Todd Manning Archives - Page 8 of 9

STEED: “SURROUNDED BY COWARDS”

Jun 272017

(Todd Manning rejoins us with a review of the debut album by Indiana’s Steed.)

In the age of all things old become new again, we often see modern day Metal musicians looking to the genre’s forefathers for guidance, and Indianapolis-based quartet Steed have certainly learned their lessons well. Their debut full-length, Surrounded by Cowards, was issued near the end of April courtesy of Small Hand Factory Records, who successfully tapped a similar vein recently with Kulthammer’s Oath.

The key here is Steed’s ability to meld the songwriting chops of the genre masters with the grit of today’s underground. Album opener, “Speed Weed Steed” sets the stage with its venomous mix of underground Thrash and Motörhead. There is an undeniable Punk edge to the proceedings as well, the kind of swagger that is sure to keep their audiences drinking and fist-pumping, engaging in all things lawless and belligerent. Continue reading »

EXCOMMUNION — “THRONOSIS”

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

May 092017

(Todd Manning brings us this review of the new EP by Colorado’s Excommunion, and we also bring you a full stream of the music.)

At this point, it’s no secret that I have been extolling the great state of Death Metal in 2017, and so I wanted to pen a quick missive singing the infernal praises of another powerful release, the new Excommunion album, Thronosis.

I’ve noticed that so much of this great Death Metal is coming from scene veterans, and Excommunion is in that camp. This is the follow-up to 2002’s full-length Superion (with a split in between), and this release finds the group in fine form. Continue reading »

CONJURER / KAIJU DAISENSO: A SPLIT

Album Reviews No Responses »

Apr 262017

(Todd Manning wrote this review of a 2016 split release by Indianapolis-based Conjurer and the NY band Kaiju Daisenso.)

A little late to the game here, but I recently had the pleasure of discovering this split from two devastating sludge acts, Conjurer and Kaiju Daisenso. Originally released as a split flexi 7” last November via SMALLHANDFACTORY records, both tracks are now available on Bandcamp as well.

Conjurer are a based out of Indianapolis, and this track marks an impressive follow-up to their formidable full-length Old World Ritual. Under the title “You’re in Here with Me”, Conjurer spill forth burly, mid-paced sludge riffs with moments of psychedelia peeking out through the bile. Continue reading »

ARTIFICIAL BRAIN: “INFRARED HORIZON”

Album Reviews 7 Responses »

Apr 052017

(Todd Manning wrote this review of the new album by Artificial Brain.)

It’s impossible to know (short of asking them) if New York-based Death Metal quintet Artificial Brain are familiar with such outre philosophies as Cosmic Pessimism or Object-Oriented Ontology, but they certainly seem to have concocted the perfect soundtrack to such occult topics. On their second full-length, Infrared Horizon, due out on April 21st on Profound Lore, they present us with a sound that conjures forth the far reaches of the void of outer space, and the nihilistic possibilities outlined in said philosophies. Continue reading »

PESTIFER: “EXECRATION DIATRIBES”

Album Reviews 4 Responses »

Jan 242017

(We present Todd Manning’s review of the new album by the Portuguese death metal band Pestifer.)

If you’ve ever become frustrated trying to parse out what’s Old School Death Metal and what’s New, and maybe what’s just plain Death Metal, Portuguese trio Pestifer (who have recently become a four-piece) leave no doubt about where they stand.

Inspired by only the most atavistic and savage originators of the genre, they are poised to release their debut full-length, Execration Diatribes via Lavadome Productions on February 14th. It is nothing short of a love letter to their forefathers. These Old School maniacs have no goal but to satiate the bloodlust of Death Metal’s most dedicated fans. Continue reading »

MISERIST: SELF-TITLED EP

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

Jan 112017

(This is Todd Manning’s review of the debut EP by Australia’s mysterious Miserist.)

A new year is upon us and there’s no reason to believe we’re not just one more step closer to the carnivorous abyss. No wonder extreme music just gets nastier and more oppressive, the most recent torchbearers coming in the form of the Australian mystery collective Miserist. This self-titled debut EP is a cavern-borne Death/Industrial hybrid, and strangely, considering the style, entirely instrumental. This one facet proves to be most compelling, coming across as a strange absence at first, but then as an abstraction upon repeated listens. The more one listens, the more this one facet opens itself up to speculation about the thought process behind the decision.

For the most part, Miserist alternate between devastating yet obscure slabs of blast-beat-driven Death Metal, often reminiscent of the mighty Portal, and more mid-paced Industrial-fueled sludge. Without vocals, the music becomes both inhuman and weightless; even the most straightforward riffs become atmospheric. And there is a layer of grime and filth overlaying the whole affair as well. The listener is invited to imagine all sorts of post-apocalyptic futures stimulated by their assault. Continue reading »

REVIEWED: NEW ALBUMS BY ENDORPHINS LOST AND THE DRIP

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Dec 292016

(Todd Manning prepared the following two reviews.)

Sometimes you hear a couple of releases and you can’t help but pair them together, and that is certainly the case with the new albums by The Drip and Endorphins Lost. Both of these bands hail from the Pacific Northwest and lash out at the world with Grindcore-soaked fury, and both have new albums coming out less than two months apart. Endorphins Lost even mention The Drip in a press release as one of their influences. There’s probably more connections, but you get the point.

ENDORPHINS LOST: CHOOSE YOUR WAY

Endorphins Lost released their burner Choose Your Way via Six Weeks Records on November 25th. They draw heavily from Powerviolence with their penchant for abrupt tempo changes and blasting fury. They are simultaneously jarring and intoxicating, and manage to bust out no less than fourteen tracks in roughly twenty-eight minutes. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2016: A TOP TEN LIST FROM TODD MANNING

LISTMANIA 2016 6 Responses »

Dec 222016

(We’ve rolled out some very long year-end lists, with more of them to come, but this one by NCS contributor Todd Manning is a compact, though varied, 10 items in length. Enjoy.)

As years go, 2016 has been a real kick-in-the-balls, and further down the road we probably won’t talk too much about the year in music, except maybe about everyone that died. That being said, it was the first year I really threw myself into writing about music on a regular basis and I have to thank No Clean Singing, AvantGarde-Metal.com, and Burning Ambulance for being willing to publish my semi-coherent ramblings. Doing a top ten list seems like a nice culmination to my efforts and a chance to interrogate all the music I’ve heard and see what really made an impression.

This list is as much for myself as it is for anyone else, though it has been a challenge to force myself to rank all the music I’ve heard this year. By my estimation, I’ve heard approximately 115 full 2016 releases, primarily from Metal and Hardcore. I can’t tell you how many individual songs I’ve heard, fragments of albums, and so on. It seems like a lot, but I’m pretty sure there are others who have listened to quite a few more.

I sketched out this list quite a few times and it kept changing from day to day. I decided it was time to just finish the damn thing, but will of course list a few runner-ups as well. So without further ado… Continue reading »

SPAZZ: “SWEATIN’ II: DEPORTED LIVE GORILLA”

Album Reviews 1 Response »

Dec 012016

(Todd Manning reviews this re-mastered (or in some cases mastered for the first time) compilation of tracks by the now-defunct Spazz originally recorded from 1995-1996, plus a full live set from 1996.)

I always have drawn a rather false analogy when comparing music genres that goes something like, Metal is to Classical as Punk and Hardcore are to Jazz, trying to express the relative approaches of the musicians and their interactions as ensembles. More or less, Metal and Classical often seem to put a premium on a certain sort of precision, whereas Punk/Hardcore and Jazz, often at their best, rely on a tight sort of looseness, a sense that everything could fall apart at a moment’s notice, but yet the band manages to hold everything together, creating an enthralling dynamic tension.

All that being said, if most Hardcore were analogous to a Hard Bop quintet in full swing, then Powerviolence represented the most gonzo of Free Jazz ensembles, and Spazz was the king of the musical renegades. Continue reading »

POWER ELECTRONICS AND NOISE-LIKE OBJECTS (NO. 4)

RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC No Responses »

Nov 112016

(Todd Manning brings us a fourth installment of his series on power electronics and harsh noise releases. The first three can be found here, here, and here.)

If you can survive the global autopsy that is the nightly news and feel like you’re not drowning in toxic-fecal sludge, you must not be paying attention. But then again, who doesn’t love the smell of the apocalypse in the morning? Once again, desperate times call for even more extreme music than usual, so let’s once again take a peek in the darkest corners of the underground to find the soundtrack for the end times. Continue reading »

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