SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: IMPRECATION, CABINET, VACUOUS, LAMENTATIONS, THEOTOXIN, GNASCH, THE ROVING MAGPIE, WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Sep 032022
 

A meteor didn’t hit my house, fast zombies didn’t attack, and I didn’t prostrate myself before the demon alcohol last night, so I was able to prepare this roundup of new songs and videos.

There’s obviously a lot to take in here, but after an opening trio of death metal malignancy and malevolence the music goes in lots of other directions, some of which I think you’ll find surprising. Lots of cool cover art too.

IMPRECATION (U.S.)

The opening of this first song creates an eerie and queasy mood, in keeping with its title. The main part of “Bringer of Sickness” also channels disease through its dense, writhing and roiling riffs, palpitating drums, and malignant growls. But Imprecation also administer savage, primitive slug-fests and disemboweling gouging, and bring in both supernatural organs and wraith-like soloing to make the experience even more hideously chilling. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A BANDCAMP FRIDAY (TOO MANY NAMES TO PUT IN A POST TITLE)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Aug 062021
 

 

Over the last few days my NCS comrades (well, mainly DGR) have been shoveling links at me for new songs and videos, in anticipation that I would put together a round-up by today — which is a Bandcamp Friday. Most of those links were for music by bigger-name bands. The thought was that I could also add more obscure names, and that the allure of the bigger names might help introduce the lesser-knowns to more fans.

The problem is that the pile of links has grown to gargantuan proportions, which has made it tougher for me to insert as many other discoveries as I might want and still write up some thoughts about everything. Ah well, there’s always tomorrow. Here’s the A-to-Z deluge I have for today, in alphabetical order.

ARCHSPIRE (Canada)

Prepare for relentless high-speed bludgeoning and crazed fretwork mania as a big rabid mastiff barks in your face at equally high speed. Exhilarating! Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, WORMWITCH, MOROS

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Jun 102021
 

 

In between bouts of activity driven by my fucking day job today, I had just enough time to pull together this relatively short round-up of new sounds — two tracks (both with videos) from forthcoming albums, and one recently released EP.

WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM (U.S.)

WITTR’s new album has been officially announced. Entitled Primordial Arcana, it’s set for release on August 20th by Relapse Records. Coincident with that they released a video for the song “Mountain Magick“. The band made the video themselves, and filmed it “in the northern reaches of the Olympic Mountains and the ancient forests that shroud the foothills”. They also recorded, produced, and mixed the album themselves. Continue reading »

TOURISM: BEHEMOTH AND OBSCURA ANNOUNCE HEADLINING NORTH AMERICAN TOURS (WITH SOME VERY IMPRESSIVE SUPPORT)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jul 162018
 

 

I’ll make this quick:

First, within the last hour or so, Behemoth announced a North American tour (Ecclesia Diabolica America 2018) with support from At the Gates and Wolves in the Throne Room. It begins on October 20th in Phoenix and ends on November 24th in Los Angeles, and includes stops in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, and Edmonton, as well as 18 U.S. States. Here’s the current schedule: Continue reading »

DECIBEL MAGAZINE 2018 TOUR: ENSLAVED, WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, MYRKUR, KHEMMIS

 Concert Reviews  3 Responses »
Mar 082018
 

 

(An NCS fan who we’ll call Barbarian Mike turned in this guest review of the presentation of DECIBEL Magazine’s 2018 tour in Seattle, Washington, on March 6, 2018.)

Whether you consider yourself a fan or not, it’s impossible to deny the status and reverence Enslaved has earned within the community of heavy music. Over a span of 27-years and 14 studio albums – barring live-show DVD’s, splits, and demos – it’s hard to imagine any band as capable as this one in maintaining a passionate fan base and consistently sold-out live performances.

In spite of this success, Enslaved are a band who don’t rest on their laurels, or coast on their hits of yesteryear. In fact, they appear to be continually invigorated by the challenge of creating something new, to pursue new ideas and sounds. It only makes sense that they would headline one of the bigger tours within heavy music – the DECIBEL Magazine 2018 Tour. Needless to say, I was excited to attend the event at Seattle’s own El Corazon. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: BELL WITCH, THE BLACK DAHLIA MURDER, CLOAK, UNFATHOMABLE RUINATION, WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Aug 232017
 

 

The unwelcome intrusion of non-blog life has forced me to truncate my usual verbose reactions to the music I’ve selected in this mid-week round-up (cue the weeping and the gnashing of teeth), but I wanted to be prompt in spreading the word about the following items, all of which appeared either yesterday or this morning.

I picked these five new songs in part because they provide a quite varied array of what metal in the modern era has to offer.

BELL WITCH

The new Bell Witch album, Mirror Reaper, will be released by Profound Lore on October 20, with an album cover by Mariusz Lewandowski that we won’t soon forget. The album consists of one continuous 83-minute piece that unfolds as a single track. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: DYSCARNATE, WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, HELL, ACEPHALIX, CRIPPER

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jul 202017
 

 

As forecast in yesterday’s SEEN AND HEARD post, I’ve accumulated enough new things of interest since the end of last week to justify posting a round-up today and tomorrow as well as yesterday. Because of the delays occasioned by goofing off last weekend, some of the items I’ve gathered together aren’t as “hot off the presses” as I’d prefer, but they still may be new discoveries for some of you, especially as I dig a bit deeper into the underground for Friday’s post.

DYSCARNATE

Dyscarnate was the subject of a SYNN REPORT back in 2016 in which my colleague Andy reviewed their discography as it then existed, culminating in 2012’s And So It Came To Pass. But nothing has come to pass from these death metal titans since that stunning record, until word began to spread last spring that the band were in the studio recording a new full-length (and that news landed them on a list of Andy’s most anticipated releases for this year). Now, more details have surfaced about this new Dyscarnate effort. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (WEEKDAY EDITION): MYRKUR, KOSMOGYR, WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, THETA, VULTURE INDUSTRIES, ASAGRAUM

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  6 Responses »
Jun 302017
 

 

I began writing this post on Tuesday, intending to finish and publish it the next day. Events conspired against that plan, and I was defeated again yesterday by technical problems ironically created by malfunctioning software installed in our web-host server by the company we pay to armor us against malware.

I’ve resisted the temptation to make this burly collection even bigger by including more new music I’ve spotted in the days since I started it. I also resisted the temptation to just shove this column into its usual place on Sunday, especially because I’ve taken a few liberties with the usual configuration of SHADES OF BLACK. Posting it today will also me to harness different new audio assaults to char the coming Sabbath.

MYRKUR

I stay away from metal message boards for fear of losing IQ points, which as you well know are meager enough already. But I could guess that the people who think they are the trve keepers of the holy black flame are gnashing their teeth all over again because Myrkur has released a new song and soon enough will release a new album. Based on experience, I presume that the readers of this site will take the music as it comes and assess it on its own merits, which is what I’ve done — and I do like what I hear. Continue reading »

ROADBURN FESTIVAL 2017 — A PHOTO ESSAY BY LEVAN TK (DAY 1)

 Concert Reviews  1 Response »
May 242017
 

 

The latest edition of Roadburn Festival took place at Tilburg, The Netherlands, on April 20-23, 2017, and L.A.-based photographer extraordinaire Levan TK was there to capture the performances on film.

We are fortunate to bring you some of his amazing photos, divided among the days of the festival, with his photos from the first day in this post.

P.S. Levan was quick to get us these photos. The delay in sharing them is entirely the fault of our half-wit editor, who will be flogged in public at a location to be announced. Continue reading »

CONCERT REVIEW: WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM AND WIEGEDOOD — LIVE IN BOLOGNA, ITALY (MAY 4, 2017)

 Concert Reviews  No Responses »
May 122017
 

 

(Music journalist Konstantin, who in past years has written for Serbia’s Nocturne Music Magazine, and who brought us a 2-part interview earlier this week, now provides these impressions of the recent performance by Wolves In the Throne Room and Wiegedood in Bologna, Italy, as part of the bands’ Beltrane 2017 European Tour.)

It was more than six years since the last Wolves in the Throne Room concert in Italy when the band announced their long-awaited European tour. The last couple of years saw brothers Nathan and Aaron Weaver focusing on things outside their music and releasing only one instrumental/ambient album, so the return to Europe was highly anticipated.

The tour quickly gained attention, resulting in several dates being sold out, as was the case with the gig in Bologna on the 4th of May. After an outstanding performance at Roadburn Festival, dates around Europe followed, so the concert in Bologna was one of the last on this tour. As was the case with previous concerts, support came from Wiegedood, a Belgian band who share members with  Oathbreaker and AmenRa. Continue reading »

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