AN NCS INTERVIEW: TRENDKILL’S VIRGIL PALAZZOLO

 Interviews  No Responses »
Jan 032011
 

Trendkill Recordings is an up-and-coming French record label that we discovered through its signing of Pristina — a U.S. band whose 2010 album The Drought (Ov Salt and Sorrow) we thought was awesome. (Read our review here.) Since then, we’ve discovered more of the bands in the Trendkill stable, and it’s a remarkably varied and remarkably good group of artists.

Recently, we got the chance to conduct an e-mail interview of Virgil Palazzolo, the founder and impresario of Trendkill Recordings and Trendkill Entertainment, and a musician in his own right. If you want a bit of insight into the mind of a dude responsible for signing a wide range of bands to recording contracts, distributing a diverse catalogue of albums, and organizing tours and shows in Europe — and who’s on the verge of opening a U.S. office in 2011 — then you ought to read what follows.

Our interview covered topics such as his perspectives on the music business in the Age of Download, what he looks for in potential Trendkill signings, his label’s plans for the new year, and new Trendkill releases on the horizon, among others. We thought it was a damned interesting conversation, and hope you will, too. So read on . . . after the jump. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2010’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 7

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010  No Responses »
Jan 032011
 

Ah, too bad — the holidays are behind us. For most U.S. denizens, school and work resume today, and consequently the suck quotient of life will rapidly escalate back into the normal zone. We will do our best to help soften the blow by rolling out the next two entries on our list of 2010’s most infectious extreme metal songs.  For a full explanation of what we mean by “most infectious”, read this. And to see the songs we’ve named so far, click the Category link over on the right called MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010.

In a nutshell, what we’re doing is listing, in no particular order, the catchiest songs from a wide range of extreme metal sub-genres — not necessarily the best metal of the year (though lots of these songs would qualify for that kind of list), but the ones that most effectively got our heads and other parts of our bodies moving, and then got stuck in our skulls on mental replay long after they ended.

The two songs we’re adding today are by Germany’s Heaven Shall Burn and Kenos, from Italy. Heaven Shall Burn has been a band whose music we’ve liked for years, and their 2010 album was no exception. Kenos is a much more recent discovery for us, but we immediately got addicted to their music, particularly the song we’ve chosen for this list. To read about the selections and hear the songs, follow along with us after the jump . . . Continue reading »

DAN SWANO: THE UNISOUND GUESTBOOK

 Metal News  2 Responses »
Jan 022011
 

Dan Swanö is one of those names I associate with excellence in metal. He fronted the influential Swedish band Edge of Sanity (as well as others, including Nightingale), he’s been a member of other excellent metal bands, including Katatonia, Ribspreader, and Bloodbath, and he’s appeared as a guest vocalist or instrumentalist on albums by many others.

In addition to his creative work as a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, he has for many years run a recording studio in his hometown of Örebro called Unisound, and has been responsible for recording (and/or mixing/mastering) an eye-popping number of albums by the likes of Opeth, Dissection, Marduk, Dark Funeral, Katatonia, and The Project Hate MCMXCIX. Search Blabbermouth using his name for recent news, and you’ll see that he’s scheduled to work on the production of new albums from Asphyx, Coldworker, and November’s Doom, among many others.

Swanö ran Unisound for most of the 1990s, then closed it for several years, and reopened it again in 2005. In 1994, he started a guestbook, where bands with whom he worked would add remarks and Polaroid photos of themselves in the studio. As one guestbook would become filled, he would start another.

Earlier this afternoon we learned that Swanö has arranged for the digitizing of the guestbook for 1996-1997, and he’s made it available on-line, along with his own “liner notes”. It’s fascinating, and after the jump we’ll tell you more about it and give you a link where you can see it for yourselves. Continue reading »

YESTERDAY YOU RESTED, TODAY IT’S TIME TO DETONATE NAPALM IN YOUR HEAD

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jan 022011
 

January 1 is a slow day for most people, a day spent sleeping in and recovering from the excesses of New Year’s Eve, a day when many Americans plant their super-sized asses on the couch and watch college football bowl games, a day when normally active human beings become human slugs.

But that was yesterday. Today, most people have got to begin mentally gearing up for the resumption of the shitstorm known as the work week. Yes, for those of us who are students or working stiffs, January 3 means the holidays are over and the usual daily grind begins again (and we’re not talking about Brutal Truth).

So, to help you begin clearing out the mental cobwebs and awaken from the foglike after-effects of your revels and reveries, we’ve got three videos for you. These babies will wake you the fuck up. They’re the musical equivalent of detonating a couple canisters of napalm in your head and just letting all that jellied gasoline burn until it has vaporized what’s left of your brain and left only oily soot behind, which will serve as good fertilizer for new oily, blackened tendril growth that will help you bob and weave with agility when the shit starts flying tomorrow. Sounds fun, huh?

After the jump . . . videos from Demonical, Aeon, and Son of Aurelius. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2010’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 6

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010  No Responses »
Jan 022011
 

As of yesterday, we’d finished rolling out, in no particular order, the first 10 entries on our list of 2010’s most infectious extreme songs. (For a full explanation of what we mean by “most infectious”, read this.) So far, here’s what we’ve got:

Byfrost: “Desire”
Evocation: “Sweet Obsession”
Keep of Kalessin: “Dragon iconography”
Living Sacrifice: “Rules of Engagement”
Kataklysm: “Suicide River”
Kalmah: “Bullets Are Blind”
Finntroll: “Solsagan”
Eluveitie: “Thousandfold”
Coliseum: “Blind In One Eye”
Kvelertak: “Blodtørst”

Today, we’re starting on the next 10. Does that mean we’re stopping at 20? Not necessarily. We’re still futzing with our list. If we had to place a bet today, we’d bet the final list will be closer to 30. Just depends on whether our naturally lazy natures succeed in stopping us from trying to shave the list down to something shorter.

Today’s additions to the list begin to draw us into black-metal territory — but trust us, they’re damned infectious.  Stay with us after the jump as we roll out songs by Demonic Resurrection and Sargeist. Continue reading »

DAN DANKMEYER: ARCOLOGIES

 Metal News  No Responses »
Jan 012011
 

You see that? You know what that means? It means 8-string instrumental wizard Dan Dankmeyer is beginning the new year with a new album.

We reviewed DD’s last album (his fourth release during 2010) in early November (here). That was our first exposure to his music. As you can tell from that review, we became immediate fans.

So how fucking cool is it to start the very first day of the new year with an unexpected surprise like this? Very fucking cool. Like his previous releases, Arcologies is available for immediate download at Dan’s Bandcamp page (here). It’s a name-your-price download, which means you pay nothing or anything that seems fair to you.

Guess what music we’ll be listening to today?

2011: MORE SICKNESS AHEAD

 Forthcoming Albums, Listmania  7 Responses »
Jan 012011
 


HAPPY NEW YEAR!  Did you see what we did?  We had to change the logo for this edition of SICKNESS.  Because 2010 is behind us, and the new year lies ahead.

We spent the last 30 days, as we’ve been doing for the last year, collecting news blurbs and press releases about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like, or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know them yet. And in this post, we’ve cut and pasted the announcements and compiled them in alphabetical order.

All of our previous monthly updates can be found via the “Forthcoming Albums” category link on the right side of our pages, and because we’re not keeping a cumulative list, you might want to check the last couple months of these posts if you want to get a full picture of what’s coming. The list that follows, in alphabetical order, are albums we didn’t know about at the time of our last installment when November ended, or updated info about albums we’d previously heard were on the way. And be forewarned: This is a really long list. There’s a massive slag of new metal coming our way, and man, does it look hot.

So, without further ado, let’s get started. See if there’s anything on the list that makes you moist, or tumescent, or just generally slobbery.

ABORTED: “Good news is that we are starting pre-productions for our upcoming record on January 4th. This means we will demo all the songs for the record, make sure everything sounds good and make the necessary adjustments to make sure they are all more lethal than a chainsaw in Mr. Leatherface’s hands. We’re all very excited about the material thus far and can’t wait to get this over with and proceed to the actual recordings later this year. Expect a fall 2011 release through our culprates in mayhem Century Media.”

AGNOSTIC FRONT: “The Godfathers of New York Hardcore, Agnostic Front, have just finished recording their highly anticipated follow up to their 2007 release, Warriors. The yet to be titled album features 13 new powerful and anthemic songs laid down by Erik Rutan (Madball, Goatwhore, Cannibal Corpse) at his Mana Recording Studio in Tampa, FL under the watchful guide of producer Freddy Cricien of Madball. The record was mastered by Alan Douches (Nile, Mastodon) and will be released in Europe of March 4, 2011 and in North America on March 22, 2011.”

(the list continues after the jump . . .)

Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2010’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 5

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010  No Responses »
Jan 012011
 

Happy New Year!  Wonder if anyone will be sufficiently conscious this morning (or all day, for that matter) to read us? Will these words exist if no one reads them? Does a sound exist if no one hears it? Am I completely full of shit or only partially full?

I’ll leave these questions to the philosophers and forge ahead. I particularly don’t want to spend time thinking about the last question. Instead, we will roll out the next two entries on our list of the year’s most infectious extreme metal songs.  For a full explanation of what we mean by “most infectious”, read this. And to see the songs we’ve named so far, click the Category link over on the right called MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010.

In a nutshell, what we’re doing is listing, in no particular order, the catchiest songs from a wide range of extreme metal sub-genres — not necessarily the best metal of the year (though lots of these songs would qualify for that kind of list), but the ones that most effectively got our heads and other parts of our bodies moving, and then got stuck in our skulls on mental replay long after they ended.

Today’s two additions share a certain musical style. They feature garage-punk chords, snarling attitude, and a clarion call to mosh-pit mayhem. In a word (or two), they fucking rock. Follow along with us after the jump as we talk about Coliseum and Kvelertak . . . Continue reading »

THINGS THAT WILL MAKE YOU SMILE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Dec 312010
 

Now that I have your attention . . .

In the post below this one, we’ve got the next two additions to our list of 2010’s most infectious extreme metal songs, but I thought I’d add this post just for the hell of it.

The only organizing principle is that these items made me smile, and I thought maybe they’d give you some smiles, too, seeing as how tonight is New Year’s Eve and you probably won’t be capable of smiling tomorrow because you’ll be in massive pain recovering from your shit-faced, knee-crawling, sidewalk-smashing, pissing-in-the-sink, over-indulgence with all manner of inebriants and you won’t read anything we post tomorrow because reading is difficult when your eyes are crossed and imaginary demons are hammering your head with ball-peen hammers while cackling mercilessly and imaginary alien spawn are trying, slowly, to gouge their way out of your stomach like a crew of miners hacking their way through a seam of coal.

Where was I?  Oh yeah. Smiles. Smiling now because you won’t be able to smile tomorrow (and neither will I).  After the jump there is music, and video, and more arresting artwork . . . Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2010’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 4

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010  7 Responses »
Dec 312010
 

Another day, and two more entries on our list of the year’s most infectious extreme metal songs.  For a full explanation of what we mean by “most infectious”, read this. And to see the songs we’ve named so far, click the Category link over on the right called MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010.

In a nutshell, what we’re doing is listing, in no particular order, the catchiest songs from a wide range of extreme metal sub-genres — not necessarily the best metal of the year (though lots of these songs would qualify for that kind of list), but the ones that most effectively got our heads and other parts of our bodies moving, and then continued to ring in our tiny brains even after they ended.

We ended Part 3 of this series with a band from Finland — Kalmah — and we’re starting Part 4 with another unique Finnish juggernaut: Finntroll. And then, in keeping with the folk-metallish theme of today’s entry, we’re following that up with a song from Switzerland’s Eluveitie.

Times like this, I wish I had really long hair, because these songs make me want to whip it around in a big fucking windmill. On the other hand, with my luck it would be caught in an air intake vent and be torn out by the roots. Or the cat would freak out and leap for my head with claws bared. So, maybe it’s just as well.

Where was I?  Oh yeah. Two more songs!  (read on, and listen, after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

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