SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: ADVERSARIAL, ARROGANZ, BLACK TOTEM, CULT LEADER, DEAD FLESH, HENRY KANE, LILJEVARS BRANN, OU, SIG:AR:TYR, TÝR, ULTIO, VULGARIS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Mar 302024
 

It’s the 30th day of March, and 30 is about the number of new songs and videos I checked out in anticipation of this roundup, all of them having surfaced during the past week. I settled on an even dozen to share with you, and you probably won’t like all of them, even if you’re tenacious enough to go through all 12.

Why? Because your range of heavy metallic interests is probably narrower than mine (most people’s are), and the big herd below ranges pretty far and wide. On the other hand, the breadth of the range means you’ll probably find something to like.

Because there’s so much to get through, I dispensed with uploading and re-sizing all the cover art and tried to limit myself (with varying degrees of success) to more pithy expressions than usual. I also alphabetized the selections by band name.

P.S. There will be more recommendations tomorrow, Easter Sunday notwithstanding. In fact, the Easter observance just makes me more eager to char the day black. Continue reading »

LEPERKAHN CHECKS IN: DEATHWHITE, BLEED THE PIGS, CULT LEADER

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Jul 142015
 

Deathwhite-Solitary Martyr

 

(Our friend Leperkahn has been slaving away at college for, like, forever. But he has surfaced again with some musical recommendations.)

Hey friends. I truly can’t remember the last time I wrote something here. I feel a bit of shame about this, but you know what, there’s no time like the present, and now I’m breaking my silence. I’m gonna string together some short pieces on stuff you might want to check out based on my most recent download history. A good deal of it breaks our Golden Rule here at NCS, but frankly we’ve broken that rule so frequently in the past couple years that it’s really only become a guideline at best. We’ll start with a band I found just tonight.

Deathwhite

I had absolutely no idea these dudes existed prior to listening to a promo of their new EP Solitude Martyr (out August 14th according to their Bandcamp page) that Clawhammer PR sent over to me. I tend to look at a good deal of the promos that brush through my email inbox (*hint hint*), though obviously I haven’t done a great job of translating that to writing about them (looking to change that sense of lethargy that’s become such a comfortable crutch). Continue reading »

SHOW REVIEW: OATHBREAKER AND CULT LEADER

 Concert Reviews  2 Responses »
Aug 132014
 

 

(Guest writer Ben Manzella attended the final show of the Oathbreaker-Cult Leader tour on August 7 in San Francisco and provides this review, with a few photos and some music streams.)

Outside a fairly non-descript art space, about 3 people began to line up. Along with 3 bands from around California, the night at Submission in San Francisco would feature Oathbreaker and Cult Leader. As we waited, suddenly a crew of about five people just walked right into the venue and we realized that we (the group who had already been waiting about 45 minutes or more) could actually go in. As I said, the venue was fairly non-descript, but this no-frills space was well-suited for the no-frills music that was set to be featured this night.

I’ll admit, because I was going in blind with the “local” support, I mainly watched their sets rather than try to get photos. And in all honesty, at least from a photographer’s perspective, that was probably for the best, considering the challenging lighting the venue offered. Continue reading »