BECOMING THE ARCHETYPE: “I AM”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Sep 112012
 

(Andy Synn is the author of this review of the new album by Becoming the Archetype, with music from the album at the end.)

Five albums. That’s a pretty good legacy for any band, particularly when they’ve managed to progress with each release, from the unconventional prog-core of Terminate Damnation, through the more esoteric and Extol-infused The Physics Of Fire, the more conceptual and song-oriented approach of Dichotomy, and rounded off with the more stylistically varied Celestial Completion. Through it all though, regardless of several line-up shifts, they’ve retained a core identity that gives the name Becoming The Archetype both its power and its continued relevance.

That being said, let me give you a quick heads up – while I Am continues the tradition of progressing the band’s sound with each release, particularly in this case as a darker, heavier album much of the time, this is not the Becoming The Archetype you’re used to, and almost certainly not the Becoming The Archetype you may be expecting.

 

“The Ocean Walker” (not an Arrested Development reference, as far as I can tell) immediately sets the stage with its unexpected Periphery style leads and semi-Meshuggah-ised riffs. Thankfully it’s more than an uninspired imitation (it remains distinctively BTA throughout), but the shift in sonic priorities is initially startling. That being said, Chris McCain’s vocals manage to reference enough hints of Jason Wisdom early on to establish continuity, before dropping into a more guttural roar, upping the brutality and paired with a thunderous, chugging riff.

This is followed by two particularly aggressive tracks that recall the more “-core” oriented material of Terminate Damnation. The “Timebender” has a great off-kilter central riff, a warped and dissonant lead refrain, and an almost mechanised sense of rhythm that isn’t far from that perfected by Living Sacrifice. “The Eyes Of The Storm” employs a similarly neck-snapping, rhythmic approach, though the two songs are clearly distinctive entities. The chiming keyboard presence and lightning-fast lead motif draw a line back to the precision compositions of Dichotomy, but with an uncompromising heaviness and visceral vocal intensity that harkens back to the band’s earliest days. Continue reading »

VARG: “GUTEN TAG”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  14 Responses »
Sep 102012
 

Last week we reported the news that Wintersun would be embarking on their first tour of North America this fall with Eluveitie. We further reported that a German pagan metal band named Varg (“wolf”) would also be part of the touring line-up. I was pretty sure I’d never heard any music by Varg and I made a mental note to find some immediately, since this is a tour I’m bound and determined to see when it reaches Seattle. However, I was distracted by something important, like the sound of a passing car, and I forgot.

Fortunately, I was reminded earlier today, because somewhere I saw that Varg had just released a new music video for the title track to a forthcoming album by the name of Guten Tag, which was like killing two birds with one stone, getting the reminder and some music at the same time. Before forgetting again, all I had to do was quickly press play. And I did.

The song isn’t really the folky kind of pagan metal. It’s more the thrashing, grooving, headbanging, howling-wolf, infectious kind of metal that one might easily put in some genre other than “pagan”, but since I’ve never been quite sure how “pagan metal” is defined other than by its lyrical themes, and since I don’t speak German, who knows? It’s a catchy romp, though, however you want to categorize it.

As for the video, its meaning is ambiguous. Is it condoning or condemning the suicide that you’ll see? Or neither? I’d be happy to have the interpretations of others, so take a look: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: BLUT AUS NORD, PORTA NIGRA, AND ABSU

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Sep 102012
 

The internet is like an ever-flowing stream, and by that I mean downstream of something like this →

One of my jobs here at the NCS metallic island is to sift through all the garbage and toxic waste to find the sparkly little nuggets in the stream that are worth sharing with you. Of course, I only look for the nuggets that are pleasing to my eyes and ears because I’m a selfish bastard. You will either be happy with them or you won’t. Here are the nuggets I came across in my sifting this morning:

BLUT AUS NORD

This morning my NCS comrade Andy Synn sent me a message that the new Blut Aus Nord album had fallen into the hands of certain unnamed bastards, not including us, and that it included a sweet piece of cover art. However, even after my pestering, he would give me no links to anything, which reinforced my ongoing desire to slap him. Therefore, I had to dive into the putrid intestinal fluids of the interhole to learn what I could.

As you can see, I found the album cover to Cosmosophy, which is indeed sweet (it’s a collaboration between French artist Dehn Sora and Metastazis). I also found that the album is available for pre-order HERE (CD, LP, plus shirt), and that pre-orders will begin shipping from Europe on Sept 21. I also found that the official updated release date (though this may be only for NorthAm) is Oct 10.

As you may know, Cosmosophy is the concluding part of the 777 trilogy that began in 2011 with Sect(s) and The Desanctification. I found this description of the new album: Continue reading »

NEW TOUR CONFIRMED, WITH DATES: DETHKLOK, MACHINE HEAD, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, and all that remains

 Metal News  2 Responses »
Sep 102012
 

Last week, numerous metal blogs reported the rumor that Dethklok, Machine Head, All That Remains, and The Black Dahlia Murder would be touring North America together this fall. Preferring to wait for something more concrete, we didn’t post about that. But this morning we saw confirmation via Lambgoat that the tour really is happening, along with a schedule of the dates and places.

The tour will hit 31 cities, beginning on October 30 in Norfolk, Virginia, and ending on December 8 in Atlanta. It’s almost entirely a U.S. tour, but there will be shows in Montreal and Toronto.

My feelings about the tour were pretty well summed up by Axl at Metal Sucks when he reported the rumor: “[T]his tour . . . does have one weak spot, in the form of a certain auto-tuned metalcore band whose frontman loves guns. That being said, I still wouldn’t skip this tour — thirty or forty minutes to take a breather at a show with three other awesome bands on the bill isn’t a bad thing.”

I still have great memories of Dethklok’s performance when they toured with Mastodon a few years ago and would think hard about paying to see them regardless of who else was along for the ride. But The Black Dahlia Murder will put on a helluva show, and I’ve never seen Machine Head and want to.

And as for All That Remains, their early albums were among my favorites for years when metalcore first exploded, but I’ve gradually lost interest. Still, maybe ATR will play some songs from This Darkened Heart and The Fall of Ideals, which could be a cool nostalgia trip. But I’m not counting on that. What are your thoughts about this tour?

Check out the schedule after the jump, and stream a song (“I Ejaculate Fire”) from Dethklok’s new album while you’re at it. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: HYPERIAL – “INDUSTRY”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Sep 102012
 

There is a certain style of death metal that I think of as “imperial”, and sometimes as “infernally imperial” to account for the demonic shadows that often fall across the music. Those words come to mind, for example, when I think of Poland’s now best-known metal export, Behemoth. Obviously, I’m not using the term to convey a sense of glittering ostentatiousness, but instead as a means of capturing an atmosphere of dark might and majesty.

Hyperial is a four-man, one-woman band who have just released a six-song EP entitled Industry that incorporates that kind of blackened majesty into their music, but also use keyboards and ethereal guitar solos in a way that adds a sense of futuristic atmosphere to the brutish pummeling of the riffs and drums.

With the exception of a brief synthesizer instrumental that creates a moody ambience (“MMXII-MMXXX”), the songs are fast, with jabbing, choppy riffs and slightly off-kilter rhythms, anchored by a huge, groaning bass presence and percussion that frequently erupts in explosions of blasting. The songs are packed with massive (and even bombastic) grooves and the near-constant presence of moaning (and sometimes squealing) guitar chords that conjure up not only images of Behemoth but also Gojira (especially on the title track).

The vocals add to that ominous sense of rampant bestiality, with low-end roaring that sounds like a cross between a barking wolf and an enraged bear, though the vocals also include a trade-off with high-end shrieking that avoids any risk of monotony. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ARSAFES – “.onslaught.čoček.”

 Premieres  5 Responses »
Sep 092012
 

Moscow-based Roman “Arsafes” Iskorostenskiy is one of those uncommon musicians whose creative impulses are multifaceted and who has the talent to follow them with remarkable success, despite how divergent they are.

We first became aware of him through the striking music of his Indian-influenced melodic death metal band Kartikeya, about which much has been written here at NCS. Later, we discovered his involvement with a Russian pagan-metal band called Nevid (Невидь), which has produced four full-length albums, the most of recent of which is 2011′s Agarta, (discussed here). Most recently, he has also collaborated with singer Aleksandra Radosavljevic (ex-Destiny Potato) to create an “Atmospheric/Ambient/Progressive Metal” project named Above the Earth, who we featured here and whose debut EP is coming soon.

But in addition to all that, Roman also has an ongoing solo project named Arsafes. The first work of the Arsafes project was a solo EP called A New Way of Creation that appeared in 2010. We wrote about that here and in that same post provided a link for a free download of the EP.

Now, the Arsafes project has a new album in the works, which with luck will be ready before the end of the year — and today we are giving you the exclusive premiere of its first single, “.onslaught.čoček.”, which is now available on Bandcamp. It features performances not only by Arsafes, but also by drummer extraordinaire Dirk Verbeuren (Soilwork, The Devin Townsend Project, etc.), David Maxim Micic (guitar) and  Bojan Kvocka (bass) of Destiny Potato, and Fedor Vetrov (viola) (Veter Vodi, Nevid), as well as a cameo appearence by the above-mentioned Ms. Radosavljevic.

And if you’ve heard the first Arsafes EP, what you are about to hear is something very different, and it’s very, very good. Continue reading »

ODDS AND ENDS: YELLOWTOOTH, ERYN NON DAE., ODYSSEY, HACKTIVIST

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Sep 092012
 

It’s Sunday morning here in the Great Pacific Northwest, and I’m moving at a glacial pace, having headbanged way past my bedtime at a Korpiklaani–Moonsorrow–Tyr–Metsatöll show last night (about which there will be more later). My computer screen is kind of blurry, though I haven’t yet figured out whether that’s because I sneezed on it or my eyes are just filmed over. Still, I’ve been able to make out a few pieces of news that are worth sharing, though it’s possible the band names are all wrong.  Blurry.

My ears are still working reasonably well, though there’s a ringing noise in them. I haven’t figured out whether that’s an after-effect of last night’s show or the space aliens have altered their frequency to get past my foil helmet. Fuck space aliens. Before they fuck you. Anyway, I’ve heard some new music I like, and I’m sharing that, too, though when I mention the ringing noises that I hear in the music, you might want to take that with a grain of salt.

YELLOWTOOTH

I’m gonna start with the music. The music comes from an Indiana band named Yellowtooth and their debut album Disgust, which will be released on Sept 11 by Orchestrated Misery Recordings. Yellowtooth is a trio of 40-somethings who’ve paid dues in other bands going back to the early ’90s, and Disgust reflects an amalgam of their interests. I’ve only just begun listening to the album, but it has really struck a chord in me, and I mean the chord that connects the reptile part of the brain stem and the gonads. That baby is now just twanging away something fierce.

The music is loaded with fat, sludgy, primal, throwback riffs, with a meat-grinding bass tone and well-executed solo’s. And although the music may be best classified in the stoner/doom category, the hoarse death-metal vocals (which I fuckin’ love) turn the songs into something else — something that wants to eat your liver and brain. The shit is really catchy and really foul, and I’m digging it mightily. There’s also an interesting ringing noise that’s like an ever-present atmosphere in the music. Continue reading »

LIVE IN SEATTLE: KATATONIA, THE DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT, PARADISE LOST, AND STOLEN BABIES

 Concert Reviews  17 Responses »
Sep 092012
 

On the night of September 4, 2012, a group of friends and I were on hand at Studio Seven in Seattle to take in the first show of a North American tour featuring Katatonia, The Devin Townsend Project, Paradise Lost, and Stolen Babies, and I brought my fancy camera, which I still haven’t learned how to work very well. And yes, that means there will be a bunch of amateurish photos scattered around this write-up.

Two of us had bought VIP tickets, which gave us the chance to attend a “meet and greet” with DTP in advance of the show. As instructed, we arrived at the venue at 5:45 pm, and eventually a group of about a dozen of us were brought inside, given swag bags, and escorted to Studio Seven’s balcony bar, which was empty except for staff people getting ready for the night — plus Devin Townsend and two members of his live band, drummer Ryan van Poederooyen and guitarist Dave Young.

We spent the first 10 or 15 minutes talking with Ryan, who couldn’t have been more friendly and humble (and who clearly was in love with the songs DT had written for Epicloud). Eventually, we wandered over to where DT was holding court with the rest of our group of admirers, and he seemed very much the same person as he does on stage — full of energy and humor, making jokes and funny faces, and enjoying talking with all of us mostly tongue-tied well-wishers. If there’s a big rock star ego anywhere in his personality, it’s well-hidden. (We had talked earlier with one of the venue’s security guys who we know, and he confirmed the impression — that DT has always been outgoing and nice to all the staff people every time our friend has worked one of his Seattle shows).

We had our photos taken with DT and then were escorted back out of the venue to wait for the doors to open along with everyone else (though our swag bags contained VIP laminates that allowed us to get back in first). The goodies inside the bag also included a signed copy of the Epicloud CD, which hadn’t yet been released as of the time of this show. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: VASTUM, AMBASSADOR GUN, HAM AND SKÁLMÖLD, AND FULL ALBUM STREAMS FROM WINTERFYLLETH AND BEASTWARS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Sep 082012
 

Here are a randomly noticed assortment of art, news, new music, and a video I saw and heard yesterday that I thought were well worth sharing.

VASTUM

Vastum are a Bay Area band who began under the name Corpus as a side project of vocalist Dan Butler and guitarist Kyle House from the amazing Acephalix, whose titanic 2012 album Deathless Master I reviewed here. They were eventually joined by guitarist Leila Abdul-Rauf (Hammers of Misfortune, ex-Saros), bass-player Luca Indrio from Acephalix, and drummer  Adam Perry. Their five-song debut, Carnal Law, which was originally released as a demo, made quite the splash in 2011, delivering a filthy, crusty, punk-influenced take on death metal.

Yesterday I happened to see the artwork at the top of this post. It’s one of the latest creations by the uber-talented Paolo Girardi, whose work I follow closely (and have featured at NCS many times before). When he posted it on his Facebook page, it came with this notation: “VASTUM – PATRICIDAL LUST (2012)”.

I’ve seen no other news that Vastum are planning on a new release this year, but that’s sure what Paolo Girardi’s artwork and explanatory note suggest. I really hope that’s what it means. If you’re unfamiliar with Vastum, Carnal Law can be streamed and purchased at Bandcamp (here), and you might want to give it a listen after the jump. Continue reading »

AN NCS SONG PREMIERE: ACRANIA – “SUSCEPTIBLE TO RETINAL BASED REPROGRAMMABILITY”

 Premieres  8 Responses »
Sep 082012
 

Introducing people to new music from the underground and eye-catching cover art are two of the things we enjoy most at this site, and today we get to do both. Acrania are a band from southeast UK who are on the verge of releasing a split (Galactic Infections) with California’s Blue Waffle, and today we give you the exclusive premiere of Acrania’s contribution to the split: “Susceptible To Retinal Based Reprogrammability”.

Yes, that song title is a mouthful. The music is also a brutish slug in the mouth — and a flurry of heavy-booted kicks to the head. Acrania inflict severe bodily damage with slamming rhythms, a seething hive of buzzing riffage, rapid-fire percussion, and vocals that span the range from grisly gurgling to unhinged shrieking. It’s brutal, but it’s also groovy. You may feel inclined to bust up your abode while you listen, but you can bang your head while you take the sledgehammer to your walls.

As you can see, Acrania and Blue Waffle also have good taste in art. The cover for their new split is graced by the grisly renderings of Ken Sarafin of Sarafin Concepts, whose work we’ve featured at NCS more than once (check out these posts, for example). Acrania also have a debut EP in the works that will feature cover art by NCS favorite Pär Olofsson, and you can take a look at that after the jump.

But first, get some demolition tools ready and check out “Susceptible To Retinal Based Reprogrammability” . . . Continue reading »

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