TEASERS: EYE OF SOLITUDE AND VALDUR

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Sep 222013
 

I was already eager for the new albums headed our way from the two bands featured in this post. I really didn’t need to be teased about them, because I’m impatient enough as it is. But they obviously didn’t get the memo.

EYE OF SOLITUDE

This UK band’s 2012 album, Sui Caedere (“to kill one’s self”) was really excellent. So was The Deceit, a three-song EP they released early this year (reviewed here). Both of them are still available on Bandcamp, and I encourage you to check them out. The new album is entitled Canto III and it will be released by Kaotoxin Records on November 25 in Europe and December 3 in the US.

Seems that it’s going to be a monster — six tracks that are lyrically based on Dante’s Inferno, with a total run-time of over 66 minutes. It appears that the album will also include guest contributions by violinist Casper and vocalist Anton Rosa from the Russian band Dominia. It further appears that the band will be adding some black metal touches to their orchestrally enhanced blend of funereal doom and death.

Yesterday I heard a teaser of music from the album that you’ll have a chance to hear momentarily. It’s titanically heavy and sweeping, but of course it’s way too short. However, brief as it is, it’s a potent reminder of how gargantuan Daniel Neagoe’s vocals are. Check it out: Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: CULT OF ERINYES, LORN, AND NOSFERATU

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  4 Responses »
Sep 212013
 

When I staggered to bed last night I had a few ideas percolating about what I would post today. When I staggered out of bed this morning and started wandering through the interhole those ideas went out the window, and instead what you’re about to hear took their place. By chance I listened to three new songs in a row that really grabbed me. By chance, they’re all shades and phases of black metal, with interesting twists. I wasn’t familiar with any of the bands before listening to these new tracks, and with luck like this I should probably buy a lottery ticket today.

CULT OF ERINYES

This three-person Belgian band have recorded their second album, Blessed Extinction, which will be released in digipak format on October 21, 2013, by the Italian label Code666 Records. They’ve just begun streaming an advance track named “自爆 (Jibaku)”, which I discovered thanks to a Facebook post by Nico at Kaotoxin Records, who’s an acquaintance of mine and a friend of the band.

If the song consisted of nothing but the hurricane of cutting guitars, thundering percussion, and acid vocals with which it begins, I’d be happy enough, because that first phase of the song shoots a megawatt charge straight to the brainstem. But the song holds in store much more than that. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: CULT OF FIRE, CLERIC, HOT GRAVES, AND GEHENNA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Sep 202013
 

Here’s the second part of my effort to collect worthwhile new music discovered over the last 24 hours. You can find Part 1 via this link. All the music in this Part is different, but all of it is just fuckin’ evil.

CULT OF FIRE

In May I gave a laborious description of how I had found the Czech black metal band Cult of Fire. It started with a shirt. It ended with a track from the band’s 2012 debut album Triumvirát that was included on a free comp from Demonhood Productions. As reported in that earlier post, Cult of Fire are now signed to the German label Iron Bonehead for release of their next album (which should be coming in 2013). Yesterday, I found a stream of the first advance track from the album.

I’m unable to write or pronounce the name of the album or the song, but I can show you what they look like: The song is “मृत्यु का वीभत्स नृत्य” and the album’s name is “मृत्यु का तापसी अनुध्यान”.

I took a chance and put those titles into Google Translate and, lo and behold, it turns out the language is Hindi. The song title translates to “ghastly dance of death” but Google Translate failed me when it came to the album name. I did find this statement about the album by the band: “It’s a homage to the Goddess Kali, the Aghoris, the funeral rites in India and its close surroundings.” Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: INSOMNIUM — “EPHEMERAL”, THE SINGLE

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Sep 202013
 

(DGR reviews the forthcoming four-song EP by Finland’s Insomnium.)

This seems insane to say, but it has already been two years since the release of Insomnium’s latest disc One For Sorrow. It’s a sentiment that I know I’m guilty of expressing all the time, but One For Sorrow, like most Insomnium releases for me, still remains as good on recent spins as it did the first time I experienced the whole thing. The band have experienced lineup shifts in that time, which is another crazy thing because Insomnium maintained a relatively stable lineup until 2011, when Omnium Gatherum guitarist Markus Vanhala joined the band. Due to the timing of his enlistment, we actually haven’t heard anything the man had to contribute to the band until now, with the release of Insomnium’s new EP Ephemeral.

It’s hard to tell based on this new release what the musical future will look like for the band. With each previous disc, Insomnium have managed to shift their sound just enough that the only two persistent unifying themes have been that the music will be melancholic and poetic, and you can usually expect a slower, more progressive form of melodic death metal. “Ephemeral” is an entirely different beast though, a surprising song released by a band known largely for their creation of atmosphere and constant citation of poetry within the lyrics. Despite it sounding like an Insomnium tune, with many recognizable traces of the band’s established style,  it still manages to feel like a huge change for the group.

“Ephemeral”, bluntly put, is Insomnium writing one of the catchiest songs they’ve ever written. They’re not really known for writing super-catchy tunes, especially in a very blatant pop format. Instead, they tend to favor sweeping gestures and the occasional sing-worthy chorus. “Ephemeral” feels strange because it’s ridiculously up-tempo compared to what fans of the band have become used to and it’s remarkably ethereal, much in the same way that Omnium Gatherum’s recent release Beyond was. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: KATAKLYSM, SHEVILS, ZOMBIE INC.

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Sep 202013
 

I found a lot of new music and videos over the last 24 hours that I’d like to throw your way, like a tray of Molotov cocktails with the fuses lit. Really, too many to shoehorn into one “Seen and Heard” post, so we’ll have two. This is the first. As usual, I’ve tried to make up the musical styles so you don’t get too comfortable.

KATAKLYSM

I think it’s safe to say that Kataklysm are back with a vengeance. Two songs from their new album have been released for listening so far, and both of them have reinvigorated my interest in this veteran band. The second one, “Like Animals”, began streaming yesterday and it is indeed a huge, fanged groove monster, the kind of song that compels movement from the top of your pointy heads all the way down to your misshapen feet, while landing some stout blows to your kidneys along the way. Merciless.

If you happened to miss the first song, “Kill the Elite”, you can catch that after the jump, too. Waiting For the End To Come will be released in North America on October 29 and on slightly earlier dates in the UK and Europe, via Nuclear Blast. Continue reading »

WOLFHEART: “WINTERBORN”

 Album Reviews  13 Responses »
Sep 202013
 

Fans who have followed the musical career of Tuomas Saukkonen have realized by now that it doesn’t matter much which band name he chooses for his banner or which musicians join with him from project to project. Whether the name is Before the Dawn, Black Sun Aeon, or Dawn of Solace, the music has been recognizably and dependably his own.

In January of this year Saukkonen announced that he was shutting down all of those projects, as well as Routasielu and Final Harvest. In their place, he created Wolfheart, and with the exception of a wonderfully talented guest who contributes guitar solos, it is Saukkonen who has written and performed all the music on Wolfheart’s debut album Winterborn. It is, therefore, very close to a completely solo project, and the album is once again completely dependable. It contains not one weak song. In fact, all of them are magnificent.

Fans of Saukkonen’s most popular project, Before the Dawn, can rejoice, because much of what was familiar and welcome in that band’s music are still present in Wolfheart. The same can be said to the fans of Black Sun Aeon, because the signatures of that band’s songs are present here as well. Which is to say that Saukkonen hasn’t broken the mold and sat down at the pottery wheel to shape something radically new with his hands. He has instead taken the best elements from what he has done before and interwoven them in this new work, while also finding ways to stretch his talents in new directions. Continue reading »

KARYBDIS: “CONSTELLATIONS”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Sep 192013
 

This is turning into a very nice week for fans of technically exuberant, blast-strength death metal. Yesterday we had the pleasure of premiering a new song by Rivers of Nihil and today we discovered that London-based Karybdis have also debuted a new single. The new track is named “Constellations”, and man, does it fly. It jabs and jumps and spins like a whirlwind, too.

The music is in constant motion, switching tempos and switching moods at will. It delivers a flurry of prize-fighter punches as well as a dreamy instrumental interlude . . . and there’s what sounds like a string quartet letting you down easy in the outro. And did I mention the bass drops? I did mention the technical exuberance, and there’s plenty of that in “Constellations” as well.

The drums, strings, and vocals were produced and recorded by Adam ‘Nolly’ Getgood and John Walker at Moles Studio, and the guitars and bass were produced and recorded by Karybdis. The whole thing sounds might nice. But wait! There’s more! Continue reading »

AMON AMARTH: “DECEIVER OF THE GODS”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Sep 192013
 

(To quote the legendary Orson Welles, “We will serve no wine before its time.” The time has finally arrived for the legendary DGR’s review of the latest album by the legendary Amon Amarth.)

If you are a heavy metal writer, at some point in your career there will come the moment when you cross paths with writing about Amon Amarth. It’s become a requirement, and something of a ritual, that at some point must discuss an Amon Amarth disc. Despite appearances that I’ve been metal blogging forever, I’ve managed to avoid this ritual, having handed off reviews in the past to people who absolutely loved their latest disc or were so familiar with the band that they could capably argue its quality and merits.

Amon Amarth have, at this point, ascended beyond being a band and have become a cultural staple – to an Iron Maiden degree. They’re a band people who don’t like heavy metal, or haven’t listened to much of it, will talk about as if they’re the greatest thing in the world. The sheer mention of Amon Amarth will cause people who have never heard of the band to act like it’s the coolest thing that they’re the Viking metal band. It is a gimmick to which the band have dedicated themselves to the fullest, and it has permeated their whole career to the point now that we often don’t actually talk about the music when we talk about Amon Amarth.

It’s worked for them so well that they’re beyond musical discussion, because we know that, at the very least, it will be an Amon Amarth disc. It sucks, too, because Amon Amarth have put out some fantastic music and some very high quality albums, so there really is always a discussion to be had about the band, beyond the fact they have a fucking longboat on stage. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: KARTIKEYA — “TUNNELS OF NARAKA”

 Premieres  14 Responses »
Sep 192013
 

(Today we are proud to premiere the new song and video from an NCS favorite, Russia’s Kartikeya. TheMadIsraeli provides this introduction.)

I’m sure all of you are now frothing at the mouth as much as I was when I found out we’d be debuting “Tunnels of Naraka”. I’m especially excited and honored because it’s Kartikeya’s first-ever music video (which is done quite excellently I might add) and because the song we’re debuting is quite possibly one of their most brutal to date.

We’ve heard two songs from Samudra so far, those being “Durga Puja” and “Horrors of Home”. One displayed Kartikeya exploring their groove side a bit more, while the latter saw the band deliver a more evolved version of a solid standard Kartikeya track, full of heavy riffs, suffocating atmosphere, convincing mood, and an abundance of surprises. “Tunnels of Naraka” is both the third and perhaps the final song we’ll hear before this album is released, and what a high note to do so on.

Kartikeya are in my mind a quintessential example of what metal needs right now: Music that is brutal, epic, bombastic, and chaotic, while achieving proggy undertones and melodic reprieves at the same time. Continue reading »

LISTEN TO INSOMNIUM’S NEW SONG. IT’S “EPHEMERAL”.

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Sep 192013
 

Today Finland’s mighty Insomnium have premiered a new song named “Ephemeral” via a lyric video. The song will eventually appear on the band’s next album, which is projected for release in 2014 by Century Media. The song includes, for the first time, the contributions of new guitarist Markus Vanhala (also in Omnium Gatherum), who replaced Ville Vänni in 2011.

The single will be released digitally on September 23 in Europe and will include, as bonuses, three acoustic tracks that appeared in the background of the latest Insomnium documentary DVD.

“Ephemeral” is recognizably Insomnium, though it’s more fast-paced and less melancholy in its tone than what might be thought of as the band’s classic sound. Yet the song is powerful, memorable, inspirational, and the lyrics are far more eloquent than most metal songs offer. Listen next: Continue reading »

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