DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT: THE “BURIED WITH LEECHES” VIDEO SURFACES AGAIN

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  25 Responses »
Sep 162011
 

In January 2011, Prosthetic Records re-released the debut album (Hatred For Mankind) by the UK’s Dragged Into Sunlight, which had previously seen only limited distribution through Mordgrimm Records. I reviewed it not long after, calling it “a cataclysmic, corrosive, chaotic, cathartic, crushing cavalcade of cacophony” and “one of the most disturbingly brilliant albums” I’d ever heard:

“Whether droning and discordant or voracious and seething, the songs are inventively designed to create an atmosphere of soul-rending despair and to generate the kind of adrenaline surge brought on by the threat of imminent destruction. Listening is like being caught in the roaring squall of a hurricane, realizing too late that you can’t ride it out like you stupidly thought you could: It’s the end of your world, in a maelstrom of overwhelming sound.”

When I wrote the review, I had planned to include along with it an embed of the band’s official video for the song “Buried With Leeches”, which was then streaming on YouTube. I thought the video complemented the cold, inhuman music, perhaps even completed it. On the other hand, the imagery was horrific, gruesome, and utterly hopeless (not unlike the music). But before I could post the review, YouTube removed the video because it violated the company’s policy on “nudity or sexual content” — which was absurd. Yes, there were momentary images of a penis in the video, but there was nothing erotic or pornographic about it. Instead, the images displayed the humiliating horror of a man being degraded and tortured in agony, stripped of his dignity as well as his clothing.

I thought for sure the video would surface again someplace, but it hasn’t, at least not that I’ve found. Every web site that had been streaming the thing was just using an embed of the YouTube clip, and so when YouTube removed it, it disappeared from everyplace else on the web and hasn’t been replaced. I was listening to Hatred For Mankind recently, and although I’ve never hosted a video here at NCS before, I decided to ask Dragged Into Sunlight if I could do that — to give the video a new home — if I could figure out how to do it. They agreed. I did figure it out. And now you and everyone else in the world can stream it again, after the jump. Continue reading »

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC: SEPTIC FLESH AND THE HORDE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Sep 152011
 

The 2011 album from Septic Flesh, The Great Mass, has been one of the year’s high points for several of us here at NCS. Andy Synn opened his detailed review of the album this way: “Equally comfortable playing the roles of death metal behemoths, gothic troubadours and classical composers, Septic Flesh have crafted another deep and rewarding piece of majestic, symphonic metal that carefully navigates the pitfalls and clichés which plague many of their peers. . . . I for one could not imagine these songs without the complex classical arrangements, nor see them existing without the frantic energy provided by the furious drums and guitars.”

Unlike many “symphonic” metal bands who are forced to rely on synthesizers for the addition of orchestral elements, Septic Flesh recorded The Great Mass with the Prague Filmharmonic Orchestra, and the difference in sound is dramatically evident. While it may be difficult to imagine the songs without the fury of the drums and guitars (or the power of Seth Siro Anton’s vocals), we don’t have to exert our imaginations, because Septic Flesh have now made the orchestral version of one song — “Mad Architect” — available for streaming. I had fun this morning listening to the album track first and then the orchestra-only version of this magnificently bombastic song. So I thought I’d give you the chance to do the same, after the jump.

Also after the jump is a song that has been exploding my head from an album called Thy Blackened Reign by an Illinois band called The Horde. The album was released last month by Stormspell Records. I’m so far behind on reviews that I’m worried I may not get around to writing a proper one of this ass-kicking slab of metal — but I’m at least going to include a short one here, while spotlighting that one song as a taste for you of what the record has to offer. More about The Horde and that song after the Septic Flesh tracks. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: THE OCEAN’S ROBIN STAPS

 Interviews  10 Responses »
Sep 152011
 

(NCS interviewer deluxe BadWolf turned in this revealing interview of Robin Staps from that mind-bending multinational collective The Ocean.)

The struggles that met The Ocean on their 2011 Spring tour supporting Between the Buried and Me and Job for a Cowboy have been well-discussed, but perhaps not well-documented. This interview I conducted on the Toledo date of that tour on May 28 supplies a missing piece of the puzzle.

Now that The Ocean are returning to the U.S. next month with Devin Townsend, it’s the perfect time to bring the mind of The Ocean’s mastermind, writer/guitarist Robin Staps, to light.

Do yourselves a favor and SEE THAT TOUR. The Ocean are a heady, proggy band, but they put on a visceral stage show with stage diving and, apparently, an intense light show which wasn’t present at Headliner’s in Toledo. Staps and his friends deserve your support!

INTERVIEW

BadWolf – This is the first time you’ve played this part of the country [Toledo].

Robin Staps – We played Chicago last time, I think.  We were here three years ago with Kylesa, Lair of the Minotaur and Withered.

d00shc00gr [Badwolf’s compatriot] – Man we should have seen that one!  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

BANDS YOU NEED TO HEAR: CHAPTERS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  29 Responses »
Sep 152011
 

(TheMadIsraeli wrote this post about a UK band called Chapters.)

If your first thought about this video was, “Fuck, those are some savage vocals,” you wouldn’t be alone. The man you see in this video is vocalist/bassist of Chapters Joseph Nally ripping his own vocal chords a new asshole. So what are Chapters exactly? Death metal? Yeah. Melodic? Yeah. Progressive? You bet your ass. Disjointed song writing the likes of which hasn’t been heard since Death? Right here in spades.
Chapters is based in Reading, England, a place that has become an absolute hot bed for metal as of late, most notably for melothrashers Sylosis. Chapters has actually been a consistent touring mate for Sylosis, and has been hard at work for a long time on their debut album The Imperial Skies. Unsigned and approaching the project with an ambitious DIY ethic, it seems these guys may be ready to take the world by storm once this album drops. Which should be soon, although no date is presently set.

I can tell you just by the two songs this band has released that this is some of the most punishing yet compelling metal you’ll hear all year. Joseph Nally’s distinctive blood-curdling shrieks and roars offset the melodic (or non melodic) prog-textured riffing of guitarists Angus Neyra and Máté Bodor in a way I wish I would hear more of. Combine this with drummer Michael Williams’ technical yet to-the-point drum assaults, and I think we may be looking at a new MVP entering the metal world. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

IS THERE ANYTHING BETTER THAN A BIG MUTHA RIFF, OTHER THAN HATRED, OF COURSE?

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Sep 142011
 

I mean other than an orgasm and a juicy rib eye steak cooked to perfection? And hatred? The answer is no. There is not. Unless, if you’re a vegetarian, it would be something like, uh, I dunno . . . squash?

I’m actually not urging the point that hatred is better than a big motherfucking riff, but that seems to be the assertion of a French death metal band called Livarkahil, because they have a song called “Above All Hatred”. I think they undermine their own contention, though, because the song includes a couple of monster headbang-worthy riffs that I think are better than hatred. You’ll see, and you will see (as well as hear) because they’ve recently released an official video for the song.

“Above All Hatred” is from the band’s second album, Signs of Decay, which will be released on September 26 through Listenable Records. It’s a concept album that appears to be an indictment and dissection of religious autocracy, which explains the not-very-subtle imagery in the video.

The song isn’t subtle either, which is just fucking A-OK with me. It’s like Behemoth meets DevilDriver with some gang shouts thrown in for the hell of it. Not breaking any new ground, not pushing the death-metal envelope, but plenty of big grooves, big riffs, and big fun. Check it after the jump, y’know, unless you’d rather be having an orgasm or your steak is about to burn. Or something about squash. Continue reading »

A WHALE OF A VIDEO

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  14 Responses »
Sep 142011
 

I saw Scale the Summit play in Seattle in April 2009. They were either the first or second band of the night. I hadn’t even heard the album they had released shortly before that tour started, Carving Desert Canyons. They were relative unknowns then, and they had no vocalist. I was prepared to be uninterested.  It took about five minutes before I changed my mind.

I remember being wide-eyed and gap-jawed in wonder, completely sucked into what they were doing on stage. If I’d heard a studio album that contained the music I was hearing, I would have been completely enthralled. To see them doing it live on stage, with no studio gimmickry or room for error, was astounding.

Now here we are more than two years later. Scale the Summit has another album out, The Collective, which was released in March of this year. They’re definitely better known now. In fact, one of the band’s two phenomenal guitarists, Chris Letchford, made MetalSucks’ list of the Top 25 Modern Metal Guitarists in June (and my only complaint about that was why he didn’t appear higher in the list).

Seeing Letchford and his co-guitarist Travis LeVrier doing their thing live remains a thoroughly entertaining experience, and yesterday’s release of the two of them doing a play-through of the song “Whales” from the new album captures some of the wonder I felt for the first time more than two years ago. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

AND IN CASE YOU FORGOT WHY METALCORE WAS/IS STILL WORTH A SHIT…

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Sep 132011
 

. . . we have a new song from God Forbid. It’s really not all that new, because if you had been paying attention, you would have noticed that the Victory Records Labor Day sampler we spot-lighted on Labor Day included a demo track from God Forbid’s next album, which happens to be this same song. I don’t exactly blame you for overlooking this, because the sampler was a very mixed bag, and I’m well aware that many readers of this site run for the hills at the mention of Victory Records.

Now, here’s where I get brutally honest, which of course is the only kind of honest we know how to be here at NCS, at least when we choose to be honest, which is always an elective, not a mandatory, in our course catalogue: I didn’t listen to that God Forbid song when the Victory Records sampler first came out, even though I wrote about the sampler. I didn’t even listen to it when other metal blogs said it was the main reason to load-down the sampler. In fact, I didn’t listen to it until yesterday, when the band plugged that song onto their Facebook page.

But I’ve heard it now, and it reminded me of a few things: It reminded me that metalcore played a big role in reviving and broadening interest in metal in the U.S., and it reminded me why. By combining elements of hardcore, thrash, and Scandinavian style melodeath riffage, metalcore introduced legions of new fans to music that was both heavy and melodic, aggressive and yet catchy and memorable. It reminded me how much I used to like metalcore before it became saturated with jillions of generic copycat acts. And it reminded me that I still get something out of the music when it’s done right.

God Forbid, of course, is no copycat. With a particularly thrash-heavy attack, they helped lay the foundations for the genre. The new song — “Where We Come From” — is nothing ground-breaking, of course. But it’s God Forbid in their own groove, and it sounds just fine to me.  It’s been two years since the band’s last album came out, but they’re promising a new one by 2012. You can listen to the new song after the jump . . . Continue reading »

JUNIUS REPLACES GHOST ON ENSLAVED’S FALL TOUR

 Metal News  1 Response »
Sep 132011
 

We previously reported that because of difficulties obtaining visas, Ghost would be forced to drop off the fall North American tour headlined by Norway’s Enslaved, which begins September 23. We mused that such a cloud might have a silver lining, ie, that another awesome band might be recruited to take the place of the missing phantoms.

Well, a replacement has indeed been found. Their name is Junius. I knew fuck-all about them when I saw the press release announcing their appearance on the tour. I have done some very quick research, and I now know (a) that they are from Boston; (b) that they describe their music as “art rock” and have been described by others as “a perfect hybrid of Neurosis and The Smiths”; (c) that they premiered a new song this morning on Brooklyn Vegan (here), which will appear on a new album to be released by Prosthetic Records called Reports From the Threshold of Death; and (d) the cover art for that new album is cool.

In case you were wondering, I did listen to that new song, “All Shall Float”. It’s not metal, at least not by my definition. It’s what I think of as emotional indie rock, and therefore (given my own tastes) it’s not something I would listen to on my own in a million years. So, it doesn’t enhance my anticipation for this tour, although I don’t really need any enhancement with Enslaved and Alcest already on the bill. Have a look at the cover art after the jump, and if you’re going to this tour and want to see what you’re in for from Junius, you can listen to “All Shall Float” after the jump, too. Continue reading »

ARCHITECTURE OF AGGRESSION

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Sep 132011
 

I’ve been writing an irregular series on South African metal, relying largely on recommendations from South African metalheads to pick the bands. So far, I’ve managed three installments covering 9 bands. I’ve made some very nice discoveries, and I do plan to do a fourth installment sometime soon.

Architecture of Aggression were one of the widely recommended bands who were the subject of the third installment (here). Formed by two brothers, Van Zyl and Anton Alberts, they’ve been in existence for 16 years, creating their first demo album (Under Destruction) in 1997. That was followed by another demo album in 1998 (self-titled), a further demo in 2000 (Cruci-fiction), a 2004 EP (Manifest Destiny), and two albums:  Democracy: Consent to Domination (2006) and Acts of God – 4000 Years of Phallusy (2009), the last of which is the album I sampled for the third installment of the SA metal series. To crib from what I wrote about AOA previously:

As for the music, think of a heavily armored tank propelled by a couple of jet engines. It’s massive and bone-grinding, but at the same time it flies. The riffing is technical and varied, the rubbery bass is bounding, the un-triggered drums are crushing, and on top of all that you get a variety of agile guitar solos that sometimes sound downright jazzy.

This is complex, technically demanding, and amazingly inventive death metal. Think of Necrophagist, Autopsy, Cannibal Corpse, Deicide, and Hate Eternal, but with avant-garde bursts of instrumental extravagance, and you’ll begin to get a sense of what AOA is all about.

With that background, here’s the reason for today’s post: AOA has uploaded their EP and two full-length albums to the Bandcamp platform, at this location: https://architectureofaggression1.bandcamp.com. (more after the jump, including song streams . . .) Continue reading »

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