bong on their Facebook page. The other two — A Walk With the Wicked and Bile of Man — came our way via e-mails from the bands.

All three bands are loaded with talent, and two of the three have got music that’s available for free download. Following the jump are some thoughts about, and music from, each band, in the order in which we heard about them. Continue reading »

THIS AND THAT

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, That's Metal -- But It's Not Music  37 Responses »
Apr 082011
 

As I forecast, today I’m starting a two-week stretch when I probably won’t be able to write a new post every day. I have some longer posts about new music in the works that I haven’t been able to get done yet, though I hope I can finish some of them soon. But, because I’m running out of time, today’s post will be pretty random. I also hope you’ll find some fun in it.

I should have a few of my own posts to run here and there over the next two weeks, but you can expect lots of guest posts, too — because I’m fucking delighted to say that people have responded enthusiastically to my open appeal for help.  I’ve already received a half-dozen, I know more are coming from people who’ve e-mailed me, and I bet still more will arrive over the next two weeks that I’m not even expecting yet. If you want to do this, there’s still time. Just check out some “rules” here.

Now, for today: I’ve got something that could have fit quite nicely in a THAT’S METAL! post, but I haven’t yet collected enough other items to fill one out — so I’m using it today. But I also wanted to include some new metal, so this turned into just a random mishmash of unconnected stuff — a video about the latest dance/fashion craze from Matehuala, Mexico that you won’t fucking believe, and a brand new song from Scar Symmetry. Check it after the jump . . . Continue reading »

A GROWING APPRECIATION FOR THE FINER THINGS IN LIFE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  105 Responses »
Apr 072011
 

Liz is 25 years old. Two years ago, Liz had 40 songs on her iPod and “a graveyard of abandoned projects”. She found a book called 1001 Albums You Should Listen To Before You Die. The book starts with a Frank Sinatra album called In The Wee Small Hours from 1955 and goes up to 2007. On a day 516 days ago, Liz decided to start listening to all the albums in that book. She listens to one album each day, from start to finish, and then she writes her impressions in a blog. On May 6, 2012, if she keeps this up, she’ll have listened to someone’s idea of the best 1001 albums in history.

What caught my eye was that this list of 1001 albums includes some metal. I haven’t made my way through very many of Liz’s posts, but on April 2 (Day 513) she listened to The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden and on March 26 (Day 510) she listened to Black Metal by Venom. By her own admission, Liz was in a “tiny music bubble” when she started this project. Whatever music was in the bubble with her, it’s fair to say that it didn’t include anything like Iron Maiden or Venom.

I like imagining how non-metalheads react when they listen to metal. Reading Liz’s take on these albums, seeing them through the eyes of someone who is new to the genre but is clearly doing her best to keep an open mind, is kind of fun. Of course, she hasn’t been converted — yet. It would have been better if she had found a list of the 1001 best extreme metal albums of all time and forced herself to do that for 1001 days, though she might have been hospitalized before finishing. Also, I’m not sure there are 1001 great extreme metal albums.

After the jump, you can see what she wrote about The Number of the Beast and Black Metal. You can also hear a brand new track from the Swedish band called Shining (not the Norwegian one by the same name) from their next album. I’m wondering how Liz would react to this beast of a song (it’s a fucking killer). Continue reading »

WAKE THE FUCK UP!

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  26 Responses »
Apr 062011
 

I’m not suggesting you’re asleep. That post title is the message I gave to myself, over and over again, this morning. It’s the middle of the damned week, and somehow I found myself over-doing it with old friends way past my usual bed-time, and I’m moving reeeeeally slowly this morning.

What I needed was a good jolt, a nasty steel-toed kick in the ass, a bucket of cold water over the head, a brisk slap in the face. But I contented myself instead with the music we’ve got for you this morning. It certainly woke me the fuck up.

We’ve got four offerings of jolting, ass-kicking, bracing, face-slapping music, including two new videos and some free download options, from Pain (Sweden), Wormrot (Singapore), Malfeitor (Sweden), and Kataklysm (Canada). Let’s get to it:

PAIN

Peter Tägtgren is best known for his work as a music producer and as the vocalist and guitarist for long-running Swedish luminaries Hypocrisy. But he’s had many other projects as well, and one of them is an outfit called Pain. That band has been around a long time, too, though I don’t think I’ve ever listened to the music. That’s now changed. Their 7th album is scheduled for release on June 3, and there’s now a new song available for free download.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

LOUDBLAST! (A MINDLESS MEDITATION ON THE MARKETING OF METAL)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  27 Responses »
Apr 052011
 

Can we talk? I hope so. I had an experience yesterday that made me think about the marketing of metal bands, the do’s and the don’ts. And I’d like to vent a bit. You can talk back to me if you like, either under your breath or in the comments.

I saw a blurb on Blabbermouth about a French band called Loudblast. I got interested immediately because of the band’s name. I thought, this band’s name sums up my interest in metal, in one word: I like music that’s loud and blasts. Maybe my taste is s a little more nuanced than that, but if I’m brutally honest with myself, those are two key ingredients. In fact, those are often the only ingredients I need. Plus, the band is from France, and these days French metal bands are coming damned close to the Finns — they almost do no wrong.

So, I continued reading that Blabbermouth blurb. I learned that this band called Loudblast has a new album called Frozen Moments Between Life And Death due for release on April 18 via XIII Bis Records. Plus, the album has a cool piece of cover art. Plus, the album was mixed by Peter Tägtgren. And all that piqued my interest even more.

The blurb said the CD will be released in Germany, Austria, “Benelux”, Switzerland, Spain, the U.K., and Ireland. Uh, what? No mention of the U.S. and Canada? Well, that sometimes happens with some European bands and their labels. It’s like they’re trying to send the message to metalnuts in NorthAm, “You’re ugly and you smell like my rectum, and fuck you with a rusty crowbar.”

But I’m not offended. I get insulted or ignored all the fucking time. So I continued reading and learned that there’s a song from this album called “Emptiness Crushes My Soul” that’s streaming “exclusively” at a web site called RadioMetal.com. And that’s where the shit really started to piss me off.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

KRALLICE: “THE CLEARING”

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Apr 032011
 

Since this is an unheard-of third post on a Sunday, it will be short. But it will be very sweet.

Krallice is a powerfully good black-metal band from New York consisting of Colin Marston (who is involved in many other projects, including Behold . . . The Arctopus, Dysrhythmia, and Gorguts), Mick Barr (Orthrelm), Lev Weinstein, and Nick McMaster. Their third album, Diotima, is scheduled for release by the reliable Profound Lore label on April 26. Wholly apart from the music, the album cover (above) is one of the most eye-catching we’ve seen this year.

Among many cool things about Profound Lore, they make MP3s from their artists available for free download at their site.  Within the last few days, they’ve done that for one of the tracks from Diotima. The song is called “The Clearing”. It’s a long one (12+ minutes), but it’s stunning. It’s unrelenting in its ferocity, and just loaded with riveting hooks and instrumental wizardry — an overwhelming listening experience. Stream (or download) it below, or download it from Profound Lore here. We’ll have a full album review in the near future.

Krallice: The Clearing

YOUR NERVE CELLS WILL LIKE NERVECELL’S NEW SONG (AND ORIGIN’S NEW ALBUM COVER, TOO)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Apr 032011
 

I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve listened to Nervecell’s debut album Preaching Venom since I got my hands on it in 2008. In the sophisticated journalist jargon we use here at NCS, it’s fucking awesome. Nervecell’s second album, Psychogenocide, has already hit the streets in the Middle East (Nervecell is from Dubai in the UAE). It will be released via Lifeforce Records on April 29th 2011 in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and on May 2nd 2011 in the rest of Europe & the UK.  I don’t yet know the plans for distribution in NorthAm.

As we learned through that most excellent metal blog Metality, the band have posted a new song from Psychogenocide for streaming. I had planned to spend my day listening to other things, but this song has trashed those plans. I suppose I’ll eventually tire of pressing “play” over and over again, but I’m not there yet.

The song is called “All Eyes On Them”. If you’re a fan of bands like Nile, Origin, Behemoth, or Deicide, I can pretty much guarantee this song is going to love you long time, or vice-versa. It churns and blasts in a tasty fusion of death metal and thrash, but it also includes a slower-paced instrumental breakdown with a nice little Eastern-flavored guitar solo. And speaking of Nile, Karl Sanders provides guest vocals on a song called “Shunq”, which will include both English and Arabic lyrics, and it appears that Psycroptic‘s Dave Haley laid down the drum tracks for the album, as he did on the band’s debut. The album cover is rad, too. Check out the artwork and the song after the jump.

Oh, and speaking of Origin, we have the cover of their next album — and a release date — also after the jump. Continue reading »

A CHANGE OF PACE: THE ALEX SKOLNICK TRIO, ECHTRA, AND SENSER

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Mar 312011
 

We started this week with a trio of posts on . . . viciousness (beginning here). Then we assisted in the disfigurement of a goddess. And yesterday was all about the venomous hatred in Anaal Nathrakh. Granted, we did have the thing about the epic Indian feed and the photos of Phro in a miniskirt, but musically speaking, it’s been a pretty pummeling week so far.

We do like to keep you a little off-balance here at NCS, so this seemed like a good day for something . . . completely different. Three completely different somethings, to be precise. We don’t often venture outside our comfort zone around here, but we’re definitely doing that today. The thing is, we’re still sort of staying true to the “no clean singing” mantra — because there’s no singing at all on our first offering, and almost none on the second.

So, ready, set, GO!

THE ALEX SKOLNICK TRIO

The last time we featured music similar to this next band (pictured above), it was the day before Thanksgiving last year. In a post called “Guitar Wizardry”, we featured new music from Joe Satriani and old music from Buckethead. That set off an interesting dialogue in the Comments section about guitar heroes and the connections between them, and of course, Alex Skolnick‘s name was mentioned more than once, in the same company as Paul Gilbert, Steve Vai, Allan Holdsworth, Jeff Young, Jeff Beck, and John Petrucci, along with Satriani (with whom Skolnick studied long ago) and Brian “Buckethead” Carroll. (more after the jump, including ear candy . . .) Continue reading »

DISFIGURING THE GODDESS: THE NEW ALBUM IS STREAMING

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  23 Responses »
Mar 292011
 

We’ve written about Cam Argon, a/k/a Big Chocolate, before. Many times before, in fact, though not recently. What first attracted our attention to him back in 2008 was his involvement in a brutal death-metal project called Disfiguring the Goddess.   You can find a bit of the backstory about DTG in this post we ran more than a year ago. Cribbing from that post, we described the original DTG EP like this: “a raw, distorted vortex of brutal, slamming death metal marked by some truly distinctive vocals.”

Since surfacing as a cult-figure-on-the-rise through DTG, Cam has gone on to do many other things, including dubstep, remixes, a project called Commissioner with Mitch Lucker of Suicide Silence, making music videos, and a stint as the vocalist for Burning the Masses. His musical interests are, shall we say, varied.

But no matter how far and wide Big C’s musical creativity has taken him (or will take him), there have been a solid mass of core fans interested mainly in one question: When will there be new Disfiguring the Goddess music? The question is now answered, because yesterday Cam Argon uploaded an entire new album’s worth of DTG music to Soundcloud.

The album is called Circle of Nine. Based on previous reports, we assume Big C recorded all the songs with ex-Misericordiam blaster Phil Cancilla on drums and Joe Broodle on guitar, in addition to the instrumental and programming work that Big C himself did. [Update: that was a bad assumption — we’ve now heard from Cam, and he did this whole album by himself, all the vocals, guitars, and drum programming.] And, of course, there are those distinctive vocals.

We’ve just started listening to these tracks this morning, and goddamn, it will spin your fucking head around and then tear it off. Fast, brutal, jolting, unpredictable, instrumentally inventive, and anchored by the most gut rumbling, abyssal, brutal-death vocals on the planet. Check it out for yourselves — the whole album stream is after the jump. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries