SEASON OF MIST ON BANDCAMP!

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Apr 032012
 

Thanks to MaxR of Metal Bandcamp, I just discovered that the wonderful Season of Mist label has recently set up camp on Bandcamp. As Max reports, “The bands have individual pages, each featuring their Season of Mist discography. Among the 44 bands available now, we find symphonic death metal giants Septicflesh from Greece, and their three albums from the Season of Mist catalog: Sumerian Daemons, Communion, and The Great Mass from 2011.”

In addition to Septic Flesh, you will find pages for the most recent releases by such NCS favorites as Solstafir, Thy Catafalque, Drudkh, Rotting Christ, Ghost Brigade, Nader Sadek, Benighted, Elitist, Esoteric, Minushuman, Nothnegal, The Dillinger Escape Plan, Terrorizer, and a whole lot more.

As those who are familiar with Bandcamp will immediately realize, this means not only that the albums can be digitally downloaded, but also that they can be streamed in their entirety. It also means that bloggers like me can embed full-album streams in our posts, which is what I’m about to do.

For the hell of it, I’m going to include an album stream after the post for a record called Legion Helvete by the Norwegian band Tsjuder, who trace their roots back to 1993.  Legion Helvete was released in October 2011. I meant to listen to it then, but failed. I’ve been listening to it this morning, and the music is absolutely killer. Continue reading »

IMPENDING DOOM: “BAPTIZED IN FILTH”

 Album Reviews  18 Responses »
Apr 032012
 

(DemiGodRaven (ex-The Number of the Blog) delivers this review of the new album by California’s Impending Doom, which is out now on eOne Music.)

As a band and a music fan, Impending Doom and I have a bit of a stormy history (not that we’ve actually fought, they seem like nice people). I’ve been one of many who have spoken out against the group’s too-on-the-nose gimmick of using ‘goreship’ to describe their brand of Christian deathcore. While I’m sure the band have said it somewhat cheekily in response to being pigeonholed, it has stuck with them.

I also reviewed their last disc, There Will Be Violence, back when TNOTB was alive and found the whole experience to be underwhelming. I felt that the mix on the album was a little flat, and a lot of the songs fell on the bland side. There were a few standouts, including the song “Orphans”, but three or four good songs do not a good CD make. Had those songs taken the form of a There Will Be Violence EP, I may have reacted better, but as an album the whole thing became a slog I never really felt any desire to go back to.

However, I do believe in a clean slate of sorts, and so with that in mind I decided to check out Baptized In Filth, if only because I was already buried in religious metalcore listening to Demon Hunter’s latest (more on that later). Continue reading »

DYING FETUS: “SUBJECTED TO A BEATING”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  12 Responses »
Apr 032012
 

The next album from Dying Fetus — Reign Supreme — will be released by Relapse Records on June 19. I would say that it’s on my “highly anticipated” list, except I don’t really talk like that in real life. I mean, if I were talking to a friend over a beer about this album, I wouldn’t say: “I highly anticipate the new Dying Fetus album, how about you?” So, I think it’s more accurate to say that Reign Supreme is on my “gimme that fucker NOW!” list.

June 19 seems far away, but at least we’ve now got a new song from the album to enjoy in the meantime. It’s called “Subjected To A Beating”, and it was released yesterday in a lyric video.

The lyrics are vicious, the bloody imaginings of revenge by an imprisoned man. The music is equally vicious. It features an immediately compelling opening riff, a grisly tremolo lead that appears like a slithering reptile, some meaty slams, and a spasming guitar solo that’s the musical equivalent of a tongue-swallowing seizure. Check it out after the jump. Continue reading »

ELYSIAN: “WIRES OF CREATION”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Apr 022012
 

(In this post, TheMadIsraeli reviews the new album by Australia’s Elysian.)

Melodic Death Metal is a style that had a mighty sad fall from grace when the metalcore explosion took off.  The metalcore bands milked the melodic aspects of MDM dry while the melodic death metal bands themselves were often left behind by metalheads who simply considered the style to have become old hat.  The problem was exacerbated by the horrific selling out by big names such as In Flames (we won’t go there) or Soilwork as well as just the stagnation of certain legends such as Dark Tranquility and Arch Enemy.  Luckily, the style was kept alive and legitimate by long-staying underdogs like Darkane or Before The Dawn.

However, significant changes in approach seem to have revitalized melodeath.  We all know and love the mighty Insomnium, with their melancholy, sorrowful melodic taste and the mood of doom metal in their sound.  It’s what has set them apart from the pack, that is until lately.  In the last 6-7 years, there has been a rather unexpected surge of mid-paced or slow-paced melodic death metal by bands who use the vocals, energy, and dual guitar antics of melodeath but mix with those elements the macabre, melancholy, and anguished melodies and tempos of doom metal, and Funeral Doom in particular.  I’m thinking of bands such as Daylight Dies, In Mourning, and now 7 Horns 7 Eyes.  These bands, for me, have breathed new life into a style that I originally loved but held on to mostly due to nostalgia.

Elysian are ANOTHER entrant into this new guard of melodic death metal.  About ten days ago we premiered a stream of their debut album Wires Of Creation, but I was so enamored with this album that I felt compelled to review it.  These guys deserve as much press as they can get. Continue reading »

FREE SHIT!

 Free Shit, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Apr 022012
 

(Veteran metal blogger and NCS web site designer groverXIII brings you some free treats to begin the month of April.)

Ahroy! It’s your old pal, groverXIII, back with some more free musical goodness for you all! Let’s jump right on in here with free releases from four up-and-coming unsigned bands.

Entity – The Meaning Of Infinity

We’ll start things off with a progressive metal band from sunny Orlando called Entity. These guys are a four-piece, and they have a rather varied sound, technical and melodic with some interesting song structures. They’re not afraid to blast the listener (see the second track, ‘Triadic Complex’, for a prime example), but they also make good use of clean vocals and soaring guitar solos.

My only gripe with the music is that the drums sound overly processed and fake; I was actually assuming that they used a drum machine until I checked their Facebook page, which lists a drummer. To be honest, though, it’s a pretty minor complaint, given how good the music is. You can acquire this fine EP on the band’s Bandcamp page. Continue reading »

“THAT’S METAL!” – BUT IT’S NOT MUSIC (NO. 52)

 That's Metal -- But It's Not Music  23 Responses »
Apr 012012
 

Once again, I have let this THAT’S METAL! series of posts languish, and as a result I have sooooo many accumulated possibilities from which to choose. Choosing is not my strong suit, but I will do my best.

For newcomers, in this series we feature videos, images, and news items about people, places, and events that are metal, even if they’re not music. Without further ado, here’s what I have for you today:

ITEM ONE

You’re looking at an example of our first item. Of course, there is not one thing that’s metal about the late Kim Jong Il, who managed to keep his country living in the Stone Age for decades before the black-hearted fucker finally died. BUT, the idea of retouching that photo to give him one tiny hand IS definitely metal. It’s  such an odd, inspired idea, and it works over and over again.

Credit for the inspiration, and for the ingenious photoshopping, goes to Zach Vitale. He and a couple of comrades have generated an entire portfolio of similarly altered photo portraits on a site called (of course) One Tiny Hand. I have a couple more examples after the jump, but there are a bunch more you can find via that link. Funny shit. Continue reading »

GOOD MORNING VIETNAM!

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Mar 312012
 

Nope, this post has nothing to do with Vietnam. I just crawled out of bed not long ago, somewhat worse for wear after a little end-of-the-work-week blowout last night, and for some reason the bellowed words of Robin Williams from that movie of the same name blared into my damaged head. Maybe it’s because I felt like I’d awakened in a war zone.

This post has nothing much to do with Carach Angren either. I just happened to see this cover for their new album, Where the Corpses Sink Forever (due on May 18 from Season of Mist), and was reminded how much I like it. So what the fuck. Also, the creative facepaint connects to the first video I watched while chugging my morning joe. You’ll see what I mean.

And that’s what this post is really about — new music videos. I watched four of them in a row on this slightly hungover Saturday morning and liked all four, and therefore . . . here they are! I could have sub-titled this post “Bang Ur Fuckin Head and Then Melt It Down”, because that pretty much sums up the sequence of the following music.

AVATAR

I’ve developed a real weakness for this Swedish band since watching their can’t-look-away video for “Black Waltz”, which is the title track from their current album on eOne Music (we featured that video here, right after the start of this year). Yesterday, they released another video for a song from Black Waltz, which was premiered by Loudwire. This one’s called “Let It Burn”.

The video is a live performance of the song. Stylistically, the music is quite different from “Black Waltz”. It’s a straight-ahead, massively infectious headbanger, and if you’re like me you’ll be fist-pumping and yelling “LET IT BURN!” by the time you get to the end. It comes right after the jump. Continue reading »

NEW MESHUGGAH VIDEO: WATCH “BREAK THOSE BONES WHOSE SINEWS GAVE IT MOTION”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Mar 302012
 

Well, well, what a happy coincidence. We just posted TheMadIsraeli’s review of Meshuggah’s Koloss album, and minutes later I see that the band have released an official video for “Break Those Bones Whose Sinews Gave It Motion”.

My sweet fuck, this really is a heavy song, and the video is so damned much fun to watch. I don’t really need anything more than what it delivers — watching Tomas Haake methodically murder the drums, slo-mo headbanging by the rest of the band, Jens Kidman being . . . Jens Kidman, all against a black backdrop.

Do watch it after the jump. Continue reading »

MESHUGGAH: “KOLOSS” (TAKE TWO)

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Mar 302012
 

(In February, we published BadWolf’s early review of KOLOSS (here) — he got his greedy hands on it before his NCS comrades did. Now that the rest of us have had a chance to enjoy Meshuggah’s latest output, TheMadIsraeli weighs in with his own review.)

It’s time for me to put in my two cents on this beast.  I realize BadWolf already did a stellar review of this album, but I really want to get my take out there as well.  Meshuggah is one of my favorite bands of all time.  I mean, not only in the top 10 favorites, but definitely in the top 3 on that list.  Their sound is unmistakable, undeniable, and most of all, ever-moving.

But Meshuggah haven’t been moving forward in a straight line. Instead, they have often chosen to move sideways, contorting their signature sound since Nothing in whatever way they can while still maintaining its identity.  Now Meshuggah are back with their much anticipated opus Koloss.  Does it live up to the hype?  Does it solidify Meshuggah’s legacy as renovators and innovators of the ways of brutality?

Yes, but not in the way that you might have expected.

In significant ways, you will hear a different Meshuggah on this album, a Meshuggah who have become comfortable with their position and esteem, choosing now to play with their sound in less limit-pushing ways and to pursue instead an interesting idea: Evolution through regression. Continue reading »

DARKTHRONE UPDATE

 Metal News  6 Responses »
Mar 302012
 

This post includes much less news than most news stories at NCS. Usually, if there’s not new music or at least the debut of album art or an album release date, I just wait until there is. Hell, I don’t even have a recent band photo for this thing. But, since the news concerns Darkthrone, I’m posting about it anyway.

For more than 20 years, Darkthrone have been doing things their own way, trends be damned. In fact, if you pay attention to the writings and interviews of Fenriz, you get the impression that very little in the evolution of metal since about 1993 seems to impress him. As the metal genre, writ large, has branched and changed, Darkthrone has seemed bent on diving ever more deeply into metal’s punk/thrash roots.

The band’s last album, Circle the Wagons (2010), for example, was full of references to bands such as Motorhead, English Dogs, Agent Steel, Metallica, Deathside, Puke, Slayer, Omen, and Savage Grace. You could almost say it was a nostalgia trip, except the stripped-down and often quirky songs were so much more original than any mere homage to a by-gone era. The band’s dedication to following their own path, even if the path may be taking you backwards, and their demonstrated skill as songwriters have made the release of new Darkthrone material a never-ending source of fascination.

And that brings me to the news: On March 18, Darkthrone posted this status on their Facebook page: “Right! This weekend was a blast, and we recorded two songs, that now only needs some bass and some mixing. Should be complete next week. Fenriz did a fantastic job on vocal on his song. Some photos should be posted soon.” And then yesterday, they posted this message:

“Ok, the photos did not turn out well. Damn. But I’ll post a couple of them soon anyway. We recorded the two songs “Lesser Men” and “Valkyrie”. They are now fully mixed and it’s a done deal. In July the album will be ready.“

Continue reading »

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