“THAT’S METAL!” – BUT IT’S NOT MUSIC (NO. 22): FUCKING AND WANKING

 That's Metal -- But It's Not Music  29 Responses »
Nov 252010
 

Plainly, I have too much time on my hands today. I didn’t set out to do a THAT’S METAL! post, but the surfing of the web led me to some new discoveries that proved irresistible to me. You’ll understand why in a moment.

It all started with Haate Kaate — a Bulgarian artist whose work we’ve featured before on this site, initially in a post about the most excellent album by German black-metal band Odem Arcarum, called Outrageous Reverie Above The Erosion Of Barren Earth, and then again in our longer review of that album.

We saw a MySpace bulletin about the album art she has just finished for a compilation CD due in December on the Ahnstern label called Oak Folk, which will include exclusive contributions by Agalloch, Allerseelen, Arnica, Changes, Dannagoischd, Fräkmündt, Hrefnesholt, Klammheim, Splinterskin, Sturmpercht, Waldteufel, Werra.  This dovetailed with the news we discovered that Agalloch and Allerseelen will be joining together on a mini-tour of the West Coast in December (see one of our earlier posts today).

In trying to find out more about that Oak Folk compilation, I browsed the Ahnstern Facebook page. A post on that page in turn led me to the discovery that there is a town in Austria called . . . wait for it . . . Fucking. In learning more about that town, I also discovered the town of Wank in Germany.

Now, you know us well enough to understand that there was no way in hell we could resist adding a post about these towns to NCS, with a few of our typically tasteless embellishments. So, here goes . . . after the jump. Continue reading »

ODEM ARCARUM

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Apr 172010
 

Some people think physical CDs and album artwork have become, or soon will become, an anachronism, as the unstoppable movement to digital downloads continues to surge ahead. Some of your NCS Co-Authors are in that camp. But not me. Whenever possible, even when I’ve already listened to a download of music, I try to get my hands on a physical CD. Lots of reasons for that, but one reason is that I like to see all the album art and any text content that may be included. And sometimes, seeing an image of album art on the webz draws me to the music, when otherwise I might never have listened to it.

A recent case in point: German black-metal band Odem Arcarum‘s new album, Outrageous Reverie Above The Erosion Of Barren Earth. I saw the amazing cover art for that album by Bulgarian artist Haate Kaate and put up a short post on it not too long ago. (You really should go check out that post to see what I’m talking about.) At that time, I had only listened to one song from the album on Odem Arcarum’s MySpace page — and did that solely because I thought the art was cool. But it didn’t take me long to buy the CD, which I now have in my grimy claws.

For me, the album art would have been worth the price of the CD. But as an added bonus, the music is also strikingly impressive — one of the coolest examples of progressive black metal I’ve yet heard.  (and we’ll tell you why after the jump . . .) Continue reading »

BLACK TUSK AND ODEM ARCARUM

 Eye-Catchers, Metal News  No Responses »
Apr 082010
 

Just so you don’t think we only care about ridiculous album covers, here are two we came across this morning that are cool. And even better, so’s the music.

The one at the top is a glimpse of the cover for Black Tusk‘s new album, Taste the Sin, which is scheduled for a May 25 release on Relapse Records. You’ll probably recognize the art of John Dyer Baizley, the singer and guitarist for Baroness, whose amazing art has graced the album covers not only for his own band but also for the likes of Skeletonwitch, Kylesa, Pig Destroyer, and Darkest Hour.

A song from the new Black Tusk album called “Embrace the Madness” is now streaming on the band’s MySpace page. Go check it out, because it’s a killer — overpoweringly heavy but also overpoweringly infectious.  We’re really looking forward to hearing the whole album.

The second cover is from a just-released new album called Outrageous Reverie Above The Erosion Of Barren Earth by a German black metal band named Odem Arcarum. The artwork is by a Bulgarian artist named Haate Kaate (pictured to the right — MySpace page here). To see more of the artwork she created for a 12-page booklet that accompanies the CD, click past the jump. We think it’s really awesome stuff. (You can see the whole booklet here.)

The band has songs from the new album streaming on their MySpace page, and we really like what we’re hearing.  Another album we’re anxiously waiting for the mail to bring us!

(View more Odem Arcarum album art by Haate Kaate after the jump . . .) Continue reading »