SWIMMING WITH THE STREAMS: JEFF LOOMIS, MY DYING BRIDE, AND NIDINGR

 

Look what I found! New song streams! They crash and froth in rapids, they meander slowly through dark canyons, and they explode in white water again. They are new songs by Jeff Loomis (U.S.), My Dying Bride (UK), and Nidingr (Norway).

JEFF LOOMIS

Have you listened to the new solo release by Jeff Loomis, Plains of Oblivion? Well, it turns out that Jeff Loomis is already writing and recording new songs, and he plans to roll out three of them through online debuts. The first one premiered today on Metal Hammer’s web site, and it may come as a surprise to those who have Plains of Oblivion still ringing in their heads. Loomis recorded “A Liar’s Chain” with his current touring band, and they’ve been performing the song on tour this year. Guitarist Joe Nurre provides the vocals.

The hard-charging song is as extreme as anything on Plains of Oblivion, or more so. The central riff is a hammering, quasi-industrial beast; Nurre’s vocals vary between death-metal growls and paint-stripping screams (with something like a nu-metal styling in some of the vocal rhythms); and Loomis’ inevitable extended solo brings a dose of satisfying spitfire flash. Cool shit. It’s right here:

MY DYING BRIDE

We’ve been following the ramp-up to the October 15 release of My Dying Bride’s latest album by Peaceville Records pretty closely. We published an NCS interview of guitarist Hamish Glencross not long ago, and before that we featured (here) the first song released from the new album, “Kneel till Doomsday”.

Yesterday brought us the streaming of yet another song from the album, “Hail Odysseus”. It weighs in at almost 9 minutes, and it’s 9 minutes of stripped-down, melancholy doom. Given the lyrical subject of the song, you might expect that the music would have a truly epic, triumphant quality. But if that’s your expectation, you don’t know My Dying Bride.

Rather than attempting to capture the adventurous canniness of that iconic survivor, thinking his way out of one fix after another, the song takes a different tack. Groaning, ponderous chords mix with bleak melodic leads as a the predominantly clean vocals narrate the separation of that legendary Greek wanderer from home and love.

Unlike “Kneel till Doomsday”, “Hail Odysseus” doesn’t incorporate death metal elements, but I’m still liking it. The melody has gotten stuck in my head. Check it out here, or here:

 

NIDINGR

Nidingr is a Norwegian band who’ve been rattling around since 1996, and based on the new song stream I heard this morning, I’m kicking myself for not having explored their music in greater depth. This band includes Hellhammer (Mayhem, Arcturus) on drums — though  Øyvind Myrvoll was the drummer on their new album — and Teloch (NunFuckRitual, The Konsortium, and live performer with Mayhem, 1349, God Seed, and Gorgoroth) and Blargh (DHG (Dødheimsgard)) on guitars and bass. The vocalist, Cpt. Estrella Grasa, is also excellent.

Their third album, Greatest of Deceivers, will be released by their new label Indie Recordings on November 20 in North America, and yesterday DECIBEL began streaming the title track. I’ve fallen in lust with it. As DECIBEL points out in its intro to the song, it’s full of bounding bass, and how often do you hear that in Norwegian black metal? But that’s not the only attraction. The music is fiery, discordant, unpredictable, and utterly fascinating.

Recorded and mastered through old analog gear, the song also sounds great. Have a listen: