NO CLEAN SINGING

DGM: “MOMENTUM”

Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule 6 Responses »

Feb 032014

(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the latest release by Italy’s DGM, out now on the Scarlet Records label.)

Time for one of those “exception to the rule” thingies. Another 2013 catch-up.

I think it’s safe to say we collectively at NCS think power metal is not the uh… most desirable ear candy. While I’ve always felt the staple elements of the style were cool (particularly the neo-classical Stratovarius or Yngwie persuasions), it’s unfortunately a style of metal that seems to do everything within its power to pigeonhole itself. The bands are nearly indistinguishable except for a very few like Rhapsody of Fire, Dark Moor, and my personal favorite prog legends Symphony X. Mostly I think what draws me to these bands, particularly Symphony X, is the fact that they actually fulfill the power part of their genre tag. Symphony X, to reference them again, have everything great metal at its core needs. Russell Allen’s vocals have the impact of a fucking monsoon, the riffs and melodies are great, the songwriting is solid, and the music is consistently driving in nature; what metal should be, if it isn’t going for melancholy.

DMG are a fairly long-running band from Italy. I mainly know them because their guitarist Simone Mularoni is also the ax-wielder for another band I love dearly — Empyrios. My Symphony X focus is relevant, because DGM specialize in the same sort of driving, thrash-riff-intensive, virtuoso displays of instrumental skill that Symphony X are so often known for. That isn’t to say these guys sound like a clone of Symphony X at all, but the influence is quite obvious. Although, I will admit, current vocalist Mark Basile could seriously be a Russell Allen stunt double. Distinguishing the two is only possible if you really scrutinize the vocals. The opening track “Reason” features the Symphony X vocalist as well. People I’ve shared the song with mostly can’t tell the difference. Continue reading »

WATCH THE NEW FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE VIDEO FOR “PATHFINDER”

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 1 Response »

Feb 032014

When I got around to picking a song from Fleshgod Apocalypse’s 2013 album Labyrinth for our still-evolving list of last year’s “Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs”, the one I chose was “Pathfinder”. Earlier this morning, the band premiered an official video for the same song, and it’s excellent.

As you may know, Labyrinth is a concept album which draws on the legend of the labyrinth at Knossos on the island of Crete as a metaphor for each person’s search for his or her true self. Some knowledge of the myth may assist in following what happens in the video. According to The Font of All Human Knowledge:

“The myth of the Minotaur tells that Theseus, a prince from Athens, sailed to Crete, where he was forced to fight a terrible creature called the Minotaur. The Minotaur was a half man, half bull, and was kept in the Labyrinth – a building like a maze – by the king Minos, the ruler of Crete. The king’s daughter Ariadne fell in love with Theseus. Before he entered the Labyrinth to fight the Minotaur, Ariadne gave him a ball of thread which he unwound as he went into the Labyrinth so that he could find his way back by following it. Theseus killed the Minotaur, and then he and Ariadne fled from Crete, escaping her angry father.”

BEHEMOTH: “THE SATANIST”

Album Reviews 16 Responses »

Feb 032014

(BadWolf reviews the new album by Poland’s Behemoth.)

Behemoth’s The Satanist is, without a doubt, the first highly-anticipated 2014 metal release by any band, in any sub-genre. Metal writers have been salivating over its impending release for years, and I am no exception—the NCS crew actually squabbled a bit over who would have the privilege of reviewing it. In light of this, the most important thing I can say about The Satanist is that even if it were another record, by a different band, I would still be listening to it daily.

Many people will listen to The Satanist on repeat, and write volumes about it. Most of those reviews and think pieces will fail to capture the album. Instead, they will be lost in the maelstrom of rich narrative history surrounding the creation of the record and the life of Behemoth’s frontman Nergal during the past few years.

For those unaware, a quick recap of those circumstances: Nergal got engaged to the biggest pop star in his native Poland, faced blasphemy charges in his native Poland, was acquitted of said charges in his native Poland, contracted leukemia in his native Poland, beat leukemia in his native Poland, broke things off with the biggest pop star in his native Poland, judged an American Idol-style singing show in his native Poland, was fired from said show in his native Poland, faced even more blasphemy charges in his native Poland, headlined the inaugural Decibel Magazine tour albeit not in his native Poland, made the cover of Newsweek in his native Poland, and was also acquitted of that last round of blasphemy charges in his native Poland.

The takeaway from all this drama: nothing Nergal has recently done has any relation to making music with Behemoth. Continue reading »

TOURISM: MASTODON, GOJIRA, AND KVELERTAK

Metal News 11 Responses »

Feb 032014

As if winning the Superb Owl weren’t enough of a prize for the City of Seattle, this morning brought news of yet another prize: Seattle will be the first date in a US tour that for my money will be a must-see event for 2014. Mastodon will be the headliners, with support from Gojira and Kvelertak.

The only problem with this announcement is that while all the press statements note that the tour begins in Seattle, I haven’t yet seen one that says WHERE in Seattle the show will be played, and Seattle is omitted from the usual list of dates and venues that have been appearing — all of which you can see after the jump. If anyone figures out the location, do let me know.

UPDATE (2/10/14): New dates/venues have now been added to the tour schedule, including that Seattle location. I’ve updated the schedule that appears after the post.

Goddamn, I’m excited for this show… Continue reading »

“THAT’S METAL!” — BUT IT’S NOT MUSIC: 43-8

That's Metal -- But It's Not Music 22 Responses »

Feb 032014

photo by Erika Schultz (Seattle Times)

Those of you who aren’t NFL fans or didn’t care about the Super Bowl or, worse yet, were pulling for the Denver Broncos, you may want to skip this post. But that 43-8 win was a long time coming for Seahawks fans, and for the city of Seattle, and I have to do a little celebrating.

There sure as hell was a little celebrating going on in the streets of Seattle last night. It was a good place to be as people flooded outside in a display of mass delirium, the likes of which I’ve never seen here before.

Here are 8 9 reasons why the Seahawks 43-8 win in the Superb Owl was metal, even though it wasn’t music:

* It was the Seahawks’ first Super Bowl championship in the team’s 38-year history and the city’s first championship in one of the four major professional sports leagues since the Seattle SuperSonics won the NBA title in 1979. (It was the eighth professional sports championship overall: The Seattle Metropolitans won the Stanley Cup in 1917; the Sonics won the NBA title in 1979; the Seattle Storm won WNBA championships in 2004 and 2010; and the Seattle Sounders FC won the U.S. Open Cup in 2009-2011).

* The Seahawks were an underdog going into the game but won by the biggest margin of victory by any underdog in the game’s 48-year history. The 35-point margin of victory matched the third-biggest in Super Bowl history — but all those other winners were favored to win. Continue reading »

GRIDLINK: “LONGHENA”

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Feb 032014

(It’s grind time. High-class grind time. Austin Weber reviews the forthcoming final album by Gridlink.)

While it’s a damn shame that Discordance Axis, one of the greatest grind bands ever to exist, are no more, we are fortunate that Gridlink continue to thrive. For those not aware of Gridlink, they have former badass Discordance Axis vocalist Jon Chang in their ranks. The rest of their absurdly talented line-up consists of guitarist Takafumi Matsubara (Discordance Axis, Hayaino Daisuki), bassist Ted Patterson (Burnt by the Sun, Human Remains, Hayaino Daisuki), and drummer Bryan Fajardo (Phobia, PLF). Just recently, the band announced that Gridlink will be no more and that the forthcoming Longhena will be their final album, which came as a shock to me.

Longhena is an eloquently crafted swansong that tops all of Gridlink’s prior output, partly due to guitarist Takafumi’s addition of more oddball guitar passages that break up the band’s classy, colossal grinding nicely. Once again, Takafumi proves himself to be one of grind’s greatest riff writers; his efforts are, simply put, incredible.

The first two tracks, “Constant Autumn” and “The Last Raven”, set the tone right: frantic, mind-bending, and bold. Track three,” Thirst Watcher”, stands out as the first curveball of the album. It’s a sparse, meditative instrumental I didn’t see coming. Instrumental on a grind album you say? Yes indeed, and it’s awesome, while strangely not feeling out of place. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2013’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 18

MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2013 3 Responses »

Feb 022014

Here’s the 18th Part 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.

I’m adding three tunes to this evolving and potentially never-ending list today. Once again, I’ve grouped these songs together for a reason. Here’s a hint: Fucking Death Metal. Death Fucking Metal. Metal Fucking Death.

TORTURE DIVISION

The three members of this Swedish band – Lord K Philipson (guitar), Tobben Gustafsson (drums), and Jörgen Sandström (bass/vocals) — collectively have over 60 years of combined death metal experience, including membership in bands such as Grave, Entombed, Vicious Art, The Project Hate MCMXCIX, Vomitory, and God Among Insects. Their modus operandi is to release short demos and give them away for free on their web site. Every time they finish releasing a group of three demo’s, they package them up and release them as a compilation CD.

In 2013, Torture Division released two demos, both of them (as usual) mixed and mastered by Dan Swanö at Unisound. The first one was named The Worship, and I reviewed it here. The second one was The Sacrifice, and I reviewed that one, too. They’re both sooooo damned good — crushing guitar and bass tone, bone-breaking percussion, bestial vox, irresistible grooves, grisly infectious melodies, both hard-charging and doomy as a dank crypt, with riffs and rhythms that will make you bang your head so goddamned hard it will come off and bounce around your room like a tennis ball. Continue reading »

MENDEL: “SHAKING HANDS WITH THE DEVIL / SUBLIMINAL COLORS”

Album Reviews 5 Responses »

Feb 022014

(TheMadIsraeli wrote this review.)

Mendel Bij de Leij, or simply Mendel (to use his musical output moniker), is currently doing the heavy-lifting ax duties for Aborted. I mention this because his solo musical endeavors show a completely different side of this Dutch guitar virtuoso’s musical palette. When Mendel isn’t cranking out the death metal riffage with Aborted, he likes to spend his time composing instrumental metal of a heavily neo-classical variety. Mendel’s sound may be metal, but his sense of composition is heavily rooted in both the Baroque and Romantic periods. While the songwriting itself and the melodic character is Romantic, Mendel fully epitomizes Baroque’s tendency for pure unadulterated excess. This is very true for the music contained on Shaking Hands with the Devil/Subliminal Colors. Breathing room is an extreme rarity, and there are often layers of three to four guitar tracks present when the need arises, which is quite often.

This is a guitar album, make no mistake about it. As a showcase of Mendel’s instrumental skill, as well as his songwriting talent, it’s mind-blowing to me. Other than Mendel, only Jeff Loomis and Keith Merrow are making instrumental extreme metal this exciting to listen to. The neo-classical leanings are conveyed through a combination of thrash, melodic death metal, some Meshuggah-esque, jarring, syncopated grooves, and a lot of solos. The music on this album is pretty consistent, which also is to say that if you’re expecting a flagrant display of diversity wank, then this isn’t the album you want to hear. It’s pure, utterly bathed in its influences, and does little to stretch those boundaries, which is perfect. Not one song is bad across these sixteen songs, not one solo is uninteresting to listen to, and that’s true even of “Absolution”, the twenty-five-minute closer. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2013’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 17 (EXCEPTIONS TO THE RULE)

MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2013 7 Responses »

Feb 012014

Welcome to Part 17 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 two I’m announcing today, click here.

I’ve called this the “Exception to the Rule” edition of this list, because both songs today involve clean singing. At least measured by how often I’ve heard them, they are also two of my favorite songs of the year. Some newcomers who aren’t aware that we make exceptions may be disappointed. But it would be hypocritical of me to ignore these songs.

SHINING

One One One is a very different album from this band’s startling last release, Blackjazz — more stripped-down, more hook-focused, more “approachable”. As DGR put it in his review for us:

“Whereas the last disc was what four guys who are incredibly accomplished on their chosen instruments could do with absolutely no one stopping them or telling them to tone it down a bit, One One One sounds like what happens when the group chooses to exercise a bit of self-restraint — to see if they can still produce that same effect with a more minimalistic sound…. A lot of One One One brings to mind the old axiom that just because you have the ability to do something, doesn’t mean that you should. Everything feels strategically placed so that the band get the maximum impact for a more minimalist amount of showmanship, and it works. Really, really well.” Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: NEW ALBUM TEASERS, A NEW ÆVANGELIST SONG, A NEW DARKANE VIDEO

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 4 Responses »

Feb 012014

Here are some things I spied and heard over the last 24 hours, including a destructive new song and an invigorating new video. But I begin with some teasing photos that appeared in my Facebook news feed. The first one is above, accompanied by these words:

“Legendary Florida Death Metal pioneers Massacre will return with their first studio album effort in almost 20 years! Programmatically entitled Back From Beyond, the album will be released on March 24th in Europe and April 1st in North America.”

Here are some others, with the verbiage that accompanied them. If you don’t recognize the faces, hover your mouse over the images.

“New Album nearly complete! 1.31.14”

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