MORE GOJIRA NEWS (GUESTS ON THE EP AND A NEW FULL-LENGTH)

 Metal News  11 Responses »
Jun 012011
 

Thanks to Metal Injection and The Number of the Blog, both of whom just wrote about the following delectible pieces of news in posts I read almost simultaneously. Both of them were getting their info from an interview that Joe Duplantier of Gojira gave to Metal Hammer (which can be found here).

First, Devin Townsend and Fredrik Thordendal (Meshuggah) are not the only artists who will be making guest appearances on the new Gojira Sea Shepherd EP. Those two joined Gojira on the first single from the EP, “Of Blood and Salt”, which we featured here. In addition to them, Duplantier revealed to Metal Hammer that the EP will also include guest vocals by:

Randy Blythe (Lamb of God)
Anders Fridén (In Flames)
Max Cavalera (The Cavalera Conspiracy, ex-Sepultura)

Second, feast your eyes on this morsel from the Metal Hammer interview:  “The Sea Shepherd EP will be followed later in 2011 by the band’s brand new studio album (“We are still composing,” admits Duplantier, “but it will come out this year, I promise!”).”  After the jump, a few more excerpts from the Metal Hammer interview, including what Duplantier says about the music on the next album. Continue reading »

ANOTHER OPETH OPDATE

 Metal News  15 Responses »
Jun 012011
 

Yes, that’s the opdate, right op there at the top of this post — the just-disclosed cover for Opeth‘s next album, Heritage. The artist is the very talented Travis Smith, who has done many other Opeth album covers in addition to cover art for dozens of other bands you’ve heard of.

So, all you album art critics out there, what do you think? With one lingering reservation, I think it’s damned cool. I love the vibrant colors and the arrangement of fantastical images, and the suggestion of the demonic underground feeding life to the green Opethian tree from which an endless line of fans is feeding (or at least that’s how I’m interpreting it).

The lingering reservation stems from those heads of the band members in the tree. It adds to the psychedelic aura of the whole picture, but it’s also a bit campy.

Coming back to the colors, much of what Travis Smith has done for the band in the past has been sombre and monotone (though there have been exceptions). After the jump, I’ve collected all of the cover art he’s done for the band in the past. Take a look — and by all means, let’s hear what you think of this cover.

ALSO, I’ve now got the detailed reactions to this cover of NCS writer BadWolf. He and I each wrote our thoughts without seeing what the other thought. Among other things, he sees this cover as a sign (among others) that Heritage will not be a metal album. Check out what he has to say after the jump, too. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: TEMPEST, APOSTATE, AND SUPERSTITION

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jun 012011
 

Over the last couple of weeks we’ve been using these SHORT BUT SWEET features to catch up on recent EP’s by bands both well-known and just emerging. Today, we’ve got three more in the “just emerging” category. Two of the bands were recommended by my NCS co-founder IntoTheDarkness, and the third came my way via Quigs at The Number of the Blog (who correctly surmised that it would be my kind of thing, though I suspect it’s not his).

If you’ve been slumming here at NCS for very long, then you know IntoTheDarkness has a penchant for deathcore. I still have a reservoir of enthusiasm for that genre, though certainly not as wide and deep as ITD’s. He and I have had a brief, civil debate about whether today’s first two bands really belong under the deathcore banner. I can understand why he thinks of their music that way, but I’m not sure the label strictly fits. More on that later. But labeling isn’t what this post is about — it’s about the music, which should speak for itself.

IMHO, the music of these two bands happens to be worth hearing. Why else would I be writing about it? And as for the third band, I’m just a complete sucker for the style — I have been for a long time, and always will be. So, without further ado, here are a few words about Tempest (California), Apostate (The Czech Republic), and Superstition (Croatia) — plus a selection of songs for you to test drive (after the jump). Continue reading »

ABIGAIL WILLIAMS / THULCANDRA / ISKALD – NOTTINGHAM ROCK CITY, MAY 27, 2011

 Concert Reviews  3 Responses »
Jun 012011
 

(Andy Synn had a full, black (metal) weekend (except for the fact that he missed Enslaved on Sunday). Before jumping the ocean waters to visit Oslo for that Dimmu concert he wrote about yesterday, he spent a night with Abigail Williams, Thulcandra, and Iskald in England, and has kindly provided us with a report. You should know that he started that night, not in the audience, but on stage roaring with his band Bloodguard.)

On Friday the 27th of May, my band and I were lucky enough to open the show for three extremely talented black metal acts. Though the crowd was small, they were all passionate about their love of the genre and equally appreciative of all the bands’ efforts. Each of the three bands demonstrated a different facet of the black metal template, be it the proggy, thrashy approach favoured by Iskald, the streamlined melodicism of Thulcandra‘s Dissection-worship, or the tense, introverted catharsis of Abigail Williams.

Openers Iskald played a short, tight set, delving into material from all three of their albums.”Under The Black Moon” off their latest (phenomenal) album was a sumptuous delight of crunchy guitars and awkward, obscure rhythms, while “A Breath Of Apocalypse” pummelled and grooved with a refreshing directness and power. Throughout their set, thrash-style speeds and an at-times death metal aesthetic wrapped around soaring, crystal clear melodies, intelligent, driving drums and rough, propulsive Immortal/Enslaved-style riffage.

Sharp and icy, the band delivered time and time again, with each song bearing a different and distinct flavour. Songs like “Domesdag” (introduced as “a true Norwegian song”) and “Det Stilner Til Storm” brought a fiery passion to match the cold melancholy of their icy melodies, their moody, progressive diversions and impressive, yet restrained, technicality demonstrating exactly why Iskald deserve to be held amongst the elite of modern-day black metal. In particular, their most recent material demonstrates more growth and ambition than most latter-day members of the black fraternity can muster, unafraid to explore different textures and impressive, forward-thinking structures. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

COVERS: THE ENSLAVED EDITION

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  22 Responses »
May 312011
 

I think Norway’s Enslaved are so talented that they can do anything they set their minds to, and do it superbly. As further proof, I have some videos for you, which, as the kids say, are fuckin’ siiiiiiiick.

Just the day after that Dimmu Borgir show that Andy Synn attended in Oslo on May 28, Enslaved played a special show in the same city at the Henie Onstad Art Centre, which appears to house Norway’s largest collection of international modern art.

In honor of Enslaved’s 20th anniversary, the Art Centre asked Enslaved to prepare a special setlist consisting of a mix of cover songs from their favorite bands as well as original songs. Among the artists Enslaved covered were Pink Floyd, Rush, Faith No More, Led Zeppelin, and King Crimson.

Thank goodness someone filmed this. So far, I’ve seen videos for the band’s performances of “The Immigrant Song” — one of my all-time favorite Zeppelin tunes — and “Red” by King Crimson, plus a drumcam view of the band’s own original song “Lightening”, from Axioma Ethica Odini. The video quality is excellent and the audio quality is pretty good — good enough to blow me away.  (more after the jump, including the videos . . .) Continue reading »

WORDS OF WISDOM FOR THE DAY

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
May 312011
 

Nah, this isn’t going to become a recurring feature on the site, but I couldn’t resist posting this cartoon, which appeared in The New Yorker mag. Credit goes to the very clever cartoonist William Haefeli.

But since this is NCS, I think I need to throw in some music, and man, do I have some music! The band is called Mors Subita. They’re from Finland, of course. They’ll be releasing their debut album, Human Waste Compression, this summer (they’re still looking for a record label).  Isn’t that a great album title? By the way, according to Google Translate, “mors subita” means “sudden death” in Latin.

According to a press release, the CD will contain “11 tracks of aggressive, melodic and groovy metal.” They’ve just released an official video for a song from that debut album called “The Sermon”. If all sermons were like this, I would start going to church again.

Yes, it’s groovy — massively so. Yes, it’s aggressive — with fangs and claws bared. Yes, it’s catchy as a damned ebola virus. Listening to this song is like the feeling I imagine you’d get if you decided to do chin-ups on a live power line. It will send about 10,000 volts straight through to your cranial pleasure center. In other words, dis be some sweet shit. Nicely done video, too. You can watch after the jump. Suomi perkele! Continue reading »

DIMMU BORGIR + THE NORWEGIAN RADIO ORCHESTRA & SCHOLA CANTORUM CHOIR – OSLO SPEKTRUM, MAY 28, 2011

 Concert Reviews  11 Responses »
May 312011
 

(Andy Synn was present for a landmark event in Oslo on May 28 — an exclusive show by Dimmu Borgir with a special, “never-to-be-repeated” setlist with 53 members of KORK (the Norwegian Radio Orchestra) and 30 members of the Schola Cantorum choir, who were musical guests on Abrahadabra. This was Dimmu’s only confirmed worldwide appearance for this summer. We’ve got Andy’s evocative review of the show plus video footage and some excellent photos taken by Per Ole Hagen for the NRK blog.)

I have seen Dimmu Borgir live several times before now, and each experience has been different. Sometimes the show has been great, the band’s enthusiasm and drive adding a different live element which balanced out the obvious limitations of performing such grandiose, symphonic material in the limitations of a live metal show. At others, certain issues seemed insurmountable, even the band’s powerful performance and conviction in their material not serving to elevate the show above “average”. Worse still are the times I have seen the band when internal issues were weakening them massively, meaning that drive and conviction was lost, resulting in a lacklustre performance.

Yet at Saturday’s show I felt like I was finally seeing Dimmu Borgir in the way I was always meant to. The mood, setting and structure of the show all captured the vision and atmosphere of the music perfectly. The fusion of traditional classical elements, with their scintillating, naturalistic scope of sound and the more aggressive, vibrant metallic furore of Dimmu’s particular style of “black metal” was a perfect synthesis of style and substance, sound and fury, which hammered home the clear links between classically influenced metal composition and the true traditional classical elements. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

MEMORIAL DAY

 Off Topic  8 Responses »
May 302011
 

Today is a “bank holiday” in several other countries. In the U.S., it has a different significance. It honors members of the U.S. military who died in service.

I wasn’t going to say anything about Memorial Day here. First, people come to NCS for metal, not anything else. Second, I’m not into flag-waving and patriotism and America-First sloganeering. All that usually seems to me like one more thing that retards people from thinking for themselves. Plus, I like and admire people from other countries and their cultures (many of whom I’ve gotten to know through NCS). And there’s also the borderline anarchic nature of my own personality.  🙂

I also have my own opinions about the wars the U.S. has been fighting. But that’s neither here nor there. What decided me to write this was just thinking about men and women in the military, in my generation and younger generations, who’ve been killed and maimed and hurt psychologically and emotionally doing things most of us (thankfully) will never have to do. Doesn’t matter that they’re volunteers for these jobs. Doesn’t matter whether I or anyone else necessarily believes in the rightness of the wars they’ve been told to fight. All that matters is that many of them have been and still are in harm’s way, and many have not emerged unscathed, or emerged at all. So, I think they deserve a few moments of thought and reflection, and honor.

I watched part of an interview last night on the 60 Minutes TV show of a guy named Salvatore Giunta — a 25-year-old U.S. Army staff sergeant from Iowa who last November became the first living recipient of the Medal of Honor from the war in Afghanistan for his bravery in an ambush that killed two of his mates. It was not what I expected. When he was asked in a different interview about what he thought when he heard he was to receive the nation’s highest military honor, he said this:  “‘Fuck you,’ I thought. It sounds really awesome in theory, but what’s it worth? Brennan? Mendoza? No. I did what I did because in the scheme of painting the picture of that ambush, that was just my brush stroke. That’s not above and beyond. I didn’t take the biggest brush stroke, and it wasn’t the most important brush stroke. Hearing the Medal of Honor is like a slap in the face. I don’t think you know what I did. I didn’t do shit.”  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

KARTIKEYA: “MAHAYUGA”

 Album Reviews  21 Responses »
May 302011
 

(NCS writer Israel Flanders provides not only his review of a fascinating new death-metal album from a Russian band called Kartikeya, but also — with the band’s permission — a special surprise at the end of the review.)

It’s very rare that I find death metal that’s TRULY note worthy and stands out to me much anymore.  The genre, especially in the so called “brutal” death metal tag, has gotten really stale to me, but I am always looking for new bands to capture my interest.  I went surfing for new music as per usual and happened to come across a gem of a band — Moscow’s Kartikeya, and we’re here to check out their second album Mahayuga.

Kartikeya is a rather strange beast in this era of excessive blast beats and musically fraudulent technical wank. Imagine the speed, symphonics, and intensity of The Monolith Deathcult and the progressive nature and melodic sense of Ihsahn, and throw in fully inclusive Indian folk elements, and you have Kartikeya. There is a lot of fun to be had on this album, what with its catchy riffing, its full-frontal brutality assault on the senses, the Indian atmosphere and vibe, and the superb melodic moments when they spring up.

The album opens with the instrumental “Sarga Manvalem”, beginning with some nice eastern ambiance before breaking into a riff and a melody that will remind you of former Israeli black metallers Melechesh and an imperial war march of double bass and low-tuned brutal droning. I like how this introduces the album, as the intensity of it continues building until we hit an Indian chant section that comes out of nowhere and throws you off balance. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

“NEW” MUSIC FROM BEHERIT: “AT THE DEVIL’S STUDIO 1990”

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
May 302011
 

No secret that we’re Finnish-metal fanatics here at NCS. Also no secret that we’re doing our best to become better educated about black metal. Put those two pieces together and you get this post, which is based on news that will be headline-type stuff for true black-metal fans. But first, some background for those readers who aren’t already KVLT (lifted from something we wrote back during our month-long FINNISH METAL WEEK series):

“Beherit” is the word for Satan in Syriac, a dialect of the ancient Aramaic language. It’s also the name of an influential black-metal band formed in 1989 by Nuclear Holocausto (Marko Laiho), Black Jesus (Arjo Wennström), and Sodomatic Slaughter (Jari Pirinen). After releasing two albums, the second of which (Drawing Down the Moon) appeared in 1993 and became a BM classic, the band broke up.

Beherit then rose from the ashes in 2008, with original members Nuclear Holocausto (having returned to Finland from Thailand) and Sodomatic Slaughter joining newcomers Ancient Corpse Desekrator and Abyss. After 14 years of silence, the band released their third album, Engram, in 2009.

And now the news: Beherit is releasing, for the first time, their true debut album, originally recorded in 1990. In the band’s words: “You NEVER HEARD this recording or the two previously UNRELEASED tracks featured! Finally unearthed from Sodomatic Slaughter’s personal collection after being lost for the last 20 years. Recorded as a duo by Nuclear Holocausto Vengeance and Sodomatic Slaughter in Ala Ky Studio and mastered in 2010 by Joona Lukala.”

The album will be released in June 2011 on vinyl, CD, and tape. After the jump, we’ll give you the track list, ordering information — and a music player that will stream two of the tracks. Be forewarned: This is vicious stuff AND the music will start playing as soon as you go past the jump. Continue reading »

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