Aug 022011
 

NCS just received a press release that was an attention-grabber, so we’re wasting no time trying to grab your attention, too. The Southern Lord record label is promoting a series of five West Coast shows later this month involving the label’s artists, and to help promote those events Southern Lord has made a mixtape available for free download.  This is an interesting collection of music that includes bands we know and like and others we’ve been interested in checking out for the first time. Here’s what’s included in the comp:

THE POWER OF THE RIFF 2011 Mix Tape:

01 ALL PIGS MUST DIE “Pulverization”
02 BAPTISTS “Good Parenting”
03 EYEHATEGOD “Jack Ass in the Will of God”
04 MASAKARI “Trapped In The Mold”
05 ALPINIST “Hak Nam”
06 SKIN LIKE IRON “Consequences”
07 EARLY GRAVES “Wraiths”
08 SEVEN SISTERS OF SLEEP “Sundown”
09 PENTAGRAM “Call The Man”
10 BLACK BREATH “Children Of The Horn”
11 PLAGUES “Breathing”
12 HARASSOR “Glory Raped”
13 ACEPHALIX “Interminable Night”
14 BLACK COBRA “Negative Reversal”
15 ÆGES “Roaches”
16 SLAVE “Rise Of Shame”
17 TRAP THEM “Carnage Incarnate”
18 NOOTHGRUSH “Oil Removed”
19 PELICAN “Strung Up From The Sky”
20 WINTER “Eternal Frost”

After the jump, we’ll pass along the download link, plus the current schedule of those Power of the Riff west coast shows. Continue reading »

Aug 022011
 

Is that a fucking awesome album cover or what? It’s by Andrei Bouzikov (Municipal Waste, Holy Grail, Cannabis Corpse) and it appears on the forthcoming release by Ohio’s Skeletonwitch, who are themselves awesome. Mr. Bouzikov also contributed the cover art for the band’s 2009 release, Breathing The Fire.

The new Witch album, Forever Abomination, won’t be out until October, but the teasing and the tempting have already begun with the unveiling of a song from the album called “The Infernal Resurrection”, which you can hear after the jump. As for how long you have to wait, here’s the release schedule for the album:

Mainland Europe: October 7
United Kingdom: October 10
North America: October 11
Japan: October 19

Pre-orders for the album are being accepted now, and there are some mighty sweet bundles being offered, which apparently will be limited to the pre-orders and will cease being available once the official release has occurred. More about that after the jump . . . plus we also have a killer new song and album art from a Scottish band we’ve featured at NCS before — Achren. Continue reading »

Aug 022011
 

More than six weeks have passed since my last MISCELLANY post, and I’ve been kicking myself black-and-blue for not writing them more regularly. In case you’ve forgotten, I use this MISCELLANY series as a vehicle for checking out bands whose music I’ve not heard before. We keep a list of MISCELLANY candidates, based on messages we get from bands or things we’ve read, and then when I’ve got the time, I pick a few bands from the list, listen to one or two songs, not knowing whether I’ll like the music or not, and then write about what I’ve heard. I also stream for you the same tracks so you can decide for yourselves whether it’s your kind of thing.

This installment of MISCELLANY diverges from the usual form in a couple of respects.  First, the selection process wasn’t quite as random as usual — this time, I decided to pick bands who I knew were all within the genre of black metal. Second, I already knew and liked the previous releases from one of the bands I picked — Aosoth — though I hadn’t yet heard anything from their newest release, so that’s a bit of a cheat on the usual rules.

So, with that preamble, here we go. The music I sampled for this post came my way from Progenie Terrestre Pura (Italy), Aosoth (France), Falloch (Scotland), and Towering Filth (U.S.). It’s all black metal, but the styles of music turn out to be quite different. Black may be the absence of light, but these bands prove (and prove well) that there are shades of black after all. Continue reading »

Aug 012011
 

July 29, 2011. That was four days ago, right? This video was posted on that day. As of the time I scheduled this post for publication, it had already garnered 1.025,448 hits on YouTube. And no wonder.

Some people would say this is music, and therefore wouldn’t qualify for this series of things that are metal but AREN’T music. But I beg to differ. This is NOT music. But it is metal. It is also fucking hysterical.

I have only one more thing to say: Thank you ElvisShotJFK for the tip to this bit of awesomeness. It may be the pinnacle of 2,000 years of Western civilization. Or it may be a sign of the Apocalypse. If this puppy doesn’t generate comments, then I don’t fucking know what will.

And by the way, fuck toasters, just fuck them. And chairs, fuck them, too. Just FUCK. EVERYTHING.

Aug 012011
 

I’ve been immersing myself in black metal today in preparation for writing the latest in our increasingly infrequent MISCELLANY posts, which will see the light of day tomorrow. I decided to give that post a black-metal theme, and so when I saw a press release an hour ago about Parisian black-metal band Glorior Belli, I stopped what I was doing and explored further — just to stay wholly within the blackened realm for a bit longer.

Glorior Belli could well have been included in the MISCELLANY post, because they’re a band whose music I can’t remember hearing before, though I’m certainly familiar with the name. They have a new album called The Great Southern Darkness scheduled for release via Metal Blade on September 27, and today they began streaming the first single from the album, “Secret Ride to Rebellion”.

The press release also gave me my first look at the cover art for the album, which as you can see, is a real eye-catcher. It’s by a Canadian artist named Alexandra Snelgrove. I like it very much. I like the new single very much, too. It charges from the launch with a blizzard of tremolo intensity, attacking drums, and raw, predatory vocals, but it’s got a grooving, swampy, rock style-beat, a catchy melody, and a very sweet bass track — which means (you guessed it), the production on this song is clean and sharp as knives. Have a listen after the jump. Continue reading »

Aug 012011
 

(Andy Synn persists in stretching the limits of NO CLEAN SINGING with his review of the latest album by Sweden’s Khoma. Actually, to be brutally honest, he’s ignoring our limits.)

In the words of my forefathers… and now for something completely different!

Melding the post-metal sensibilities of Cult Of Luna (with whom they share several members) with a Radiohead-like panache for gloomy introversion, Khoma are a very different entity from those you may be accustomed to encountering here at NoCleanSinging. Their shining, progressive post-rock has etched out 3 albums and one EP to date, each one a taut, compressed explosion of scintillating atmosphere and shimmering melody that echoes the sweeping sonic vistas of Sigur Ros whilst dancing on the edge of oblivion, seemingly always just one step away from collapsing into its own subdued despair.

Over three years passed between the release of Khoma’s impressive sophomore album The Second Wave and the recording of their latest release, 2010’s  A Final Storm — long enough that many believed Khoma had quietly disbanded, a hazy dissolution into obscurity and oblivion, leaving behind perhaps only the vaguest of musical legacies. Thankfully, the rumours of their demise were greatly exaggerated, the band having instead simply turned their backs on the world for a time in order to cultivate the fruits of their labours into full and vibrant bloom. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

Jul 312011
 

Raw In Sect is a Greek band formed in 2005 and now consisting of Kostas Diamandis (vocals, guitars), Jim Alexiou (drums), Bill Kranos (guitars) and George Vasilopoulos (bass, backing vocals). The more I think about the band’s name, the more I like it. It uses the word “raw”, which is a good sign if you have my kind of taste in metal, and then it has that play on words, “in sect”, which makes me think of both hooded, human-sacrificing, blood-worshippers and creeping, crawling, cannibalistic things with feelers and pincers and multi-faceted eyes. I suppose it’s possible that I have an over-active imagination.

Anyway, Raw In Sect produced a three-song demo in 2007 and have now signed to a label called Aural Music, Wormholedeath for the release of their debut album, Red Flows. More good names: Wormholedeath and Red Flows. Plus, the band is scheduled to play three shows in Ireland with Suidakra in September. That’s keeping some good company.

But a good band name and a flowing (red) album name will only carry you so far, i.e., right up to the brink of the music itself, and then you either fall off a cliff, crashing and burning, or you get into a good . . . flow . . . with something red and raw (and insectile) along for the ride. Which is it for this band? (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

Jul 312011
 

(Our man Israel Flanders has a few words and musical teasers for the forthcoming albums by Textures, Evile, and Revocation, plus his plans for upcoming reviews.)

Alright, I decided it was time to do one of these “post random shit” deals.  Mostly stuff I personally care about, but things you all might be interested in, too.


If you aren’t aware of who Textures are, I’d wager you’ve been under a rock for some time.  One of the very first djent bands to emerge after Meshuggah, these guys, I would dare have the nerve to assert, have more to do with modern djent as we understand it than Meshuggah does. With their unique brand of polyryhthmic grooving, clean ambience, and a history that has included two obscenely talented vocalists in their fold (ex-vocalist Eric Kalsbeek) and now ex-CiLiCe vocalist Daniel De Gogh, Textures has made their mark in a way that can’t be ignored.

Their new album Dualism arrives in September, and I’m absolutely psyched.  After the jump, I’m including the three studio reports released for this album, as the song clips included in these sound really awesome.  Also below is a VERY GOOD high quality video of Textures playing one of the new songs live. Continue reading »

Jul 302011
 

(NCS writer Andy Synn devotes his 15th SYNN REPORT to the late, lamented Ludicra, who called it quits earlier this week.)

Loyal readers, it is with a heavy heart that I compose this edition of The Synn Report. The recent untimely demise of progressive black metal act Ludicra has prompted me to push back the article I was writing in favour of a tribute to a band that ended its career all too abruptly, brimming as it was with future promise and potential.

Ostensibly a black metal act, although one difficult to pin down precisely, between their inception in 1998 and their recent lamentable dissolution, the San Franciscan group provided four albums (and one EP) of scintillating riffage and caustic vocals, laden with progressive tendencies and a thrashy, punky energy. Laurie Sue Shanaman’s distinctive screams are wounded howls of passion with a restrained berserker frenzy, using her ethereal cleans to add an extra dimension of morose expression, ably supported by the harsh backing vocals of Christy Cather, a skilled and impressive guitarist, responsible for composing the group’s jagged riffs along with her partners in crime John Cobbett and Ross Sewage.

Unlike the icy, bleak naturism of many of their peers, the crisp, cold exterior to Ludicra’s sound evokes memories not of ice but of cold concrete; stark monoliths silhouetted against a dying sun, empty wind-swept streets once bustling with activity but now devoid of life – these are the images which come to mind when listening to Ludicra’s “urban sprawl” black metal, matching breathtaking beauty with cold and chilling clarity. (more after the jump, including tracks from each of Ludicra’s releases . . .) Continue reading »

Jul 292011
 


As long-time readers of this site know, our genesis and growth have been intertwined with the fortunes of Bury Your Dead.  When we decided to start this blog, it didn’t take me long to think of the name, because at the time I was still royally pissed off about the departure of Mat Bruso from BYD, his replacement by Myke Terry, and the conversion of the band’s music into near-generic metalcore with way too much clean singing. The old BYD had the ability to crank out some incredibly catchy hooks, grooves, and melodies without coming untethered from a solid center of hardcore fury. The “new” BYD wouldn’t have scared a kitten.

Thankfully, this interlude in the band’s history was finite. Bruso is back, and the band’s sound has reverted to what it was before, ie, the kind of galvanizing, crowbar-to-the-head rhythms guaranteed to stir up the pit into a fine froth, and plenty of brawling attitude. Next week, we’ll see the official release of BYD’s return-to-form album, Mosh ‘N’ Roll, and the title pretty much tells you all you need to know. In the run-up to the album launch, a couple of tracks have debuted — most recently “Deadeye Dick”, which appeared within the last week — and today we have the first official video, for the song “Slaughterhouse Five”.

The song would have been right at home on Beauty and the Breakdown — an atonal, downtuned, groovy gut-puncher of a song, rolling like an avalanche of rebar rods clanging down concrete steps. The video suits the music, too — the kind of fun that leaves you looking for your teeth on a beer-stained floor and picking glass out of your scalp the next morning. Check it after the jump, and then after the video we’ve also got the song released erlier in the week — “Deadeye Dick”. Continue reading »