NO CLEAN SINGING

BANDS YOU NEED TO HEAR: WARFORGED

Jan 022014

(In this post, TheMadIsraeli introduces us to a death metal band named Warforged, who have a new EP on the way.)

If Warforged release a full length this year, I predict it’ll be at the top of the heap. I’ve been hearing things about these Chicagoans for a while, but nothing substantial had ever come out and what I could hear from their earliest efforts was severely underdeveloped and, now in hindsight, was totally unrepresentative of what they do.

Based on the sounds from their forthcoming debut EP, Essence of the Land, Warforged play progressive tech-death with a heavy black metal influence. The array of influences you can hear are many, emanating from sources such as Martyr, Spawn Of Possession, Gorguts — mostly from the alien, angular, tech-death circuit — while also channeling bands such as Emperor, Daylight Dies, In Mourning, and The Faceless.

I figured now was a good time to write about these guys because they have just released a video for not one, but three songs, suggesting that the EP, the album art for which you can see above, is an epic suite. This video is ¾ of that suite, and it completely bewilders and amazes me. I don’t think you’re ready for this. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: “INCENDIUM” BY BURIAL HORDES

Premieres 12 Responses »

Jan 022014

I first happened upon Burial Hordes from Greece last January after discovering their split release with Enshadowed, which is excellent (reviewed here). They have a new album on the way, entitled Incendium, which will be released later this month by the Polish label Hellthrasher Productions. It features cover art by Mark Riddick, production by Devo Andersson (Marduk), and eight tracks of striking music divided into two “chapters” — “Decay” and “Fall”. Today we have the privilege of exclusively premiering the new album’s title song, “Incendium”.

It’s a gripping piece of music, shrouded in darkness and weighted by a choking atmosphere of doom and despair. Deep, ominous riffs accompany hoarse, heartless roars and hair-raising shrieks, while an off-the-chain drum performance infuses the music with powerful energy, and chiming guitar notes create an almost ethereal contrast. Continue reading »

THEMADISRAELI’S TOP 10 OF 2013

LISTMANIA 2013 4 Responses »

Jan 022014

(In this post NCS writer TheMadIsraeli delivers his list of 2013’s Top 10 albums.)

I really wanted to do a top twenty this year. I really did. After a shit ton of scrutiny though, I decided I couldn’t come up with twenty. A top ten has to do for this year, because ten specific albums overwhelmingly stomped everything else for me. This year was an ABSOLUTELY MONSTROUS year for metal, particularly death metal and prog-tinged metal. That’s funny to me, by the way, because a lot of that prog-tinged stuff was also death metal. While my personal favorites didn’t always gravitate in that direction (although three very select choices are indeed on here), I’m overall very pleased with this year.

Now, as for this list: I’ve never done a list before where my order “mattered” per se. I don’t like ranking albums against each other, never have. I figure they’ve done well enough if they get onto my list in the first place. However, this time, some albums were so definitively good that there had to be a ranking. This time the ordering of my list matters (at least to me), and I even have an album of the year.

I certainly hope the musicians I’ve had the pleasure of connecting with and getting to know over this year will understand if they didn’t make the cut. The competition was simply too brutal. There will be honorable mentions though, so this won’t be a hard-locked top-ten-, nothing-else-matters kind of list.

So here they are… my top ten albums of 2013. Continue reading »

LEGION OF THE DAMNED: “RAVENOUS PLAGUE”

Album Reviews 6 Responses »

Jan 022014

(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the new album by Legion of the Damned from The Netherlands.)

This is a good way to start the New Year. I’ve been a fan of Legion of the Damned’s (or LOTD from here on out) brand of blackened death thrash attack since they formed. They’ve managed to put out nothing but consistently good to great albums since they started. What’s kind of surprising to me is that even though these guys have a six-album discography, a lot of people don’t know who they are. Because of that, I’m going to write this review from a kind of introductory perspective, rather than assuming that our readers already knows of these guys.

The way to really view LOTD’s music is old school as fuck. In thinking about all of their influences, all the bands they obviously look to, focus on the early end of those catalogues. We’re talking Hell Awaits Slayer, Pleasure to Kill Kreator, Scream Bloody Gore-era Death. The black metal influences are more difficult to pinpoint; they are more just an extra element mainly added into the guitar performances. The name of the game is gritty, fast as hell, riff-driven thrash metal with death metal and black metal fringes.

The name of LOTD’s latest offering is Ravenous Plague. It’s a fitting name, because everything about this album is like a fast-moving, civilization-slaughtering disease at work. This album is a bit on the filthier side as compared to their previous work, which always maintained a more mechanically precise attack. This is, to my recollection, the most that the band’s thrash roots have dominated their sound, and the result is pretty fucking killer. Ravenous Plague is nothing but ravenous feral sonic evisceration. Continue reading »

A YEAR-END LIST FROM FREDRIK HULDTGREN (CANOPY, KAOS VORTEX)

LISTMANIA 2013 4 Responses »

Jan 022014

(As we have in the past, we asked our friend Fredrik Huldtgren, vocalist for both Sweden’s Canopy and Germany’s Kaos Vortex and the man behind the exciting Elemental Nightmares vinyl project, to share with us his favorite albums of 2013, and here’s his list.)

I always have trouble coming up with these lists, mainly because I can never remember what was released when, and usually once I find something I truly enjoy, I tend to get stuck on it and miss out on a lot of the other albums that came out. So, after going through what I had bought this year, here is a list of the 10 albums I enjoyed the most.

10. The Ruins of Beverast – Blood Vaults – The Blazing Gospel of Heinrich Kramer

To follow up an album such as Foulest Semen of a Sheltered Elite is no easy task, and while Blood Vaults … does not quite live up to its predecessor, it is one hell of an album. Brooding, dark, and filled with some great riffs. Continue reading »

A YEAR-END LIST FOR YOUSE FROM GRONK! (A BAND OF ORCS)

LISTMANIA 2013 6 Responses »

Jan 012014

photo by Ray Cottle

(Wretched humies that we are, and wishing to be spared when the domination of the great dragon comes, we humbly asked A Band of Orcs if they would share with us their favorite releases of 2013, and received this response from Gronk!, verse weaver and wielder of the shamanic bass. HAIL GZOROTH!)

Us allies at No Clean Singing have ask usses for review our favorite metal tales of 2013. As Shaman of the Gore-Stained Axe Tribe, Me, Gronk!, preserve kin’s history in song, invent tales of novel exploits of tribe, and convey to all Will of Great Gzoroth, Dragon of Chaos and Fire. Hail Gzoroth!

In short, me tell stories. Me also study Earthrealm metal tribes’ lyrical lore, for more understand our enemies, our allies, and the realm usses find usses in. Earthrealm Metal Tribe’s Chronicle of despair, struggle, oppression, and (sometimes) rebellion of humies’ doomed kind against the ‘oppressors’ has kept running strong this year as in years before. Whether view of vikings (Amon Amarth), aliens (Gwar), humies fearing aliens (Voivod), America-realm patriots (Havok) or just mortal humies (Iron Reagan), the tales make clear: Domination is coming! (Or is already here?)

Great has it been a year for doom-saying apocalyptic end-of-the-world fear and longing. A Swirling, hidden terror grips humies’ hearts. Every ungreen feels so, but naming “It” a bit like try to grasp eel — more tighter youse squeeze, more quickly “It” slips through youse clawed fingers. Or youse get shocked! But still, metal minstrels try and here is Gronk!’s favorite of what thems say this year. Continue reading »

IMPENDING DOOM: “DEATH WILL REIGN”

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Jan 012014

(Who could have predicted that our first post of 2014 would be… DGR’s review of Impending Doom’s latest album?)

It feels weird for this to be my first review of 2014, but this is one of those discs that has been gnawing at me to be reviewed since it hit, considering how much I’ve listened to it since it came out in early November. Covering -core bands like this one is not the usual fare for NCS. We’ve long made a big deal about how if we don’t enjoy an album, then we’re probably not going to write about it, and with the -core genres currently suffering from a transformation into one homogenous mass of breakdowns, verb-the-noun names, and splatter font, it becomes more and more difficult to get around even to the groups that you would consider the stalwarts and veterans of the genre. That’s especially true in the case of deathcore, where it has long seemed that if you found roughly three bands to follow, then you really didn’t need to listen to anyone else; you would get everything that was happening in that scene through your chosen trinity.

It makes things difficult, because you have groups like Impending Doom in that mix, who, religious quibbles aside, feel like a band’s band. They’re known for always being busy and, like clockwork, pounding out new discs filled with their pared-down-to-its-very-core-elements brand of deathcore. They’re one of those bands that I’ve felt have always improved their sound with every disc. Every cycle has brought a new awareness of differing styles and whole new pools of riffs, reinforcing what makes the formula of that band so solid. Over time the breakdowns have become much thicker, the lyrics more violent, and the songs more groove-oriented. Continue reading »

A YEAR-END LIST BY TOPON DAS (FUCK THE FACTS)

LISTMANIA 2013 4 Responses »

Dec 312013

photo by Andy Ensslin

(I asked Topon Das, founder and guitarist of Canadian grind marauders Fuck the Facts, to share with us some of his favorite releases of 2013, and here are his thoughts about four of them. And if you want an interesting change of pace, check out the latest release by another of his projects, Merderahta.)

Gorguts – Colored Sands

Gorguts is one of those bands that really have no room for a dud and even a good album has a hard time sticking out in their strong discography. Colored Sands isn’t going to usurp Erosion of Sanity as my favorite album of theirs, but it is really nice to hear Luc Lemay still making great mind-bending metal in 2013. There are a lot of really great riffs and ideas that might seem complex on the surface, but falling into their groove is still extremely easy. This has always been one of Gorguts’ strong points. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 42: DERELICT EARTH

THE SYNN REPORT 4 Responses »

Dec 312013

(In this new edition of THE SYNN REPORT, Andy reviews the discography of Derelict Earth from Grenoble,GFrance.)

Recommended for fans of: Cormorant, Alcest, Borknagar

Like I’ve said before, writing each edition of The Synn Report takes up a fair bit of time. And, since my job is pretty busy these days – and involves a lot of writing/typing – it sometimes takes me a while before I have a chance to really settle into the groove of things, to find the energy and the impetus to put finger to keyboard and rattle off a new edition.

I do try and keep to a “one per month” rule, but sometimes that slips. It’s unavoidable. So, with that in mind, please consider this particular entry, the second for December (and the last of 2013), as recompense for the lack of one last month.

You see I’ve been wanting to talk about Derelict Earth for a while, but the timing’s never been quite right. Until now.

The brainchild of one man – Quentin Stainer – Derelict Earth have produced three albums of sublime prog melody and startling aggression, melding bold strokes of creative colour and artistic anxiety into a tremendous triptych of emotionally charged, intellectually stimulating, prog-metal majesty.

What’s best is that each of these albums is available for free on the internet, with the artist’s full consent. So if you like what you hear after the jump, then you’ll be able to immerse yourself in his creative vision to your heart’s content! Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE — CRYPTODIRA: “AN UNMARKED GRAVE”

Premieres 2 Responses »

Dec 302013

(Through the efforts of NCS contributor Austin Weber, We have the privilege of premiering a new EP by a New York metal band named Cryptodira. Austin provides the following introduction.)

Cryptodira are part of a new breed of metal bands. They don’t play within merely one style or genre but instead craft a multi-faceted sound all their own. I’ve compared them to East Of The Wall before, due to their post-metal influence, but Cryptodira are quite comfortable interspersing death metal and groove into their music as well.

While Cryptodira’s new EP, An Unmarked Grave, does not come out until January 4th, they graciously hooked us up with an exclusive stream ahead of its release. Both tracks are chaotic treats of swirling chaos and swelling calm, though some differences between them are apparent.

Track one, “Descension”, is certainly the faster of the two, exploding with a violent energy, abounding in frenzied, hard-hitting drums until (as usual) the band take you into beautiful instrumental reprieves and a lengthy singing passage. Continue reading »

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