FALL OF THE ALBATROSS: “ENORMOUS CLOUD”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jun 172014
 

(Austin Weber reviews the debut album by Fall of the Albatross, which had its full streaming premiere yesterday.)

Fall Of The Albatross are pretty much the second coming of the style of music played by defunct experimental mathcore fusionists Lye By Mistake, although Fall Of The Albatross amazingly draw from an even wider palette of sounds than the aforementioned eclectic group, and they do so quite expertly. While the band previously had a vocalist, they decided to soldier on sans vocals after losing him, leading to their current instrumental incarnation and the self-recording of their full-length debut now before us — Enormous Cloud.

Enormous Cloud is a lot of things at a lot of different times. But to try and break it down into its elements, you could say that they smash together lots of wild tapping, heavy-as-hell moments of pure Dillinger rage, split-second grind bursts, just the right amount of post-rock builds, some grooves, and polyrhythmic chugging that’s always paired with different combinations of riff/leads/sweeps/tapping and is never overdone. Meanwhile some of their rhythms and melodies certainly remind of math-rock at times, while their forays into jazz, Latin, funk, blues, and fusion slide in and out of this ever-changing mass.

Jarring though some of the transitions are, the songs all manage to have a unique identity, flow, and structure. This is very progressive and dense instrumental metal indeed. Continue reading »

DISSOLUTION: “NATURAL SELECTION”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Jun 162014
 

(DGR reviews the third album from Canada’s Dissolution, released in April 2014.)

There probably isn’t a single thing that ignites the self-righteous music fan’s fury more than the “for fans of” sticker that will often grace the front of their favorite underground bands’ CD releases. Rarely, we proclaim, is such a thing ever right — those other bands have never even gotten close to my favorite band’s genre, or their sound. It pigeonholes them! And why in god’s name do all of the stickers say, “For fans of The Black Dahlia Murder?!”.

We then usually shake our fists at the sky and go outside and download the thing from Itunes anyway.

However, and I preface this with some hesitation since I have been known to rage on the “for fans of” sticker myself, they do occasionally get it right and nail a band right in the wheelhouse of their sound. It’s a bit too reductive of a practice, but considering that the labels have a split-second to capture someone’s attention in a record store, I can see why it is done.

I open this review of Canada-based death metal band Dissolution’s newest album Natural Selection with such a musing, because this is a disc that I can easily recommend to people via the “for fans of” sticker method. Do you enjoy Carcass? Have you missed The Absence during their seemingly endless break? Because if so, then do I have the album for you. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: KILL-TOWN DEATH FEST, THRONE, VILKACIS, FELIX MARTIN

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  10 Responses »
Jun 152014
 

Well, it’s Sunday, and that means … more blog posts! I have three in mind for today. Of course, having them in my mind and getting them out on the web are two different things, but at least there will be this one — a Sunday round-up of things I spotted yesterday.

KILL-TOWN DEATH FEST

This first item falls into the category of Things Worth Applauding Even Though I Will Never Hear Them. This is a very small category, especially when it comes to tours and festivals that I can’t see, because if they look really enticing they usually just make me green with envy and kind of ill-tempered and not in an applauding mood.

Where was I?

Oh yeah, the Kill-Town Death Fest. It will take place on September 4-7, 2014, in Copenhagen, Denmark, which might as well be Mars as far as I’m concerned. But good god almighty, look at that just-announced FINAL line-up on the above poster! (If you’re having any trouble reading it, clicking on it will make it bigger.) I mean, all those bands are so up my alley that I can’t even take a piss in it any more because there’s no room left! Hail Santa and all his elves!

If you’re lucky enough to live within striking distance of this thing, please don’t tell me because that will open my bile ducts I’m very happy for you. More info and ticket sales can be found here. Continue reading »

AZOOMA: “A HYMN OF THE VICIOUS MONSTER”

 Album Reviews  13 Responses »
Jun 132014
 

Most instrumental intro tracks on metal albums are forgettable. They may mean something to the bands, providing some link to a concept behind the album or a reflection of what inspired the music, but to listeners they often sound like nothing but filler, something to skip past to find the meat of the matter. But the instrumental first track on the debut album by an Iranian band named Azooma makes an impression. It’s the first sign, but certainly not the last one, that A Hymn of the Vicious Monster is something special.

And by special, I mean hands-down the best technical death metal album I’ve heard so far this year.

That first track features an acoustic and electric guitar duet that will quickly tell you there are some talented instrumental performers in this group. But, really, you will still have no idea how remarkably accomplished everyone in this band is until the first full track explodes. And from then until the brief closing track, Azooma set off a non-stop musical fireworks display.

This is the kind of technical death metal that is as much progressive metal as it is “tech death”, incorporating not only extravagant instrumental forays but also exotic melodies and beautifully timed interludes that interweave elements of jazz fusion and even Latin rhythms. As a result, Azooma are more in the camp of bands such as Gorod and Gorguts (with a bit of Dysrythmia in the mix) than the kind of alien ant swarm that a band like Spawn of Possession serves up. Continue reading »

CANNABIS CORPSE: “FROM WISDOM TO BAKED”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Jun 122014
 

 

(Austin Weber delivers this review of the new album by Cannabis Corpse, and we’ll also link you to a full-album stream that premiered today.)

While Cannabis Corpse have always reeked of a strong Cannibal Corpse odor through and through, the group deserve to be analyzed outside the bounds of mere gimmickry and the pothead puns to which their music is joined at the hip. From Wisdom To Baked carries on their death metal lyrical send-ups; the title itself a fine and funny nod to Gorguts, and another Gorguts reference appears within the title of “With Their Hash He Will Create”. But the music is outstanding.

If Cannabis Corpse do one thing well, it’s their ability to play Cannibal Corpse’s dope doppelganger perfectly without boring you for a second. This time around there’s a stronger focus on vocal hooks, with almost all the songs repeating their title several times. There is also a newfound variety in their music, courtesy of some obviously Morbid Angel-influenced sections along with a smattering of old school death metal non-Cannibal Corpse-sounding leads and solos on a few tracks, plus numerous slower-tempo moments, all of which combine to infuse the music with the band’s own identity.

These subtle additions to the Cannabis Corpse playbook help them to step out from the shadow of their undead forefathers. It also helps that this time around the bass has a much more prominent focus in the music and mix, and that nimble bass playing that engulfs From Wisdom To Baked would make Alex Webster proud. Continue reading »

SERDCE: “TIMELESSNESS”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jun 112014
 

 

(In this post Austin Weber reviews the forthcoming album by Serdce on the Blood Music label.)

The vast riches lying within the reach of Google have included a lot of bands I’ve discovered by typing long strings of words bookended by “metal” in an effort to root out underground music of varying sub-genres that I might enjoy. Forum posts often proved most fruitful, those splendid user-generated gifts of musical knowledge. One particular band I heard mentioned glowingly a few years back via a forum post was Serdce.

They are a Minsk-based group and one whose 2004 album, Cyberly, was being billed as an unknown classic. I take comments like that with a pound of fucking salt. Yet it turned out to be true. So it gave me much pleasure that Blood Music worked with Islander here at NCS to premiere music from Serdce’s soon-to-be-released record, Timelessness. It was doubly nice that Heavy Blog Is Heavy began to post about them as well with yet another song premierel, because Serdce are a quirky progressive death metal band worth checking out — and worthy of that tag.

I admit to feeling jarred when I first heard this album. It’s a big shift from their last record, 2009’s The Alchemy Of Harmony, a record I worship and regard as a masterpiece, although the changes make sense because they’ve been expanding toward a more prog-metal-focused sound with each release. As this was always a big part of their style, the shift away from calculating, mid-paced death metal into lighter Cynic-focused realms works phenomenally well. And it’s not as confined or as prog-by-numbers as you might think. Continue reading »

RECALCITRANT ROUNDUP: SYBARITIC, BELLICIST, INFINITUM

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jun 102014
 

(This is part 2 of a piece written by Austin Weber about recommended releases from up-and-coming bands. Part 1 can be found here.)

SYBARITIC

I knew as soon as I turned in my Remnants of 2013 article that I would probably find more from last year that went unmentioned or praised. Sybaritic certainly fall in that category. The last I heard, they were on hold as a group, having last recorded a 2009 album, Being Human, now quite a long time ago. Like many groups, I found them on Metal-Archives while searching for the projects of individual band members projects — in this case, through Atheist, as Sybaritic used to count Jonathan Thompson (who played on Jupiter mind you) in their ranks until 2007. Somehow, I missed that Sybaritic dropped a killer EP last year called Serenity In Darkness. Continue reading »

ANATHEMA: “DISTANT SATELLITES”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  22 Responses »
Jun 092014
 

(Andy Synn wrote this review of the new album by Liverpool’s Anathema.)

Let’s start things off by getting a few things out of the way first, shall we? If your initial reaction to this post is:

“That’s a stupid name. I won’t listen to what any site named No Clean Singing has to say!”

Or:

“What is this? This is not metal! This site is stupid!”

Then there’s the door. Feel free to let it hit you on the way out.

For those of you who’re still reading (hopefully that’s most of you, because our readership here at NCS is, in the majority, pretty open-minded and interested in the albums/bands we elect to cover), thank you for sticking around, and I hope to make it worth your while. Continue reading »

RECALCITRANT ROUNDUP: ORGONE, HARDCORE ANAL HYDROGEN, TERRACIDE, SUPER MASSIVE BLACK HOLES

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jun 092014
 

(Austin Weber returns to NCS with recommendations of new underground releases. There are four bands covered in this post and tomorrow there will be three more.)

Whenever I do get around to writing various articles or reviews, I typically find myself instantly sidetracked and sucked into more new music that inevitably deserves to be written about as well. Which leads to more articles like this, and while it’s not clear to me if anyone cares, I will keep churning them out anyways! The bands that follow below span an eclectic range of styles, so I hope you the reader will find something you enjoy in the mix.

ORGONE

Pittsburgh extreme death metal act Orgone came to fruition at the right time in tech-death’s growth during the mid 2000s. During that period there seemed to be a bit more experimentation, versus the largely codified style and sound of what we expect when we hear that term now. Orgone released a stupefying near-impenetrable debut called The Goliath in 2007 and then disappeared. Now they’ve returned with The Joyless Parson, a further test in pushing the boundaries of death metal.

It’s a uniquely experimental effort that thrives on lengthy, lumbering builds and abruptly vacillating tempo shifts. In fact, The Joyless Parson spends more time at a menacing, pained crawl than it does in roaring, fast-paced tempo territory. Some may have heard of the band through Patron Of The Rotting Gate’s cover of “Caress Of Vines”, before this album came out. But that’s a long story related to the album being released on the internet in 2011 in pre-production form, and not subsequently being mixed and mastered until last year, leading to its current new official release status. Continue reading »

SPLITS: RUINS/USNEA AND SHUDDER/SECTIONED

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jun 082014
 

Maybe sometime soon I will attempt to review a full-length album by someone, but this weekend I’ve been trying to catch up on shorter works. I have two recent split releases to recommend, with full music streams accompanying the following reviews.

RUINS / USNEA

This two-song split makes for an interesting juxtaposition of styles and a good introduction to two bands who deserve more notoriety.

Ruins make their home in Bielefeld, Germany, and this split is their most recent release following a 2013 album (Incidents) and a couple of other shorter recordings. Their track is named “Discrimen”. The band start ratcheting the tension immediately with a buzzing hornet swarm of guitars and the rhythmic thunder of a heavy bass line and tumbling drums. It’s a galvanizing start, and the music grows even more energized and potent as the song progresses and the vocalist’s gritty howls join the fray. Just as the slashing riffs start to really get their hooks into your head, the music veers off the road briefly before getting traction again in an intense finish.

The music fuels a blood lust, but the fist-swinging hardcore aggression is balanced by the band’s talent for interweaving rhythmic dynamism and subtly infectious melodies that have a way of hanging around your head after the song ends. Good stuff.

*** Continue reading »

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