VARIOUS

To supplement Andy’s review of the recent show in Leicester by The Faceless, Born of Osiris, Veil of Maya, and Gorod (here), I threw together some breaking news of interest to me (and perhaps you), plus some new music and videos (also of interest to me, and possibly to you, too). The subjects of this post: Bewilderbiest, Nekrogoblikon, Fit For An Autopsy, Adam Gray (Texas in July), and Your Chance To Die.

BEWILDERBIEST

NCS co-founder IntoTheDarkness doesn’t write for NCS much any more, but at unpredictable times he texts me in bursts of enthusiasm about new music or new developments in the scene. Yesterday was one of those days. So, credit to him for this first piece of intriguing news.

Bewilderbiest is a new band, a “super group”, if you will. Somehow, IntoTheDarkness became aware of the recent, unheralded appearance of this band on Facebook. So far, I haven’t seen any fanfare about this, but it sure does command interest. Check out the line-up of band members:

Sacha Dunable – guitar (Intronaut, Graviton)
Derek Donley – drums (National Sunday Law, Graviton)
Charles Elliott – vocals, guitar (Abysmal Dawn)
Derek Rydquist – bass (The Faceless)

I think this makes the 5,231st band that the super-talented Sacha Dunable is involved in. No music is yet available, but based on some internet sleuthing, I did discover that the band are finishing up work on their debut effort and that the genre focus will be doom. When we have more to report, we’ll clue you in.  That Facebook page is here, though the content is pretty spare at the moment. (more after the jump . . .)

NEKROGOBLIKON

This California band of goblikons has been an NCS favorite for a while. Last October, after ingratiating ourselves with this goblinesque horde, we were given the chance to hear the band’s new album, felicitously entitled Stench — and we went nuts over it. To quote from our possibly premature review:

“The influence that comes to mind immediately is Finntroll. Nekrogoblikon invest the music with similar pagan/folk rhythms and melodies and keyboard-executed sounds of traditional folk instruments. But this isn’t the kind of folk metal that brings to mind druids worshipping the wonders of nature. The songs are played at blazing speeds, and the rhythms are those of fast, whirling dances. . . . [T]hey are massively infectious, compulsively headbangable, and deliriously free. . . . From beginning to end, Stench is a remarkably accomplished work of blazingly fast folk-metal and melodeath that deserves a wide audience.”

Finally, a wider audience will have their chance to experience Stench. This morning we got word from Nekrogoblikon co-founder Tim Lyakhovetskiy (who has contributed a few welcome guest posts to NCS in the past) that Stench will be officially released on July 19. According to Timbus, “pre-orders are available as part of the Nekrogoblikon Kickstarter project to purchase a reliable goblin spaceship for touring purposes (so the band can maim as many of their fans as possible).” Check that out here. (Some cool-looking band shirts are on offer there, too.)

You can also now hear two songs from Stench (as well as the entirety of the band’s first album, Goblin Island) at the Nekroboblikon Bandcamp page (here). Also feel free to visit the band’s Facebook page and slobber congratulations and praise upon them, in the hope that they will spare you when the goblikon rending and maiming of human life begins later this summer.

FIT FOR AN AUTOPSY

Our bro IntoTheDarkness also texted me yesterday with an urgent demand that I stop whatever I was doing and immediately listen to the brand new song from New Jersey’s Fit For An Autopsy. Those dudes have their debut on Black Market Activities (the label headed by The Red Chord’s frontman Guy Kozowyk) scheduled for June 21. The album title is The Process of Human Extermination, and it will include appearances by these guests:

Tim Williams (Vision Of Disorder, ex-bloodsimple)
Guy Kozowyk (The Red Chord)
Travis Richter (The Human Abstract)
Ray Mazzola (Full Blown Chaos)

Not too shabby, eh? Well, that new song ain’t too shabby either. In fact, it will smash you in the face like a sledgehammer, rip your head out by the roots, and then vent acid down into the bleeding stump of your neck. And other brutally pummeling and very metal words. Allow yourself to be abused:

Fit For An Autopsy – The Conqueror by Fit For An Autopsy

I guess that, what with your mangled head torn off and your neck venting blood for the next few seconds until your heart realizes the head is gone, you won’t be able to read what’s left of this post, but I’ll finish it anyway, for your grieving relatives.

ADAM GRAY (TEXAS IN JULY)

Texas in July is a metalcore band from Pennsylvania whose music we like. Someday, we’ll write about their new (second) album, which is quite good. But for now, we just want to show you this video of the band’s drummer, Adam Gray. It’s only about 30 seconds long. It appears that everyone in the internet-abled part of the world has already seen this, but I just saw it yesterday.

It’s kinda cool. Cool enough that Adam appeared on The Tonight Show on May 17 to perform his trick while being judged by William Shatner, who continues to look not quite as svelte as he did on the original Star Trek series. Also cool that Adam didn’t bother to “dress up” for his appearance on national TV.

So, first I’ll show you the little clip that went viral via YouTube, and then the Tonight Show performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5VrSbT6GHQ

YOUR CHANCE TO DIE

Someone famous (whose identity I can’t be bothered to look up) once wrote that the eyes are the window to the soul. Big, dark brown eyes are like a window that’s been closed, with the drapes drawn. They can convey a feeling of warmth, but sometimes they just seem impenetrably mysterious. Eyes like that are what caused me to give this next video a chance when I saw it yesterday, and ultimately, I decided it was a good use of time, because the music is pretty good, too.

The band is called Your Chance To Die. They’re from South Carolina and they’ve just signed with a label called Red Cord Records for the release of their second album — Suscitatio Somnus — on August 16. The CD was recorded with producer Jamie King (THROUGH THE EYES OF THE DEAD, THE HUMAN ABSTRACT, BETWEEN THE BURIED AND ME).

The band also has the distinction of featuring a female growler, Missi Avila. She joins the thin ranks of women who can deliver bear-like death-metal vocals that, when heard, give you no indication that a woman is behind the sounds. This song also includes a guitar solo I thought was pretty damned hot.

I’m still trying to make up my mind about whether the classical intro and outro works or is an affectation, but I like what’s going on enough to check out the album when it comes. Here’s the video for “Annuit Coeptis”: