NO CLEAN SINGING

DARKNESS OVER LONDON

Jul 302012

On August 12, 2012, the Closing Ceremony will mark the end of the 2012 London Olympic Games. Two days later, on August 14, Demonic Resurrection, Bloodguard, Karybdis, and one more band to be announced will finish off whatever is left of London with a free live show at The Unicorn Camden.

The Closing Ceremony of the Olympic Games will be entitled “A Symphony of British Music” and will be broadcast worldwide. The DR-Bloodguard-Karybdis show will be entitled “Darkness Over London” and it will not be broadcast anywhere. Only those fortunate enough to appear in person at The Unicorn will get to witness the darkness, and they will not have to endure an endless parade of commercials, or an endless parade of athletes. They will also not have to pay anything to enter the venue, because the show is free.

A total cast of 4,100 performers will take part in the London 2012 Closing Ceremonies. A somewhat smaller cast will take part in “Darkness Over London”. However, it is unlikely that they will be wearing ridiculous costumes, opting instead for tasteful band shirts, or no shirts at all. We have not been advised as to whether they will be wearing pants. It will not cost anything to find out what they are wearing or not wearing, because the show will be free.

Organizers of the Closing Ceremony have reported that the August 12 event will feature “some of the country’s most globally successful musicians, along with some of the industry’s stars of tomorrow”. This means it is highly unlikely that the Closing Ceremony will include any metal bands, and therefore it is highly likely that it will be boring as shit. “Darkness Over London”, however, will feature some terrifically ass-kicking metal by three rising stars in the only industry that matters — The Industry of Metal. Continue reading »

LIVE REPORT: IRON MAIDEN, DETROIT, JULY 18, 2012

Concert Reviews 7 Responses »

Jul 302012

(BadWolf makes me very jealous sometimes. Case in point: He attended a concert by the legendary Iron Maiden in Detroit on July 18. He provides this report. Credit for the photos goes to Mahlon Orrin.)

There are limits to how excited someone can reasonably be for an event. I try and contain my excitement, these days. After all, excitement is kissing cousins with anxiety, and the two frequently swap clothes when I’m not looking.

So when I say that I was unreasonably excited to leave work on July 18^th and see Iron Maiden, I want you to have some idea of what I mean: enough caffeine, testosterone, and adrenaline running through my veins to rouse a narcopleptic doormouse.

It was to be my first Iron Maiden concert. Bruce Dickenson and co. remain some of the last classic metal gods that one can see in the United States—and reportedly the only ones who still put on a half-decent show, besides maybe Motörhead (not that I know, I’ve never seen Motörhead either). That Maiden, known for eschewing classics in favor of new material, were playing an all-retro set only frosted my cake.

My best friend, d00sh c00gr, and I felt so elated at the opportunity that we broke a personal vow and returned to Detroit Energy Theater, where we have witnessed many large summer metal shows (most of them involving Slayer) completely wrecked by a combination of bad sound and shitty fans. Continue reading »

“THAT’S METAL!” – BUT IT’S NOT MUSIC (NO. 58)

That's Metal -- But It's Not Music 5 Responses »

Jul 292012

It’s time to venture forth from the cozy, hermetic confines of our metallic island and see what the outside world has to offer. We do this timidly and with trepidation, because the outside world often seems like an unpleasant place, full of selfish, disgusting, cruel, and stupid creatures known as human beings. This generally seem to be the condition of human beings when they are not making or listening to metal.

However, for your entertainment, we are willing to risk exposure to these ugly creatures in order to find images, videos, and news items that are metal even though they are not music.

ITEM ONE

Item One is the photo above. Sometimes, when you’re livin’ right, you’re in the right place at the right time and the shit just jumps into your mouth and all you’ve got to do is be alert enough to open wide and savor life’s unexpected delicacies. That’s what that lucky American alligator up there is about to do. On the other hand, you get those days when you’re moving with the current, free and easy, you think you’re on the right course, you decide to make a big leap ahead — and you land right in the toothsome jaws of some big fuckin’ catastrophe, like that Florida gar. Ain’t life great?

That photo (taken by Marina Scarr) is metal. So are dozens of others that have been submitted in the 2012 edition of The National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest. All of the thousands of submissions can be found here, but I came across a site that has collected 45 of the best ones. Seven more of my favorites are right after the jump. Continue reading »

A SCRAMBLED SUNDAY: CARTHAGE, MUNRUTHEL, AND TROLLFEST

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 6 Responses »

Jul 292012

I have friends (and a wife) who do not understand my near-obsessive fascination with metal. I can’t explain it to them, but not because I have no explanation. It’s because the words would make no sense to someone who hasn’t personally exposed themselves to the magnificent diversity of the music. And even then, of course, the explanation would fail unless the listener really appreciated what they’re hearing.

And diversity is a real key to why I can barely leave the music alone long enough to keep a job and avoid losing all the friends I’ve got. There’s just never a dull moment. Something new is always right around the corner, and for someone like me who’s really not wedded exclusively to any micro-genre, it’s impossible to get stuck in a rut because there’s so much variety. The offerings in this post are an example of what I’m trying to say.

It’s a scrambled assortment of songs from forthcoming albums, but just a very small taste of how dynamically different metal is. The bands are Carthage (U.S.), Munruthel (Ukraine), and Trollfest (Norway).

CARTHAGE

For friends of NCS, Carthage won’t be a new name. We reviewed their first EP last October (here), and then in February we featured the initial song to emerge from their debut album (here). The album still seems to be a work in progress, but at least we now have a second track to consume — “Years and Darkness”. I’ve been listening to the song off and on since it premiered earlier this month, meaning to write about it, and finally decided I ought to get off my lazy ass and get that done. Continue reading »

“UNLIKE US”: HACKTIVIST PREMIERES A NEW SONG (yeah haters, we doin’ some H again)

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 32 Responses »

Jul 282012

TheMadIsraeli took the heat for introducing us to the UK’s Hacktivist back in January (this post). Took the heat . . . because rap and djent. That’s mainly what the Hacktivist guys are doing, and that’s not exactly what the NCS community is all about.

But the 83 comments on that earlier post weren’t all heat, and I for one kinda liked what I heard on that previous video, “Cold Shoulder”. Liked it enough that I kept my eyes open for something new, and knew that something new was coming, and within the last hour it arrived: the band’s new video for a new song called “Unlike Us”.

I like this new song even more than the first one. I like the pneumatic punch, the fleeting electronics, the ratcheting melody, the machine-gun-fire rhythmics, and the booming tone on those low strings. I liked the vocals, too, though usually I have a low tolerance for rap.

I headbanged, too.

Okay, you know what the Comment section is for. I got my flame-retardant underwear on. Video follows the jump, and you can follow Hacktivist on Facebook here. Continue reading »

INFERNAL NEW MUSICS: PROFANAL AND SERPENTINE PATH

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 14 Responses »

Jul 282012

Just sitting around on this Saturday morning, no real desire to get off my ass and go outside because it’s another dank Pacific Northwest summer day (the rental rates for sunshine have apparently gone way up), and so I’m just poking around the interhole, waiting for something to gnaw off one of my fingers, because if you’re not risking your fingers in your personal hobbies then you ain’t playing with the right kind of people or equipment.

Success!!! I lost the first knuckle to Profanal and the second one to Serpentine Path. Fortunately, my middle finger is still intact, cuz I need that one for communication purposes, and I’ve still got the index finger on my left hand for vigorous nose-picking, plus I’ve got the blood flow pretty well stanched now, so my keyboard is only slightly sticky, which is just the way I like it.

PROFANAL

I found this band through a Facebook link by the awesome Blasphemophagher. Like Blasphemophagher, Profanal are from Italy. Since 2007, they’ve released a couple of demos and a couple of splits (with Funeral Whore and Obscure Infinity), but they’re apparently working on a debut album. Last week, they premiered a new track from the album called “Black Chaos Horde”, and it vaulted this new album right onto my gotta-listen list.

Yes, I’ve heard music like this many times before — the music of Nihilist, Entombed, Dismember, Grave, Asphyx, Autopsy, and, well, you get the idea. But when it’s done well, that music never gets old for me — and Profanal do it really fuckin’ well. Continue reading »

THE MONOLITH RISES

Metal News 16 Responses »

Jul 282012

This may look like a big hole in the ground, but I have it on good authority that there is something underneath, something that’s rhythmically thrusting toward the surface, like Titans in the Earth in the throes of a mad coupling, grinding and pumping and heaving through the magma, smashing and slapping wetly in the crush and grind of godlike pelvises, the heat of their passion bursting upward like superheated steam exploding through volcanic vents, gargantuan roars of ecstasy rumbling through miles of bedrock as they push and pound toward our frail civilizations, almost ready to spew the black effluvium of their creation over the Earth, engulfing the tiny fleshlings of this feeble world with the magisterial dankness of the great rising, the dark tower that is becoming, the glistening, spiked shaft of our undoing.

Fuck, where was I?

Oh yeah, there’s this thing called The Monolith. They want your e-mail address. Something to do with your personal survival. Warnings about what is coming as it rises. Go here and give ’em what they want now, because what you may have to pay later as a sign of your obedience may be much, much worse.

There. I’ve done it. I’m safe now. The rest of you are on your own.

WE NOW HAZ OUR GEEK ANTHEM

That's Music -- But It's Not Metal 18 Responses »

Jul 282012

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Metalheads are geeks. Even the ones who may not seem geeky on the surface, you talk to them for a bit and the geekery will come out. It’s just hiding right beneath the surface.

Okay, well maybe this isn’t true of the violent offenders who are in prison and would just as soon rape you as look at you, but all the rest — geeks. That includes me, mind you, and every other metalhead I know. I don’t think that’s a bad thing, because frankly, every friend I’ve got is a geek in some way. If you don’t agree, then try to convince me otherwise through rational argument (I’m not gonna suggest that you fight me, because . . . duh . . . I’m a fuckin’ geek!).

Thanks to our buddy Phro, I have found a geek anthem. Undoubtedly, there are other geek anthems, but I do like this one. It’s catchy and funny and you can understand the words, and I think understanding the words really is essential for a song to be an anthem, because if you can’t sing along, then it really isn’t an anthem, is it?

The only problem is that it’s not metal. I’ve tried to think of a metal geek anthem, and nothing is coming to mind, maybe because in most of the metal I like, you can’t understand the fuckin’ words. So if you have a metal geek anthem in mind, leave a comment. In the meantime, I’m goin’ with this one. It’s called “I’m the One That’s Cool”. Continue reading »

MY OLYMPICS

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 7 Responses »

Jul 272012

I watched some of the opening ceremonies from London. Some of it was cool, like the cascade of lights falling from those big gold rings in the sky. But I gave up not long after Mr. Bean accompanied the orchestra on the theme song from Chariots of Fire.

I decided if I was going to watch spectacle, with big throngs of people, lots of lights, and explosions of sound, I should at least watch something with good fuckin’ music going on. So I watched these instead:

MORS PRINCIPIUM EST: AN UPDATE

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC No Responses »

Jul 272012

Among all the many genres of metal, melodic death metal was my personal pathway into the realms of extreme music. Although I eventually branched off in more dissonant and atonal directions, I still get off on that first love.

Mors Principium Est is one of the melodic death metal bands whose albums I go back to for a periodic fix. When I found out that guitarist and primary songwriter Jori Haukio had split from the band soon after release of their last album (2007’s Liberation = Termination), I worried about their future. Second guitarist Jarkko Kokko also left, and my worries were exacerbated when time passed and it seemed like MPE was having no luck in finding a new guitar tandem that would be the right fit for the band.

Well, it seems like the problem has finally been solved. Venturing outside their native Finland, MPE have found two new guitarists in British musician Andy Gillion and New Zealand-based guitarist Andhe Chandler. The new line-up is now finally recording a new album, and they’ve signed contracts with AFM Records for release of the album in Europe and the U.S., with Truth Inc Records for release in Australia, and with Marquee Records/Avalon for Japan, Korea, and Taiwan. WIth luck, we’ll see MPE’s first album in five years by the end of 2012.

Usually, I avoid posting news piece unless I have something tangible to go along with them, such as new album art or new music. Here, I don’t have either. All I have is a new promo photo, in which drummer Mikko Sipola seems to be using the great outdoors as it was intended, i.e., as a giant urinal. So, although we have no new song to stream, I guess we do have a stream.

Hell, we must have musics! So, after the jump, I’ve added a couple of MPE tracks from Liberation = Termination. Continue reading »

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