PREMIERES: HERESIARCH AND MASSACRE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Feb 052014
 

For your audio-visual enjoyment, here are two brand new songs I just heard. I did not group them together randomly. I grouped them together because they make a one-two punch of merciless destruction.

HERESIARCH

Heresiarch are a New Zealand band whose last EP, Hammer of Intransigence, I reviewed here. “In the main,” I wrote, “Heresiarch’s EP is designed to provide unmitigated sonic violence, a thorough immersion in warlike atmospheres, and in that it succeeds in striking fashion…. If I’d only known, I’d have stocked up on some radiation sickness medicine before listening.”

I was stoked to learn this morning that Iron Bonehead Productions will be releasing a new Heresiarch 7″ EP named Wælwulf this coming March (the killing cover art is above), and that one of the three new tracks is now streaming on Bandcamp. “Endepræst” is the name of the song and it’s about 6 minutes of militaristic black/death, beginning as a march and moving into a frontal charge, with cannons blasting and the air filled with tremolo’d shrapnel and the howls of ravening wolves. The song devolves into a gruesome golem stomp of massive proportions, the guitars continuing to buzz like wasps, the vocalist continuing to roar and howl like something inhuman. Continue reading »

UPDATES: BABY METAL (A NEW ALBUM) AND THE WAGAKKI BAND (A NEW VIDEO AND A NEW ALBUM)

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Feb 052014
 

Here are a couple of quick update items about Japanese bands we’ve written about in the past.

BABY METAL

Long-time readers of the site know that we have a thing about Baby Metal. A non-pervy thing, I hasten to add. If you’re new to the site, you can find all our prior blathering here. The breaking news is that Baby Metal, at long last, have announced they will be releasing an album. Entitled BABYMETAL, it will become available on February 26 via iTunes and assorted other sites (for CDs), which you can find via the band’s FB page or their web site.

The band have released a trailer for the album. It’s mainly just a string of clips from previous videos, but I’ll stick it up here anyway: Continue reading »

GETTING SCREWED: AMON AMARTH AND THE RED HOT CHILI PEPPERS

 Metal News  17 Responses »
Feb 052014
 

You may have noticed that about the only metal news we focus on here concerns new songs, forthcoming album details, and tours. Even then, we make no effort to be comprehensive. If you want to find a place that relentlessly copy/pastes press releases, talks about the latest bass player to quit his band, or gossips about the metal scandal of the day, this ain’t it. However, I’ve been peppered with reader messages about the two “scandals” in this post, so I’m relenting.

AMON AMARTH

I would enthusiastically fork over money to see the current Deceiver of the Gods Tour with Amon Amarth/Enslaved/Skeletonwitch if it came within spitting distance of Seattle. But it isn’t, so I won’t. However, I can easily imagine the magnitude of my hot smoking rage if I had paid to see this tour In Charlotte, NC, on January 29. The event was to have occurred at a place called The Fillmore, but the venue cancelled the show 6 hours before doors.

Why did they cancel it? Well duh, because of the polar vortex gripping Charlotte — as evidenced by the above photo taken by Johan Hegg from the window of Amon Amarth’s tour bus. Here’s the statement that appeared on The Fillmore’s FB page:

“Due to inclement weather, local road conditions and the current State Of Emergency in NC the Amon Amarth show scheduled for tonight at The Fillmore Charlotte has been CANCELLED. All online and phone orders will be refunded. Other tickets may be refunded at their place of purchase. We’re sorry for any inconvenience. Stay safe NC.” Continue reading »

YAUTJA: “SONGS OF DESCENT”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Feb 052014
 

(Here’s Austin Weber’s review of the debut album by Nashville’s Yautja.)

In today’s crowded metal-influenced punk scene, it’s hard for me to find new groups that I enjoy for more than a fleeting moment. But as of late, I have become quite enthralled by Yautja, a Nashville-based group of noise mongers, a band I heard of due to local hometown heroes, Coliseum, whose bass player Kayhan Vizari is also in Yautja. Sonically, this is in a whole different ballpark than Coliseum though. Plus, they named themselves after the creature from Predator, which was definitely a badass and fitting choice.

Yautja frequently divide between expansive, sprawling sludge and terrorizing grind, which gives Songs of Descent a unique flow, with fast and slow tracks expertly paired for maximum impact. Sometimes there’s even a noise rock feel present within some of their angular, lurching grooves, which splay back and forth like powerful oceanic currents, violently pushing and pulling everything they come in contact with.

Yautja have crafted a gargantuanly heavy and headbangable hodgepodge that always knows when to shift tempos and flavors for maximum contrast and diversity. Songs of Descent rarely sticks to one thing for long; the switch-ups between/grind/hardcore/sludge/punk/death metal-ish riffs come often and are expertly ordered and arranged in a plethora of different ways. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2013’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 19

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2013  14 Responses »
Feb 042014
 

Here’s Part 19 of our list of the year’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. To see the selections that preceded the songs I’m announcing today, click here.

Yes, I missed adding an installment of the list yesterday. I blame my continuing delirium over the Seahawks’ victory in the Superb Owl. And yes, it’s February and I still haven’t finished this list. I blame metal, for giving us so much to like in 2013. Now, with those excuses out of the way, here are three songs I’ve grouped together because, well, because they rock. And they’re vocally vicious, too.

TRIBULATION

Not every song on this list comes from an album that ranked high on a plethora of year-end lists, but this next one does. The Formulas of Death deserves all the praise it has received from so many quarters. It is a highly ambitious, remarkably accomplished album, full to bursting with musical ideas and hell-bent on breaking free of any kind of death metal strait-jacket that might confine the band’s creativity. It leavens the raw and the raucous with the exotic and the atmospheric — it’s a long album, but it’s endlessly interesting.

Tribulation don’t go in for cheap tricks, but they sure do know how to get heads moving when the mood strikes them. In the “highly infectious” category, the two strongest contenders are “Wanderer In the Outer Darkness” and “When the Sky Is Black With Devils”. I picked the latter.  Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MORBID FLESH, WARPSTONE, FUOCO FATUO

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Feb 042014
 

Still catching up on new music I missed over the last couple of days, I’ve compiled this collection of new songs by three European bands that I recommend highly.

MORBID FLESH

I make no secret of the fact that I have a quivering weakness for old-school, reeking-corpse death metal. It’s a genre in which I expect no molds to be broken, but I do want the right spirit and the right flair — faithfulness without tedium. Morbid Flesh from Barcelona, Spain, definitely meet those expectations.

They’ve recorded a new EP under the title Embedded In the Ossuary, which is scheduled for release on March 31 through Germany’s Unholy Prophecies. It caught my eye because of the wonderful cover art (above) by Javi Castaño and because it was recorded, mixed, and mastered by Javi Bastard of Spain’s Graveyard, and he knows a thing or two about old school death metal (Graveyard’s Jordi Gusi is also a member of Morbid Flesh). Recently, Unholy Prophecies began streaming a Morbid Flesh track named “Charnel House”, and I listened to it this morning. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SEPTICFLESH, KYPCK, PROFANE OMEN

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Feb 042014
 

I’m in catch-up mode for new things. This is the second round-up of news and new music for today, and there will probably be a third. The first one is here. The following collection should keep you off-balance.

SEPTICFLESH

Yes, it appears that the band have decided to join the two words of their name into one, but a rose by any other name will smell just as sweet. Or, in this case, will sound just as sweet. I saw this announcement on the band’s Facebook page this morning:

“We have completed the recordings of our upcoming full length album. The album will consists of 10 songs that were recorded once again at Devasoundz Studios Athens Greece and at Prague with the collaboration of the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. The album will be released this summer via Season of Mist for Europe and via Prosthetic Records for America.

“We are really exhausted, but also very proud from the result. We worked very hard with Logan Mader (former MACHINE HEAD and SOULFLY guitarist that has worked considering album sound, with bands as CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, FEAR FACTORY, GOJIRA) to bring you the ultimate death metal soundtrack for your darkest dreams. The compositions are progressive with a lot of emotional peaks, while at the same time the songs sound very aggressive. Also we had the chance to work for the first time with a full children choir, beside the regular adult choir, and that helped us dive deeper into darker cinematic atmospheres.”

Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: IMPETUOUS RITUAL, BENEATH, EYECONOCLAST

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Feb 042014
 

I mentioned in my last post that I didn’t spend much time with new music debuts over the last day or two. I’ve learned the hard way that if I snooze for even 24 hours, I miss a lot of worthwhile stuff. And so I’m hoping to get a couple of round-up posts written for today, because I found a metric fuck ton of worthwhile goodies while catching up this morning. Let’s start with some perty pitchers, shall we?

IMPETUOUS RITUAL

I saw that dark piece of artwork this morning, the one at the top of this post. Profound Lore Records says it’s the cover for Unholy Congregation Of Hypocritical Ambivalence, which is the name of an album due out sometime in April by Impetuous Ritual. The band’s first album, Relentless Execution Of Ceremonial Excrescence, was released back in 2009. This is clearly a band with a pronounced fondness for multisyllabic utterances. I can get behind that.

Impetuous Ritual are from Brisbane, Australia, and their ranks include members of Portal and Grave Upheaval. That makes me interested. This music from their last album also makes me interested: Continue reading »

TOURISM: ULCERATE AND INTER ARMA TO EMBARK ON A NORTH AMERICAN TOUR IN MAY

 Metal News  4 Responses »
Feb 042014
 

I was separated from the interhole for most of yesterday and therefore missed a lot of breaking news. While attempting to catch up, one of the first things to catch my eye was the tour flyer you see above, waiting patiently in my in-box like a viper ready to strike. To spell it out, New Zealand’s Ulcerate will embark upon the Vermis North America MMXIV tour beginning in Los Angeles on May 1 and finishing with an appearance at Maryland Deathfest on May 25.

That’s tremendously exciting news, but it gets even better, because Virginia’s Inter Arma will be along for the ride on most of the dates. They will join the tour in Philadelphia on May 9 and continue until the final date  before MDF.

This is Ulcerate’s first appearance in North America since their 2012 appearance at MDF. The entire schedule can be seen after the jump, and I’ve also included album streams for the band’s 2013 album Vermis as well as Inter Arma’s Sky Burial. Both of those albums were among my favorites of 2013. This promises to be one crushing tour. Continue reading »

SHANNON VOID v. MTV

 Mosh Pit  41 Responses »
Feb 032014
 

EDITOR’S PREFACE:  No, I don’t normally give a shit what appears on MTV’s “Guy Code” Blog. Until last week I didn’t even know the thing existed, and now I’ll try to forget that it does. But an article that appeared there on January 29 has been splashed around metal circles in the interhole (e.g., a re-post by Dying Fetus on Facebook), so it was kind of hard to ignore. Regrettably, I read it. It can be summed up as follows:

More “hot ladies” are showing up at hardcore and metal shows than ever before. This is further evidence that “metal and hardcore music no longer solely appeals to angry misanthropic males with poor social skills.”

“The internet has helped demystify extreme music, making it more accessible and less intimidating. A girl can watch clips from a Napalm Death concert and see that it’s not so scary after all, which makes her much more likely to attend.”

“It can be easy to pick up a woman at such a concert if you follow a few quick preparation tips.”

And I won’t bother with the tips.

Late last week I saw a reaction to the article, and to comments about the article, by Shannon Void on her FB page. Shannon hails from Philadelphia and is the owner/psychic doomstress of Anthropic Records, home to such fine bands as Hivelords and Sadgiqacea. I liked what Shannon wrote and the way she wrote it. I asked her if I could post it here at NCS. She agreed. Here it is: Continue reading »

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