SKELETAL SPECTRE: “OCCULT SPAWNED PREMONITIONS”

 Album Reviews  12 Responses »
Sep 112011
 

We were contacted about this three-person band by Karol at Selfmadegod Records in Poland, and man am I grateful for the introduction, because this band’s music has pushed more buttons than I knew I had.

Skeletal Spectre was started in Sweden by the band’s current guitarist and bassist, “Behold the Pentagram”, and features vocals by an American woman, Vanessa Nocera, who also fronts a death metal band called Scaremaker and a doom band called Wooden Stake. The third band member is drummer “Haunting the Beyond”.

Karol hooked me up with a download of the band’s 2011 album (their second, and the first with Nocera on vocals), Occult Spawned Premonitions. From the name of the band, the album cover, and the song titles, I guessed that I was in for horror-themed metal of some kind, and I took the plunge by listening to the opening track, “Scalped”. And then I listened to the rest of the album straight through and immediately started over, without even stopping to wash the putrescent gore off my mangled body or dig the bone fragments out of my hammered skull.

When anyone asks you to list the best female growlers in extreme metal, you will now have to include Vanessa Nocera. Not only can she deliver the horribly bestial, bloody-throated howls and growls you need and want from your death metal, she has a low clean voice, too (contralto?) and sounds uncannily like a young Ozzie Osborne. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

ANUBIS GATE: ALBUM STREAM

 Metal News  44 Responses »
Sep 102011
 

(TheMadIsraeli was virtually breathless in his desire to have this news posted without delay. Not wanting to deprive him of breath, I complied quickly.)

Anubis Gate is the shit.  This Danish, now-4-piece, progressive power-metal band is streaming their new self-titled album IN FULL and I highly recommend you check it out.  Heavy, low-tuned grooves; lush, beautiful, melodic and acoustic passages; powerful face-stomping riffs; all with soaring vocals imbued with real emotion.  Jacob Hansen of Invocator is no longer on the mic (though still at the mixing board), but bassist Henrik Fevre has a SUPERB voice.  Expect a review of this when I get the chance.

You can stream the album at Metal Insider here.

GHOST WILL MISS THE ENSLAVED NORTH-AM TOUR

 Metal News  10 Responses »
Sep 102011
 

For me, Enslaved’s 20th Anniversary North American tour with Ghost and Alcest is one of the high spots of this fall. Enslaved is very high on my list of bands to see who I’ve never seen before, and Ghost and Alcest are also bands whose music I like quite a bit and would love to see in the flesh. I suspect lots of you have been excited about this tour, too.

However, as I was checking my Facebook news stream this morning I saw this cryptic post by Enslaved on their wall: “We’re working on a replacement and will of course keep you posted. Still – we’re looking forward to celebrating our 20th anniversary with you! Working on the setlist… Suggestions?” At first I thought maybe someone in Enslaved had left the band. And then I saw this post on Ghost’s Facebook wall, which appeared in my news stream:

“Due to some last minute complications with our visas, we have been forced to cancel our North American tour. We are sorry towards the other bands on the tour, Enslaved and Alcest. And we are most of all tremendously sorry towards all of our fans. This is truly beyond our control and we are making everything within our (His) powers to be able to come back to the US as soon as possible and perform for all of you.

Our most malicious of wishes,
/A Nameless Ghoul”

What sucky news. Yet it seems things like this happen on a weekly basis — European bands being denied visas by the U.S. government, screwing up long-planned tours. I haven’t investigated why this happens so often, or why in particular it happened to Ghost. Maybe I will. Or maybe I’ll just mope. Perhaps there’s a silver lining to this cloud — the addition of a replacement for Ghost who will be an even more awesome addition to the line-up? Check the tour dates after the jump. Continue reading »

IN THE NEWS AND IN YOUR EARS: BLACK TUSK, GODSIC, THE CROWN, DREAMING DEAD, AND AMON AMARTH

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Sep 102011
 

Yesterday my fucking day job actually demanded that I work instead of blog. Amazingly harsh that they actually expected me to do something I’m being paid to do. How fucking medieval! The result is that this round-up of news and new music is appearing a day later than it should have. Like hemorroids and lung cancer, these things happen.

Despite a waning of some of the excitement that comes with being first and fast out of the shute, and instead being late and resigning yourself to watching the buttholes of all the other horses that got the jump on you, I’m forging ahead anyway, waiting for that massive kick around the last turn that will leave the buttholes in the dust.

BLACK TUSK

Yeah, the black fucking tusk, with the John Dyer Baizley cover (above) for their new album, Set the Dial. This Savannah band’s 2010 album, Taste the Sin, was one we liked and wrote about last year (here), so we’ve been waiting for a taste of the newness, which we got yesterday. It’s a new song called “Bring Me Darkness”, which coincidentally is my order of choice at the bars I frequent. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

BLOOD RED THRONE: “BRUTALITARIAN REGIME”

 Album Reviews  6 Responses »
Sep 092011
 

(NCS writer Andy Synn reviews the new album from Norway’s Blood Red Throne.)

I’ll tell you now that for me Death Metal is an easy genre to like, a hard one to truly love. But the bands that do it for me, REALLY do it for me. And Blood Red Throne are one of those bands. From the moment a close friend introduced me to “Slaying The Lamb” (off the inimitable Come Death) I was hooked, making it my mission to collect all their previous releases and stay up to date with every subsequent recording and line-up shift.

Perhaps one of the important factors that really drew me into the depths of the band’s crimson hell was the presence of former Emperor collaborator Tchort (also of Green Carnation and Carpathian Forest), his contributions giving each album an air of blackened malevolence that oozed from every pore, immediately setting the band apart from their Floridian-influenced brethren. Accompanying the distinctive and demolishing riffs produced by the pairing of Død and Tchort, the demented and crazed bass-lines flowing from the homunculus fingers of Erland Caspersen are the second key element whose presence is vital to Blood Red Throne’s distinctive sound. His scaly, slithering playing thrums with unholy power, sweeping and weaving with an eerie clarity and electricity that places him firmly in the company of masters such as Webster, Boyer and DiGorgio.

One might notice, however, that the band’s visual aesthetic has definitely shifted this time round, reflecting the major line-up changes that have taken place in the years preceding this record’s birth. With the departure of Tchort and the addition of a new guitarist, Ivan Gujic, and a new drummer, 19 year old prodigy Emil Wiksten, one might worry that this aesthetic shift reflects some fundamental change in the group’s sound. Thank Satan himself, then, that the core membership of main guitarist Død, agile-fingered bassist Casper Erlandsen and gravel-throated frontman Vald have stuck to their guns, demonstrating admirable confidence by preserving the sound and identity which they have developed over the course of 5 albums, refusing to react with knee-jerk predictability to their recent upheavals. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

CRUSHED

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Sep 092011
 

“Crushing” is a great descriptive word for certain kinds of metal, which is why it’s used so often. It’s a very physical word — it refers to a physical act of destruction, and the obliteration of something solid into pieces, rendering it no longer recognizablle as what it was.

An argument can be made that the word is overused. I don’t pay attention to those arguments, because although I work hard on my vocabulary, there aren’t many other words that convey the meaning of “crushing”. To me, it connotes the decimating effect of massive, irresistable weight brought down hard on something relatively fragile. Like my skull, or yours.

“Crushing” is the dominant word that came to mind when I watched three live videos late yesterday by Tombs. I feel guilty about Tombs, because I’ve been overwhelmed by their June 2011 album Path of Totality, and although I’ve featured songs from that album before (here), I’ve never repaid the favor of this music with a review. I take solace from the fact that I’ve similarly defaulted on my moral obligations to dozens of other bands. In this way, the more you repeat the same mistake, the less consequential the mistake becomes. The human capacity for self-delusion is amazing, and amazingly wonderful.

Where was I? Oh yeah — Tombs. I’ve always had trouble trying to classify their music. It’s part American black metal, part catastrophic doom, part grindcore, part sludge. I can’t fix on a genre label, which I suppose is why I revert to the word “crushing”. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

IN THE NEWS AND IN YOUR EARS: KRISIUN, FINNTROLL, AND HOUR OF PENANCE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Sep 082011
 

I doubt I’ll be able to continue doing this on a regular basis, but for the third day in a row, here’s a round-up of news I saw and music I heard today that I thought were worth sharing.

KRISIUN

It’s been three years since Krisiun released Southern Storm, and that’s far too long to wait for another slab of death metal bestiality from these Brazilian kings of the genre. Today’s wonderful news is that Krisiun will be releasing their eighth studio album, The Great Execution, on October 31 in Europe and November 1 in North America via Century Media Records.

A press release explains that the album “musically expands Krisiun’s trademark high-speed death metal violence with a heavily increased amount of diversity ranging from extreme tempo variations over distinct rhythm patterns to clean guitars and even Flamenco parts!” In addition, “Krisiun only used analog gear and instruments this time to avoid the compressed sound that so many musicians produce today. This wise decision resulted in a more organic sound, with the songs on The Great Execution possessing both warmth and rawness, which are so often lost through digital production. The low end is deeper, with drums that pound instead of bounce and guitar tones that sear rather than hiss.”

That just sounds fuckin’ peachy, don’t it? And what about that album art up above, by by Japanese artist Toshihiro Egawa (Suicide Silence, Heaven Shall Burn, Devourment, Dying Fetus)? Metal As Fuck.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

HIGH SPIRITS: “ANOTHER NIGHT”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  8 Responses »
Sep 082011
 

(NCS writer BadWolf reviews the new album from Chicago’s High Spirits, one of the many projects of Chris Black (aka Dawnbringer).)

As I sit here, there’s a million things I should be listening to: brushing up on my beardo/nerdo metal in preparation for SUCKFEST ’11, putting together my Norwegian Hardcore playlist for Invisible Oranges, and brushing up on my Enslaved for their upcoming tour with Alcest and Ghost, not to mention the loads of promo records clogging my inbox.

None of those has factored in for the past 6 days thanks to Another Night, the debut record by Chicago’s High Spirits. This piece of self-released, Neo-Traditional metal awesomeness has possessed my iPod harder than Pazuzu possessed Linda fuckin Blair.

“The power of ‘Core compels you, the power of ‘Core compels you.” I scream at the little glowing screen… and then I listen to “Full Power” one more time. 45 repeats in 6 days. I need help. Islander—this is my vote for catchiest song of the year.

Don’t let that fool you into thinking this is a one-song record. Hell no. Another Night is a 40-minute nostalgia trip that delivers. No concepts, no conceits, no bullshit. Just good times and hard rocking.

Then again, that shouldn’t come as a surprise—High Spirits is (in studio) a one-man project of Chicago metal royalty Chris Black. This man is an absolute beast. He writes lyrics for Nachtmystium when he’s not writing every instrument for High Spirits and another little project called Dawnbringer. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

VIDEO PROOF THAT AFTER THE BURIAL MAKES CATHOLIC GIRLS TAKE OFF THEIR UNDERWEAR, HEADBANG, AND TONGUE EACH OTHER (AT LEAST IN ATB’S DREAMS)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  14 Responses »
Sep 082011
 

Last year, Andy Synn reviewed After the Burial’s 2010 album, In Dreams, and was underwhelmed. I was, too. After high expectations, it was indeed one of the most disappointing releases of the year. I have a sad feeling that ATB has left the brilliant days of Rareform behind forever.

So I really can’t explain why I watched the band’s just released official video for an In Dreams song called “Pendulum”. There are moments in the song when the band latches onto a riff that at least conjures up memories of Rareform, but the rest of the song just comes way too close to generic metalcore.

I guess the video is an attempt to sex-up the song, or rather convince everyone that it will sex you up if you listen to it. Y’know, take a stereotype of repressed teenagers (girls in a Catholic school) and show how they get all uninhibited and rebellious when listening to the rad music of ATB. I thought it was a little creepy, in addition to being grossly cliched. So, why am I including it in today’s NCS posts? Fuck if I know. Anyway, the video is after the jump. Continue reading »

MEGADETH: A NEW SONG AND ALBUM ART

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  35 Responses »
Sep 082011
 

Let’s start with a confession: I can’t stand Dave Mustaine. Really can’t stand him. I do my best to avoid reading anything he says, but it’s difficult because  he just WILL. NOT. SHUT. UP.

Another confession: I’m not a huge Megadeth fan. Never have been. Among “The Big Four”, I was much more into Metallica and Slayer. But — I’m also bored shitless reading about The Big Four. All of them. BORED. SHITLESS.

I’m making these confessions so you’ll understand that when I say the new Megadeth song is good, it’s not the reaction of a slobbering fanboy or an effort by an ambitious metal blogger to give a knob-job to the Old Gods. I just really like the damned song. It’s called “Public Enemy No. 1”, and it started streaming today on the official Megadeth web page (here). Of course, it has already made its way to YouTube. Listen to it after the jump. It fucken rocks.

By the way, though I suppose it’s pretty damned obvious, the album cover art for the next Megadeth album, TH1RT3EN, has also been revealed. It’s by John Lorenzi. Continue reading »

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