In our continuing attempt to make Halloween last all week, we’ve randomly picked three more Halloween-appropriate metal songs from the slew of suggestions we got via this post on Halloween Day. Today’s picks are songs from Hooded Menace (Finland), Deicide (U.S.), and Blut Aus Nord (France).
Stay grisly. Songs after the jump. Continue reading »
NCS is planning some boffo coverage of the inaugural Metal Suckfest sponsored by MetalSucks, which is set to begin at New York’s Gramercy Theater on November 4. Our roving reporter BadWolf will be on site along with talented photographer Nick Vechery, and we’re expecting cutting-edge show reports, band interviews, scene commentary, and pics of back-stage carnal activity unmatched by any other organ of responsible metal journalism. Whether BadWolf and Nick survive for their return trip home to Ohio remains to be seen. As a prelude to all the carnage, BadWolf managed to snag some quality time with MetalSucks’ co-creator Axl Rosenberg.
-Could you give me a narrative of MetalSucks’ origin story — it’s often alluded to but seldom divulged.
Sure. It all started when my mom met my dad, and discovered the hard way those discount birth control pills she’d been buying from the “doctor” who lived in the van down the block, were, in fact, Tic Tacs. Then —
Oh, you probably want me to skip ahead a bunch. Okay. So basically Vince and I have been friends since we were five years old. And one night we got really stoned — hard to believe, I know — and went to this Children of Bodom/Amon Amarth show in Times Square. And I can’t for the life of me remember what inspired this conversation, but at some point in-between sets, Vince turned to me and was like, “Hey, you know those music blogs like Pitchfork and Idolator?” And I was like, “Yeah.” And he was like, “Why isn’t there one for metal?” And I was like, “I dunno.” And he was like, “Wanna start one?” And I was like, “Okay.” (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »
Well, don’t I feel like a dick. Yesterday I invited NCS readers to suggest metal for Halloween and I said I’d pick three songs from the suggestions and play them by nightfall. I got a bunch of interesting looking recommendations in the Comments on that post. However, in order to pick the three songs I thought were best-suited for the occasion, I needed to listen to all the recommendations. Unfortunately, my fucking day job turned into a fucking day-and-night job, and I had no time to do that.
Fuck, I didn’t even have time to listen to three of the songs picked at random. While metalheads throughout the Halloween-celebrating world were out getting smashed while looking even more ridiculous than usual, or getting smashed in the privacy of their own basements while looking only usually ridiculous, or simply ignoring the holiday in favor of whatever metalheads do on a normal Monday night, I was slaving away at what I do to put bread on the table (and the less said about that, the better). So, yes, I failed.
What to do to make up for this fuck-up? Well, it’s probably not as good as another phony tour t-shirt, but what I’m going to do each day for the rest of this week is to pick three songs at random from the list of suggestions and play them for you. Think of it as a week’s worth of Halloweens. That may suck if you don’t like Halloween, but I have a feeling the music is going to rock. And for the first installment, I’ve picked the first three suggestions I got yesterday (from Phro, Trollfiend, and Andy Synn) — music from Type O Negative, Februus, and The Black Dahlia Murder. After the jump. Continue reading »
And here is the first of our guest posts, which will be running with greater than usual frequency over the next three weeks or so while your humble editor’s own blogging time is squeezed down to a nub. And this one comes from one of our faithful readers and commenters from Finland who introduces us to three bands, from Germany, France, and Finland (of course).
Greetings fellow low-life scum of the NCS family. I am jeimssi, the random Finnish dude who posts pointless and shitty comments on this site.
Nevertheless, I decided to give it a shot at contributing to the crÈme de la crÈme of metalblogs, and besides, you gotta help a brotha out!
As you all probably know, the Godfather, Islander has requested the readers’ aid for keeping up the flow of posts, while he goes for an ‘adventurous’ vacation in Thailand. (who am I to judge, we’ve all been there)
Now, my capability in producing bearable written text is, pretty strictly said, shit, let alone be it in English. So I’m not even going to try and come up with funny and clever depictions of the following music I’m about to introduce. Just small introductions about the bands and letting you do the analyzing yourself.
When I started to think about the possible bands I could write about, I ended up with a small problem. I wanted to do a post about bands who would be new to the readers, but my taste in music is frighteningly equal to the one that is present here in NCS, meaning that people are already familiar with many of the bands I listen to and could have written about.
Anyways, enough with the chit-chat. Show time!
Tonight is possibly the most metal night of the year, at least in countries where Halloween is celebrated. In addition to giving extroverted chicks an excuse to dress slutty and dudes yet another opportunity to act like idiots, it’s the night when goblins, orcs, reanimated corpses, blood-suckers, demon spawn, and headless horsemen all come out to get fucked up and headbang.
Almost every metal blog will be doing some kind of Halloween-themed bullshit today, and we don’t want to stick out like a sore penis thumb by doing nothing to celebrate the event. But I’m too fucking lazy to create something myself, so I’d like you to do it for me. So, here’s the deal: In the Comment section, please give me your suggestion for a metal song that would be a good one to play on Halloween, and before nightfall I’ll pick three of them to play here at NCS in a follow-up post to this one. If you like, feel free to give more than one suggestion. And if you’re the shy type, feel free to e-mail me your suggestion instead of leaving it in the Comments (islander@nocleansinging.com).
And speaking of me-being-lazy-and-wanting-you-to-do-all-my-NCS-work-for-me, I’m about to turn into a pumpkin myself. Because of a work crunch that I’m now about to start, followed by a greatly deserved vacation, my blogging time is about to be severely compressed. I wrote about this a while back and made a general call for guest posts that I could run here at NCS while I’m in pumpkin land. I’ve already received a slew of great shit, and I know more submissions are on the way. BUT, it’s not too late, even if you haven’t started writing anything. Details after the jump. Continue reading »
(Today, Basick Records releases the eagerly anticipated debut album, Februus, by French band Uneven Structure, and NCS writer TheMadIsraeli provides this review.)
I don’t know how a lot of you NCS readers feel about this whole djent movement/genre thing, but I definitely understand the elitist attitude toward it. Djent is everywhere now; it has crept its way into a shit-ton of modern-minded metal, whether the music really has anything to do with djent or not. It has spawned so many unoriginal, uninteresting bands in its short life span that it’s insulting. Why do we really need anyone besides Meshuggah for this shit?
That’s a good question, and one I find myself constantly revisiting as I analyze what is happening in metal. Only two djent albums have touched me since the movement began establishing the modern foothold it now has: TesseracT’s One and Periphery’s self-titled debut. These are good albums to be sure but, could I live without them? Most definitely.
Most of my favorite djent has been the product of bands who only incorporated it into something else, rather than totally embracing it — Xerath, Threat Signal, Textures, and CiLiCe. These are bands who made the mathy riffing, the ambience, and the polyrhythmic, syncopated grooves interesting without making me wish I could just listen to Meshuggah instead. So where the fuck am I going with this exactly?
Uneven Structure. Continue reading »
Baby metal: Is it a thing?
A couple days ago, I inflicted on your tender senses a music video from a Japanese JPop/idol/metal band called Babymetal. I’ve since learned that the song is called “Doki Doki Morning”, and that this band is an off-shoot of another Japanese idol band called Sakura Gakuin. The song appears on Sakura Gakuin’s 2010 album debut.
And now we have an official video report from our Japan-based correspondent Phro, providing his honest, thoughtful, critical reaction to Babymetal.
Also, is that a fucking great shirt Phro is wearing, or what? Video after the jump. Continue reading »
On Friday night (Oct. 28), Metallica was scheduled to play a concert in Gurgaon, a suburb of Delhi in India. It was to have been the first stop in Metallica’s first tour of the sub-continent. Tickets to the show were priced between the equivalent of $34 and $57, and the concert had drawn fans from cities across India as well as countries such as Bangladesh, China, Nepal, Indonesia and Singapore. Unfortunately, it never happened.
After more than 20,000 fans waited for more than 3 hours at the venue (including a two-hour delay in being allowed inside), an announcement was made that the show would be postponed to the following night due to “technical difficulties”. News reports indicate that Metallica (or their representatives) were unhappy with the audio systems and the adequacy of the security barricade that would separate fans from the stage. It also turns out that the tour organizers (from an outfit called DNA Entertainment) had over-sold the 25,000-person capacity of the venue.
Many of the fans didn’t take the postyponement news very well, particularly when it was learned that Metallica was taking part in a press conference at the same time. Although most left the venue calmly when asked to do so, others rushed the stage, damaged equipment, and some even attempted to set fire to banners. And that led the organizers and Metallica to cancel the Gurgaon show altogether.
Early Saturday, police arrested the “operational head” of DNA Entertainment and three other company employees, charging them with fraud and cheating. (more after the jump, including video . . .) Continue reading »
Here we go again — the latest installment of this series in which we feature videos, images, and news items that we think are metal, even though they’re not music. I have five items for you today. They involve sharks in a trance, humans in a slingshot, ESPNS, a blue devil horse — and a trippy bonus item.
ITEM ONE
Cristina Zenato is an Italian scuba diver who has mastered an unusual (and certifiably insane) technique: she can put sharks into a trance. According to this article, she induces the “tonic” state in sharks by rubbing the “Ampullae of Lorenzini” — which is the name of hundreds of jelly-filled pores around the shark’s nose and mouth. Those pores act as electroreceptors that detect prey moving in the electromagnetic field around the shark – but also, for some reason rubbing them produces that “tonic” state.
A “tonic” state is a natural state of paralysis in sharks that lasts for about 15 minutes. It can happen when they’re turned upside down. It also appears to happen when you rub their Ampullae of Lorenzini. Of course, to rub those pours, you’ve got to put your hand really close to the part of the shark that can bite off your whole fucking arm.
Cristina Zenato isn’t quite as nuts as it might seem at first. Although she’s been working with sharks for more than 15 years, she still wears a chain link suit in case one of the animals is tempted to make a meal from her body parts. But watching what she does is still awe-inspiring. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »
Yesterday, in a post titled “Kill Me Now”, I inflicted injury on your eyes and ears by borrowing a music video I saw on MetalSucks by a Japanese band called Baby Metal. As it turns out, the Japanese aren’t the only people making metal for children (and adults with the minds of children). The Finns do it, too. But of course, being from the most metal country on Earth (which has been statistically proven), the Finns do it better.
Thanks to an e-mail I received this morning from an NCS reader named Ville, I’ve got three music videos plus one more song. The bands are called SauruXet, Hevisaurus, and Moottörin Jyrinä (“thunder of a motor”). I like the last band best, mainly because I’m dubious that dinosaurs can play metal. But fuck, it’s Finland, so maybe their dinosaurs can do that.
If this is what children in Finland listen to, that may help explain why 75% of Finnish children join metal bands when they get older. Watch this shit after the jump. Continue reading »