NO CLEAN SINGING

NECROMANCING THE STONE: “FROM GRAVES TO INFAMY”

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:

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’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 »

THE JOHAN HEGG SHOW: NEW VIDEOS FROM AMON AMARTH AND AUDREY HORNE

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 6 Responses »

Sep 202014

I’ve never met Johan Hegg, but I sure would like to. As metal celebrities go, he seems like an especially interesting, fun-loving guy. On the one hand, he is the badass face and voice of “Viking metal” (and I put those words in quotes to acknowledge the intellectual debate over whether that really is a definable genre of music). On the other hand, he cruises around in convertibles with muppets. And when he smiles, that warrior persona just melts away like ice in the summertime.

Two videos have just premiered in which Johan Hegg plays a starring role, and they show both sides of his personality — one from Amon Amarth, and one from Audrey Horne.

AMON AMARTH

Yesterday Bloody-Disgusting premiered a video for the song “Deceiver Of The Gods” from Amon Amarth’s latest album of the same name. It includes clips from a forthcoming film, Northmen – A Viking Saga, which stars Tom Hopper, Ryan Kwanten, Ken Duken — and Johan Hegg in the role of Valli. Continue reading »

DOMINIA: “EVERYONE ELSE”

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 7 Responses »

Sep 192014

I was going to include this new video by Dominia from St. Petersburg, Russia, in a big Saturday round-up of new song and video premieres, but it’s just so damned cool that I decided not to wait.

The song featured in the video is “Everyone Else” and it appears on the band’s new album Theophania, which was released in Russia earlier this month and will be coming to the US later this year.

The song is a fusing together of doom, gothic metal, and melodic death metal that will sink deep roots in your head after only one listen. The rhythm section is heavy as lead, Anton Rosa’s growls are bestial but entirely understandable, and Casper Rishko’s lead violin performance is, as always, mesmerizing. Continue reading »

DARK FORTRESS: “VENEREAL DAWN”

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Sep 192014

(Andy Synn reviews the new seventh album by Germany’s Dark Fortress.)

Quite often I see the music of Dark Fortress categorized as “Melodic Black Metal”, and while it is strongly, and darkly, melodic, and it’s definitely Black Metal… I still feel like that particular classification is something of a misnomer.

I don’t know about you, but when I think “Melodic Black Metal”, my mind immediately goes to the masterful Dissection and all their ilk, and while the earliest Dark Fortress albums certainly fell in line with that style, their third album, 2004’s Stab Wounds, signified the beginning of a major stylistic shift, one that has, over the years since, led the band into deeper, darker waters.

The addition of Morean on vocals for 2008’s Eidolon seemed to be the final piece of the puzzle necessary for the band to fully manifest their new-born identity, one of fire and anguish and boundless creative freedom, and paved the way for the complex and multi-faceted metallic madness of Ylem, perhaps the band’s finest hour thus far.

Venereal Dawn is certainly a spiritual follow-up to Ylem in many ways – indeed, without many of the creative seeds planted by that album much of Venereal Dawn simply would not exist – and yet it is far, far removed from being a simple copy.

Intimately progressive and hauntingly introspective, it is perhaps a less extreme and less technical album than its predecessor, albeit still dripping with black fire and venom, yet it remains just as challenging and creatively ambitious, and always true to the band’s own unorthodox ethos. Continue reading »

OFF THE BEATEN PATH: ATOMIKYLÄ, STILLA, THE DEAD

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 2 Responses »

Sep 192014

Three days ago, in an amazing episode of serendipity (and/or synchronicity — I’m not quite sure of the difference), I listened to three songs in a row by three different bands that blew my socks off (I’m missing other items of clothing as well). The sound of each song is unusual and different from the others, but hearing them all together was an even more remarkable experience because despite their musical differences they all seem to operate on the same wavelength.

I use the word “wavelength” because I can’t think of a better word at the moment. All the songs are mainly slow or mid-paced, they all generate a very dark atmosphere, and they all become quite intense in their bleakness.

So, here are the three songs in the order in which I heard them. If you’re willing to go exploring with me, I recommend you listen to all three back-to-back. (I feel like a DJ.)

ATOMIKYLÄ

I learned of this band through a recommendation by Kim Kelly ( to whom I bow in gratitude). Their name is Atomikylä, and their members consist of people from Dark Buddha Rising and Oranssi Pazuzu, which may give you a clue about what you’re about to hear — but that’s all it is, a clue. Continue reading »

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