A LITTLE OF THIS, A LITTLE OF THAT: DEVOURMENT, WEAPON THE FACTORY?, SYSTEM DIVIDE, ABIGAIL WILLIAMS, AND CLOAK OF ALTERING

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  17 Responses »
Nov 082012
 

Good morning, good afternoon, good night, wherever you are.  It’s morning for me, three time zones east of where I usually am. I’m pressed for time today because of my day job. I’ll be spending several hours trying to extricate those coke-filled balloons from my ass so I can make my delivery and get back on a plane to Seattle. I got them way to far up in there this time, I’m afraid.

But although I’m pressed for time, I did have time to make a quick review of my usual sources and have a few things to pass along to you, in no particular order: Devourment are releasing a new album; System Divide are going home; Weapon the Factory? are disrobing; Abigail Williams are reuniting; and Cloak of Altering is killing me.  Details to follow.

DEVOURMENT

I saw that these grand-daddies of brutal slamming death metal will have a new album out next year on the Relapse label. Relapse released a teaser video for the thing. I’m ready. I’m more than ready. Check it out following the jump. Continue reading »

MY DYING BRIDE: “A MAP OF ALL OUR FAILURES”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Nov 082012
 

(I’m actually kind of stunned. We’ve published so many posts about the new album by My Dying Bride — including an interview of guitarist Hamish Glencross — that I thought we had actually reviewed the album, too. But no!  We hadn’t!  Until today.  And now we’re publishing as the next in our series of guest submissions a potentially controversial review of A Map of All Our Failures by a writer who calls himself madchoons.)

This is where I get to yell at the top of my lungs a variety of contemplative pronouncements which will, in all likelihood, polarize people away from or possibly closer to my side of the fence. I’m not fully convinced the latter is a good idea, but on we go…

To start off, as much as it really does hurt me to say this, My Dying Bride have become the epitome of cheese.

This is a term I quite commonly use for bands/music that, although well put together and obviously derived from talented musicians, has the consistency and flavour of that aforementioned dairy product. You may have guessed I am not a fan of cheese. I enjoy it liberally with my pasta and salad, but by itself it is bland, hard to chew, and sits very heavily on my stomach.

In this case, the same can be said for My Dying Bride’s latest maudlin opus A Map Of All Our Failures, and it really does hurt to even think that one of my all-time favourites of the doom/death/goth genre has sunk to the very place I never thought they could end up. Continue reading »

KRAKOW: “DINN”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  2 Responses »
Nov 072012
 

(In this post, NCS writer Andy Synn reviews the sophomore album by Norway’s Krakow, which was released in September.)

Hands up: Who remembers the last time this band were featured (albeit briefly) on this site…?

Ok, so I’m going to guess that very few hands were raised. Partly because none of you remember the band, and partly because raising your hand over the internet would be pretty stupid.

Back when I had my little Black Metal Weekender™ there was a killer little show featuring Kampfar, Vreid, and Secrets of the Moon. And opening that show (and indeed, sticking out like the proverbial sore thumb) were the as-then-unknown-to-me band Krakow, playing a form of dragging, weighty stoner-metal, shot through with some distinctly Scandinavian influences. It was certainly an interesting sound, and their performance prompted me to keep an eye on the band.

Which brings us to Diin, their recently released second album. To describe it succinctly, I’d say imagine Enslaved with a more depressive, less bombastic vibe, channelling the spirit of latter-day Isis. Add a splash of Mastodonian psychedelia to that, stir, and serve over ice. Continue reading »

GENRE POLICING: A PSA

 Mosh Pit  39 Responses »
Nov 072012
 

(Tyler Lowery has taken maximum advantage of our open invitation for guest posts. This is his latest, and more lie ahead.) 

We as a society have become obsessed with the concept of order. Speaking solely for Americans here, we have countless laws for some of the dumbest things imaginable. We have applications on our phones to tell us when to eat and sleep, and how many calories we’ve burned in the interim. We sort our lives into tidy boxes, always pushing to label and categorize what we like and dislike. It was only a matter of time before this obsession seeped its way into our interest in music as well.

First it started with dividing music into genres. At first they were usually loosely defined and were really a catch-all net that was akin to sorting colors from whites in the wash. Then slowly we began splitting our genres into neater categories, taking common techniques and delivery styles and grouping them into arching subgenres.

Then the net became a cupboard drawer. There was a place for big forks, salad forks, meat forks, serving forks, you get the picture. But even still, there seemed to be a need for continual sub-classification, making the pigeon holes smaller and smaller. Now we are stuck with subgenres and offshoots that sometimes only include one or two bands in each. Continue reading »

ROUND-UP: BOSSE-DE-NAGE, ZUBROWSKA, OBSCENE ENTITY, HELL MILITIA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Nov 062012
 

This post is about as lame a post as any post I’ve ever posted, except for the post on Saturday that was actually entitled LAME. (My ankle is now black and blue, but improving, and thank you for asking). To be clear, this post is not lame because the music I’m recommending is lame. Far from it! It’s lame because I don’t have the time or the mental clarity to add much to the recommendations, such as an explanation.

My day job is imposing on me at the moment (and this will continue over the next two days), and to be brutally honest, I’m also experiencing some anxiety over the outcome of state and national elections. Between those two things, this is all I can manage at the moment:

BOSSE-DE-NAGE

A few weeks ago I reviewed a new split release by deafheaven and Bosse-De-Nage. Both of the two songs on the split are long — 10:37 and 9:02, respectively — and I expressed the opinion that together they made up one of the best short releases of 2012. When I wrote the review, only the deafheaven track was available for streaming. Now, so is the Bosse-De-Nage track.

The split will be released by The Flenser Records on November 20, both on vinyl and digitally. The vinyl can be pre-ordered from The Flenser here, and it’s also available at deafheaven’s store at this location. Watch The Flenser Facebook or Bandcamp pages for news about the digital release. The BDN song is streaming at Stereogum as well as on YouTube, and it’s right after the jump. Continue reading »

UNCLE ACID AND THE DEADBEATS: “BLOOD LUST”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  5 Responses »
Nov 062012
 

I guess we’re really going to confuse people today. We started with a guest review of Kamelot’s new album. To provide balance, I should be reviewing something that mimics the sound of your guts being clawed out by a pack of rabid wolverines. Instead, I’m writing about a UK band named Uncle Acid and the Deadbeats.

If I were more deeply ensconced in the world of stoner doom, and even more precisely, the world of throwback, acid-dropping, occult, garage-band horror/rock, I would have known about this band before yesterday. But I’m not and I didn’t.

I didn’t even intend to review this album. I simply intended to listen to a song or two out of curiosity, because Metal Blade is giving the band’s 2011 album Blood Lust its first big-scale release in advance of a new album due next spring. But a song or two was all it took to fall for the album like a bag of bricks.

Listeners of a certain advanced age, such as yours truly, will think they’ve entered a time warp and surfaced in the era when Led Zeppelin, Cream, and Neil Young were changing the face of rock. But where those bands were singing about climbing stairways to heaven, strange brew, and Southern men, Uncle Acid steep themselves in witchery, murder, and the ritual of sin. Continue reading »

KAMELOT: “SILVERTHORN”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  3 Responses »
Nov 062012
 

(Today we continue our series of guest posts with a review by “Andrew Jackson” of the new album from Kamelot, which was released on October 30 by SPV/Steamhammer.)

Kamelot are a Power Metal band who I had overlooked for quite a while, though I had known about them for at least a year before I first heard Silverthorn. I had intended to buy one of their albums eventually, but when you’re broke and live in a town that thrives off of Country, Modern Pop, and other garbage that is guaranteed to reduce your already dwindling number of brain cells, it becomes difficult.

Anyways, so after some time I finally got my hands on Kamelot’s new album. To be honest, I didn’t really expect much. The band had just lost their singer of ten years, one of the hardest things for a band to recover from. Their previous singer, Roy Kahn, was well known in the Metal community and loved by fans. So after some time they filled in the gap with a singer named Tommy Karevik.

Hell if I know who he is, I just focus on the important shit here; and what’s most important is that he kicks ass. It seems like Kamelot decided to give him free range to explore his own vocal abilities and pump out some incredibly infectious melodies, while still bringing in the classic Kamelot feel to each song. In fact, he sounds very similar to Roy Kahn.

Silverthorn is a concept album about some chick named Jolee (I’m guessing that’s her picture on the cover) who dies at the hands of her brothers. Each individual track continues the storyline and focuses on the emotions that each character in the story feels, along with their individual regret for their actions. Along with the lyrics, the music also changes from moments of power to moments of reflection, such as the track “Song for Jolee”. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: INTERVALS — “IN TIME”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Nov 052012
 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the latest EP by Toronto’s Intervals.)

Aaron Marshall is really quite something.  A guy just sitting in his bedroom fucking around with a love for all the elements modern metal contains, including the dreaded D-word, puts up a couple YouTube videos of himself playing his songs and he takes off after showing that he’s an instrumental metal tour de force.

Last year I reviewed his last EP under the Intervals moniker, The Space Between, and that EP is still a badass listening experience.  Now he’s back with a new EP, the same killer line-up from the first EP, and his sound taken to the next level.  This EP is instrumental technical groove metal of the best sort.  I would try to pinpoint the influences but I really think Intervals have their own sound.

Here you’re going to find lots of low-tuned riffs with a propulsive, almost funk-like groove to them, soulful solos, and syncopation out the ass.  The emphasis is definitely on modern djenty/tech-metal style riffing.  There is a risk this EP would have fallen flat on its face if it weren’t for the fact Marshall knows how to write some delicious, catchy, dazzling guitar parts.  Continue reading »

BROS IN THE FOREST

 IQ Subtraction  2 Responses »
Nov 052012
 

Having already featured Infant Annihilator’s profound video for the song “Decapitation Fornication” (which has already amassed over 100,000 YouTube views among discriminating voyeurs of art-house film), it follows that we must feature the “making of” video for the video of “Decapitation Fornication”.

There is really no choice in the matter, is there? No, of course there isn’t. In for a dime, in for a dollar. Or maybe it’s in for a pence, in for a pound? Or whatever expression people in England use for those moments when you just decide to dive all the way into whatever mess you’ve already tip-toed into.

And since we’re on the subject of Infant Annihilator, this seemed like a good time to feature the just-released artwork for the band’s debut album, The Palpable Leprosy of Pollution, which will be vomited forth on 12-12-12.

But back to the “making of” video. It’s a rare privilege to get a glimpse behind the scenes of filmmaking at this level, to witness the seriousness and care with which the cinematographer and the cast approached the project, to see how much love (and nipple-massaging) went into the production.

In an age when CGI is king, we can also see that Infant Annihilator went with actual green vomiting. However, as an objective critic I have to say that the band tarnished their cinéma vérité credibility by using simulated sodomy and no actual tonguing. Still, as budding filmmakers, Aaron and Eddie should be forgiven for feeling their way gently in their first effort, and we have every confidence that in their future work they’ll get down to the kind of raw hardcore pounding that their growing legions of fans will undoubtedly demand. Continue reading »

PICK ONE: HATEBREED OR AGORAPHOBIC NOSEBLEED

 Metal News  5 Responses »
Nov 052012
 

I just wrote that post title in order to get your attention. I can’t really make you pick one. You could pick both, or neither. Actually, I could make you pick, because I know about that thing you did over the weekend that left a trace on your computer, but I’m not a bad guy, so you get a pass.

But here’s the choice:

HATEBREED

Hatebreed have recorded a new studio album, The Divinity Of Purpose, which is now scheduled for release by Razor & Tie on January 29, 2013, in North America and on January 25 in Europe. Of course, it comes out earlier in Europe because Hatebreed are a European band. I’m sorry, what did you say? They’re not a European band? Well then, what the fuck is up with those release dates? I think maybe you need to double-check your facts.

In addition to announcing the release info, Hatebreed also revealed the album’s cover art (above), which was created by one of my favorite artists, Eliran Kantor. I’d like to study this artwork without the Hatebreed logo, and I’m curious about how it relates to the lyrical content of the album, particularly in light of the album’s title.

But I have to say that otherwise I’m having kind of a meh feeling about this news. When Hatebreed were a relatively new band, I thought they were hot shit. I’ve cooled considerably on them since then. Should I be getting more excited about this?  Are you?

Next choice: Continue reading »

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