SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): BABYMETAL, LINDEMANN, CURSE OF THE NORTH

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jan 052015
 

 

I collected enough new pieces of music and news items over the last 24 hours to justify a two-part Monday round-up. This is Part 1. I guess everything in here violates the rule of our site, as reflected in its name.

BABYMETAL

Our Tokyo-based friend and former NCS contributor Phro spotted something new from the Japanese J-pop/metal sensation Babymetal. It’s a three-minute trailer that appeared this morning for a new song named “Road of Resistance” that features some surprise guests. Phro wrote about it for his regular gig at Rocket News 24, and I’m just going to quote a few of his words below (you should read his whole write-up at this location). Like Phro, I happen to be one of those people who have enjoyed what Babymetal are doing to spread the gospel of metal to the uninitiated.

Stop what you’re doing and get ready to lose your… ummm… stuff. Kawaii-meets-coffins idol group BABYMETAL just released a trailer for a new song featuring guitars by Herman Li and Sam Totem, the semi-legendary guitarists from DragonForce. The song is called “Road of Resistance” and our only complaint is that the trailer is too short…despite being over three minutes long.

Put your kitsune up and get ready to headbang…

Continue reading »

A YEAR-END LIST OF THE BEST METAL BY WIL CIFER

 LISTMANIA 2014  2 Responses »
Jan 052015
 

 

(Last month we posted Wil Cifer’s list of 2014’s best black metal albums. Today we post his personal list of the year’s best metal, regardless of genre.)

Here are the top 10 metal albums. None of these are black metal, even though some of these bands might have once leaned that way. Of course, it’s partial to doom, but death metal fared pretty well this year with some old favorites coming back to kick ass.

10- Wormwood – S/T

These sludge merchants were crushing enough to keep the album in rotation.

Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2014’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 11

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2014  3 Responses »
Jan 042015
 

 

Today we present Part 11 in the continuing rollout of our list of 2014′s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. For more details about what this list is all about and how it was compiled, read the introductory post via this link. For the other songs we’ve previously named to the list, go here.

Today’s additions to the list are both by bands from my neck of the woods, i.e., the Pacific Northwest. One band has become a name known worldwide, the other is one whose name deserves to become much better known.

AGALLOCH

I’m long past caring about what kind of genre label should now be applied to the music of Agalloch, especially because I’m not sure a genre label has yet been invented that would suit the music on their latest album, The Serpent & The Sphere. It splices together so many strands of disparate music, from folk to prog to black metal to rock to doom, in contrasting and often surprising ways. It’s both complex and simple, both thunderous and sublime, a work that’s both earthy and mystical, and Billy Anderson’s production masterfully brings the band’s songwriting creativity and instrumental skill to vibrant life. Continue reading »

“THAT’S METAL!” — BUT IT’S NOT MUSIC (NO. 93)

 That's Metal -- But It's Not Music  12 Responses »
Jan 042015
 

 

Welcome to a new edition of THAT’S METAL!, the first one of 2015. I’m kind of proud of myself since I only let three weeks go by since the last edition, instead of seven or eight weeks. I have to applaud myself when I can, because it will probably be March before I get the next one done.

As always, the focus of this series is on images, videos, and news items that I think are metal, even though they’re not metal music. I have nine items for you today.

ITEM ONE

Mount Javornik is part of a mountain range in eastern Slovenia and the location of a popular ski center. High up on the mountain, high winds and freezing fog encase trees and lookout towers in thick layers of ice, creating alien spiked sculptures.

Photographer Marko Korosec hiked up the mountain on December 9, 2014, and took a series of photos of these jagged shapes — which definitely seem metal to me. One photo is at the top of this post, and a few more follow. To see more of his weather photography and additional images from this shoot, go to his 500px page. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2014’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 10

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2014  12 Responses »
Jan 032015
 

 

The rollout of our list of 2014′s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs continues today with three more tracks. For more details about what this list is all about and how it was compiled, read the introductory post via this link. For the other songs we’ve previously named to the list, go here.

BEHEMOTH

I’ve seen some quibbling here and there, because metalheads do love to quibble, but The Satanist has nevertheless been one of the best-received albums of 2014, by both fans and critics alike. It’s nothing quite like anything Behemoth have done before, though it is still recognizably a Behemoth album — and I can say that because this band have become one of those select groups who have a distinctive sound all their own. Yet on The Satanist, to quote from BadWolf’s NCS review, “It’s less interested in battering the listener over the head than it is in getting inside your head.” Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: LOIMANN, VHOLDGHAST, ITHAQUA, BLACK CILICE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jan 032015
 

 

Here’s a collection of new songs I came upon over the last 24 hours. It’s not happy music, but it make me happy.

LOIMANN

Loimann are from Torino in the Piemonte region of Italy. They released a debut album in 2010 named Towards Higher Consciousness, and their second full-length — Drowning Merged Tantras — will soon be released on CD by Behold the Ruins Records. I was drawn to it by the cover art (above), created by one of my favorite metal artists, Costin Chioreanu.

I’ve been making my way through the album as a whole (with thanks to Loimann for the opportunity), and I’m really enthralled by what they’ve accomplished. I’m unable to write as many album reviews as I would like, so I at least want to encourage you to listen to the two songs from the album that are now publicly available — “Haeresis” and “Tantras… Drowned”. Continue reading »

FREE SHIT: THE A389 MMXI ANNIVERSARY BASH SOUNDTRACK

 Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jan 032015
 

 

Baltimore-based A389 Recordings is hosting a music festival on January 15-17, 2015, to commemorate its 11th anniversary. The show will take place at three Baltimore venues (Sidebar Tavern, CCAS, and Metro Gallery) and will feature performances by 20 bands. The awesome poster for this year’s festival (above) was created by Human Furnace of Ringworm.

To help promote the festival and to salve the wounds of those who will be unable to attend, A389 has made available a free digital compilation called the A389 MMXI Anniversary Bash Soundtrack with songs from all the bands who will be performing at the festival. The soundtrack includes brand new tracks by Ilsa and Genocide Pact, as well as music from Noisem, Full of Hell, Magrudergrind, In Cold Blood, Weekend Nachos, and many more. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2014’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 9

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2014  6 Responses »
Jan 022015
 

 

Today we resume the rollout of our continuing list of 2014′s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. For more details about what this list is all about and how it was compiled, read the introductory post via this link. For the other songs we’ve previously named to the list, go here.

The songs I’m adding to our list today come from the two most high-profile “comeback” albums of 2014. Both generated a lot of overheated discussion everywhere metalheads congregated to opine and pontificate. Both generated controversy, and in both cases the controversy stemmed from the inevitable comparisons with each band’s own previous landmark works. By now, everyone has chosen up sides. I’m on the side that thinks both albums are very good, and worthy additions to each band’s storied discography. And they both include some of the year’s most infectious extreme metal songs.

AT THE GATES

Few bands have ever made as indelible a mark on the history of metal as this one. In four straight years they produced The Red In the Sky Is Ours, With Fear I Kiss the Burning Darkness, Terminal Spirit Disease, and of course Slaughter of the Soul. And then almost 20 years passed before At the Gates delivered their fifth album, At War With Reality (reviewed here). Many bands who have resurrected their careers after a long hiatus would have been better off leaving us only with memories. In this case, we are lucky that At the Gates have come back. Continue reading »

DUSKMOURN: “LEGENDS”

 Album Reviews  8 Responses »
Jan 022015
 

 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the debut album released in December by a two-man band from NJ/PA named Duskmourn.)

Do you like the idea of Omnium Gatherum with folk elements instead of more modern futuristic textures and sounds?  Duskmourn is for you.  Combining sounds of Omnium, Dark Tranquility, Hypocrisy, and something of a Be’lakor vibe, Duskmourn’s debut Legends is a satisfying melodic death metal morsel.

Duskmourn is an American duo.  There is Bill Sharpe in charge of drums, guitars, and keyboards, and Walter Deyo in charge of vocals, bass, and also guitars.  The music is feral and forlorn and has that marching-into-battle feel.  I hate saying that, because when you say that most people seem to bounce right to Amon Amarth.  There is a bit of that vibe on here, too, but it’s by no means an accurate or fair comparison. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 72: FOEHAMMER, ORGAN TRAIL, THE VOMITING DINOSAURS, SNAKEFEAST

 MISCELLANY  4 Responses »
Jan 022015
 

 

Yesterday I noticed a Facebook post by Baltimore’s Grimoire Records about a forthcoming release by a Virginia band named Foehammer and a song from the album that had debuted on Bandcamp. So I visited the Grimoire Bandcamp page — and discovered three more forthcoming Grimoire releases that I didn’t know about (surprising as it may seem, I haven’t yet become omniscient). So I decided, what the hell, this seems like good fodder for the next MISCELLANY experiment. And since I haven’t written a MISCELLANY post in two months, I decided there’s no time like the present.

To remind you about the MISCELLANY rules, I randomly pick albums or EPs by bands whose music I’ve never heard (usually by bands I’ve never heard of either), I listen to a track or two, I write my immediate impressions — and then I stream the music so you can make up your own minds. Unlike everything else I write about at NCS, I don’t know in advance what the music’s going to sound like or whether it will be worth the attention. Don’t try this at home — I’m a trained scientific professional and I can handle the risks.

FOEHAMMER

Foehammer’s self-titled release appears to be a debut album, scheduled for discharge by Grimoire on March 3, 2015. The one song that’s streaming is a 10-minute track named “Stormcrow”. It’s one of three long-form tracks on the album. I like the album art (by Luciana Nedelea). Turns out that “Stormcrow” is quite likable, too. Continue reading »

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