SEEN AND HEARD (BY AUSTIN WEBER): AN ENDLESS SPORADIC, COMA CLUSTER VOID, DENDRITIC ARBOR, VIRVUM, BRAZEN BULL, MELOPOEIA, COGNIZANCE, CAR BOMB

 

(Austin Weber takes over round-up duty on this Friday, focusing on new music from 8 bands. And no, the new Metallica song isn’t one of them.)

I was going to try to add some items to the next Seen and Heard when Islander told me he would be unable to do one for today. So call it serendipity, call it good timing, whatever it is, here I am with a varied post of new songs and releases to cover today since Islander is trapped in work hell. Let’s get to it!

An Endless Sporadic

While adventurous instrumental prog metal unit An Endless Sporadic may have gotten their biggest visibility boost from being featured in the videogame series Guitar Hero some time ago, the band has never ceased to continue delivering killer music. After a pause in new music for a bit of time, the band is set to release a new album, Magic Machine, on September 16th. Yesterday the band release a new animated music video/new single for “Sky Run”, which heavily features famed Dream Theater-associated keyboardist Jordan Rudess. The amazing visuals that grace the music video are from none other than NCS site favorite Costin Chioreanu, which adds that extra something special to the experience of enjoying “Sky Run”.

https://www.facebook.com/anendlesssporadic/
https://anendlesssporadic.bandcamp.com/album/magic-machine

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Coma Cluster Void

Perennial NCS favorites Coma Cluster Void just dropped another new song two days ago called “Drowning Into Sorrow”, off their much buzzed-about debut, Mind Cemeteries. Having heard the whole album, this is easily the most savage and purely aggressive-focused cut on the album, and my personal favorite from the album to boot.

I can’t stop listening to this song, and I invite you to give it a chance. Like all their music, it’s highly unorthodox and intimidatingly harsh, but balances that out by being a forward-thinking ode to what death metal can be in this day and age of cynical listeners who think they’ve heard it all. This is probably my most anticipated release of the year, and having finally heard it all, I can confirm it lives up to any and all expectations myself and others have envisioned upon hearing their initial demos and ideas over the last few years.

https://www.facebook.com/coma.cluster.void/
https://comaclustervoid.bandcamp.com/album/mind-cemeteries

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dendritic Arbor

Ever since Islander first turned me on to Dendritic Arbor when “Genie” came out, I’ve been addicted to following their every move and release ever since. While the latest news is the band has lost some members, I can tell you in the vague abstract to fear not, as Dendritic Arbor will continue, with new replacements that are going to blow your fucking mind, though I am not authorized right now to tell you the names of the new band members.

But for now, dive into the newly released split the band will drop next week with Infinite Waste. The three songs on it from Dendritic Arbor showcase further oddball experimentation and cross-genre pollination from the group in their usual gnarly and pissed-off fashion. The split comes out next Friday, August 26th, through Gloom Pit Records and can be pre-ordered at the link below.

https://www.facebook.com/DendriticArbor/
https://gloompit.bandcamp.com/releases

 

 

 

 

 

 

Virvum

After we’ve covered Virvum several times over the years here at NCS, you readers out there should know whether the following prog-death-minded technical death metal new single is something you’d be into or not. As far as my personal opinion goes, these guys are onto something special, and the nine-minute run-time of this newly released single, “Illuminance”, proves the band have the chops to deliver something uniquely their own.

https://www.facebook.com/virvum/
https://virvum.bandcamp.com/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brazen Bull

Ah Brazen Bull, how I’ve missed thee. I’ve been following these Australian bizarro-death-metal-infused, mathcore-meets-deathgrinders for some time now, anxiously awaiting their latest EP offering to come out. Which, out of nowhere, just randomly dropped the other day and is called Soiree. Seeing as it might be some time before I have a chance to review, I felt it’d be cool to spread the word about it faster by posting about it here.

https://www.facebook.com/brazenbull/
https://brazenbull.bandcamp.com/album/soir-e

 

 

 

 

 

 

Melopœia

Microtonal-created metal music is hardly a fad, because so few people are doing it that it seems to remain a niche for now. But for those invested in creating music that makes full use of microtones, the results are highly unnerving and original. Newcomers Melopœia are a welcome addition to this new brand of black metal with their upcoming full-length, Tolkien Ainulindalë .

The most obvious parallel could be found in fellow microtonal black metal weirdo Jute Gyte, whom myself and others have covered heavily here over the years. Although the first half of this song could be seen as somewhat traditional in focus, it subtly starts shifting into stranger and harsher territory in the second half, as the song fully unfurls its evil agenda. Click the HeavyBlogIsHeavyBlog link below to check out the new song!

http://www.heavyblogisheavy.com/2016/08/16/exclusive-premiere-check-out-this-new-microtonal-black-metal-song-from-melopoeia/
https://www.facebook.com/Melopoeia/

 

 

Cognizance

Between DGR and myself, we’ve managed to cover all the prior releases by UK-based tech-death band Cognizance to date. This past Tuesday, I helped the band do a ten-day-early stream of their newest release, Illusory, over at my other position at Metal-Injection. I honestly think it’s their most evolved and potent release to date, but I’ll leave the final judgment to you dear readers out there. The stream can be found here:

http://www.metalinjection.net/av/full-album-stream/tech-death-tuesday
https://www.facebook.com/cognizanceband/

 

 

 

Car Bomb

While it’s not become a news item on metal websites yet, myself and other Car Bomb freaks have become aware that something has been going on with the band. They’ve been sending out new sound/photo snippets labeled with numbers and letters, like some kind of puzzle, to anyone who bought their last album through Bandcamp. I saw recently on Facebook that someone in NYC mentioned listening to the new album with Car Bomb drummer Elliot Hoffman, so clearly new music is in the works and possibly close to coming out.

If you wish to help solve the bizarre puzzle the band has sent out to previous buyers of their music, send your clips in to CanThisEvenBeCalledMusic like I did the other day to help us collectively solve what’s going on! Whether all the clips being sent out link together into a new song, or create information related to the new release, we don’t know yet. Though it seems the art clips included are pieces of the album art, it’s unknown whether the sound clips assemble toward a greater full song in the same way.

Still, it’s a fun way to get people excited about their next release! If you received an email from the band, email your sound clip and jpeg file to: info@ctebcm.com so we can compile this puzzle into something decipherable. So far our collective efforts have netted 10 out of 36 of the sound clips and .jpeg partial album art pieces to date!

https://www.facebook.com/CarBomb/
https://carbomb.bandcamp.com/