SHORT BUT SWEET: PELICAN — “ADRIFT / TENDING THE EMBERS”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Mar 012024
 

It’s another Bandcamp Friday today, and the electronic ether is flooded with new possibilities. I have dozens of recommendations I could make, in addition to the dozens my colleagues and I have been making every day since the last one of these Fridays. But the one I decided to pick out from the virtual deluge is here because… it takes me back….

In looking through our many past writings about Pelican, I found the first appearance in a list posted by one of the two other people who started NCS with me more than 14 years ago, a list posted just two weeks after we began (with no idea where we would go or for how long). And of course that wasn’t the last time we highlighted Pelican‘s music — many more features followed.

Even 14+ years ago, Pelican weren’t newcomers. Just a few weeks before that list I mentioned, they had released their fourth album, What We All Come to Need. Since then, two more albums have followed, and a few EPs, but the pace of the releases hasn’t been as intense as it once was.

That’s not shocking, given that the life of the band is now about 23 years, and the slower pace of output just makes the appearance of something new even more welcome. The new thing we have now, as of today, is a two-song EP named Adrift/Tending the Embers, and although nostalgia has admittedly played a role in why I decided to help spread the word about it, that’s not the only reason. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: GRAVE, PELICAN, WRUST, AND SHEOL

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jul 102013
 

The avalanche of new and noteworthy metallic items that’s been going on all week has continued today. I caught a few of today’s new items in an earlier post, but already there are more. So, another fully loaded round-up follows . . .

GRAVE

More details about the new EP (Morbid Ascent) from Sweden’s Grave surfaced today. First, the release date was announced: August 26. Second, we got the tasty cover art by Costin Chioreanu (above). Third, we learned that Autopsy’s Eric Cutler will be contributing guest vocals on one of the two new songs on the EP — “Venial Sin” (the other one being “Morbid Ascent”). The EP will also include a cover of Satyricon’s “Possessed” as well as a remixed version of “Epos” from Risen From the Tomb and a track from Grave’s 1989 Sexual Mutilation demo (“Reality of Life”). Sounds like a very cool collection.

The EP is going to be released as a 12″ vinyl (in multiple colors) as well as a digital download, and Century Media says both formats will be offered for “a fan-friendly price”. Continue reading »

MEMORIAL DAY MATTERS

 Off Topic, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  21 Responses »
May 282012
 

Here in the U.S., it’s Memorial Day, a national holiday established long ago to commemorate the men and women who have died while serving in the United States Armed Forces.

Even though my own long-dead father was himself a decorated Marine Corps vet and my brother-in-law is a veteran of the Gulf War, I’m embarrassed to admit that it took me a while to separate my feelings about people who served in combat from my feelings about the wars in which they served — or about war in general. About the only time I feel warlike is when I’m listening to warlike metal. I think the last war that was worth fighting (for my country) was the one in Korea, and sometimes I’m not even sure about that one.

I did finally realize what should be obvious to people smarter than me — that soldiers and sailors and airmen do not start wars or decide which wars are worth fighting. They simply do their duty, and they become maimed, suffer mental trauma, and die because of decisions made by others who put them in harm’s way. They deserve to be honored for reasons that have nothing to do with whether the causes in which they sacrifice themselves are worth their sacrifices. They deserve to be remembered and supported even when the conflicts in which they have served are insupportable.

Memorial Day should be a day not only for remembering the dead but also for remembering the living — not only people who are currently serving in the Armed Forces but also veterans. The U.S. has done a piss-poor job of supporting its military veterans. Our government is willing to spend trillions of dollars to finance wars and huge defense establishments, but what we spend to support people after they’ve served their purpose and been discharged — especially those who have been disabled during their service — is shameful. Continue reading »

2012 METAL IN THE FORGE (PART 2)

 Forthcoming Albums  35 Responses »
Feb 042012
 

January ended four days ago, so it’s past time for our usual monthly round-up of news about forthcoming albums. I have to confess that this list is even more spotty and sporadically assembled than usual — which is saying something. Various distractions prevented me from keeping a sharp eye out for news about new releases, so I have no doubt this list is incomplete.

Here’s how this round-up usually works: In these METAL IN THE FORGE posts, I collect news blurbs and press releases I’ve seen over the last month about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like at NCS (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, I 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 earlier than the last 30 days, we probably 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. For example, on this list you won’t see such notable releases as the forthcoming albums from Meshuggah, Enthroned, Unleashed, Psycroptic, Goatwhore, Asphyx, Naglfar, or Autopsy, because we’ve mentioned them elsewhere. Or at least I think we did.

Having said all that, please feel free to leave Comments and tell all of us what I missed when I put this list together. Let us know about albums on the way that  you’re stoked about, even if you don’t see them here! Continue reading »

NEW MUSIC FROM PELICAN

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jan 272012
 

The last release from Chicago’s Pelican came almost two years ago — What We All Come To Need. Word of new music has been circulating for a while, and today we can hear it.

Pelican’s new EP is called Ataraxia/Taraxis, and it will be released by Southern Lord on April 10. But Pelican has established a Bandcamp page that’s now streaming one of the EP’s four songs — “Lathe Biosas”.  On top of that, you can download that track for free by visiting Spin.com or via the Pelican Bandcamp site here.

The band characterizes the new EP as an “experiment” — the first release that they built “by recording in multiple studios (often not with one another) and compiling the results”. Most of the recording was done by the talented Sanford Parker, and he also handled the mixing.

After the jump, you can listen to the new song, “Lathe Biosas”. I’m writing about this and including the song stream for the usual and obvious reason — because I like it very much, and because I’ve become a fan of this band after seeing them live in Seattle for the first time last year. The song is a sweet jam of ringing, chiming, hammering, crushing music. Check it after the jump and let us know what you think. Continue reading »

THE POWER OF THE RIFF

 Concert Reviews  4 Responses »
Aug 192011
 

I’ve decided that the best time to write a concert review is as soon after the show as possible, when the experience is fresh, when the emotions are immediate, when the music is still ringing in my head. The only downsides I can see are (a) I’m half-baked as I write this, and (b) I’m really fuckin’ tired. On the other hand, I’ve convinced myself that these may be pluses.

I saw THE POWER OF THE RIFF tour at a club called Neumos in Seattle tonight with some friends. The driving force behind this tour, which I think only has four West Coast stops (and somewhat different line-ups at each stop), is LA-based Southern Lord Records. It was a long night, and I didn’t see every band. Among other things, because tomorrow is a work-day, I couldn’t stay to see the headlining band, Winter, because they weren’t scheduled to start until well after midnight. But of the bands I saw, these made the strongest impression, in this order: All Pigs Must Die, Noothgrush, and Pelican.

ALL PIGS MUST DIE

Superior armageddon grindcore. Overheated and smoking, but even at their fastest, absolutely pulverizing with a compulsive groove. And it ain’t all speed. They downshift into lower gear in almost every song, and your throat seizes up, gasping for air, as they detonate sludge-bombs and then light things up again with grind rocketry. The band is as tight as a vacuum seal in outer space, and their vocalist is a magnetic presence, wielding the mic stand like a baton. I thought for sure he would cave in someone’s head before they finished their set. As one of my friends said, “it isn’t metal until someone gets hurt.”  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

THE MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS OF 2009 (Part 11)

 Album Reviews, Listmania  No Responses »
Jan 022010
 

About a week ago we finished posting our list of the Ten Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs of 2009. Finishing the list turned out to be a bit of a struggle because your NCS Co-Authors had more favorites than we had open slots on the list.  And each of us had some infectious favorites on our short lists that didn’t survive the final negotiations among us — but they just missed by a nose. So we’re going to roll out those songs now. It’s the next best thing to just reneging on our commitment to make our list a “Top Ten” and instead renaming it the “Top Fourteen.”

LAMB OF GOD:  In Your Words

Lamb of God enjoys such a hallowed place in the pantheon of extreme metal that thousands wait with bated breath for each new release — and then, when it comes, promptly engage in vociferous debate about whether it compares favorably or not to the monster hits of the band’s past.  Wrath was LOG’s first release in over two years, and predictably generated a war of words about whether LOG had lived up to its fans’ stratospheric expectations, and about what it signified about the band’s future trajectory.

We won’t engage in comparisons of the album to LOG’s ground-breaking work of the past: Considered on its own merits, it’s a well-engineered, riff-filled barrage of headbangery by some brilliant song-writers and musicians.

“Infectious” is Lamb of God’s middle name, but our most infectious favorite from Wrath is the first song that appears on the album after the (very cool) instrumental intro.  “In Your Words” launches with an insistent, immediately headbangable riff, followed by an extended scream from the almighty Randy Blythe (whose versatile vocals throughout the album are superb) and a crushing drum attack – and we’re off to the races.  At about  the 2:30 mark, the song defuses into a pounding breakdown and then culminates in an extended cascading wall of pulsing, groovy, tremolo-picked melody.  So damn cool!  See for yourself and then continue reading after the jump for our last three finalists:

Lamb of God: In Your Words Continue reading »

THE TEN MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS OF 2009 (It’s a wrap . . . sort of)

 Listmania, MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2009  3 Responses »
Dec 282009
 

This past weekend we finished dribbling out our list of the Ten Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs of 2010. Here’s the final line-up:

1.  Asphyx: Scorbutics

2.  Mastodon: Crack the Skye

3.  Amorphis: Silver Bride

4. Goatwhore: Apocalyptic Havoc

5.  August Burns Red: Meridian

6.  Pelican: Ephemeral

7.  Scale the Summit: Age of the Tide

8.  Daath: Wilting On the Vine

9.  Molotov Solution: The Harbinger

10. Revocation: Dismantling the Dictator

Yes, the list is finished — and for your listening pleasure, we’ve added a playlist of the listed songs to our MySpace page — with one slight alteration:  we couldn’t find Scale the Summit‘s “Age of the Tide” on MySpace, so our playlist includes another of our favorites tracks off Carving Desert Canyons.

Even though we finished the list, your NCS Co-Authors had some infectious favorites that didn’t survive our final negotiations — but they just missed by a nose. So we’re going to roll those out later this week. It’s the next best thing to just reneging on our commitment to make this a list of the Top Ten and instead renaming it the Top Fourteen.

THE TEN MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS OF 2009 (Part 7)

 Listmania  No Responses »
Dec 222009
 

Here at NCS, we’re putting a different spin on year-end listmania. Ours isn’t a list of the best metal full-lengths of the year. It’s not even necessarily our list of the best individual extreme metal songs of the year. Ours is a list of the most infectious extreme metal songs we’ve heard this year. We’re talking about songs that produce involuntary physical movement and worm their way into your brain to such an extent you can’t get ’em out (and wouldn’t want to).

We’re not ranking our list from #10 to #1 because that would be too much fucking work (and your co-Authors would still be arguing about it this time next year). So, our list is in no particular order. We’re also dribbling the songs out one at a time because your lazy Authors are still debating what belongs in the remaining slots. Our list heretofore:

1.  Asphyx:  Sorbutics

2.  Mastodon:  Crack the Skye

3.  Amorphis:  Silver Bride

4.  Goatwhore: Apocalyptic Havoc

5.  August Burns Red:  Meridian

6.  Pelican:  Ephemeral

And to see our seventh entry on the list, continue reading after the jump. Continue reading »

THE TEN MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS OF 2009 (Part 6)

 Listmania  2 Responses »
Dec 212009
 

Here at NCS, we’re putting a different spin on year-end listmania. Ours isn’t a list of the best metal full-lengths of the year. It’s not even necessarily our list of the best individual extreme metal songs of the year. Ours is a list of the most infectious extreme metal songs we’ve heard this year. We’re talking about songs that produce involuntary physical movement and worm their way into your brain to such an extent you can’t get ’em out (and wouldn’t want to).

We’re not ranking our list from #10 to #1 because that would be too much fucking work (and your co-Authors would still be arguing about it this time next year). So, our list is in no particular order. We’re also dribbling the songs out one at a time because your lazy Authors are still debating what belongs in the remaining slots. Our list heretofore:

1.  Asphyx:  Sorbutics

2.  Mastodon:  Crack the Skye

3.  Amorphis:  Silver Bride

4.  Goatwhore: Apocalyptic Havoc

5.  August Burns Red:  Meridian

And to see our sixth entry on the list, continue reading after the jump. (By the way, that photo up above is of a nebula about 2,000 light years away that shares its name with this band.) Continue reading »

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