NO CLEAN SINGING

AN NCS PREMIERE: AFFLICTION GATE — “DEVISING OUR OWN CHAINS”

Nov 162015

(KevinP provides the following introduction to our premiere of a song from the new EP by Affliction Gate.)

One normally doesn’t associate France with death metal. Sure, you have standouts such as Massacra (RIP) and Loudblast. But most people think of black metal bands like Blut Aus Nord, Deathspell Omega, and Alcest. So Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur’s Affliction Gate either have a lot to live up to or a golden opportunity to fill a void.

Formed in 2006, this old-school-inspired death metal outfit have two EPs and one full-length under their belt. January 2016 will mark the release of their new Dying Alone EP through Transcending Obscurity Productions. We are proud to premiere a track off this EP, entitled “Devising Our Own Chains”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SURTUR — “DESCENDANT OF TIME”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET 10 Responses »

Nov 162015

If you skip ahead and take a look at the photo of Surtur that accompanies this post, you will see that these Bangladeshi thrashers are some young dudes. I didn’t see the photo until their debut EP Descendant of Time had already reduced my head to a smoking (and smiling) pile of wreckage. I’m still scratching what’s left of my head, wondering how in the world they pulled off what they’ve accomplished on this marauding new release. And then I remembered how old Hetfield, Hammett, Burton, and Ulrich were when they recorded Kill ‘Em All.

Descendant of Time is a molten eruption of killer riffs and scintillating solos, the kind of metal that’s guaranteed to get heads (and feet and arms) moving. It’s fleet and furious, but laced with so many writhing twists and turns that it won’t wear out its welcome after the first listen. And the band’s propulsive rhythm section does a fine job keeping the songs firing on all cylinders while guitarist and principal songwriter Shadman Omee struts his stuff (and he really does have the right stuff). Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THIS BE THE VERSE — “STUBBORN YOUTH”

Premieres 2 Responses »

Nov 162015

(DGR introduces our premiere of a song from the forthcoming debut album by London’s This be the Verse.)

Every once in a while we like to bring you something way the hell out of left field, outside the realm of the usual fire-breathing belches and inhuman barks that populate our chosen genre of music. This time we’re bringing you the premiere of a song by the young London-based Industrial/Rock band This Be The Verse entitled “Stubborn Youth”.

This Be The Verse have been around for a little bit now, having released an EP in 2014 entitled Consequences available on their Bandcamp page as well as having filmed a very “band trapped in white room”-style music video for the song Consequences. “Stubborn Youth” marks the first showing of life in the leadup to a self-titled album projected for release next spring, one that sees the band taking their Consequences EP and making the sound a little more raw and intense. Continue reading »

SIFTING: SVFFER, SPURN, THRIVE & DECAY, THE APEX, LXS JUGADXS

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 13 Responses »

Nov 152015

(DGR prepared this collection of violent music, reviewing releases by five groups of geographically dispersed sonic assassins.)

It has been some time since I have properly thrown myself around the internet with the reckless abandon of someone on a nuclear cocktail of mind-altering substances. It’s usually how I discover music, bouncing around the web like one of those corner store rubber balls that you spike on the ground and send into orbit. I like to imagine during these adventures that I’m a sort of musical Indiana Jones or Nicholas Cage, but in reality performance of said act probably resembles something closer to a Mr. Bean movie.

It’s been so long since I have attempted to archive my discoveries, though, that I now have a notepad file on my desktop with a whopping 20(!) finalists for my usual digging-through-Bandcamp feature. No longer am I strictly sifting through Bandcamp looking for the cream of the crop. Now? I am properly drowning, overwhelmed with a whole bevy of new music by bands who have either flown under our radar completely or we just happened to be two ships in the night.

So, I find myself kicking this feature off with five bands, all of them united by a somewhat core theme — this time we are brought to you by the words spastic, loud, and violent.

Between these five bands I would argue that maybe one has any sense of groove and the others are all violent expulsions of energy, gamma ray bursts that have been raring to go since their stars collapsed. Now we’re beaming them across the net from around the planet and right into your earholes, and just like the aforementioned bursts, some of these bands can be absolutely lethal. Continue reading »

THE REARVIEW MIRROR (MAËLSTROM)

THE REARVIEW MIRROR 1 Response »

Nov 152015

(DGR brings us this Sunday’s installment of The Rearview Mirror.)

You can likely fault this one as me being in a tech-death mood here folks. As of this writing I’m currently bashing my head against Arkaik’s latest and I think the brain-juices are starting to spill over into other things.

After the last Rearview Mirror I did, in which I took us back in time to the halcyon caveman days of 2013, I made a promise that I was going to try and live up to the rearviewmirror concept and take us further back in time. If not just to come across some underappreciated gems and also maybe cover some stuff that was super-obscure. Such is the case with today’s Rearview Mirror, for which I literally could only find ONE SONG from the band on the YouTube pages to share with people. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: PILE OF PRIESTS, GRIMA, INSANITY, SWALLOW THE SUN

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 14 Responses »

Nov 142015

This is my last morning in Anchorage for my fucking day job, at least for this trip. When I woke up before sunrise it was 3°F. Now the sun is up, and it’s 1°F — that’s One Degree. I’m definitely ready to come home.

In between packing and eating a formidable breakfast at the Snow City Cafe a few blocks from my hotel I listened to a trio of new songs and watched one new video that I enjoyed. I thought you might like them, too.

PILE OF PRIESTS

This Denver trio released an EP named Unholy Death in 2011, which followed a five-track demo in 2010 named Burn. Now they’ve completed a debut album entitled Void To Enlightenment, which features cover art by the masterful Sam Nelson (Stigma) and is due for release on December 12 (CD and digitally). The band recently released the album’s first single, “Incantations of Old”, and it’s fascinating. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: STEVE DICKSON (MAMMOTHFEST)

Interviews 2 Responses »

Nov 132015

(In this post Andy Synn interviews Steve Dickson, the main man behind Mammothfest, whose 2015 edition took place last month in Brighton, England.)

Hello Steve. For the unenlightened amongst our readers, would you care to provide an outline of what Mammothfest is, how long it’s been going, etc?

No. I would rather shit the bed and roll in it for a week…ah shit sorry, wrong interview, yes it would be my absolute pleasure to enlighten all.

Mammothfest has been going since 2009 and our main objectives are to have a “Mammoth” outdoor metal festival in Brighton, bring the biggest bands in the world to our lovely seaside town, and support the underground bands by giving them the platforms they deserve/need to grow to become our future headliners because the big boys will not be around to play forever! Continue reading »

DAMNATION FESTIVAL 2015

Concert Reviews 6 Responses »

Nov 132015

(Andy Synn provides this report on the 2015 edition of Damnation Festival in the UK.)

It’s been a few years now since I last attended Damnation Festival, the annual celebration of all things dark and metallic hosted (as always) at Leeds University Student’s Union. But this year I knew I simply couldn’t miss it, as not only were a number of my favourite bands playing (hello Sólstafir, hi there Primordial) but also two bands I’ve been a fan of since their very first albums, but whom I’d never actually managed to see live before (The Ocean, Altar of Plagues).

Oh, and some band named At The Gates. Who are apparently pretty famous or something. Continue reading »

BENEATH THE RADAR (PART 3)

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 5 Responses »

Nov 122015

(Norwegian guest contributor Gorger has provided us with Part 3 of a multi-part feature on bands we seem to have overlooked at NCS. Part 1 is here; Part 2 is here. And be sure to check out Gorger’s Metal.)

Whilst Islander is busy polluting Alaska (Yeah, I’ve figured you out. Just wait until I tell Steven Segal), I thought I’d continue polluting No Clean Singing!

DENIAL – 11∞22.4’N 142∞35.5’E

If you recognized the band name Denial, that’s not necessarily surprising. There are at least 12 bands with that name around. Continue reading »

GET TO THE POINT: AWE

Interviews 7 Responses »

Nov 122015

(Last Friday we had the pleasure of premiering a full stream of Providentia, the superb debut album by a mysterious Greek entity named AWE. Now, KevinP brings us a new installment in his short-interview series, in which he quizzes an anonymous member of the band.)

K: So you don’t disclose who is in the band or what roles they play. Why is that? And what can you tell us?

It is really irrelevant who is in the band or what the contribution is of each member. You have to perceive AWE as an autonomous entity or as a vessel through which we can manifest our artistic desires. It is for the above reason that we didn’t create fake personas with fancy nick-names in order to please our egos. So, the important thing for us is for the listener to be patient, dive into our music, and grasp what we want to communicate through AWE. Continue reading »

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