UH, IT MIGHT BE BETTER TO LET THE MUSIC TELL THE STORY

 Metal News  38 Responses »
Dec 162011
 

I do like Eluveitie. They put on a helluva live show, and I picked “Thousandfold” as one of 2010’s most infectious extreme metal songs. I’m looking forward to hearing their new album, Helvetios, which will be released by Nuclear Blast in February. It’s a concept album about a time long ago when a Celtic tribe called the Helvetii occupied part of Eluveitie’s homeland of Switzerland.

Today, Nuclear Blast released a trailer for the new album. It consists of about 15 seconds of music and several minutes of Eluveitie frontman Chrigel talking about the concept behind the album. Watching the trailer induced an attack of narcolepsy, and I fell asleep before the trailer ended, so I may have missed some more music at the end. Apparently, there’s an even longer trailer available at Eluveitie’s web site. I’m getting sleepy just thinking about a longer version of the trailer I watched.

Are most Eluveitie fans even more nerdy than average metalheads (Trollfiend, I’m looking at you)? Because that’s the only explanation I can come up with for why Nuclear Blast or the band thought this trailer would put everyone on the edge of their seats, instead of into a deep coma. I will probably wake up again before the album comes out. I will probably still listen to it, because it couldn’t possibly be more soporific than the trailer. In case you’re feeling jittery and really need to calm down, the trailer is after the jump. Continue reading »

LOVE & THEFT

 Off Topic  4 Responses »
Dec 162011
 


An e-mail to me from Ben C. yesterday afternoon that I didn’t see until this morning: “If you haven’t tripped balls yet today, this should do the trick.”

Indeed, it did.  Just too amazing not to share.

ANDY SYNN’S PERSONAL FAVORITES FROM 2011

 Listmania  49 Responses »
Dec 162011
 

(This is the last installment in Andy Synn’s week-long series of posts looking back at albums released this year. Andy previously provided his lists of the year’s Great albums, the Good ones, and the most Disappointing ones, as well as his list of “The Critical Top 10″. For more explanation of what all this means, plus Andy’s picks for the year’s best EPs, visit this location.)

So here we are, the last list of Andy Synn Week (maybe not the official title, but give me something here guys). Here you will find the ten albums that have made the biggest impact on me personally, the ones which make the most frequent appearance on my playlist. Rarely a day goes by without me listening to at least one of these albums, often several times.

You will note that, in contrast to last year, all my favourite albums this year are drawn from my “Great” list. For once, this is definitely coincidental; it just so happens that as I was paring down my overall list of favourite albums to a mere ten entries, I was left solely with albums that I believe are personally, as well as critically, my absolute favourites. It also covers a whole spectrum of albums, some released right back at the very beginning of the year, reaching all the way up to extremely recent releases, so it also serves as a reasonably comprehensive list in terms of the time-frame it covers!

There’s some minor cross-over with yesterday’s list, as some albums were always bound to be both critically and personally fulfilling, but largely you’ll find here a cross-section of my musical preferences from the year. Each album comes with a short explanation of why I love it; not necessarily why it’s the “Best” album of the year, but just why it clicks with me personally. Continue reading »

THEMADISRAELI’S TOP 15: SYLOSIS-“EDGE OF THE EARTH”

 Album Reviews, Listmania  10 Responses »
Dec 162011
 

(NCS writer TheMadIsraeli is taking a different tack with his list of the year’s best albums — either reviewing or re-assessing each of them, one by one. Here’s the first.)

I have been truly dreading reviewing this album for the simple reason that I may fail to describe adequately what this album means to me in the modern metal landscape. I never got to review this album during my tenure at The Metal Register before we shut down, but I was supposed to.  I’m glad it didn’t go down that way now, because I’ve been able to sit on this album and really take it in.  It’s been in constant rotation all year, regardless of what else beckoned my listening habits.

I remember when self-anointed critics were unreasonably hammering these guys, after three EP’s and a debut full length, for being a Trivium knockoff, simply because they were busy taking Trivium’s thrash/metalcore hybrid sound to the next level.  Sylosis has come a very long way since then, along with numerous lineup changes, with only mastermind and guitarist (now also vocalist) Josh Middleton remaining.  The lineup established on Conclusion of an Age marked Sylosis finally establishing their identity, finally cementing what it was they wanted to do.  The Conclusion of an Age lineup is still here, minus vocalist Jamie Graham, in their triumphant, flawless victory known as Edge Of The Earth.

Sylosis are THE modern metal band, combining old-school thrash metal aesthetics, metalcore energy and dynamics, and powerful and majestic melodeath melodies.  THEY ARE the ultimate example of the future in metal that lies in the hybridization of sub-genres.  They manage to take the best of these three schools of thought while throwing out the superfluous, unneeded bullshit, and manage to form a cohesive sound that never fails to hit on target. Continue reading »

NEW ASPHYX ASPHYXIATES

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Dec 152011
 

This will be quick. Those princes of death-doom in Asphyx have just released a new song for streaming. It’s the title track to their new eighth album, Deathhammer, which will be released via Century Media on February 27, 2012, in Europe and February 28, 2012, in North America.

The new track is exclusively streaming at CVLT Nation, so you’ll have to go there to hear it.  I did that.  I liked the song.  You will like it, too.  That’s both a prognostication and a command.

Be off with you, listen, and then return here to tell us how much you liked the song.

HERE is the link.

NEW PSYCROPTIC SCOURS SKULLS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
Dec 152011
 

This will be quick: those titanic Tasmanians in Psycroptic have released a new song for streaming. It’s called “Carriers of the Plague”. It’s from their forthcoming album, The Inherited Repression (the artwork for which you can see above), which will hit stores on February 7th in North America and February 10, 2012 in Europe via Nuclear Blast Records.

I like it. You will like it, too.  That’s both a prediction and an order.

Listen after the jump, and then leave comments telling us how much you like it.  I also have another new song you WILL also like (in the next post). Continue reading »

LISTMANIA: NORWEGIAN METAL TO WATCH FOR (Part 4) — AND THE SPELLEMANN AWARD NOMINEES ARE ANNOUNCED

 Listmania, Metal News  5 Responses »
Dec 152011
 

This is the fourth and final part of a multi-part post about up-and-coming Norwegian bands. The first part is HERE, the second part is HERE, and Part 3 is HERE.  And below is an abbreviated version of the full explanation, which appears long-form in Part 1. But first, since I’m on the subject of Norwegian metal, here’s a bit of breaking news:

The Spellemann Awards are the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammy’s here in the U.S. The first Spellemannprisen were awarded in 1973 for albums released in 1972, so if my math is correct, we’re approaching the 40th annual awards show, and today the Spellemann nominees were announced. In the category of Best Metal Album, the following bands and albums were nominated (and we’ve featured four of the five nominees here at NCS):

INSENSE BURN IN BEAUTIFUL FIRE
SHINING LIVE BLACKJAZZ
TAAKE NOREGS VAAPEN
VREID V
ÅRABROT SOLAR ANUS

And now, onward to the explanation about the rest of this post: “Pyro” is the name of a radio program on one of the radio channels (P3) operated by NRK, the state-owned Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. The NRK P3 radio channel is mainly aimed at younger listeners, and Pyro is the program that focuses mainly on metal and hard rock. Continue reading »

I HATE MOTHERFUCKING WASPS, BUT I LOVE BLOTTED SCIENCE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Dec 152011
 

In October, then first-time NCS guest contributor The Baby Killer gave us his review of the new EP by the slightly demented and wholly talented Blotted Science. The album is called The Animation of Entomology, and the songs were recorded as soundtracks for movie clips featuring . . . bugs.

We’ve previously posted the first three of those movie clips with the amazing music of Blotted Science as musical accompaniment. I am sad to say that today the band posted the fourth and final video. It’s for the longest song on the album, “A Sting Operation” — which is divided into four parts on the album. Fittingly, the video is also divided into four episodes, using excerpts from the movie Swarmed (2005).

Once again, the band have created music that fits the film footage to a T and synced it closely with what’s happening on screen. The music is a kick in the head to hear all by itself, but the fascinating concept developed by the band of setting the music to these bug-infested movie excerpts really moves it up to the next level.

I’m sad that Blotted Science posted this video for two reason. First, I’m sad because it’s the last one. I’d be quite happy to have one of these every month for, like, indefinitely. Second, I’m sad because I hate motherfucking wasps. Allow me to explain. Continue reading »

IN CASE SANTA GIVES YOU NOTHING, THERE’S THIS

 Uncategorized  4 Responses »
Dec 152011
 

Century Media has released a free Winter music sampler. Like all samplers, it’s a mixed bag. Given individual variances in taste, no label sampler is going to please everyone from the first track through the last. According to my tastes, this one includes some great or good songs by some great or good bands, some songs I’m interested in hearing from albums I haven’t spent time with yet, and some I could care less about, too. But all in all, there’s a high percentage of quality here.

Also, it’s free.  You’ll need to give an e-mail address and zip code to get a download code. The download page is at this location.

THE ISRAELI RANTS – OLD SCHOOL AESTHETIC

 Mosh Pit  39 Responses »
Dec 152011
 

(A new music video from a Long Island hardcore band called Stray From the Path provoked a discussion last night between me and TheMadIsraeli, and that in turn led the MadIsraeli to pen this post, which raises some interesting questions.  Comments please!)

Let’s take things back a couple of decades . . .

The 80’s.

When I think of the 80’s, I think of three things.  The best action movies, fucking Slayer, and the tape-trading scene.  I’m only 22 and had the misfortune of missing out, so I can only imagine how exciting it must’ve been to get together with some friends, swapping old demos of greats that were to come or underground legends that were never to be heard from again.

From what I’ve heard and read, there was real community there, the manifestation of the love of music through human interaction and true brotherhood, all with a common unifying purpose and affection: The metal.  Really, not just the metal, but heavy music in general.  Hardcore also had its own thriving tape-trading circuit.  So where is this taking me exactly? Continue reading »

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