TEASER

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  18 Responses »
Oct 302010
 

I’m in Austin, Texas this weekend visiting family and friends. 1349 and Triptykon were playing last night at a venue called Emo’s. I was tempted to go, and the group of non-metalheads I was hanging out with even indulged the idea for a while. But then, it got to be 11:00, and then 12:00, and then 1 a.m., and of course by then the idea had perished in a flood of beer and tequila. My friends probably would have run screaming from Emo’s even if I’d managed to herd them over there.

At some point during the night I got a text message from my too-infrequent NCS collaborator IntoTheDarkness raving about a band he had discovered. He doesn’t rave very much, so I decided I’d better check out the music. I was in no condition to do that last night after the flood subsided, and I’m not in much better condition this morning — but I downloaded two albums (legally) of the music ITD recommended, and I’ve been listening to random songs this morning while nursing my titanic hangover.

The weather in Austin has been stunningly good. This morning, the sky is a crystalline, cloudless blue, the air is cool and dry, and there’s an invigorating breeze. It almost makes me feel human. And sitting outside in that environment, gazing at the sky and feeling the breeze, turns out to be an almost perfect setting for this music. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

CELTIC FORCE!

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Oct 302010
 

When we last checked in with our favorite bagpipe-driven metal band from South Africa, Haggis and Bong, about a month ago, they had just made four songs available for free download on their ReverbNation page. That ended a long dry wait for us. Finally, we had the ability to carry H&B songs around with us so we could get skirled to death by the music whenever the fuck we wanted!

A month ago, we also learned that Haggis and Bong had expanded their line-up to include, in addition to the Highland pipes and drums, a bass player and a trombonist. We wondered how the addition of a bass would affect the sound (we thought it would likely make it more metal), and of course, everyone knows that a metal band without a trombone is like a three-legged dog.

And now we know — because Haggis and Bong have added a new song to their ReverbNation player called “Celtic Force” — and it includes bass guitar and trombone!  That player also includes an upload of yet another song from the band’s 2008 debut, Fire in the Bowl.  That one’s called “The Plague”. And you can download both those new songs (in addition to the previous four) at a cost of nothing more than a mouse-click and a dirty thought.

And since we know our readers oh so well, we know all this will really cost you is the mouse-click. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

NILE ANNIHILATES

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Oct 282010
 

We’re starting to get our engines revved up for Nile’s fall NorthAm tour with Ex Deo, Psycroptic, Keep of Kalessin, and Pathology — which will detonate in Seattle on November 12. And just to make our fucking day, Nile has recently released an official video for the completely awesome song “Permitting the Noble Dead To Descend To the Underworld” from their completely awesome 2009 album Those Whom the Gods Detest.

If you know this song, then you know it includes a blistering Karl Sanders solo — but you watch this video and you’ll see living proof of just how blistering it is. See if you notice any change in the appearance of vocalist/guitarist Dallas Toler-Wade. And if you don’t, time for that eye exam you’ve been putting off.

The vid is after the jump . . . Continue reading »

TERRA MORTA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  16 Responses »
Oct 282010
 

The people who have collaborated on the creation of this site live in the Seattle area, but we spend most of our time covering music from around the country and the world. Even when we go to shows and write about them, we tend to focus on national tours, and if we see a local band, it’s only because they’re an opening act providing support for the tour. That’s not to say that we’ve ignored bands from the Pacific Northwest. For example, we’ve written about Arkhum, Blood and Thunder, Odyssey, 7 Horns 7 Eyes, I Declare War (before they hit the big time), and more.

But although NCS is never going to be just a local or regional metal blog, we do feel compelled to start paying more attention to metal that the PNW has to offer — not just because supporting our local scene is a worthwhile cause, but also because this region is producing a lot of very good music that you might like to discover. Metal in the Northwest is growing and strengthening, and the bands in Washington and Oregon are getting more organized and becoming more mutually supportive in sharing information, expertise, and ideas.

So, with thanks to Blood and Thunder’s Ryan Yancey for gently kicking us in the ass outside El Corazon at a recent show to focus more on the local scene, we’re going to do that — starting today. And today, we’re shining our feeble, guttering, NCS spotlight on a band from Tacoma, Washington, called Terra Morta, which was one of several bands that Ryan promoted to me in that sidewalk conversation not long ago.

My two NCS co-founders have heard Terra Morta’s live performance and really liked what they heard. Unfortunately, I haven’t yet caught their live show — a deficiency I intend to remedy. But I have been listening to the music they’re streaming on their MySpace page, and I’m really liking what I hear.  The music is a blending of death, doom, and black metal that’s very cool. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

RAVENOUS!

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  18 Responses »
Oct 242010
 

We just discovered video of Arch Enemy‘s performance on Oct 22 at The Waerdse Tempel in Heerhugowaard, The Netherlands. We had to watch those clips, because Arch Enemy is an NCS favorite and because the band’s live performances in Seattle have been some of the best shows we’ve ever seen.

These are fan-filmed clips, but the video quality is very high and the audio quality is above-average, too. So, they’re worth sharing with you. Besides, featuring Arch Enemy is in keeping with the female-centric nature of our previous post today. As far as we know, Angela Gossow doesn’t swallow swords (or running jackhammers) and hasn’t married herself, but man, can she command a stage.

Here’s the clip of Arch Enemy performing “Ravenous”, which is just a cool fucking song to begin with.

(more clips after the jump . . .)

Continue reading »

SKULL-CORING THURSDAY: A BRITISH PHOENIX RISES AGAIN AND TERRIBLE DEATH IS UNLEASHED FROM INDIA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Oct 212010
 

The last 24 hours has brought us good news from two bands we’ve written about in the past — the UK’s Detrimentum and India’s Bhayanak Maut. We like good news. We like to share good news. And this good news involves new music that will blast away all the cares cluttering your brains (and perhaps your brains, too) and leave you feeling energized and ready to spit in the eye of anyone who tries to fuck with you today. That’s a good thing, isn’t it?

DETRIMENTUM

Last January we ran a multi-part feature called UK DEATH METAL IN REVIEW, in which we looked back at 2009 and some of the extreme UK metal bands that we listened to a lot in the old year. One of the bands whose praises we sang was Detrimentum (see our post about them here), based on their album Embracing the Deformity. We called the music “complex, ultra-fast, technical, brutal death metal that periodically gives way to sweeping black-metal influenced melodic guitar passages and blistering solos.” We noted that the “overall tone is dark, ominous, and overpoweringly intense.”

Unfortunately, we learned not long after writing that post, via a message from one of the band’s founders, guitarist Jon Butlin, that only he and guitarist Paul Wilkinson still remained from the line-up that recorded Embracing the Deformity. On the other hand, he explained that the jaw-dropping Steve Powell of Anaal Nathrakh fame would be joining the band as its drummer, and that the group intended to finish recording an album of new songs as soon as the line-up could be sorted out. (That post is here.)  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

DREAMING DEAD: OVERLORD

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Oct 192010
 

Dreaming Dead is a death metal band from Los Angeles that incorporates a multitude of styles into their music. They also have the distinction, whether they want this kind of attention or not, of being one of those few, good extreme metal bands with a female vocalist (Elizabeth Schall) — who is also an inventively killer guitarist.

We really enjoyed the band’s 2009 debut, Within One, and we’ve been looking forward to the release of their follow-on album, Midnightmares, which it appears the band has recorded as a three-piece, while continuing to hunt for a second guitarist (who Schall wants to be a woman). We haven’t seen any definitive release date, and the band may be holding that up in an effort to find a label who would distribute it.

However, yestrday, Dreaming Dead released an official video for a song called “Overlord” from that forthcoming album. The video itself is fairly no frills — just the band playing in a dark club setting, with lights intermittently revealing the band members as they hammer out the song, and rapid cutting from one shot to the next.

And then there’s the song itself — it’s fucking great: a fascinating piece of modern death metal with driving rhythms, technical musicianship, catchy hooks, and an unexpected instrumental diversion near the end. And Schall is a magnetic presence even on video, with a blend of Nordic rasps and bestial growls to accompany her creative guitar leads.  Check out the video after the jump. We’re pretty sure you’ll like it  . . . Continue reading »

WE WANT TO SIN

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Oct 192010
 

The pervasive influence of Meshuggah on the evolution of metal has been on my mind the last several days. Partly, I’ve been thinking about some comments we got on a post about Gojira written by my all-too-infrequent collaborator IntoTheDarkness. Partly, I’ve been thinking about a Meshuggah-influenced band from the Philippines called SIN that NCS reader Jaime Abellar introduced to me just a couple days ago. And because all three of these bands are stupendously good, I thought it might entertain you to share my thought processes.

Of course, it might also reduce your IQ so that it becomes closer to my own. This is the risk you take by visiting NCS.

To begin at the beginning: IntoTheDarkness wrote a post proclaiming and explaining his opinion that Gojira is the best metal band in the world. That was almost three months ago, and yet we’re still getting comments about it, one of which, from a reader whose a/k/a is Ox Drum, said this about a week ago:

If you enjoyed The Art of Dying that much, I’d suggest checking out a badass Swedish metal band that’s been around since the early 90’s called MESHUGGAH! The influence is especially obvious on Esoteric Surgery off of The Way of All Flesh (one of the riffs is exactly based off of the riff in the Meshuggah song ‘Bleed’). Both are great bands and I love them each in different ways.

Anyways, yeah, Gojira is most def one of the best metal bands out there right now (and have been since Terra Incognita actually :P ) Being a drummer myself, Mario is a huge inspiration! In fact, I’m inspired by the band as a whole; even the guitarists!

(lots more after the jump, including a bunch of tracks to hear . . .)

Continue reading »

DEATHSPELL OMEGA (MISCELLANY NO. 15 1/2?)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Oct 142010
 

Thanks to an exuberant Facebook post by The Binary Code‘s Jesper Zuretti, we learned within the last hour that French black metal band Deathspell Omega has just made available a new song from their forthcoming album Paracletus (due for release in the U.S. on November 9). Deathspell Omega is one of those bands we’ve been hearing great things about for a long time, but whose music we somehow have never actually gotten around to hearing.

Amazing, really, since they’ve been playing music since about 1998 and since they have one of the coolest band names in extreme metal. Anyway, that’s all changed now, because the Season of Mist label has made that new song available for free download, and we’ve now heard them. Should have checked out these dudes long ago.

The new song is called “Devouring Famine”. It’s a dense and immense piece of guitar-driven, progressive black metal. To string together some additional adjectives: It’s powerful, caustic, cacophonous, creative, rhythmically diverse, technical, discordant, and compelling. Unless you just can’t stand black metal, this is absolutely worth hearing. So, here it is:

Deathspell Omega: Devouring Famine

By the way, the Season of Mist site has lots of other free downloads available from label artists, including that brand new song from Atheist, “Second To Sun”, that we featured in a post last week, and a song called “Tired Climb” by Kylesa from their forthcoming new album Spiral Shadow. This link will take you to the index of available downloads from Season of Mist.

And if you haven’t already seen Kylesa’s video for that “Tired Climb” song, it’s definitely worth seeing. So here — see it (after the jump). Continue reading »

FAST, THEN SLOW

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  17 Responses »
Oct 092010
 

A couple days ago we put up a post called “Slow, Then Fast”, the focus of which was a temporal experiment that our fellow metal bloggers at Death Metal Babboon conducted with a piece of doomy sludge (or sludgy doom) by a UK band called Blut. DMB honcho Niek took a cut from one of Blut’s very loooooong songs and sped it up by a factor of three, and reported on the results. We, in turn, put those same two tracks up on our site in order to share the interesting outcome of Niek’s experiment.

This gave us ideas. Because we do most things ass-backwards, we thought it would be interesting to flip Niek’s experiment around. We wanted to take a really fast song — a nice piece of balls-to-the-wall grindcore — and slow it down by a factor of three.

The original plan was to do this with a purely instrumental track, because we thought the slowing down of the music might make the vocals sound fucked up. But after reading the comments on that “Slow, Then Fast” post, we decided to use a track with vocals in addition to one without.

So that’s what we did. We used the same audio-editing software that Niek used, and we applied its magical tools to two songs: “Cemetery Road” by Pig Destroyer and an instrumental track called “Scepters” by Behold the Arctopus. The results surprised the hell out of us. Hear what happened . . . after the jump. Continue reading »

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