DIMMU WILL ENTHRONE DARKNESS TRIUMPHANT

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  11 Responses »
Oct 242011
 

I’m writing this post just to show how much we here at NCS love all of our European brethren and sistern (sistern?) even though we are not ourselves European and even when we also want to hate our European brethren and sistern because of opportunities they have that we lack. Such as this opportunity:

Dimmu Borgir will be playing a series of shows during the month of November at nothing but small clubs in the UK, Ireland, and on the Continent. There will be no support acts. Each performance will consist of two sets. In the first set, the band will play one album in its entirety. It won’t be the latest album. It will be . . . wait for it . . .  1997’s Enthrone Darkness Triumphant. Color me green with envy.

The second set will be a selection of Dimmu “classics” from a variety of other albums in their substantial discography.

After the jump, you can see all the dates and places where Dimmu will be doing this. We’re also including links to places where you can buy tickets, though I suspect tickets will be tough to come by. Good luck. Also after the jump, because I’m now thinking about this, two tracks to stream from Enthrone Darkness Triumphant. Continue reading »

MORE MONDAY GOODIES

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Oct 242011
 

It’s shaping up to be a very metal week. On top of everything else we’ve done so far today, I’ve discovered new music and videos from three bands whose music I admire, and so I’m just going to stitch them together in this post, and then wait to see what else comes our way before the day is over.

First up is a brand new official video from Darkest Hour, for a song called “Your Everyday Disaster” off the latest album (The Human Romance, reviewed by our own Andy Synn here). I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve witnessed a Darkest Hour live show, but I never get tired of it. Those dudes never fail to bring it, with a blast of high-intensity energy. The strobe-like editing of the video (which includes “backstage” clips as well as live shots) captures something of that adrenaline-charged experience.

After that, I’ve got a new song from a Hungarian band called Meankind, whose free debut EP TheMadIsraeli reviewed here. That review, by the way, includes a speed-chess video for a Meankind song called “Incomprehensible Appetite”, which is still one of my favorites this year. The new song is called “Mantrap”. It’s more speedy, hard-hitting Meankind death metal.

And last, but not least, we have the latest offering from RXYZYXR. The last time we featured this multinational group (here), we were having fun with a new video for a song called “Nonzero” — still a blast of a video to watch and a blast of a song to hear. Now, the band have put up for streaming a re-worked version of a song called “Fractal Scout”, which originally appeared on their instrumental-only, four-song debut EP, Geometrical Metal. The new version includes vocals by Thomas Wills, who became part of this project after the EP was first released. Thomas’ vocals include lots of cleans, but we’re making an exception to our usual rule, because we like this song.

All these goodies are after the jump . . . Continue reading »

ANIMALS AS LEADERS: “WEIGHTLESS”

 Album Reviews  8 Responses »
Oct 242011
 

(Today is something of a rare instrumental metal day at NCS. Following our review of the new album by Odyssey, TheMadIsraeli provides some thoughts about the sophomore effort from another NCS favorite, Animals As Leaders.)

Animals as Leaders, and more importantly Tosin Abasi, proved themselves to be quite the anomaly when they released their self-titled debut in 2009. The trio’s combo of instrumental djent, jazz and electronic music in tandem with Abasi’s top-notch proficiency in the shred department created a sound completely unique at the time. Now we have Animals As Leaders (or AAL from here on) laying on us a new album of musical mindfuckery by the name of Weightless, and I’m telling you now, this album is a trip.

Weightless takes the formula established on AAL’s debut and ratchets everything up to 11 — not doing anything dramatically new, but making a tried-and-true sound even better than it was originally. This enhancement is instantly apparent in opener “An Infinite Regression”. After an eerie, tapping intro, AAL blasts open the door with cacophonous drumming and noisy, low-end, 8-string tapping, and the stage is set for the song’s main melody, a quite apprehensive and dark one at that.

Throughout the elaborate melodic layers of Weightless, there is a pronounced feel of a dreamlike state, but it all comes with an overhanging sense of tension. Songs like “Earth Departure” demonstrate this perfectly, whereas other pieces like “Odessa” simply step into the brain with the kind of twistingly atonal-and-then-melodic back-and-forth that only the best of jazz fusion usually musters. Other songs such as “Do Not Go Gently” prove AAL’s ability to convey a mood and tell a story by the cadence of the song alone, the melodies and rhythms both contemplative in their nature but otherwise functioning as quite separate entities, like two streams of thought meeting and becoming one. Continue reading »

BIRDS ON THE WIRES

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Oct 242011
 

I found this on a fascinating web site called The Ark In Space. One day a dude named Jarbas Agnelli saw a picture of birds on electric wires in a newspaper he was reading — the same picture you’re seeing in the top half of the frame up above. He noticed that the positions of the birds looked like a piece of musical notation.  So, he decided to see what kind of melody might be created based on the position of the birds on the wires, as shown in the photo.

He contacted the photographer who had taken the original picture, who also became intrigued by Agnelli’s idea.  That led to a further story in the newspaper, and Agnelli pursued his idea diligently, creating an animation based on the photo, accompanied by the musical score he created based on the birds’ positions. He says there is absolutely no Photoshopping involved here — that the melody is created from the exact positions of the birds on the wires.  Check it out after the jump.

Now, this was so cool that that we here at NCS decided to do something similar with . . . other birds. You can also see and hear the results of our experiment after the jump. Continue reading »

ODYSSEY: “AN ABSTRACT EXISTENCE”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Oct 242011
 

The human voice is a powerful musical instrument. In fact, as an instrument for conveying emotion, it’s unmatched by any human-made device, because it’s the sound of . . . us. By definition, if you take it away from an ensemble of instruments, the music loses something irreplaceable.

This is true even in the case of extreme metal. In extreme music with harsh vocals, the capacity of a voice to express human emotion is constricted by comparison to music with clean vocals. Nuance and range are greatly reduced, and in most instances the emotion-triggering effect of the lyrics themselves is lost because the words are unintelligible. On the other hand, harsh vocals are very effective (more so than clean vocals) as instruments for expressing certain emotions — such as rage, frustration, and anguish — and for producing in the listener a sense of danger and dread. Take them away, and once again you lose something irreplaceable.

Orchestral music compensates for the lack of voices with an extensive array of human-made instruments, affording a lush palette of tones that can be combined in a multitude of ways. That may be one reason why many instrumental metal bands use synthesizers to reproduce the sonic variety and power of a symphony orchestra. But you take away the synths as well as the voices, and strip the instrumentation down to guitars, drums, and a bass, and you’re then placing considerable demands on the songwriting skill and performance chops of a band.

I suppose, for these reasons, I rarely find instrumental metal that jumps up and grabs my interest. But An Abstract Existence, the new album from a three-piece, no-vocals, no-synth band called Odyssey, has done that. I haven’t been this captivated by an instrumental album since 2009, when Animals As Leaders debuted and Scale the Summit released Carving Desert Canyons. Continue reading »

KARTIKEYA: “DURGA PUJA”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  7 Responses »
Oct 242011
 

(We’ve run several features about the new EP from Russia’s Kartikeya, but haven’t yet reviewed it. TheMadIsraeli fills that gap today — plus, he’s arranged for us to bring you a download of the EP itself.)

My review of Kartikeya’s sophomore album Mahayuga was only the beginning of a love affair with this ethnic death metal band for us at NCS.  With that album, this Moscow outfit proved that there was more than just a little life left in death metal, providing an insanely eccentric take on the genre that incorporated heavy Vedic instrumentation and themes.  Now Kartikeya have unleashed a new EP upon us in the form of Durga Puja, and once again it displays the high quality they’ve already become known for in their short time as a band:  One totally new song, two totally rewritten songs from their debut The Battle Begins, a live track, and two top notch covers.

Durga Puja opens with the track of the same name.  The song really strikes a chord of Roots-era Sepultura (an album I love and one that was shamefully derided to begin with), but with the ethnic elements all over the place in classic Kartikeya fashion.  The mood of this song builds upon the more tribal-sounding aspects of their ethnic influences, creating a syncopated, metal-might-filled war dance of a track.  Probably my favorite part of this song is the breakdown, with chanting that is perfectly in sync with the guitar rhythm and the violin section that precedes it.  Very cool song and a bit different for Kartikeya.

“Enter My Dome” is one of the rewritten songs off their debut The Battle Begins.  Anyone who listened to that album will know that the music was great, yet underdeveloped.  This song now feels truly complete and truly Kartikeya in body and soul.  Transposed to 7 string guitars, made faster, with heftier grooves and epic new synths, this song blasts and brutalizes away.  This is definitely my favorite track on the EP.  (more after the jump, including music . . .) Continue reading »

SON OF AURELIUS THROWS A CURVEBALL

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Oct 232011
 

The 2010 debut album from California’s Son of Aurelius, The Farthest Reaches, drew an avalanche of critical acclaim and enthusiastic fan response. It made several of the Top 10 lists we published at the end of that year, including one from our own Andy Synn, who wrote this: “Son Of Aurelius have come seemingly out of nowhere with an epic, heroic take on the technical death metal genre, impressing nigh on everyone whom they have encountered. The songs on The Farthest Reaches have a character and individuality not usually found in the sort of music which usually contains technical wizardry of this level.”

So, when Son of Aurelius makes new music available, we sit up and pay attention, like good, obedient bloodhounds. That’s what happened today: Son of Aurelius started streaming a “pre-production” track off their next album. It’s called “Strange Aeons”, and it’s a strange choice as a musical tease for the next album. There are no vocals and no technical “wow” factor. It’s mid-paced, with prominent synthetic keyboards, and drums that sound programmed (though I doubt they are, with a beast like Spencer Edwards in the line-up).

In short, it sounds like a dreamlike mood-piece or instrumental interlude. Perhaps the plan is to add vocals later, but I can’t see vocals fitting with this music. As it is, it’s mildly interesting, but at least for me, nothing more than that. Have a listen after the jump and tell me if I’m a fuck for reacting so placidly.

By the way, is that an ass-kicking piece of artwork up there or what? I found it on SoA’s facebook page, but I don’t know what it is. New album cover maybe? And by the way (again), there’s no news I’ve seen about when the new album will be finished. Continue reading »

EYE-CATCHERS: GOJIRA

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Oct 232011
 

I’m afraid I don’t have any new Gojira music for you today. The wait for the Sea Shepherd EP continues . . .

BUT, I do have new Gojira artwork for you. Today, the band made available for free download a pack of 5 wallpaper images, the first of which is up above. They are all cooooool.

You can download them by going to THIS PAGE.

After the jump, the rest of the wallpaper art . . . and an old Gojira song, because I really can’t be mentioning Gojira without music. Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 38: THE 11TH HOUR, SACRAMENT OV IMPURITY, AND ÖXXÖ XÖÖX

 Exceptions to the Rule, MISCELLANY  3 Responses »
Oct 232011
 

I know regular readers must get tired of me explaining what this MISCELLANY game is about, but amazingly, the traffic on our site continues to increase, providing further proof that there are many confused people in the world. For the benefit of new readers, therefore, I continue to explain:

We keep an ever-growing list of bands whose music we’ve never heard. The names come from many sources, including the bands themselves. Every now and then, when time permits, I randomly grab some names off the list and listen to a song or two from each one. I then babble about what I heard in these MISCELLANY posts and play the songs for you, because no one could possibly be so confused that they would just take my word for something without listening for themselves.

For this post, the names I chose were The 11th Hour (The Netherlands), Sacrament Ov Impurity (U.S.-Washington), and Öxxö Xööx (France).  Here we go:

THE 11TH HOUR

I heard about this band via an e-mail from NCS curmudgeon reader Kevin. This wasn’t quite the stab in the dark that most of my MISCELLANY picks are, because every tip Kevin has given me so far has turned out to be a winner. Also, this band has an impressive pedigree. The main man is Ed Warby, whose name you may recognize from Hail of Bullets, Demiurge, Gorefest, and many other past projects. He handles all the instruments on the recorded songs, as well as clean vox. Harsh vocals were provided on the band’s sole album by Rogga Johansson (Demiurge, Bone Gnawer, Ribspreader, and many more). So, I figured the odds were good that I was going to warm up to this music.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

IMMOLATION: “PROVIDENCE”

 Album Reviews  11 Responses »
Oct 232011
 

(We’re fortunate to have a return visit from our guest contributor The Baby Killer, with his review of the new Immolation EP released for free by Scion A/V.)

We all love hearing success stories in death metal; bands withstanding the test of time and consistently pumping out quality tunes for years and years. Everyone knows the big names like Cannibal Corpse, Suffocation et al, but one name you don’t hear often enough is Immolation. More than two decades have passed since the band first put music to tape, and they’re still standing strong, ready and willing to go toe-to-toe with any modern death metal band, and as their brand new EP Providence shows, these New York veterans still pack a mean punch.

If one were to sum up this EP in one word, it would have to be “ominous”. Each of the five songs has its own individual flow and feel, but they are all tied together by a sense of foreboding, something Immolation have always been good at capturing in their music. From the opening track “What They Bring” to the closer “Swallow the Fear”, the band’s twenty-plus years of expertise in all things dark and evil shines through, permeating everything from Ross Dolan’s signature monstrous growls to the beefy, precise drumming of Steve Shalaty. Many newer bands would do well to take notes on Immolation, because if you’re trying to sound evil, it’s not about how low your guitar is tuned or how many dead priests you have on your album art — it’s about the tone, pure and simple.

Another thing that stood out to me about Providence was that it seems to follow a much steadier beat than the majority of the band’s previous efforts. When they first came around, Immolation were notorious for their syncopation and unconventional time signatures (I’m pretty sure “No Jesus No Beast” is in 3/3, or something close to it), but this time around they seem more focused on creating a steady, driving rhythm tailor-made for head banging and scene-kid stomping. This is obviously not a bad thing, though, and for two reasons. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

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