NO CLEAN SINGING

DRAMATIC FIRST IMPRESSIONS OF WINTERSUN’S “TIME I”

Aug 222012

Wintersun’s new album Time I has been six years coming, and now that it has been completed and a firm release date (October 12) has been announced, you can almost hear the sound of massed panting by the band’s global network of fanatical fans. Yet their eagerness is perhaps matched by their curiosity. What will the new music sound like? Will it be in the vein of the band’s smashing debut or will the passage of six years have changed the sound into something new and unexpected?

Well, we now have the first concrete impressions of the music because two days ago Wintersun threw a listening party in Helsinki, Finland, to which certain metal journalists were invited. One of those present for the first chance to hear the album from start to finish was Arto Mäenpää, editor of the Finnish KAAOSzine web site. He wasted no time putting his impressions on-line, with a track-by-track description of the music, calling it “a pure masterpiece and the best Finnish metal album to come out it 2012!” He also called it “a musical version of Lord Of The Rings.”

Of course, Arto’s original text was in Finnish. This, however, proved no problem for the intrepid staff at NO CLEAN SINGING. We just converted all of those strange words into English through Google Translate, which, as regular readers of this site well know, always reveals hidden meanings in the native tongue of arguably the most metal country on Earth, per capita. Fucking good pancake.

So, after the jump, feast your eyes on a vivid track-by-track description of Wintersun’s new album, as rendered by Google Translate, with a few notes by yours truly in brackets.

RED THINGS SEEN AND HEARD TODAY: SATAN’S WRATH, RED DESCENDING, P.O.O.R., AND MARK RIDDICK

Aug 212012

In browsing today’s happenings in the world of metal and pulling together items to share with you in this post, I noticed a coincidence: All of these items have something to do with red. I don’t know what that means. Probably nothing. I hope I’m not bleeding inside.

ITEM ONE: SATAN’S WRATH

I saw that Metal Blade had established a landing (or launching) page for a new album entitled Galloping Blasphemy by a two-man Greek “Satanic blackened thrash” band by the name of Satan’s Wrath. It’s due for release on September 25 in North America and a few days earlier in Europe. The album cover is above. It’s red.

I was intrigued by two things about this release. First, the band’s bio claims that they are “the only band in the world in communication with thy master through ceremonial black magic and necromantic rituals” and that “one member alone controls 13 satanic covens worldwide and organizes the most hideous sabbaths which our lord graces in the form of the black goat.” It also seems to dedicate the album to the glory of Belial, Lucifer, and Astaroth. I’m guessing you probably won’t find this CD at Walmart.

Second, I saw this quote from Brian Slagel, the founder and owner of Metal Blade: “When I first heard Satan’s Wrath it transported me back three decades to the early days of the label when I loved bands like Slayer . . . and Possessed . . . . What will always impress me about the heavy metal genre is its ability to borrow from the past and boldly wear it’s influences on its sleeve, while still sounding fresh and relevant to the time it was created. Satan’s Wrath are one of those bands . . . .” Continue reading »

TYRANT OF DEATH: “CYANIDE”

Album Reviews 4 Responses »

Aug 212012

(In this post, DGR reviews the latest release from Toronto’s Tyrant of Death.)

The Tyrant Of Death name should probably be familiar to a lot of you by now, especially since I’ve started making appearances at the lovely NCS. Tyrant Of Death is an industrial death machine that occasionally drifts into grind-filled territory, made up of two musicians. One provides the vocal work and the other, by the name of Alex Rise, handles the musicianship and most of the footwork.

For a long time Tyrant Of Death was an instrumental guitar project. Some of the releases (and there have been a ton) have come to include a lot of vocal work provided by musician Lucem Fero. Lately they’ve seemingly rotated, one instrumental, one more vocals-based. Also, until recently, the Tyrant Of Death stuff has been free (and occasionally still is) as a show of good faith. That changed with the last disc, ReConnect, which I thought was a good album but not necessarily the best of their work.

One thing that hasn’t changed is that the Tyrant Of Death project is still prolific, releasing a flood of material, although not quite at the breakneck pace of previous years. Only five months have passed since ReConnect, yet here we are again with another album called Cyanide. This one is largely instrumental, with the occasional vocalization (if you can even call it that) to provide atmosphere. As such, it’s something of a return to previous sounds and at the same time a combination of many older elements into something new.

Because of this I have to apologize that this review may be shorter than what I usually write (I know some of you are already looking for the nearest razor) due to the fact that Cyanide is Tyrant Of Death boiled down to its very essence. It is a disc consisting of a giant wall of loud guitars, relentlessly fast drumming, and eerie-as-hell song structure. Continue reading »

GIANT OF THE MOUNTAIN: “VALLEY OF THE ROGUE”

Album Reviews, Free Shit, SHORT BUT SWEET 15 Responses »

Aug 212012

It’s so damned nice to hear a relatively new band you like move from strength to strength from one release to the next, and Giant of the Mountain have done that. Their new release, Valley of the Rogue, is their best work yet, but it’s more than that. It’s an unusual and unusually good song that should open a forest of eyes.

Yes, the new release by this Texas two-piece is one song — but it’s also a nearly 20-minute long song. Although I haven’t done any scientific surveying, I’d guess that the idea of a 20-minute long song produces more groans than squeals of anticipation among most metal-lovers. And, no doubt, it takes some grapefruit-sized cojones (and ovaries) to attempt something of that magnitude. There are certainly far easier ways to go, especially if you haven’t yet so firmly embedded your place in metal history that you can do whatever the fuck you wish.

But I’m here to tell you that Giant of the Mountain have pulled it off. I suppose that a talented musician could go back through this song and syphon off riffs and motifs and figure out some way to convert it into multiple songs, but this really sounds like a work that was conceived – and works extremely well — as a unitary experience. It isn’t cleanly divided into movements, and it occupies its length naturally. It’s one fascinating head-rush of music, a chaotic symphony of the damned. Continue reading »

TOURISM: NAPALM DEATH AND CONVERGE ANNOUNCE HEADLINING TOURS

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 3 Responses »

Aug 202012

Here are two new tours that metallic denizens of the U.S. and Canada should know about, both of which were announced today. One is co-headlined by Napalm Death and one by Converge. And what a nice coincidence that is, since not long ago we got a Napalm Death / Converge split release, from which we’ll play some music after coughing up the tour details . . . Also, both tours are stopping in Seattle, which makes me all smiley.

NAPALM DEATH / MUNICIPAL WASTE / EXHUMED

This tour is actually billed as a co-headline gig by Municipal Waste along with Napalm Death. I decided to put only Napalm Death in the headline mainly because it fit better with the recent release of that split. Exhumed is also along for the ride as direct support, which makes this tour even more awesome. But that’s not all! Depending on the dates, one of the following four bands will also be performing:

Sci-fi Arizona thrashers Vektor, Canadian punk band Dayglo Abortions, Bay Area crossover band Attitude Adjustment, and Colorado speed thrashers Speedwolf.

But wait, there’s still more!

Again depending on the locations, fans will also get to see guest sets from U.S. grindcore bastards Repulsion, Chicago punks Dwarves, and Seattle’s Martha Splatterhead’s Revenge. Continue reading »

“M” IS FOR MONDAY: MY DYING BRIDE, MORS PRINCIPIUM EST, MALIGNANCY

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 2 Responses »

Aug 202012

Well, this worked out well. Monday’s suck, of course. But Monday is the “M” day of the week, and lo and behold I have news about three M bands.

MY DYING BRIDE

These legendary doomsters have completed a new album, which will be entitled A Map of all our Failures. It’s scheduled for release by Peaceville on October 15 (October 16 in the US, in recognition of our former colonial status). There will be a double vinyl and special edition CD/DVD in addition to the normal CD format, and bundles that include a shirt, too. And guess what? The pre-orders begin today, at this location.

I haven’t heard any music yet, but I have seen a quote from guitarist Andrew Craighan, who describes the album as “a controlled demolition of all your hopes”. I would expect nothing less.

I also learned that the band will be embarking on a European tour in December in support of the album, as well as an appearance at the UK’s Damnation Festival in November. An initial schedule of tour dates can be found here.

MORS PRINCIPIUM EST

In late July, I posted a bunch of news about this excellent Finnish band, which included the fact that they were finally recording a new album after many long years following the release of 2007′s Liberation = Termination. At that point, I had no details. Now I have a title: …And Death Said Live. I also have an approximate time frame for the release — December 2012 (on AFM Records). And, I have this very nice album cover art: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: “CALL OUT THE DEAD” BY BEASTWARS

Premieres 8 Responses »

Aug 202012

If you recognize that amazing artwork above by Nick Keller, it may be because just a few days ago we included it in a feature about his work. It graces the cover of an equally amazing self-titled album by New Zealand’s Beastwars. And today, we’re pleased as all hell to premiere a song from the album entitled “Call Out the Dead”.

Beastwars originally self-released this album in their home country in May 2011, where it generated a ton of buzz and earned the band a nomination (as one of only three finalists) for Best Rock Album in the 2011 Vodafone New Zealand Music Awards as well as selection as one of seven finalists (out of 87 submissions) for the country’s 2011 Taite Music Prize. Now the album is finally getting a worldwide release through Destroy/EMI Records — on September 11 in North America and a day earlier elsewhere.

No one song on the album fully represents the album as a whole, which is one of the reasons why it’s such a thoroughly enjoyable listening experience. Every song has its own character, yet they’re related to each other through the presence of powerful, earth-moving riffs, enormously catchy hooks, and the completely riveting vocals of Matt Hyde (which are themselves dramatically variable).

The album reminds us of the best work of Mastodon, though more primal and occult in its feel, with helpings of Sabbathian-style doom, Melvins-style sludge, Alabama Thunderpussy-style Southern groove, psychedelia, and a whole shitload of evil. Continue reading »

IN FLAMES: LIVE AT WACKEN

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 6 Responses »

Aug 202012

In Flames was my gateway into the more extreme forms of metal, and although they have slowly morphed into a band that straddles the divide between hard rock and metal, they still occupy a special place in my black heart. They were one of the headliners at the ginormous Wacken Open Air festival in Germany earlier this month, and ZDFkultur (the digital TV channel of a public-service German television broadcaster called ZDF) provided a live stream, which I wasn’t able to see.

Fortunately, ZDFkultur has provided a video recording of the In Flames performance online at this location, and I’ve also found a YouTube embed of the same recording. It’s a helluva spectacle, and the stage set for the first song (“Cloud Connected”) is extremely cool. The lighting and other visual effects and the multi-camera angles all through the show are top-flight, too. It includes the following songs, as well as two band interviews.

Jester’s Door (intro)
Cloud Connected
Where the Dead Ships Dwell
Only for the Weak
Reroute To Remain
Delight and Angers
The Quiet Place
Fear Is the Weakness
Alas
The Mirror’s truth
System
Deliver Us
Take This Life

The player at the ZDFkultur site includes an index that allows you to advance quickly to any song in the set. The YouTube embed of the concert is right after the jump. Continue reading »

SONIC THUGGERY: RINGWORM AND DISENTOMB

Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 2 Responses »

Aug 202012

When it comes to metal, there’s a time and a place for complexity and nuance, and there’s a time for getting elbowed in the nose, punched in the kidneys, and ruthlessly choked out. You know, the kind of music where you listen to it, and for a couple hours after you’re nervously looking for blood in your piss and feeling around for loose teeth. When you’re in the mood for that kind of sonic thuggery, look no further than the music featured in this post.

RINGWORM

This Cleveland hardcore metal band is the real deal, and by “real deal” I mean no bullshit, no pretensions, high intensity, honest vehemence and vitriol. Their vocalist calls himself Human Furnace, and if you’re going to wear that moniker, you sure as shit better be able to walk the walk. James Bullock really walks the walk, and by “walk the walk” I mean gargle with battery acid and spit it out along with esophageal blood.

I’m pretty new to this band, despite the fact that they’ve been around for 20 years (though about half that time they were on hiatus). Their latest album, Scars, was released in July 2011. But what really grabbed my attention recently is a new live album that A389 Recordings plans to release on August 23. It will be a 12″ vinyl entitled Stigmatas In the Flesh. It was recorded in 2010 at A389’s 6th Anniversary Bash. I’ve only listened to a few of the tracks so far, but man, it’s really blistering. And by “blistering”, I mean it will cause your skin to peel for weeks. Continue reading »

SHUFFLE (NO. 2)

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHUFFLE 6 Responses »

Aug 192012

For better or worse, because of this blog, I spend almost all my listening time on new music, either hunting for new tunes or videos that I think would be worth your time or in preparation for scribbling a review. But not long ago I did something I rarely do any more: put my iPod on shuffle and listened to whatever the machine served up from the 22,000+ songs that are on there. I didn’t listen for long — just long enough to walk to work at the beginning of the day and walk back at the end.

That turned out to be fun, as well as a nice surprise, because the first five songs that Shuffle served up happened to be good. So, I wrote a post about that experience. And I decided to do it again two days ago. And now I’m starting to get a little creeped out. I’m beginning to think my iPod could pass a Turing test for artificial intelligence.

This time it once again served up three good songs in a row (and I stopped at three this time because, as you’ll see, the songs turned out to be long). But the songs also fit together like hands in gloves. All three were longer than average (two of them very long), and each of them was a different type of progressive metal. So here we go — music from Ikuinen Kaamos (Finland), We Were Gentlemen (U.S.), and Odyssey (U.S.).

IKUINEN KAAMOS

I first came across this band at the end of 2010 when we were doing that impromptu Finland Tribute Week series (which turned into two weeks of nothing but Finnish metal). Andy Synn had recommended Ikuinen Kaamos to me (and he later named their Fall of Icons release to his list of 2010’s great albums). When I wrote the post that included Ikuinen Kaamos, I had only listened to one song from Fall of Icons — “Condemned” — but I subsequently listened to the rest of the album, too. Continue reading »

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