Well, that’s what people say. In my experience, they usually say it when they’re trying to calm you down after you’ve been exposed to something you really aren’t interested in or maybe dislike intensely. But, taken literally, it’s true. Variety IS the spice of life, or at least one of them. Along with oregano.
That saying popped into my head when I took a short break from my fucking day job, which is currently wearing me down to a stump, and found the following three pieces of music, two of which are brand new releases by Nightrage and Dirge Within and the third of which is a recent live video of Landmine Marathon kickin sumasss.
NIGHTRAGE
Nightrage will be releasing their fifth album, Insidious, via Lifeforce Records on September 27 (one day earlier internationally). To whet appetites for that release, the band have made the title track available for streaming on their facebook page. It features the band’s former vocalist Tomas Lindberg (At the Gates, The Crown, Lock Up). That was enough to make me listen, though the interesting album art by Gustavo Sazes helped, too.
The song is quite nice, too, with an unexpected acoustic outro. Lindberg is in good voice on this headbanging thrasher, which is to say naaaasty. I’m all in favor of your visiting the Nightrage facebook page, but it happens you’ll also find the song stream after the jump.
Nightrage: “Insidious”
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/20747926″]
And next, I have for you . . .
DIRGE WITHIN
Wolverine Blues by Entombed is one of my favorite metal albums of all time. I still listen to it fairly regularly. So, when I saw that Chicago’s Dirge Within had recorded a cover of the album’s title track, I cringed, because I’m past the point of believing anyone can improve on the original and if someone tries to turn it into something different, I’m likely just to get infuriated or bored.
On the other hand, I like Dirge Within and I couldn’t help but admire that they picked this old-school song to cover. It does show they have good taste. So, with those mixed feelings, I listened to the song on the Dirge Within facebook page, where they’ll let you download it for free if you “like” them, add yourself to an e-mail list, and share the band on your facebook page — all of which is way more than I’m willing to do — but you don’t have to do all that to stream the music, so I did that.
Guess what? The cover isn’t better than the original, but it’s also not bad. It’s worth hearing — why else would I be sticking it up here at NCS?
Dirge Within have got a digital 3-song EP called Absolution coming out on August 16. I’m in the market for that one, for sure. And finally . . .
LANDMINE MARATHON
These Phoenicians have a fourth album (Gallows) coming on September 27 on Prosthetic Records. I have it in my clutches, though I haven’t dived into it yet. I do really like this band, and so when I saw that there was video of their August 4, 2011 performance at The Fire Escape Bar & Grill in Citrus Heights, California (courtesy of Capital Chaos) available for viewing, I went and did that.
Happy that I did, too. From death/grind to death/sludge and back again in 4:23. Go for it:
17 Responses to “VARIETY IS THE SPICE OF LIFE (NIGHTRAGE, DIRGE WITHIN, AND LANDMINE MARATHON)”
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I LOVE the new Nightrage track. They’ve always been superb melodeath.
The audio quality on the live Landmine Marathon song was too shitty for me to really enjoy, so I found some of their songs on YouTube. That lead me to this video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hdLAeARPdSY) and the following comment someone left:
“How is Katy Perry doing the shitty shit shes doing while her sister is doing this??”
I also found this one (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-rQmnhrCG3A) where the singerperson joins the pit while singing without missing a beat.
Yeah, I love that video. We posted it here last year. She does that a lot at shows. Can’t wait to see them in Seattle this fall.
Damnit, I should do searches on the site before posting shit.
No way! Not for comments! I can barely remember what we’ve done in the past, and new readers won’t have a clue. Plus, this was almost a year ago.
Love that video! I cracked-up at that YouTube comment, too. The shit Grace Perry does in the video isn’t an act she put on for purposes of the vid. She’s like this live, too. Definitely one of the most metal women in metal. If anyone disagrees, I’m ready to fight them. (I love to say shit like that, as long as I can do it over the internet.)
I’M THE MOST METAL WOMAN IN METAL!!!
WANNA FIGHT ABOUT IT????
Uh, I surrender, a TKO.
Hah! Now I can teabag you with my dirty, manly vagoo.
Wow, just finished traveling back to Taiwan and you already have like 15 new articles. I actually liked Dirge Within’s cover better than the original. I have the Wolverine Blues album, I always didn’t really like the sloppyness. I know a lot of people dig that, but I prefer Dirge Within’s tighter rendition.
Glad you made it back safely. You actually put your finger on one reason why I prefer the original — the raw, downtuned, filthy sloppiness. 🙂 And yeah, the Dirge Within has a sharper, more modern feel. I do like the cover, just not as much as Entombed’s original.
Is the Nightrage song post above the only track featuring Lindberg? Sweet Vengeance is one of the best melodeath releases of the last 10 years, but that band went to shit after Lindberg and Gus G left.
Here’s the track list, with guests noted in parens:
01. So Far Away (intro)
02. Delirium Of The Fallen (w/ Apollo Papathanasio)
03. Insidious (w/ Tomas Lindberg)
04. Wrapped In Deceitful Dreams (w/ Gus G. and Tom S. Englund)
05. Hate Turns Black
06. Sham Piety (w/ Tomas Lindberg)
07. Cloaked In Wolf Skin
08. This World Is Coming To An End (w/ Tomas Lindberg, Apollo Papathanasio)
09. Utmost Ends Of Pain
10. Poignant Memories
11. Hush Of Night
12. Poisoned Pawn
13. Solar Eclipse (Prelude) (w/ John K)
14. Solar Corona (w/ Gus G. and Tom S. Englund)
15. Emblem Of Light (outro) (w/ John K)
John K is from Biomechanical.
Biomechanical… were not good. Not terrible. Just not good.
Quite looking forward to hearing what Apollo brings to the table with his guest slots. Little known fact: he used to front Gardenian before they broke up. So I’m definitely interested to experience him in a melo-death context.
And I consider “A New Disease Is Born” to be the best Nightrage album. Which puts me in the minority by several levels I know.
I bought one of Biomechanical’s albums just because I liked their name.
I’d agree with your assessment. From what I remember (it’s been a while), they had moments of something akin to brilliance scattered between long stretches of something akin to tepidness.
Pretty much. And live… no. Just no.