GAZE UPON THE COVER ART FOR VADER’S NEW ALBUM

 Metal News  8 Responses »
Mar 212014
 

There it is, the cover art for Vader’s next album (their 12th), Tibi Et Igni. My Latin is a little rusty, but I’m pretty sure Tibit Et Igni means “we will hammer the back of your head so hard your eyeballs will be ejected at the speed of sound and then we’ll start on your spine”.

The cover is damned cool. It was created is by veteran artist Joe Petagno, and the album was recorded by the Wieslawski brothers at Hertz Studio in Bialystok, Poland (we already mentioned them earlier today because they recorded Beneath’s new album). The album will be released on May 30 by Nuclear Blast. A two-song single will be released on April 18, both digitally and on 7″ vinyl.

Actually, I just checked, and my Latin is rustier than I thought. Tibit Et Igni apparently means “For You and Fire”. I think this is just another way of saying “we will burn you like dry kindling and scatter your ash to the four winds”. The track list is after the jump for those who are into that kind of thing (the bonus tracks look interesting). Here also is the band’s previously released quote about the new music: Continue reading »

DOOM, DOOM, DOOM, DEPRESSION AND BEING DOOMED

 Album Reviews, Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Mar 212014
 

(In this post DGR takes us on a globe-hopping tour of recent releases that fall within the varied realms of doom.)

It’s hard to believe that it is already March. Of course, I say that every year because February feels like a bullshit month with its short amount of days, but still. Sacramento has decided to park its hot ass right at about eighty degrees for the next week or so, yet I still find myself feeling bleak and down. Maybe it was the promise of grey skies and rain, but I found myself surfing the web seeking out doom in all its various forms and today I’d like to share with you some of the discoveries that I made.

A couple were found by just wading through circles on Facebook and by the random band button on Metal-Archives, which is always an interesting experiment in its own right. You could probably do a whole feature on that some day with the right amount of time and investment. As I wrote this over the past week or so, I kept adding more and more bands that I was coming across and wanted to talk about, so I apologize if this gets a little too verbose, but I figured it might be worth it to concentrate a bunch of smaller reviews into a post than spread out a bunch of giant tomes on a group of really good EPs.

Plus, maybe we’ll expose people to multiple groups in this one post. On top of that, I’m going to add in a little mini-review of an artist we’ve covered before in one of our ‘free music’ updates — as they released a new album earlier this year and it’ll be a good change of pace from all the roiling waters and restless seas you’re about to get dragged through. If anything, the tempo change will probably be appreciated. Continue reading »

NEW MUSIC FROM INSOMNIUM: “REVELATIONS”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Mar 212014
 

All of us here at NO CLEAN SINGING are eager — eager, I tell you — for Shadows of the Dying Sun, which is the name of the new album by Finland’s Insomnium. Today we got the first example of music from the album via Terrorizer’s premiere of a new song named “Revelations”.

But guess what?  I can’t listen to it!  Because I am writing this from the middle of a meeting for my day job. I can type this without invoking suspicion from the other 7 people in the room with me. But strapping on the headphones and blasting this song would probably be too much. Probably.

So, please listen to it after the jump and let me know this: am I missing something awesome? I bet I am. I will know in about an hour… Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BENEATH — “CHALICE”

 Premieres  5 Responses »
Mar 212014
 

In early February we featured the fetching piece of cover art by Raymond Swanland that you see above, along with the fetching news that Iceland’s Beneath would be releasing a new album named The Barren Throne, via Unique Leader on April 29. We’ve written frequently about Beneath. To quote our chum Gemma Alexander, who interviewed members of the band in Iceland a couple of years ago, they are fairly new, but the musicians behind the name are some of the heaviest hitters in Icelandic metal.

“[W]ith Unnar Sigurðsson of Ophidian I fame on guitar, and with drums provided by Atrum’s Ragnar Sverisson, Beneath came out swinging in 2009, winning Iceland’s first Wacken Metal Battle. An EP followed in 2010, with their first full-length, Enslaved by Fear, released [in] July [2012]. Needless to say, all of the usual metaphors involving blunt force trauma apply.”

Beneath have a new vocalist since their last release — Benedikt Natanael Bjanason (also with Azoic) — and we’re delighted to give you a first listen to him and to what Beneath have cooked up for their new record as we premiere the official lyric video for “Chalice”. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: OPETH, ARCH ENEMY, THE AGONIST, BLOODBATH

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  34 Responses »
Mar 212014
 

Well, yesterday at NCS didn’t go exactly as I had planned. We did have a couple of excellent song premieres and an interesting play-through video, but my old fucking day job prevented me from pulling together a round-up of new developments in the world of metal — of which there have been many in the last 48 hours. So I’m gathering a few in this post even though the reports aren’t as timely as I would have liked. By coincidence, all the items (but one) involve venerable Swedish bands.

OPETH

Few albums in recent years have generated as much controversial commentary at our site than Opeth’s Heritage. It seems that all we had to do was mention that 2011 album, and conflicting opinions would come out of the woodwork like termites. It has been used as an example of both a band who betrayed their fans and one who felt free to let their artistic impulses dictate their direction rather than commerce. Some thought it was a fine album, others thought it was as dull as dishwater.

Yesterday, we got news about the band’s next album. Via an interview of Opeth’s Mikael Akerfeldt and Fredrik Akesson, Loudwire reported that the 11th studio (not yet titled) has been completed and projected for release in June. Loudwire has heard the album and wrote this: “Opeth’s songwriting is top notch on the album, but once again, the record features no guttural vocals.” Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE AND A REVIEW: DEAD IN THE MANGER — “TRANSIENCE”

 Premieres, Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  5 Responses »
Mar 202014
 

Transience is the name of the debut EP by a mysterious new group named Dead In the Manger. Although the band has not publicly disclosed their identities or location, nor even shared much information about themselves with 20 Buck Spin — the label that pounced on this EP after hearing it and will be handling the release on April 29 — their music says all you need to know.

The EP consists of six songs, entitled “Parts I – VI”, and it’s a multi-headed beast. “Part I” for example is a slow guitar instrumental, the slightly distorted notes conveying a somber, affecting melody while deep in the distance the vocalist howls in a throat-bursting agony.

“Part II”, on the other hand, races from the starting gate, driven by a swirling, swarming lead guitar melody and a high-speed drum assault. And that brings us to the song we’re premiering today: “Part III”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ANTIVERSE — “BETHLEM”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Mar 202014
 

Antiverse is a band of old friends from Minneapolis who have been involved in other musical projects since the 90s but have now united under the Antiverse name to release Cosmic Horror. To be clear, Cosmic Horror is the title of their debut album (due for release on April 8), though it could also appropriately describe the forces summoned by their music. At the end of this post we’ll give you and the rest of the world a first taste of the album as we premiere a song named “Bethlem”.

The band’s guitarist and backing vocalist Carl Skildum described the album’s concept this way: “It reflects our interests in dystopian science fiction and horror, and humanity’s tenuous place in the universe. The name Cosmic Horror obviously is a tip of the hat to Lovecraft although none of the songs specifically address his literary creations, just the general feeling of dread and a sense of being taken unaware by events far beyond our ability to comprehend. It’s a loosely organized grand tour of mayhem, with scientific hubris, North American folklore and cryptids, and otherworldly invaders all taking their turns.” Continue reading »

MORGAN BERTHET (THE MARS CHRONICLES): “ABYSS”

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Mar 202014
 

I’m not a musician. I’m just a fan. When I watch a play-through video, I’m not capable of critiquing the fine points of a performance, especially a drummer’s performance, because almost all drummers amaze me. Having made that confession, I’m now going to offer a few thoughts about Morgan Berthet’s drum play-through for “Abyss”, a song by his band The Mars Chronicles.

There are times in the play-through when what he’s doing looks simple — and then he’ll twirl a drumstick through his fingers in mid-beat so fast that you wonder if you really saw it. Those drum twirls having nothing to do with the sound on the song, but they’re still really impressive. The actually drumming is impressive, too. Continue reading »

AN NCS-SPONSORED TOUR: ABIGAIL WILLIAMS, LECHEROUS NOCTURNE, PANZERFAUST

 Metal News  17 Responses »
Mar 192014
 

Ever-evolving black metal purveyors Abigail Williams have announced new North American tour dates for May-June, and NO CLEAN SINGING is proud to sponsor this special run of new performances. Joining AW for this rampage will be two extreme black/death bands, Willowtip recording artists Lecherous Nocturne from South Carolina and Toronto-based Panzerfaust.

Long-time readers of our site will be quite familiar with Abigail Williams and Lecherous Nocturne because we’ve written about them repeatedly, and both bands put on killer live shows. Panzerfaust may be a new name around these parts, but they’re a band whose music is also well worth getting to know.

The tour is scheduled to begin on May 15 in Wisconsin and to conclude on June 14 in Illinois. Abigail Williams’ main man Sorceron told us he’s excited to be hitting the road again with the band’s long-time brothers in Lecherous Nocturne, “and getting out there to show people some new songs.” Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: IMBALANCED — “ASSIMILATION OF THE ENSLAVED”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  9 Responses »
Mar 192014
 

(Our man Leperkahn reviews the new EP by San Diego’s Imbalanced., and delivers a full stream of the EP to boot.)

If you’ve followed NCS for a decent amount of time, you may remember the Imbalanced name from when I covered them in my second post for the site, a San Diego death metal/Bob Filner-themed affair. Luckily for us, the trio have returned with a new mini-slab of their blistering technical death metal for us all, in the form of a new EP entitled Assimilation Of The Enslaved, replete with the intriguing cover art of David Correa.

When describing Imbalanced’s sound to interested parties, I’ve pretty much always used Arsis as a reference point, and that point still stays. However, the grittier production of this EP (as compared to most of Arsis’ output), whether by design or necessity, has helped these guys create a different sound, a sound that is wholly and uniquely Imbalanced. Continue reading »

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