AUTOPSY UPDATE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Jan 272012
 

Yes, we approve this cover art for Autopsy’s next album of body parts. Mind you, no one sought our approval, but we grant it willingly, because this cover by Matt Cavotta includes all the food groups: bat wings, vulture heads, horns, tusks, a snake head, a sickle, a hatchet, a scorpion’s tail, a rib cage dripping with gore, and blood. But best of all, it includes the name AUTOPSY.

All Tomorrow’s Funerals is a collection of all of Autopsy’s past EPs in re-mastered form, plus four brand new songs — the first new Autopsy music since 2011’s wonderful album, The Macabre Eternal. Peaceville Records will be releasing it on February 28, which sounds like something of an oxymoron, because this album will certainly bring no one any peace.

One of the four new tracks, “Mauled To Death”, was included in unmastered form as a Decibel magazine Flexi disk not long ago, and it’s available for streaming on a SoundCloud player that we’ve embedded after the jump, just because even a news item like this one should not be allowed to appear at NCS without some kind of grisly music to accompany it. And believe me, this is grisly death metal straight from the crypt, crawling along at a lurching pace, surrounded by an air of lowering doom.

The track list for All Tomorrow’s Funerals is also after the jump. Continue reading »

MORE 2011 SICKNESS (Part 12)

 Forthcoming Albums  17 Responses »
Dec 022011
 

November is done, and the countdown begins to the end of 2011 and he beginning of the New Year. We’ve been so focused this week on the year behind us, since 2011 Listmania is now in full swing, that we almost forgot that there is a future, and it will be filled with metal.

So, here’s the deal:  In these METAL IN THE FORGE posts, we collect news blurbs and press releases we’ve seen over the last month (November) about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like (including occasional updates about releases we’ve included in previous installments of this series), or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know their music yet. In this series, we cut and paste those announcements and compile them in alphabetical order.

Remember — THIS ISN’T A CUMULATIVE LIST. If we found out about a new forthcoming album before November, we wrote about it in previous installments of this series. So, be sure to check the Category link called “Forthcoming Albums” on the right side of this page to see forecasted releases we reported earlier.

This month’s list begins right after the jump. As usual, this list is half-assed rather than comprehensive. So, feel free to leave Comments and tell all of us what we missed when we put this list together. Let us know about albums on the way that  you’re stoked about! Continue reading »

MORE 2011 SICKNESS (PART 11)

 Forthcoming Albums  14 Responses »
Nov 032011
 

October is over, except for Halloween, which continues to go on and on here at the metallic island that NCS calls home. Your humble editor spent the end of the month and the beginning of this new one grinding away at his fucking day job, which explains why this installment of METAL IN THE FORGE is late. It also explains why it’s more than typically incomplete, but more on that later.

Here’s the deal:  In these posts, we collect news blurbs and press releases we’ve seen over the last month about forthcoming new albums from bands we know and like (including occasional updates about releases we’ve included in previous installments of this series), or from bands that look interesting, even though we don’t know their music yet. In this series, we cut and paste those announcements and compile them in alphabetical order.

Remember — THIS ISN’T A CUMULATIVE LIST. If we found out about a new forthcoming album before September, we wrote about it in previous installments of this series. So, be sure to check the Category link called “Forthcoming Albums” on the right side of this page to see forecasted releases we reported earlier.

This month’s list begins right after the jump. I fell down on the job of monitoring the interhole and press releases to catch news about new albums that looked potentially cool to me, so I know I missed announcements of new releases that should be included here. So, feel free to leave Comments and tell all of us what I missed. Let us know about albums on the way that  you’re stoked about! Continue reading »

MISCELLANY NO. 29: DISMA, SOLSTORM, AND AUTOPSY

 MISCELLANY  6 Responses »
Apr 282011
 

Man, it’s been more than a month since our last MISCELLANY post. Time has gotten away from me. ‘Course, that’s just a figure of speech, because I never had hold of Time in the first place. I just do my best to run along with it, but it’s been leaving me behind, choking on its dust. I need to make an effort to catch up before it’s too late and I become nothing more than an antiquated relic of the past.

Where was I? Oh yeah, MISCELLANY. Well, it’s been so long that it might be worthwhile to provide a refresher on what these posts are all about: We keep a running NCS list of bands whose music we haven’t heard before but who look interesting for one reason or another. And then, at unpredictable times, I pick a few names randomly off the list and listen to a song or two from each one, not knowing for sure whether the music will be good. And then, I write about what I heard and put the songs in the post so you can form your own opinions.

For today’s MISCELLANY session, I picked Disma (U.S.) and Solstorm (Norway), and I threw in a new Autopsy song for good measure. Not to spoil the suspense, but this turned out to be a fucking great musical expedition: two winners, without doubt. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

MY CORPSE SHALL RISE, BUT IT AIN’T GOIN’ TO HEAVEN

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Apr 172011
 


Hot off the presses, or whatever it is they call video editing machines, we have a video released today by the almighty Autopsy for one of our favorite songs of 2010 — “My Corpse Shall Rise”.

Like Autopsy itself, the video is old-school: black-and-white footage of the band playing the song in the studio, which isn’t 100% in sync with the audio track, and some cut-rate video flame effects. But I don’t care much about the quality of the video, because the song rules, and watching Autopsy do the dishes while it plays would be just fine with me.

You can see and hear it after the jump. Continue reading »

“THAT’S METAL!” – BUT IT’S NOT MUSIC (NO. 24): CHRISTMAS DAY EDITION

 That's Metal -- But It's Not Music  19 Responses »
Dec 252010
 

Merry fucking Christmas.

Wait a minute, that was pretty rude. Let’s start this again.

To all of you who look forward to Christmas and will be celebrating the day with your families in a spirit of cheer and good will to all, Merry Christmas and have a safe and joyous holiday.

To everyone else, Merry fucking Christmas. We have for you a special edition of THAT’S METAL!.

Yes, that blessed day is finally upon us — blessed, in our minds, because it will now be another year before we have to endure all the shitty holiday music and non-stop force-feeding of advertisements for the gifts we should buy family members, whether we want to be in the same family with them or not.

To help you endure the day, we have just a few items, to really help get you in the proper holiday spirit of endurance: A heart-warming story about creativity with beer cans; a couple of videos that really bring the fucking Christmas cheer; and our own, specially selected NCS version of holiday carols (you know what we mean — blasphemous headbanging carols, the kind you won’t hear at the mall or in any church).

Enjoy all our Christmas presents for you . . . after the jump. And don’t eat the yellow snow. Continue reading »

AUTOPSY

 Album Reviews  29 Responses »
Oct 112010
 

If you’re a death-metal freakazoid like me, then you need no introduction to Autopsy. But in case you’re not, how ’bout an introduction?

Autopsy was originally formed in 1987 by Chris Reifert and Eric Cutler, shortly after Reifert left the legendary band, Death. Danny Coralles joined Autopsy a year later, and after a couple of demos, they released their debut album Severed Survival in 1989. Three more influential albums followed, but Autopsy disbanded in 1995. Before its dissolution, Reifert and Coralles had begin a side project called Abscess, and that became their main musical vehicle in the many years that followed.

All sorts of death-metal icons, including Entombed, Cannibal Corpse, and Deicide, have named Autopsy as an influence on their music, and many more have covered Autopsy songs, including Immolation and Dismember. If there is a death-metal pantheon in hell, Autopsy reigns proudly within its smoking pillars.

So much for the history lesson. Fast forward now to June 3, 2010, the date on which Chris Reifert announced (a) that after 16 years of performing, Abscess had officially broken up, and (b) that Autopsy had been resurrected “to resume their mission of gore-soaked death metal brutality.” That cackling sound heard in the dark places underground on June 3 was the rejoicing of the hellish hordes at the rising again of Autopsy.

Now, fast-forward once more to October 5, 2010. On that day, Peaceville Records released an EP of brand new Autopsy music called The Tomb Within — five new songs, which we have now heard. Those hopes that burst to life on June 3 have been fulfilled: Autopsy has risen again in a display of monstrous death-metal glory.  (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

MORE 2010 SICKNESS (Part 8)

 Forthcoming Albums, Listmania, Metal News  No Responses »
Aug 312010
 

Another month has passed. Summer is waning. It’s still as hot as the ninth circle of Hell in most parts of our country, but here in the Pacific Northwest, the air is already beginning to feel like fall. And because fall in Seattle lasts about one week, winter is already what we’re thinking about, because winter means getting soaked with rain. In the dark.

Where were we? Oh yeah, another month is over. And here at NCS, that means it’s time for another 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. We thought it sounded literary.

Another name for “forge” is “smithy.” As in, “the blacksmith works in a smithy.” But “smithy” doesn’t sound literary, and METAL IN THE SMITHY just sounds fucked up. METAL IN THE FORGE is a little fucked up, too, the more we think about it, but not as fucked up as METAL IN THE SMITHY.

Where were we? Oh yeah, at the end of every month, we 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 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. Look for the bands you like and, if you’re really obsessive like we are, put reminders on your calendar. Continue reading »

MORE 2010 SICKNESS (Part 7)

 Forthcoming Albums, Listmania, Metal News  No Responses »
Jul 312010
 

My, how time flies. Another month is in the history books. However much time you have on earth, you now have 31 days less of it since since the last installment of this post. Drink up!

But have no fear. You’re headed for a better place. That’s right, basically the same existence you had a month ago, but with more new metal ahead of you. Drink up!

And all those physical processes that are inexorably decaying your bodies on the rocky road to your demise, they’re still there and they’re still working on you like termites that have found a rotting log. But hey, you can still bang your head, so . . . Drink up!

Yes, we’re now a full seven months into 2010, and so 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. 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, in alphabetical order, here’s our list of cut-and-pasted items 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 like us, just stick post-it notes on your forehead. Of course, if your foreheads are the low, sloping kind, you may only have room for a few, so be choosy. Continue reading »

 Newer Entries