SEEN AND HEARD: BEHEMOTH, PESTILENT HEX, DEIVOS, SOUL DEVOURMENT, CKRAFT, SOULSKINNER, TALES OF BLOOD, THORNLORD

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Oct 042024
 

“BC Friday. Go spend money.” That’s what a fellow metal writer posted early this morning in a chat group I’m part of, populated by a bunch of other metal writers from print and on-line spaces. From my observation, they do that every Bandcamp Friday, sharing in the group what they’ve bought, proving they did it and suggesting spendy ideas to the others, even though all of them get free promos of most records they’re interested in.

Well, I’m not going to exhort all of you to go spend money on Bandcamp today. Ends must be made to meet, and for some, the ends don’t include paying for music you can listen to for free. But for those who do like to take advantage of these Fridays and shove a few extra coins across the table to needy metal bands and labels (which is about 95% of them), I’ve got a few more ideas for you — in addition to the gazillion other ideas we’ve offered up on every one of the 28 days since the last Bandcamp Friday. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: PESTILENT HEX, BAT MAGIC, FALLUJAH, BLACKLIST

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Apr 302022
 

 

I’ve had a fuckin’ rough week, a classic example of the old adage that when it rains it pours. On top of continuing to help an injured loved one recover from physical trauma followed by surgery, I was slammed hard and repeatedly by my day job. Woe is me, indeed.

I largely ignored the thousand emails that poured into NCS since last weekend, and barely noticed the other places where I get suggestions of new music to write about. Blessed by a bit of peace this morning, I began going through the emails — and gave up after 15 minutes, overwhelmed by the scale of the task. I picked just a few things rather than completely abandon my roundup duties.

The first couple of selections probably reflect my current moods, which then got elevated by the third song. Of course I had to throw you a bit of a curveball at the end.

PESTILENT HEX (Finland)

I thought about saving this first track for tomorrow’s SHADES OF BLACK column, but the way things have gone over the past week I don’t know if there will be one. And besides, this song really grabbed me this morning, so striking while the iron is hot seemed like the right decision. Continue reading »