EYE-CATCHERS: BLOOD FREAK

 Eye-Catchers, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  42 Responses »
Apr 102011
 

I may not be able to write much during the next two weeks, but that doesn’t mean I’ll be completely invisible. Every now and then I’ll expose myself, figuratively speaking of course,  just so you don’t forget me. However, the exposures will mostly be fleeting, hit-and-run, guerilla-warfare incursions. In other words, my posts will be even more half-assed and unoriginal than usual. The only plus side for you is that they’ll be short.

This post will set the tone for more to come. First, it’s completely unoriginal — I stole the idea from The Living Doorway, which is a blog you should check out if you haven’t already. Second, it’s very short, because I haven’t even listened to the album in question, just the one song featured on The Living Doorway post. And third, because I wrote it, it will be half-assed by definition.

The band is Blood Freak, from Portland. The album is Mindscraper, now out on Willowtip Records. The song is “Pink on the Inside”. The style is “a splattery hodgepodge of bass-heavy goregrind, campy thrashiness, and grooving horror-fueled death metal.” I’m quoting The Living Doorway post because I can’t improve on that description. My own half-assed opinion? I love this song. You may listen to it after the jump. Continue reading »

PHRO’S FUN LIST OF SUMMER FESTIVAL BAND NAMES

 IQ Subtraction, Phro's Posts  9 Responses »
Apr 102011
 

(At least half of our posts for the next two weeks will be from a variety of guest contributors. For some demented reason, I picked this one to start off. It’s from our loyal reader Phro, an American living and working in Japan. The same day I got this from him, I also saw the new MetalSucks t-shirt, which is not only awesome, but (as you’ll see) it also fits uncannily with Phro’s post. By the way, if you have a weak stomach or any kind of sense of propriety, proceed at your own risk.)

Hi. My name is Phro, and I’m here to give you a list of the summer metal tours I found.

More importantly, I’ll be telling you what each band’s name really means. To give you a fair warning, all of them have something to do with octopus porn/orgies. I have no idea why. There’s clearly something wrong with the metal community. All of you sickos need to stop having sex with octopuses!!!

First up: the Rockstar Mayhem Festival! I’m pretty sure no one here will be terribly interested in this festival, but it was the first one to pop up on Google. And no one can thwart the will of the mighty Google, not even an inky, cum-covered tentacle.

Band names and their meanings (in relation to octoporn):  (after the jump, because the thought of putting this right on the NCS home page made your editor queasy) Continue reading »

METAL FROM SOUTH AFRICA

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  35 Responses »
Apr 092011
 

You say the words “death metal” — and I do mean “death metal”, not “melodic death metal” — to any metalhead who doesn’t like and appreciate the genre, and they’re likely to lump all of it together in one sweeping dismissal. Of course, as fans of the genre well know, “death metal” encompasses a great variety of sounds and styles. Sometimes the differences are subtle, particularly on the more “brutal” end of the spectrum, but the distinctions are what keep DM addicts diving back into the black pool over and over again.

Those thoughts have been rumbling around my head since I started listening to the music of three South African death metal bands, repeatedly, for this post. I’ve been sitting on music from two of those bands way too long without saying something about them. More recently, we were contacted by a third band from South Africa, and that finally pushed me to get this post done.

Before now, I think the only South African band we’ve featured at NCS has been the ingeniously named, bagpipe-driven Haggis and Bong (here, for example). I’m pretty sure I first heard about one of today’s threesome — All Forlorn — through a post by Haggis and Bong on their Facebook page. The other two — A Walk With the Wicked and Bile of Man — came our way via e-mails from the bands.

All three bands are loaded with talent, and two of the three have got music that’s available for free download. Following the jump are some thoughts about, and music from, each band, in the order in which we heard about them. Continue reading »

THIS AND THAT

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, That's Metal -- But It's Not Music  37 Responses »
Apr 082011
 

As I forecast, today I’m starting a two-week stretch when I probably won’t be able to write a new post every day. I have some longer posts about new music in the works that I haven’t been able to get done yet, though I hope I can finish some of them soon. But, because I’m running out of time, today’s post will be pretty random. I also hope you’ll find some fun in it.

I should have a few of my own posts to run here and there over the next two weeks, but you can expect lots of guest posts, too — because I’m fucking delighted to say that people have responded enthusiastically to my open appeal for help.  I’ve already received a half-dozen, I know more are coming from people who’ve e-mailed me, and I bet still more will arrive over the next two weeks that I’m not even expecting yet. If you want to do this, there’s still time. Just check out some “rules” here.

Now, for today: I’ve got something that could have fit quite nicely in a THAT’S METAL! post, but I haven’t yet collected enough other items to fill one out — so I’m using it today. But I also wanted to include some new metal, so this turned into just a random mishmash of unconnected stuff — a video about the latest dance/fashion craze from Matehuala, Mexico that you won’t fucking believe, and a brand new song from Scar Symmetry. Check it after the jump . . . Continue reading »

A GROWING APPRECIATION FOR THE FINER THINGS IN LIFE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  105 Responses »
Apr 072011
 

Liz is 25 years old. Two years ago, Liz had 40 songs on her iPod and “a graveyard of abandoned projects”. She found a book called 1001 Albums You Should Listen To Before You Die. The book starts with a Frank Sinatra album called In The Wee Small Hours from 1955 and goes up to 2007. On a day 516 days ago, Liz decided to start listening to all the albums in that book. She listens to one album each day, from start to finish, and then she writes her impressions in a blog. On May 6, 2012, if she keeps this up, she’ll have listened to someone’s idea of the best 1001 albums in history.

What caught my eye was that this list of 1001 albums includes some metal. I haven’t made my way through very many of Liz’s posts, but on April 2 (Day 513) she listened to The Number of the Beast by Iron Maiden and on March 26 (Day 510) she listened to Black Metal by Venom. By her own admission, Liz was in a “tiny music bubble” when she started this project. Whatever music was in the bubble with her, it’s fair to say that it didn’t include anything like Iron Maiden or Venom.

I like imagining how non-metalheads react when they listen to metal. Reading Liz’s take on these albums, seeing them through the eyes of someone who is new to the genre but is clearly doing her best to keep an open mind, is kind of fun. Of course, she hasn’t been converted — yet. It would have been better if she had found a list of the 1001 best extreme metal albums of all time and forced herself to do that for 1001 days, though she might have been hospitalized before finishing. Also, I’m not sure there are 1001 great extreme metal albums.

After the jump, you can see what she wrote about The Number of the Beast and Black Metal. You can also hear a brand new track from the Swedish band called Shining (not the Norwegian one by the same name) from their next album. I’m wondering how Liz would react to this beast of a song (it’s a fucking killer). Continue reading »

WAKE THE FUCK UP!

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  26 Responses »
Apr 062011
 

I’m not suggesting you’re asleep. That post title is the message I gave to myself, over and over again, this morning. It’s the middle of the damned week, and somehow I found myself over-doing it with old friends way past my usual bed-time, and I’m moving reeeeeally slowly this morning.

What I needed was a good jolt, a nasty steel-toed kick in the ass, a bucket of cold water over the head, a brisk slap in the face. But I contented myself instead with the music we’ve got for you this morning. It certainly woke me the fuck up.

We’ve got four offerings of jolting, ass-kicking, bracing, face-slapping music, including two new videos and some free download options, from Pain (Sweden), Wormrot (Singapore), Malfeitor (Sweden), and Kataklysm (Canada). Let’s get to it:

PAIN

Peter Tägtgren is best known for his work as a music producer and as the vocalist and guitarist for long-running Swedish luminaries Hypocrisy. But he’s had many other projects as well, and one of them is an outfit called Pain. That band has been around a long time, too, though I don’t think I’ve ever listened to the music. That’s now changed. Their 7th album is scheduled for release on June 3, and there’s now a new song available for free download.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

SEPTICFLESH: COVER ART FOR “THE GREAT MASS”

 Metal News  9 Responses »
Apr 052011
 

Seth Siro Anton is the harsh vocalist, bassist, and artistic mastermind behind Greek metal band SepticFlesh. He is also an accomplished artist whose work, both for SepticFlesh and many other bands, we featured in an earlier post. He created the cover art for the next album by SepticFlesh, The Great Mass, which will be released by Season of Mist on April 18 in Europe and one day later in the U.S.

SepticFlesh has been doling out pieces of the cover art over time, and today the entire work was unveiled.  Anton refers to it as a statue of “The Suicidal God”. We’ll leave the interpretations to others. It’s striking to look at — and if you really want to examine it in detail, go to the official SepticFlesh site (here) where you will see a much larger image of the artwork. If we’re understanding the plans correctly, parts of this image will appear as the covers to various editions of the album, plus the dustjacket of an artbook edition.

LOUDBLAST! (A MINDLESS MEDITATION ON THE MARKETING OF METAL)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  27 Responses »
Apr 052011
 

Can we talk? I hope so. I had an experience yesterday that made me think about the marketing of metal bands, the do’s and the don’ts. And I’d like to vent a bit. You can talk back to me if you like, either under your breath or in the comments.

I saw a blurb on Blabbermouth about a French band called Loudblast. I got interested immediately because of the band’s name. I thought, this band’s name sums up my interest in metal, in one word: I like music that’s loud and blasts. Maybe my taste is s a little more nuanced than that, but if I’m brutally honest with myself, those are two key ingredients. In fact, those are often the only ingredients I need. Plus, the band is from France, and these days French metal bands are coming damned close to the Finns — they almost do no wrong.

So, I continued reading that Blabbermouth blurb. I learned that this band called Loudblast has a new album called Frozen Moments Between Life And Death due for release on April 18 via XIII Bis Records. Plus, the album has a cool piece of cover art. Plus, the album was mixed by Peter Tägtgren. And all that piqued my interest even more.

The blurb said the CD will be released in Germany, Austria, “Benelux”, Switzerland, Spain, the U.K., and Ireland. Uh, what? No mention of the U.S. and Canada? Well, that sometimes happens with some European bands and their labels. It’s like they’re trying to send the message to metalnuts in NorthAm, “You’re ugly and you smell like my rectum, and fuck you with a rusty crowbar.”

But I’m not offended. I get insulted or ignored all the fucking time. So I continued reading and learned that there’s a song from this album called “Emptiness Crushes My Soul” that’s streaming “exclusively” at a web site called RadioMetal.com. And that’s where the shit really started to piss me off.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

HELP A BROTHER OUT (AGAIN)

 Uncategorized  19 Responses »
Apr 042011
 

I’m about to hit a stretch of time when my ability to post new shit on this site every day will be imperiled. No need to bore you with details, but the bottom line is that between April 8 and April 21, the odds are that I won’t have time to write for NCS every day. We do have some pieces in the works from our regular contributors, but there’s still a risk of missing a day.

I’d hate like hell to have that happen. We haven’t missed a single day since starting this thing in November ’09. So, I’m once again making an open appeal for guest posts. Last time I did this, in November 2010, it worked out great, and I’m hoping for another great response now.

As before, guest submissions can be long or short — whatever you have time to create. They can be notes about a concert, an album review, a piece designed to bring a relatively unknown band to a broader audience, thoughts about the scene or recent news blurbs, something in the vein of our “THAT’S METAL!” posts or one of our other regular features — or anything else that’s related to metal that strikes your fancy. It can even be something you’ve already written for another blog or for your own that you might like to expose to a different audience.

Sending me your submissions before April 8 would be ideal, but not an absolute requirement. If this interests you, a few other things you need to know are after the jump. Continue reading »

OBSCURA’S “OMNIVIUM”: A CRITIQUE

 Album Reviews  10 Responses »
Apr 042011
 

(Regular NCS contributor BadWolf provides this critique of the new album by Germany’s Obscura.)

Simon Reynolds did an absolutely fantastic history of Drum N’ Bass/Dubstep (and all their subgenres) in The Wire magazine (thanks again, Michelle!). It is some of the best music journalism I know. An integral piece of his argument is that illicit drugs have an intimate relationship with the modern evolution of music. Stoner Metal’s existence is evidence that this phenomenon is present in metal as well.

If this is true, Obscura’s Omnivium is a strong case that death metal is fundamentally a house divided by preferences in substance abuse. To me, Bolt Thrower, Cannibal Corpse and Entombed are fundamentally barbiturate music (“We drink n’ drink n’ drink n’ drink n’ fight…”), while the bands that are Obscura’s obvious progenitors are, to me, death metal of hallucination.

Obscura have dropped the cold amphetamine speed of their previous disc Cosmogenesis, (which I enjoy more retroactively now that I have listened to Omnivium) and embraced psychedelia. Omnivium does not view time and space as limitations, but things to confuse the listener with. And how like a hallucinogen, prolonged exposure to Omnivium is first and foremost disorienting.

As their peers in Krallice are doing (according to an article in the new Decibel), Obscura have focused on the dissonant melodic elements present in old school DM, and rather than used them as breath-catching reprieves, have made them the complete focus of their sound. I would place these two bands, along with perhaps Decrepit Birth, at the forefront of a modern technical psychedelic metal movement as distinct from more minimalist bands too obvious to mention. (more after the jump . . . ) Continue reading »

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