HACKTIVIST

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  11 Responses »
Nov 092012
 

(TheMadIsraeli has some thoughts to share about the debut EP by the UK’s Hacktivist, which will be out on Nov 12 and is up on iTunes for pre-order now.)

Alright sons, it’s time for some real talk here. If you don’t like this band, at least be able to give me an academically informed reason as to why their music sucks, because if all you have to say is “it has rap in it not kvlt,” I really don’t have an interest in hearing it.

Hacktivist are bringing something new and interesting to the table by combining two things that, quite frankly, were always begging to be combined: rap and djent. We’ve had a shitton of discourse in the metal sphere about whether or not djent is just the more legit, more intelligent form of nu metal, and I think Hacktivist’s self titled EP is the closing case on the matter. It’s here where we see the two styles melded together so well that it’s amazing it wasn’t done sooner.

I’ve always had the confidence that rap and metal COULD work together. Rage Against The Machine is a dear favorite band of mine, and while nu metal mostly sucked, I did enjoy the angst and energy a lot of it had. Hacktivist take these elements and combine them with modern groove metal into a package that I think works, and works superbly well. Continue reading »

SYLOSIS: “MONOLITH

 Album Reviews  7 Responses »
Nov 092012
 

(Please welcome guest writer ElizabethKristina with a review of the new album by Sylosis.)

Writing this review was my first run-in with this British quartet, so naturally, curiosity got the better of me and I read up a little on the band. The foursome hails from Reading, Berkshire in the UK. Formed back in 2000 with the intention of playing thrash and death metal, it took Sylosis eight years before they got their big break with Nuclear Blast Records to record their first album, 2008’s Conclusion of Age. Now in 2012, the band sees the release of their third full-length album, Monolith.

While the title conjures images of a large stone block floating through space, this album is nothing of the sort. Sylosis have really kept up with their original mission to play thrash, but have evolved to incorporate a more progressive sound; the classic thrash elements are definitely present throughout Monolith, but the interweaving of progressive melodies and tempos breathes new life into both styles.

The first song of the album, “Out From Below,” with its atmospheric build-up and satisfying explosion of speed and riffage, evokes an Opeth-like sound, and also sets the rest of the album up quite nicely. “Fear of the World” features some aggressive and full-sounding vocals, but also has a beautiful moment of clean-singing about three minutes in.

“Behind the Sun” was a personal favorite of mine as it brought to mind Mastodon with some of the singing and guitar work. “A Dying Vine” also features great guitar work, and the ever-shifting tempos juxtapose the softer prog with the classic thrash to maximum effect. In fact, much of the interest derived from Monolith is due to the frequent tempo changes and stylistic shifts that keep the listener on edge for the nearly hour and half of play time. Continue reading »

MY DYING BRIDE: “A MAP OF ALL OUR FAILURES”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Nov 082012
 

(I’m actually kind of stunned. We’ve published so many posts about the new album by My Dying Bride — including an interview of guitarist Hamish Glencross — that I thought we had actually reviewed the album, too. But no!  We hadn’t!  Until today.  And now we’re publishing as the next in our series of guest submissions a potentially controversial review of A Map of All Our Failures by a writer who calls himself madchoons.)

This is where I get to yell at the top of my lungs a variety of contemplative pronouncements which will, in all likelihood, polarize people away from or possibly closer to my side of the fence. I’m not fully convinced the latter is a good idea, but on we go…

To start off, as much as it really does hurt me to say this, My Dying Bride have become the epitome of cheese.

This is a term I quite commonly use for bands/music that, although well put together and obviously derived from talented musicians, has the consistency and flavour of that aforementioned dairy product. You may have guessed I am not a fan of cheese. I enjoy it liberally with my pasta and salad, but by itself it is bland, hard to chew, and sits very heavily on my stomach.

In this case, the same can be said for My Dying Bride’s latest maudlin opus A Map Of All Our Failures, and it really does hurt to even think that one of my all-time favourites of the doom/death/goth genre has sunk to the very place I never thought they could end up. Continue reading »

KRAKOW: “DINN”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  2 Responses »
Nov 072012
 

(In this post, NCS writer Andy Synn reviews the sophomore album by Norway’s Krakow, which was released in September.)

Hands up: Who remembers the last time this band were featured (albeit briefly) on this site…?

Ok, so I’m going to guess that very few hands were raised. Partly because none of you remember the band, and partly because raising your hand over the internet would be pretty stupid.

Back when I had my little Black Metal Weekender™ there was a killer little show featuring Kampfar, Vreid, and Secrets of the Moon. And opening that show (and indeed, sticking out like the proverbial sore thumb) were the as-then-unknown-to-me band Krakow, playing a form of dragging, weighty stoner-metal, shot through with some distinctly Scandinavian influences. It was certainly an interesting sound, and their performance prompted me to keep an eye on the band.

Which brings us to Diin, their recently released second album. To describe it succinctly, I’d say imagine Enslaved with a more depressive, less bombastic vibe, channelling the spirit of latter-day Isis. Add a splash of Mastodonian psychedelia to that, stir, and serve over ice. Continue reading »

UNCLE ACID AND THE DEADBEATS: “BLOOD LUST”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  5 Responses »
Nov 062012
 

I guess we’re really going to confuse people today. We started with a guest review of Kamelot’s new album. To provide balance, I should be reviewing something that mimics the sound of your guts being clawed out by a pack of rabid wolverines. Instead, I’m writing about a UK band named Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats.

If I were more deeply ensconced in the world of stoner doom, and even more precisely, the world of throwback, acid-dropping, occult, garage-band horror/rock, I would have known about this band before yesterday. But I’m not and I didn’t.

I didn’t even intend to review this album. I simply intended to listen to a song or two out of curiosity, because Metal Blade is giving the band’s 2011 album Blood Lust its first big-scale release in advance of a new album due next spring. But a song or two was all it took to fall for the album like a bag of bricks.

Listeners of a certain advanced age, such as yours truly, will think they’ve entered a time warp and surfaced in the era when Led Zeppelin, Cream, and Neil Young were changing the face of rock. But where those bands were singing about climbing stairways to heaven, strange brew, and Southern men, Uncle Acid steep themselves in witchery, murder, and the ritual of sin. Continue reading »

KAMELOT: “SILVERTHORN”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  3 Responses »
Nov 062012
 

(Today we continue our series of guest posts with a review by “Andrew Jackson” of the new album from Kamelot, which was released on October 30 by SPV/Steamhammer.)

Kamelot are a Power Metal band who I had overlooked for quite a while, though I had known about them for at least a year before I first heard Silverthorn. I had intended to buy one of their albums eventually, but when you’re broke and live in a town that thrives off of Country, Modern Pop, and other garbage that is guaranteed to reduce your already dwindling number of brain cells, it becomes difficult.

Anyways, so after some time I finally got my hands on Kamelot’s new album. To be honest, I didn’t really expect much. The band had just lost their singer of ten years, one of the hardest things for a band to recover from. Their previous singer, Roy Kahn, was well known in the Metal community and loved by fans. So after some time they filled in the gap with a singer named Tommy Karevik.

Hell if I know who he is, I just focus on the important shit here; and what’s most important is that he kicks ass. It seems like Kamelot decided to give him free range to explore his own vocal abilities and pump out some incredibly infectious melodies, while still bringing in the classic Kamelot feel to each song. In fact, he sounds very similar to Roy Kahn.

Silverthorn is a concept album about some chick named Jolee (I’m guessing that’s her picture on the cover) who dies at the hands of her brothers. Each individual track continues the storyline and focuses on the emotions that each character in the story feels, along with their individual regret for their actions. Along with the lyrics, the music also changes from moments of power to moments of reflection, such as the track “Song for Jolee”. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: INTERVALS — “IN TIME”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Nov 052012
 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the latest EP by Toronto’s Intervals.)

Aaron Marshall is really quite something.  A guy just sitting in his bedroom fucking around with a love for all the elements modern metal contains, including the dreaded D-word, puts up a couple YouTube videos of himself playing his songs and he takes off after showing that he’s an instrumental metal tour de force.

Last year I reviewed his last EP under the Intervals moniker, The Space Between, and that EP is still a badass listening experience.  Now he’s back with a new EP, the same killer line-up from the first EP, and his sound taken to the next level.  This EP is instrumental technical groove metal of the best sort.  I would try to pinpoint the influences but I really think Intervals have their own sound.

Here you’re going to find lots of low-tuned riffs with a propulsive, almost funk-like groove to them, soulful solos, and syncopation out the ass.  The emphasis is definitely on modern djenty/tech-metal style riffing.  There is a risk this EP would have fallen flat on its face if it weren’t for the fact Marshall knows how to write some delicious, catchy, dazzling guitar parts.  Continue reading »

ELYSIAN BLAZE: “BLOOD GEOMETRY”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Nov 052012
 

(Today we begin a series of guest posts that we’ve received in response to THIS INVITATION — an invitation that’s still open for anyone who’s interested.  We’ll be running a guest piece every day in the order received, unless the post is especially time-sensitive. We begin with a review by NCS reader (and blogger) BreadGod of the new album by Australia’s Elysian Blaze.)

Written by: BreadGod

This album has quite the history behind it. You know how Valve likes to take its sweet ass time with some of its games (*cough* Episode 3 *cough*)? Yeah, Elysian Blaze is sort of like that. Blood Geometry was completed all the way back in 2007 and was slated for release in 2008, but that was pushed back to 2009. Then 2010. Then 2011. The band’s only member, Mutatiis, is a fussy perfectionist. Just as the album was about to be released, he would see something wrong with it and go change it. He eventually stopped being so fussy and released it in 2012. To quote Gabe Newell, “Hopefully, it will have been worth the wait.”

The first thing that amazed me was the cover art (by Matt R. Martin): An Aztec pyramid sitting atop a frigid mountain under a dark, foreboding sky. Another thing that amazed me was just how massive the album was. It comes on two disks for a combined length of two hours. I start to get bored if an album lasts more than forty minutes. Those two hours better be worth it.

Right from the start, I knew the atmosphere would be top-notch. Elysian Blaze has always been known for creating a thick, dark atmosphere, and I believe it’s better on here than on all the previous albums. Since this album draws a great deal of influence from funeral doom metal, there are long stretches where the music is either played very slowly or is very minimalistic. I’ve never been a fan of funeral doom metal, but I love the solemn, almost completely quiet bits between the black metal. It builds up anticipation for when the hatred begins again. Continue reading »

NICK MILLEVOI: “IN WHITE SKY”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Nov 042012
 

This review didn’t begin as a review. I only intended to sample a couple of tracks from this album as part of a MISCELLANY excursion that I posted earlier today. But in part because the album was the last stop on that tour, and in part because I got sucked in by the music, I listened to all of it . . . and so here we are.

Nick Millevoi contacted me not long ago through a recommendation from my friend Alex (Grind To Death) Layzell, with whom NCS collaborated on the grind / powerviolence compilation The Only Good Tory (which you should go grab HERE for free if you haven’t already). Nick is is a Philadelphia-based guitarist whose third album In White Sky was released on October 23 by Flenser Records, which is on my short list of labels who release nothing but interesting music.

Since this music came my way via Alex Layzell, I assumed it was going to be something like the sound of napalm being sprayed from a high-pressure fire hose. But it’s not what I was expecting.

I started with the first two songs on In White Sky, planning to stop there per the MISCELLANY rules, and became immediately enthralled (and immediately disoriented) by both of them. I really wanted to see where the music would go next after those first two tracks, and so I let the sounds continue to run. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 48: NIGHTBRINGER, CYANIC, LORELEI, NICK MILLEVOI

 Album Reviews, Free Shit, MISCELLANY  14 Responses »
Nov 042012
 

It’s been so damned long since I made a MISCELLANY excursion that I had to check the date of the last one: No. 47 was on Sept. 23. Pathetic. Way past time to do it again.

A reminder about the MISCELLANY rules: I pick bands whose music I’ve never heard before (and usually, as in this edition, bands whose names I’ve never heard before); I listen to one or two songs, not knowing what the music is going to sound like; I write some impressions here; and I include the music I heard so you can check it out for yourselves.

With a big list of bands stretching back months that I could pick from, what did I do? I chose four bands who I heard about for the first time during the past week. In fact, three of them I heard about only yesterday. I obviously have poor impulse control.

I nearly called this installment the “Friends Helping Friends” edition because each band was recommended by a friend, each of whom will be identified in due course. These are the bands, and for a change, all four are from the U.S.: Nightbringer, Cyanic, Lorelei, and Nick Millevoi. And here’s a hint about the outcomes of this experiment: My friends know how to pick winners.

NIGHTBRINGER

Nightbringer came my way via NCS writer BadWolf — no comments from him, simply a link to this band’s Bandcamp page, where I found a variety of music streaming. The most recent release is an April 2012 singles collection called Fight Like Hell, which includes all the songs from two previous short releases plus a couple of new tracks. It’s available at a “pay what you want” price for a download on Bandcamp, and you can order the CD there as well.

This Nightbringer, by the way, is not the black metal band of the same name from Colorado. This Nightbringer is from fuckin’ Motor City. Continue reading »

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