A KATAKLYSM UPDATE: “OF GHOSTS AND GODS” IS COMING — WITH TEN VIDEOS TOO

 Metal News  2 Responses »
Apr 292015
 

 

Here’s a bit of fairly hot-off-the-press news from Canada’s Kataklysm:  First, they’ve announced that their twelfth studio album Of Ghosts and Gods will be released on July 31 (via Nuclear Blast Records).

Second, as you can see, they’ve disclosed the cover art, which was created by an artist called artist Surtsey. I like it. (According to the band, the background shows an ancient incantation written in Aramaic.)

And third, they’ve announced that there will be music videos created for every one of the album’s ten songs, with each video crafted to reflect the concept behind the music. Continue reading »

TOURISM: CARNIVAL OF DEATH 2014 AND ELUVEITIE IN NORTH AMERICA (WITH A NEW ALBUM COMING)

 Uncategorized  16 Responses »
May 162014
 

Here are a couple of North American tours announced this morning that I thought were worth spreading around. The music in the two tours lies on divergent ends of the metal spectrum, but both shows should be excellent.

CARNIVAL OF DEATH 2014

This death metal blockbuster is co-headlined by Suffocation and Kataklysm, with Suffocation closing the shows on the US dates and Kataklysm playing the final sets in the Canadian shows. Accompanying those two heavyweight acts on this tour will be Jungle Rot, Pyrexia, and Internal Bleeding.

As the poster up there indicates, the tour schedule hasn’t been announced yet.

Now, changing gears… Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS: ORIGIN, VALLENFYRE, KATAKLYSM, SERDCE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
May 132014
 

This is turning into a monster of a day for new song and album streams. Not long ago we posted about the full-album stream from Misery Index, and just since then I spotted four more song and album streams that are worth your attention. Here we go:

ORIGIN

Origin have now premiered a new song entitled “Manifest Desolate”, the first advance track from their forthcoming sixth album, Omnipresent. The album is due for release on July 4 in Europe by Agonia Records and June 8 in North America via Nuclear Blast. Pre-order here.

“Manifest Desolate” comes in the form of a video that displays the many formats in which the album will be released. The song itself is a blistering explosion of tech-death fireworks, kind of like jamming your face into a fistful of Roman candles. But my favorite part of the song actually comes when the band down-shift the tempo. Listen next… Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2013’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 13

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2013  4 Responses »
Jan 282014
 

Welcome to the lucky 13th Part of our list of the year’s most infectious extreme metal songs. For more details about what this list is all about and how it was compiled, read the introductory post via this link. To see the selections that preceded the two I’m announcing today, click here.

You remember that a few days ago I resolved to finish this list by the end of January? Well, like my New Year’s resolution to be nice to children and poodles, I may not be able to follow through on that promise. Just too damned many great songs from 2013 that need to be recognized. Also, it’s easier on me to just keep going than to make hard decisions about what to select and what to cut, and I’m completely in favor of making things easier on myself.

KATAKLYSM

Oh man, did Kataklysm come back strong with 2013’s Waiting For the End To Come — strong, hungry, and with fangs and claws bared. To quote from our review by TheMadIsraeli: Continue reading »

KATAKLYSM: “WAITING FOR THE END TO COME”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Nov 142013
 

(TheMadIsraeli reviews the new album by Canada’s Kataklysm.)

So here we are finally, Waiting For the End To Come.  When I reviewed the entire Kataklysm discography, it was an interesting exercise, not only for myself but I hope for our readers as well, to rediscover what the band had produced over the course of their long career  Now here we are, with what the band claims is their most technical, most punishing album yet.  Does it deliver?  This is the question that nagged at me after having listened to Kataklysm’s admittedly up and down catalogue.

Quite simply, this may be the band’s best effort of their current, mostly melodic death, direction.  With less groove, more blast beats and blackened scathe, and of course their blistering death metal brawn at work, Kataklysm appear to have crafted an album solely to start pits, invoke murderous thoughts, provoke raised fists in defiance of life itself.  Some of the best songs the band have ever written are on this disc, not to mention that this is the first Kataklysm album I’ve actually had the compulsion to buy in physical form. Continue reading »

VIDEOGRAPHY: KATAKLYSM (“ELEVATE”) AND REVOCATION (“FRACKED”)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Oct 172013
 

In this post we bring you two excellent new videos that premiered this morning.

KATAKLYSM

The new video from Canada’s Kataklysm is for a new song — “Elevate” — that will appear on this veteran band’s latest album, Waiting For the End To Come. The song is somewhat surprising, in that it’s a bit of a departure from what might be considered the band’s typical style. It still thunders and howls, but as my colleague Andy Synn put it, it’s a lot more spacious and has a big central melody. There were even moments near the song’s end when I was thinking “melodic black metal”. I haven’t listened to the song more than twice yet, but so far it is solidifying my impression that Kataklysm are coming back strong and that Waiting could be one of their best albums in a long time.

The video itself is also excellent. Its jerky-jerky motion and dramatic atmosphere suit the music, and it’s really well-made and interesting to watch. Also, zombies.  You can’t go wrong with zombies. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: KATAKLYSM, SHEVILS, ZOMBIE INC.

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Sep 202013
 

I found a lot of new music and videos over the last 24 hours that I’d like to throw your way, like a tray of Molotov cocktails with the fuses lit. Really, too many to shoehorn into one “Seen and Heard” post, so we’ll have two. This is the first. As usual, I’ve tried to make up the musical styles so you don’t get too comfortable.

KATAKLYSM

I think it’s safe to say that Kataklysm are back with a vengeance. Two songs from their new album have been released for listening so far, and both of them have reinvigorated my interest in this veteran band. The second one, “Like Animals”, began streaming yesterday and it is indeed a huge, fanged groove monster, the kind of song that compels movement from the top of your pointy heads all the way down to your misshapen feet, while landing some stout blows to your kidneys along the way. Merciless.

If you happened to miss the first song, “Kill the Elite”, you can catch that after the jump, too. Waiting For the End To Come will be released in North America on October 29 and on slightly earlier dates in the UK and Europe, via Nuclear Blast. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: TOO DAMNED MANY THINGS TO PUT IN THE TITLE OF THIS POST

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Sep 042013
 

Yesterday I posted our final article of the day at about 1:30 pm EDT and then turned my attention for the rest of the day to what I actually get paid to do. While I wasn’t looking, someone re-opened Pandora’s box and a horde of red-eyed bat-winged things flew out in a blizzard of leathery wings and ammoniac guano. Yeah, baby, a veritable flood of nasty shit — so many noteworthy news items and new songs that to fit all of them in this post will require that I wire my jaws shut and mumble only a few words per item. Here . . . we . . . GO!

SLAYER-GOJIRA-4ARM TOUR

It started with dates in Hollywood and NYC and predictably has now mushroomed into a full U.S. tour. Well, at least 16 cities in the fullness of the U.S., which do not include all the wonderful cities in the Pacific Northwest or 36 other states. But fear not, others may yet get to see Gojira (!!!), the aging remnants of Slayer, and Melbourne’s 4ARM, because more dates will be announced later. Here are the ones announced yesterday:

OCTOBER
25 The Joint at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, NV
28 Hollywood Palladium, Hollywood, CA
30 Events Center @ San Jose State, San Jose, CA Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: ELIRAN KANTOR / KATAKLYSM, FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, AND BONE DANCE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Aug 122013
 

A few quick hits for you from my own quick spin through my e-mail and the interhole this afternoon.

ELIRAN KANTOR AND KATAKLYSM

Last week we brought you some news about the next album by Canada’s Kataklysm, Waiting For the End To Come, including the artwork for the CD. I thought the artwork was okay, but it didn’t elevate my pulse rate. HOWEVER, the artwork previously revealed is only for the standard jewel case version of the CD and a limited edition cassette tape of the album. There is an alternate cover for “the deluxe digipak” and the LP versions of the album, and you’re looking at it.

No disrespect intended to Peter Sallai, but I find this creation by the stellar Eliran Kantor much more appealing. It reminds me of what a collaboration between John Martin and Gustave Doré might have produced. Love it! Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SHINING (SWEDEN), KATAKLYSM, THE RUINS OF BEVERAST, ARMAGEDON

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Aug 082013
 

Here’s the promised second part of today’s effort to catch up on noteworthy new things from the last several days.

SHINING

Sweden’s Shining announced a while back that their next album, 8 ½ – Feberdrömmar I Vaket Tillstånd (scheduled for release by Dark Essence on Sept 23), would feature many guest vocalists, in addition to frontman Niklas Kvarforth of course. As of today, we know who they are, and it’s an interesting list that includes more than a few black metal luminaries:

1. “Terres Des Anonymes” featuring FAMINE of PESTE NOIRE
2. “Szabadulj Meg Önmagadtól” featuring ATTILA CSIHAR of MAYHEM, TORMENTOR
3. “Ett Liv Utan Mening” featuring PEHR LARSSON of ALFAHANNE
4. “Selvdestruktivitetens Emissarie” featuring GAAHL of GOD SEED, WARDRUNA, ex-GORGOROTH
5. “Black Industrial Misery” featuring MANIAC of SKITLIV, ex-MAYHEM
6. “Through Corridors Of Oppression” featuring KVARFORTH

The songs themselves date back to an earlier era in Shining’s life. Original pre-production tracks of the songs were used as the foundation, with the addition of newly recorded bass and guitars as well as keyboards performed by Lars Fredrik Fröslie (Angst Skvadron, Wobbler, Asmegin). Should be worth checking out when it arrives. Continue reading »

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