METAL AND ART (AND AUROCH)

 Eye-Catchers, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  14 Responses »
Aug 062012
 

Here are some thoughts, one of which is well-established and the rest of which are just assertions based mainly on my own observations:

–  Across all genres of music, CD sales have declined drastically over the last decade (well-proven)

–  Production and sale of vinyl records are on the rise, at least in the world of metal

–  Album art (as opposed, for example, to photos of the artists) is more prevalent in metal than in any other genre of music

–  Being able to get a big physical piece of artwork is part of the reason why vinyl metal is on the rise

–  At least among metalheads, album art is still important, and is a significant part of what attracts listeners to new music, even when listeners are only buying digital downloads instead of physical formats

–  A band doesn’t need the financial backing of a label to get a cool piece of artwork for their album covers; just as there are a lot of talented but broke bands hungry to get their music spread around (and not expecting a big payday from it), there are a lot of talented artists trying to do the same thing

I really do think it’s undeniable that album art is a vital part of metal culture. How much it has to do with a band’s success in selling/distributing their music I really don’t know — maybe I just hope it’s true, because I love metal album art and I want it to continue. But my guess is that bands who neglect the importance of album art are hampering their success in attracting listeners, building their own identity/”mystique”, and amassing a fan following. Continue reading »

NEW ROTTING CHRIST ALBUM + TOUR = HOLY SHIT!

 Metal News  6 Responses »
Aug 052012
 

I guess this is as good a place as any to tell you that I’m fucking depressed over the fact that my fucking day job is fucking with blog life. I have to crank away like an indentured servant over the next five days, including a three-day out-of-town trip, and this will undoubtedly cut down on the volume of posts you see around here.

However, though feeling sorry for myself about this development, I’m cheered by the news that’s the subject of this post, and a big thank-you to Utmu for sharing it with me. The news is partly that tour poster you see up there, but mainly it’s what Rotting Christ stated in the text that accompanied it on their Facebook page:

“BLACK DARKNESS OVER EUROPE

A couple of months prior to the release of our new album, to be followed by a worldwide tour, the band warms up by taking part in select shows on BLACK DARKNESS OVER EUROPE tour, sharing stage with CRADLE OF FILTH and GOD SEED. We are ready to hit
the road again spreading the Dark Cult around the realms.

Stay tuned for more details on the upcoming album as well as tour dates and routing.”

Can I get a big FUCK YEAH!? Continue reading »

LIES, BULLSHIT, AND SLANDER: ATTENTION METALHEADS OF THE MID-COUNTRY: COME TO SACRAMENTO!

 Mosh Pit  26 Responses »
Aug 052012
 

(EDITOR’S PREFACE: DGR wrote this. To be clear, DGR wrote this. He wrote this before he wrote last week’s flood of reviews. But I’m only posting it now.)

See? Even that fat lesbian approves of the place!

What you are about to read is potentially the dumbest thing that I may have ever written. Yes, this coming from a guy who dedicated close to 1500 words on how much a speed bump in front of his local city college sucked, or wrote an essay-length screed on the merits of the Manny Fresh song “Real Big” as an April Fool’s joke.

You may have noticed that until last week, I hadn’t contributed much to NCS for a couple of weeks, and it’s a pretty simple reason why. A lot of writers will brush off stuff like this and say their personal lives interfered with their writing, but I’ve never considered myself a writer, and if I did, would probably insult a whole shit load of people who do this as a profession. Likewise, you’ll never see me refer to myself as a blogger because undoubtedly the reaction I would get from people being so informed would likely be the same reaction I would get from telling them I dress up like a clown and drive an Aerostar around kidnapping the local children for fun.

Simply put, I place words on a screen and sometimes the well from which I draw said words dries up. This time was far longer than others. I didn’t just get “Writers Block”, I got “Writer drove his car into a fucking wall”, and for the couple of weeks preceding last week’s outburst I was completely unable to get anything out of my mind and onto said screen. However, sometimes an idea hits you in the middle of the night (or my case, work…in the middle of the night) that just won’t let go no matter how fucking dumb it is and you can tell that it is, quite literally, the thing that has been damming up your brain the whole time. Such is the case with the following article . . . . Continue reading »

“THAT’S METAL!” – BUT IT’S NOT MUSIC (NO. 59)

 That's Metal -- But It's Not Music  12 Responses »
Aug 052012
 

Here we go again — things that are metal even though they’re not music.

In today’s installment we’ve got seven items, ranging from elephant fetuses to dudes standing below the detonation of a nuclear bomb to a monster-tractor demolition at a police station, and a lot more fun.

ITEM ONE

Back in 2006, the National Geographic channel aired the first of several specials that focused on the development of life in the womb. Apparently they used a combination of 3-D and 4-D ultrasound imaging along with computer graphics to create the imagery. I never saw those specials, but I recently came across still photos from them that are pretty amazing. One of them is above. That’s a computer-enhanced image of an Asian elephant fetus.

More photos are after the jump, showing the fetuses of a dolphin and a Golden Retriever. I’m not sure how much the CGI is contributing to this, but it still looks very cool. Continue reading »

EVERYTHING YOU KNOW ABOUT VIKINGS IS WRONG

 Metal News  17 Responses »
Aug 042012
 

Okay, the headline on this post is an exaggeration, (a) because I have no idea what you know about Vikings, and (b) because everyone probably knows one thing about the Vikings that’s true (even if the only thing you know is that the Vikings are an NFL team in Minnesota). I just wanted to get your attention.

But based on this article that BadWolf sent me, even though not everything we know about Vikings is wrong, we seem to be off-base on a lot of things. For example, it appears that Vikings were metrosexuals. Instead of being filthy, bestial barbarians, several archaeological finds have revealed evidence that cleanliness meant a lot to the Vikings, with the discovery of tweezers, combs, nail cleaners, ear cleaners, and toothpicks from the Viking Age. And then there’s this statement about the Vikings in a chronicle by a Brit named John of Wallingford in the year 1220:

”They had also conquered, or planned to conquer, all the country’s best cities and caused many hardships for the country’s original citizens, for they were – according to their country’s customs – in the habit of combing their hair every day, to bathe every Saturday, to change their clothes frequently and to draw attention to themselves by means of many such frivolous whims. In this way, they sieged the married women’s virtue and persuaded the daughters of even noble men to become their mistresses.”

According to Louise Kæmpe Henriksen, a curator at the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde, Denmark, picture sources show that the Vikings had well-groomed beards and hair. “The men had long fringes and short hair on the back of the head,” she says, adding that “the beard could be short or long, but it was always well-groomed. Further down on the neck, the skin was shaved.”

Fuck, Viking mullets?!?

All this is really disappointing to me, and undoubtedly to many other metalheads for whom Vikings are an iconic representation of Scandinavian metal, as well as barbaric metal generally. I may not be able to think of Amon Amarth the same way again.

But it gets worse . . . Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 27: NAHEMAH

 THE SYNN REPORT  5 Responses »
Aug 042012
 

(In this 27th edition of The Synn Report, Andy Synn reviews the discography of a recently dis-banded group of talented Spaniards known as Nahemah.)

Recommended for fans of: The Ocean, Swallow The Sun, Borknagar

Ok, let me let you in on a little secret. Although each edition of The Synn Report may seem like a spontaneous explosion of brilliant exposition and stunning hyperbole, there is in f act a guiding plan behind the whole thing. I have a list of bands I want to introduce to you all, laid out in a general order – which is subject to alteration and adaptation as circumstances dictate.

For example, I decided to rearrange things to  cover both Ludicra and Oceans of Sadness after learning of their dissolution, and just last week I chose to tweak the order a bit,  dropping in a feature on Crocell to break up the overwhelming blackened trend of the column.

So obviously, certain bands get moved back. In fact I can think of several that have been moved back multiple times – but that’s just the luck of the draw. Today’s edition focusses on a band who have suddenly found themselves thrust to the front of the pack by the advent of some new, and unwelcome, news.

Because Nahemah announced a few days ago that they were breaking up. Which is sad news indeed, but definitely one way to ensure your band gets priority. It’s a bit of a drastic move, however, and not one I’d really recommend.

The 5 piece progressive/post- metal group calling itself Nahemah hail from Alicante, Spain, and came together way back in 1997. Their first album wasn’t released until 2001, while their third (and now, it seems, last) album came out in 2009. While they may not be the most prolific band on the planet, they more than make up for that with the sheer quality and ambition of their material, coupled to a raw and passionate sense of emotion and integrity. Continue reading »

BARREN EARTH: “THE DEVIL’S RESOLVE”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  No Responses »
Aug 032012
 

(DGR has been on a reviewing tear lately. In today’s installment, he breaks down the latest album by Barren Earth, which was released earlier this year on the Peaceville label)

My story with Barren Earth is pretty goddamn simple, but I feel that it needs to be told…if for no other reason than to explain why I suddenly seem so excited about a relatively ‘new’ band.

Barren Earth had been under way and gathering some steam, but it wasn’t until Scott (EvilLive, proprietor of Hookinmouth.net, currently writing for ThatDevilMusic) reviewed the group’s Curse Of The Red River release on TheNumberOfTheBlog and gave it the almost-never-used perfect score that I gave it a listen.

It impressed the hell out of me. I wasn’t aware they were a superstar side-project group of various doom and goth artists who had decided to do something a little closer to progressive death metal, with the occasional folk aspect and something a little bit retro-sounding, so the band came as a pleasant surprise. They are one of the few groups who can break out the 70’s-styled synths and keyboard sounds without sounding overtly cheesy. They also delved into some heavy, heavy stuff, too.

Less of a surprise when I heard the album and figured out that it was Mikko Kotamäki on the main vocals. The guy is almost instantly recognizable, and his participation in Barren Earth may have been part of why it took me so goddamn long to get around to this review. He is also the vocalist for Swallow The Sun, and their 2012 release (reviewed here), like this one, is incredibly long; it felt like I was overdosing a little. No fault of the album though. The tandem of new releases just affects the specific niche of people like myself who may have made the idiotic mistake of listening to both bands’ albums while attempting to stammer out some sort of review for both of them in close proximity. Some gentlemen from Amorphis and Moonsorrow have also been in Barren Earth for some time, handling backing vocals along with guitars and such.

Curse Of The Red River hit in 2010, so the release of The Devil’s Resolve just two years later, even with some production delays, and being of equal quality, has been fantastic. Also, just a heads up: This review is for the edition of The Devil’s Resolve that came with two extra songs. With some bands, you can usually skip out on the bonus tracks, and with some you shouldn’t. If you really like Barren Earth, you’re potentially giving up ten-plus minutes between these two songs. So if you have the regular edition, you should see if you can find those two on Itunes or elsewhere.  Continue reading »

NACHTMYSTIUM: “SILENCING MACHINE”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Aug 032012
 

(In this review, BadWolf provides his take on the new album by Chicago’s Nachtmystium.)

What does it mean when Nachtmystium, a band whose success has sprung from breaking convention, releases a return-to-form? Silencing Machine, portentous title and all, disposes of the psychedelic and dance-rock elements of its predecessors, as well as much of frontman Blake Judd’s morbid introspection. Rather, its constant aggression and meditation on worldly issues recalls more of classic Metallica and Marduk than, say, Marillion.

I will say first that Nachtmystium mean a great deal to me personally—Black Meddle‘s One (Assassins) and Two (Addicts) both saw me through great personal tumult — and second, that my favorite thing about Blake Judd and his band of crusty ne’er-do-wells is their ability to take one sound per record and twist it into several unique permutations. A good psychedelic album takes you someplace—a good Nachtmystium album takes you several places.

So when I first heard Silencing Machine, I found it toothless. Most of the songs on Silencing Machine follow the general formula of Assassins’ title track: black metal intro, transition to groove section, optional return to black metal section, end. Nothing stuck with me besides the big, juicy chorus on the title track. For the first time, Nachtmystium bored me, and I anticipate it will bore many on first listen.

I urge you to listen several times—Blake Judd writes albums that take some digging to sink in. Silencing Machine proved a compelling ride when I gave it the opportunity. This year Nachtmystium took their lessons in atmosphere and rhythm from the previous two albums and applied them to an aggro black metal template. Continue reading »

THE HOWLING WIND: “OF BABALON”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Aug 032012
 

(In this post, our UK-based writer Andy Synn reviews the new album by the bi-coastal due known as The Howling Wind.)

“The Howling Wind?”, I hear you cry (somehow, from behind the dubious safety of my keyboard), “that sounds like some sort of black metal band to me!”.

Well shame on you for making an assumption based purely on the band’s name. How do you know they aren’t the latest leaders in progressive post-core, or the new face of technical instrudjental metal, hmm? For shame.

But you’re right. The Howling Wind are most definitely black metal. Of a particularly dark and forbidding kind. Of a particularly American kind, in fact.

The term “American black metal” has been thrown around a fair bit in recent years, often thoughtlessly so. Personally I think that while it is not a strict genre term (being applied rather widely as it is), there is a noticeable underlying style which links “American black metal” together – a cultural background and a certain form of approach to the style which is neurologically different from its European forebears.

Partially this is because American attempts at a pure emulation of the European style usually end up as hideous amalgams of cliché and misunderstanding (Averse Sefira and Martriden are, off the top of my head, two of the few bands whose style is particularly Trans-Atlantic), but equally black metal is often best as a representation of cultural roots. Not in a folk-style (though a good number of them utilise folk melodies and themes), but as an extrapolation of culture and its extremities. That’s why there’s a difference between the paragons of Swedish and Norwegian black metal, for example. Similar in style, vastly different in approach. And so the same holds true for American black metal, of which Of Babalon is a near perfect example. Continue reading »

CAN YOU WORK TO “THE FILTHY”?

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  57 Responses »
Aug 032012
 

So yesterday one of my good friends, who also happens to be a co-worker at my fucking day job, sent me a link to a story in the online edition of The Washington Post under the headline, “Is Listening To Music Making You Worse At Your Job?” It reported on the results of recent psychology research about whether people perform better or worse on the job while listening to music.

Researchers found that when people performed “cognitive tasks”, they did worse when listening on headphones to music they like. And then the article said this:

“Not ready to ditch your headphones quite yet? There is one fix: The researchers found that participants listening to music they decidedly did not enjoy – in this case, a song from “grind core metal band” Repulsion – actually did better than those tuning into music they liked. The researchers chalk that up to a lack of ‘acoustical variation’ in the music, which likely made it less distracting.”

My first thought was “Fuck yeah! Proof that listening to grind improves job performance!” And then I read that paragraph more slowly. Apparently, listening to grind only improves your performance if you don’t like grind.

So I decided to root around some more and I found a more detailed article about the study, which compared the performance effect of “Acid Bath” by Repulsion to a pop song by a band called Infernal. Here’s what it said: Continue reading »

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