A video I saw about some difficulties Apple is experiencing with its Siri speech-recognition software gave me the idea for this post. It don’t seem to do too well with the Scots dialect (or at least the Glaswegian variant of it). I wonder how it would do with lyric recognition when voiced by Scottish extreme metal bands. Probably not to fukkin well. And running some bagpipe metal through the thing would probably cause it to melt down.
First, here’s the video. HIGH-larious. (And to see a translation of what’s being said, along with an explanation by the creator of the video, go here.)
As for Scottish (and Scottish-themed) metal, the line-up after the jump is a mix of new, newish, and older music from three Glasgow bands (Man Must Die, Cerebral Bore, and Achren), one from Edinburgh (Zillah), and Haggis and Bong (okay, they’re from South Africa, but how can we write about Scottish metal without including some new bagpipe shred?).
MAN MUST DIE
This band has been an NCS favorite going back to the early months of our existence in 2009; type the band’s name into the NCS search box and you’ll see the history of our MMD coverage. I was greedily expecting a new album from these death metal brutes last year. Unfortunately — and completely inexplicably — they have had difficulty finding an interested label, and so we don’t have a new album. What we do have is a demo version of a new song called “Hiding In Plain Sight”, which the band uploaded to SoundCloud last October and was on YouTube even before that.
I have no idea why I missed this, but I at least I’ve found it now.
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/25438925″ iframe=”true” /]
CEREBRAL BORE
Here’s another band we’ve written about frequently at NCS. As I write this now, Cerebral Bore is in Foel Studios in Wales recording new material. As evidence, we have this photo from last Thursday of their attention-grabbing vocalist Som recording some vocals:
From press reports, it appears this recording session is dedicated to just one new track rather than a full album. It’s highly likely we’ll be posting the new music here whenever it emerges.
Also, beginning February 19, Cerebral Bore will be joining Goatwhore, Hate Eternal, and Fallujah on a U.S. tour that runs into March. No doubt, that will be a slaughterrific show. Here’s the schedule:
Feb. 19 – Houston, TX – Warehouse Live
Feb. 20 – El Paso, TX – House Of Rock
Feb. 21 – Tempe, AZ – Clubhouse
Feb. 22 – Hollywood, CA – Whisky A Go Go
Feb. 23 – Santa Cruz, CA – The Catalyst Atrium
Feb. 24 – Portland, OR – Branx
Feb. 25 – Seattle, WA – Studio Seven
Feb. 26 – Boise, ID – The Venue
Feb. 27 – Salt Lake City, UT – In The Venue
Feb. 28 – Colorado Springs, CO – Black Sheep
Feb. 29 – Kansas City, MO – Beaumont Club
Mar. 01 – St Paul, MN – Station 4
Mar. 02 – Des Moines, IA – House Of Bricks
Mar. 03 – Chicago, IL – Reggie’s Rock Club*
Mar. 05 – Toronto, ON – Hard Luck**
Mar. 06 – Ottawa, ON – Maverick’s**
Mar. 07 – Montreal, QC – Les Foufounes Electriques**
Mar. 08 – Clifton, NJ – Dingbatz**
Mar. 09 – Brooklyn, NY – Saint Vitus**
* No GOATWHORE
** HATE ETERNAL and CEREBRAL BORE only
Now, music:
ACHREN
Yet another band we’ve written about before. Their 2011 debut album The Forgotten King has racked up a stack of very positive reviews, and last year they played their fair share of big dates, including appearances at Wacken and Bloodstock. Here’s a track from The Forgotten King, which captures pretty well their powerful fusion of black metal and death metal.
“Pestilence”
[audio:https://www.nocleansinging.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/10-Pestilence.mp3|titles=Achren – Pestilence]
ZILLAH
We discovered this Edinburgh-based band not too long ago – last November. What hooked my interest was a new track they had just released called “Not All of Me Shall Die / Man Son of Swine”. Allow me to quote myself from that November post: “This is crazy-ass, badass music — brutal, technical, schizophrenic, experimental-sounding, granite-heavy, squalling, swirling, demented, beautifully played. It’s some kind of smoking merengue of tech-death, prog, grind, and influenza. If you like it (which I certainly do), it’s available for free download at Bandcamp HERE.”
The song is still available for free download via that link, and the rest of the band’s discography is up there, too. In fact, I like the song so much, I’m just going to play it again. I also couldn’t resist featuring the artwork for the band’s new t-shirt, which can be ordered here. It’s by an Edinburgh graphic artist named Sam Hayles. I likee.
HAGGIS AND BONG
Last, but CERTAINLY not least, I’m proud to present a new song from South Africa’s Haggis and Bong.
The band’s new album, with that stunning cover art up there, which we’ve previously featured, is scheduled to hit the pavement on February 21. Two days ago, the band uploaded a track from the album called “Revelation of the Gods”, and one of our readers was nice enough to send me the link.
The drums begin to pound, the bass begins to drone, and then the pipes begin to skirl. Three things jumped out at me about this song. First, I hear a guitar in the mix, for the first time in a Haggis and Bong song. In fact, the song includes a sweet guitar solo. Second, this isn’t the kind of balls-out bagpipe reel the band have typically produced — it’s musically much more complex, and there’s a kind of darkness in it, too.
And third, it’s a much more conventionally fleshed out metal song than the band have ever done before, with a full metal ensemble (bass, drums, and guitar) strongly accented by the bagpipes, rather than the bagpipes and drums dominating the sound. Much as I like pipe music, I think the band has been at risk of being viewed as simply a novelty act. If this song is representative of the album, I think those days are about to end. Let me know what you think:
[soundcloud url=”http://api.soundcloud.com/tracks/36053285″ iframe=”true” /]
UPDATE: There’s now a Part 2 of this post, with more Scottish metal, which you can access via THIS LINK. If you have eggshell skull syndrome, you best not go there.
30 Responses to “SCOTS WHA HAE”
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Just for you, some Corvus Corax:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TIXV2NhLb_0
You’re welcome.
Thank you for that. First heard about this band from groverXIII after he saw that Bagpipe Metal post not too long ago. Savage.
I’ve also been digging Angus Mohr, which I found out via Phro through the same post:
http://angusmohr.com/audio.html
Also, Canadian Scots punks ‘The Real McKenzies’ with, yes, ‘Scots Wha Hae’.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fYU67AX4xDY
You’re still welcome.
I am not thanking you for this one, because I already knew about it.
On second thought, I am thanking you for including the link for people who may not know about it.
Therefore, thanks but no thanks.
Then, uh…you’re…unwelcome…?
This conversation was weird to overhear (look-over?)…
Especially when you consider that I am yet just another facet of Herr Islander’s personality.
But wait….if I’m sitting outside your house with binoculars and a dildo in my hand…does that mean I’m also outside The Glorious Leader Islander’s house as well?
You better fucken not be outside my house with a dildo. I just loosed a loris swarm on the grounds and gave them the “Hunt!” command.
I’m gonna sue you for bite marks!
And then NCS will be miiiiiiiiiiine!
Then you’ll have to put together an all-star metal band to win the talent show to get enough money to pay the damages to get it back! Bwahahaha!
I’m waaaay ahead of you. This is the loris swarm I use against litigious stalkers: I pulled all their teeth, so they will gum you to death.
Just like granma used to do to the squirrels! She got slow though and….
Anyway, I’m gonna lather myself in hot sauce before the lorises show up.
Damn your eyes! That’s the only thing that will stop them.
Get digging deeper, man!!!
There’s hordes of decent bands up here!!!
Well done for firing up the article.
Here’s some fodder to keep you going
http://thresholdsicks.bandcamp.com/
http://www.facebook.com/nerruskor?sk=app_2405167945
http://www.zombiemilitia.co.uk/media.php
Thanks for these leads man. I feel a Part 2 of this post coming on . . .
I’ve become a big fan of The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson. Craig has a thick Scottish accent… not only that but last night Soren Kierkegaard and Jean-Paul Sartre were mentioned on the show last night. That was pretty cool in my opinion… but I’m a philosophy buff, so that’s kind of expected I suppose.
Now for something related to the music: NEW CEREBRAL BORE! GO SOM!
Also, I like bagpipes, and I’ve known of Haggis and Bong, but I haven’t really been tempted to listen to them knowing there wasn’t a guitar in the mix, but now that I’ve listened I can say that I like their sound. Although, I’d like it more if they added a vocalist. Not sure if I’m gonna’ pick up the album, but they certainly make some cool music.
I have one of Craig Ferguson’s stand up albums (A wee bit o’revolution), and I highly recommend it.
I haven’t really seen his TV show, though I’d like too.
And Woooooooooooooo! For more cerebral bore! Imma gonna take my panties off and rub my crotch on the computer screen.
I feel sure that will help facilitate Cerebral Bore’s recording process. Be sure to use protection.
Inspiration!
Who ISN’T inspired by my disappointing, misshapen genitals??
Certainly makes the kiddies run faster…
Have you tried offering candy first?
Yeah, but I find the poison acts too quickly, and I prefer to watch them squirm.
Jammie Dodgers FTW
Also, the Munchy Box and a fried haggis. And a bacon roll. WIth some chips on the side.
I’ve only had haggis a few times and in all but one instance I actually found it to be quite tasty.
I’m a big fan of haggis, though I can’t say I’ve ever had it deep-fried. But I full-well understand the culinary theory that everything tastes better after you deep-fry it.
Theory? Proven scientific fact my good man.
Semi-related to this and the previous post: whenever I try to get Siri to play “Tulimyrsky” she keeps saying “I found three restaurants nearby whose reviews mention tuna and biscuits”…
You know..if Haggis and Bong are going to play awesome music like that, they need a name change. I would have completely skipped this band based on that dumb name, and this is freaking amazing
Such a quandary. On the one hand, I love their name. It puts a dopey grin on my face every time I think about it. On the other hand, you’re right that their goof of a name is now at risk of sending an inaccurate message, given the direction in which their music seems to be evolving.