SETH PUTNAM: GRIND IN PEACE

 Metal News  17 Responses »
Jun 122011
 

I would guess that most fans of extreme metal who’ve ever come across the name Anal Cunt have stopped at some point to listen to the band’s music. I mean, with a name like Anal Cunt, how could you not? Certainly, fans of grindcore know that band’s music, because they were grind ground-breakers.

Last night I saw internet rumors that the band’s founder and hard-living frontman Seth Putnam had died, but I couldn’t find any reliable confirmation. Now we have it, in the form of a statement by the band’s publicist Kim Kelly:

“Yes, it’s true. Seth Putnam, one of the most infamous musicians that extreme metal has ever seen, the grindcore GG Allin, has passed away due to a heart attack.

“I handled all the promotion for Anal Cunt’s last album, ‘Fuckin’ A,’ and Seth was always happy to oblige any request I sent his way. The band had been working on a new album before his passing, so chances are his musical career’s epitaph has yet to be inscribed.

“I want to remind everyone that no matter how outrageous and controversial his musical career has been, Seth was still a human being with friends and family that loved him. I’m hoping that the Internet will remember that. This is a very sad and trying time for those that knew him, and the last thing they need to see is an outpouring of message board hate. The man lived and died by his own rules; if anything, respect him for that.”

(a bit more after the jump . . .)

Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 30: SPEARHEAD, DEAD TROOPER, AND SUPER HAPPY STORY TIME LAND

 MISCELLANY  12 Responses »
Jun 122011
 

Well, this is embarrassing. My last MISCELLANY post was on April 28. I’ve let far too much time pass between these installments this year. I have no excuse, other than the undeniable fact that I’m easily distracted and have trouble following any kind of schedule. I’ve made a resolution that I’m going to pick up the pace and do these posts more often. Unless I get distracted.

Given how much time has passed since the last one, maybe it’s worth reminding you what MISCELLANY is about. We keep a running NCS list of bands whose music we haven’t heard before but who look interesting for one reason or another. We create this list based on messages from bands, recommendations from readers, and our own sporadic web browsing. This list is now longer than the Great Wall of China.

At unpredictable times, I randomly pick a few bands off the list and listen to a song or two from each one, not knowing for sure whether the music will be appealing. And then, I write about what I heard and put the songs in the post so you can form your own opinions.

For today’s MISCELLANY session, I picked three bands: Spearhead (UK), Dead Trooper (Norway), and Super Happy Story Time Land (U.S.). In a nutshell, the music speared me in the head, left me for dead, and made me super happy. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

EYE-CATCHERS: SLAGDUSTER

 Eye-Catchers  No Responses »
Jun 112011
 

We found out about Slagduster via an e-mail from Shane Sherman, the band’s vocalist and second guitarist. Even before getting to the music, I thought the band had two things going for it — the cover for their debut album, Nature.Humanity.Machine., and their name. One-word band names are cool, and just when I thought all the good ones had been taken, here we have Slagduster. I have no idea what it’s intended to mean or how it was conceived, but it’s got a nice, nasty ring to it.

Slagduster are from British Columbia in Canada, and the album design and art were handled by Zak Waterlow, who also recorded the album and produced it with the band at Waterlow Audio Studio. He also happens to be the band’s bass player. That’s what we call one-stop shopping.

I decided to listen to the album as part of our on-going EYE-CATCHERS experiment, in which we test the hypothesis that cool album art correlates with cool music. This particular test case completely supports the hypothesis, because this is one seriously cool album — a collection of inventive, head-spinning songs played by four extremely talented musicians. I suppose it’s a type of progressive metal, with intricate arrangements and often astonishing execution. But I really hesitate to use the term “progressive metal”.

Too often, I find prog metal to be over-produced and either too pretty (particularly the kind that includes clean singing) or so wanked-out as to lose all shape as songs. Also, too many bands who hold themselves out (or get classified without trying) as prog-metal bands forget that if you’re going to append the term “metal” to your music, it needs to be heavy, as well as creatively multi-faceted. Slagduster don’t forget that for one minute. If I had to compare them with another math-metal-leaning band, it would be CiLiCe from The Netherlands (which is high praise in my book). Continue reading »

TWO NEW SONGS TO KICK OFF YOUR WEEKEND IN STYLE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
Jun 102011
 

Time to start mentally gearing up for the weekend. We’re here to help with a couple of killer new songs from Machine Head and All Shall Perish.

Almost four years have passed since Machine Head’s last album, The Blackening, which garnered mountainous heaps of praise. The next album (still untitled) is now finally scheduled for a September 27 release by Roadrunner Records. To begin building excitement for the album, a single called “Locust” will be released on June 14 for digital distribution on iTunes and Amazon MP3. Earlier this week, a 30-second sample of the song surfaced, but now the whole thing is up on YouTube.

It’s about 8 minutes long and it sounds great. It’s multifaceted, both heavy and melodic — a damned good harbinger for the album to come. Have a listen after the jump.

All Shall Perish also have a new album on the way, one we’re really looking forward to. It will be called This Is Where It Ends, and it’s due for  North American release on June 26 by Nuclear Blast. Two days ago, Lambgoat premiered the second song from the album to receive advance display. It’s called “Procession of Ashes”. It’s a crusher, as you would expect, but it includes a few musical surprises from this band, including an extended outro that I really didn’t see coming.

Both these songs are rockin’ my head this morning. You can hear both after the jump. Continue reading »

SHINING: “VII / FÖDD FÖRLORARE”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Jun 102011
 

Shining‘s new album, VII / Född Förlorare (“born loser” in English) is one of the most musically varied, beautifully written, and superbly executed albums I’ve heard this year. It also may be the most surprising.

Maybe I wouldn’t have been so surprised if I’d been more familiar with the band’s previous releases, but I came to the album as a Shining newbie, never having heard any of the earlier music. What I had in my head before listening were bits and pieces of things I’d heard or read over the years — that the band played a mix of black metal and doom, that the lyrics promoted suicide and other forms of self-injury (including drug abuse), that the band’s concerts have turned violent on occasion, and that frontman Niklas Kvarforth mutilates himself on stage. There was also this quote from Kvarforth that I read someplace (the original source is here):

“Of course we support suicide, SHINING support all that is negative in this bastard world of ours. We have had a couple of cases in the past with people whom have ended their lives under the influence or partially under the influence of our work and of course this is a true blessing indeed, yet we pray for increased numbers of fatalities.”

With all that, and a general sense I had that Shining really doesn’t care what anyone thinks of them or their music, I’m not completely sure what I was expecting from the new album, but it wasn’t what I got. What I got was something that defies easy characterization, a mixture of folk music, progressive metal, acoustic ballads, chug-heavy aggression, wonderfully varied vocals, and absolutely blistering guitar solos. The music is rich and often has the feel of something intensely personal. Yes, it’s mostly dark and melancholy, but it didn’t make me feel suicidal at all.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

OLD SCHOOL / NEW SCHOOL

 IQ Subtraction, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  22 Responses »
Jun 092011
 

Welcome to the first, and possibly last, edition of a feature we’re calling OLD SCHOOL / NEW SCHOOL.  I usually run on at the mouth in introducing posts around here, but for this one, I’m just gonna let you figure out the theme for yourselves. Given the title we’re using for this series, it seemed fitting to begin with the following contrast. (Don’t worry, there will be music after the jump.)

OLD SCHOOL

NEW SCHOOL

(yeah, more after the jump . . .)

Continue reading »

INVOCATOR

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Jun 092011
 

(NCS contributor Israel Flanders has been working his butt off to bring us music that may have been overlooked or become under-appreciated with the passage of time. Today he looks back at the discography of a trail-blazing Danish band.)

It goes without saying that there are so many good bands out there that overlooking one here or there is entirely inevitable. I would like to think I’m bringing music to you guys that’s surprising in the most pleasant of ways since I’m trying to develop a knack for digging out gems from the nether regions of the music world. Today I’m here to do an overall piece on one of the most shamefully underrated thrash metal bands in existence. Who is that you wonder? It’s Invocator.

Invocator are very important to Denmark’s music scene. They were the gateway band that proved to other aspiring musicians in Denmark, hey, you can do this metal thing in our small country and it works. Among others, they inspired legendary deathrashers Hatesphere (and if you don’t know who Hatesphere are, stop reading and come back after getting some education), and Invocator’s frontman and guitarist Jacob Hansen essentially aided in the establishment of a heavy music scene in Denmark. The man has produced so many albums it’s nuts, but not only has he done that, he has coined his own signature production sound. Invocator is Jacob Hansen’s baby and a band with a truly unique sound that I think stands out. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

THREE FOR THREE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  23 Responses »
Jun 082011
 

I randomly watched three brand new videos this morning for three very different kinds of songs. If I were a baseball player, I’d say I went three for three at the plate — three chances, three hits. Three good songs, and as for the videos, I’d call them a triple, a double, and a single.

The triple comes from a UK underground band called Amebix, who haven’t released any new material in almost 24 years — until June 3, when they released a new single called “Knights of the Black Sun” on their own label, Amebix Records. The song includes much more clean singing than we usually tolerate around here, but I’ve fallen for it pretty hard. It soars like an anthem, with ringing guitars and passionate vocals and a memorable melody. The video is a dark, mesmerizing animation created by Andy Lefton and Fin McAteer. It’s beautiful to watch.

The double is the video for a new song by Taiwan’s Chthonic called “Takao”. It has been digitally released today (in Finland) as a single and will appear on the band’s next album, Takasago Army, to be released by Spinefarm Records. Stylistically, the song is very much in the vein of Finnish-brand melodic death metal, and naturally, I’m liking it a lot. Not surprisingly, there’s a “B-side” version of this same song on the single, with the choruses sung by members of Finland’s Ensiferum. To fully appreciate the beautifully made video, it helps to understand that the song is about a group of Taiwanese men recruited by the Japanese army from the Takao harbor to fight in the Pacific during World War II. According to Chthonic’s Doris Yeh, “they became the most revered and most feared combat unit in the Japanese Imperial Army.”

The single is a video for the title track to the new album from Florida’s Catalepsy — Bleed. The song is just a fucking crusher. The subject matter of the video isn’t nearly as interesting as the first two featured in this post, but it’s well made. As for the subject matter, let’s just say that you should remind me not to piss off Catalepsy, should I forget. Watch the videos after the jump. I think you’ll be glad you did. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 12: THE WARRIORS

 THE SYNN REPORT  2 Responses »
Jun 082011
 

Recommended for fans of: Pro-Pain, Downset, Sick of It All

The last edition of THE SYNN REPORT was a real mental workout for me; listening to that much horrific, hellish noise, over and over again for such an extended period left me completely and utterly drained. So, for this edition I sought out something more positive and uplifting that, without sacrificing aggression or integrity, would provide me with the perfect antidote to the toxic poisons I had ingested, which is why this iteration of THE SYNN REPORT is going to cover fiery Metallic Hardcore quintet The Warriors.

This Californian 5-piece have to date produced 4 albums (the latest See How You Are having only recently been released this year) of hardcore bite and vicious metallic chuggery, blended with funky, elastic grooves and delivered with a rolling, rock n’ roll swagger.

The harsh, intense vocals of Marshall Lichtenwaldt are perhaps the thing which most people will pay attention to, his distinctive, throat-rending snarls and rapid-fire delivery providing an obvious talking point to any lovers of the genre. Yet the musical abilities of the rest of the band are just as important, the guitars heavy yet far from primitive, the drums taut and punchy, and the bass agile and flowing. Continue reading »

CYPHER: “DARKDAY CARNIVAL”

 Album Reviews  11 Responses »
Jun 082011
 

(Israel Flanders reviews the excellent 2006 album from Cypher, provides a download of the album for those of you who missed it, solves the mystery of what happened to Cypher after that album was released, and has arranged for us also to provide a download of the never-before released 3-song demo that was to pave the way for Cypher’s follow-up album. Not a bad day’s work.)

Ever know of any bands who just… disappeared? I do. I’m reviewing the album of Cypher, an EXCELLENT melothrash outfit from the Netherlands who just vanished off the face of the earth. This is a band who not only had extreme promise, but had the kind of promise that would take the world by storm.

So let’s get to the music, and I’ll touch on what exactly happened later. Everyone remember Trivium‘s album Shogun? Take that kind of music, remove the whiney clean choruses, the parts that AREN’T fast and thrashy, and bring in a vocalist in the form of frontman and rhythm guitarist “T” (Tobias Borra), who takes Matt Heafey’s signature roar to the next level and makes him look like he hasn’t even hit puberty yet.

Cypher plays VERY aggressive melothrash that doesn’t let up, and the band’s debut and only album Darkday Carnival, released in 2006, lives up to this style to a T. Drums are pounding out thrash beats with savage force, guitars and bass are pedal-point riffing with tight precision, and the vocals are just ferocious in a way that’s out of this world. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

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