BLOG BREAK (AND A BIT OF MADNESS FROM TORPE)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Aug 152020
 

 

Yesterday I left home for a long weekend vacation, my first vacation of the year and the first time I’ve been away from home for more than an hour since the March shutdowns. Some friends and I rented a place near the town of Roslyn in the Cascade Mountains, about 80 miles east of Seattle.

You might have seen Rosyln without knowing it, since it was the filming location for The Runner Stumbles, Northern Exposure, and The Man in the High Castle. The whole downtown part of Roslyn, such as it is, was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. The surrounding environment, as you can see above, is beautiful. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: ANAAL NATHRAKH, FINNTROLL, BENEDICTION, EVAPORATED SORES, COUNTLESS SKIES, MUR, DEATHORCHESTRA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
Aug 082020
 

 

Here’s a lucky 7 songs and videos I picked out after wading through a lot of new music that surfaced in the last few days. There’s no particular rhyme or reason to the way I’ve arranged them — no two songs are alike.

ANAAL NATHRAKH

I needed this new song from Anaal Nathrakh. I’m so angry at the brain-dead walking corpse that passes for the United States these days. The video sums up some of what’s wrong, but so much is wrong that it only scratches the surface. Still, it proved cathartic, as did the viciousness of the music. And the brilliance of Dave Hunt‘s soaring voice in the chorus is a fuckin’ wonder. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A BANDCAMP FRIDAY: KRALLICE, PROSCRIPTION, STAGNATER

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Aug 072020
 

 

As I suppose most metal lovers are well aware, today is another Friday when Bandcamp is foregoing its share of revenues from sales at their site (they’ve announced that they will continue to do this on the first Friday of each month from now through the end of this year). If I had forgotten, I would have been reminded by the explosion of Bandcamp alerts and messages in our in-box this morning.

In the past I’ve tried to assemble a slew of recommendations timed to coincide with Bandcamp Fridays, as a way of encouraging support for bands and labels. Unfortunately, upheavals at my fucking day job have prevented me from doing that for today — though of course we’ve been recommending music day in and day out for, well, almost forever. So there’s that. Just browsing through our posts over recent weeks and months would give you lots of good options.

But I thought I would at least quickly throw these three new options your way now. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: GOJIRA, SÓLSTAFIR, TERATOLITH, SHEENJEK

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Aug 062020
 

 

Two old favorites released new singles yesterday, and not just bands who’ve been personal favorites for a very long time but bands whose music has continually evolved, which added a big curiosity factor to the experience. I’m beginning the round-up with those two tracks. As we’re want to do around here, I’m then moving into music from bands I’d never heard of before yesterday, bands whose profiles are buried far deeper in the underground than the first two.

GOJIRA

The beautiful animated video for Gojira’s new song is sufficiently engrossing that it pulled my focus away from the song when I first saw it. I definitely had impressions of the music, but needed to listen to it again without watching the video to better appreciate what the band were doing. The video is indebted to a certain work by the French author Pierre Boulle, but it’s especially haunting because of the perils of our current existence. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GARTH ARUM — “FINALLY IN THE ABYSS”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Aug 032020
 

 

The second album by the Spanish band Garth Arum has been a long time coming, and not simply because it follows 2013’s The Dawn of a New Creation by seven years. The project’s alter ego NHT, who has also been a fixture in such groups as Autumnal, As Light Dies, Aversio Humanitatis, Deemtee, and Keltika Hispanna, first conceived of the album in 1997. Ten years later he rearranged and re-recorded it, but still wasn’t completely happy with the results. And then last year he began revisiting the work again.

The result is The Fireflowers Tale. All the compositions have again been completely re-recorded, this time in a professional studio, with new arrangements, new instrumentation, and a new conclusion. The album will be released on August 24th by the Spanish label Darkwoods, who recommends it for fans of Arcturus, Ved Buens Ende, Dødheimsgard, Code or Fleurety. Today we’re premiering a multi-faceted and dramatically changing song from the album, one named “Finally In the Abyss“. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF, INFERA BRUO, KALT VINDUR, HAD, BASTURMA

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Aug 012020
 


All Thoughts Fly

 

Another week is nearly over in which I had very little time to listen to new music apart from what I agreed to premiere, and only did a scattered job of trying to add to my list of things to check out eventually. I’m not optimistic this state of affairs is going to change any time soon. I did take advantage of this Saturday morning to jump around randomly in my list. I tried to balance bands whose names I knew with unfamiliar names, and from what I heard I picked these songs and videos — four that surfaced during the past week and then an older EP I just discovered.

ANNA VON HAUSSWOLFF

When I first thought about how to order these selections I was going to end the round-up with the following video, as sort of a palate cleanser and mood-changer. But upon slight further reflection I realized that would have been tremendously unfair, because I can’t remember another video I’ve seen this year that’s such an extraordinary match of sights and sounds. So, we begin here… Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX, OXALATE, REBAELLIUN, TENEBRA

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jul 292020
 

 

Happy hump-day. To help get you over the hump I compiled this short collection of new songs and videos from among others I checked out last night and this morning. Apart from the fact that I thoroughly enjoyed all of these, they give you a lot of variety. Surely you will enjoy at least one, if not all of them. If you don’t, we’re not offering refunds.

CRIPPLED BLACK PHOENIX

The opening drum pattern in this first song and video reminded me of Kate Bush‘s hit from the mid-’80s, “Running Up That Hill”. Even if I hadn’t already been a fan of Crippled Black Phoenix and curious to see what they’d be doing on their new album, that alone would have rooted me in place for the rest of this ride — and what a wonderful ride it is. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: OTTONE PESANTE, SILVER KNIFE, EVOKE, 0-NUN, MÖRK GRYNING

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jul 272020
 

 

I’m trying to get back into the more normal swing of things after some recent disruptive events I’ve already written about. I made a start yesterday with a two-part SHADES OF BLACK, and am continuing today with this round-up of other music I’ve recently been enjoying. As you’ll see, I probably could have made this Part 3 of yesterday’s column, because it does lean pretty hard into blackened sounds.

OTTONE PESANTE

If you suspect, or perhaps have already concluded, that metal made exclusively with trumpet, trombone, and drums isn’t your kind of thing, I urge you (again) to reconsider. And if you’ve already embraced what Ottone Pesante do with those instruments, the first track in this collection will cause you to squeeze them harder to your chest (figuratively speaking, of course, because hugs may be disease-riddled these days). Continue reading »

CHECKING IN (WITH MUSIC BY THE GLORIOUS DEAD AND SUPRUGA)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Jul 182020
 


The Glorious Dead

 

This has been a rough week. Unexpectedly, it’s been the busiest week I’ve had for my day job since the pandemic caused a shutdown here in Washington State back in March. Those job demands carried through into this weekend and consumed a big part of this Saturday. On top of that, four days ago Covid 19 rapidly claimed the life of a man in Texas (where I spent half my life) who has been a father figure to me since my teenage years. He also founded and led the organization I work for, and he was the longest-lasting and most influential mentor I’ve had in my working career. Because of the virus, I couldn’t be with him or his family, and that made an already tragic situation even worse.

I probably could have gotten a break from work because of his death, but I decided that staying busy was probably better for my mental and emotional health. For the same reason, I stuck to the commitments I’d made to premiere music at NCS this past week. But I didn’t have the time or mental clarity to do much of anything else here. I didn’t listen to any new music other than what I had promised to premiere. I’ve neglected NCS emails. And I haven’t kept up very well with the appearance of new songs and videos. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: INCANTATION, SKELETAL REMAINS, DEMON CLEAVER, FAWN LIMBS, SPECTRUM OF DELUSION

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jul 142020
 

 

I’m suffering from time compression. I’m thankful to still have a day job but it’s given me a shitload of things to do over the last 24 hours (and counting). That, and a few personal obligations I can’t put off, have squeezed my NCS time, and I have to use some of that to prepare two premieres today before my golden coach turns back into a pumpkin.

So, I’m throwing your way the following new songs and videos, all of which I thoroughly enjoyed, accompanied by very few of my own words. They’re all high-energy; they include lots of technical showmanship; and of course you’ll get a few doses of ferocity and evil along the way.

INCANTATION

To begin, here’s Incantation‘s official video for “Fury’s Manifesto“, the second single from their new album Sect of Vile Divinities — which is actually a good name for Incantation themselves. The album will be released on August 21st by Relapse Records. Continue reading »

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