AN NCS INTERVIEW: MICHAEL KEENE (THE FACELESS)

 Interviews  14 Responses »
May 262011
 

(NCS writer Andy Synn packed a lot into a May 17 show in Leicester, England — a review of the show, an interview of Gorod, and today an interview of Michael Keene, guitarist and song-writer par excellence of The Faceless. I’m biased, but I really enjoyed reading this, and there’s a lot of revealing info in it, too. But mainly I wonder how Andy got this interview after he explained he was from a site called NO CLEAN SINGING.)

On the same Leicester stop where I was lucky enough to interview Gorod, I also had the opportunity to grab The Faceless’ guitar shredding master-mind Michael Keene for an interview of his own.

Reading the transcript you’ll get some insight into the man himself, his goals and influences, see how we bonded over a shared love of Extol, and get his thoughts on how it feels to be the only death metal band on a non-death metal label. All this plus some of the conceptual and lyrical influences which will be present on the next record!

Ok, so how’s the tour been for you and the band so far?

MK: Well this is the fifth date of the tour and it’s been amazing. I think 3 of the 5 shows so far have sold out. It’s been awesome. Every show.

How about things with the other bands?

MK: It’s been super-fun. I’ve know Born Of Osiris and Veil Of Maya for a long time now, and spent a lot of time with both of them. I’ve recorded both of them at different times. Two albums with Veil Of Maya in fact. And we’ve toured with both of them several times. So it’s just really fun being with both of them together and, like… it’s been such a long time coming for the three of us to be together on the same tour, just because we’re all friends and it’s been overdue, both personally and musically.  (more after the jump . . . ) Continue reading »

THE NUMBER OF THE BLOG: “IT’S JUST A FLESH WOUND!”

 Metal News  5 Responses »
May 252011
 

Some of you are likely regular readers of The Number of the Blog, in addition to our own humble site. If so, you may have noticed that TNOTB has been out of commission for a few days. We’ve been in contact with our metallic brethren and sistern at TNOTB and thought we’d tell you what we know.

It appears that TNOTB’s web host — the company that provides the servers that host the TNOTB site — has run into a bit of a problem. If you visit the TNOTB site, you’ll see a nasty announcement stating: “This Account Has Been Suspended.” Now, before you start thinking that TNOTB is just a bunch of deadbeats who don’t pay their bills or have run afoul of Homeland Security, you would see the same message if you were to visit the home page of TNOTB’s web host — which suggests to us that the web host is renting their servers from some other company and THEY are the deadbeats.

In other words, thanks to their douchebag web host, TNOTB has been the victim of non-consensual anal penetration, without so much as a reach-around. But, while seriously butthurt, TNOTB has refused to surrender. They are hunting for a new web host, and in the meantime they’ve gone old-school in a very funny way.  See what we mean after the jump . . . Continue reading »

VIDEO ROUNDUP: FROM EXILE AND SHINING

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
May 252011
 

This morning brought news of two brand new videos that hit the silver screens overnight, and neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night will stay us in the swift completion of our appointed rounds in delivering them to you. Both songs are amazing. Both videos are beautifully made. In other words, these are must-see offerings.

Two weeks ago we posted a feature on the very impressive new EP by Atlanta’s From Exile — a compilation of four covers from the extravagant songbook of Nine Inch Nails under the title Just Like You Imagined. The band have now released a video for one of those songs, the ephemeral, otherworldly “A Warm Place”. Of the four excellent songs on the EP, that purely instrumental piece made the deepest impression on us.

As we said in our review: “From Exile’s take on the song magnifies the rush and power of the sound, and a more flowing, reverberating guitar lead/solo by Emil Werstler (Daath) replaces the isolated keyboard notes of the original. Werstler’s contribution is a superb and all-too-brief piece of instrumental extravagance, thankfully reprised again near the song’s end.” The simplicity of the video suits the song — Werstler standing in an empty upper floor of a church, doing his thing, illuminated by the natural light filtering softly through stain-glassed windows.

The seventh full length album from Sweden’s Shining is called VII / Född Förlorare”, which in English means “Born Loser”. It was released this month on the band’s new label Spinefarm Records, and includes guest appearances from Erik Danielsson of Watain, Chris Amott of Arch Enemy, Peter Bjärgö of Arcana, and Nordman, who is one of Sweden’s biggest pop stars. Shining have now released an official video for the song called “Förtvivlan, Min Arvedel” — which is the first video the band have ever released in their 15-year history. The video is expertly filmed and edited, and it’s powerful. And the song — the song is simply fantastic. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

THE GATES OF SLUMBER’S “THE WRETCH”: A CRITIQUE

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
May 252011
 

(NCS writer BadWolf provides a critique of the new album by The Gates of Slumber, released in North America on May 10 by Rise Above Records and Metal Blade.)

New-Doom pack leaders The Gates of Slumber strike a fine line between advancing their sound and returning to the very roots of doom with their newest LP, The Wretch. The result is their most distilled piece of work, and their most relatable.

The Gates of Slumber play the oldest and least-altered style of metal modeled after Black Sabbath and Saint Vitus. Like a shark or crocodile, this style of metal has no need for evolution: it does only a few things, like excellent riffs and narrative lyrics, but does them perfectly. The Wretch embodies this style. For evidence, look no further than opening track “Bastard Born,” which follows the riff-narrative template of the Delta blues guitar tradition.

The Wretch’s greatest strength is a renewed sense of true doom, the self-loathing paranoia that made Black Sabbath amazing. The Gates of Slumber’s previous two records, Conqueror and Hymns of Blood and Thunder, were flawed-but-great albums with escapist fantasy lyrics. That escapism sapped their records of any palpable doom and gloom. Fortunately for us, the evil is back.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

BURY YOUR DEAD: SLAUGHTERHOUSE FIVE!!!

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
May 242011
 

Well, fuck yes. If we had any doubt that Bury Your Dead had shaken off the detritus of melodic metalcore and gotten back to their fuckin’ hardcore roots, those doubts are dead, gone, cremated, and the ashes scattered to the winds — because as of about 45 minutes ago, the band uploaded their first new song since Mat Bruso rejoined BYD.

Most of our current readers won’t know this, but the really old-timers will: We started this site, and picked the name NO CLEAN SINGING in protest over what happened when Mat left BYD, when Myke Terry stepped up as the new vocalist, and when the band thereafter went right off the rails and into metalcore no-man’s land.

So, you can imagine how stoked we were to find out that Mat was coming back to BYD. Actually, you don’t have to exercise your imaginations, because we laid out our feelings pretty clearly in this post. Since then, we’ve been waiting patiently for new music — for confirmation that BYD was back in the nasty, brutish land of no clean singing. Actually, we really didn’t need proof — for fuck’s sake, Mat now uses “nocleansinging.com” as the web site URL in his Twitter account (“@SoAloneSoAlive”) — which is just too cool for words.

But need it or not, we’ve now got our confirmation. The new song — “Slaughterhouse Five” — is a fuckin’ jaw-breaker, a badass sledgehammer of hardcore and metal, a fine sign of what’s to come on that new album. Go past the jump to have a listen, and get some more news about the album and BYD’s touring plans. Continue reading »

WHO IS THE KONSORTIUM?

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
May 242011
 

I try to skim through Blabbermouth for news at least every other day. And “skim” is exactly what I do. Most of what I see just scrolls past my eyes like freight cars at a railroad crossing, exciting very little interest. There’s often no rhyme or reason to what might make me stop and pay closer attention to a post.

This morning, rhymeless and reasonless, I paused at a post about an outfit called The Konsortium. The facts, as represented in the post I read: The band is from Norway. They recorded a self-titled debut album over a one-year period. It will be released on June 24 via Agonia Records. It includes guest vocals by Erlend Hjelvik (Kvelertak).

Beyond that, there was this description of the music from the band’s press release: “black metal with various thrash, avant-garde and non-metal influences creating [its] own atmosphere and identity.”

As for the band’s members, we know that guitarist Teloch from Mayhem and Nigingr has joined the band. Otherwise, all we have is this statement: “THE KONSORTIUM features various members. Some of them better and some of them [not as well] known to the metal (but not only) community.” I think the right word for that is “cryptic”.

And then, there’s the song that was available for streaming on Blabbermouth — and of course that’s why I’m bothering to write this post: The song is a jackpot payoff for all the Blabbermouth skimming I’ve done this month.  (a bit more info, plus the song, after the jump . . .)

Continue reading »

SLAUGHTER SURVIVORS TOUR SCHEDULE IS OUT

 Metal News  12 Responses »
May 242011
 

If you live in the U.S., you may remember that the promoters of this year’s SUMMER SLAUGHTER tour conceived a creative piece of marketing by allowing fans to vote from among a list of 11 bands for the last act to fill up the touring line-up. Within the Ruins won that vote and will be joining The Black Dahlia Murder, Whitechapel, Darkest Hour, Six Feet Under, Dying Fetus, As Blood Runs Black, Oceano, and the almighty Fleshgod Apocalypse on SUMMER SLAUGHTER.

Earlier this month, the tour promoters put out the word that they were organizing a second tour featuring some of the bands from the voting list that didn’t get selected via the Facebook ballot-stuffing . . . uh, voting — plus Scale the Summit. Here’s the line-up (which unfortunately doesn’t include some of the best vote-losers — Revocation, Neuraxis, Augury, 7 Horns 7 Eyes, Dawn of Ashes).

CONDUCTING FROM THE GRAVE
THE CONTORTIONIST
SCALE THE SUMMIT
RINGS OF SATURN
VOLUMES
STRUCTURES

As of this morning, we now have the tour schedule. I have mixed feelings about this schedule. On the one hand, I’m happy for all the people in Lubbock and Des Moines who’ll get to see it. On the other hand, they couldn’t be bothered with a single date anywhere in the Pacific Northwest? What are we, chopped liver?  The schedule is after the jump . . . Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GOROD

 Interviews  6 Responses »
May 242011
 

(Our intrepid correspondent Andy Synn caught up with French metal wizards Gorod at their May 17 show in Leicester, England, and files this interview with vocalist Julien “Nutz” Deyres, bassist Benoit Claus, and drummer Samuel Santiago. Gorod is currently distributing a brand new EP — Transcendence — to those fortunate souls in attendance at their current tour, and the rest of us poor bastards will have access to it in June. Get stoked.)

At the recent Leicester stop of The Faceless’ UK/Euro headline tour, I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to interview members of French Jazz/Tech metallers Gorod.

Read on to see what the band thinks about their current touring situation, their upcoming EP and future album plans, who’s to blame for their big 80’s metal hooks, and even some (potentially) exclusive information regarding the lyrical and conceptual direction for the band’s next full-length album!

Hey guys, nice to meet you. Thanks for agreeing to speak to me. So, first thing’s first, how’s the tour going so far? This is the 4th or 5th date right?

Benoit (bass): 5th date. 5th date so far. No problems so far, everything is really good. It’s sort of a more professional tour with a driver, a good manager, things seem to be working all the time. The atmosphere is good. Nothing special, just good times. (continued after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

ARSIS INVITES YOU INTO THE SHADOWS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
May 232011
 

With increasing frequency, we’re seeing bands inviting their fans inside the creative process before their songs are all fully mixed, mastered and packaged into an album’s worth of music. I think that’s smart marketing, in addition to satisfying the impatience of hungry fans like me who hate waiting around for new music from bands we like.

We had one example yesterday when The Monolith Deathcult put up on SoundCloud a preliminary version of a new song called “H.W.A.” (Human Wave Attack). And today we have yet another example: Arsis has posted a brand-new song for streaming via SoundCloud called “Since the Shadows”. Yes, that does indeed mean that Arsis is writing a new album.

Early days yet, but based on this demo version of the new song, it’s not too soon to start panting for that album to come. At least if you’re a panter like me. If you just breathe normally, like a human instead of a beagle, then you may just want to smile when you hear this song. As they say in the field of professional music journalism, it fucken rawks.

ARSIS – Since the Shadows (Demo) by NuclearBlastRecords

SHORT BUT SWEET: SUNLESS RISE AND BLACK MONOLITH

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  6 Responses »
May 232011
 

We’re in a never-ending chase, trying to catch up with EP’s and demo’s from unsigned bands who’ve contacted us, or who we’ve found out about through recommendations. I suppose it would be easier, now that we’ve grown a bit, simply to pay attention to well-known bands or full-length label debuts. But we’re trying to remain faithful to one of the founding principles of this site — to show some support to talented unsigned bands from around the world, and in doing that, to provide what we hope will be some entertaining discoveries for NCS readers.

Today, we’ve got two discoveries to share with you: SunLess Rise (Russia) and Black Monolith (San Francisco). Both bands are definitely under the radar — so far — but to the extent merit counts for anything, you should be hearing more about them in the future. About the only thing they have in common (apart from being good) is speed. Otherwise, the styles of music are utterly different.

SunLess Rise should appeal mightily to fans of Children of Bodom, Norther, and Ensiferum. I have more trouble picking out better-known references for Black Monolith — it’s a raw amalgam of black metal, punk, crust, grind, and a really pissed off junkyard dog.

Oh wait, these bands do have one more thing in common — their debut EP’s are available for download at no charge. So, let’s get to it . . . Continue reading »

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