NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS PREMIERE: PUNCHING MOSES — “HUMANITY PANDEMIC”

Nov 182015

Integrity and Ringworm may be the first names that come to mind when people think of Cleveland’s landmark contributions to the inventive fusion of hardcore punk and metal, but those names don’t exhaust the town’s hotbed of vicious talent. Witness the new EP Humanity Pandemic by Punching Moses. For this listener, it’s been a revelation.

The opening instrumental track “Intro-Venous” may get your mind thinking in a certain direction. Slow, morbid, and heavy, with dismal guitar harmonies and a squalling, bluesy guitar solo, it might lead you to think you’re in for a really good dose of stoner doom — and then the double-bass kicks in and the riffs start to jab in a flurry. Even then, you don’t realize until looking back at the song after finishing the EP that you’ve just been teetering on the edge of an inferno. The rest of the songs hit you from behind and shove you all the way into the flames. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: THE BOTTLE DOOM LAZY BAND

Interviews 2 Responses »

Nov 182015

(Comrade Aleks brings us another entertaining interview, this time speaking with guitarist Guillaume of The Bottle Doom Lazy Band from France.)

Heavy as the worst hangover, dirty and frenzied as some medieval maddened crowd, desperate and rakish as a criminal on the scaffold — it is the essence of The Bottle Doom Lazy Band. They have a bloody heavy, crushing sound, impressive and insane hymn-like vocal lines, and a strong individuality and slow approach to recording sessions. The band was born in 2005, their remarkable first record was released in 2008, and new album second album Lost N’ Drunk saw the light of day only in September 2015. Yes, they’re slow and they play their sinister doom! Why is The Bottle Doom Lazy Band so slow? I don’t know… Maybe their guitarist Guillaume will give us a hint.

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Salute Guillaume! We were speaking with you about four years ago and it seems that you already told us then about the second The Bottle Doom Lazy Band album… So first of all, what did you do all this time, man?

Hi Aleks, I agree that’s a long time since Blood for the Bloodking. We recorded one split EP with Children of Doom and a split LP with Void Moon from Sweden and we’re here now with a new album called Lost N’ Drunk … We have had some line-up changes too. Emeric who helped us in the past is now a permanent member on the bass. Jerome (guitar) left the band, replaced by Pierre 2 years ago. Some of us have other bands (Mantras, Pulmonary Fibrosis…). It’s not easy for us to work quickly but we don’t care about that. We’re happy with this album. That’s most important. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 2): DEVOURER, SACRILEGIUM, UN, GESPENST, TAKATAK

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 4 Responses »

Nov 172015

Earlier today we brought you a round-up of songs from Comrade Aleks. The epicenter of all his chosen music was Italy, and so I thought I would expand our geographic horizons with the following collection of recommended new tracks that I sifted from the usual flood of sounds over the last 24 hours. The bands featured below come from Sweden, Poland, Seattle, Denmark, and Pakistan.

DEVOURER

Devourer are a two-man Swedish band founded in 2002 by John “Steinfaust” Falk (who plays all instruments and has also been the drummer for Sorcery) and he was joined in 2007 by lead vocalist Fredrik “Crocell” Håf. After recording two demos (Malignant and Thy Devourer), the band released their first album in January 2013 under the title All Hope Abandon. I discovered the band through their 2013 single, Filth; the title track was released in video form and reviewed here. Yesterday, Devourer released another single — and it’s also excellent. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DRUGS OF FAITH / CLOUD RAT (SONGS FROM A SPLIT)

Premieres 2 Responses »

Nov 172015

Let’s cut to the chase: Poland’s Selfmadegod Records is releasing a 7″ vinyl split by Drugs of Faith and Cloud Rat, and today we’re streaming the premiere of one song from the split by each band. If you know anything about these bands, I’m guessing you’re already scrolling down to hit the play buttons, and I wouldn’t blame you one bit for that. If perchance you’re unfamiliar with the bands, or you’re curious about how many adjectives I can string together to describe these songs, read on.

DRUGS OF FAITH

Both of the bands on this split are distinctive, they go their own way, and they’re very, very good. Drugs of Faith are based in Northern Virginia and have been kicking around since circa 2002. Their current line-up consists of vocalist/guitarist Richard Johnson (Agoraphobic Nosebleed, Enemy Soil), bassist Taryn Wilkinson, and drummer Ethan Griffiths. They’ve produced a variety of short releases since their founding, as well as a debut album in 2011 (the phenomenal Corroded). Their most recent releases were the 2013 EP Architectural Failures (here) and a cover of “Paralyzed” by Godflesh for the Fathers Of Our Flesh tribute album (here). Continue reading »

SHEVILS: “THE WHITE SEA”

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Nov 172015

As those of you who follow us regularly probably know, I have a soft spot for Norway’s Shevils, despite the fact that their music is different from the extreme metal onslaughts that have become the (nearly) non-stop soundtrack for my life. And the appeal of the music isn’t something I can describe simply, because the music itself isn’t as simple as it may sometimes seem on the surface. There’s a dichotomy at work, a division among (and sometimes within) the songs, and it has never been more pronounced than in their new album The White Sea.

The album cover (created by Chris Faccone) is populated by fantastical cartoon characters, seemingly at war with themselves somewhere far beyond our solar system. It’s light-hearted and crazy, frenzied and frenetic. And there’s more than a little of that high-energy, off-the-wall sense of aggressive fun in The White Sea. But there’s another side to the album as well, one that shows the band growing and exploring new territories, creating more complex and dissonant sonic landscapes that resonate with a sense of menace and even despair. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): ABYSMAL GRIEF, BLACK OATH, EPITAPH, NIGHT GAUNT

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 7 Responses »

Nov 172015

(If all works as planned today, we will have two “Seen and Heard” posts, and in this first one our frequent interviewer from Russia, Comrade Aleks, puts the spotlight on new music from four fine doom bands.)

Four Italian bands presenting four different aspects of Italian doom metal: Abysmal Grief brings the darkest and most sinister doom from decrepit and horrible crypts. Black Oath weaves baleful spells with twisted tunes of occult doom metal. Retro doom metal band Epitaph spreads tunes of evil in their own old school manner. And Night Gaunt reveals the anxiety and terror of our daily horrors with an ascetic and minimalistic doom sound. Accept the will of Mother Death and follow these dark rites, defending your soul only with your inner strength and spiritual tenacity.

Abysmal Grief

Who knows the most effective way to bury the dead? Who knows the most effective way to return them back to life? Who knows how to perform guitar sound as heavy as a coffin lid? Who knows how to transmit a creepy atmosphere of a forsaken cemetery with freshly dug graves? And who leads the procession? Of course it is the Genoa-based band Abysmal Grief. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: JONBAR HINGE

Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres 2 Responses »

Nov 162015

There’s something about the cover art for Jonbar Hinge’s debut album that gives me the shivers. Maybe it’s the fact that the eyes look like shivered panes of glass, with no one home behind them — or at least no one you might really want to meet. This Swiss band’s name is equally fascinating. It appears to refer to a concept (derived from science fiction) for “a crucial point of divergence between two outcomes” — a “forking place” in time where a choice must be made that will lead to a lasting and dramatic change in the unfolding of the future. Or at least that’s what The Font of All Human Knowledge tells us. Between the artwork and the band’s name, I was very intrigued by what the album might hold in store.

This self-titled record, which will be released by Division Records on November 20, consists of five tracks. At the end of this post you’ll have the chance to stream all of them. I’ll warn you up-front that the album is often an exception to our “rule” (the one about singing), and it’s not quite as extreme as most of the vicious monsters to which we devote most of our time. But you’re seeing the premiere here for a reason — Jonbar Hinge will get your head moving, and repeatedly slug you in the spine while it does that. Continue reading »

SADIST: “HYAENA”

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Nov 162015

(DGR reviews the new album by Sadist.)

When the word “angular” comes to mind when describing a death metal band, one of the groups that I always have in the back of my head is Italy’s Sadist — a band who since their comeback have been an odd fusion of about a hundred different styles — whose early works were often cited as hidden gems in the death metal community — and a band whose most recent work has been constructed out of some of the mostly oddly shaped riffs, whose music is so alien in its geometry, and whose subject matter is so off the beaten path from what one might consider the usual death metal “fare” that you can’t help but refer to it as “angular”.

It’s been hard to argue about where Sadist lie on the death metal spectrum since their 2007 revival with their self-titled, which featured them returning to form after a hefty, hefty break, since the band have been playing with a keyboard-reliant style, heavy on the theatrics, where the drumming pulls just as much from the jazz and fusion worlds as it does the traditional blast-beat-bombing-run that we’ve all become accustomed to. It’s been difficult to say if Sadist are technical death metal or technically death metal, but if they’re not either then you have to answer the question of what the fuck are they?

Despite being an enigma in genre terms, however, Sadist have — in their most recent three discs — put out some fascinating, odd music. The third of those albums is the group’s mid-October release, Hyaena, an album that has taken its dear, sweet time in following up 2010’s Season In Silence, which itself could best be described as… well… I’m not sure. The cover art featured a pretty prominent evil snowman and had some monstrous tracks in “Broken And Reborn” and “Bloody Cold Winter”, but Hyaena takes us elsewhere. As best as I can figure, it takes us to the wilds of Africa and deals with not only myth but also the behavior of its titular creature. Continue reading »

TOURISM: THE DECIBEL MAGAZINE TOUR 2016 — ABBATH, HIGH ON FIRE, SKELETONWITCH, TRIBULATION

Metal News 4 Responses »

Nov 162015

We just received the announcement of the line-up for the 2016 edition of THE DECIBEL MAGAZINE TOUR, and it’s a blockbuster: Running from mid-March to mid-April next year, the fifth installment of the tour will feature Abbath (performing not only songs from the band’s forthcoming debut album but also tracks from Immortal’s back catalogue), High On Fire, Skeletonwitch, and Tribulation. There will be regional openers in select markets announced soon.

Here’s further info that accompanied this announcement: Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET (FROM AUSTIN): HINAYANA AND EXPANDER

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 8 Responses »

Nov 162015

In this post I’m reviewing two very different EPs that I discovered only in the last few days but have enjoyed immensely — and by sheer coincidence both bands happen to be based in the place of my birth, Austin, Texas.

HINAYANA

Hinayana is the solo project of an Austin musician named Casey Hurd, and Endless is the name of the band’s first demo (released in August 2014). It doesn’t sound like a first stab at creativity, but more like the confident and well-crafted output of a mature band hitting its stride.

The music is a doom-influenced outpouring of melodic death metal, with iron at its core and streamers of beautiful melody swirling around it like phosphorescent creatures in a black, heaving sea. The melodies are moving and memorable, and as the EP progresses, Hurd pitches the intensity in a cycle that ebbs and flows like tides. Big groaning riffs are balanced by rippling lead guitar motifs that really shine. Staggering guitar and bass jabs trade places with the soft pulse of isolated notes. Astral keyboard waves glimmer above dismantling doom chords. The melancholy music sinks like weighted corpses in the deep, yet rises up like a blazing sunrise — the agony and the ecstasy. Through it all, Hurd’s cavernous roars deepen the songs’ wrenching pall of magnificent gloom. Continue reading »

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