BEFORE THE PROPHECY: “[COLLAPSE]”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
May 272013
 

(We welcome guest writer Kim Rosario, who reviews the debut EP by Before the Prophecy from Warren, Michigan.)

The local scene for any genre can be home to a plethora of the next big (insert popular band name here) vying for a chance at stardom.  On any given weekend you can go to a venue in your neighborhood to catch this month’s group of musicians playing cookie-cutter riffs of all your favorite bands and adding their own personal touch to the mix.  Next month, however, a whole new group, a whole new sound.  Every now and then a young group of musicians will tap into a raw, true form of expression and reality.  These individuals understand what it means to truly write, live, and breathe music.  Warren, Michigan is home to such a group, and they are known as Before the Prophecy.

The band’s debut E.P. [collapse] houses many flavors that are prevalent in the progressive metal scene, yet they don’t focus too much on a single area or use typical breakdowns combined with ambient leads as a crutch.  Before the Prophecy early on create a dedicated sense of destruction with fast-paced drumming combined with a bevy of polished riffs and textures.  Quite frequently the leads will be played with a distinguishable effect over them to differentiate from the reverb-laden solos of their peers.  Drummer Will Constantine is also a standout performer on this E.P. While this genre may be stereotyped into blast beats and breakdowns, he flourishes, offering many different flavors to blend with the brutality and emotion and keep each song original and fresh. Continue reading »

IMMOLATION: “KINGDOM OF CONSPIRACY”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
May 272013
 

(TheMadIsraeli reviews the new album from Immolation, which is out now on Nuclear Blast and can be ordered here.)

Kingdom Of Conspiracy is fucking excellent and you should buy it and shit.

See ya.

Nah, although I do kinda wish I could leave the review at that, just to have the shortest review in NCS history. I love Immolation, and as I stated in my review of Suffocation’s latest album, they’re another band who have those three key things going for them: Consistency, legacy, and relevancy. No one sounds like Immolation to this day, and yet Immolation continue to be ahead of their time no matter what era they are in.

Kingdom Of Conspiracy is a welcome jolt to the spine as well, because this is definitively the band’s most aggressive and fastest album since Dawn Of Possession, as well as one that includes the signature doom, sludge, and slam moments Immolation know how to throw into the mix. The band have never sounded more intense, Ross Dolan’s trademark roar has never sounded more grotesque and filth-covered, the drums are at an all-time high of double-bass and blast-beat saturation, and the riffs this time around opt more for bleeding you out via your jugular as opposed to the Immolation S.O.P of dragging you into an abyss by your feet. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: GHOST B.C., THE DEATHISODES, AND DIRE NECRO CERBERUS

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
May 272013
 

My NCS comrades and I were busy little beavers over the weekend (scabby, rabid ones, of course), making headway on new reviews. But I also heard a lot of new individual songs that grabbed me, so I’ll be dropping those morsels into round-up posts today in between a slew of album reviews — starting with this one.

GHOST B.C.

When Ghost B.C. released their new album, Infestissumam, in Japan, they included a bonus track. It’s a cover of “Waiting For the Night” by Depeche Mode, from their 1990 album Violator. Late last week Ghost released the song to YouTube for those of us who like the band but can’t get our paws on the Japanese version of the album. The original song doesn’t mention Belial, Behemoth, Beelzebub, Asmodeus, Satanas, or Lucifer, but it does include some other Ghost-ly lyrics: “I’m waiting for the night to fall / I know that it will save us all / When everything’s dark…”

Even though there’s not any typically overt Satan worship in the words, Ghost do put their own spooky stamp (and some beefy low-end riffs) on the music. Cool song (and an exception to our Rule, of course). Check it next. Continue reading »

SOLOTHUS: “SUMMONED FROM THE VOID”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
May 272013
 

In late 2011 a Finnish band named Solothus released their debut demo, Ritual of the Horned Skull. It drew praise from many reputable sources, but I, being irreparably half-assed, failed to track it down. However, because half of my ass does work reasonably well, I didn’t miss out on a second chance — the chance to hear the band’s forthcoming debut album, Summoned From the Void.

And what do Solothus summon from the void? They summon the gloom of a black storm front, the massive power of a swelling tide, and the chill of a crypt, and they transport all that straight into the listener’s mind — along with melodies both morbid and soulful, and compelling riffs that run the gamut from glacial to galloping.

Some hint of the music’s power comes in the instrumental introductory track, “Frostbane Overture”, as the magisterial sounds of a cathedral organ rise up within the vault, but the peaceful, meditative piano melody that joins the organ music may be a misdirection, for the air soon becomes thick with the atmosphere of doom.

Ancient doom is much of what weights the music — ponderous, booming guitar chords bathed in distortion; anvil-thick bass notes that sound like girders collapsing in slow motion; funereal drumbeats that pound like the steps of giants; bereft melodies moaning the grief of lost souls; and gravelly vocals as deep as ocean trenches, sometimes rising in ghastly howls. It sinks you at the same time as the powerful riffs get your head moving. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 55: SERPENT OMEGA, CREMATORIA, PUREFILTH, AND ASPHODEL

 Exceptions to the Rule, Free Shit, MISCELLANY  4 Responses »
May 262013
 

Many of you already know how this MISCELLANY game works, but for everyone else, here’s what it’s about: Using no rhyme or reason whatsoever, I pick bands whose music I’ve never heard (usually bands whose names I’ve never heard either), I listen to one recent track from each of them (though sometimes I cheat and listen to more than one), I write my impressions, and I stream the music for you so you can judge for yourselves.

Every other musical feature on this site, other than this one, involves metal that I or the other writers have heard in advance and want to recommend. MISCELLANY, on the other hand, is a shot in the dark. I don’t know what these selections will sound like. We’ll both find out together. Today’s bands are from all over: Serpent Omega (Sweden), Crematoria (Denmark), Purefilth (Ukraine), and Asphodel (Greece).

SERPENT OMEGA

I found out about this relatively new Swedish band via a Facebook recommendation from another band whose doings I follow. They’ve recently released a self-titled debut album via the Mordgrimm label, and it turns out that they have a female frontperson (Pia Högberg). I decided to check out their music in part because of that recommendation but mainly because I thought the new album’s cover art was cool. Continue reading »

THE VESTIGES / PANOPTICON SPLIT: A REVIEW

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
May 262013
 

Two of the most interesting and musically original U.S. extreme metal bands now going, Vestiges and Panopticon, have teamed up for a split release that became available as a digital download two days ago, with vinyl to come. If you know anything about these bands, then chances are your expectations will be high — and you won’t be disappointed.

VESTIGES

This Washington, DC, band have dedicated themselves to a long-term musical narrative about man’s degradation of nature and the consequences that has brought, and will bring. The story began in their excellent 2010 album The Descent of Man, with songs named after chapter headings — “I” through “V”. The story continued with chapter VI in a 2011 split release with Ghaust, and then around the beginning of this year they began streaming the next two chapters, “VII” and “VIII”, on their web page and Bandcamp. Those most recent two songs are the Vestiges contributions to this current split with Panopticon.

The two songs flow seamlessly from one to the next, making them essentially one piece of music exceeding 18 minutes in length. It casts a dark, powerful spell. “VII” could be thought of as an extended overture. It’s almost entirely instrumental, beginning with droning ambient sounds and emphatic piano chords and then adding huge, prolonged bass notes and eventually the clash and march of cymbals and snare drum. It builds in volume and intensity until the music explodes at the beginning of “VIII”. Continue reading »

HEAD WRECKAGE (Part 3): BANEWREAKER

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
May 252013
 

This started as one long post collecting new stuff from three bands that I saw and heard yesterday, the common theme being what they will do to your head. Part 1 started in Germany, with Beyond. In Part 2 we jumped to Finland for a visit with Altars of Destruction. And in this finale, we’re taking the boom tube to Eugene, Oregon for some head-smashing by . . .

BANEWREAKER

I discovered Banewreaker because certain members of Arkhum, another Eugene band I’ve been high on for a long time, contributed to a new Banewreaker song that appeared on Bandcamp yesterday. Specifically, Kenneth Parker did the vocals and Arkhum bassist Nate Kelly added guitar parts. In addition, Arkhum guitarist Stephen Parker produced the new song — which is called “Masterful Wroth”.

I’m not certain whether the line-up that recorded the song, which also includes drummer Aidan Leger-Jeffrey and lead guitarist Josh Vincent, is Banewreaker, or whether Banewreaker is normally Josh Vincent’s solo project — because the Bandcamp page includes a demo instrumental track by Vincent alone. I’ll figure this out, but for now I just want to strongly recommend that you listen to both of these tracks. Continue reading »

NYLITHIA’S LATEST VIDEO INSANITY: “VEIN OF CREATION”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
May 252013
 

I first found out about this riveting ensemble of maniacs from Vancouver in March 2012 (writing about them here), and then last September we had the pleasure of debuting a Nylithia song called “Hyperthrash”. In a nutshell, they’ve been working on an album also called Hyperthrash, releasing one song at a time for download, with separate artwork and videos for each song. So far, four songs are available — “Trainsaw”, “Immersed In the Maniacal”, “Vein of Creation”, and the afore-mentioned “Hyperthrash”.

Very late last night the band uploaded their newest official video, and this one is for “Vein of Creation”, a song that originally had its premiere at MetalSucks in December 2011. It gives me an excuse to paraphrase what I’ve written before about the band’s music: This ain’t no retro-thrash. It’s thrash from some accelerated parallel universe. It’s a balls-to-the-wall, fret-burning, drum-shredding, neuron-twisting explosion. It’s a head-wrecking combo of blazing speed, eye-popping intricacy, neck-slapping grooves, and a fuckton of exuberance.

And as for the video . . . the Vein of Creation monster is among us, and ready for a good time. Continue reading »

HEAD WRECKAGE (Part 2): ALTARS OF DESTRUCTION

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
May 252013
 

This started as one long post collecting new stuff from three bands that I saw and heard yesterday, the common theme being what they will do to your head. I decided to break it up into three parts. Part 1 started in Germany, with Beyond. In this part, we’re jumping over to Finland.

ALTARS OF DESTRUCTION

AoD was founded in 1986 by the brothers Kimmo (guitar) and Pasi Osmo (bass) and Jukka Sandberg (drums). From what I’ve read, they were one of the earliest and most influential thrash bands in Finland, though they broke up after releasing a debut EP in 1989. They re-formed in 2007 and finally released a debut album in 2010 named Gallery of Pain. There’s a lot more detail about the band’s history in a post I wrote back in January 2012.

What made me think of them again was their release yesterday of an official video for one of the songs from Gallery, “Suicide…Are You Fucking Insane?” The video sets the album track to a montage of film from a live show, but the real star of the show is the song itself. It’s a goddamn rampage of raw, radioactive, old-school thrash with a breakdown that hits like a battle tank, and of course you gotta love it when the vocalist blasts out the song’s title. I’d like to carry around an audio clip of “ARE YOU FUCKING INSANE?!?”. I hear shit on a daily basis when blasting it in someone’s face would be the perfect response.

Might work on a suicide prevention hotline, too. Continue reading »

HEAD WRECKAGE (Part 1): BEYOND

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
May 252013
 

Yesterday I should have been doing the work that I actually get paid to do, or at least trying to finish some album reviews, for which I’m paid only by a sense that I may have done a good deed. Instead, I spent time surfing the web for something new that would leave my head a smoldering wreck. At that, at least, I succeeded. I found music from three different bands who are musically quite different from each other, but all of whom inflict some serious head wreckage.

Originally I had included all of this music in one post, but it seemed like a lot to take in, so I’ve broken it up into three parts, one for each band.

BEYOND

Is that album cover up there a thoroughly killing piece of art or what? It halted me in my tracks as soon as I saw it. It turns out to be the front cover created by Comaworx for a forthcoming album by a band named Beyond, which is projected for release by Iron Bonehead in the July/August timeframe this year. The album’s title is Fatal Power of Death.

Having been transfixed by the artwork, I went in search of music. Lo and behold, what did I find but the album’s title track and a second song called “Whirlwinds of Chaotic Carnage”, which Iron Bonehead had just uploaded to SoundCloud. I’m probably lucky that only two songs were uploaded, because they alone came close to caving in my damned skull.

The title song, “Fatal Power of Death”, is an absolute howling storm of distortion, pierced by some blistering solos that race up the scale like liquid fire and the reverberation of crippling, cavernous death metal vocals. In the mid-section, the pace slows and an Oriental-sounding melody surfaces over the subterranean grinding, changing the atmosphere — until the riff monsters and heavy-artillery percussion return for a big finish. Continue reading »

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