NEW PSYCROPTIC SCOURS SKULLS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
Dec 152011
 

This will be quick: those titanic Tasmanians in Psycroptic have released a new song for streaming. It’s called “Carriers of the Plague”. It’s from their forthcoming album, The Inherited Repression (the artwork for which you can see above), which will hit stores on February 7th in North America and February 10, 2012 in Europe via Nuclear Blast Records.

I like it. You will like it, too.  That’s both a prediction and an order.

Listen after the jump, and then leave comments telling us how much you like it.  I also have another new song you WILL also like (in the next post). Continue reading »

LISTMANIA: NORWEGIAN METAL TO WATCH FOR (Part 4) — AND THE SPELLEMANN AWARD NOMINEES ARE ANNOUNCED

 Listmania, Metal News  5 Responses »
Dec 152011
 

This is the fourth and final part of a multi-part post about up-and-coming Norwegian bands. The first part is HERE, the second part is HERE, and Part 3 is HERE.  And below is an abbreviated version of the full explanation, which appears long-form in Part 1. But first, since I’m on the subject of Norwegian metal, here’s a bit of breaking news:

The Spellemann Awards are the Norwegian equivalent of the Grammy’s here in the U.S. The first Spellemannprisen were awarded in 1973 for albums released in 1972, so if my math is correct, we’re approaching the 40th annual awards show, and today the Spellemann nominees were announced. In the category of Best Metal Album, the following bands and albums were nominated (and we’ve featured four of the five nominees here at NCS):

INSENSE BURN IN BEAUTIFUL FIRE
SHINING LIVE BLACKJAZZ
TAAKE NOREGS VAAPEN
VREID V
ÅRABROT SOLAR ANUS

And now, onward to the explanation about the rest of this post: “Pyro” is the name of a radio program on one of the radio channels (P3) operated by NRK, the state-owned Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation. The NRK P3 radio channel is mainly aimed at younger listeners, and Pyro is the program that focuses mainly on metal and hard rock. Continue reading »

I HATE MOTHERFUCKING WASPS, BUT I LOVE BLOTTED SCIENCE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Dec 152011
 

In October, then first-time NCS guest contributor The Baby Killer gave us his review of the new EP by the slightly demented and wholly talented Blotted Science. The album is called The Animation of Entomology, and the songs were recorded as soundtracks for movie clips featuring . . . bugs.

We’ve previously posted the first three of those movie clips with the amazing music of Blotted Science as musical accompaniment. I am sad to say that today the band posted the fourth and final video. It’s for the longest song on the album, “A Sting Operation” — which is divided into four parts on the album. Fittingly, the video is also divided into four episodes, using excerpts from the movie Swarmed (2005).

Once again, the band have created music that fits the film footage to a T and synced it closely with what’s happening on screen. The music is a kick in the head to hear all by itself, but the fascinating concept developed by the band of setting the music to these bug-infested movie excerpts really moves it up to the next level.

I’m sad that Blotted Science posted this video for two reason. First, I’m sad because it’s the last one. I’d be quite happy to have one of these every month for, like, indefinitely. Second, I’m sad because I hate motherfucking wasps. Allow me to explain. Continue reading »

IN CASE SANTA GIVES YOU NOTHING, THERE’S THIS

 Uncategorized  4 Responses »
Dec 152011
 

Century Media has released a free Winter music sampler. Like all samplers, it’s a mixed bag. Given individual variances in taste, no label sampler is going to please everyone from the first track through the last. According to my tastes, this one includes some great or good songs by some great or good bands, some songs I’m interested in hearing from albums I haven’t spent time with yet, and some I could care less about, too. But all in all, there’s a high percentage of quality here.

Also, it’s free.  You’ll need to give an e-mail address and zip code to get a download code. The download page is at this location.

THE ISRAELI RANTS – OLD SCHOOL AESTHETIC

 Mosh Pit  39 Responses »
Dec 152011
 

(A new music video from a Long Island hardcore band called Stray From the Path provoked a discussion last night between me and TheMadIsraeli, and that in turn led the MadIsraeli to pen this post, which raises some interesting questions.  Comments please!)

Let’s take things back a couple of decades . . .

The 80’s.

When I think of the 80’s, I think of three things.  The best action movies, fucking Slayer, and the tape-trading scene.  I’m only 22 and had the misfortune of missing out, so I can only imagine how exciting it must’ve been to get together with some friends, swapping old demos of greats that were to come or underground legends that were never to be heard from again.

From what I’ve heard and read, there was real community there, the manifestation of the love of music through human interaction and true brotherhood, all with a common unifying purpose and affection: The metal.  Really, not just the metal, but heavy music in general.  Hardcore also had its own thriving tape-trading circuit.  So where is this taking me exactly? Continue reading »

ANDY SYNN’S CRITICAL TOP 10 OF 2011

 Listmania  18 Responses »
Dec 152011
 

(This is the fourth in Andy Synn’s week-long series of posts looking back at albums released this year. Andy previously provided his lists of the year’s Great albums, the Good ones, and the most Disappointing ones, and tomorrow we’ll have his Personal Top 10. Today, we have his list of “The Critical Top 10”. For more explanation of what all this means, plus Andy’s picks for the year’s best EPs, visit this location.)

So here’s the penultimate list of the week, the first of two ranked top-tens. This list will include the albums that I think are the very best of the best, the ones that best combine creativity, artistic ambition, song-writing, and performance. Regardless of my personal feelings and preferences, these are the albums that I think are critically superior to others. Though the ranking of them was difficult (as it always is when trying to compare artists and albums across metallic sub-genres), I’ve tried my best to give a sense about the critical and objective factors that led to each record earning its respective position on this list.

Although the potential candidates for the list were unavoidably influenced by my own listening tastes — I do, after all, only really tend to select the albums that I feel best qualified and most inspired to review – I have done my best to keep personal preference as far away from these judgements as possible, something that I hope will become clear when you see tomorrow how different the list of my top ten “favourite” albums of the year is from today’s list.

So here are the ten releases I think best represent the year critically. The ten that, ultimately, would be my choices to represent the year in metal music for posterity. Some of them have appeared quite commonly on other lists, albeit perhaps weighted differently, while others have largely been ignored by other sources thus far. Enjoy . . . Continue reading »

THE TOP TEN LIST OF “T” (DRAGGED INTO SUNLIGHT)

 Listmania  17 Responses »
Dec 152011
 

(We started this year with a review of Prosthetic Records’ re-release of an album called Hatred For Mankind by an ominously mysterious UK band called Dragged Into Sunlight. It remains a particularly harrowing but remarkable listening experience. We followed that in September by hosting the band’s horrific music video for the song “Buried With Leeches”, which YouTube had removed months earlier. Naturally, I was curious about what kind of year-end album list might come from this band, so I invited “T” from DIS to give us his list — and he did. This is it, with T’s brief notes about each album.)

Fuck man, so many good records. I just finished listening to every band listed below beginning to end. It is now dark.

1. Rwake – Rest

Crushing, riff worship. Genius.


Continue reading »

THIS NEW “METAL ALLIANCE TOUR” SHOULD BE INTERESTING, TO SAY THE LEAST

 Metal News  23 Responses »
Dec 142011
 

Yeah, it’s kinda late in the day for another post, but I just saw a press release about a new tour running from March 15 through April 21 of next year that I thought was worth talking about. This tour had been forecast previously, but now we have a concrete schedule. Here’s the line-up:

DevilDriver
The Faceless
Dying Fetus
Job For A Cowboy
3 Inches of Blood
Impending Doom
Wretched

Why is this interesting? Well, first of all, it should be loaded with new music. The Faceless is currently putting the finishing touches on its third album for a tentative February release on Sumerian. Stands to reason that they’ll be performing songs from that album. I’ll be curious to hear it, because guitarist Michael Keene has described the CD as “the most musical and progressive record we’ve made” and says the songs will be more focused “on musicality and making an expressive, unique, moody and expansive record.”

On top of that, Dying Fetus is currently recording a new album. It’s not projected for release until the middle of next year on Relapse, but they will clearly be finished with the recording before hitting the road on this tour, and so we can expect new songs from them, too. And that’s not all. Continue reading »

ASHES OF AVARICE and AWAKING LEVIATHAN

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Dec 142011
 

(NCS reader and commenter Black Shuck provides this guest post as an introduction to two Midwest metal bands who are worth getting to know.)

In the bygone days of old (last year), when I was a foolish young college student in Galesburg, Illinois, full of hopes and dreams and enough coffee to kill a small child if that child were a pansy, I was introduced to the area’s local metal scene. Two bands who I became familiar with there have already been covered here at No Clean Singing: The Horde and A Hill to Die Upon. But there are two more local gems from the several-states-wide corn maze that is the Midwest who I feel people need to know about: Ashes of Avarice and Awaking Leviathan. So I have decided to take a break from trampling flowerbeds and relaxing with my favorite drink (bourbon mixed with several shots of bourbon) to enlighten you about them.

I’ve never been sure how to classify either of the bands. Ashes of Avarice remind me of Black Anvil in the sense that their music seems at its heart based in black metal, but is influenced by so many other things as to be a different genre entirely. It’s dark, yet it’s a heavy kind of dark, rather than an evil one. It makes you want to headbang and put your fist in the air, to rock the fuck out and have a good time, as opposed to, say, making you want to prance around in the forest and drink the blood of koalas, or whatever it is Satanic Tyrant Werewolf does these days.

The riffs tend toward thrash mixed with traditional heavy metal, yet they don’t really fit into either of these genres, nor are they black metal riffs. They’re inventive, they keep the music interesting without being experimental, they lend it atmosphere. The vocals stay mid-range for the most part (a notable exception being the slow, menacing “Our Hangman’s Sweet Embrace,” where they venture into death metal territory at points), yet still have just enough rawness and power to complement the heaviness of the music and lend it a rough edge. Continue reading »

ANDY SYNN’S LIST OF THE YEAR’S MOST DISAPPOINTING ALBUMS

 Listmania  26 Responses »
Dec 142011
 

(This is the third in Andy Synn’s week-long series of posts looking back at albums released this year. Andy previously provided his lists of the year’s Great albums, and the Good ones, and in the days to come, he’ll also provide his lists of The Critical Top 10 and Personal Top 10. But today, we have his opinions on the Disappointing releases of 2011. For more explanation of what all this means, plus Andy’s picks for the year’s best EPs, visit this location.)

DISAPPOINTING

I’m sorry to say that this year’s “Disappointing” column is largely more negative than last year’s, due to what I perceive as some real flaws and failings which several of the bands mentioned have displayed. Please don’t get personally offended if my dissenting opinion clashes with yours on preferences. I’m merely trying to give an alternative interpretation of events from my own perspective. In addition, as stated last year, “Disappointing” does not necessarily mean “Bad” – several of these records are objectively good, but really come from bands who have demonstrated before that they can do better and achieve more.

I must stress, however, that each of the bands featured in this column is either a band I have enjoyed previously and whose work I was honestly looking forward to, or a band whose work was recommended to me and I expected to enjoy.

Those of you who have followed my reviewing “career” up to this point will know that I hate wasting time with negative reviews, preferring instead to elucidate the positive aspects of the albums I review. You’ll also know that although my preferences are for Black Metal and Melodic Death Metal, I still enjoy bands from across the metal genre-spectrum, including the oft-derided Deathcore genre, several proponents of which I have championed in the past. My aim is to judge them all by their own merits. Though there are some basic forms which should be expected from all the albums I have reviewed, I have found that different genres are best approached from different angles and judged via different criteria.

So here we have it, the various records which left me ultimately disappointed this year. These are the ones who failed to live up to the standards they set themselves with their previous work, or who failed to live up to even the reasonable expectations of quality that we might expect. Please don’t take this personally. Continue reading »

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