WHICH WOULD YOU RATHER HAVE?

 Metal News  8 Responses »
Aug 162012
 

Welcome to another edition of “The World of Merch”!  Actually, it’s the first edition of the series, and most likely the last.

I just saw these pics on the web this morning. On the left, Shining (Sweden) bring you logo panties, along with this announcement. “Shining are playing Summer Breeze Open Air this Saturday (Party Stage 19:50) and are bringing along new merch items! These and others will be on sale at www.shininglegions.com later as well, but if you’re heading towards Germany, why not surprise yourself or your girlfriend with a nice festival souvenir.”

I really didn’t see this one coming, not from a band like Shining. The least they could have done would have been to go crotchless or scratch ‘n’ sniff. Though I would definitely surprise myself if I bought one for me. My wife would be surprised if I gave one to her, too. However, I would not be surprised if she then stuffed it down my gullet.

Is metal underwear a big seller? For all I know, it could be. I haven’t exactly made a study of the market for band-logoed thongs. I dunno, maybe bands enjoy the thought that their name is on something that rides up the ass of their fans, male or female, and catches skid marks and stray drops of pee pee.

Shirts, on the other hand, I know that shit sells, especially when they’re as eye-catching as that new Cerberus t-shirt that the awesome Fleshgod Apocalypse are hawking. That shit is strong. Continue reading »

SHOW REVIEW: “THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS” TOUR – ACE OF SPADES – APRIL 28, 2012

 Concert Reviews  4 Responses »
May 072012
 

(DemiGodRaven checks in with this review of the Sacramento stop of the THIS IS WHERE IT ENDS tour, featuring All Shall Perish, Carnifex, Fleshgod Apocalypse, The Contortionist, and more.)

First off, before I really begin, I need to give a huge shout out to the folks at CapitalChaos and RockHardLive. Whilst at the moment they are both competing with each other at least in one sense, we’re all able to reap the rewards because they both had people out at this show recording it, and as a result we have some decent live videos on both ends. Check out both the Capital Chaos and Rock Hard Live youtube pages, because both of them have been doing more for Sacramento than anyone could imagine. Believe me, if a band has played here recently, there’s a pretty good chance the live footage you see pop up on youtube is because of one of those two groups. They deserve far more credit and love than what they get.

Now then. I arrived at the show late. I actually had it planned where I would get there around 6:30, believing that since the doors opened at 5:30, there would be about an hour delay (as has been standard fare at the other shows at Ace that I’ve been to) so I could get there right as things were kicking off. This provided me an opportunity to enjoy some fine 20-year old hooch that my friend’s Grandfather had made at his Dad’s birthday. Meanwhile, my friend is over in Japan teaching. I am nothing if not an appreciator of weird social situations.

I was looking forward to this show for a few reasons. I’d finally get to see The Contortionist. (Okay, I’ve actually seen them before, but it was at something like 1 am in The Boardwalk. I was so fucking tired I actually found myself dozing off in the corner of the venue. I couldn’t believe it, you could’ve been blasting grindcore in my face and I still would’ve dozed off.) I’d finally get to see All Shall Perish, and as part of a touring cycle for an album I enjoy the hell out of. I’d get to see Conducting From the Grave on a larger stage than The Boardwalk’s.

Oh, and Fleshgod. Did I mention Fleshgod? Because I’d finally get to see Fleshgod Afuckingpocalypse in a live setting. I could’ve listened to two hours of Hare Krishna bullshit as openers if it resulted in me getting the solid forty or so minutes I did of Fleshgod on stage. Continue reading »

BLOODSHOT DAWN UPDATE

 Metal News  17 Responses »
Mar 052012
 

That is still one uber-badass album cover, isn’t it? The album also remains one of the biggest, most pleasant surprises of the year for me. To quote from my January review (because I always turn to myself for quotes whenever possible): “In a nutshell, Bloodshot Dawn’s debut album is a shockingly strong explosion of fused thrash and melodic death metal, driven by a guitar duo who have bright days ahead of them. I’ll be surprised if we see a stronger debut from anyone this year.”

Today is another red-letter day for Bloodshot Dawn and their fans, because today they’re putting the album up on Bandcamp for streaming and for digital download directly from the band — and this is the link for that page.

And to celebrate the digital release, the band have teamed up with the formidable UK-based extreme metal zine Terrorizer to stream the album in full on the Terrorizer web site between today and March 14. To check that out, go here. Terrorizer will also be giving away the album with subscriber copies of Issue #221 beginning March 22. Continue reading »

THEMADISRAELI’S TOP 15 OF 2011: “CARNIVAL IS FOREVER”, “WELCOME TO THE MORBID REICH”, AND “AGONY”

 Album Reviews  5 Responses »
Feb 132012
 

(TheMadIsraeli forges ahead with his mission of reviewing or re-reviewing the albums on his personal list of 2011’s 15 best releases.)

I’m departing from my originally planned two-at-a-time format because grouping these three together seems appropriate to me.

Decapitated went through some hard times.  A van accident ended in the death of one of the most skilled drummers metal has ever seen and left their newly recruited vocalist in a coma (from which, to my knowledge, he still hasn’t recovered), and the remaining members seemingly left Vogg behind.

Who knows what caused Vogg to resist pronouncing the death of the band even though there was virtual silence from them for some time. But the even greater wonder is that Vogg was inspired to get back on the horse after not just being thrown off, but also being run over by a freight train along with the horse.  Was it his way of coping?  Was it just all he knew to do?  Regardless of the answer, it seems that out of a morbid tragedy laden with death and destruction, Decapitated has finally come to form.

Sure, the old shit was good — even great at times — but I would still classify the music as high-caliber standard death metal.  That was until Organic Hallucinosis came out.  It turned Decapitated’s sound upside down and right-side up again and produced a unique take on death metal — more groove-heavy, more experimental, and most importantly, not afraid to take note of modern convention. Continue reading »

INTO THE PIT: NEWS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jan 262012
 

(DemiGodRaven helps catch us up on metal news.)

Hey folks, I’ve planted my ass in the underworld for a brief period of time in order to round up all the smaller (and maybe not so small) news stories that may have fallen through the cracks in one way or another. Some of them are simple things like album streams, others are album teasers, there’s some tour news, and hey, occasionally you’ll even get a free song or two, ya hear? Also, if you aren’t reading this in a 50’s news reporters voice after seeing the picture of the hat above YOU ARE DOING IT WRONG. First up is a pretty simple album stream, and then we’ll go on from there.

Lamb of God’s latest album Resolution saw release recently, and so they decided to run a full album stream over at AOL Music to give people a chance to get in a good listen before they decide whether to buy or not. I’ve enjoyed this release much more than Wrath, but it is still largely iterative on the sound that they started building in Sacrament.

It’s a good listen all the way through, but I can imagine it would be pretty dull if you picked a random song instead of the five or six really great ones. In other words, this is not an album built for Ipod shuffle like Amon Amarth’s stuff usually is (for example), so you’ll have to be in a really Lamb of God mood in order to really get into this one.

Also, they used the shotgun blast sample again. The same one they used on Sacrament. I was just waiting for the GOD-DAMN before it. Full review incoming soon. In the meantime, while you wait for me to validate your opinion and tell you how awesome of a metal listener you are, you can stream that fucker over here. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2011’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 13

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2011  3 Responses »
Jan 072012
 

This is Part 13 of our list of the most infectious extreme metal songs released this year. Each day until the list is finished, I’m posting two songs that made the cut. For more details about what this list is all about and how it was compiled, read the Introduction via this link. To see the selections that preceded this one, click the Category link on the right side of the page called MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2011.

I guess maybe my trolling earlier today on a phony Part 13 of this list was a bit too subtle.  IT. WAS. A. FUCKING. JOKE.  A joke!  Not serious!  (and apparently not very funny either)  So, onward to the real Part 13 of this list . . .

The inclusion of today’s two bands will come as no surprise to regular readers — you could see this coming from a mile off, because they’re particular favorites of most of us who write here regularly. They also released very strong albums in 2011 — albums that included multiple candidates for this list.

DEVIN TOWNSEND PROJECT

Apart from the fact that Andy Synn’s review of Deconstruction is the most popular piece we’ve ever run at NCS (due in no small part to Devin Townsend’s posting about the review on his Facebook page), we would love this album anyway. It made many of the Best of 2011 lists we published over the last month, including those from Gaia, groverXIII, Stephen Parker, and of course Andy Synn. I shared the sentiments expressed by both groverXIII and Andy:

“Just when I think we’ve plumbed the depths of Devin Townsend’s demented mind, he reaches down and pulls out something else that is completely unexpected. Deconstruction was not the return to Strapping Young Lad that people may have been hoping for, but it was still a massive, chaotic album in its own way. Even now, having heard the album numerous times, I still discover something new every time I listen to it. Staggering.” – groverXIII

“At its heart this record is an expression of one man’s humanity in all its beauty and ugliness. Though its flaws are writ large, in bold, colourful writing, it’s hard to name another artist out there truly willing to go this far and be this open.” – Andy Synn

Continue reading »

ANDY SYNN’S PERSONAL FAVORITES FROM 2011

 Listmania  49 Responses »
Dec 162011
 

(This is the last installment in Andy Synn’s week-long series of posts looking back at albums released this year. Andy previously provided his lists of the year’s Great albums, the Good ones, and the most Disappointing ones, as well as his list of “The Critical Top 10″. For more explanation of what all this means, plus Andy’s picks for the year’s best EPs, visit this location.)

So here we are, the last list of Andy Synn Week (maybe not the official title, but give me something here guys). Here you will find the ten albums that have made the biggest impact on me personally, the ones which make the most frequent appearance on my playlist. Rarely a day goes by without me listening to at least one of these albums, often several times.

You will note that, in contrast to last year, all my favourite albums this year are drawn from my “Great” list. For once, this is definitely coincidental; it just so happens that as I was paring down my overall list of favourite albums to a mere ten entries, I was left solely with albums that I believe are personally, as well as critically, my absolute favourites. It also covers a whole spectrum of albums, some released right back at the very beginning of the year, reaching all the way up to extremely recent releases, so it also serves as a reasonably comprehensive list in terms of the time-frame it covers!

There’s some minor cross-over with yesterday’s list, as some albums were always bound to be both critically and personally fulfilling, but largely you’ll find here a cross-section of my musical preferences from the year. Each album comes with a short explanation of why I love it; not necessarily why it’s the “Best” album of the year, but just why it clicks with me personally. Continue reading »

PHRO TRIES TO REMEMBER WHAT YEAR IT IS AND WHAT FUCKING ALBUMS CAME OUT THIS YEAR

 Listmania, Phro's Posts  41 Responses »
Dec 122011
 

(The time has come.  What time is that?  Why, it’s the time when we begin publishing our own series on the best metal of 2011 — lists created by our writers, guest contributors, and members of metal bands who we’ve specially invited to share with us their lists.  And what better way to start than by turning to Phro for the kick-off?)

Ahhh . . . 2011, how quickly you came and . . . went?  Are going?  Let’s just stick with came for now.

What a year it has been!  I think.  I don’t really remember it.  I think there was something to do with tentacles and a few zombie girls.  Seriously, someone please make the whole zombie/vampire/werewolf thing stop happening.  Please.  I’m begging you.  I can only take so much pithy teen angst foisted upon poor hapless creatures of the night.  GIVE THEM BACK THEIR BALLS, DAMNIT!!!

Seriously.  And wizards, too.  Enough of that shit.

Oh, right, and there was music, too.  Particularly metal music.  Particularly good metal music.  (Anyone who ever utters the words, “It’s been a bad year for metal,” should go out behind the chicken chopping shed and punch themselves in the throat with a rooster.  You fucking lazy scum fucker.)  But it`s the end of the year, and it’s not enough to simply say there was a lot of it.  You people from the Internet want proof all of the sudden!  You freaks with your memes and your porn and your meme porn and your porn memes.  And your rules!!!  So many rules!  Well, I have a new rule for you.  Rule number 0.5.  It states, quite clearly: anything that can be made into furry-rape-scat porn should be made into furry-rape-scat porn and then broadcasted on CNN, FOX, and MSNBC until foxes look sexy.  (But only when they`re covered in poop.)

Poop, poop, poop, poop . . . poop . . . poooooooooooooop . . . Continue reading »

FLESHGOD APOCALYPSE: “AGONY” (Take 2)

 Album Reviews  36 Responses »
Aug 102011
 

No one sounds like Fleshgod Apocalypse. No one. Not even close. In a remarkably short time, over a span of only two albums and an intervening EP, the band have established a unique and immediately recognizable style. The second of those albums, Agony, fully and brilliantly achieves what the band have been moving toward since their inception — a remarkable union of classical music and blistering death metal, heated to a full boil. The album is a bombastic whirlwind that leaves you breathless and wide-eyed in wonder.

On Agony, all of Fleshgod Apocalypse’s signature ingredients are now firmly in place. The extravagant symphonic keyboards and piano instrumentals of Francesco Ferrini are now woven completely through the magic carpet of every song, a completely co-equal partner with the thunderous performances of the other band members. Although even the timing and power of the guitar riffing and bass rhythms give off the favor of orchestral composition, Ferrini’s musical creations, more than anything else, put an indelible stamp on the music, invoking the ornate classical masters of the band’s Italian homeland in their most extravagantly fiery moments — Vivaldi, Paganini, and Rossini.

Of course, other metal bands use symphonic keyboards in their music, though more often in an effort to add background ambience and atmosphere than as a co-starring role in the performance. But, as Fleshgod Apocalypse have explained, they view the classical music of the 17th and 18th centuries as the death metal of that era —  as music that was (and is) powerful, dramatic, and heavy — and so their goal, now fully realized, has been to unite music from two very different worlds that nevertheless have in common the ability to produce (in my words, not theirs) complete emotional catharsis. And that brings us to the drumming.  (after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

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