NO CLEAN SINGING

SHORT BUT SWEET: KRODA — “VARULVEN”

Oct 072013

The last album released by the Ukrainian band Kroda was last year’s Live Under Hexenhammer: Heil Ragnarok!. As the name suggests, it was a live recording, and an excellent one. The band’s last studio release was Schwarzpfad from 2011 (reviewed here), which I thought was one of the best albums of that year in any genre. Almost all of Kroda’s releases are now available on Bandcamp.

Last Friday, a new Kroda EP appeared on Bandcamp under the name Varulven. It’s currently available as a “name your own price” digital-only download, though it’s planned for release on CD next month via Purity Through Fire. Varulven is a compilation of four tracks recorded at various times over the last five years. Die-hard fans of the band will be interested in this even if only to complete their collection of Kroda’s discography, but it’s really very good in its own right.

The title track is a studio recording from 2011. It’s a cover of a traditional Nordic song (the name of which means “Werewolf”), and the band describe it as “an experiment in viking-rock style music”. On this track, Kroda weave together elements of folk music (complete with the sounds of a ghostly flute, tumbling drums, and pure female vocals) and pagan metal (jagged growls, slightly distorted riffs and arpeggios, and tremolo-picked guitar melody), setting them to a rock beat. The melody itself, though quite catchy, has a dark undercurrent, which Kroda enhance with the sound of owls, wolves, and sinister whispering, turning it into something that’s haunting. Continue reading »

STREAM WOLFHEART’S “WINTERBORN” NOW

Metal News 11 Responses »

Oct 062013

I’ve already reviewed Winterborn, the debut album by Wolfheart, which is the new solo project of Finland’s Tuomas Saukkonen (ex-Before the Dawn, ex-Black Sun Aeon). In a nutshell, I think it’s one of the year’s best albums. In case you want to read the review, I’ll refer you here. But now you can hear the album for yourself.

Beginning today, the German Legacy magazine began streaming Winterborn in full. Go HERE (or here) to listen.

One more recent piece of Wolfheart news: The band has announced that the album will become available for digital download via iTunes, Amazon, and other online platforms on October 11. Physical copies can be pre-ordered here.

That’s it. Go give this a spin.

ESOTERIC / VELNIAS / SATURNALIA TEMPLE / ANHEDONIST — LIVE IN SEATTLE, SEPT 24, 2013

Concert Reviews 4 Responses »

Oct 062013

(This is a belated concert review, but I’ve also included streams of each band’s recent recorded music for those who may be unfamiliar with them.)

On the night of September 24, 2013 (and the early morning of September 25), a group of friends and I turned out at Seattle’s Highline venue to catch Esoteric, Velnias, and Saturnalia Temple, who have just finished a U.S. tour, plus Seattle’s Anhedonist, who opened the show. The very cool tour poster up there on the right is by David D’Andrea and Ben Vierling.

Highline has become my favorite place to listen to metal in Seattle. They book cult bands, they draw an adult crowd who know their metal (it’s 21+), and they know how to make a cocktail. It’s a great place to watch a show because it’s small, and because it used to serve food (and may still again), it has tables and chairs where the more decrepit patrons can take a load off between sets. Not talking about myself of course.

The foursome on the bill this night — headlined by an influential band on their first US tour in a 20-year career — drew a big crowd. For me, it turned into an endurance contest: would I survive almost four straight hours of almost unremitting dooooooooom or would the building collapse first from the weight of the music?

ANHEDONIST

I had been looking forward to hearing Anhedonist live for a long time, having missed way too many of their shows around town. Their most recent release, Netherwards, appeared on a bunch of the year-end lists we published in 2012 (including lists from many other ‘zines and sites), and it really is a triumph of multidimensional death/doom. After hearing their set at Highline, I was kicking myself for having let so much time go by. Continue reading »

MOOD MUSIC

Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 11 Responses »

Oct 052013

Metal is mood music. A few recent cases in point:

RAWHIDE

“City Kids” puts you in the mood to pound six shots of whisky in rapid succession, rip your shirt off, start busting up the furniture, run out into the street and expose yourself to passing cars, pick fights in the nearest bar, black out, and wake up wondering how all that vomit got on your pants and whether that’s your blood in your mouth or someone else’s. Death punk ‘n’ roll.

CHAPTERS: “THE IMPERIAL SKIES”

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Oct 042013

(Andy Synn reviews the debut album by the London-based duo known as Chapters.)

Phew… we’ve been waiting a while for this one haven’t we? But honestly… it’s worth the wait.

Now I have a confession to make. When it comes to the UK/British metal scene I simply tend not to like most of what’s presented in the metal press as being the paradigm of what this fair isle has to offer. That’s not to say I don’t love a lot of British bands (even a cursory search of the site will show up a plethora of UK acts who I’ve praised to high heaven over the years), it’s just that the ones who seem to get all the acclaim and accolades are only the ones who fit certain trends… trends which I simply don’t have any interest in.

And then there’s Chapters, and their phenomenal debut album The Imperial Skies. Continue reading »

TOURISM: CLERIC ARE COMING

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 4 Responses »

Oct 042013

We don’t usually report news about tours unless they involve nationally or internationally known bands, because providing comprehensive daily news isn’t really part of our mission statement. But I’m making an exception in this post because the band is so damned interesting and because some friends in the Pacific Northwest provided the impetus for making this tour a cross-country reality.

The band’s name is Cleric and they’re from Philadelphia. I came across them in August through a recommendation by Ryan Schutte, guitarist for the awesome Seattle band Lb.! (pound) (who has since then helped Cleric arrange shows up in my part of the country). Back then, I listened to one long song from the band’s 2010 album Regressions that just completely blew my mind, and I wrote this:

This song is one of the most eye-popping, jaw-dropping, extravagant pieces of music I’ve heard all year. It’s almost 20 minutes long, and I was transfixed (and somewhat scared) the whole time. It’s an out-and-out barrage of freakazoidical, destructive, synapse-severing mayhem. It doesn’t follow a straight line, it doesn’t play nice, it doesn’t let up. A thoroughly brain-puréeing, remorselessly spine-crushing experience. Something like Portal, Blackjazz -vintage Shining, and Behold… the Arctopus communing in a hurricane. During an earthquake.

Four months after Regressions came out, they were robbed in Philadelphia “of nearly everything that helped to build and eventually portray their sound, and the closest they came to touring was driving to pawn shops looking for stolen gear.” The story I received in a press release today continues: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SOLIUM FATALIS, SÓLSTAFIR, EYE OF SOLITUDE, DYING OF THE LIGHT

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 3 Responses »

Oct 042013

You want something new in your ears? I mean, other than a stranger’s tongue or that bedbug that crawled in there while you were sleeping? Well then, check out this selection of recommended new songs discovered over the last 24 hours.

SOLIUM FATALIS

I found out about this band (whose name means “Fated Throne”) thanks to a tip from my NCS comrade TheMadIsraeli. It’s the brainchild of New Hampshire guitarist Jim Gregory, but it also includes the superb Dirk Verbeuren (Soilwork, Scarve, Bent Sea) on drums, Scarve bassist Loic Colin, and Excrecor guitarist/frontman Jeff DeMarco on vocals. Solium Fatalis released their self-titled debut album just days ago, and it features eye-catching cover art by Septic Flesh frontman/bassist Seth Siro Anton.

Two songs from the album are streaming on Bandcamp. I listened to them last night and they’re really good – a dynamic offering of blackened melodic death metal built upon excellent instrumental performances, a voracious vocal turn, and a well-crafted production that gives the music a sharp, heavy sound. Seductive Eastern melodies flow through the stately but savage “Molecular Devices” and the jolting fury of “The 7th Gate”. I don’t know why I haven’t heard more about this album, but I’m definitely going after it now (it’s available on iTunes and Amazon) Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 60: OMNIHILITY, DEJADEATH, THE SLOW DEATH, ELISION OF ANIMUS

Exceptions to the Rule, MISCELLANY 6 Responses »

Oct 042013

After almost four years of hit-or-miss experimentation, we’ve arrived at the glorious 60th edition of MISCELLANY. I wish I could tell you that I have something red-hot and extra-special lined up to celebrate the occasion, but that’s not the way MISCELLANY works. The way it works is that I randomly pick bands I’ve never heard, I listen to a song or two, I write my impressions, and I stream what I heard so you can make up your own minds.

All of which means that when I picked the following bands I didn’t know what they would sound like or whether they would be worth a damn: Omnihility (U.S.), Dejadeath (Spain), The Slow Death (Australia), and Elision of Animus (Portugal).

OMNIHILITY

I know I’ve heard this band’s name before, but I’m also pretty sure I never listened to their music until deciding to make them my first stop on this MISCELLANY tour after receiving a message from the band. They’re from Eugene, Oregon, which I confess warmed my heart, since I know they’re going to be enduring the same dank Pacific Northwest winter that I am, or something very close to it. Continue reading »

SUTURE: “CARCINOMA CONTAGION”

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 6 Responses »

Oct 032013

Most of today we were distracted by other things, and hence kind of light on the spotlighting of new music. Hell, even Andy Synn could only manage to write a three-line album review, though he did write three of them, and BadWolf was so distracted that he experienced temporary website confusion and wrote up a song premiere for someone else, though it was a really good write-up for a really hot song. I put up photos of calcified birds and bats. Just one of those fuckin’ days.

We’ll try to do better tomorrow. But I thought before I completely checked out for the day I’d throw one piece of audio-visual sweetness your way.

Take a pit-bull guard-dog that hasn’t been fed in a week and then taunt him until he’s barking and ready to tear your throat out. Add a full-throttle headless drummer wearing a Blotted Science shirt (high fives for that!). Throw in a couple of mutant guitarists and a bassist with super-animated fingers. Set all of them on fire and tell them you won’t put it out until they finish their song, and then stand way back and let them GO! Continue reading »

ANDY SYNN PRESENTS: REVIEW IN HAIKUS

Album Reviews, Reviews In Haikus 3 Responses »

Oct 032013

(Andy Synn delivers another installment of his irregular series of album reviews in haiku. Two more reviews come after the jump. With music.)

YOUR CHANCE TO DIE – THE AMERICAN DREAM

Throwing off the chains

Born from deathcore’s murky past

Rise with righteous wrath

https://www.facebook.com/yourchancetodiesc Continue reading »

Older Entries Newer Entries