LISTMANIA: THE TOP 10 SONGS I HEARD FOR THE FIRST TIME YESTERDAY

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  20 Responses »
Dec 222016
 

shaarimoth-temple-of-the-adversarial-fire

 

This time of year there are always a few people who ask whether I’m going to post my own list of the year’s best releases. Again, the answer is no, because making the effort would be too paralyzing. I have enough trouble deciding whether to wash my underoos or let them ferment for another week.

On the other hand, I do kind of feel left out of the year-end LISTMANIA frenzy, so I thought I’d put together a Top 10 list, but one that’s a bit easier for my overtaxed brain to process. These are the 10 best songs I heard for the first time yesterday.

Hey, don’t laugh! It wasn’t that easy — I listened to more than 20 new songs yesterday, so I did have to make some decisions. Of course, I couldn’t be bothered to rank these 10 tracks; there’s a limit to how far I’m going with this.

SHAARIMOTH

The first song is “Faceless Queen of Bloodstained Dreams”, which is from an album I’ve been anxiously awaiting — the second full-length by Norway’s Shaarimoth, which is arriving more than a decade after the first one. Continue reading »

COVERING MOTÖRHEAD

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  19 Responses »
Dec 302015
 

Integrity-Orgasmatron cover

 

Like a lot of people, I spent most of my music-listening time yesterday with Motörhead. For the hell of it, I also spent time listening to metal bands covering Motörhead songs. A lot of bands have done that. Out of the many covers I listened to,  damned few of them are quite as good as the originals, and at least to my ears, none of them is better.

However, having invested the time hunting for covers that breathed some kind of different life into the classic originals, I decided to put them all here — the good ones and the so-so ones — by these bands: Satyricon, Sepultura, Ringworm (with guest vocals by Barney Greenway), Korpiklaani, Sodom, Machetazo, Avulsed, Overkill, Metallica, Horna, Kvelertak, Warbringer, and Krisiun.

But before I get to those, I’m starting with one that’s definitely a success. It’s a cover  of “Orgasmatron” that Integrity released just yesterday on Bandcamp (here). Continue reading »

VIDEOGRAPHY: DEMONIC RESURRECTION, NORIKUM, OVERKILL, TSJUDER, WILSON

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Jun 242014
 

I watched a lot of new music videos yesterday, many of which made me smile, though not all for the same reasons. I decided to put all the smile-inducing ones right here for you — five of ’em, in alphabetical order by band name. That’s right, five. Settle in, fix a bucket of popcorn and douse it in that movie theater goop that should be labeled IT TASTES LIKE BUTTER BUT IT’S NOT!, and watch. And listen. Listening is important.

If none of these makes you smile, then I surrender and will take my lashes without complaint. Because I never complain when that happens.

DEMONIC RESURRECTION

As we’ve previously reported, India’s Demonic Resurrection have a new album entitled The Demon King that’s due for release on July 14 by Candlelight Records (and by Universal Music in India). Yesterday the band started streaming the album’s first single, “Trail of Devastation”, and it’s a winner — well-written, well-produced, dynamic, memorable, and made for fist-pumping.

It combines swirling guitar melody, sweeping orchestration, and riffs that alternately twist insidiously and jab like a prize-fighter. The Demonstealer puts his multifaceted vocal talents to good use in the song, too, with an array of harsh roars, scalding shrieks, and carefully placed, soaring clean vocals that really work. Continue reading »

YOB, OVERKILL, BEASTMILK

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Jun 122014
 

I mainly wanted to put up a couple of cool new album covers before calling it quits for the day, but I just saw a new video that I decided to throw in here, too, because we always need music.

YOB

The first cover is for Clearing The Path to Ascend, the new album by YOB, which is due for release by Neurot Recordings in September. I’m expecting great things from this album. I take PR reports with a grain of salt, but this excerpt from today’s announcement still gets me pumped up:

“Those threads of progressive rock and drone that have always underscored the music of YOB are now fully realized with Clearing The Path To Ascend, as each track forges into the next with a ferocity that’s as completely unhinged as it is utterly focused. Drummer Travis Foster wields his signature rhythmic furore here with bombastic precision while bassist Aaron Rieseberg, coils around the sonic tide with an unforgiving churn – all the while in a deadly synchronicity with Scheidt’s uncanny vocal range and its pendulous movement between the triumphant howls of a medieval madman and the earth splitting growls of a war-battered titan.”

Continue reading »

NEWS AND VIDEO ROUND-UP: NE OBLIVISCARIS, ZOMBIE, INC., BLOODSHOT DAWN, AND OVERKILL

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Apr 042012
 

One exciting news item + three brand new videos = this post.

NE OBLIVISCARIS

I know that less than three weeks have passed since our last update about Australia’s Ne Obliviscaris, but I think I already made clear that just about any news concerning this band and their forthcoming album is going to get space at NCS.

The new album is called Portal of I, and I expect to drown blissfully in the one hour and 11 minutes of unique music it will undoubtedly serve up. Now, finally, after years of work and more difficulties than many bands encounter, we have a release date for NeO’s debut album: May 7, 2012. We don’t yet have pre-order information, but we understand that’s coming soon.

In addition to the release date, NeO have also announced that they will be touring Australia in support of the album. Although I have no hope of seeing any of these shows except in my mind’s eye, I’m swallowing my frustration and including the tour dates anyway:

Friday, May 18@ The Corner Hotel, Melbourne 18+
Saturday, May 19@ The Castle, Dandenong, Melbourne *ALL AGES*
Saturday, June 9@ The Enigma Bar, Adelaide
Saturday, June 16@ The Bald Faced Stag (The Wall), Sydney
Brisbane show: TBA

Now, onward to those three new music videos . . . Continue reading »