ROADBURN 2018, A PHOTO RECORD: DAY 4

 Concert Reviews  No Responses »
May 292018
 

 

The 2018 edition of Roadburn Festival is in the history books. From April 19th through April 22nd at the 013 venue in Tilburg, The Netherlands, metal fans got the chance to choose from among performances by more than 100 bands across four stages and a fascinating array of musical genres. NCS was fortunate to be represented by the fantastic New Orleans-based music photographer Teddie Taylor, who made a visual record of the event for us.

We left it to Teddie to decide which bands to see; no doubt she had a lot of difficult decisions to make — and we had difficult decisions of our own in determining which of her images to share with you (they’re all really damned good!). We’re dividing this collection of pics into four parts, one for each day of Roadburn 2018. You can find her photos from Day 1 here, Day 2 here, and Day 3 here. Continue reading »

VIDEOGRAPHY: OCTOBER TIDE, AMORPHIS, REBAELLIUN, VAMPILLIA, DEATHKINGS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Feb 292016
 

October Tide - Winged Waltz

 

It looks like it’s going to be yet another one of those crazy weeks where if we snooze for about 5 minutes we’ll miss the debut of at least 5 new things worth getting excited about. For example, everything in this post appeared in just the last few hours of this Monday morning, except the penultimate one, which erupted like a volcano of dementia last night.

These are all videos. Because I really hadn’t planned on trying to inject a round-up into an already full schedule of posts at our site this morning, I don’t have time to write much about them. Of course, I do recommend you give them your time.

OCTOBER TIDE

Winged Waltz is the name of the fifth album by these beautifully gloomy Swedes, and it will be released by Agonia Records on April 22. Here is the brand new lyric video for the first advance track from the album — “Sleepless Sun”: Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: HOD, ABOMINOR, VAMPILLIA, NACHTLIEDER

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  7 Responses »
Aug 172014
 

 

This is a collection of new (or newish) songs I heard yesterday that I wanted to recommend. The music is quite diverse, yet each song contains elements of black metal — hence the “Shade of Black” title. Lots of creativity on display in what you’re about to hear — and a few things that will hit you like a semi-truck with the pedal all the way down.

HOD

San Antonio’s HOD will release their new album Book of the Worm, on September 9 via Arctic Music. The cover art, which I like a lot, was created by Jon Zig. Earlier this week Revolver (Revolver???) premiered a song from the album, and I finally caught up with it — or more accurately, it caught up with me and rode me down into the mud.

The song is “Where Are the Demons”, and the answer is — right here, in this song. It’s one of the best things I believe I’ve ever heard from HOD  — a slashing, galloping, ravaging powerhouse assault, loaded with writhing, head-whipping riffs, frenzied chord progressions, and blistering percussion. It’s a hellish inferno with tremendous surging power, but a very interesting and technically impressive  song at the same time. And the vocals will bring the grizzlies down from the hills.

The album can be pre-ordered here. A previously released track can be heard at this location. And this is where the demons are: Continue reading »

LIVE: VAMPILLIA AND BAPTISTS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Mar 162014
 

I’m usually in such a hurry to find new music worth saying something about that I rarely make time for videos of entire live sets. But I did that yesterday, not once but twice. In both cases I didn’t really intend to sit through the whole sets, but in both cases I couldn’t tear myself away. These two bands could hardly be more different from each other, but I think both videos are worth your time.

VAMPILLIA

I’ve heard this Japanese band’s name before, most recently in connection with a Japanese tour in June planned by an interesting two-man outfit named Mossenek, which features guitarist Mick Barr (Krallice) and electronic manipulator Chuck Bettis; Vampillia will be along for that ride, together with Nadja. But although the name rang a bell, I had no idea about the music until our supporter Christian Molenaar (whose own Bandcamp page is here) encouraged me to watch the following video.

The performance was filmed at a New York City venue named Pianos on March 9, 2014, by the incomparable (((unartig))). (((unartig))) undoubtedly had his hands full trying to capture everything at this show, what with 8 people on stage and one of them frequently getting down on the floor (and writhing around on it). The performance is incredibly strange and unpredictable — unique, even — and I’m confident it will not be most peoples’ cup of tea, but it includes some rich rewards. Continue reading »