SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): BABYMETAL, LINDEMANN, CURSE OF THE NORTH

 

I collected enough new pieces of music and news items over the last 24 hours to justify a two-part Monday round-up. This is Part 1. I guess everything in here violates the rule of our site, as reflected in its name.

BABYMETAL

Our Tokyo-based friend and former NCS contributor Phro spotted something new from the Japanese J-pop/metal sensation Babymetal. It’s a three-minute trailer that appeared this morning for a new song named “Road of Resistance” that features some surprise guests. Phro wrote about it for his regular gig at Rocket News 24, and I’m just going to quote a few of his words below (you should read his whole write-up at this location). Like Phro, I happen to be one of those people who have enjoyed what Babymetal are doing to spread the gospel of metal to the uninitiated.

Stop what you’re doing and get ready to lose your… ummm… stuff. Kawaii-meets-coffins idol group BABYMETAL just released a trailer for a new song featuring guitars by Herman Li and Sam Totem, the semi-legendary guitarists from DragonForce. The song is called “Road of Resistance” and our only complaint is that the trailer is too short…despite being over three minutes long.

Put your kitsune up and get ready to headbang…

 

 

 

 

 

LINDEMANN

Yesterday brought the news that vocalist Till Lindemann of the German industrial metal band Rammstein has joined forces with Swedish producer and multi-instrumentalist Peter Tägtgren (Hypocrisy, Pain) in a new project named Lindemann. They launched a Facebook page and posted the photo you’re now looking at.

I can’t decide whether I’m more intrigued or more worried over this news. One of my NCS comrades left a message in our Facebook group: “Most disturbing promo pic ever?” Yes? No? Maybe?

https://www.facebook.com/Lindemann

 

 

 

 

CURSE OF THE NORTH

I listened to this song for the first time about 15 minutes ago, right after listening to the Babymetal teaser and gazing upon that Lindemann promo pic. It hit the right chord.

It’s an official video released yesterday for a song called “Sleep While You Can” and it comes from Curse of the North: I, the new album by a Seattle band named… Curse of the North. The band is a three-piece featuring vocalist/guitarist Christiaan Morris, bass-player Nick Cates (3 Inches of Blood), and drummer Burke Thomas (Duff McKagan’s Loaded). The song starts slowly, but when it kicks into gear it rocks the fuck out. It’s got a catchy melody, a fire-breathing guitar performance, and a locked-in rhythm section — and Christiaan Morris can really wail away.

The album was mixed by Kurt Ballou (High on Fire, Skeletonwitch, Black Breath) at God City Studios and it’s due out this coming spring. For more info, watch these spaces:

https://www.facebook.com/curseofthenorth
http://curseofthenorth.com