THREE BANDS, THREE SONGS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Nov 232011
 

As I write this, it’s very early on a Wednesday morning. I just finished watching Abigail Williams, Hate, Keep of Kalessin, and Mayhem at El Corazon in Seattle. All four bands were excellent. The highlights of the evening were new songs from Abigail Williams (quite different from anything I’ve heard from the band before, and I think the best work they’ve yet done) and an absolutely mind-boggling performance by Hellhammer, the drummer of Mayhem.

The third highlight of the evening was getting to spend time with Fredrik Huldtgren and his girlfriend. Fredrik is the vocalist of a Swedish band called Canopy, which has been a favorite at NCS for a long time, and he happens to be in town visiting, just in time for some truly ass-sucking Seattle weather — somewhat offset by a very badass night of metal.

Spending time with Fredrik put me in mind of three bands, all of whom I like a lot. There’s a connection between them, but rather than explain it, I’d rather let you guess, or simply wonder. The three bands are Canopy, Obitus, and Lifelover. If you don’t know the music of these bands, then there are some worthwhile discoveries for you after the jump.

With luck, I’ll wake up in a few hours and think of something more to bring your way on an NCS Wednesday. And if the site just appears to be frozen for the rest of the day, you’ll know it’s because my bed has swallowed me whole, like a python chowing down on a wayward dog. Continue reading »

UNCOVERING HIDDEN GEMS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Apr 152011
 

(Today we’re happy to feature another guest post. This one came to us from NCS reader Rob K., and includes thoughts about some of his recent discoveries among bands both new and not-so-new — plus music, of course.)

When it comes to hobbies, people look for fulfillment. Something that centers you, relieves stress, provides mental clarity and peace of mind. A place you can escape to where no one else can bother you.

Everyone has their niche, be it wine connoisseurs, beer enthusiasts, foodies, stamp and/or coin collectors, Star Wars collectors, what have you. Don’t get me wrong, I love all the aforementioned things (save for maybe the Star Wars memorabilia and stamp collecting). For me, it’s music. More specifically metal.

“But Rob,” you say, “how does metal bring about peace of mind and mental clarity when it’s all over the place?” Well friend, it’s all in your perception. It’s controlled chaos. It’s not for everyone, no doubt, but there’s a level of challenge to this music that appeals to people like us. Metal culture is also notorious for it’s trolling and general flaming, mano a mano, directed against bands whose genre ends in “-core”, for example. But I digress. It’s also a HUGE, pulsing underground community where you’ll see a strong bond of brotherhood, sharing, and the occasional grab-assing and bad hair cuts.

Star Wars pr0n anyone?

From the lyrics to the thundering double bass and faster-than-light guitar solos, there’s an art in metal. It’s about anti-culture, facing the world head-on, against the grain. Metal rarely gets enough limelight to be considered mainstream. Yet it thrives in the underground. Negate all the stupid scene kids and retarded fashions, and dig deep to the hardcore fans of EVERYTHING metal. disregarding the suffixes of “core” or whatever the fuck “shoegaze” is.

One of my favorite things to do is to scour the interwebs for new/old, exciting, unheard of (even in the relatively small community of metalheads) bands. By searching, I stumble across some really obscure and occasionally EXTREMELY talented bands that I may not have otherwise heard, plus some not-so-obscure bands who are new to me. Check them out after the bump (that is, if you’re still reading this).

Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2010’S MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS: PART 10

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010  4 Responses »
Jan 062011
 

If you’ve been a regular reader of NCS since August, then you’ll know there was no way we would finish this list of “most infectious” songs without including today’s two additions to the list. It seemed like the whole month of August at NCS was devoted to these two bands — and with good reason: The music just grabbed us by the throat, the back of the neck, and other body parts that will go unmentioned, and wouldn’t let go.

Neither band has yet achieved the level of global visibility captured by most of the other bands whose songs are on this list, but that’s simply a sign of how much good metal is being created that, for one reason or another, hasn’t yet made the kind of big cannonball splash that the music deserves. We count ourselves lucky that we found these bands. We hope we’ve done our picayune part to expand their audience. Selfishly, we hope they continue to create the kind of music we’re featuring here today.

If you happen to be tuning into this series for the first time and wonder what we mean by “most infectious”, read this. To see the 18 songs we named to the list before today, click the Category link over on the right called MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2010. And to read more about the next two songs — and hear them, if you haven’t already — follow us after the jump for todays’s songs from Canopy and Incarnia. Continue reading »

FREDRIK HULTDGREN’S LIST OF THE YEAR’S BEST

 Listmania  4 Responses »
Dec 242010
 

[EDITOR’S NOTE: One of the best discoveries we made in 2010 was the music of a Swedish band called Canopy. As we wrote in our review of their 2010 release Menhir, “Canopy has a knack for creating melodic death metal with power grooves and prog-metal flourishes, without ever losing an ominously heavy cutting edge.” It was a powerful follow-up to the band’s excellent 2009 album, Will and Perception. We asked Canopy’s awesome vocalist Fredrik Hultdgren if he would give us a list of his favorite albums from 2010, and he obliged. Read on . . .]

Here is my list for 2010. These are all albums that I thoroughly enjoyed this year. Most of them fall under metal of the more extreme kind, but there are some others in here, too. I chose not to place them in any order, as doing so would be too difficult, so you will have to survive with this as is.

Kveleratak – Kveleratak

Jebus almighty. This album is fucking fun to listen to. Not the most original perhaps, but this is one of those albums that is just perfect to drink to! Mashing hardcore, black metal and punk influences into one huge mix that works so well. Artwork is done by John Dyer Baizley [Baroness] and is, as always, pretty damn cool. I managed to get ahold of the double gatefold vinyl of this release, and the artwork looks even better at such a size!

Rotting Christ – AEALO

Yet another great album by Rotting Christ, probably the act I saw the most of live this year.

Even though I might find the songs a bit monotone on CD (especially the drums!) they transform into a completely different beast live.

(more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

CANOPY: MENHIR

 Album Reviews  35 Responses »
Aug 252010
 

Ten days ago, we included some extended comments in one of our MISCELLANY posts about a Swedish band called Canopy, and we also put up a video of a Canopy song off the band’s 2009 album, Will and Perception.

We also found out that the day before we put up those posts, Canopy had released a new album called Menhir. We were so taken with the songs we heard from Will and Perception that we immediately got Menhir and we’ve been listening to it off and on since then.

It constantly amazes us how many talented bands are turning out excellent metal in Europe (and elsewhere in the world, for that matter) but are virtual unknowns in North America. Canopy is a perfect example.

We hope that Menhir changes that picture, because it’s packed with memorable music — a very strong follow-up to Will and Perception, which is itself an album worth tracking down. (our review of the album, plus a track for you to hear, plus links for free downloads — all that, and more, after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

MISCELLANY (NO. 6)

 MISCELLANY  2 Responses »
Aug 142010
 

With apologies for the delay in finishing this post and getting it up on the site, here’s another installment of MISCELLANY. If this happens to be your first visit to NCS, here’s what MISCELLANY is:

About once a week I browse around the webz checking out music from metal bands I’ve not heard before. Picking them is mainly a random process, based on things like news items we’ve seen or e-mails we’ve received or MySpace friend requests that come our way or promos that show up in the mail. And in these MISCELLANY posts, I just describe what I heard and/or what I saw, pretty much as it happened, and provide the music or the videos for you to check out, just as I did.

Because I haven’t heard the music of the bands when I start browsing, I have no certain idea whether it will turn out to be good or just a waste of time. So, no guarantees for me — or for you. But most of the time, it turns out these explorations reveal at least a few gems. And that certainly happened today. Today’s finds, which once again have an international flavor: Canopy (Sweden), Purified in Blood (Norway), Man-Eating Tree (Finland), and Pristina (U.S.).

CANOPY

My first stop of the day was a Swedish band called Canopy (that’s their photo at the top of this post). Something of a convoluted story about how this band hit our radar screen: Earlier this week, we posted our review of the debut album by a kick-ass Montreal band called Incarnia. That album was released by a Montreal label called Panoptic. Panoptic and a sister label called Disconcert Music are run by a dude named Stéphane Paré (former vocalist for a Montreal melodic tech-death band called Quo Vadis).

I got an e-mail from M. Paré that led me to Disconcert’s web site, and there I found Canopy — and man, was that a good find.  (much more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

RUNNING LATE

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Aug 142010
 

We don’t exactly run like a well-oiled machine here at NO CLEAN SINGING. We run more like a three-legged mule.  But today we’re running particularly late.

We do have a post in the works, but it won’t be finished for a couple hours. We just didn’t want you to think we had finally failed to live up to the commitment we made when we started this site — that we would have something new for you every day.

To tide you over, here’s a video from a Swedish band called Canopy — about which we’ll have more to say in today’s main post when we get the fucking thing finished. This song is called “For the Sickened Voice to Hear”, and it’s from the band’s 2009 album, Will and Perception. This song is very cool. And this is just the tip of the Canopy iceberg . . . .

(Thanks to ElvisShotJFK for tipping us off to this video.)

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