LOOKING AHEAD: GRANT SKELTON’S LIST OF EAGERLY ANTICIPATED 2015 RELEASES

 Metal News  35 Responses »
Jan 062015
 

 

(We’re not quite finished with our 2014 LISTMANIA series, but NCS contributor Grand Skelton is looking ahead to what the new year will bring, and writes about some releases he’s particularly eager to hear. In the comments, let us know what you’re anticipating.)

Some of the biggest names in metal have albums in production for next year. Black Sabbath are reportedly recording their final album and then disbanding. Faith No More recently released the first single from their upcoming album. Slayer will be releasing their first album following the passing of Jeff Hanneman and the resignation of Dave Lombardo. Since the Prague incident, Lamb of God have been laying low, but it seems they are finally working on new material. Megadeth look to be entering the studio at the beginning of the year, despite being down to only 2 members. Rumors of Pepper Keenan returning to Corrosion of Conformity for a new album have begun to circulate.

Perhaps Metallica will get around to finally releasing their follow up to Death Magnetic as well. I may be in the minority on this site, but I’m a fan of “Lords Of Summer,” the new song they debuted this year. Even though not one album has gone platinum in 2014, a new Metallica album would no doubt sell very well… unless of course they do something asinine… like Lulu 2. As much as I love Metallica, I would rather listen to tone-deaf American Idol rejects than that revolting heap of musical excrement. Continue reading »

A YEAR-END LIST FROM GRONK! (A BAND OF ORCS)

 LISTMANIA 2014  12 Responses »
Jan 062015
 

 

(Yes, we did already post a year-end list from one of the members of A Band of Orcs [Cretos Filthgrinder], but we asked Gronk! if he would again give us one, too, because when it comes to being spared, we take no chances. HAIL GZOROTH!)

Unseasoned Greetings humies,

Once upon a time more Islander asks Gronk! for him’s Suncycle-end list of 2014.  Hail Islander, Gronk! guess me do nother such list for favorite metal bleeorg.  Gronk! not go in partorcular order like go last Suncycle.  Insteads me let Chaos Reign and go EXtream of subconsciousness for see what metal-philoso-theological thought-forms bubble up to surface from depths of darklake mind. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ANCIENT WIND — “WITH HATE IN THEIR EYES”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
Jan 052015
 

Ancient Wind are from Glenwood Springs, Colorado, but you wouldn’t guess that from their music. The Chosen Slain is their debut album, but you wouldn’t guess that either — because it sounds like something produced by a band with multiple albums already under their belts. But judge for yourselves — because you’re about to hear the album’s first single, “With Hate In Their Eyes”.

Glenwood Springs may be nestled in the Rockies at the confluence of the Colorado River and the Roaring Fork River, a town where Doc Holliday spent the final months of his life and was buried, but there’s a lot of Northern Europe in Ancient Wind’s sound. They identify such bands as Amon Amarth and Immortal among their influences — along with the likes of David Alan Coe, Poison, and Anal Cunt. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2014’s MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 12

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2014  3 Responses »
Jan 052015
 

 

Today we present Part 12 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 songs come from two outstanding albums by death metal bands who are quite skilled at putting a vigorous bludgeoning on your ass — and doing it in the context of actual songs that prove to be quite memorable.

ABYSMAL DAWN

Abysmal Dawn’s Obsolescence came loaded with highly infectious material, and so morbid that it might have been hand-delivered by the grim reaper. I think “Inanimate” is the most infectious track on the album, but only by a hair. It had lots of competition all around it. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: “MELENA’S MASK” BY SEWER GODDESS

 Premieres  1 Response »
Jan 052015
 

 

You can’t find the word “painlust” in any standard dictionary, but it should be a word. If you think about it, it sums up a material part of the human condition. It’s also the name given by Boston-based Sewer Goddess to their new album. Today we give you an introduction to the musical concept of painlust through our premiere of the album’s first advance track, “Melena’s Mask”.

Sewer Goddess made their full-length debut through 2010’s With Dirt You Are One. That was followed by a variety of tape, compilation, and live recordings, but this new song reveals a further evolution of the band’s sound.

Following an introductory fog of static-saturated noise, the band bring down slow hammer blows of fuzz-drenched chords and industrialized percussive pounding. Dissonant guitar excretions writhe through the tumult, and machine-manipulator Kristen Rose howls and shrieks like a banshee tortured to the point of derangement. The song is like a death march, with ranks of the wretched being fed into the teeth of a soul destroyer. Both harrowing and hypnotic, it seems to function as a statement of intent for the album, and as a convincing embodiment of the lust for pain. Continue reading »

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 »

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