LISTMANIA 2017: A YEAR-END LIST FROM JACOBO CÓRDOVA (MAJESTIC DOWNFALL)

 LISTMANIA 2017  4 Responses »
Jan 092018
 

 

(It’s been a few years since we got a year-end list from our friend Jacobo Córdova — the man behind the magnificent Majestic Downfall from Mexico — but we’re pleased to share his with you this year.  And those of us eager for new Majestic Downfall might add this to the other hints and rumors that perhaps we will see some new music from him this year!)

 

2017: Another year full of great Metal with some truly killer releases. Having said this, I somehow feel I expected a bit more this time. I don´t know why, but while the last 5 years had always delivered 100%, I somehow felt this one fell a bit short. Maybe I am becoming a grumpy old man or viagra is starting to be on my radar, but that is what I felt.

With that observation out of the way, these killer albums made it to my year-end list and they somehow lit a flame in the right spot. Hail Heavy Metal, Hail Death! Continue reading »

KEVINP’S ALBUMS OF THE MONTH — AUGUST 2015

 Listmania  9 Responses »
Aug 312015
 

Majestic Downfall--When Dead

 

(Here’s the latest installment of KevinP’s series in which he runs down his list of the best releases from the preceding month.)

August was been absolutely stacked with quality releases, which caused me to make a few hard choices (i.e., cuts).  A few albums worth your time that didn’t make the list were from:  Krisiun, Ogotay, and Sources of I.   Also, I went back and forth on the ranking between numbers 2-5, and really, depending on my mood, I could change them up, that’s how much I enjoyed all of them.  This month’s numero uno though was head and shoulders above the rest, and released by a perennial NCS favorite.

 

5.  Creeping – Revenant

This is the third full-length by this New Zealand trio and the first one I’ve heard by them.  Why exactly are these kiwis not more well known?  That kinda baffles me.  Black doom with a healthy dose of death metal goodness thrown into the mixture.  It’s grimy, it’s dark, and it’s just a visciously good album. Continue reading »

GET TO THE POINT: JACOBO CÓRDOVA (MAJESTIC DOWNFALL)

 Interviews  5 Responses »
Aug 282015
 

Jacobo Córdova-1

 

(KevinP rejoins us with another edition of his short-interview series, and this time he talks with Jacobo Córdova, the man behind one of our favorite bands — Majestic Downfall, whose stunning new album is out now and can be heard at the end of the interview.)

******

K:  So this is the third year in a row with a full-length album worth of material.  How have you been able to pull this off?

J:  I guess the reason why the band is so active is that I really like writing music and I do it as a very disciplined thing. It is a one-man job where I can decide when to do things, however I want to, without anyone on my back. I do have to say, that this time it was a bit harder than previously, since I incorporated a lot of new sounds into the music without caring or giving importance to where they came from.

 

K:   If you found it harder to write this time around BUT you didn’t worry about what you incorporated, wouldn’t that actually make it easier, being free of restrictions?

J:  Yes and no.Yes in the creative department, where as long as it sounded good I would work with it and incorporate it into the songs. No in the aspect of making such different ideas flow together in a smooth and cohesive way. That is what made me struggle more. I hate pasting riffs together without any relation. Continue reading »

INDEPENDENCE DAY (HANGOVER) METAL: DEIPHAGO, DEMONA, MAJESTIC DOWNFALL, SOURCES OF I, NO TRUST, ANOPHELI

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Jul 052015
 

 

I wrote most of this post yesterday and then got side-tracked trying to deal with the technical problems inflicted on our glorious site by scum-sucking spammers. And then when I’d done all I knew to do, I spent the rest of the day and the night celebrating The Fourth. Rather than start over on this post, I just added one word to the title and wrapped it up this morning.

I checked our Google Analytics data yesterday, and it confirmed what I’ve suspected: Over the last year, only 40% of the total visits to our site have come from people in the United States. And that means that the for the majority of people likely to pop in today, July 4 was just another Saturday. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2014: A YEAR-END LIST FROM JACOBO CÓRDOVA (MAJESTIC DOWNFALL, ZOMBIEFICATION)

 LISTMANIA 2014  9 Responses »
Dec 182014
 

 

(We’re delighted once again to bring you a “best of the year” list from our friend Jacobo Córdova, the man behind the magnificent Majestic Downfall from Mexico, and a fixture in the lethal Zombiefication as well.)

I am very grateful for being able to share with all NCS readers, and for the second year in a row, what I consider to be the best releases of 2014. Once again I want to say that although I didn´t listen to everything I wish I had gotten my ears on in 2014, I certainly got to a lot of it, and my overall view of the year for Metal is quite positve.

This time, and to make it a bit different from last year, I will have other “sections” mentioning great albums that although not released this year, had something special and came to life this year (at least for me, since their dues were not paid on time).  Continue reading »

MAJESTIC DOWNFALL AND THE SLOW DEATH: A SPLIT

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  4 Responses »
Oct 212014
 

 

I’m pathetically late in reviewing this split. My shame is magnified by the fact that I first heard the album months ago and knew from the first listen that it was one of the best I’d heard all year. It still is.

Each of these bands — Mexico’s Majestic Downfall and Australia’s The Slow Death — contribute three long songs, collectively totaling more than 67 minutes of doom.

MAJESTIC DOWNFALL

The first of Majestic Downfall’s songs, “The Dark Lullaby”, is full of contrasts and is impressively dynamic, both in its pacing and in its changing moods. It joins together massive guitar tone and huge, brutish bass hammers with light, ringing acoustic guitar harmonies. It incorporates melodies that are both entrancing and drenched in sorrow. It pairs gargantuan roars that come up from some bottomless abyss with harrowing howls that convey sensations of intense anguish. Slow, skull-splitting riffs and gut-punching drums cohabit the song with ripping tremolo- and blastbeat-driven storm fronts. And in the song’s second half, you’re treated to a squalling guitar solo that will seize your attention, followed by a heavy guitar motif that wouldn’t be out of place in a Scandinavian-styled melodic death metal anthem. Continue reading »

WHAT I’M LISTENING TO THIS YEAR — PART 3

 Listmania, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Sep 082014
 

 

(NCS contributor KevinP shares his latest quarterly round-up of albums that he commends to your ears.) 

We’re getting toward the end of the year and the amount of quality releases hasn’t slowed down one bit.  And there are even more to come as well (Wolfheart, At the Gates, Bloodbath to name a few just off the top of my head).  Here’s 5 more albums you should defintely check out.

Majestic Downfall/The Slow Death split

http://chaos-records.bandcamp.com/album/split

Once this is officially released on September 15th, you should be able to hear all 6 songs (3 by each band), but one listen to the Majestic Downfall track, “The Dark Lullaby”, should give you all you need to know.  The Slow Death is no slouch on this by any means.  Very good and competent funeral-esque doom.  So I don’t blather too much, start listening and see my review here [Editor’s intrusion: I don’t know why I’m letting Kevin link to his own review. I’m going to review this split and it’s the only one you’ll need to read.] Continue reading »

METAL FOR YOUR CINCO DE FUCKIN MAYO

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  24 Responses »
May 052014
 

I have mixed feelings about Cinco de Mayo. I grew up in central Texas, and celebrated the date every year after a certain point. On the other hand, the certain point was when I reached drinking age, which was the age at which my friends and I could convince winos to buy us tequila at liquor stores. That became a road to misery.

My first exposure to tequila was at age 16 on a high school Spanish Club trip to Monterrey. One of my buds, who was fluent in Spanish without having to be taught, evaded the teachers by climbing out a hotel window and down a fire escape on our first afternoon there, returning with a couple of bottles. That night I never made it out of the bus that took our teachers and us to some restaurant. I said I was sick, and that was no fuckin’ lie.

Even now, all it takes is the smell of straight tequila to bring on a wave of nausea. Doesn’t mean I’ve given up on it (there have been many subsequent tequila poisoning experiences in the many years since that Monterrey trip), but these days I prefer to take my poison in a margarita. Goes down easier, though a high percentage of the time I still wind up crouched over a toilet begging for mercy.

But I don’t mean to suggest that Cinco de Mayo is nothing more than a chance to get shit-faced. There’s rich history behind the date as well, but in my mind it’s also an excuse to revisit some Mexican metal. That’s another form of poison I can’t seem to resist. Continue reading »

MAJESTIC DOWNFALL: “THE DARK LULLABY”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  7 Responses »
Apr 042014
 


cover art by Anne O’Neill

I’ve been waiting impatiently to hear Majestic Downfall’s contribution to the band’s forthcoming split with The Slow Death for two weeks, ever since hearing the latter band’s part of the split (which I thought was wonderful). And this morning it began streaming through the interhole. Using my well-known cat-like reflexes, I pounced on it without delay. I prepared to be enveloped in its fuzzy embrace, but instead lost my grip and fell into it like a drowning pool.

As the solo project of Zombiefication’s Jacobo Córdova, Majestic Downfall secured a place on my personal “listen to everything they do” list with 2013’s Three, an album from which we had the pleasure of premiering a song last year. And this new song proves the wisdom of pouncing on the band’s every new release without delay.

The song’s name is “The Dark Lullaby” and it’s an amazingly rich and varied tapestry of sound that makes full use of its 13 minute run-time. It may be premature to say this, since I’ve only heard the song a few times, but I’d venture to say that it’s the best thing I’ve yet heard from this very talented project. Continue reading »

A YEAR-END LIST BY JACOBO CORDOVA (MAJESTIC DOWNFALL, ZOMBIEFICATION)

 LISTMANIA 2013  16 Responses »
Dec 172013
 

(We invited Jacobo Córdova, whose latest album under the name of Majestic Downfall – “Three” — is a doom/death highlight of 2013 and who is also a member of the mighty Zombiefication — to tell us about his favorite releases of 2013, and here’s what he had to say.)

After being offered to do a top 2013 list for NoCleanSinging.com, I decided to take the challenge since I am fond of this kind of nonsense. The criteria for my list has to do with releases that I truly invested time and dedication throughout the year and that I know well from the inside out. I get angry when people like/hate one release upon listening to it once and making an opinion. That is bullshit.

Ok, now to the list. The top 10 releases come with some words, and in the end you will find another list of great runner-ups.

Just one thing: These may not be the best releases of the year, they are just based on my opinion and experience. I may have missed a lot, but worry not, I will catch up eventually. And just for the Records, Watain’s The Wild Hunt is the record I heard the most this year, I wish it had not been that way. The only Soulless release I like is the Grave one! Continue reading »

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