NAPALM DEATH: “APEX PREDATOR (EASY MEAT)”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Feb 122015
 

 

(DGR reviews the new album by Napalm Death.)

Our crops had been weak for decades, our village was starving, and we found ourselves on the near brink of ruin. Famine had torn through the whole country, but my village was hit especially hard. We knew that there wasn’t much time left, and despite this being the modern age we had few solutions going for us. We had tried so many on the path to getting ourselves back up on our feet but nothing had worked. We were desperate and starving and we all knew it. Ideas once thought stupid were now grand gestures of genius and we were embracing them all wholeheartedly. If we had honestly thought that painting ourselves blue and pretending to be cat people would’ve worked, we would’ve done it.

Now, we found ourselves turning to a person that we honestly hadn’t thought about or given a second notion to for years. He was a relic of the past, kept alive mostly by fool traditionalists and relatives. Nobody cared to learn his art and so he was to be the last of his kind, yet here we were, three days running now in a smoke-filled tent with a man now in his upper eighties with body paint on, deep in thought and apparently asleep. We had turned to our shaman and were using him in the way that my grandparents would’ve sought knowledge with his father. We were hoping to hear something wise, anything, really, to get ourselves out of the mess of starvation that we were currently in.

Finally, after three days of being so still as to appear petrified were it not for the glistening beads of sweat on his forehead, he began to convulse. My friend jumped forward to help but my father held him back, informing him that this was how it had always gone and were anyone to interrupt him the whole process would have to start anew. And so, we sat and watched a man convulse until finally he opened his eyes and one our own ran out of the tent hollering to the village that he had awoken and was going to speak. Finally, he opened his mouth and uttered a few words of wisdom before closing his eyes and nodding off.

“Napalm Death are an important band” Continue reading »

GET TO THE POINT: A.C. OF THROES

 Interviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Feb 122015
 

 

(In this latest installment of his “Get To the Point” series, KevinP poses 5 questions to multi-instrumentalist “A.C.” of the UK band Throes, whose debut album Disassociation is coming out March 22nd… and we have a new song to stream as well.)

******

K:  Another day, another new band from you.  So what’s this all about?

A:  Throes comes from a turbulent time.  It was originally formed as a full band in 2011 but due to DG’s term of house-arrest we were forced to disband.  There’s not a great deal worth delving into with regards to the history of Throes. In fact, we’d rather leave most of it feigned in mystery.  This is for a variety of reasons but mainly because when you look at the current incarnation of Throes it bares no similarities to its predecessor (i.e., as opposed to being a full band), it is now a two-man outfit with all instrumental and writing duties handled by myself and vocals performed by DG.

 

K:  So musically what were you aiming for on this, as opposed to the plethora of other bands you are involved with?

A:  This has a whole load of electronic influences and definitely takes a much more experimental approach than any other record I have done.  Also, I wrote the material over a fairly short period of time in comparison to what I would normally spend on a record. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: VOICE OF THE SOUL, IN DREAD RESPONSE, SOUTHERN FRONT, MUSCLE AND MARROW, FALL OF SUMMER 2015

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Feb 112015
 

 

I would actually like to review an entire album. Or even an entire EP. And I harbor hopes of finishing the rollout of our Most Infectious Songs list for 2014. But on a daily basis I continue to find new songs that I feel compelled to say something about, and so here we have another round-up of such discoveries.

VOICE OF THE SOUL

I first came across Voice of the Soul four and a half years ago via a MISCELLANY excursion. The band’s vocalist/guitarist Kareem Chehayeb was then based in Kuwait, with other band members spread around other locations in the Middle East. When I reviewed their 2011 EP, Into Oblivion, I found that it represented a large leap forward, or more like a stretching of wings — by a rapidly maturing raptor with big claws that could do some damage, and an even more impressive ability to take flight on the wings of some very memorable melodies. Since then, Kareem Chehayeb and guitarist Monish Shringi relocated to Dubai in the UAE, and recorded the band’s debut album, Catacombs.

Guest writer Gorger reviewed the album for us last October and gave it high marks. But despite his praise and my own history with the band, I stupidly didn’t dive into it. Too many other distractions, I suppose. And then yesterday I watched and listened to the band’s new lyric video for a song from the album named “Defiled”, and holy shit. Continue reading »

SEVEN YEAR STORM: “AION I”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Feb 112015
 

 

(TheMadIsraeli recommends a forthcoming album by a new band named Seven Year Storm.)

Seven Year Storm is spearheaded by First Reign drummer Sean Lang and Archspire ax-murderer Dean Lamb.  Figured that would get your attention immediately.

Aion I is instrumental metal with a rather video-gamey quality to it, in that it’s driven by very enigmatic melodies, and the music thrives on syncopated grooves and polyrhythms, with gorgeous leads and atmosphere.  It’s captivating, the songs are concise, yet have a lot of substance.  Aion I is the band’s first output, an EP, and it’s quite good if you’re into instrumental metal of any sort.

It’s a bit spacey, a bit jazzy, and a bit neoclassical — a winning combo for me and right up my alley.  The interesting thing here is that this EP isn’t a skill showcase for either Lang or Lamb (both of whom are impressively skillful), but a genuine songwriting exercise.  None of these songs in any way pushes any kind of instrumental capacity.  It’s all about memorable melodies and celestial atmosphere with grooves that are very hooky.  Continue reading »

ENSLAVED: “IN TIMES”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  13 Responses »
Feb 112015
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Norway’s Enslaved — now with a full-album stream at the end.)

The phrase “The more things change, the more they stay the same” is almost beyond cliché at this point, yet I feel that it still retains some value… as long as you use it in the right place, and at the right time.

Case in point: It seems to apply to Enslaved more than to most bands I can think of, as few other artists seem to have perfected the almost zen-like balance between progress and preservation as the Norwegian natives.

If you see the band live these days you’re likely to hear material from across the length and breadth of their career, from Frost to Monumension to Axioma… all seamlessly integrated and interwoven together… and it’s truly amazing to be able to hear songs like “Allfǫðr Oðinn” and “Death In The Eyes of Dawn” next to one another in the same setlist, forcing you to realise that no matter how far they’ve come or how much they’ve progressed over the years, Enslaved are still very much the same band they always were at heart, and that there’s no era or element of their sound that doesn’t represent who they are. Continue reading »

PLAYTHROUGH WIZARDRY: FELIX MARTIN AND DOMINIC “FOREST” LAPOINTE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Feb 112015
 

 

I have NCS scribe Austin Weber to thank for pointing me to the two videos in this post. Both of them are playthroughs by phenomenal musicians. Both of them appeared yesterday. Both of them should put a big grin on your face. Austin introduces the first one, and I scribbled something about the second.

FELIX MARTIN

Written by: Austin Weber

Venezuelan two-handed eclectic and exotic tapping machine Felix Martin is back at it again, melting minds across 14 strings and two separate fretboards. In between his recorded material, he often posts interesting concept videos where he tries new things. This latest video shows him exploring various Meshuggah-style polyrhythms and coming up with some absolutely wild stuff. The second half of the video in particular continually builds and spirals into a dense labyrinth of undulating thick grooves. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SEWERCIDE — “HYPOTHERMIA”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Feb 102015
 

 

Talk about eye-catching cover art! What you’re looking at above is the creation of Tim Jacobus (Goosebumps) and it graces the new EP by Australia’s Sewercide, entitled Severing the Mortal Cord. This is the band’s sixth release overall, following a demo and four splits, and it delivers five full-throttle blasts of mayhem — one of which we’re about to premiere.

The song’s name is “Hypothermia”, but there’s nothing cold about it. It’s a gritty, brawling blast of high-voltage death/thrash loaded with a hornet swarm of vicious riffs, gut-punching bass, and rambunctious percussion — and highlighted by a fret-burning solo that will singe your eyebrows. In keeping with the balls-to-the-wall atmosphere of the music, the vocalist sounds like he’s on a straight liquid diet of lye and pure, concentrated ethanol. Continue reading »

SHAMEFULLY MISSED MUSIC OF 2014

 LISTMANIA 2014, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Feb 102015
 

 

(New NCS contribtor Dan Barkasi prepared this list of excellent 2014 releases that he overlooked (we also overlooked many of them) — and that are very much worth your attention if you missed them, too.)

Face it – no matter how much music one can cram into an entire year, there are going to be at least a couple of gems that somehow avoid you. You don’t know how, exactly, as some are blatantly obvious, while other omissions are merely the result of bad luck and/or timing. This is where we make up for said misses. These albums deserve some spotlight, too.

Presented in no particular order, here you go! Just know that there’s a bowlful of awesome here, so no ranking required this go-round.

Astrophobos – Remnants of Forgotten Horrors

This is a very refreshing slab of black metal from these Swedes. Harkening back to the ’90s stylistically, prevalent melodic passages and frosty riffs rule the day. Sharp vocals and a high intensity wrap this up quite neatly. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEVATHORN — “DOCTRINA FIDE”

 Premieres  6 Responses »
Feb 102015
 

 

As we’ve noted more than once at this site, the last 12 months have produced a stunning number of stunning black metal releases from Greece, and the flood of blood shows no signs of abating. On February 24, W.T.C. Productions will be releasing the second album by the Athenian band Devathorn. The new work, Vritra, follows the band’s Diadema debut by more than seven years, but the time has not been wasted. As proof, we offer a premiere of the album’s second track, “Doctrina Fide”.

Vritra is named for the great serpent of legend, the archetype of the draconic adversary, the bringer of chaos and liberation. Using this symbol of arcane knowledge and otherworldly fury, Devathorn have poured their musical devotion into a chalice of sulphur flame, where it burns with obsidian light. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: UNLEASHED, APOPHYS, THEOKTONY, GHOLD, HACAVITZ, SPECTRAL VOICE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Feb 102015
 

 

Yesterday delivered a bonanza of new metal discoveries, so many that I’m resorting to minimizing my own verbiage in order to roll out everything I found in one post without turning it into War and Peace. I realize this will strike many of you as a tragedy of near-mythic proportions, but I do not wish to dim the reputation of Tolstoy, him being dead and all, and unable to restore competitive balance with a sequel.

UNLEASHED

Yesterday Nuclear Blast announced that this spring it will release the 12th studio album of Sweden’s Unleashed. The title is Dawn of the Nine and it features cover art by the talented Pär Olofsson. There’s a story behind the artwork, as recounted by founding member, bassist, and vocalist Johnny Hedlund:

“The artwork represents the continuation of our previous album, which ended with ‘The Great Battle of Odalheim.’ The battle took place at Uppsala Fields in Sweden, and you can clearly see the king’s grave in the cover art work which also represents the future. You can also see the bombed out church in the far distance, the place of blood in the front, and the rune stone with the runic symbol of courage of the new dawn.” Continue reading »

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