SEEN AND HEARD: LOST SOCIETY, INFILTRATOR, DEMILICH, KATATONIA, SEPTIC FLESH, FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, CARACH ANGREN, NAILS, AND NE OBLIVISCARIS

Hey, happy fucking Monday to all you brain-dead metal heads. Here’s a big collection of new music and news that I came across at the start of my bleary-eyed morning today.

LOST SOCIETY

I’ve confessed before that straight-up old-school thrash is not among the metal genres that are nearest and dearest to my black heart. In addition, I’ve become even more numb due to the avalanche of re-thrash releases by many new bands who all sound alike to me. But with that said, I’m digging the shit out of a new song clip that premiered today by a Finnish band named Lost Society.

The song title alone hooked me: “Braindead Metal Head”. And then the music Finnish-ed me off. It’s a jet-fueled, out-of-control thrash rocket with multiple warheads. The riffing is catchy as fuck, the vocals are pleasingly drunk on the high energy, and the obligatory guitar solo is a first-class trip to shred city. This is speed metal I can get behind.

The video strings together words of high praise by the likes of Mille Petrozza (Kreator), Schmier (Destruction), Andreas Kisser (Sepultura), Craig Locicero (Forbidden), and Kragen Lum (Heathen), and they might know what they’re talking about.

The song appears on the album Fast Loud Death, which will be released by Nuclear Blast on March 15 (EU), March 18 (UK), and April 2 (US). European orders can be placed here; NorthAm pre-order opportunities will come soon. Check out “Braindead Metal Head” after the link.

http://www.facebook.com/lostsocietyfinland

INFILTRATOR

Speaking of thrashing your nuts off, here’s a new offering by Philadelphia’s Infiltrator. Last summer, our friend Professor D. Grover the XIIIth wrote about the band’s free two-song demo. An excerpt: “You may be wondering why this is noteworthy. Well, it’s noteworthy because Infiltrator play dirty, breakneck thrash metal rooted firmly in the old-school, and it’s some of the best thrash metal of the year thus far. It’s really a pity that the demo is only two tracks, because the two tracks here are fantastic.”

The new thing is a freely downloadable Infiltrator cover of Bathory’s “Sacrifice”. They released it yesterday, which would have been the 47th birthday of Quorthon. It’s a fitting tribute to one of metal’s great men.

This track is also one of four that the band have recently recorded for a forthcoming demo/EP, which I’ll definitely be stoked to hear. I also understand this Bathory cover is Infiltrator’s first recording as a full band — it started as the one-man project of Steve Jansson (TrenchRot, Grass) — with real drums by Grzesiek Czapla (who is also Woe’s bassist), and bass and backing vox by Chris Grigg (Woe’s vocalist/guitarist).

And lest anyone have doubts as a result of these Woe connections, I’m told that Infiltrator is no side project but very much a real band, and they sure as hell seem to have a real future based on the music I’ve heard to date.

Okay, now you can go ahead and thrash your nuts (or ovaries) off:

http://infiltrator.bandcamp.com/

 

DEMILICH

I discovered this ground-breaking Finnish band for the first time in late 2010 . . . and wrote about them and their history at excruciating length in this post during our infamous Finland Tribute Week series. As far as I know, they’ve produced no new recorded music since their first — and last — full-length album in 1993, Nespithe. They came back together for a live performance in 2006 and then another one in 2010 — and they’re about to do it again.

Thanks to a tip from Utmu, I read the exciting news that the 2010 line-up of Demilich is performing live in a rehearsal space this coming Friday in a show that will be streamed live over the internet. The show will also include performances by six other bands, including Jess and the Ancient Ones and Winterwolf.

This isn’t going to be a hi-tech operation, and the announcement is full of caveats about the quality of the stream. Fortunately, it appears that the whole thing will also be filmed and eventually made available on the net.

But holy shit, to get to see this live, as it happens, is worth a shot in my book. Use THIS LINK for all the details.

KATATONIA

Now for an Exception to our Rule — some news about Sweden’s Katatonia. Two pieces of news, in fact, one new and one kind of dated.

The new news (thanks to DGR for the tip) is that Katatonia have completed work on a video for the track “Lethean” from last year’s Dead End Kings album. The video was shot by Lasse Hoile, who has previously done nice work for Opeth and Porcupine Tree. The video premiered today, and at least for today it can only be streamed at www.rocknytt.net. When the video becomes available for embed, I’ll update the post to stick it in here.

Speaking of Opeth, the older piece of news which I failed to report at NCS is that Opeth and Katatonia will be touring North America soon. Somewhat more recent is the news that Katatonia will have a few headlining dates without Opeth in the course of this trek. The schedule is below. Ticket info and schedule updates are available HERE.

4/18 – Buffalo, NY @ The Town Ballroom
4/19 – Montclair, NJ @ The Wellmont Theater **Katatonia headline
4/20 – Worcester, MA @ New England Metal & Hardcore Fest
4/21 – Quebec City, QC @ Capitole
4/23 – Halifax, NS @ Halifax Forum
4/24 – Moncton, NB @ Casino New Brunswick
4/25 – Montreal, QC @ Petit Campus **Katatonia headline
4/26 – Guelph, ON @ Guelph Concert Theatre
4/27 – Allentown, PA @ Crocodile Rock
4/28 – Clifton Park, NY @ Upstate Concert Hall *w/ Steven Wilson
4/29 – Brooklyn, NY @ Music Hall of Williamsburg
4/30 – Norfolk, VA @ NorVa Theatre
5/02 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Culture Room
5/03 – St. Petersburg, FL @ State Theatre
5/04 – Athens, GA @ Georgia Theatre
5/05 – Raleigh, NC @ Lincoln Theatre
5/06 – Asheville, NC @ The Orange Peel
5/07 – Wilmington, NC @ Soap Box **Katatonia headline
5/08 – Lexington, KY @ Buster’s Billiards & Backroom
5/09 – Indianapolis, IN @ The Vogue
5/10 – Flint, MI @ The Machine Shop
5/11 – Joliet, IL @ Mojoe’s
5/12 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues
5/14 – Fargo, ND @ The Venue
5/15 – Des Moines, IA @ Wooly’s
5/16 – Sauget, IL @ Pop’s
5/17 – Lincoln, NE @ Bourbon Theatre
5/18 – Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom
5/19 – Merriam, KS @ Aftershock **Katatonia headline
5/20 – Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre
5/21 – Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre
5/22 – Farmington, NM @ Top Deck **Katatonia headline
5/23 – Tucson, AZ @ Rialto Theatre
5/24 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy
5/25 – Agoura Hills, CA @ The Canyon Club
5/26 – Santa Cruz, CA @ The Catalyst
5/27 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Roxy **Katatonia headline

SEPTIC FLESH, FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE, CARACH ANGREN, DESCENDING

Speaking of tours, this morning I saw the tour poster above. The tour is called The Great Mass Over Europe 2013. I sure wish I lived within driving distance of one of these cities, at least long enough to make this thing, because, fuck, what a line-up.

NAILS

I really like the cover art by Farron Kerzner (Lightning Swords of Death) for Abandon All Life, the new album by California’s Nails, which is due for release by Southern Lord on March 19. I also really like the new song from the album that Terrorizer premiered recently, which I heard this morning.

The song is “Wide Open Wound”. It’s a skull-creasing beat-down of craggy concrete riffs, spine-jarring percussion, and scraped-throat shrieking. Head-smashing shit! Listen below.

http://www.facebook.com/NAILSoxnard

 

 

NE OBLIVISCARIS

I really have trouble imagining that there are any regular visitors to this site who haven’t yet sampled the music from Portal of I, given how often we’ve written about this wonderful 2012 album by Australia’s Ne Obliviscaris. But just in case, there’s now a golden opportunity to do that — because the entire album is now available for streaming (and digital download) on the Bandcamp site of Aural Music. If you haven’t given this album a try, do it!

http://auralmusic.bandcamp.com/album/portal-of-i