CAN MDF XI GET ANY MORE AWESOME?

 Metal News  5 Responses »
Sep 182012
 

I know, I’m a grown man and grown men don’t say “awesome”. But I can’t fuckin’ help it. Earlier this morning, the organizers of Maryland Deathfest XI officially announced the addition of 10 more bands to the line-up, including the headliner for Thursday’s event: BOLT THROWER. Here are the latest additions:

BOLT THROWER (UK)
SLEEP
CARPATHIAN FOREST (Norway)
REVENGE (Canada)
ABIGAIL (Japan)
CRUCIAMENTUM (UK)
ANHEDONIST
SPEEDWOLF
AMBASSADOR GUN
ASTHMA CASTLE

Seriously, this festival is reaching nose-bleed heights of ridiculousness. If you want to lose your breath momentarily, take a look at the now-updated line-up (recognizing that it’s still not complete and that the final announcement of bands won’t come until sometime between October 8-10): Continue reading »

GRAND SUPREME BLOOD COURT

 Metal News  2 Responses »
Sep 182012
 

Somehow I missed the news earlier this year about the formation of Grand Supreme Blood Court, though with a name like that I’m puzzled about how it could have eluded me. However, the unveiling yesterday of the cover art for their debut album, created by Axel Hermann (Asphyx, Grave, Unleashed, etc.), remedied the situation. It appears there will be blood and death, which is an appetizing prospect.

The prospect becomes even more mouth-watering when you understand who’s in this band. It’s the brainchild of former long-time Asphyx guitarist Eric Daniels. After being essentially out of metal for almost a decade, Daniels picked up his guitar again and started creating riffs. He shared them with select friends, and GSBC was eventually born. In addition to Daniels, it includes current Asphyx bass player Alwin Zuur (who plays guitars along with Daniels in GSBC), Bob Bagchus (Asphyx) on drums, Theo van Eekelen (Hail of Bullets) on bass, and the always stunning Martin van Drunen (Asphyx) handling the vocals and lyrics.

GSBC has finished recording a debut concept album — Bow Down Before the Blood Court — which was mixed by the awesome Dan Swanö (Edge Of Sanity, Bloodbath) and is scheduled for release by Century Media on November 12 in Europe and November 20 in the U.S.

With a five-man line-up, four of whose members consist of current or former members of Asphyx, the obvious question — which Eric Daniels will no doubt tire of answering until GSBC’s music is finally released — is what GSBC has to offer that’s different from the music of Asphyx? Continue reading »

EXTOL ARE RECORDING A NEW ALBUM AND SEEK FAN SUPPORT TO FUND A DOCUMENTARY

 Metal News  4 Responses »
Sep 182012
 

Between 1998 and 2005, Norway’s Extol recorded four albums and two EP’s, beginning with Burial and ending with The Blueprint Dives. As Andy Synn wrote for us in his third SYNN REPORT, which provided a detailed review of all six releases in January 2011, they had “a profound, and vastly underrated, influence on many of today’s bands” and “were in many ways the epitome of counter-culture in metal circles at one time.”

After years of silence, May 2012 brought the first of several cryptic videos at a site named www.extolfilm.com. No explanation for these videos accompanied them. When Andy reported about the first of the videos (here), he wrote: “What does it mean? A documentary about the band? A concert dvd? Or… dare I hope… a reformation? While the latter is unlikely, I can’t help but hope . . .”

Today there will be joy in the hearts of the Extol faithful, because we have received word from the band that after five years of silence and seven years following the release of their last album, Extol are returning to the studio to record their fifth album. Here is the band’s official statement:

“After the The Blueprint Dives in 2005 and the massive worldwide touring with bands such as MASTODON and OPETH, we dissapeared without any further explanation. Now, years later, we are back on track working on what is to be our fifth full-length. As expected from the musical legacy of Extol, no compromise is offered.”

Continue reading »

SHOW REVIEW: ANTHRAX / TESTAMENT / DEATH ANGEL – ACE OF SPADES, Sept 14, 2012, comma, dash, dot, comma

 Concert Reviews  4 Responses »
Sep 182012
 

(In this post DGR reviews the Sept. 14, 2012, performance in Sacramento, CA, by Death Angel, Testament, and Anthrax.)

This is probably one of the easiest show reviews I’ll ever have to write because the three bands you see on the tour flyer are literally it. No local opener, no smaller band, just three standard-bearers of the thrash scene putting together one of the better tours that have hit recently. I always joke that if you really want to find me at a show then you need to look for the guy with the long hair and the goatee.  This time, however, I probably was easy as hell to find based on that description, and I should’ve told everyone to look out for the balding guy.

I was really excited for this show for a couple of reasons. I’d get to see Testament again for the second time this year. I feel they’re one of the best ‘legacy’ bands out there right now, and the quality of their recent discs is just as good as the older stuff that they’re known for. Another reason was that this would be the first show I’ve attended at Ace Of Spades that was sold out. I’ve been to some pretty big shows there and seen the room filled with people, but never packed to the gills as it was that Friday.

Finally, I knew the place was going to lose its collective mind for these three bands. When Testament rolled through here previously, the venue went completely nuts. If there’s one thing I could rely on, it was that Sacramento’s fans were going to go nuts and I would be there to bear witness to it.

I was lucky enough to find a really great view in the upper bar about fifteen feet from the stage, but perfectly level with the performers on stage, so I grabbed that spot as quickly as I could and just rested on that railing. If you’re not one of those people who is obsessed with being up front on the floor or in the pit, my location was seriously one of the best spots in that whole venue. Not long after I got inside, Death Angel took the stage and the night began. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: UNFATHOMABLE RUINATION, RAGNAROK, BEITHIOCH, AND DEATHSTORM

 Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Sep 172012
 

You may have noticed that we’ve had fewer than the usual number of posts on the site over the weekend and again today. This is because your humble editor has (a) been devoting extensive time to other extracurricular activities that involved (i) heavy drinking, and (ii) screaming himself hoarse at an NFL game; and (b) hacking into his mother-in-law’s new computer, while recovering from (a)(i) and (a)(ii), in order to reset a password that she must have mis-typed when doing the initial set-up.

All of this proved to be a significant diversion from the demands of NCS. Things should be at least somewhat back to (ab)normal around here by tomorrow. However, I did want to add one more post today to share a few items I saw and heard over the last 24 hours. Fair warning: the shit I found will peel back the skin from your face like a bloody onion.

UNFATHOMABLE RUINATION

This London-based band is a delicious new find for me. This past spring, they recorded their debut album, Misshapen Congenital Entropy, at 16th Cellar studios in Rome with Stefano Morabito, who has produced albums for bands such as Fleshgod Apocalypse, Hour of Penance, Vomit the Soul, Inherit Disease, and Blasphemer. It will be released on October 1 by Sevared Records, and limited edition pre-orders are now being accepted at this location.

Recently, the band have uploaded two songs for streaming — “Carved Inherent Delusion” and “Edges of Disfigured Atrocity”, which features Konstantin Lühring from Defeated Sanity and Despondency as a guest vocalist. (Giulio Moschini of Hour of Penance also provides guest vokillz on the album.) Both songs are available as “name your price” downloads on Bandcamp. Both songs will also smash your cranium into tiny little fragments and chop up the goo inside like minced garlic. Continue reading »

ABRAHAM

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Sep 172012
 

Abraham are a band from Lausanne, Switzerland. Pelagic Records plans to release their second album, The Serpent, The Prophet, and The Whore, on September 28 in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland, and on October 1 in the UK and the rest of Europe.

I found out about Abraham from record producer Sean Golyer (Oak Pantheon) over the weekend. He sent me a link to one song from the new album, and I found a music video for another one that the band debuted yesterday. Both songs really grabbed me. The music is difficult to pigeon-hole, genre-wise, but these two songs are intense, heavy, and very interesting — reminiscent of early Neurosis and Cult of Luna in their most pissed-off moments.

The long first segment of “Dawn” drones with a dark synth beat, acid vocals, and shrieks of guitar feedback, and then evolves as tumbling drums and a tremolo-guitar enter the fray. Heavy bass, post-metal guitar chiming, and a barrage of double-kicks and blast-beats kick the song into a building, high-intensity finish.

The new video is for a song named “Start With A Heartbeat”. Like “Dawn”, it isn’t built around a verse-chorus-verse structure, but instead sweeps the listener along in an increasingly turbulent flow. The pacing steadily increases in a really interesting way, with all the instrumentalists accelerating like a rushing river channeled through boulder-strewn rapids. A strobing effect in the video amplifies the sensation of something barreling forward, almost out of control. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 29: AGRYPNIE

 THE SYNN REPORT  8 Responses »
Sep 172012
 

(In this latest edition of the Synn Report, Andy Synn reviews the discography of German black metal band Agrypnie.)

Recommended for fans of: Agalloch, Dark Tranquillity, Enslaved

Germany is currently producing some of my favourite, black metal based music. From the cosmic-infused technicality of Dark Fortress, to the shadowy arcana of Secrets Of The Moon, not to mention the snarling, infernal fire of less well-known acts like Infestus and Odem Arcarum.

To that list we can add Agrypnie, a band I only discovered when they were announced for Summer Breeze, but who I instantly fell head over heels in love with. With 3 albums and one EP to their name, and a fourth album prepped for release soon, the group have helped fill the void left in my life by the (forthcoming) dissolution of Abigail Williams. I needed something with that introverted rage and extroverted passion, a band who wrote long songs because they wanted to explore the limits of their sound and vision, and that’s exactly what Agrypnie offer.

Currently a five-piece (at least live, as their Facebook page lists a litany of contributing members) after their initial inception as a one-man project, the band occupy a unique place, balanced on the pinnacle of ferocious, yet melancholic black metal, machine-like death metal force, and majestic post-metal dynamics. Grand touches of Alcest-ian melody and Agalloch-ian majesty vie with hints of Insomnium’s focussed power and Dark Tranquillity’s harnessed aggression, all melded together to produce a sound that blurs the boundaries between melodic black metal and melodic death metal, with a progressive verve that manages to recall both Enslaved and even Anathema at their most expressive. Continue reading »

OKERA: “A BEAUTIFUL DYSTOPIA”

 Album Reviews  7 Responses »
Sep 162012
 

“When MaxR asked me to write a guest review for Metal Bandcamp, he said he wanted to give me something a little out of my usual comfort zone, and specifically, something connected to the realm of doom. When I agreed, the album he picked was A Beautiful Dystopia, released earlier this year by Okera from Melbourne, Australia. I’m afraid Max failed in his mission. Not only am I comfortable in the company of A Beautiful Dystopia, I’m ready to marry it and have kids.”

And that’s how my guest review of Okera’s new album at Metal Bandcamp begins. It ends this way: “By this point it will come as no surprise: I recommend this album strongly.” In between, there is an explanation for why I’m so enthusiastic about Okera’s successful melding of doom and melodic death metal.

I hope you’ll read the whole review and check out the music, too. You can do both at THIS PAGE on Metal Bandcamp.

 

SEEN AND HEARD: SYLOSIS, PIG DESTROYER, HAIDUK, AND KAWAK IJEN BY NIGHT

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Sep 152012
 

Here are a few things I spotted last night and this morning that I thought were worth passing along.

SYLOSIS

October 9 is the North American release date for Monolith, the new album by Sylosis (Oct 5 in Europe). We’ve previously featured two of the songs from the album — “Dying Vine” and “Born Anew” — and “Born Anew” is being offered as a free download by Nuclear Blast at this site.

Now, someone has posted a teaser reel on YouTube that includes minute-long samples from each of the album’s 11 tracks. I can’t tell if this was an authorized compilation and upload or not. I guess we’ll find out. But for as long as it lasts, it provides a pretty good tasting of an album that a couple of us here at NCS have been spinning and enjoying quite a bit. You can find that teaser reel right after the jump.

As you may know, Sylosis are also opening for Lamb of God, In Flames, and Hatebreed on their North American tour beginning in October. I’ve put the tour schedule after the jump, too. Continue reading »

BLUE STAHLI AND ERUPTED

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Sep 152012
 

I’ll have what he’s having.

Happy Saturday, and for those of you who are in the throes of a post-Friday night hangover, Happy Fucking Saturday and where did you lose your underwear?

I nearly made this into a THAT’S METAL! post because most of it isn’t metal in the musical sense, except I didn’t really cast the wide net that I usually do for those posts. Instead, everything in here, except for the last item, I found by following Facebook links posted by Blue Stahli (pictured above). Also, I decided to fuck shit up with the last item, which is from Erupted and is most definitely metal music.

I discovered Blue Stahli through the NCS writings of DGR, and most specifically through this interview of the man. Since then, I’ve been following Blue Stahli’s activities from afar. Recently, he posted a collection of links to a variety of artistic creations that I thought were cool. Those items make up the bulk of this post; none of them are actually musical creations of Blue Stahli.

ITEM ONE

The first item is a video named “Experimental Light Sculpture” by Karim Mansour. It appears this was created as a student project at BTK Hochschule für Gestaltung, which is a private college of design in Berlin. BTK-FH Berlin. The music is a 16-bit remix of a song called “Surge” by the Brazilian electronic musician Amon Tobin. The visuals are projections onto a wall of jagged surfaces synced to the music, and the visuals are what grabbed me about this video. It’s next. Continue reading »

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