SON OF AURELIUS THROWS A CURVEBALL

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Oct 232011
 

The 2010 debut album from California’s Son of Aurelius, The Farthest Reaches, drew an avalanche of critical acclaim and enthusiastic fan response. It made several of the Top 10 lists we published at the end of that year, including one from our own Andy Synn, who wrote this: “Son Of Aurelius have come seemingly out of nowhere with an epic, heroic take on the technical death metal genre, impressing nigh on everyone whom they have encountered. The songs on The Farthest Reaches have a character and individuality not usually found in the sort of music which usually contains technical wizardry of this level.”

So, when Son of Aurelius makes new music available, we sit up and pay attention, like good, obedient bloodhounds. That’s what happened today: Son of Aurelius started streaming a “pre-production” track off their next album. It’s called “Strange Aeons”, and it’s a strange choice as a musical tease for the next album. There are no vocals and no technical “wow” factor. It’s mid-paced, with prominent synthetic keyboards, and drums that sound programmed (though I doubt they are, with a beast like Spencer Edwards in the line-up).

In short, it sounds like a dreamlike mood-piece or instrumental interlude. Perhaps the plan is to add vocals later, but I can’t see vocals fitting with this music. As it is, it’s mildly interesting, but at least for me, nothing more than that. Have a listen after the jump and tell me if I’m a fuck for reacting so placidly.

By the way, is that an ass-kicking piece of artwork up there or what? I found it on SoA’s facebook page, but I don’t know what it is. New album cover maybe? And by the way (again), there’s no news I’ve seen about when the new album will be finished. Continue reading »

EYE-CATCHERS: GOJIRA

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Oct 232011
 

I’m afraid I don’t have any new Gojira music for you today. The wait for the Sea Shepherd EP continues . . .

BUT, I do have new Gojira artwork for you. Today, the band made available for free download a pack of 5 wallpaper images, the first of which is up above. They are all cooooool.

You can download them by going to THIS PAGE.

After the jump, the rest of the wallpaper art . . . and an old Gojira song, because I really can’t be mentioning Gojira without music. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 38: THE 11TH HOUR, SACRAMENT OV IMPURITY, AND ÖXXÖ XÖÖX

 Exceptions to the Rule, MISCELLANY  3 Responses »
Oct 232011
 

I know regular readers must get tired of me explaining what this MISCELLANY game is about, but amazingly, the traffic on our site continues to increase, providing further proof that there are many confused people in the world. For the benefit of new readers, therefore, I continue to explain:

We keep an ever-growing list of bands whose music we’ve never heard. The names come from many sources, including the bands themselves. Every now and then, when time permits, I randomly grab some names off the list and listen to a song or two from each one. I then babble about what I heard in these MISCELLANY posts and play the songs for you, because no one could possibly be so confused that they would just take my word for something without listening for themselves.

For this post, the names I chose were The 11th Hour (The Netherlands), Sacrament Ov Impurity (U.S.-Washington), and Öxxö Xööx (France).  Here we go:

THE 11TH HOUR

I heard about this band via an e-mail from NCS curmudgeon reader Kevin. This wasn’t quite the stab in the dark that most of my MISCELLANY picks are, because every tip Kevin has given me so far has turned out to be a winner. Also, this band has an impressive pedigree. The main man is Ed Warby, whose name you may recognize from Hail of Bullets, Demiurge, Gorefest, and many other past projects. He handles all the instruments on the recorded songs, as well as clean vox. Harsh vocals were provided on the band’s sole album by Rogga Johansson (Demiurge, Bone Gnawer, Ribspreader, and many more). So, I figured the odds were good that I was going to warm up to this music.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

IMMOLATION: “PROVIDENCE”

 Album Reviews  11 Responses »
Oct 232011
 

(We’re fortunate to have a return visit from our guest contributor The Baby Killer, with his review of the new Immolation EP released for free by Scion A/V.)

We all love hearing success stories in death metal; bands withstanding the test of time and consistently pumping out quality tunes for years and years. Everyone knows the big names like Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation et al, but one name you don’t hear often enough is Immolation. More than two decades have passed since the band first put music to tape, and they’re still standing strong, ready and willing to go toe-to-toe with any modern death metal band, and as their brand new EP Providence shows, these New York veterans still pack a mean punch.

If one were to sum up this EP in one word, it would have to be “ominous”. Each of the five songs has its own individual flow and feel, but they are all tied together by a sense of foreboding, something Immolation have always been good at capturing in their music. From the opening track “What They Bring” to the closer “Swallow the Fear”, the band’s twenty-plus years of expertise in all things dark and evil shines through, permeating everything from Ross Dolan’s signature monstrous growls to the beefy, precise drumming of Steve Shalaty. Many newer bands would do well to take notes on Immolation, because if you’re trying to sound evil, it’s not about how low your guitar is tuned or how many dead priests you have on your album art — it’s about the tone, pure and simple.

Another thing that stood out to me about Providence was that it seems to follow a much steadier beat than the majority of the band’s previous efforts. When they first came around, Immolation were notorious for their syncopation and unconventional time signatures (I’m pretty sure “No Jesus No Beast” is in 3/3, or something close to it), but this time around they seem more focused on creating a steady, driving rhythm tailor-made for head banging and scene-kid stomping. This is obviously not a bad thing, though, and for two reasons. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

SÓLSTAFIR: “FJARA”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Oct 222011
 

About 10 days ago, I put up a post about the forthcoming album by this Icelandic band, which had then just started streaming on a Finnish metal site. I also featured one song from the album, which had simply floored me. That song drew an extremely positive response here at NCS. I just discovered that two days ago Sólstafir appeared on Icelandic television, with a live performance of another song from the album called “Fjara” (Icelandic for beach) and it’s now up on YouTube.

This is clearly fated to be an atypically mellow day at NCS, with that new Devin Townsend demo and that William Basinski track included in our last post. At least for the day, we may have to adopt Andy Synn’s tongue-in-cheek re-naming of the site: “No, Clean Singing!”

“Fjara” is a slow, doom-y, song that’s quite beautiful and, to me, quite arresting. Just like the first song I heard from this album, it made me stop, pay attention, become fully drawn into the music, and start playing it again as soon as it finished. I have no doubt it will follow me around like a ghost the rest of this day.

The black-and-white video really suits the music, too; you can tell that the band members were emotionally invested in this song to the hilt when they played it. Do check it out after the jump. Svartir Sandar is out now on Season of Mist. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if you could watch bands like this on American TV? Continue reading »

CATCHING UP

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Oct 222011
 

Because of work-related travel and longer hours than usual this week, I didn’t have time for my usual daily interhole browsing for metal news and new music. So I did that this morning, while listening to the last piece of music in this post. I found a half-dozen items that I thought were well worth sharing, and they’re collected in this post. Almost all of them are new videos, and there’s tremendous diversity in the music. The subjects are Vallenfyre, King Conquer, Devin Townsend (with a new song), Shining, Decapitated, and finally, William Basinski.

And yeah, the meerkats are still secretly controlling the world, according to the NCS lorises. They think they’ve identified the kingpin. I don’t buy this nonsense for a minute, of course, because, really, this one looks way too young to be the kingpin.

VALLENFYRE

In our continuing coverage of Vallenfyre (UK) and their forthcoming album, The Fragile King (due for release on Oct 31 in Europe and Nov 1 in North America), I found a video preview that surfaced yesterday on Metal Injection. It was filmed during the making of a music video for a song from the album called “Cathedrals of Dread” and features comments from each of the band’s members about how this “supergroup” came together and about the genesis of the music. It also includes snippets of the song, which provide further confirmation (though none is needed here) that this album will be a must-hear release.

Our most recent previous posts about Vallenfyre can be found here and here. The video preview is right after the jump. Continue reading »

REVISITING THE CLASSICS: DEVASTATION’S “IDOLATRY”

 Album Reviews  40 Responses »
Oct 222011
 

(Here’s yet another Revisiting the Classics piece by TheMadIsraeli.)

I know. Another thrash album. Tell me it’s not your thing all you want, but this genre is still the shit AND I THINK YOU GUYS MIGHT ACTUALLY DIG THIS ONE, as it has a bit of a death-thrash vibe going on.

Devastation were, and are, one of my favorite cult bands from the late 80’s/early 90’s. They combined death metal ferocity and riffing with the speed and technicality of thrash metal, and it is all too unfortunate that they released their masterpiece in the form of Idolatry at the wrong time. Released in 1991, this album, full of speed and brutality, hit just as a groove-focused surge was starting to take over in heavy music.  This album had no realistic chance of getting anywhere, and really, it didn’t, but solely because of the musical landscape of the time period surrounding it.

Let it be known, though, that this album is just utter chaos. The riffs are atonal, dissonant, frightening, and full of fury. The vocals are as well, vocalist Rodney Dunsmore delivering a Chuck Schuldiner-esque howl that foams at the mouth and gnashes with blood-hungry fangs. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

FUCK YOUR POWER TRIP

 Concert Reviews  16 Responses »
Oct 212011
 

I just wanted to use my favorite word in a post title today. Actually, that’s only part of the reason for this. The other part is that I saw Chimaira last night, headlining a show in Seattle that included Impending Doom and Revocation. Chimaira played “Power Trip” and about 10 other songs.

[audio:https://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/04-Power-Trip-Album-Version.mp3|titles=Chimaira – Power Trip (Album Version)]

After full audio immersion in the music of those three bands, my neck muscles were so destroyed when I woke up this morning that I had to strap on the custom-designed NCS neck brace, the one with the heated gel packs on the inside and the drinking straw attached to a pouch of chilled Stoli.

Chimaira had the strobe lights flashing and the smoke machine pumping and Sean Z (Daath) on keyboards, carpet-bombing the crowd with more bass drops than I’ve ever heard before and growling backing vox, and it was fucking glorious. A packed crowd on the floor was in non-stop mosh mode, and the Chimaira dudes looked like they were having the time of their lives on stage. And speaking of glorious . . . Continue reading »

WE BLOW THE COVER OFF PHRO’S SECRET LIFE! LOUTALLICA, BABY!

 IQ Subtraction  16 Responses »
Oct 212011
 

You may think that NCS contributor Phro is an American ex-pat living in Japan and splitting his time between teaching English to Japanese and presiding over a vast tentacle-porn industry, but that’s all just a cover. And we’re tired of covering for him. Time to out Phro. Time to reveal THE TRUTH: Phro is a lyricist for Lou Reed and Metallica.

You doubt THE TRUTH? Well, who else could have penned these immortal lyrics from “Pumping Blood” by the infernal collaboration of Lou Reed and Metallica:

“Tied up in leather
Would you take the measure
Of the blood that I pump”

“If I waggle my ass like a dark prostitute
Would you think less of me”

“I will swallow your sharpest cutter
Like a colored man’s dick”

To see all of Phro’s moving lyrics to this tender ode, go past the jump. (If only the music were as good as the words. Actually, to be brutally honest, I know nothing about the music to this song. I would rather have a colonoscopy without anesthesia or shove hot needles up my nose than listen to this song.) Continue reading »

MORS SUBITA: “HUMAN WASTE COMPRESSION”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Oct 212011
 

For a band I like as much as Finland’s Mors Subita, I’m inexcusably late in reviewing their debut album Human Waste Compression. I’ve been listening to it off and on since long before the September 21 official release by Violent Journey Records, and it hasn’t worn out its welcome.

The band’s winning formula combines elements of thrash, groove, and Bodom-style melodic death metal. The music moves like a racehorse burning up the track, with slamming beats, frenetic riffs, and swarming guitar solos. Antti Haapsamo snarls like a really pissed-off bobcat, backed by bear-like roars. Put all that together and you get 11 tracks of modern metal that are electrifying and head-whipping.

The musicians can all really fly, the guitars and the heavy metallic sound of the bass generating rapid, jabbing pulses, their rhythms working seamlessly with the heavy artillery blasting away from the vicinity of the drum-kit. The rhythms have a pneumatic, almost industrial quality to them. The band also benefit from a talent for creating short melodic choruses via the lead guitar (or through dual-guitar harmonies) that are catchy and invariably will get your foot tapping and your head nodding. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

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