TOURISM: “IN THE MINDS OF EVIL” NORTH AMERICAN TOUR 2014; CARCASS; DTA’S “SWAMP LEPER STOMP ’14”

 Metal News  12 Responses »
Aug 112014
 

Collected in this post you will find news of three U.S. or North American tours. News about the first two is still somewhat incomplete, and I’m a bit late reporting on the third one. All three are enticing.

“IN THE MINDS OF EVIL”

Last month news surfaced about a tour to be headlined by Deicide, named after their most recent album, In the Minds of Evil. Last night Inquisition posted an announcement on their Facebook page about the tour, which was interesting because when the tour was announced last month Marduk was named as one of the support bands, but now it appears that Marduk are out and Inquisition are in. In addition, Abysmal Dawn have been added to the line-up. Here’s the complete list of bands:

DEICIDE
SEPTICFLESH
INQUISITION
ABYSMAL DAWN
CARACH ANGREN

An updated official tour flyer hasn’t been released yet, so I decided to use a photo of an embryo of the short-tailed fruit bat (embryonic stage 19).

Inquisition also included an initial schedule of dates in their FB post, while noting that more dates will be added. Here’s the schedule so far: Continue reading »

SEPTICFLESH: “TITAN”

 Album Reviews  9 Responses »
Jul 162014
 

(DGR wrote this review of the new album by Septicflesh from Greece.)

Greek mythology tends to lend itself pretty well to the idea of the massive. You don’t get to call your album Titan and have it be something other than an attempt at sounding absolutely huge. When SepticFlesh announced that as the title of their new album, you had to have a pretty good idea of what you were signing up for. Truth be told, SepticFlesh have the sort of sound that lends itself to such a title.

They’ve had years to hone their craft, and the basic elements of their sound — the symphonic and orchestral and the death metal — can shoot from being reserved and foreboding to sounding absolutely gigantic within the space of a second. Over the span of several albums, SepticFlesh have found a really good balance of just how much of each to drop into a song, while walking a very fine line and tinkering with a very delicate formula. Rarely have they ever gone the “crank everything up to eleven” route and reached for entire bombast on all fronts — though that approach has been proven to work, and when SepticFlesh choose to do it, they do just as well.

With The Great Mass, the band really captured lightning in a bottle, letting the symphonic and the death metal sides of the band war with each other and meld into an equilibrium, and it resulted in a great disc — as both a collection of songs and, if you were lucky enough to find one of the bonus editions with just the orchestral pieces, as a symphonic movement as well. If SepticFlesh had decided to make Titan into The Great Mass 2: Mass Harder, then I imagine people would’ve lined up front and center to lavish praise upon the band, because hell, that album again would’ve absolutely been acceptable. That’s why Titan is an interesting album — because for half the disc, they didn’t do that. Instead, they toyed with the foundations of the band and messed with the formula that had been crafted to its breaking point. The result is an album that does live up to its name — Titan is absolutely massive sounding, but not necessarily as death metal as the band have been before. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: TOMBS, SEPTICFLESH, CEMETERY LUST, DEVANGELIC

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jun 112014
 

The following are some of the best things I saw and heard in my ramblings through the interhole today.

TOMBS

I have idiotically failed to write anything about Savage Gold, the new album by Brooklyn’s Tombs which is out today. But because it’s out today, the entire album is also now streaming on Bandcamp, where it can also be ordered. It defies simple classification, with a mix of elements drawn from black metal, hardcore, death metal, and post-metal, among others. It’s a powerful album as a whole, and one in which each song also has its own potent identity. There is no joy in the music, but there is a lot to enjoy.

I go back and forth as to which song is my favorite, but today it’s “Edge of Darkness” (yesterday it was “Seance”), so if you’ve only got time to sample the music, you might start there. The whole album is after the jump.

http://tombsbklyn.bandcamp.com/album/savage-gold
https://www.facebook.com/TombsBklyn Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SEPTICFLESH — “BURN”

 Premieres  17 Responses »
May 072014
 

As we’ve been faithfully reporting for months, the Greek symphonic death metal titans Septicflesh have a new album fittingly named Titan that’s coming our way in North America via Prosthetic Records (June 24). We’ve previously featured the first advance track from the album (“Order of Dracul”), and today we have the pleasure of helping premiere a second song named “Burn”.

The name is well-chosen, because the song does indeed burn. Blazing tremolo riffs blacken the music and turn it into a ripping assault. But that’s just for starters. The song also includes a massively headbangable stomping riff — as well as a beautiful soaring melody spun out like glistening gossamer by lead guitar and symphony. It’s a hell of a song. Continue reading »

TOURISM: SCHEDULE ANNOUNCED FOR CONQUERORS OF THE WORLD TOUR (SEPTICFLESH, FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, HOUR OF PENANCE, NECRONOMICON)

 Metal News  4 Responses »
May 062014
 

Not long ago I got all slobbery over the announcement that Septicflesh, Fleshgod Apocalypse, Hour of Penance, and Necronomicon would be joining forces for a North American tour this year. Today, the schedule for the tour was announced.

It begins in Virginia on June 22 and ends in Denver on July 12. There are 14 shows in the US, five in Canada and — most importantly — one in Seattle.  Yes, I am a self-centered prick, but I know you’ll forgive me.

The tour is timed to capitalize on the release of Titan on June 24 via Prosthetic Records in North America, Titan being the name of the new Septicflesh album. I eagerly await that record, as well as this tour.

If you can’t make out the dates on that tour poster, here they are (celebrate or moan, depending on your location): Continue reading »

BOMBASTIC TOURISM: SEPTICFLESH, FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, HOUR OF PENANCE, , NECRONOMICON

 Metal News  5 Responses »
Apr 232014
 

I was away from the internet for 8 hours yesterday. On the one hand, it was kind of refreshing. On the other hand… I sure as shit missed a lot of metal news. The first item I saw upon returning to the wired world was a post by Andy Synn in our NCS group on Facebook, spreading the word about the Conquerors of the World Tour, with a comment: “Stick Dimmu in as headliners and you’d have ALL the symphonic bluster you could muster.” No shit.

Here’s the announcement that appeared on the Septicflesh Facebook page:

“”We are thrilled to announce that we will be returning to North America/Canada with our blood brothers in Fleshgod Apocalypse, Hour of Penance and Necronomicon,” comments SEPTICFLESH. “This promises to be a night in darkness to be remembered as we prepare to unleash our colossal new album ‘Titan.'”

No dates yet, but this promises to be one of the year’s can’t-miss outings. As soon as we get the schedule, we’ll slap it up on the site without delay.

SEEN AND HEARD: AGALLOCH, SEPTICFLESH, 1349, GOATCRAFT

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Apr 162014
 

Agalloch – photo by Veleda Thorsson

These are things I noticed over the last 24 hours that I thought you might want to notice as well.

AGALLOCH

When I found out that Agalloch was going to play a special show at Highline in Seattle on May 17 with YOB and Wounded Giant, I didn’t crow about it on our site. I can be pretty boorish when I want to be, and even when I’m not trying to be, but even I recognized it would be a dick move to express my joy about something I could see but the vast majority of our readers couldn’t. But now, finally, Agalloch has announced an official tour — Serpens In Culmination.

No doubt, the news will still be painful to fans who aren’t within reach of one of the stops, especially people who are also fans of Obsidian Tongue, Vex, and Jex Thoth, because those bands are also appearing at select stops on this tour. But on balance I feel okay about posting this news. Here’s the first part of the schedule, as announced late yesterday by Agalloch and Profound Lore: Continue reading »

SEPTICFLESH: “TITAN” IS COMING

 Metal News  12 Responses »
Feb 122014
 

Just about a week ago we reported that Septic Flesh had become Septicflesh and had completed the recording of a new album — an album made in collaboration with the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir and a full children’s choir.

Today brought us a few more updates. First, the album’s name will be Titan. Second, the band released Part 1 of a video about the creation of the album. In this one, guitarist and composer Christos Antoniou presents the recording sessions with the Prague Philharmonic. You can see that after the jump.

And third, since the band have unified their two-word name, they need a new logo, don’t they? And after the jump you can see that, too, via a short animation

The album will be released this summer via Season of Mist for Europe and via Prosthetic Records for America. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SEPTICFLESH, KYPCK, PROFANE OMEN

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Feb 042014
 

I’m in catch-up mode for new things. This is the second round-up of news and new music for today, and there will probably be a third. The first one is here. The following collection should keep you off-balance.

SEPTICFLESH

Yes, it appears that the band have decided to join the two words of their name into one, but a rose by any other name will smell just as sweet. Or, in this case, will sound just as sweet. I saw this announcement on the band’s Facebook page this morning:

“We have completed the recordings of our upcoming full length album. The album will consists of 10 songs that were recorded once again at Devasoundz Studios Athens Greece and at Prague with the collaboration of the Prague Philharmonic Orchestra and Choir. The album will be released this summer via Season of Mist for Europe and via Prosthetic Records for America.

“We are really exhausted, but also very proud from the result. We worked very hard with Logan Mader (former MACHINE HEAD and SOULFLY guitarist that has worked considering album sound, with bands as CAVALERA CONSPIRACY, FEAR FACTORY, GOJIRA) to bring you the ultimate death metal soundtrack for your darkest dreams. The compositions are progressive with a lot of emotional peaks, while at the same time the songs sound very aggressive. Also we had the chance to work for the first time with a full children choir, beside the regular adult choir, and that helped us dive deeper into darker cinematic atmospheres.”

Continue reading »

SEPTICFLESH: COVER ART FOR “THE GREAT MASS”

 Metal News  9 Responses »
Apr 052011
 

Seth Siro Anton is the harsh vocalist, bassist, and artistic mastermind behind Greek metal band SepticFlesh. He is also an accomplished artist whose work, both for SepticFlesh and many other bands, we featured in an earlier post. He created the cover art for the next album by SepticFlesh, The Great Mass, which will be released by Season of Mist on April 18 in Europe and one day later in the U.S.

SepticFlesh has been doling out pieces of the cover art over time, and today the entire work was unveiled.  Anton refers to it as a statue of “The Suicidal God”. We’ll leave the interpretations to others. It’s striking to look at — and if you really want to examine it in detail, go to the official SepticFlesh site (here) where you will see a much larger image of the artwork. If we’re understanding the plans correctly, parts of this image will appear as the covers to various editions of the album, plus the dustjacket of an artbook edition.

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