UPDATES: THE HAUNTED AND ULVER

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  23 Responses »
Feb 242011
 

We’ve got a couple of quick updates for you about bands we like (used to like?), one of which we’ve been writing about recently — The Haunted and Ulver. The cause for the updates? Both bands have recently made brand new songs available for streaming; in The Haunted’s case, it’s the third song to be released from their forthcoming album.

The verdict? Well, there’s good news and bad news.

THE HAUNTED

Previously, we’ve featured the first two songs from The Haunted’s new album, due for release next month: “No Ghost” and, as recently as yesterday, “Disappear”. Today, the band put up the new album’s title track, “Unseen”, for streaming on their Facebook page.

The good news is that if you like Chevelle-style hard rock with metal riffs and clean singing, you will like the new song. It’s probably better than whatever is topping the hard rock charts these days, but honestly, I wouldn’t know because I don’t get near that kind of music any more.  The bad news? (more after the jump, including Ulver’s new track . . .) Continue reading »

ULCERATE: THE DESTROYERS OF ALL

 Album Reviews  11 Responses »
Feb 242011
 

(Today, NCS contributor BadWolf reviews the new album by New Zealand’s Ulcerate.)

Give it up for New Zealand’s Ulcerate for knowing how to throw a curveball at me. The band is signed to Willowtip, my go-to label for death metal that has as much Dillinger Escape Plan in the mix as Cannibal Corpse. When I see Willowtip on a CD, I expect winding technical and chaotic riffage (on bass and drums, as well as guitars) to force my skull into a state of rapid decompression. In effect, I fully expect their records to be all experience and no songwriting—in this case the experience of being “that guy” in Scanners.

The Destroyers of All does nothing of the sort. Instead, it bakes its listener to death—a fitting follow-up to their last album, Everything is Fire. The album is in every possible way comparable to a desert, so much so that I want Ulcerate to do the soundtrack to the next stupid adaptation of Dune—this is the sound of wandering sand-worms. The song structures are vast and majestic, and make good use of so-called negative space. The last record burned the earth; this record sifts through the cinders at a leisurely (torturous) pace.

As has been pretty openly stated over at Invisible Oranges, this is a death metal record made by people who like “-post,” metal. That is to say, it has songs with long and irregular structures without refrains or choruses, and a general sense of minimalism.

Full disclosure: I am a filthy, filthy whore for this sort of thing. Neurosis and Isis make me shiver with anticipation when the proper mood strikes. I even like long-form repetitive black metal (Dear Wolves in the Throne Room, play Ohio, you bastards!). Coincidentally, I feel the same way about films with long, majestic shots of deserts. Yes, I am that asshole, and this album seems tailor-made to suit my taste.  (more after the jump, including a track to stream . . .) Continue reading »

EYE-CATCHERS (Part 5)

 Eye-Catchers  31 Responses »
Feb 232011
 

Fuck me, I just realized a couple days ago that it’s been almost eight months since the last time we did one of these EYE-CATCHERS posts. I guess it was always a variant on the MISCELLANY posts, and that series has continued while this one languished — until today.

In case you’ve forgotten, EYE-CATCHERS was both an experiment and a vehicle for discovering new music. The experiment was designed to test the completely illogical hypothesis that cool album art tends to correlate with cool music. There’s really no reason why the two should go together, but in my experience, they do, more often than not.

Of course, my experience has been completely anecdotal, with no statistical significance behind it at all. Undoubtedly the day will come when I’ll see a cool cover and then run for the vomitorium after I start listening to the tunes. But from the time when we started this experiment last April until it petered out in July, most of our test cases validated the hypothesis.

Today we’re reviving the experiment. It’s also yet another random way to make listening choices from the enormous pile of metal that’s constantly accumulating here. For those of us at NCS, randomness is appealing because we like surprises, and also because our lives are pretty much a collection of random experiences anyway.

So, today’s test cases for this renewed experiment are Illdisposed (a venerable band from Denmark who’ve got a new album coming); Blaspherian, from Texas (who also have a new album on the way); and a Finnish band called The Undivine. After the jump, we’ll reveal our test results and provide you the musical evidence, too. Continue reading »

NEW SONG FROM THE HAUNTED

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  16 Responses »
Feb 222011
 

Sweden’s The Haunted have a new album — Unseen — scheduled for release by Century Media next month. In late January, we featured a new song called “No Ghost” from the album that the band performed live on Swedish TV, and then added to that videos of other songs from the band’s diverse history of music (here).

Last night The Haunted premiered yet another new song from Unseen on a BBC radio program, which allegedly will be streaming on the BBC site for the next six days (though we couldn’t find a live streaming link). But we’ve also got a YouTube clip of the song, as ripped from the radio show, for you to hear.

The album art for Unseen has also become available since our last post, which you can see above. It’s by a friend of the band named Frode, who also did the art for the band’s rEVOLVEr album (2004). We’re not sure what the butterfly-wings-plus-grasping-hand imagery means, but we like the color scheme, especially because it resembles our own.

As for the song, it doesn’t sound anything like “No Ghost” — but as we said in the earlier post, you never really know what you’re going to get from this band. This one is pretty straight-up hard rock. It’s got a heavy undercarriage with some nice lead guitar phrases and a compulsive rhythm section, but there’s nothing but clean singing.  Sigh.  Listen after the jump . . . Continue reading »

DEVILDRIVER: BEAST

 Album Reviews  43 Responses »
Feb 222011
 

(NCS contributor BadWolf weighs in with his review of the new album by DevilDriver — which debuts today in its official release.)

The American melodic metalcore wave was (can we say “was” now? I think we can) unstable. The bands that, to me at the time, seemed like the true spearheads of the genre, the artistic and energetic studs, fell off the map fast. Killswitch had two back-to-back classics, one after a lead vocalist swap, and then became lost in their own shtick. Trivium (whose Ascendancy record is the wave’s crest as far as I’m concerned) became lost in other people’s shtick. As far as I’m concerned, all As I Lay Dying had was shtick in the first place. Shtick and lots of frosting to cover up the sour Christian taste.

Half a decade later and on the same day, two bands I had pegged for second tier at best are releasing two consistent records. Slow and steady wins the race; both are solid. Andy Synn’s taking on Darkest Hour’s new record (here), so I’m going head to head with DevilDriver’s Beast.

It is one fun fight. Darkest Hour write breakup records, pure and simple. So what kind of records do DevilDriver write? Workout records. And the best thing I can say about and to describe Beast is that it makes me want to pump iron and hit things for its entire duration.  (more after the jump, including a track to hear . . .) Continue reading »

DARKEST HOUR: THE HUMAN ROMANCE

 Album Reviews  21 Responses »
Feb 222011
 

Our UK contributor Andy Synn checks in for the second day in a row — this time with a review of Darkest Hour‘s latest album, The Human Romance, which is being released today.

Seven albums. Seven full-length albums of original songs. That’s a lot of material, stemming from Darkest Hour’s punky early origins to the more streamlined and expansive sound of modern times, touching base with hardcore, thrash and death metal along the way. After all this time, however, it wouldn’t be blasphemous to wonder if the band still have anything left to offer that is in any way better or different.

Thankfully, the answer to that question is yes, with perhaps a greater emphasis on the “better” rather than the “different”. Although definitely more aggressive than any of their post-Hidden Hands… albums (although this was hinted at by The Eternal Return), The Human Romance also sees the band using the means and methods of their traditional sound and song-writing style to explore different melodic textures.

Despite some initial reservations about the band potentially repeating song structures and styles from their previous releases, I have found the album to be a more intelligent, refined variation on their core sounds. Some sophisticated new elements are utilised in an unobtrusive manner, so that the album, whilst fiery and heavy, is most rewarding after repeat listens. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

IS THERE AN EXORCIST IN THE HOUSE?

 Metal News  8 Responses »
Feb 212011
 

The reason we ask that question is because Between the Buried and Me has possessed this poor dog. You’ll see what we mean in a minute.

But first, the breaking news that caused us to add this post today. And yes, the news would be hot enough to warrant a post even if we hadn’t seen what happened to this poor dog.

The news is that Between the Buried and Me has signed a worldwide recording contract with Metal Blade Records, and Metal Blade will be releasing the band’s next album on April 12 of this year. It will be called The Parallax: Hypersleep Dialogues, and it will be the band’s first album since 2009’s The Great Misdirect. Like everything else this ground-breaking band has done, it surely will be talked about far and wide. We will certainly have something to say about it.

And now, back to that poor dog. The image is a frame-shot from a little video teaser for that new album which was released a bit earlier today. It includes a little burst of new BTBAM music — just enough to get us panting for the album (though to be fair, we pant a lot most of the time anyway). Wonder if the album will cause this kind of possessed behavior in listeners?  2011 could be a big year for exorcists.

Now, go watch the video after the jump. You’ll be glad you did. There is no clean singing on it (that’s an understatement).

UPDATE: Dates and places for BTBAM’s headlining tour in support of the album are now out — and available after the jump.
Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 6: HACRIDE

 THE SYNN REPORT  5 Responses »
Feb 212011
 

In this latest edition of The Synn Report, our UK contributor Andy Synn focuses on the music of Hacride.

France has given us so many great things. Art, architecture, literature… fine wine, beautiful women, pain au chocolat…. but more important than all of these things, France has given us some great metal over the years.

From the more well-known of today’s metal acts, like Gojira and Deathspell Omega, to lesser known (but no less stellar) bands like Scarve and Alcest, even through to newer, up-and-coming bands such as The Bridal Procession, the country has a rich and vibrant metal scene. Interestingly enough, though, the bands who have broken through to greater exposure often seem to have very little in common.

Prog-metal artistes Hacride are another great name to add to the list of internationally renowned French metal acts. Formed in 2001 the band have so far produced 3 albums of modernised, progressively structured, technically gifted, avant-garde death metal. Though the core elements of heavy, crushing guitars, weaving bass, pummelling drums and raw, over-wrought vocals are all very much present and correct, the songs themselves are put together in a much less standard and predictable fashion. Utilising an array of different additional instrumentation, along with prominent keyboards and synthesisers, the band carefully fashion long, epic songs juxtaposing moments of cool ambience with fiery polemic and vicious metallic clamouring. Continue reading »

NEWS FROM ALL OVER: THE LATEST WORD FROM GLASGOW

 Metal News  6 Responses »
Feb 202011
 

Let me get this out of the way, so people won’t misinterpret this post: Although I have only a few drops of Scottish blood in my mongrel lineage, I love Scotland, bagpipes, the poetry and lyrics of Robert Burns, single malt whiskey, and even the taste of haggis. I’m also a huge fan of Glasgow death-metal band Man Must Die (witness this post from December 2009).

I also like to hear Scots talk — though in terms of their intelligibility to my American ears, they might as well be speaking Swahili at least half the time. Seriously, the accent is fucking dense. It’s thick enough that you could cut it with a carving knife.

So, even though I’m not a big fan of video reports from the studio that lots of metal bands release these days to build interest in their forthcoming albums, I just couldn’t resist the temptation to watch the one that Man Must Die just put up — partly because I wanted to catch a glimpse of the new music and partly because I just wanted to hear these dudes talk.

It cracked me up, and I’ve got to share it. It also reminded me how good this band is, so I’ve got a song for you, and it also reminded me of another Scottish-themed video clip (this one is intentionally funny) that I’ll throw into the mix.  (after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

METAL FROM MALTA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  13 Responses »
Feb 192011
 

I think of metal as an island haven in an ocean of musical dreariness. I also like real islands, in addition to metaphorical ones. You probably never would have guessed that.

Malta is an archipelago of real islands, with an incredibly rich history, located in the Mediterranean about 58 miles (93 km) south of Sicily. It’s also an independent nation. According to The Font of All Human Knowledge, it’s total land area is only about 120 square miles (316 square km), making it one of the smallest and most densely populated countries on earth (with a total population of about 410,000).

Simply because of its size, it’s one of those places, among others we’ve covered in the past, that’s probably not an ideal launching pad for a metal band. But that hasn’t stopped the two bands we’re featuring in this post: Abysmal Torment and For the Godless.

Those bands share a drummer — Max Vassallo — with whom we had the pleasure of swapping e-mails recently, and both bands also happen to play badass metal. We’ve got some news about these bands, plus some of their music, after the jump. Continue reading »

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