TOURISM: DARK TRANQUILLITY AND INSOMNIUM ANNOUNCE NORTH AMERICAN INVASION

 Metal News  5 Responses »
Jun 062014
 

NCS reader Joseph D just e-mailed me some breaking news, for which I’m most thankful. You can see the news above: Sweden’s Dark Tranquillity and Finland’s Insomnium will be touring North America in January 2015.

January 2015 is a long way off, but man, I’m already very excited about this announcement, especially because the tour will be stopping in Seattle. I’m sure you get sick of me focusing on myself first and everyone else secondarily, but you wouldn’t want me to be dishonest would you?

All the dates are after the jump. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: 4SCUMS — “WE CAN RESIST”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  8 Responses »
Jun 062014
 

I had this little itching sensation in the back of my skull, a nasty little nagging voice buzzing in the brainstem, telling me: “You can’t end the week with that post about In Flames, Mastodon, and Opeth!!! Did you leave your balls in bed this morning??? Where’s the fucking filth?!?!?”

And right about then I stumbled across a link posted by a Facebook friend to a song by a Russian band named 4scums. Problem solved!

A little investigation revealed that 4scums have released a 2009 album named Пёс Войны and a 2010 EP entitled We Can Resist. Because the EP is available as a free download on Bandcamp and is streaming there, I gave it a spin.

We Can Resist serves up five songs that are best played as loud as you can stand it. They’re short, savage, and incendiary — and really well done. The music is a raucous high-speed rampage of metallic crust punk. The riffs are infectious as hell, the soloing is white hot, the drummer can fly, and the vocals (in Russian) are a howling spray of brimstone and grit. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: IN FLAMES, MASTODON, OPETH

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  32 Responses »
Jun 062014
 

As a general rule, when I put together these “Seen and Heard” collections of new music I write about what I like (of course) and I also try to spotlight music from bands who are often overlooked by other metal sites. This particular collection is a departure from the norm. First of all, In Flames, Mastodon, and Opeth are among the biggest names in metal. Over the last week, each of them has premiered a new song from a forthcoming album, and the odds are high that you’ve already heard the music — because every metal site in creation has been spreading the word about them. Second, I have mixed feelings about the music. So what I’m really doing with this collection is trying to satisfy my own curiosity about what our readers think about this new material — which means I want your comments!

IN FLAMES

The new In Flames album Siren Charms will be released on September 15. The first advance track from the album, “Rusted Nail”, is now available to European Spotify users (here), and it has also started appearing illicitly on YouTube. So of course I listened to it. I ought to repeat that this band were one of my gateways into the more extreme genres of heavy music. For that I’ll always have a soft spot in my heart for them. In addition, unlike many hidebound fans who haven’t liked anything In Flames have recorded since Clayman (or even before), I remained enthusiastic all the way through Come Clarity. But even with that said, “Rusted Nail” is failing to make much of a mark. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: HAMFERÐ’S JÓN ALDARÁ

 Interviews  5 Responses »
Jun 062014
 

(Our Russian contributor Comrade Aleks returns with another interview — and if you haven’t yet discovered the wonders of Hamferð, this is a good time to get on board.)

After Hamferð’s debut album Vilst er Síðsta Fet succeeded in attracting a lot of attention to the band, their first full-length work Evst aroused even more serious interest in this bunch of talented dudes from the Faroe Islands. In addition to the attraction of the band’s exotic location, Hamferð play strong and dramatic doom/death with a real artistic touch and lyrics written in their native language. So, this interview with Jón Aldará (vocals) is a good opportunity not only to refresh your geography knowledge but also to discover legends of the Faroe Islands and a bloody good doom band.

Thanks to Frodi Stenberg of Factory92 for helping organize this interview.

*******

Ahoy ship-mates! What is the latest news from the band?

Greetings from the wind-battered mountains of the Faroe Islands. We have just returned from a successful first gig in Norway at the Inferno Festival, and our next endeavor is an exclusive acoustic concert/poetry evening in my hometown of Klaksvík this weekend. It will be something special indeed. Continue reading »

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO THIS YEAR — PART DEUX

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  26 Responses »
Jun 062014
 

(Back in February NCS contributor KevinP shared with us an early list of 2014 albums that were peaking his interest. More than three months have passed, and now Kevin brings us five more recommendations.)

2014 hasn’t slowed down with the new releases worthy of all our time. If you’re playing catch up, you can see Part 1 here.

Hexis – Abalam

I never liked straight-up hardcore and I’m not a huge fan of straight-up black metal either. Wasn’t in 1992, still not today. But when you mix the two together, it’s like “somebody put gasoline on my fuckin’ balls and lit it” (yes, I’m quoting Joey DeMaio, gotta problem with that?). Take the darkness and evil tint of black metal, mixed with the fury and bottom end of hardcore in a nice concise package of mainly 1-2 minute songs & nothing overstays its welcome.

http://hexisband.bandcamp.com/album/abalam Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: ISHIMURA — TRANSITION: VOL. 1

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Jun 052014
 

(Andy Synn reviews the new EP by Ishimura.)

I’m mainly reviewing EPs this week it seems. You’ve probably already seen my write-up of the new De Profundis EP, and although I am working on a full-length album review it’s not going to be published until Monday. So in the meantime here’s a quick look at another short-but-sweet little number, with (fingers crossed) another one to follow tomorrow.

Now there’s actually two bands named Ishimura out there at the moment — a nasty Black/Death/Noise hybrid from Mississippi, USA, and a Progressive/Post- Metal group from Kaliningrad, Russia. And if the above image didn’t clue you in to which one I’m covering here today, let me clear it up – it’s the Russian one. Apologies to all the kvltists and grindwhores I may have disappointed.

Now although this Ishimura veer most closely to the Isis style of Post-Metal (something they freely admit to), they’ve managed to integrate some very interesting ideas and a wealth of their own identity into the mix in the process. Over the course of the EP’s three expansive tracks they flirt with a number of progressive touches, weaving in threads of fluttering electronica and unexpected, esoteric instrumentation amidst waves of shimmering sound and sweeping metallic ambience. Continue reading »

OCULUS INFERNUS: IN WHICH THE PROFESSOR INVESTIGATES ELECTROCUTION, FALCONER, SABBATORY, SAGE FRANCIS, AND MOODIE BLACK

 Album Reviews, Off Topic, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Jun 052014
 

(We welcome the return of Professor D. Grover the XIIIth with the results of his latest musical investigations.)

Greetings and salutations, friends. It has been less than a month since my last missive, which makes the timing on this a bit of a surprise. However, the timing is just right, and so you are joining me for a look at 5 new albums from various artists with whom you may or may not be acquainted. In a bit of a deviation from form, I’m including three artists who have been covered here at NCS, but they have relevant new albums that need to be addressed. Without further preamble, we commence.

ELECTROCUTION

Our first artist, possibly one of the best-known of the previously-mentioned artists, is… wait, what? Electrocution has never been mentioned on No Clean Singing before?

Seriously? Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: PANOPTICON, BASTARD FEAST, MIDNIGHT, BELOW THE SUN, ÁRSTÍÐIR

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  14 Responses »
Jun 052014
 

I will never catch up. So many new songs and videos erupted from the underground while I was doing other things over the last week, but I can’t look backward for long because each new day brings more eruptions. The seismic plates of metal are in constant motion, and the skies are always red with fire and black with ash. So I’ll mix and match between the new and the not-quite-as-new — starting with a song that premiered yesterday.

PANOPTICON

There are some bands about whom I fear I’ve lost my objectivity. I’m so enthralled by everything they’ve done that I expect nothing less than excellence in whatever comes next. Panopticon is one of those bands. I’ve had not only high expectations for Roads To the North but also no doubt that it would prove to be brilliant.

With that confession, I will say that the first advance track from that new album is… brilliant. The song is “Chase the Grain” and it premiered at Stereogum yesterday. Even before hearing it, I was already in agreement with Stereogum writer Michael Nelson’s pronouncement that Panopticon’s Austin Lunn “is one of the few genuine visionaries in American black metal”. If you need more proof, listen to “Chase the Grain”. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: MECHINA — “TO COEXIST IS TO SURRENDER”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jun 052014
 

(In this post DGR reviews the new single by Chicago’s Mechina.)

I feel like I’ve been spending a lot of time musically in Illinois lately, between (hopefully) getting a review done for Cimmerian’s January release Hollowing at some point (short version; listen to it, great album that plays in the same realm as Insomnium, Be’lakor, and Omnium Gatherum), and then Chicago in particular with the Watch_Dogs videogame, which has the city down in spirit but not so much in actual layout (a problem I’ve also run into with Infamous and Seattle, and Driver in San Francisco), and Warforged’s EP Essence Of The Land (which hit earlier this year and is still on pretty constant rotation as well). And now Mechina call me back again with another new song, a twelve and a half minute precursor — after the group’s already stellar January release Xenon.

The group’s new song “To Coexist Is To Surrender” is apparently the whole ignition point for the series of albums that have previously been released, all tied into one grand and overarching story — though I will fully own up to having no idea where it is at now, as I was initially operating off of old information when I penned my Xenon review.

However, “To Coexist Is To Surrender” continues the Mechina trend of making their long songs absolutely awesome, and this one in particular provides them with an epic. Not only does the song include narration, radio broadcasts, and extended instrumental sections, it also includes multiple vocalists and an intense and passionate closing section provided by longtime co-conspirator and solo singing artist Mel Rose. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: PALLBEARER, BLOOD OF KINGU, YOUNG AND IN THE WAY, CANNABIS CORPSE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Jun 042014
 

You may have noticed that over the last three or four days I haven’t written as much for the site as I usually do. The explanation, as usual, is my fucking day job. It’s going to continue to impinge on blog time for another day or two. But I find myself with a sliver of free time at the moment, so I thought I’d collect some new things that I discovered over the last 24 hours.

I’ve found so much that I’m dividing the discoveries into two collections, this being the first. With luck, more will come later today. I’m going to start with a couple of album announcements.

PALLBEARER

I really loved Sorrow and Extinction, the 2012 debt album by Pallbearer from Little Rock, Arkansas. I was hardly alone. It was deluged in critical praise and made heaps of year-end lists. Today Profound Lore announced that Pallbearer have completed work on a new album entitled Foundations of Burden and that it will be released in NorthAm on August 19. Continue reading »

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