A EUROBLAST 2013 UPDATE

 Metal News  3 Responses »
May 102013
 

That flyer up above is the latest one I could find for the 9th edition of the Euroblast Festival, scheduled to occur on October 11-13, 2013, in Cologne, Germany. However, it doesn’t show the most current listing of bands. For example, yesterday the Euroblast organizers announced that Arsis will also be appearing (hell yes), and Threat Signal, Aliases, and Der Weg einer Freiheit are also recent additions to the line-up.

And today brought the exciting announcement that Sweden’s Deathember and Russia’s Kartikeya have been selected to appear. We reviewed Deathember’s new album earlier this week (here), and of course Kartikeya has been a frequently mentioned NCS favorite for years.  Congrats to both of those bands.

And after the jump you can see the complete line-up as it now stands. Many more bands will be announced in the coming months, but the line-up already includes a large number of bands we really like around here. For more info, visit Euroblast’s web site or their Facebook page. Continue reading »

FREE SHIT FROM DEMONHOOD PRODUCTIONS: “ENLIGHTENED DARKNESS”

 Free Shit, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
May 102013
 

Demonhood Productions, as I learned this morning, is a relatively new Norwegian label mainly focusing on underground black, death, and thrash metal. It was established in 2012 as “a cooperation” between Duplicate Records and Neseblod Records. As I also discovered only this morning, they released a compilation in March that’s a free download on Bandcamp. Entitled Enlightened Darkness, it consists of 14 tracks by 14 different bands.

I’m not familiar with all the bands on this comp, but the names I do know are impressive (and we’ve written about them here at NCS): Nekromantheon, Wormlust, and Cobolt 60. The compilation also includes a song by a Czech band named Cult of Fire that I’ve recently become interested in. In fact, that’s how I found this comp.

Last year Cult of Fire released their debut album Triumvirát through Demonhood; one of the tracks from that album is what’s included in this comp. However, Cult of Fire are now signed to the German label Iron Bonehead for release of their next album (which should be coming in 2013). This morning I saw that Iron Bonehead has started selling a Cult of Fire shirt called “Insane Dance of Kali”, and it’s so eye-catching that I promptly ordered it (here). This is what the shirt looks like (it comes in black and white): Continue reading »

TIM LAMBESIS PLEADS NOT GUILTY; BAIL SET; FURTHER DETAILS OF PROSECUTION’S CASE COME OUT

 Metal News  17 Responses »
May 092013
 

I actually don’t plan to follow this morbid story every step of the way, but based on our web traffic count, there’s clearly been a lot of interest by NCS readers in the arrest of As I Lay Dying’s Tim Lambesis for allegedly attempting to pay someone to murder his wife, Meggan Lambesis. So, we’ll follow the story at least a little bit further.

The latest news (as reported here) is that Tim Lambesis was arraigned in Vista Superior Court (San Diego) this afternoon on one criminal charge of solicitation of murder, which carries a maximum penalty of 9 years in prison. He entered a plea of not guilty and bail was set at $8 million — although the prosecutors asked for bail in the amount of $20 million.

The court further ordered that if Lambesis makes bail, he is to have no contact with his wife or their three children. The next court date will apparently be a preliminary hearing on July 10.

Further details about the hearing and the prosecution’s case emerged from live tweets by Angie Lee, a freelance reporter for San Diego’s KFMB-TV who was in attendance. According to her tweets, prosecutors told the court the following: Continue reading »

THE RUINS OF BEVERAST: “MALEFICA”

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
May 092013
 

The Ruins of Beverast is a one-man project of Alexander von Meilenwald, a German multi-instrumentalist and vocalist who formerly was the drummer of a now-defunct band named Nagelfar and has also been involved with other bands as a live member and session musician. To date, The Ruins of Beverast has released three well-received full-length albums, and a fourth named Blood Vaults (The Blazing Gospel Of Heinrich Kramer) will be released by Ván Records later this year on a date to be announced.

Last month a song from the new album surfaced on YouTube, and I discovered it a few days ago thanks to a message from NCS supporter deckard cain. The song is called “Malefica” and it’s more than 10 minutes long. But despite its length I’ve been listening to it 3-4 times a day since finding it. I can’t remember if I’ve ever listened to this band’s music before, despite having seen rave reviews of previous albums, but this song is completely fantastic.

It begins with echoing electronic pulses, mournful reverberating guitar notes, and a combination of distorted and clean vocals. The weight of the song increases dramatically as massive, distorted guitar chords come in, but the hook doesn’t really get set until organ and guitar take up the core melody and deep, dark, ghastly, harsh vocals enter in. That core melody is absolutely captivating — it continues to wind through the song like a black river, with the instrumentals becoming increasingly intense and heavy. Continue reading »

DARK TRANQUILLITY’S VIDEO FOR “UNIFORMITY” IS OUT

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
May 092013
 

Dark Tranquillity’s promised official video for the song “Uniformity” has just premiered at Metal Hammer. It’s the third song to be unveiled from Construct, the new DT album that will be released on May 27 via Century Media Records. The video was filmed by Patric Ullaeus.

The song is the second of the three released so far that to my ears has a doom vibe. It’s mid-paced, extremely melodic — even dreamy — and half the vocals are cleanly sung. I’m enjoying the song, but I have to say that I prefer the last single, “The Science of Noise” (featured here), which was a more high-energy track closer to DT’s traditional sound.

Anyway, check out the video and the music right after the jump and share your reactions in the Comments. Continue reading »

EYE-CATCHERS

 Eye-Catchers, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
May 092013
 

I’m getting a late start on the day and didn’t write a post last night that would be ready to start things off this morning. I stopped at my favorite watering hole at the end of the work day and lions got me. I shouldn’t call my friends lions, but once I used the term “watering hole”, images of prey animals being mauled in the savannah immediately came to mind. I felt well and truly mauled by the time I fell into bed late last night.

While I recover from too much drink and smoke, I thought I’d give you something to gaze upon. This is a collection of recent artwork completed by various artists for forthcoming metal albums or merch. We’ve featured the work of most of these artists before, and I follow what they’re up to, because they kick ass, figuratively speaking of course. There will be new music accompanying some of the art, too.

The first piece, above, is by Japanese master Toshihiro Egawa. It’s something he did for a Russian band I’m pretty high on, 7 H.Target. They’ve now finished a second album, Psy Slam Damage, which is coming out May 16 via Coyote Records. But Egawa’s artwork isn’t for that album. It’s an illustration for the next album . . . 0.00 Apocalypse . . . which will feature vocals by Mirus (ex-Katalepsy) and will be released by Sevared Records sometime later this year. Mark Cooper has also created artwork for the album, and this post will include something by him, too. Continue reading »

SKELETAL SPECTRE AND WEAPON

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
May 082013
 

I was just about ready to call it a day here at our metallic island, but then I discovered two songs that have just gone up for streaming, and they hit me so hard upside my head that I just had to put together one more post.

SKELETAL SPECTRE

I really fuckin’ enjoyed this multi-national band’s last album, 2011′s Occult Spawned Premonitions (reviewed here). The band includes an extraordinary extreme female vocalist named Vanessa Nocera whose many projects I’ve covered so zealously here that suspicions of stalkerism wouldn’t be out of place. But that’s not all. The band also includes  Roger “Rogga” Johansson of Ribspreader and Bonegnawer fame (and about 100 other projects, too), and as far as I’m concerned Rogga is death metal royalty.

So, needless to say, I’ve been watching Skeletal Spectre pretty closely as they move forward toward the release of their next album, Voodoo Dawn. I’ve previously posted about the album’s stunning cover art (Adam Geyer), as well as a track called “Bone Dust” that became available for listening late last year. But today brought yet another song. This one’s named “Black Augury Hollow”. If you’re lucking for truly ghastly, pestilential, maggot-infested, beautifully executed, old-school death metal that stomps and romps with an infusion of d-beat energy and a lot of chainsaw distortion, you really need to hear this. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS: IMMOLATION, ARCKANUM, NECRONOMICON, AND BOMBUS

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
May 082013
 

Although I’ve been temporarily distracted by such things as Tim Lambesis getting arrested for soliciting murder, Frank Palmeri getting his shit zapped in Russia, and this guy (who used to play some licks for Obituary and Six Feet Under) getting arrested for running a meth lab — after calling the cops himself — I finally remembered that metal is about the music. So here’s some actual music and music news that I came across this morning.

IMMOLATION

Unless you’ve been living in a cave, you know that NYDM legends Immolation have a new album (Kingdom of Conspiracy) coming out on May 13. Although I’m the sort of fan who would buy the album without hearing any of it (because it’s fuckin’ Immolation, and they seem to just get stronger with age), others may wish to hear it first. And you can now do that because today the full album went up for streaming exclusively at Terrorizer. Go HERE to listen.

ARCKANUM

Sweden’s Arckanum also have a new album coming. Entitled Fenris Kindir, it’s due for North American release by Season of Mist on May 14. Explaining the album’s name and concept, Arckanum main man Shamaatae is quoted as saying this: “The sounds and music on this album are my auditory vision of the march of Fenrir convoyed with his hordes of giant wolves from the depths of the underworld to face Ragna Rök with warlike glory – deformed giant-wolves swarming in thousands. This is my tribute to the wrathful, harsh and untamed anti-nature of Fenrir’s mighty essence! The anti-cosmic enemy of the worlds! Heill Tungls Tjúgari! Heilir Fenris Synir!” Continue reading »

FREE SHIT: SOCIOPATHIC SOUND’S LATEST MIXTAPE GOES BIG WITH 100 FREE SONGS

 Free Shit, Metal News  4 Responses »
May 082013
 

Sociopathic Sound started as a Philadelphia-based web project in June 2012, but it’s about to transition into a record label, with plans not only to sign bands for new releases but also to re-issue previous works on vinyl or as digitally remastered releases. Since opening the doors last year, Sociopathic Sound has also been compiling free mixtapes (with permission of the bands and labels whose songs have gone into the comps). As of today, the latest comp — Vol. 4 — has gone up on Bandcamp for streaming and download, and man, it’s a whopper.

The latest comp consists of 100 tracks by bands from all over the world — and all over the genre map of extreme music. In looking through the list, I recognize these bands with whom I’m at least somewhat familiar and whose music I already know I like (and we’ve written about many of these here at NCS):

Primitive Man, Nails, Slaves BC, Sidious, Acrassicauda, Polkadot Cadaver, Antropofago, Buckshot Facelift, Svart Crown, The Psyke Project, Interment, Cage, Enabler, Psychofagist, The Binary Code, Slash Dementia, Total Fucking Destruction, Psychotic Pulse, Xibalba, Vaulting, thedowngoing, and Sloth Herder

But of course one of the attractions of comps like this one is the chance to discover new bands — and there are a ton of them on this thing. My mind boggles at the effort it must have taken to assemble it. My mind is even more boggled by the news that Sociopathic Sound is already on the verge of releasing Volume 5! Continue reading »

PRIVILEGED POSITIONS AND PUNK PURITY

 Mosh Pit  19 Responses »
May 082013
 

(Andy Synn offers some observations about two seemingly divergent perspectives within metal that may not be so divergent after all.  Discuss!)

Let me make something clear from the outset here: I am not trying to build up an argument with this piece insomuch as I simply felt like writing down and acknowledging some stuff that (to me) seems pretty self-evident in the metal scene.

The two points I am going to address are, largely, intertwined – though at first they might seem almost diametrically opposed to one another.

First, I’m going to address the issue of “privilege”. Now “privilege” is a word that often crops up in feminist discussions (often I think to the detriment of that discussion) referring to how supposedly Middle (and Upper) class feminists can’t really relate to the issues affecting other women because they speak from a position of “privilege”. Their position of “privilege” might come with certain specific problems of its own, but ultimately it invalidates their experience, as it can’t be generalised. The same things happen in the metal media. Continue reading »

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