OOOPS!

 Uncategorized  21 Responses »
Aug 142013
 

What you’re looking at is a candid photo of your humble editor taken as the sun rose this morning over my current location.  I fell in with a bad crowd last night.  They made me stay up really late and forced all manner of intoxicants into me.  I told them nothing.

Rather than seek hospital care after I escaped my captors, I had to be at a secret location  early this morning where I was expected to engage in the work for which I’m paid.  I am now doing things that resemble work, but actually consist of me writing this brief note to you.

The one thing I’ve been unable to do, either last night or this morning, is write a post for NCS.  Later in the day, I plan to do that.  For now, I must return to the task of appearing to work and moaning softly.  Adios.

FYRNASK: “ELDIR NÓTT”

 Album Reviews  9 Responses »
Aug 132013
 

Like isolated wildflowers dotting a mountain meadow in early spring, one-man bands are scattered across the world of metal. Largely obscure, they chase their own visions or simply follow the foosteps of others to prove to themselves that they can. Creating music that more than a few handfuls of people want to hear is rare; in many cases, that isn’t even on the agenda.

I haven’t done anything like a  comprehensive study, but my sense is that there are more one-man projects in black metal than in most metal genres. Maybe it’s something about the purity of obscurity that seems to be one of black metal’s organizing principles — the fewer people who listen, the better. Or maybe it’s just easy enough to set the drum program on “blast” and let it run, while thrashing a repeating mass of tremolo chords and screaming like your throat is being slit, and dousing everything with distortion, of course.

There’s actually a lot to be said for that approach, if it’s filled with a genuine spirit of bloody rebellion, but it may not make the listener think twice after the initial adrenaline rush has spent itself. To create something that has a lasting impact? That requires a special talent, which is what Germany’s Fyrnask shows in spades on the band’s second album, Eldir Nótt. Continue reading »

RIVERS OF NIHIL ALBUM ART (PLUS A NEW LIVE TRACK) AND A NEW SONG FROM DANZIG

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Aug 132013
 

Here are a few things I saw and heard last night that I thought might be of interest.

RIVERS OF NIHIL

We’ve been following Pennsylvania’s Rivers of Nihil since all the way back in January 2012. Last December we reported that they had signed to Metal Blade Records and would be recording their full-length debut for the label with Erik Rutan (Hate Eternal) at Mana Recording Studios in March. We also streamed a demo version of a new song that will appear on the album named “Rain Eater”.

Yesterday we got a good look at the album’s cover by veteran metal artist Dan Seagrave, and it’s quite the eye-catcher, don’t you think? We also got the album’s name (The Conscious Seed of Light) and the release date: October 15.

On July22 , the band played one of the new tracks — “A Fertile Altar” — live at Saint Vitus in Brooklyn, and it was caught on video. The sound quality is good and the song rocks hard. Check it out next. Continue reading »

PRESIDENT STREETWALKER: “PRESIDENT STREETWALKER” EP

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Aug 132013
 

(DGR digs deep into the underground with this review of the first EP by a band who’ve named themselves President Streetwalker.)

Occasionally while surfing music you’ll come across a band right as they are getting their start. Such was the case with President Streetwalker, a group I found while investigating what another band I enjoyed (Khaozone) was up to. When I went to their page, I found a post about this band, only to discover that guys involved with one had split off to do this as well.

The group consists of vocalist Lucem Fero – who has been around quite a bit within the specific circle of Khaozone, Tyrant Of Death, his own solo projects, and this — and instrumentalist/vocalist Candy, who is responsible for all of the noise on top of the occasional vocal contribution. President Streetwalker pitch themselves as grind for the people, while being one of the most insanely noisy, chaotic groups out there and one that reaches far beyond the realms of their initially stated genre.

The Streetwalker EP is a four-track monster that begins with two songs that remain heavily in grind territory while incorporating some industrial elements — those are probably the closest I’ve ever heard a band come to intruding on The Amenta’s territory, something that I hadn’t thought possible. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ELIRAN KANTOR / KATAKLYSM, FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, AND BONE DANCE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Aug 122013
 

A few quick hits for you from my own quick spin through my e-mail and the interhole this afternoon.

ELIRAN KANTOR AND KATAKLYSM

Last week we brought you some news about the next album by Canada’s Kataklysm, Waiting For the End To Come, including the artwork for the CD. I thought the artwork was okay, but it didn’t elevate my pulse rate. HOWEVER, the artwork previously revealed is only for the standard jewel case version of the CD and a limited edition cassette tape of the album. There is an alternate cover for “the deluxe digipak” and the LP versions of the album, and you’re looking at it.

No disrespect intended to Peter Sallai, but I find this creation by the stellar Eliran Kantor much more appealing. It reminds me of what a collaboration between John Martin and Gustave Doré might have produced. Love it! Continue reading »

LEPROUS: “COAL”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  4 Responses »
Aug 122013
 

(Well, we might as well start off the new week by confusing the shit out of people.  Here’s DGR’s review of the latest album by Norway’s Leprous, released in May 2013.)

Fair Warning: Tons of clean singing ahead, very few screams.

We in the metal community tend to use the phrases “prog” and “avante-garde” somewhat interchangeably to describe those situations in which the caveman side of the brain doesn’t fully grasp what is going on in the music. Either that or we call it “prog” when it’s soft music that we really like but don’t want to own up to it. Norway’s Leprous fall into the former camp, where even though things seem relatively straightforward at first glance, they’re really just a little off.

They have gained quite a bit of the spotlight since receiving Ihsahn’s blessing, as well as performing as his backing band for his discs and a bunch of shows. They’d been going for a good while before, but those developments coupled with the release of Bilateral really launched them onto a lot of radar screens.

Bilateral threw a lot of people for a loop. Nothing was really conventional outside of the instruments present. Every song had a strange, unnerving approach to it. When a song like “Restless” and its curveball of a music video was one of the most normal-sounding songs, who could imagine what oddities lay in the rest of the album? Bilateral was also incredibly difficult to describe and led to some stumbling examples of attempts to so – which proved amusing to watch.

Befitting their avante-garde/prog label, Leprous have returned with another album in the form of Coal filled to the brim with strange song arrangements, odd vocal approaches, and conventional instruments played in weird ways. Like Bilateral before it, Coal is incredibly difficult to describe. As before, the band have again deftly managed to avoid genrefication in any sense and have provided an experience that is all their own. Continue reading »

“YOUR CARCASS IS LEAKING”: THE DEBATE CONTINUES

 Mosh Pit  17 Responses »
Aug 122013
 

The week before last Jordan Campbell, one of the editors at Last Rites, wrote a piece entitled “Your Carcass Is Leaking – The Surgical Steel Saga”, in which he took the Nuclear Blast label to task for withholding promos of the new Carcass album (Surgical Steel) from web zines, accused DECIBEL magazine and NB of colluding to promote the album, and suggested that NB had intentionally leaked Surgical Steel to justify its discriminatory treatment of bloggers in the handing out of promos.  I thought he was off-base, and wrote a rejoinder.

To my pleasant surprise, I got a nice note from Jordan (who I didn’t know before then) suggesting that we continue the debate, and I agreed.  We traded arguments by e-mail, and I’m now posting the dialogue (with Jordan’s consent).  I don’t know whether it sheds more light than heat.  Judge for yourselves.

After the first pair of e-mail exchanges occurred, my messages got sufficiently long-winded that Jordan started putting his responses after each paragraph of what I originally sent him.  So I’ve divided our debate into parts in an effort to make the chronology of the back-and-forth more clear. Continue reading »

SATYRICON: “SATYRICON” (A REVIEW AND A NEW SONG — “OUR WORLD, IT RUMBLES TONIGHT”)

 Album Reviews  10 Responses »
Aug 122013
 

(Andy Synn reviews the forthcoming, self-titled album by Norway’s Satyricon, and we also include a brand new song at the end of the review)

I can already tell that this is going to be a divisive record. Some will love it. Some will hate it. I don’t doubt that a few will simply have no interest in what it’s trying to say. And I doubt very much the band will care either way.

You see, their part is effectively done. Satyr and Frost have spent their time away from the limelight experimenting, exploring, and re-evaluating what they do. Branching out into other areas (both musical and non-musical) has clearly given them a chance to clear their minds and sharpen their thoughts. It’s no surprise then that they’ve chosen to inaugurate their return – and indeed, a new chapter in the tale of Satyricon – with a self-titled album.

And what an album it is. Challenging. Difficult. Resolutely uncommercial, yet subtly, insidiously compelling. Continue reading »

NEW BEHEMOTH SONG! “BLOW YOUR TRUMPETS GABRIEL”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Aug 112013
 

Last week we received the disappointing news that the release of the upcoming tenth studio album by Poland’s almighty Behemoth (entitled The Satanist) would be delayed to early 2014. However, the band played one of the new songs — “Blow Your Trumpets Gabriel” — at the BRUTAL ASSAULT festival in The Czech Republic last night (August 10), and a fan-filmed video of the performance has now surfaced.

The song is an absolute monster. It begins as a slow, black crusher and then it fuckin’ explodes at the mid-point. The fan video has the usual imperfections, but you can hear the song pretty well and the visuals are amazing, notwithstanding the imperfections. Strobing lights, explosions of flame, great plumes of smoke — combine all that with the power of the song, and it’s quite a thing to see and hear. Which you can do right after the jump. Continue reading »

KARNAK: “THE CULT OF DEATH”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  6 Responses »
Aug 112013
 

I’ve been listening to our advance copy of this little five-song offering from Italy’s Karnak once or twice a week for the past month. Not like clockwork, because the urge strikes me at odd times, but the urge persists.

I had certain expectations about the EP before hearing it. The ghoulish red-and-black cover art by the talented Marco Hasmann (Fleshgod Apocalypse, Vile, Vomit The Soul); the description I saw of the band’s music: Aleister Crowley Death Metal; the references in the accompanying press release to Incantation, Nile, Morbid Angel, and Krisiun; the EP’s name: The Cult of Death — all of those signposts pointed to a certain kind of grisly, heavy-riffed, old-school death metal.

Given my tastes, I had a feeling it would be appealing if done right, but maybe nothing more than a kind of solid musical comfort food — old recipes that might or might not be prepared competently, and nothing more than that. But it turns out that Karnak have created something distinctive and surprising with those old-school ingredients, while maintaining a dominant aura of brutality. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries