NO CLEAN SINGING

MYTHIC METAL: EAST MEETS WEST

Feb 122011

While scanning through Blabbermouth yesterday, I came across items about two bands who are from very different cultures but who both find musical inspiration in myths: Finland’s Crimfall and Singapore’s Rudra. Both bands have new albums on the way, and I thought they’d make an interesting compare-and-contrast feature. So, here we go:

CRIMFALL

Finland’s Crimfall falls into the category of Northern European folk metal, and in particular, a style that uses contrasting vocals — here, Helena Haaparanta‘s clean soprano, which is one source of the music’s folk sound, and Mikko Häkkinen‘s icy black-metal rasp. The band released a debut album in 2009 called As the Path Unfolds . . . as a three-piece unit (those two vocalists plus band-founder Jakke Viitala), with help from session musicians.

Since then, the band has filled out with the addition of a permanent drummer (Janne Jukarainen) and bassist (Miska Sipiläinen), and I remember seeing a performance video by the full band of a song from the debut sometime last year. Crimfall have now completed a second album (The Writ of Sword) due for a March 23 release on Spineform Records.

What drew my attention to the news about the next release was the line-up of guests who appear on the album — Tapio Wilska (Survivors Zero), Ville Sorvali (Moonsorrow), Mathias “Vreth” Lillmåns (Finntroll), Mathias Nygård and Olli Vänskä from Turisas, and Trollhorn (Finntroll, Moonsorrow). Pretty attention-grabbing list, huh? Also, it was mastered by Sweden’s masterful Jens Bogren (Opeth, Spoilwork, Katatonia, Bloodbath, and many others). (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

MORE DOG SHIT

IQ Subtraction, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 7 Responses »

Feb 112011

NCS is going to the dogs today. Within an hour of putting up our first post, which featured dog balls and Bury Your Dead, I saw this awesome video. It was like serendipity. Or synchronicity. I can never remember the difference between those words, though I like both of them. Anyway, I felt like someone was trying to tell me something. Someone was saying, “you shall make NCS all about dogs today”. And I am obeying.

The song on this video is by August Burns Red, a band that all three of your NCS co-founders like a bunch. It’s called “The Eleventh Hour” and it’s on the band’s 2007 album, Messengers. It’s a good song. It would be worth hearing again today even if the video image were just an unchanging black screen. But what goes on in this video is funny as shit to watch. The guy who’s operating the dog’s paws is clearly a drummer (though I don’t think it’s ABR’s Matt Greiner, despite a resemblance) and clearly knows the drum track on this song pretty damned well. And the changing expressions on the dog’s face are priceless (particularly the teeth-baring).

You know he’s a good dog, because although you can see that he’d like to bite the shit out of the dude’s hands, he’s holding back.

P.S. Someone out there is going to be offended by this. I’m pretty soft-hearted when it comes to animals and pretty sensitive when it comes to human abuse of animals, but there’s no real harm done here.

DOG BALLS (THE CURE TO LONELINESS)

IQ Subtraction, Metal News 10 Responses »

Feb 112011

Here at NCS, we cater to all kinds of literary tastes. For example, if you visited us yesterday, you could have read Andy Synn‘s sophisticated, eloquently written, detailed analysis of an entire discography of music created by a great band (Iskald), including a review of the band’s new album. On the other hand, now that I’ve got my claws back on the tiller, the good ship NCS is running aground on the sandbar of this post about . . . dog balls.

Usually, you’d have to threaten rectal impalement to get me to watch a video about a metal band’s recording sessions. You know what I mean — those kinds of videos are usually pretty awful. For me, what counts is the music that comes out at the end of the process, not the process itself or the commentary that usually accompanies the process. I’m just not rabid enough in my fandom to watch every fucking thing that band members say and do just because they’re in a band whose music kicks ass.

But, there are exceptions to every rule, and one of my exceptions is Bury Your Dead. That’s because what happened to that band a couple years ago was the trigger event that caused us to launch this site. For fuck’s sake, the replacement of vocalist Mat Bruso with Myke Terry is what caused us to name this site NO CLEAN SINGING. And if you have no idea what I’m babbling about, read this.

So, you better believe that we’re going to cover the saga of Mat rejoining BYD and the recording of BYD’s next album in excruciating detail — including recording-session videos that begin with images of big hairy dog balls. And that may not even be the worst thing you’ll see in this video (which you can watch after the jump, unless your personal standards have already sent you off to another web site). Continue reading »

AMON AMARTH DON’T NEED NO FUCKING SUPPORT

Metal News 13 Responses »

Feb 102011

You knew the Vikings were coming, and now there’s confirmation. Amon Amarth have just announced their 2011 U.S. headlining tour. Usually, the word “headlining” implies that other bands will be following along in the caravan, but this tour is a different kind of animal — because Amon Amarth will be playing without any supporting acts.

It will be called “An Evening With AMON AMARTH” — which sounds more like dinner theater or a Vegas lounge act by some over-the-hill solo vocalist than the kind of titanic ass-kicking that’s really in store for us. What we’ll get will be two separate sets each night: In one set, the band will play the forthcoming Surtur Rising album in its entirety. In the other, the band will presumably play a setlist of songs from their previous discography.

The marauding is scheduled to kick off on April 14 in Chicago, Illinois and close in Philadelphia on May 7. Sadly for our brothers and sisters north of the border, there are no Canadian dates. The whole schedule is right after the jump. Continue reading »

CHILDREN OF BODOM: UGLY

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 2 Responses »

Feb 102011

We’ve had previous discussions in these pages about the changes in Children of Bodom‘s music over time, and there seems to be a general feeling of nervousness about the quality of the band’s next album, Relentless Reckless Forever, which will be released on March 8 — particularly because the first single, “Was It Worth It?”, was an underwhelming effort.

Today, the band officially put up a second single from the album for streaming on their Facebook page — though as far as I can tell, you have to “share” the thing on your own page in order to hear it. Then, of course, I found out the song has unofficially been up on YouTube for almost a solid week. A few other metal blogs tuned in to that development before we did, but maybe you’re just as slow on the uptake as we are. And just in case you haven’t already heard the song, you can listen to it after the jump.

And just to be clear, no matter whether you think (like we do) that the band’s music has become increasingly formulaic and — dare we say it — more like heavy-metal pop music than we ever thought possible, this is still Children of Bodom and we WILL still listen when they come out with new music. And, as it happens, this newest song — called “Ugly” — is a big step up from “Was It Worth It?” Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT, PART 5: ISKALD

THE SYNN REPORT 6 Responses »

Feb 102011

(EDITOR’S NOTE: Our UK contributor Andy Synn returns with another edition of The Synn Report. This edition serves as part retrospective and part review of Iskald’s newest CD, The Sun I Carried Alone, which has just been released.)

Primarily described as a Black/Thrash hybrid, Iskald is the brainchild of Simon Larsen (Vocals, Guitars, Bass and Keyboards) and Aage André Krekling (drums and vocals) whose progressive, open take on furious yet melodic black metal is like a scalpel to death metal’s sledgehammer, vicious and precise but no less lethal in intent.

With lyrics in both English and Norwegian, the band maintains a keen grasp of its own cultural heritage, informed by a wider world view than can be attributed to many of their peers. Thematically, the lyrics cover a lot of bleak and epic ground, addressing the mystery of forbidden secrets and cataclysmic ruin, but also dip into darkly romantic waters similar to what one might expect of My Dying Bride and Katatonia.

The use of keys is subtle and interesting, neither overtly symphonic and overwhelming or poorly produced and underwhelming (as can so often be the case). The drums provide more than just standard blast-heavy backing beats, performing quick and capable fills and tempo changes as part of an overall technically impressive display, while the bass remains a key component in the band’s sound. The duo’s real strength however is their ability to effortlessly reel off an endless supply of quality riffs, accented by intricate drum work and progressively inclined song-structures. (more after the jump, including songs from the band’s discography . . .) Continue reading »

NEW VIDEO FROM THE FAMINE

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 5 Responses »

Feb 092011

Recently, we reviewed The Famine‘s new album, The Architects of Guilt (here). We liked it. A lot.

Minutes ago, The Famine released their first video of a song from the album. The song is “Ad Mortem”. Damn good song. Really good. It’s already on our list of candidates for 2011’s most infectious songs.

The video is above average, too. It can be seen above. That is all.

SEPTIC FLESH REVEALS FRAGMENT OF OCCULT MACHINE

Metal News 2 Responses »

Feb 092011

This is just too good not to share, in part because it involves Septic Flesh and in part because the artwork is cool and in part because the band’s Seth Siro Anton, who designed the artwork, is . . . well . . . cool.

As we’ve reported before (in a post that included a bunch of other art created by Mr. Anton), Septic Flesh has a new album on the way. It will be called The Great Mass, and it will be released on April 18 (one day later in North America, because we North Americans are not worthy). If history is a reliable guide, it will be worth hearing.

Today, the band unveiled part of the album art — the cover for the jewelcase edition, which you can see above. But it’s only “a small fragment” of the whole. To see Seth Siro Anton’s description of what’s coming — which is a kick to read — follow along after the jump. Continue reading »

KING GIANT: SOLACE

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 4 Responses »

Feb 092011

Down is good, Crowbar is good, Kyuss is good, but Virginia’s King Giant has become my go-to band for nasty, sludgy, whiskey-soaked Southern doom ‘n roll.

Last September, I stumbled across a King Giant video for a song called “13 to 1” from their self-released 2009 album, Southern Darkness and included it in one of our MISCELLANY posts. That song is heavy and dirty and bluesy — slow and nasty, with sourmash-soaked vocals and big, rounded, beautiful guitar tones, not to mention the unusual tinkling of a banjo during the first 45 seconds. Very cool shit, and the video was a kick to watch, too.

Well, King Giant has just released a video for yet another song from Southern Darkness, called “Solace”. It’s a performance-based clip filmed at a Washington, DC joint called the 9:30 Club — a place of significance for this band. And guess what? It’s another cool video for another hot-shit song. (more after the jump, including the video . . .) Continue reading »

ETERNAL HELCARAXE

Album Reviews No Responses »

Feb 092011

J.R.R. Tolkien had a talent for creating evocative names for beings and places in his writings about Middle Earth, and many of those have exerted a magnetic attraction on metal bands. To name a few: Amon Amarth (the Elvish name for Mount Doom), Gorgoroth, Nazgul, Ephel Duath, and Burzum (one of the words written in Black Speech on the One Ring of Sauron).

Helcaraxe is a lesser known place-name, probably due to its appearance in one of Tolkien’s less-frequently read (and posthumously published) works about Middle Earth, The Silmarillion. It doesn’t sound like a hospitable place. Tolkien describes it as a wasteland of bitter cold and grinding ice (we’ll have his full description at the end of this post). And yet it’s the name chosen by Irish black-metal band Eternal Helcaraxe.

Many black-metal bands are drawn to imagery that conveys bitter cold and bleakness, yet the words that came to me as I listened to this band’s wonderful recent release, To Whatever End, were “sweeping”, “soaring”, “anthemic” — and yes, “epic” (my NCS cohort Alexis will try to shoot me for using that word, but a better one isn’t coming to my lazy mind). I just fucking love this music. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

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