FIVE SLUDGE ALBUMS TO CHECK OUT

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jan 112014
 

(Guest writer Kunal Choksi of Transcending Obscurity returns to put the spotlight on five sludge bands from around the world.)

Here’s a list of five relatively underrated bands that you should look into, and for good reason. All five are different from each other in their own way and add their own to this style of music. Pyramido with its Swedish Hardcore-infused Sludge, Lurk with its unique mesmeric thick mix, Fleshpress with its mind-warping esoteric Sludge/Doom, Evil Horse with its obscure art and riffy genius, and Grimpen Mire doing it powerfully, in the old school way.

Pyramido (Sweden) – Saga (Heart & Crossbone Records)

This is one of the best acts playing this style of crusty Sludge/Doom. It’s melancholic and hard-hitting at the same time – devastating for any listener. An experienced band by now, Pyramido keeps pushing the envelope, releasing some of the heaviest music in this style, painstakingly.


Continue reading »

KATATONIA: “DETHRONED AND UNCROWNED”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  3 Responses »
Jan 112014
 

(DGR catches up with another album from 2013, Katatonia’s Dethroned and Uncrowned.)

We’re still running around here at NoCleanSinging like chickens with our heads cut off, the whole date-rolling-over thing and the idea of the year restarting still generally blowing our minds. It’s a constant thing, as we usually get used to the idea of a month happening again along about the July timeframe. We’re also still extending our looking glass into 2013, trying to talk about discs we either never got around to or, in the case of most of my upcoming ones, discs I had intended to review and have listened to a lot and just never got the chance to write about.

The beginning of the year usually has about a week-long lull where you have the ability to catch up before the new 2014 releases start to stack up, though the groups who have started to put out new releases on January 1st have really taken to shooting that idea in the foot. Such is the case with Katatonia’s 2013 re-imagining of their 2012 release Dead End Kings known as Dethroned and Uncrowned. It’s an album that I have listened to a ton, in both of its forms, and with this brief respite at the beginning of the year we finally have time to sit down and chat about it. Continue reading »

MUTOID MAN: “HELIUM HEAD”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  10 Responses »
Jan 102014
 

(Guest writer Leperkahn reviews the new EP by Mutoid Man.)

2013 was the year where I finally came to accept the EP. In years past, I had been a bit of a quantity guy with music: I found it hard to pull out my hard-foraged earned cash to buy less than an album’s worth of music. However, extremely strong EP (and shorter) efforts from Black Crown Initiate, Bolzer, Obliterations, and Exmortus, among others, luckily broke that habit, as I now would easily go for 20 minutes of great music over an hour of decent stuff.

I say this because, had I not kicked that habit, I might never have listened to Mutoid Man’s new EP, Helium Head.

Granted, there were some very strong reasons unrelated to length that spurred me to press play; namely, that this is a “supergroup” featuring Ben Koller of Converge and Stephen Brodsky of Cave In in its ranks. Also, that cover art is pretty alluring.

Thus, I did indeed press play, especially now that the release is Bandcamp-able. Turns out, I should have done this about a month ago when this was released. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: “SENTENCED TO GRIND” BY ASS TO MOUTH

 Premieres  5 Responses »
Jan 102014
 

Something about this Polish band’s name causes it to stick in the memory. The delicacy and gracefulness of the band’s name are matched by the name and cover art of their new album, Degenerate, which is due for release by Selfmadegod Records in February 2014. Last November I wrote enthusiastically about the album’s first advance track (“Under the Razor’s Edge”), and now we have the degenerate pleasure of premiering another song, “Sentenced To Grind”.

This new song is a strafing run of burly, hammering riffs, a high-energy drum attack, and howling/shrieking vocals that will stand your hair on end. And man, it has a powerhouse groove that will keep you coming back for more. This is top-shelf grind from a band worth watching closely. Be sentenced to grind right after the jump. Continue reading »

TYRANNY ENTHRONED: “BORN OF HATE”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jan 102014
 

(TheMadIsraeli wrote this review of the 2012 debut album by Tyranny Enthroned.)

“Polish imperialism meets American grit” is pretty much what sums up Tyranny Enthroned on their debut Born of Hate.  They hail from St. Louis, Missouri, and their blistering brand of caustic blackened death is a solid, tried and true approach by a band who’ve got their songwriting chops honed and fine-tuned like long time vets.  This shit is like a sonic napalm run, hell from above and below, with all the ferocity and dignity of a chimera of legend.

The band is a four-piece comprising front man and guitarist Jesse McCoy, bassist Anthony George, drummer Steve Lee, and second guitarist Winston Alvarez (Alvarez is credited as “session/live guitarist” on their Facebook), and together these guys bring it fucking hard.  The Polish imperialism meets American grit statement can be basically broken down to this: Polish speed, melody, and percussive excess, accompanied by more American technicality and explosive attacks.  They bring the two worlds of the pristine royal Polish sound and the American unrestrained violence together very well, creating a debut that is, to say the least, impressive. Continue reading »

NEW YEAR’S GREETINGS FROM 14 BANDS: PART 3

 Interviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jan 102014
 

(Our Russian correspondent Comrade Aleks put 3 year-end questions to 14 bands, many of whom may be new names to NCS readers. In this 3-part post, he shares their answers and their music. Today, the featured bands are The Grand Astoria, Vin De Mia Trix, Who Dies In Siberian Slush, and Without God. Find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.)

This publication is the last thing I could do before I fell into drunken slumber after horrible celebration of the New Year then coming and now here. Men from a few euphonious bands of Russia, Ukraine, and Georgia were asked three similar questions, and soon, answers were given. What did I ask them to share with our readers in these gloomy winter days? Oh, I guess here they are…

1. What is the band’s latest news? And what are your plans for 2014?

2. For what events do you remember 2013? Events from the world of music, political stuff, personal stuff, or even that bad weather – that damned winter without snow?

3. And the last one – what would you like to wish for our readers and your listeners?

Here we go again, to spread the Word of Doom, Death, and Damnation (as well as Goodness and Virtue). Happy New Year! Continue reading »

THE UNSUNG HEROES OF 2013, PART 2

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Jan 102014
 

(In this post Andy Synn reviews albums released in 2013 by Hatesphere, Reptilian Death, and Nephren-Ka.)

That’s right, there’s even more stuff we failed to cover last year. Lots more, in fact. And time is growing short, as we’re slowly starting to see the first of what 2014 has to offer appear in the NCS mailbox.

So it’s time to pick up the pace. Here’s three death metal friendly albums that we unfortunately overlooked last year. All killer, no filler.

Round 2… fight!

HATESPHERE – MURDERLUST

It’s undeniable that The Haunted were/are a key influence on the development of Hatesphere. But where the Swedish legends seemed unable to settle on a style or direction for very long, the Danish death-thrashers have long stuck to their guns and forged themselves a distinctive, manically aggressive, identity – largely thanks to the unswerving dedication of guitarist Peter Hansen. Continue reading »

THE DOWN TRODDENCE: “HOW ARE YOU? WE ARE FINE, THANK YOU”

 Album Reviews  17 Responses »
Jan 102014
 

(In this post India-based guest writer deckard cain reviews the debut album by an Indian group named The Down Troddence.)

As the world turns a year older, as the cosmos realigns itself, as darkness dusts off its latest guise, humanity shall once again usher in a new age of depravity and violence. Sometimes faith is not always associated with religion, but in the gradual degeneration of the human race. 2013 bore witness to tyranny, unilateralism, despotism, and general wanton disregard. Just another page in the book of nations crumbling, economies entering concentration camps, diplomatic acrobatics, and brazen aggression. The passing of the year is just another point of reflection on human unity/irony. How we’ve all joined hands in lighting the fuse that burns ever so slowly, yet moving forward to that eventuality of lasting peace, with a scent of gunpowder.

But amidst all that unappealing chaos is this likeable and harmless variant. A manifestation of notes, tones, and patterns that has grown to become our lifeblood. Heavy music has forever kept our frustrations at bay and in a way made them enjoyable masochistically. It did so in 2013 and it will do it again in 2014, hopefully.

Despite listening to all those international releases, sometimes one does ache for something entirely homebred. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2013’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 3

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2013  15 Responses »
Jan 092014
 

Welcome to Part 3 of my list of the year’s most infectious extreme metal songs. Each day (more or less) until the list is finished, I’m posting at least two songs that made the cut. 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.

SOILWORK

When the members of the NCS staff got the chance for an advance listen to Soilwork’s 2013 album The Living Infinite, it was greeted by the sound of bodies falling off chairs and hitting the floor. Before hearing it, I think it’s fair to say that we were all highly skeptical. It was, after all, a double-album from a band whose recent track record had not inspired tremendous confidence in their ability to create two albums’ worth of high-quality music. Man, were we wrong. Continue reading »

EL DRUGSTORE: “PLAGUE SHIP”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Jan 092014
 

(In this post NCS contributor Austin Weber reviews the debut album by a New Jersey band named El Drugstore.)

After Kevin Conway departed East Of The Wall last year, it didn’t take him long to release something new, through a project called El Drugstore and their debut album Plague Ship. Rounding out El Drugstore’s line-up is current East Of The Wall drummer Seth Rheam, and bassist Roland Alvarado. While sonic comparisons to East Of The Wall could be made, compositionally El Drugstore is playing an entirely different game. In fact, the biggest similarity to East Of The Wall actually has nothing to do with the music, but the song titles, which are oddly funny and reminiscent of the song titles way back on East Of The Wall’s first full-length, Farmer’s Almanac.

El Drugstore often reminds me of the mind-numbing dexterity and style of fellow instrumental metallers Electro Quarterstaff, both structurally and riff/drum-wise, especially during “Wheel Of Sadness” and “The Natives Are Getting Useless”, and at certain parts of other songs. The heart of the rest of their identity resides somewhere between Botch, Keelhaul, and Dysrhythmia. Continue reading »

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