Feb 132013
 

(Here we have another installment in UK-based Andy Synn’s occasional series on favorites of his that come in five’s.  Music is included.)

Chance and coincidence are funny little things. One of the various ideas I had noted down for these “Favourite” columns was a short insight into my own collection of non-musical metal materials, specifically the various merch (shirts, etc) I’d picked up over the years.

So when David appeared on the scene with his series of posts on Metal Culture it seemed like the perfect time to actually put this piece together, and hopefully see what items of your ‘metal uniform’ you guys particularly cherish as well!

The funny thing is, I’m actually currently in the process of getting rid of a host of shirts, to various good homes and good people, because I feel like I’ve amassed a rather unnecessary collection, many of which I never/rarely ever wear. So I’ve been winnowing through my wardrobe, selecting the ones I don’t really have a need for, and simultaneously identifying my favourites, all of which plays nicely into this column.

Ok, so we’ll go in some sort of sartorial order, shall we? Continue reading »

Nov 082012
 

Good morning, good afternoon, good night, wherever you are.  It’s morning for me, three time zones east of where I usually am. I’m pressed for time today because of my day job. I’ll be spending several hours trying to extricate those coke-filled balloons from my ass so I can make my delivery and get back on a plane to Seattle. I got them way to far up in there this time, I’m afraid.

But although I’m pressed for time, I did have time to make a quick review of my usual sources and have a few things to pass along to you, in no particular order: Devourment are releasing a new album; System Divide are going home; Weapon the Factory? are disrobing; Abigail Williams are reuniting; and Cloak of Altering is killing me.  Details to follow.

DEVOURMENT

I saw that these grand-daddies of brutal slamming death metal will have a new album out next year on the Relapse label. Relapse released a teaser video for the thing. I’m ready. I’m more than ready. Check it out following the jump. Continue reading »

Jul 122012
 

On July 2, we reported the unfortunate news that USBM band Abigail Williams will be calling it quits after a farewell U.S. tour that starts later this month and runs into September. As a result of that post, we made contact with a relatively new non-profit organization based in Helsinki, Finland, named Blood Music.

Among other things, Blood Music raises money for its activities by releasing vinyl versions of previously released metal albums. For example, they have released vinyl versions of albums by Maudlin of the Well and in the near future they’ll be releasing a 7 LP box set of music by Strapping Young Lad. But the subject of this post is Blood Music’s release on vinyl of the first and the last works by Abigail Williams — the Legend EP and the band’s 2012 full-length, Becoming. There are five previously unreleased bonus tracks included on Legend (turning it into an album-length record) and three on Becoming (totaling more than 27 minutes) — and everything was remastered by the band’s frontman, Sorceron, from the original 24-bit mixes.

To help spread the word about Blood Music, they’re running a contest where the winner will receive a free copy of the sweet colored vinyl edition of Becoming pictured above. This is a double LP, with the pressing limited to 150 copies worldwide.

To enter the contest, you’ll need to like the Blood Music Facebook page (here) and share the photo on FB that you can find via this link.

Of course, Blood Music is also selling the colored pressings of both albums (though they’re nearly sold out of those) as well as the black vinyl pressings of both (also limited to 150 copies each). To check those out, HERE is the link to Blood Music’s store. And THIS is the link to Blood Music’s web site. After the jump is a pic of the colored vinyl version of Legend. Continue reading »

Jul 022012
 

As the post title says, Abigail Williams has just made a public announcement on their Facebook page that they are breaking up following the completion of what will be their last U.S. tour, which begins this month and runs into September.

News like this is bittersweet. On the one hand, it is most unfortunate for the band’s diehard fans — which include many of us here at NCS. The band’s latest album, Becoming (2012), was their best, and one of the year’s best black metal releases, period. It was a milestone along a path of evolution that pointed toward even brighter horizons ahead.

On the other hand, the band’s announcement made explicit something that we would have assumed, given the creative talent in this group — that the members of the band are already involved in other projects that will be releasing new music before this year is over. I have some guesses about what Ken Sorceron will be doing, but I’ll keep those to myself; it’s better to await official news than engage in speculation (yes, this is a new and uncomfortable rule for me).

After the jump, you can read the full Abigail Williams announcement, and I’ve included some music as a reminder of how good this band is / was. I’m also including the current schedule for what will be the band’s farewell tour. Continue reading »

Jun 172012
 

Me gusta mucho Brujería, and I stumbled across a Brujería song this morning that I’d never heard before: “Don Quijote Marijuana”. It made me laugh. It also made me want to take my clothes off and dance on a bar. Fortunately, I was at home and therefore spared some collection of bar flies that life-changing experience. It also made me want to listen to a few more familiar Brujeria tracks. So I did. My life is your life, and so I’m sharing all that narcos satanicos con ustedes.

Also, I found out about a new video from a Norwegian band called SuchThaus, and the video and music feature a former and a current member of Mayhem: Maniac and Hellhammer. I don’t know if this song (“DownTown Train”) is about drugs, but it sure sounds like it was composed and recorded while under the influence.

And then finally I heard two new songs by a band called Slitwrist, which features a guest appearance by Sorceron of Abigail Williams (though he may be more than a guest). They’re mesmerizing and horrifying, and they made me want to take drugs, preferably something mood-elevating.  Here we go:

BRUJERIA

It’s hard to know who’s in Brujería from year to year. According to Metal Archives, this part-Mexican, part-Angelino band was created in 1989 by Dino Cazares (Fear Factory), who calls himself “El Asesino” in Brujeria, along with Billy Gould (Faith No More), Juan Lepe (“Juan Brujo”), and Pat Hoed (“Fantasma”, a/k/a “Adam Bomb” on the radio).

But the line-up seems to be fluid — including from time to time people like Jeff Walker (Carcass), Shane Embury (Napalm Death), Raymond Herrera (Arkaea, ex-Fear Factory), and Nicholas Barker (Lock Up, ex-Dimmu Borgir). Also, the members of Brujería wear masks and portray themselves as Mexican drug lords who use nicknames to keep their identities secret, so yeah, it’s hard to know. Continue reading »

May 272012
 

We’re pretty high on Abigail Williams around here. NSC writer Andy Synn got a very early listen to their 2012 album Becoming and praised it in this review. It’s an ambitious album, crafted with care and intelligence, and I highly recommend it, too.

The band’s frontman, Ken Sorceron is an interesting dude. He marches to the beat of his own drummer and he’s smart, informative, and entertaining when he talks about his music and “the business” of metal in the current age. At some point earlier this year he set up an account on Formspring, which is a social network where people make themselves available to answer questions from the public and the answers are available for everyone to see.

Recently, Sorceron referred to it in a Facebook status as something he was starting to prefer as an alternative to interviews. So I had a few minutes to kill and went over there to read all the questions and answers. Sure enough, it is sort of like reading an interview. Some of the questions are lame, and some of the questions (and answers) presuppose more inside knowledge of the band than I have, but overall I thought it was a very interesting and informative read.

If more metal musicians started doing this, it would put blogger interviewers out of business. In one place, you could find every question worth asking (plus many not worth asking) and all the answers, frozen on one site for all to see. I think it’s a cool idea. In Sorceron’s case, it may save him the time of enduring repetitive interviews. In my case, it saves me the time of trying to conduct an interview — because I’m just going to post the whole thing right here after the jump, through the magic of multiple screen captures.

Is this lazy of me?  Well, fuck yes, of course it is.  “Lazy” is one of my middle names, and for good reason. Continue reading »

Jan 172012
 

We’ve got good news and not so good news on the Abigail Williams front. The good news is that the band’s forthcoming album, Becoming, is now streaming in full at Hails & Horns, accompanied by an interview with AW’s Ken Sorceron. We got a very early listen to this album back in November, and published what (as far as we know) is the first review of Becoming, written by NCS scribe Andy Synn. (here).

In a nutshell, this is an unusually compelling album, one that should vault this band into the upper echelons of American black metal, one we expect will be on many people’s Best of 2012 lists when this new year draws to a close. We’re not the only people who feel that way — Becoming is already racking up a slew of advance rave reviews. But you don’t have to take anyone else’s word for it any more. GO HERE to listen to the entire album while the stream lasts. Becoming will be released by Candlelight Records on January 24, and pre-orders are being accepted at this location, as well as on iTunes.

Now for the not-so-good news: Although no official statement has yet been released, word is already out that Dark Funeral is canceling its headlining North American tour, which was scheduled to begin on January 29 in Springfield, Virginia. Plans for the tour were already impacted by Belphegor’s exit from the line-up due to frontman Helmuth Lehner’s surgery last fall, which caused the band to cancel all performances through this May. Now, it appears the tour will be shelved altogether.

However, we’ve learned that Abigail Williams — who were to be part of that tour along with Inquisition and Gigan — are doing their best to schedule replacement dates. They need help from interested venues and local bands. More about that after the jump. Continue reading »

Dec 022011
 

November is done, and the countdown begins to the end of 2011 and he beginning of the New Year. We’ve been so focused this week on the year behind us, since 2011 Listmania is now in full swing, that we almost forgot that there is a future, and it will be filled with metal.

So, here’s the deal:  In these METAL IN THE FORGE posts, we collect news blurbs and press releases we’ve seen over the last month (November) about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like (including occasional updates about releases we’ve included in previous installments of this series), or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know their music yet. In this series, we cut and paste those announcements and compile them in alphabetical order.

Remember — THIS ISN’T A CUMULATIVE LIST. If we found out about a new forthcoming album before November, we wrote about it in previous installments of this series. So, be sure to check the Category link called “Forthcoming Albums” on the right side of this page to see forecasted releases we reported earlier.

This month’s list begins right after the jump. As usual, this list is half-assed rather than comprehensive. So, feel free to leave Comments and tell all of us what we missed when we put this list together. Let us know about albums on the way that  you’re stoked about! Continue reading »

Nov 282011
 

(Andy Synn has had the chance for an advance listen to the next album from Abigail WilliamsBecoming — which is not due in stores until January 24. As you’ll see from Andy’s review, it made quite an impression.)

Very much an album of music put together as an individual artistic statement, Becoming effortlessly embodies that central paradox of black metal; the more the bounds and prescribed rules of orthodoxy are stretched, the more the central tenet of the genre, “do what thou wilt”, is given shape and form.

Throughout the 55+ minutes of music contained on this disc, the group weave a tapestry of their influences together into a sound that, whilst still woven through with slender, gossamer threads which tie it to the past, is fuller and more realised, yet at the same time more dream-like and unearthly, than anything that has gone before.

The venomous ire of the vocals remains undimmed, each spiteful tirade and scornful diatribe spat forth with vehement fury like flames from the mouth of hell itself, raising them above the empty cascades of hollow invective that  spill from the mouths and minds of so many of their so-called peers.

The scathing incandescence of the guitar work melds restrained technicality with devastating, brazen intensity, the guitarists thrashing, scratching and clawing at their instruments like those possessed, underpinned throughout by serpentine bass-lines which flow and undulate seductively through the warp and weft of the music and by the towering drums of Zach Gibson, who gives a varied and multi-faceted performance whose monstrous speed and colossal power is matched only by its unyielding grasp of the many intricate subtleties and nuances of performance and restraint required to give breadth and depth to the lengthy and complex structures of each piece.

In addition to all this, however, it is the group’s use of real strings and piano work that is one of the strongest and most distinctive elements on the entire album, manifesting in a manner which eschews the predictable “symphonic” approach in favour of more subtle and refined compositions. This more classically inclined ideology sees a wealth of keyboard tones and stringed accompaniments employed as singular instruments in and of themselves, each designed to contribute in a specific and precise way to each song, adding another voice to the choir of rapturous instrumentation without ever succumbing to the devilish temptations of symphonic pomp and excess. Continue reading »

Nov 032011
 

October is over, except for Halloween, which continues to go on and on here at the metallic island that NCS calls home. Your humble editor spent the end of the month and the beginning of this new one grinding away at his fucking day job, which explains why this installment of METAL IN THE FORGE is late. It also explains why it’s more than typically incomplete, but more on that later.

Here’s the deal:  In these posts, we collect news blurbs and press releases we’ve seen over the last month about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like (including occasional updates about releases we’ve included in previous installments of this series), or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know their music yet. In this series, we cut and paste those announcements and compile them in alphabetical order.

Remember — THIS ISN’T A CUMULATIVE LIST. If we found out about a new forthcoming album before September, we wrote about it in previous installments of this series. So, be sure to check the Category link called “Forthcoming Albums” on the right side of this page to see forecasted releases we reported earlier.

This month’s list begins right after the jump. I fell down on the job of monitoring the interhole and press releases to catch news about new albums that looked potentially cool to me, so I know I missed announcements of new releases that should be included here. So, feel free to leave Comments and tell all of us what I missed. Let us know about albums on the way that  you’re stoked about! Continue reading »