I usually try to put some thought into the headlines for NCS posts (usually about 30 seconds of thought), instead of just writing, “HEY MUTHAFUCKAZ, THIS NEW SONG RULEZ!” For this post, the title just typed itself. As for what it means, those who know, know. Those who don’t need to bone up on their Finnish idioms.
This morning, I have three new songs that qualify as fucking good pancake. The first one, which is the subject of this post, comes from Dutch progressive tech-metallers Textures. They’ve released the first taste of new music from their forthcoming album Dualism. The track is called “Singularity,” and you can hear it on the band’s Facebook page by pressing the “Like” box (I don’t yet have an embeddable copy of the track — when I do, I’ll update this post to add it here for those who aren’t FB nerds).
The song is fucking good pancake. I am liking the dominant riff very much. It is a slightly off-kilter series of hammer blows. I am liking the harsh vocals and tolerating the clean ones. I am liking the rhythmic changes and instrumental progressions in the song’s mid-section. I am liking the propulsive drum fills. I am liking the floating melodies (though not liking them as much as on “Awake”). But mainly, I am liking that dominant Meshuggah-style riff. Fucking good pancake. Go listen to it, won’t you?
Nuclear Blast will be releasing the album’s first official single, “Reaching Home,” on August 19. Dualism will come out on September 23 in Europe, South America, Australia and Asia, and on September 27 in North America. (a bit more after the jump . . .)
In addition to the music, I am really liking the artwork for the album. It was designed by former Textures frontman Eric Kalsbeek and the band’s bass player Remko Tielemans. Eric had the following to say about his artistic contribution: ‘The guys asked me to co-create the artwork together with Remko, for good old times’ sake. Of course I said yes! I might not be in the band anymore, but I’m still involved in some ways. We’re still pretty close, you know. It was a challenge, it had to be ‘different’ but still Textures-like. Hope you like it!” Yes, I do Eric. I like it very much.
I will have two more Fucking Good Pancake posts coming over the next hour or so. Therefore, please continue to sit and stare blankly at the NCS site on your computer screen, periodically refreshing it, and ignoring everything else you were supposed to be doing. This will not make me uncomfortable. I’m used to getting blank stares.