(Andy Synn covers four excellent bands as part of today’s article)
So today I present you a split review for a pair of splits featuring two pairs of bands… but don’t worry if that sentence is already making your brains start to hurt, all you really need to know is that you’re about to hear some seriously heavy music.
And, in the end, isn’t that what we’re all here for?
(Andy Synn dives into four recent short-but-sweet releases)
There’s been a lot of truly excellent EPs released this year, with at least a few more still to come (as a matter of fact, we’ve got our own new EP coming out just next week).
And although, for reasons previously stated, my time is probably going to be a little more limited than usual over the next month or so, I’m hoping to at least cover a few more of them before “List Season” officially kicks in.
Beginning with the four succulent morsels of metallic goodness that I’ve elected to feature here today.
(written by Islander)
I included a fair share of black metal in Part I of yesterday’s large cross-genre roundup despite having this column looming in the near distance. I did that on purpose because the bulk of the verbiage below (and it is bulky) is devoted to an album that doesn’t really fit the usual bill on Sundays, or any other bill, though I have my reasons for including it here.
Yet fear not, ye black metal zealots, because I’m following the opening act with some music that will be more in line with this column’s typical focus, though some of it gets out of line too. Continue reading »
Unreqvited
(written by Islander)
In Part I of this Saturday’s roundup of new songs and videos I likened the flow of them, as I’ve arranged them, to a river that twists and turns through passages of greater and lesser turbulence and gloom. Now you’ll have a better idea why I wrote that.
In this Part, as compared to Part I, our musical river begins to make a bend into increasingly less turbulent and more haunted environs, though it will prove to be a long curve and not a sudden one — and the river also leaves the earth at first. Continue reading »
Lömsk
There’s again a lot to see and hear today, so much so that I again divided the collection into two Parts, with Part II coming in an hour or two from now. But rather than default to alphabetizing the picks, I organized things based on what I was hearing, to create a little flow, a river of greater and lesser turbulence and gloom.
P.S. Happy Día de los Muertos.
P.P.S. If you live in the U.S., don’t forget to roll your clocks back an hour before you go to sleep tonight. Also, fucking plan to vote if you haven’t already voted early! Continue reading »
(written by Islander)
This Halloween will mark five years of Holy Death, the doom-drenched death metal crushers who call Long Beach, California home. To commemorate the anniversary, and to tide fans over while the band work on their next album, they’re releasing a new EP of cover songs.
The EP leads with Holy Death‘s rendition of Metallica‘s “Sad But True“, and that’s the name of the EP as well. It’s the group’s way of paying respects to a band and a song that have been a “massive influence” on them, and we’re premiering that cover today.
The EP also includes re-mixed and re-mastered versions of two other cover songs they’ve previously released — Metallica‘s “Creeping Death” and Entombed‘s “Wolverine Blues“. Altogether, the EP makes for an excellent way to make your Halloween more electric — and more horrifying. Continue reading »
(written by Islander)
I guess it’s obvious from the size of this weekend’s two-part Saturday roundup that I had more than the usual amount of NCS time yesterday and this morning, and therefore kind of lost my mind.
I have only a small amount of mind and time left at this point, so today’s SHADES OF BLACK is so brief it could be labeled a token effort. But I didn’t want to skip it altogether, especially because, although the recommendations are few in number, they still loom large in the remnants of my head. Continue reading »
(written by Islander)
Moving on from yesterday’s Part I of the usual weekend roundup, I’m starting with the next letter of the band-name alphabet and continuing through W (no X, Y, or Z bands in this collection).
I mentioned yesterday that I had a few complete releases in this collection, in addition to all the singles, but I realized that one I thought had come out on Friday isn’t actually out yet, so I’ll push that one to a subsequent weekend.
But the first band today does have a complete release to their name, and it’s an interesting one. Continue reading »
(Andy Synn presents three short but savage releases to terrify your eardums)
Look, a while back I promised I’d be better at covering more EPs this year.
And, let’s face it, I have failed in that task pretty abjectly.
But I’m trying… which is why today I want to draw your attention to three recently-released (or upcoming) bite-sized portions of brutality courtesy of Disentomb, Emasculator and Persecutory.
(written by Islander)
I found enough time enough to pull together another mid-week roundup of new songs and videos. I picked all of these on Monday and started scribbling about them then, hoping to post this collection sooner than today. In the meantime, a lot of other new things have caught my attention, but those will have to wait ’til Saturday.
The first two of the songs and videos below are heart-pounders and neck-wreckers of different kinds, and then the music begins to twist and turn in increasingly bizarre directions. By sheer coincidence, none of the bands is from the U.S. By design, I again threw a curveball at you with the final selection. Continue reading »