Here are a few items of interest that I saw and heard today.
RIVERS OF NIHIL
We were first introduced to this Pennsylvania band by NCS guest writer The Baby Killer (who needs to stick his head back in our lair soon). The focus of his post back in January was not only the band’s ripping recorded music but also their ability to play a fire-breathing brand of technical death metal with immaculate skill on stage, stirring the shit out of the pit while delivering spot-on execution of their complex music.
Today I saw that the band had released an official music video for a song called “(sin)chronos”, which appeared on their 2011 album, Temporality Unbound. Listening to the song is like sticking your head into a blast furnace while simultaneously getting a megawatt jolt straight to your brain stem. Faces will melt and nerve endings will explode. It’s fast and furious, eminently mosh-worthy, and lit up with technical acrobatics. And dat bass!
Watch and listen after the jump. Crank more Rivers of Nihil music and download at their Bandcamp page, buy it as a CD via this link, and hook up with the band on Facebook at this location — and stay tuned, because the band are at work on their next album.
NEIL ARMSTRONG AND BUZZ ALDRIN
Frequent hangers-around at NCS know that we’re fascinated by science and that we get particularly pumped up by just about any news concerning space travel. One of the reasons we get so pumped up when we see such news is because it’s been so embarrassingly long since we did anything as dramatic and mind-blowing as putting human beings on the moon — which happened for the first time on July 20, 1969, the day Neal Armstrong set foot on the lunar surface.
Neal Armstrong died on Saturday, August 25, at the age of 82, and I thought that deserved a notice here, even though it’s off-topic (except, of course, that what Armstrong did was Very. Fucking. Metal.)
Of course, Neil Armstrong wasn’t alone on that Apollo 11 mission. Buzz Aldrin piloted the lunar landing module to the surface and became the second man to walk on the moon. Aldrin is still alive, also at the age of 82. A friend of mine sent me the following video last night, rightly thinking that this is fucken metal, even though it’s not music. Here’s what Buzz Aldrin did when confronted by a conspiracy theorist who insisted that the lunar landing was a hoax. Fuck yeah.
CARCINOGEN
Like Rivers of Nihil, Carcinogen is another East Coast DIY band we’ve been following, though in Carcinogen’s case we’ve been on their heels for a while longer, having reviewed both their debut EP Unholy Aggression in 2010 (here) and their second EP Human Atrophy in 2011 (here).
Today I saw that Carcinogen have just begun streaming two new songs that appear to be slated for appearance on the band’s next release. Both of the new tracks — “Repossessed” and “Excoratory Surgery” — are available for download on Bandcamp (use this link and then look for both tracks on the right side of the page).
On these two new tracks, Carcinogen have added some mighty grooves, techy riffing, and phosphorescent soloing to their grisly, high-speed, bone-chewing brand of death/thrash. They still kick all kinds of ass, and I’m still stunned that they haven’t been signed yet. Check this shit out:
14 Responses to “SEEN AND HEARD: RIVERS OF NIHIL, NEIL ARMSTRONG AND BUZZ ALDRIN, AND CARCINOGEN”
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both bands fucking rip!!!! this has been a great Monday (which they usually sucks a donkey’s ass). Got killer reviews, interviews plus the Murder Construct Stream at Metalsucks!!!! Shit just got real
Thanks man, and yes, we’ve got a little something planned for tomorrow around that Murder Construct stream at MS. 🙂
can’t fucking wait!!!! funny now of a sudden so pumped up!!!! If every Monday was like today!!!! I feel like moshing right now at work 🙂
As a former Pennsylvanian, I want to love Rivers of Nihil, I really do. I really like the instrumental part, but I just cannot. get. past. the vocals. I have a hard time articulating why. I guess it’s just my own idiosyncratic tastes when it comes to harsh vocals. No disrespect meant to the singer.
Strange, I loved the vocals personally.
They had kind of a crunch, raspy feeling. Maybe you didn’t like the rasp?
I’m kind of in the same boat, except for the Pennsylvanian part. The music’s decent enough, but I think vocals that are a bit more intelligble would help greatly – or at least something that doesn’t sound like a mumbled mess. The raspy vocals that come in later in the song courtesy of the bassist help a lot, but it’s not enough to overcome the gargling with cotton balls voice of the lead vocalist.
Oh, and Buzz Aldrin: An air force veteran who flew combat missions in the Korean War and then went to the moon. Who calls a guy like that a coward?
Answer: A guy that gets punched in the face.
HAHAHAHA! I applaud you, good sir!
I’m not really a “punch people in the mouth if they piss you off” kinda guy. And probably violence should generally not be used to solve problems.
But that was awesome and I never want Buzz to stop punching people like that in the mouth.
Buzz was somewhere around 79 years old when he clocked that insufferable fuck. Not saying I support violence in response to words, but the asshole definitely had it coming. It was particularly sweet that Buzz didn’t waste any time in delivering his riposte.
Also, you know, Buzz clearly tells the dude to leave him alone and the guy keeps yelling at him.
I think that’s reasonable cause for self-defense, don’t you?
Especially for an “old” (hah! he’s in better shape than my pussy ass) guy.
Maybe a punch to the face was a bit much, but the douche calling him “a coward and a liar” did provoke Buzz. Plus, I don’t recall Buzz ever gloating repeatedly about the punch or having websites and magazines give him 15 minutes every once in a while because of it. Yeah, Decibel, I’m looking at you for giving that one otherwise forgettable dude from that one band I can’t be bothered to look up right now a new article about punching the other dude from several other bands whose names most people don’t easily forget.
The thing about Buzz Aldrin, he doesn’t need to prove one damn thing, nor does he need 15 minutes of fame. You walk on the moon, and that pretty much sets you up . . . forever.
I wonder how many blow jobs he gets just by walking into any random party and announcing:
“WHO WANTS TO SUCK THE ONLY DICK HERE THAT’S BEEN TO THE MOON???”
I mean, that’s gotta happen at least once a week.
Seriously. Sounds somewhat better than “WHO WANTS TO SUCK THE DICK OF A PART-TIME METAL BLOGGER???”