DGR’s Top 30 Albums For 2014, Provided Whether Or Not You Agree With Him, Which After Reading This Site For A While You Should Know By Now, But If Not Then That Is Okay Too

LISTMANIA 2014 37 Responses »

Dec 162014

(Here is NCS writer DGR’s year-end list, preceded by a post title that he made himself, except for the commas.)

Coming up with an end-of-the-year list is always the most stressful thing for me, and 2014 was no different. It usually involves me combing through the reviews and going, “God, what the fuck even came out this year?!”, before I really start hashing something together.

Multiple events take place as I do this as well. I almost always wind up throwing onto the list a disc that came out the previous year — in fact, I’m still worried I might have let one slip by. I usually wind up letting the thing get way out of control, but I guaranfuckingtee you that the moment I publish it, I’m going to be putting one or two more albums retroactively on this list in the comments — as if it’s some sort of justice.

2014 was an interesting year. I found so much music that I enjoyed this time, and a lot of it not by bands that I listen to super-regularly. It was a lot of groups really coming into their own this time, or bands that, while good before, just put out massive releases. I know my top ten could start a couple arguments for being mainstream as fuck, but that tends to be my listening taste. I’m like a dog with a set of keys. They’re shiny and I love them, just make them jingle again. Continue reading »

“F” EVERYTHING: FIEND AND FVCK MOUNTAIN

Dec 072014

(DGR brings us some ugly ass music for the end of an ugly ass week.)

Allow me to be short and succinct with this opener: Work has kicked my ass these past two weeks and the holiday music is really starting to get to me. Long story short: Here’s two recent discoveries of sonic destruction that I’ve been using to sandblast my brain smooth so as to forget all forty thousand versions of Little Drummer Boy that I have to listen to each night while working on these projects/messes. Both albums are currently name your own price and conveniently enough, came out in October of this year.

FIEND

When it comes to grind releases, for me it’s a tossup as to whether or not I’ll truly enjoy it. Part of the reason is that there are subsections of grind that feel like the ultimate pick-up-and-play genre — just slam around on your instruments for a while and about five minutes later its guaranteed you’re going to have, well, something. Continue reading »

BLOODBATH: “GRAND MORBID FUNERAL”

Album Reviews 9 Responses »

Nov 202014

(Here we have DGR’s review of the highly anticipated new album by Bloodbath.)

There is a knee-jerk reaction provoked by the name Bloodbath, an impulse to instantly want to like what the group are putting forth. At this point, there is a part of me which loves that Bloodbath have as much hype surrounding them as they do, while likewise also recognizing that the group have become something of an institution.

For some people, they were the first real deep introduction to traditional death metal — especially if you were one of those listeners who checked out the band because a bunch of Katatonia and Opeth band members were in the mix. Not only that, but as something of a tribute act, Bloodbath were also stunningly consistent with their sound. They’re experienced professional musicians already, so there’s none of the sense that they have been stumbling into what they’re doing — they know already.

They know how to write it, and because of that, when you’re listening to Bloodbath you’re hearing a group who are really good at throwing us back to the past when death metal was a dark and disgusting monster that people were scared of — the type of music that was a horror movie incarnate. Continue reading »

WOCCON: “SOLACE IN DECAY”

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Nov 172014

(DGR reviews the debut album released last month by Woccon from Athens, Georgia).

While I was driving home from work today, two drops of rain hit my car. I know, because I counted them — which, given the current weather conditions trying to turn Sacramento into the Sahara desert via drought, means that I basically drove through a veritable hurricane. That, coupled with the hint of grey sky and the glorious ton of fog that blanketed the highway, pretty much signaled my seasonal shift in music reviewing. I’m probably not the only person in the world who does this (keeping in mind that six-billion-plus people roam this rock), but as Sacramento shifts between its two seasons — from too fucking hot to too fucking cold — I find that my tastes tend to change and I start to seek out some slower, darker, and doomier material, and the reviews come easier because of that.

We love us some melodic doom metal here at NCS, as evidenced by our coverage of bands like Daylight Dies, Aetherian, Mist Of Nihil, Enshine, October Tide, In Mourning, and even Insomnium’s slower stuff, just to raffle off a handful of bands, and Athens, Georgia-based Woccon have been a recent newcomer to that fold. We actually included a track from Woccon’s debut EP on our gigantic list of Most Infectious Songs Of 2013, and the wait for Solace In Decay has been a long one.

Woccon formed out of a common love of a group of influences in the melo-doom genre (for lack of a better term — I’ve seen “Ethereal Doom” bandied about and kind of like the idea, but only for the bands who feel more like they were born in frozen-over forests). When a band like Woccon put out a disc like Solace In Decay though, as a metal fan it feels like you need to take notice. Even as the group’s first full album after a string of demos and EPs, the band have released something that doesn’t make the mistake a lot of bands in this genre commit — sounding like a group whose influences are clear and just acting those out, putting checks in boxes and praying at the proper altars. Instead, Solace In Decay is the sound of a band who have found their place within the doom genre and seek to share that sweet, beautiful misery from a place you wouldn’t ordinarily expect. Continue reading »

TWO BLASTS FROM CALIFORNIA: WORSE AND CALCIFIED BIRD CARCASS

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

Oct 022014

(Here we have DGR’s review of two grind blasts.)

WORSE

Worse hail from lovely San Francisco, California and are a band who have been kicking around in my inbox for some time — a result of my random discovery of the group Dakhma. The two bands seem to be friends with one another so it isn’t too shocking to see arrows pointing in their direction. One of the reasons it took a little bit for me to write about them was that their EP slotted in so well with my listenings that it was like I had always listened to it and it was always there, leading to a lot of, “I wrote about that, right?” scenarios. Plus, I wanted to get these guys in alongside some more music to really set the post off like fireworks.

Worse, to put it politely, sound like a musical temper tantrum led off by a drum count on each song, and their self-titled release is a quick blast of violence. If you have ever been to a city that is really packed together, you’ll often come across houses that are listed as three bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, and they are three stories tall. It’s because each floor is essentially a bedroom. Listening to Worse, it sounds like the band are set up in one of those houses and recorded their first release by setting the drum kit and guitars on the top floor, counting off to begin the song, and then proceeding to kick those fucking things down the flight of stairs and have somebody scream over the sound. Continue reading »

BLACK CROWN INITIATE: “THE WRECKAGE OF STARS”

Album Reviews 4 Responses »

Sep 292014

(DGR wrote this review of the debut album by Black Crown Initiate from Pennsylvania, which will be released tomorrow — Sept 30.)

It feels like music moves in ten-plus-year generational cycles, especially when it comes to heavy metal. This seems stupidly obvious, but the fact that it still continues unabated is pretty spectacular — because it allows people to sit around and prognosticate like true intelligentsia when it comes to even the most banal of subjects. You’ll have discs that come out right about the time a new generation can pick up on it and have their minds blown. In turn, they draw heavy influence from that specific time frame, and when it becomes their own turn to take the stage, it’s like watching the previous cycle re-incarnate, combined with some of the current sounds that are popular. And so, the sound iterates, especially in the case of heavy metal, as things move incrementally in different directions.

The past few years. especially, have really put the various spectra of death metal into the spotlight as both tech-death and progressive death have seen numerous new entries from young bands, groups who over the past decade have taken in so much of what began in the early aughts and now seek to put their own mark on it. Reading, Pennsylvania’s own Black Crown Initiate are one of those bands who have seemingly had the stars align for them. They are a young band who succeeded in finding the almost perfect combination of songwriting talent, musicianship, and artistic bravery to stretch well beyond their own genre conventions and managed to make quite the loud entrance with last year’s EP Song Of The Crippled Bull. You could tell, especially by our own review, that if Song Of The Crippled Bull was anything to go by, Black Crown Initiate were going to have a lot of heat behind them.

And so, we find ourselves looking to the band’s label debut, The Wreckage Of Stars, and if you haven’t quite figured out where this introduction is heading yet, let’s summarize it for you: There is a reason you’ve probably been hearing a lot about Black Crown Initiate over the past year, and if Wreckage Of Stars is anything to go by, you’re going to be hearing a hell of a lot more of them in the years to come. Continue reading »

BANDCAMP DESTRUCTION: DAKHMA, ORGAN DEALER, RUINANT

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Sep 042014

(In this post DGR reviews three pissed-off short releases.)

It’s pretty well known that a huge chunk of the heavy metal spectrum serves as catharsis, a way for us to scream out our daily rage or miseries — the expulsion of energy otherwise pent up that some folks might let lash out or otherwise ruin their day.

In my case, I’ve always had a few go-to songs after a particularly rough work day (because really, I’m not getting pissed off at home), but lately it seems like that list has gotten bigger and bigger, especially as I keep digging deeper into different underground scenes in an effort to find stuff to share with you fine folk.

Right now, that sweet spot for the white-hot, rage-induced thrashabout that usually happens as the result of some sort of bullshit has been where the grind scene tends to slam headfirst into the hardcore punk scene, where musicians seem less interested in what they are actually playing and more in creating a swirling vortex of sonic destruction.

In the case of this post, two of the three releases serve that particular purpose. And the third? Well, the third is just a meaty slab of death metal that I felt like sharing because it would allow us to do a little bit o’ world traveling. Continue reading »

LONG DISTANCE CALLING – “THE FLOOD INSIDE” ALBUM STREAM

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 8 Responses »

Feb 272013

(DGR provides some thoughts about the band Long Distance Calling as a prelude to their new album, which has recently become available for streaming.)

This one is more of a personal share because I know for a fact that Long Distance Calling probably don’t line up with much of this site’s stated ethos (although to be fair, we’ve had to explain the No Clean Singing thing being like the speed limit – a suggestion) but Long Distance Calling are a really good group of musicians who haven’t failed me yet when it has come to making enjoyable music.

I first got into these guys with 2006’s Avoid The Light – which saw Jonas Renske of Katatonia performing on the song “The Nearing Grave” — and found out that the rest of their disc was entirely instrumental, something I had only known groups like Scale The Summit to do. It was a similar atmospheric, progressive approach but seemed less reliant on atmosphere and more on melody.

I plowed through the group’s back catalog and then enjoyed the hell out of their self-titled disc when it hit back in 2011. Now we find ourselves in the opening of 2013 and the group are releasing a new album entitled The Flood Inside, and there have been some big changes. Continue reading »

EXISTO VULGORE: A MASTERCLASS IN HOW TO CHEW THE EVERLIVING FUCK OUT OF THE SCENERY IN FOUR MINUTES

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 6 Responses »

Jan 102012

VULGOOOOOOOOOOOOOOORE

(DemiGodRaven [ex-The Number of the Blog] rejoins us today for this piece of timely commentary.)

It’s on occasions like this when I tend to take pause for a bit and reflect upon things in life. Rarely do you find yourself putting pen to paper without any purpose other than to meander throughout the English language (or your language of choice) and as a result say absolutely nothing.

It’s as if your brain absolutely refuses to give you anything resembling a cognizant thought out of an almost inferno-like spite because you’re attempting to challenge the damned thing. Thus, you find yourself in the endless cycle of tapping your fingers on the table, pen on paper, and zero to show for it. The world spins on and suddenly a half hour has passed. Then it is a full hour, and there has been something in the back of your mind that resembles a constant buzz. It resembles white noise at best, and at worst it resembles something off of Morbid Angel’s latest release, and it occurs to you that you know the exact cause of what in the world has been preventing you from writing anything worth a fuck. There hasn’t been an amazing piece of work from Morbid Angel’s latest as of yet.

Well…until now that is. Continue reading »

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