HAPPY SUOMEN ITSENÄISYYSPÄIVÄ!

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Dec 062012
 

Today, December 6, is Finland Independence Day (“Suomen Itsenäisyyspäivä”). It’s a national holiday in that most metal of nations (judging by the number of metal bands per capita of population). It commemorates the day in 1917 when Finland declared its independence from the Russian Empire.

To help celebrate Finland Independence Day, my home state of Washington decided, beginning today, to let same-sex couples get married and people over 21 legally smoke weed. How’s that for being a good neighbor!

It’s true.  At midnight last night, two initiatives passed by Washington voters on November 6 became effective. Same-sex couple can now legally marry under state law, and it’s now legal for adults to possess limited quantities of marijuana. People who obtain state licenses will also be able to grow and sell marijuana in Washington (and pay taxes on the sales), though that part of the new law won’t go into effect until the State develops rules and regulations for how the new system will work.

Of course, growing, selling, and possessing marijuana is still illegal under federal law, and it’s not quite clear how this conflict between state and U.S. law is going to work out. Federal law (the “Defense of Marriage Act”) also refuses to recognize same-sex marriages for any federal purposes, including insurance benefits for government employees, Social Security survivors’ benefits, and the filing of joint tax returns.  But hey, at least my state wants to help Finland celebrate their independence, even if the Feds don’t.

NCS would also like to celebrate Finland independence day with some Finnish metal. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GONE POSTAL (AND SVARTIDAUÐI)

 Interviews  No Responses »
Dec 062012
 

EDITOR’S NOTE: In May I got on an impulsive kick and wrote about as many Icelandic metal bands as I could find. One of them was Gone Postal, a band who won the Wacken Metal Battle contest in Iceland in March, which gave them the right to perform at Wacken Open Air this summer. Another was Svartidauði, a black metal band whose debut album Flesh Cathedral was recently released n the U.S. by Daemon Worship Productions. I didn’t know there was a connection between these two bands, but as you’ll see, there is.

Which brings me to the thoroughly awesome Gemma Alexander, a Seattle writer and NCS fan who visited Iceland this fall, timing her visit to coincide with the Iceland Airwaves festival. While in Iceland, Gemma generously arranged to conduct interviews of some Icelandic bands for NCS. So far, we’ve posted her interviews of Angist, Beneath, Kontinuum, and Sólstafir. And today, we give you her interview in Iceland  of the following members of Gone Postal:

Nökkvi G. Gylfason (guitar), Ævar Örn Sigurðsson (bass), Þorbjörn Steingrímsson (Vocals, guitar), Stefán A. Stefánsson (drums), and the band’s manager.

Unless otherwise noted, Gemma took all the photographs accompanying. Be sure to read Gemma’s blog about her entire Icelandic trip here.

_____________________________________________________________________

Gone Postal closed Iceland Airwaves’ heavy metal showcase at Amsterdam, turning the decent little bar into something unholy with their atmospheric, blackened-death sound and a few sticks of incense.  After the show, Amsterdam staff swept up broken glass while the four members of the band loaded up their gear. A man who introduced himself as their manager grilled me on my journalistic credentials and then hit me up for weed. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT – A 30TH ANNIVERSARY ROUND-UP

 THE SYNN REPORT  12 Responses »
Dec 052012
 

(NCS writer Andy Synn pauses after the 30th installment of THE SYNN REPORT to take a look back at the first two years of the series.)

Ok, so we’ve now had 30 ‘official’ entries in The Synn Report. I hope that a good number of you have discovered new bands and gone out and shown your support for them, buying music, merch, gig tickets, etc.

I thought, since the year (and the world!!!) is coming to an end, it might be a good time to provide a quick one-stop summation of all the previous entries, for those of you who maybe missed a couple, or for new devotees of the site who have yet to encounter the earlier editions and the bands contained therein.

Did you know that the genesis for The Synn Report was not entirely down to me? There’s a post that I consider ‘The Synn Report: Year Zero” which was written by Islander himself, in response to my recommendation of a particular band. That post is included here, as I think it’s an important foundation stone in the genesis of The Synn Report, and because I think the band in question are utterly phenomenal.

So there we go, after the jump there’s a tiny entry on each band from each edition of The Synn Report, with a short genre description and a re-iteration of the “Recommended for fans of:” section. Which ones did you miss? Which ones should you give another shot to? Click each one to be linked to the appropriate article, where you’ll find the full write-ups and sample songs from each release! Continue reading »

A BAND OF ORCS: “ADDING HEADS TO THE PILE”

 Album Reviews  11 Responses »
Dec 052012
 

HAIL GZOROTH!!!

If all you know about Orcs comes from the slanderous, grotesquely inaccurate fantasies presented as fact by that blasphemous charlatan JRR Tolkein (may he roast in the firepits of Hirntodia for eternity), then you might think Orcs are nothing more than brutish, filthy, degraded demons with a taste for human flesh, incapable of creating quality death metal. You shall learn differently (or you shall perish, by the will of the Great Chaos Dragon Gzoroth).

Adding Heads To the Pile by A Band of Orcs was released earlier this fall by Itchy Music and Entertainment and represents the Gore-Stained Axe-Tribe’s first full-length masterpiece, for which all devoted slaves have waited in agony over the five long years that have passed since the Orcs’ debut EP WarChiefs of the Apocalypse emerged to universal acclaim in 2007. Lyrically, the album tells a story of war, betrayal, and vengeance. Musically, the album carves that story into the brain with a diverse collection of remarkably good songs.

HAIL GZOROTH!!!

In style, the album can be divided into two parts with the short, unusual instrumental track “The Darkness That Comes Before” as the demarcation point. The five songs that come before it are generally blistering flamethrowers of death-infused thrash. They’re serious hell-for-leather head-snappers, with a mix of high-octane riffs, jolting rhythms, and flashy guitar solos that skitter, swarm, and writhe like humans under the knife.

These fast-movers benefit from a super-tight rhythm section and a technically impressive array of accelerated guitar licks, and Gogog brings a deliciously evil mix of throaty roars and wrenching shrieks in his vocals. Of these songs in the album’s first half, all of which are galvanizing, “In the Keeper’s Chamber” is the standout. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: MAGOA, MAVETH, BATILLUS, AND HACKTIVIST

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  20 Responses »
Dec 042012
 

This morning I found three new videos and a new full-album stream that I want to send your way. Sending now:

MAGOA

Magoa’s new EP Animals is finally out, and as of this morning so is yet another Magoa music video. Since we’ve already featured the first two videos for this French band’s EP, why stop now?

The new one for the song “A Thousand Lives” was directed by the same man who was responsible for the first two: Benjamin Cappelletti. The first two were so good that I had high hopes for the new one, too, and I wasn’t disappointed. It’s just as much fun to watch as the first two. Mr. Capelletti cannot fail.

I also now have a new appreciation for the seriousness with which Magoa approach their craft. A lot of bands performing in a bedroom would stop what they were doing if hot chicks in their underwear invitingly climbed into bed and started caressing the band members, but Magoa soldiers on with their song. Impressive display of willpower. I also didn’t see the underwater shots coming, but it was a really nice surprise — which I’ve now sort of spoiled for you. I’m such a dick sometimes. Continue reading »

LIVE IN SEATTLE: WINTERSUN AND ELUVEITIE, DEC. 2, 2012

 Concert Reviews  7 Responses »
Dec 042012
 

There’s nothing that will get you excited for a metal show quite like arriving at a Seattle venue in December twenty minutes after the doors are supposed to open, only to find that the doors haven’t opened and and that you get to stand in a cold, drizzling rain for 20 more minutes near the end of a motionless line of water-logged metalheads that snakes around the block.

I’m here to tell you: That will make you really eager to get inside. The poor motherfuckers who’d been standing near the front of the line for an hour must have really been stoked.

I wish I could say this is the first time such a thing has happened to me, but there seems to be an unwritten rule (at least at Seattle venues) that doors will not open until at least half an hour after the doors are supposed to open. I could understand this if the venues had their employees walking the lines selling hot dogs with cream cheese and grilled onions, but all El Corazon had for us on the night of December 2 was a dude with a megaphone repeatedly broadcasting to everyone that if you didn’t have everything removed from your pockets by the time you reached the door for the pat-down, you would be sent to the end of the line. This did not taste as good as a hot dog.

It did feel good to get inside, though I was already plenty excited to see Varg, Wintersun, and Eluveitie even before the bonus of a twenty-minute wait in the rain. Once inside, my friends and I made a bee-line to the bar, thinking that a shot of rye and a PBR would help un-freeze our guts. In the bar we came across members of two local bands (Blood and Thunder and The Devils of Loudon) and proceeded to drink and talk our way straight through most of Varg’s opening set. So I have no review of Varg’s show. I blame the rain. And the rye. Continue reading »

“THAT’S MUSIC” – BUT IT’S NOT METAL: MIKE PATTON – MONDO CANE AND LABORINTUS II

 That's Music -- But It's Not Metal  9 Responses »
Dec 042012
 

(Please welcome the return of guest writer Old Man Windbreaker, who has decided to take matters into his own hands. One hopes for the return of his sibling in the comments.)

Old Man Windbreaker greets you once again. After repeated bitching about the lack of content related to Faith No More on this site, One has decided to take matters into One’s own hands… And write about the albums Mondo Cane and Laborintus II by Mike Patton.

MONDO CANE

One first listened to this album around the the time of its release, back in 2010, without much knowledge about its background except for the introduction in the Wikipedia article. One didn’t pay much attention to the music back then, and forgot about it after the first listen.

Through a fortunate twist of fate, One stumbled upon Mike Patton’s voice on television last month while my cousin was watching Crank: High Voltage, and decided to watch the rest of the movie. One found during the credits that Mike Patton had not sung just one song in the film, but composed the whole soundtrack (which is excellent, by the way). One decided to go back home, and listen to more of his solo work and collaborations.

So, one morning, on a bus ride, to a mall where One would eventually do nothing but have a Subway sandwich for lunch, One huddled up in the back seat listening to this album. Listened to the album once; and twice; and thrice… [It was a long bus ride. But nevermind that.] Continue reading »

WATCH DECAPITATED’S NEW “VIEW FROM A HOLE” VIDEO

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Dec 032012
 


Scion A/V continues to deliver the metal goods. They’ve just released a new music video for “View From A Hole”, a song that appeared on the stupendous Carnival Is Forever album by Poland’s Decapitated.

The video is a live performance professionally shot from different camera angles. It’s after the jump. I can’t think of anything more to say. Continue reading »

NEW TRACKS FROM ARSIS AND CULT OF LUNA!

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Dec 032012
 

This morning brought us two noteworthy new songs.

The first is “Six Coffins Wide”, which will appear on the new Arsis EP Lepers Caress that Scion A/V will be releasing for free download tomorrow.

The second is “I: The Weapon”, which will appear on Cult of Luna’s new album Vertikal, which will be available in January via Indie Recordings. (Thanks to Karl-Göran for the tip on this one).

Of course, the songs are very different from each other. The Arsis is a blistering, groovy torrent, and of course it includes a sweet James Malone guitar solo. The Cult of Luna is more complex, more atmospheric, more mesmerizing. But I’ve been rocking out hard to both tracks and recommend that you do the same . . . right after the jump. Leave comments, too, with your reactions. Please. Continue reading »

SHINING: “REDEFINING DARKNESS”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Dec 032012
 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Sweden’s Shining, which is out now on the Spinefarm Records label.)

The more things change, the more they stay the same…

(yes, I know I’ve used that before, but it was good then, and it’s still good now, alright?).

Shining’s eighth full-length album, the evocatively titled Redefining Darkness, certainly seems (on the surface at least) to signal a new era for the band. Everything about the record, from its stark cover to its brilliantly direct title, leads you to expect the band to have made potentially drastic changes to their sound, their musical identity, their direction. So could this this really be the same Shining we’ve all come to know and “love”?

Well it seems like the Swedish tricksters have made fools of us all once again. Continue reading »

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