AN NCS PREMIERE: HELLISH OUTCAST — “HERESIARCH” (AND A REVIEW OF “STAY OF EXECUTION”)

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Sep 242014
 

 

(In this post we present Andy Synn’s review of the forthcoming second album by Norway’s Hellish Outcast and an exclusive premiere of the song “Heresiarch.)

It’s always nice to see a band you love progress and move forward. Whether it’s in terms of getting proggier and weirder, or just downright heavier and nastier, it’s always such a joy to watch them grow up.

Case in point: It’s been two and a half years since Hellish Outcast unleashed their debut album of fist-clenching riffage and throat-bursting agony on the world, but it’s clear that they’ve not been idle in the intervening time.

No, they’ve been sharpening their knives, honing their skills, and biding their time. And now they’re ready for war once again.

Faster, heavier… fundamentally darker and more malevolent than ever, Stay of Execution improves on the band’s debut in pretty much every way, drastically ramping up the kill-count with a merciless display of calculated lethality and an undercurrent of sinister, progressive melody. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: “MEDITATION ON EARTH” — FEATURING THE DEBUT OF “DEATH OBSESSION” BY APHONIC THRENODY

 Premieres  No Responses »
Sep 242014
 

We have an unusual kind of premiere for you in this post, a collaboration between a visual artist and a metal band that is strange and hypnotic, and open to varying interpretations that depend on the imagination of the viewer/listener. The creator of the video is a Dutch artist named Jérôme Siegelaer, and the metal band is the multinational funeral doom collective known as Aphonic Threnody.

My own experience with Aphonic Threnody (whose members come from other well-regarded underground groups) goes back to 2011, when I came across their debut EP First Funeral (and wrote about some of the music here).  I wrote about them again (here) in a review of their superb 2014 split with Ennui entitled Immortal In Death. At last, the band have recorded a debut album entitled When Death Comes that’s due for release on the Doomentia label on October 31, and the longest song on that album, “Death Obsession”, is the soundtrack to this video. Or you could just as easily consider the video as a visual interpretation of “Death Obsession”. Continue reading »

JOB FOR A COWBOY: “SUN OF NIHILITY”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Sep 232014
 

 

I confess that this crept up on me. I didn’t know Job For A Cowboy were so close to releasing a new album, but as you can see above, it has a name (Sun Eater) and a fantastic album cover. It also has a release date (Nov 11, via Metal Blade). And within the last hour we got our first taste of the music through the premiere of a song named “Sun of Nihility”.

At the moment I’m unable to listen to the song. I could tell you why, but then I’d have to kill you, and we wouldn’t want that, would we? So even though I’m quite curious to hear how this band’s sound has progressed (because in light of their history I’m expecting some continued changes), I’m deferring my own gratification in order to gratify you.

At least I hope it will be gratifying. Please feel free to leave a Comment and explain whether you are gratified or disappointed. When I’m able to listen to the song I’ll toss in my two cents. The music is below. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: VARATHRON, NIGHTBRINGER, 1349, MYRKUR, ASHES, VIDEMUR

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  11 Responses »
Sep 232014
 

 

I sometimes play fast and loose with that “Shades of Black” title, but this time it genuinely fits the music I’ve collected here. The song streams represent many different shades and phases of black metal, and regardless of your preferences within the genre, I suspect you will find something to like before you reach the end. Of course, I like all of it.

VARATHRON

The long-running Greek black metal band Varathron will be releasing their fifth album, Untrodden Corridors of Hades, later this fall.  It comes five years after their last full-length, but based on the strength of the new album’s first advance track, this is one of those cases where I’m inclined to say, “It was worth the wait!”

“Realm of the Obscure” is thoroughly galvanizing, a non-stop rush of multi-faceted riffs that writhe like serpents, stab like knives, and hammer like mallet blows. The acrobatic and often pyrotechnic drumwork is equally varied and matches up beautifully with the varied movements of this long song, and the vocals are thoroughly ravenous. It’s the kind of music that’s voracious and malignant but with a highly seductive melody and an aura of imperial might. Really excellent. Continue reading »

NECROMANCING THE STONE: “FROM GRAVES TO INFAMY”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Sep 232014
 

 

If you browsed our site yesterday, then this post will come as no surprise. Yesterday I wrote about the existence of a recently revealed “supergroup” whose band name — Necromancing the Stone — I thought was a winner and whose members consist of these dudes:

James Malone (Arsis) (guitars)
Ryan ‘Bart’ Williams (ex-The Black Dahlia Murder) (bass)
Jeramie Kling (The Absence) (drums)
Justin Wood (Brimstone Coven) (guitars)
John Williams (Brimstone Coven) (vocals)

As reported yesterday, the band have recorded a three-song EP named Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead that was to be released today. It will be available on Bandcamp, and shirts are already available at this location. The EP was mixed by Peter Tagtgren at Studio Abyss, with additional mixing by Eyal Levi at Audiohammer Studios. The EP’s cover art, which you can see next, was created by Mark Riddick: At this writing, only one song has now been made available for streaming — it’s name is “From Graves To Infamy”. More about that in a minute — but first, the cover art: Continue reading »

SINGULARITY: “SINGULARITY”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Sep 222014
 

 

(Austin Weber reviews the forthcoming debut album by Singularity.)

By now, you’ve probably heard of Singularity here at No Clean Singing, either through the recent “Throne Of Thorns” song premiere we did recently, or my post regarding them last year. But if you haven’t heard them, now is your chance for redemption, because this band is incredible and worthy of your attention.

They are a self-described technical black metal act from Tempe, Arizona, and that genre tag certainly holds true, though within there blackened madness is a boatload of technical and melodically infused death metal.

Singularity are experts at fusing a malleable, shifting mixture of black metal and technical death metal together, to arrive at a new, previously unexplored horizon of majestic grimness. They are aided in their goal by a grandiose veneer of powerful orchestral key work, a characteristic present on all tracks, in a way somewhat akin to Fleshgod Apocalypse. Yet musically, they are a completely different group whose music is worlds apart; the orchestral sound just happens to be integrated and fuels the fervor of the tracks in a similar way. Continue reading »

AT THE GATES: LISTEN TO THE TITLE TRACK FROM “AT WAR WITH REALITY”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  16 Responses »
Sep 222014
 

 

The time has finally arrived: At the Gates have just premiered the title track from their forthcoming comeback album At War With Reality — their first new music in 19 years.

There have been considerable differences of opinion within the community of metal about whether this comeback was a good idea, and considerable speculation about what the new music would sound like — would it be in the vein of Slaughter of the Soul or more like the earlier albums? Well, now we have our first clue to the answers to those questions.

It’s hard to know how representative the title track is of the album as a whole, but I’m damned glad to have it. It’s a fast-paced song with racing, jabbing riffs, and it’s also immediately memorable. Tompa Lindberg’s vocals are by definition going to give the music a scarring, bloodthirsty quality, but the guitar solo is the sweepingly melodic centerpiece of the song. And yes, it’s a very melodic song — a very good one, in my book. By sheer coincidence, I was listening to the title track to Terminal Spirit Disease last night (because I really like that song), and this new one could easily link arms with it. Listen next…. Continue reading »

NECROMANCING THE STONE: NEW “SUPERGROUP” SCORES FIRST WIN WITH SELECTION OF BAND NAME

 Metal News  6 Responses »
Sep 222014
 

 

“Supergroups” are hit or miss affairs. The combination of musicians drawn from well-known and very talented bands sometimes turns out to be less than the sum of its parts. That may turn out to be true of Necromancing the Stone (though I’m betting it won’t), but at least they’ve scored a win with the selection of their band name.

Necromancing the Stone is a new band whose line-up includes these musicians:

James Malone (Arsis) (guitars)
Ryan ‘Bart’ Williams (ex-The Black Dahlia Murder) (bass)
Jeramie Kling (The Absence) (drums)
Justin Wood (Brimstone Coven) (guitars)
John Williams (Brimstone Coven) (vocals)

As for the music, the band have recorded a three-song EP named Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead that will be released tomorrow. It will be available on Bandcamp, and shirts are already available at this location. The EP was mixed by Peter Tagtgren at Studio Abyss, with additional mixing by Eyal Levi at Audiohammer Studios. The EP’s cover art, which you cane see next, was created by Mark Riddick: Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 2)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Sep 212014
 

I haven’t had much blog time available since last Thursday because of job-related travel and activities, so I’ve fallen behind in posting about new songs and videos that I think you might enjoy. To catch up, I’m including a giant fuckload of them in this two-part post. And in a rare display of brevity, I’m letting the music speak for itself.

I’ve also salted this post with a smattering of older music that I discovered only recently. Part 1 of this large collection can be found here. Beginning with that post and continuing through this one, the music is presented in alphabetical order by band name.

THE HAUNTED

New video: “Eye of the Storm”
Album: Exit Wounds
Label: Century Media
Band location: Sweden

https://www.facebook.com/hauntedofficial Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS (PART 1)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Sep 212014
 

I haven’t had much blog time available since last Thursday because of job-related travel and activities, so I’ve fallen behind in posting about new songs and videos that I think you might enjoy. To catch up, I’m including a giant fuckload of them in this two-part post. And in a rare display of brevity, I’m letting the music speak for itself.

I’ve also salted this post with a smattering of older music that I discovered only recently. So here we go, presenting the music in alphabetical order by band name. Part 2 will follow late today.

1349

New Video: “Slaves”
Album: Massive Cauldron of Chaos (to be released in NorthAm on Sept 30)
Band location: Norway
Label: Season of Mist

https://www.facebook.com/1349official Continue reading »

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