ODDZ AND ENDZ: UNKIND, DEATH, AND ATHEIST

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Jun 212011
 

I’ve been visiting family in Texas, and that’s cut into the time I need to finish reviews of new albums I’ve been working on. Yes, I know — my priorities are screwed up, but there you have it. Anyway, today I’m doing as I did with yesterday’s second post and just throwing together a variety of things that caught my attention as I snooped around the web last night.

The major difference between yesterday and today is that I now have my earbuds again and I’ve actually listened to the music before tossing it your way, so I can vouch for what I’ve got today (for what that’s worth): First, a badass new song from Finland’s Unkind. Second, a remixed and re-mastered version of the song “Suicide Machine” taken from the forthcoming reissue of the Human album by Death. And third, a professionally filmed, multi-camera capturing of Atheist‘s entire set at France’s Hellfest festival on June 19.

UNKIND

This Finnish band is, for me, a relatively recent discovery. They were signed to Relapse Records last September and they have a new album scheduled for release on August 2 in NorthAm and August 15 internationally. Titled Harhakuvat, it will be their fifth studio release. The band have just posted a song from the album called “Laumasielut” on their Facebook and MySpace pages, and I really like it. Though the band is described as a hardcore act, this new song’s prog influences are evident. The song is sweeping, crushing, beautifully played, and I’m really digging it.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

NEW ATHEIST MUSIC: SECOND TO SUN

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Oct 082010
 

Earlier today, Atheist put up the first song for streaming from their forthcoming album Jupiter. If our math is correct, Jupiter will be the first Atheist studio album in 17 years.

Some bands who’ve produced no new music in 17 years should just stay dead.  But this is Atheist, one of the true progenitors of tech-death and experimental metal. We relish the idea of a new album. We relish the thought even more after listening to the new song, “Second To Sun”. It’s a mighty fine piece of ear candy. Hear it for yourself:

MORE 2010 SICKNESS (Part 9)

 Forthcoming Albums  9 Responses »
Sep 302010
 

Another month has passed. The fall season is approaching — unless you live in Los Angeles, which is pretending that it’s Phoenix in August. Fuck is up with that? It’s like that town has been placed in a cosmic microwave and the user likes his burritos very well done.

On the other hand, we’ve had way too many grey, chilly days in Seattle this September, which is traditionally one of the best months of the year. The weather gods have clearly dropped acid over the last 30 days and forgotten which end is up. But eventually they will get themselves straight, remember which season is approaching, and get ready to just blast the fuck out of our whole country with a vicious winter. Won’t that be fun?

No, it won’t be fun. It will suck like a new-born piglet at dinner time. But one pleasant constant will remain true — there will be new metal, regardless of how foul the weather becomes. And that brings us to another monthly installment of  METAL IN THE FORGE, a forge being the old name for a place where a blacksmith heats metal and works it into the shape of something useful.

And that’s what we’re interested in — new metal that will be useful in scrambling our brains, or uplifting us to a place where it really doesn’t matter what the fucking weather is doing.

What we do in this series of posts is update the list of forthcoming new albums we first posted on January 1. (All the other updates can be found via the “Forthcoming Albums” category link on the right side of our pages.) Below is a list of still more projected new releases we didn’t know about at the time of our previous updates, or updated info about some of the previously noted releases.

Once again, we’ve cobbled together news blurbs from other sites, or from press releases, about bands whose past work we’ve liked, or who look interesting for other reasons. Perhaps needless to say, these are bands that mostly fit the profile of music we cover on this site — the kind that would like to tear your head off.

So, after the jump, in alphabetical order, you’ll find our list of cut-and-pasted items from various sources since our last update about forthcoming new releases. Continue reading »

MORE 2010 SICKNESS (Part 5)

 Forthcoming Albums, Listmania, Metal News  No Responses »
Jun 012010
 

We’re now five months into 2010, and it’s time for another monthly update to the list of forthcoming new albums we first posted on January 1. (All the other updates can be found via the “Forthcoming Albums” category link on the right side of our pages.)  Below is a list of still more projected new releases we didn’t know about at the time of our previous updates, or updated info about some of the previously noted releases.

Once again, we’ve cobbled together news blurbs about bands whose past work we’ve liked, or who look interesting for other reasons. Needless to say (but we’ll say it anyway), these are bands that mostly fit the profile of music we cover on this site.

So, in alphabetical order, here’s our list of cut-and-pasted blurbs from various sources since our last update about forthcoming new releases. Look for the bands you like and put reminders on your calendar. Or if you’re old school like us, just get ’em tattooed someplace you can see without a mirror (because reading stuff backwards is hard).

THE ACACIA STRAIN: “Western Massachusetts’ chuggernauts The Acacia Strain, have completed work on their new album, which will be released July 20th in North American and August 2nd in Europe via Prosthetic Records.”

ATHEIST: “Reactivated seminal technical metal pioneers ATHEIST will enter LedBelly studios in Atlanta, Georgia on July 5 to begin recording their long-awaited, as-yet-untitled fourth album. Engineering the session will be Matt Washburn. Additionally, the band has secured the services of one of metal’s most significant talents of the past decade, Jason Suecof (TRIVIUM, CHIMAIRA, DEVILDRIVER), to handle the mixing of what promises to be a modern classic from the pioneers of technical metal. . . . ATHEIST‘s forthcoming album is tentatively scheduled for a late 2010 release and will be followed by a world tour in 2011.”   (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

METAL FROM MOLDOVA: NEUROMIST

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Mar 262010
 

The Republic of Moldova is a nation of about 3.5 million people, physically the size of Maryland, located near the Black Sea between Romania and Ukraine. Once part of the Soviet Union, it gained independence in 1991. Like many of the former Soviet Republics, it has faced economic challenges, and by most standard economic measures it’s one of the poorest countries in Europe. As a launching pad for extreme metal bands, you’d have to think it’s not ideal.

Yet even in this small country that most Americans probably haven’t even heard of, there’s an underground metal scene. And it has produced a band called Neuromist that we think is worth close attention.

There are four guys in this operation: Kirill (“Cyke”) Zmurciuk (guitars), Mike Grigorash (drums), Alex Petriuk (bass), and Vladimir Ghilien (vocals).  After starts and stops lasting almost two years, they’ve finally finished and released their first album, called Move of Thought — and it’s a striking debut. In fact, we like the music so much we’ve agreed to help the band distribute the album by making it available for free download in its entirety on this site.

As if trying to break out their music from Moldova weren’t a big enough hurdle, these dudes have focused their efforts on a style of metal that presents more-than-typical challenges to success, both in songwriting and in execution. They list among their influences bands such as Atheist, Coroner, Cynic, and Meshuggah (plus some other interesting names), and that’s indeed the musical landscape where they’ve chosen to make their mark — with remarkable success. (more after the jump, including a track to stream and that download link we promised . . .) Continue reading »