NO CLEAN SINGING

THINGS I HEARD AND SAW THIS MORNING

Jun 042012

I don’t really intend to make a habit of these posts, even though this is the third one like this I’ve done in a week. Or maybe it’s already a habit, like smoking hair through a gasoline bong. I don’t know.

Anyway, I heard a new song from King of Asgard today. The last time I wrote about this Swedish band was all the way back in September 2010, via a MISCELLANY post in which I sampled their last album, Fi’mbulvintr. They now have a new album set for release by Metal Blade on various dates from July 27 to July 31, depending on where you live. The album title is …To North, and above is the extremely cool oil-on-panel cover art by Mattias Frisk.

The new song, which began streaming today, is “The Nine Worlds Burn”, and it’s also extremely cool. Basically, King of Asgard are doing it again — combining deeply charred Viking metal with enchanting, clean female vocals. It’s like Naglfar, but with a surprising and effective folk accent. Check it out:

[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/47946772″ iframe=”true” /]

PARADISE LOST: “TRAGIC IDOL”

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Jun 042012

(In this post, BadWolf reviews the new album by Paradise Lost.)

Angry metal is easy listening music. Anger rears its ugly head all too often in modern life; we find it easily, relate to it easily. But the negative spectrum of emotions stretches far past anger, and the feelings in its more obscure realms—frustration, longing, melancholy—make music just as stimulating. Sometimes more so. Unlike anger, love, and lust (the pop music stock-and-trade), Melancholy has no object to fixate on. It floats in the air without form or shape. More than those other emotions, we need art and music to give these tough, amorphous emotions a form.

Enter Paradise Lost. Continue reading »

GOJIRA BRINGS THE LIQUID FIRE

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 8 Responses »

Jun 042012

This is something you’ll want to jump on immediately, unless you’re in the middle of giving CPR. This is a radio rip of a new Gojira song called “Liquid Fire”, which premiered over the weekend on the Full Metal Jackie radio show. It’s from Gojira’s new album L’Enfant Sauvage, which I’ve concluded is the forthcoming album I am most eager to hear out of all those I know are on the way.

The YouTube upload probably won’t last long, which is why you need to stream it asap. It’s a very cool up-tempo song with a catchy-as-fuck pulsing guitar lead and a full load of pneumatic rhythms. It’s right after the jump.

UPDATE!!!: YouTube has yanked that radio rip of “Liquid Fire” due to a copyright claim by Gojira’s label, but you really don’t need that stream any more, because you can get a legit download of the song for free. Thanks to a wonderful comment on this post by wlfblnkt, we’ve learned that in exchange for liking Gojira’s FB page, you can get the download. Just follow this link and scroll down when you get there. Now, can I get a hearty VIVE LA FRANCE?

(via Heavy Blog Is Heavy) Continue reading »

VIDEO ROUND-UP: TALANAS, CATTLE DECAPITATION, THANATOLOGY, AND SON OF AURELIUS

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 3 Responses »

Jun 042012

I’ve got four recent videos for you from four very good bands that are worth hearing and seeing. Without further ado:

TALANAS

We introduced many of you to Talanas through Andy Synn’s NCS review of their 2011 debut album, The Waspkeeper, which you can (and should) read at this location. To borrow a few of Andy’s words, their “fusion of raging death-metal ferocity and moody, gothic melancholy – sprinkled with moments of blackened despair – echoes the eclectic, experimental sounds of Septic Flesh, the unerring power and passion of Novembers Doom and the gothic grandeur of My Dying Bride . . . .”

However, The Waspkeeper was not Talanas’ first release. In 2010, they produced a three-song EP titled Reason & Abstract. In recent days, the band released their second official music video, and they reached back to that EP for the song – “Diaphora”.

Andy’s shorthand description of The Waspkeeper fairly captures the blend of styles on “Diaphora”, too. It’s definitely loaded with raging death metal ferocity, powered by jolting low-end rhythms, flashy guitar workouts, and Hal Sinden’s voracious growls and roars. But there are contrasting sections that feature Hal’s clean vocals and a dark, brooding melody. You know what I generally think about clean vocals in metal, but this juxtaposition works for Talanas. Watch and listen right after the jump. Continue reading »

MORE FREE SHIT: INFILTRATOR, OCEAN ARCHITECTURE, AND THE SEER

Free Shit 3 Responses »

Jun 042012

(groverXIII bringeth you the free shith from three bands. . . .)

Hey there, party people. It’s your old pal, groverXIII, back with some more free goodness for you all, because I love each and every one of you like you were my own diseased, dysfunctional children. Let’s get this shit started!

INFILTRATOR

Philadelphia-spawned Infiltrator have released a free two-song demo, and you may be wondering why this is noteworthy. Well, it’s noteworthy because Infiltrator play dirty, breakneck thrash metal rooted firmly in the old-school, and it’s some of the best thrash metal of the year thus far. It’s really a pity that the demo is only two tracks, because the two tracks here are fantastic. There’s an abundance of memorable melodies, and the tracks are actually fairly long for thrash songs, with both tracks spanning more than five minutes, but there’s enough substance here to keep you interested. You can get the demo free at Infiltrator’s Bandcamp page.

“THAT’S METAL!” – BUT IT’S NOT MUSIC (NO. 54)

That's Metal -- But It's Not Music 10 Responses »

Jun 032012

Welcome to another, long-delayed edition of THAT’S METAL!, and thank-you to all the NCS metalheads who’ve been sending me candidates for this series. As you’ll see, I’ve used quite a lot of them in this post, and have stored away others for future use.

For newcomers, this series is the one place at NCS where we don’t talk about music. Instead, in these posts we focus on photos, videos, news reports, and other items that aren’t music, but still seem metal. Here we go:

ITEM ONE

Item One is up above, and thanks to Mike Yost for sending it my way. This is not a still from the next sci-fi or horror blockbuster coming to a theater near you. This is a photo taken last winter in Finnish Lapland, where temperatures fall below freezing and snow is driven by the wind. The picture shows trees that have been coated in snow and ice. And in the sky above them is a phenomenon called the Belt of Venus, a band of pinkish light produced by a rising or setting sun (about which more can be learned here).

I’ve included one more photo taken by the same photographer after the jump, which makes it more obvious that these are trees. And yes, these pics are metal, in part, because they were taken in Finland. Continue reading »

A SNAPSHOT OF THE UNDERGROUND

Mosh Pit 11 Responses »

Jun 022012

I follow a ton of bands on Facebook, so many that I can no longer get through all the status updates every day. But I try to stay abreast of what’s happening, in part to find things worth mentioning on NCS and in part because I’m just interested in the scene. Plus, I know people in some of these bands, especially the ones in Seattle.

These are some of the updates I saw late yesterday. I picked these for a reason, which you may figure out for yourself as you read through them, though I’ll make the reasons explicit at the end.

Boston police arrested Javier Reyes of AAL outside a venue following a show, manhandling him and his friends for what seems to be no good reason.

FREE SHIT – WEEKEND EDITION

Free Shit, Metal News No Responses »

Jun 022012

Happy Saturday to one and all. I am awake and adequately caffeinated now, only moderately hung over from Friday night’s revels, and therefore able to type. My thinking capacity is only on a par with that of the lower primates, but this is not unusual, so I am forging ahead with our first post of this first weekend in June. And really, this post doesn’t require much thought, because it involves free music.

The first offering comes from Century Media. They have compiled a free sampler of songs from bands who are scheduled to perform at the SUMMER BREEZE festival in Germany on August 16 – 18. It’s a hell of a compilation, too, with songs from the likes of Insomnium, Napalm Death, Darkest Hour, Crowbar, Deicide, Asphyx, and Vallenfyre. Though it’s unlikely that every band is going to appeal to every metalhead, I’d be surprised if you don’t find some tunes to like, even from bands whose music you don’t already own.

To get the download, you do have to surrender an e-mail address and expose yourself to email marketing campaigns from Century Media and its affiliates, so there is that hitch. But otherwise, this is free, and you can get it via this link.

But that’s not all. I found another just-released free compilation worth mentioning, and it’s maybe even more delicious. Continue reading »

THINGS I SAW AND HEARD TODAY

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 15 Responses »

Jun 012012

I’ve been doing actual paying work all morning. I took a break not long ago and cast my baleful eye around the interhole and my NCS e-mail box to see what there was to see and hear. And these are things I thought worth passing on.

First, that cover you see above is for a tribute album to Emperor called In Honour of Icon E, which will be released on June 25 by Metal Swamp. It’s a very nice piece of art, created by Wolkogniv of Folkingrimm Art.

It also looks like it will be a very nice album, with Emperor covers by the likes of Demonical, Helheim, Horna, Taake, and Setherial. I’ll give you the full tracklist rundown after the jump, but the news for today is that the album has gone up on Amqzon for pre-order, which means you can hear snippets of each song here. Continue reading »

GOROD IN THEIR ELEMENT, WITH SPIRIT

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 3 Responses »

Jun 012012

Here at NCS, we are massive fans of Gorod’s 2012 album, A Perfect Absolution. Few tech-death bands in the world have such a flair for combining wonderfully intricate and heavy compositions with memorable melodies.

So it brought a smile to my face to see that Gorod today released a video of them performing “Elements and Spirit” at Rock School Barbey in Bordeaux, France a few weeks ago. Watching and listening to the video made my smile even bigger.

Watch, and smile, at Gorod in their element . . . right after the jump. Continue reading »

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