LORELEI: “LORE OF LIES”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Feb 102014
 

(In this post TheMadIsraeli reviews the debut album by North Carolina’s Lorelei.)

Symphonic deathcore at this point really seems like the new direction for the style.  While, no doubt, there have been symphonic deathcore bands before, the best of the bunch of the new blood is tending to sway toward a more symphonic or ambient direction (Aegaeon, Ovid’s Withering) and they’ve produced some killer releases in the process.

I’ve been fucking drooling over the wait for Lorelei’s debut Lore of Lies. I loved the band’s music from the very minute when I first I heard it, after they released their first two recorded songs, “Godfather Death” and “The Dunwich Horror”, and have awaited this album eagerly. Guitarist Aaron Pace is someone I’ve been in contact with for a while, since before they put up anything.  I had to occasionally check in with the usual harassment about the whereabouts of the album itself. For me, it felt like it was taking forever.

Simply put, Lorelei should be noted as one of the bright new faces of deathcore.  The music is like a jackhammer to your spine; it’s majestic and blistering at once, with no show of mercy.  What really explains Lorelei’s success, though, is that they realize the strengths, and also the weaknesses, of their style.  Continue reading »

A LORELEI UPDATE: “LORE OF LIES”

 Metal News  4 Responses »
Feb 172013
 

Well, I guess we picked a good day to talk about North Carolina’s Lorelei. Earlier today we included a skull-fucking new single from the band (“Masque”) in a round-up post — their third single since last year. And not long ago the band posted this welcome announcement on their Facebook page:

“We are excited to announce that our new track “Masque” was just a taste off of our debut FULL-LENGTH release titled Lore of Lies set to drop some time late 2013!

“The album will feature our two singles from last year “The Dunwich Horror” and “Godfather Death” completely re-tracked and re-mixed/mastered by Nick Scott, who handled all mixing/mastering in “Masque”, and four more full-length tracks with guest appearances from members of Conducting From The Grave, Ovid’s Withering, The Schoenberg Automaton, and Warforged!

“The album will be engineered by Jamie King at The Basement Recording NC (who has worked with Between the Buried and Me, Wretched, Scale the Summit, and more) and mixed/mastered by Nick Scott at The Foundation Recording Studio, who worked with The Tony Danza Tapdance Extravaganza, Miss May I, and more sweet bands!”

And one more thing that truly caught my eye: The band unveiled the album’s cover, by none other than one of our favorite metal artists, Ken Sarafin of Sarafin Concepts. Kick. Ass. Cover. Continue reading »

NEW MUSIC: TRIBULATION, WOE, LORELEI, SECTIONED, AND MAN MUST DIE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  14 Responses »
Feb 172013
 

I’m still catching up on new music unveiled last week that I didn’t find time to spotlight when I first heard it. In this post I’ve collected new songs (and a video) that I think are worth your time. It’s also quite a diverse collection of metal. The bands are Tribulation (Sweden), Woe (U.S.), Lorelei (U.S.), Sectioned (Scotland), and Man Must Die (Scotland again).

TRIBULATION

I’m exceedingly stoked for this Swedish band’s second album The Formulas of Death, which is due from Invictus Productions and The Ajna Offensive on March 1. Two songs from it have premiered to date, and they’re striking. The first one (“When the Sky Is Black With Devils”) I wrote about here, and the second one — “Wanderer In The Outer Darkness” — got its debut last week on CVLT Nation.

It’s a catchy, head-rattling mix of rocking riffs, a punchy rhythm section, scalding guitar leads and solo’s, and acid vocals. And the subdued guitar outro is a very pleasant surprise. These guys have definitely created something out of the ordinary. Can’t wait to hear the rest of these Formulas. Be kind to yourself and go HERE for “Wanderer In The Outer Darkness”.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Tribulation-Official/169889709720460
http://invictusproductions.net/ Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 48: NIGHTBRINGER, CYANIC, LORELEI, NICK MILLEVOI

 Album Reviews, Free Shit, MISCELLANY  14 Responses »
Nov 042012
 

It’s been so damned long since I made a MISCELLANY excursion that I had to check the date of the last one: No. 47 was on Sept. 23. Pathetic. Way past time to do it again.

A reminder about the MISCELLANY rules: I pick bands whose music I’ve never heard before (and usually, as in this edition, bands whose names I’ve never heard before); I listen to one or two songs, not knowing what the music is going to sound like; I write some impressions here; and I include the music I heard so you can check it out for yourselves.

With a big list of bands stretching back months that I could pick from, what did I do? I chose four bands who I heard about for the first time during the past week. In fact, three of them I heard about only yesterday. I obviously have poor impulse control.

I nearly called this installment the “Friends Helping Friends” edition because each band was recommended by a friend, each of whom will be identified in due course. These are the bands, and for a change, all four are from the U.S.: Nightbringer, Cyanic, Lorelei, and Nick Millevoi. And here’s a hint about the outcomes of this experiment: My friends know how to pick winners.

NIGHTBRINGER

Nightbringer came my way via NCS writer BadWolf — no comments from him, simply a link to this band’s Bandcamp page, where I found a variety of music streaming. The most recent release is an April 2012 singles collection called Fight Like Hell, which includes all the songs from two previous short releases plus a couple of new tracks. It’s available at a “pay what you want” price for a download on Bandcamp, and you can order the CD there as well.

This Nightbringer, by the way, is not the black metal band of the same name from Colorado. This Nightbringer is from fuckin’ Motor City. Continue reading »