Tag Archives: Australia

Out Last Month: Ne Obliviscaris – Portal of I

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Ne Obliviscaris – Portal of I (11 June 2012, Code666 Records)

 
How’s it going, Dear Readers? I’ve got another amazing album I would like to share with you. I’ve been so fortunate with how much good stuff I’ve been coming across lately, I only wish that I had more time to write about it all so that you could have the chance to read about it and listen to it sooner! I guess what I’m saying is, it makes me feel guilty that my brain and fingers don’t work quite as fast as my ears sometimes…

Anyway, here we have Portal of I, the (relatively) new album by the Melburnian sextet Ne Obliviscaris. I usually have a pretty good memory when it comes to my history with specific bands, but to be honest I have no idea where or when I discovered these guys. Chances are, I probably read something about them over at No Clean Singing, or possibly at The Number of the Blog, since I’ve made an awful lot of discoveries through both of those places.

Oh and by the way, for all you former TNOTB readers who have been grieving since that website was lost in cyberspace, I hope you’ve started reading Oculus Infernus, the new home of head editor and writer Grover XIII. In case you haven’t seen it yet, the new blog can be found here. (And while we’re at it, No Clean Singing is over here.)

As I was saying, sometime, somehow I came across this group of Aussies, and I found them intriguing enough to “like” them on Facebook. Fast-forward to this May, when the band invited all their fans to “International Ne Obliviscaris Sharing Day” — when they planned to reveal an advance single from their then-forthcoming new album. I wrote about that impromptu holiday, and then shared the song (“Xenoflux”). Based on previous experience I had expected it would be good, but as it turns out, it was amazing!

To make a long story short, soon after that, the album was released in Australia and New Zealand on Welkin Records, a small, independent label run by one of the band members; right around the same time it was announced that Ne Obliviscaris had signed on with Italy’s Code666 Records for the rest of the world. This made perfect sense to me, since I’ve always found that Code666 tends to work with very good — and very unique — bands. So then the album was available all over the world, and about a month later, it’s finally time for me to share this masterpiece with you.

 

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In Case You Missed It: Greed & Rapacity – Loki Bound

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Greed & Rapacity – Loki Bound (9 April 2012, Milam Records)

 
Good afternoon, Readers! Time for another album review. It’s been a while since I’ve written one of these things; I hope I remember how…

 
With its roots in Australian soil, but being a collaborative effort between members (who are also involved with various other projects, including Azoth, Bleakwood, and Ironwood) living in both Sydney (NSW, AU) and Portland (OR, US) Greed & Rapacity have the goal of “channeling and venting the worst of human nature in sonic form” — not surprising, considering they have deadly sins as namesakes.

Following a demo in 2010, this spring the band’s debut EP Loki Bound was released on cassette by Milam Records (although it’s also available as a digital download, so don’t worry if you never bothered to get a new tape player after the batteries leaked and corroded your Walkman’s innards fifteen or twenty years ago).

The album was named for the god of chaos in Norse mythology, who was bound by the other deities for his mischievous crimes, and had a serpent suspended above him, from which venom would occasionally drip onto the captive, causing him to writhe in pain and agony.

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Happy International Ne Obliviscaris Sharing Day!

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And, as promised yesterday, here it is!

 
 
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Now, get sharing! You can RSVP to International Ne Obliviscaris Sharing Day here.

Here is the link to pass along to all your friends:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-wa4zqBwPVE&feature=youtu.be

 
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New album Portal of I can be pre-ordered here; the official release date is the 7th of May.

Ne Obliviscaris: website, Facebook
Welkin Records: Facebook

Tomorrow is International Ne Obliviscaris Sharing Day!

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So what in the hell does that mean, you may be asking yourself. Well isn’t it obvious from the name? Tomorrow (3 May 2012) starting at 5 pm Australian Eastern Standard Time (that’s GMT+10, so for example, it would be 8 am in the UK, or 3 am on the American east coast), a brand new song will be available for your listening pleasure — courtesy of Melbourne-based, violin-centric, progressive metal band Ne Obliviscaris. And, well, I’ll let them explain the rest:
 

Do you have good manners?

From very little we’re taught that sharing is the polite thing to do. So later today at 5pm (AEST), May 3, 2012 we are going to put up a new song from the album ‘Portal Of I’ (out May 7!), and in return all we ask of you guys is that if you like it, share it!

Let’s see how many people we can get sharing this song and how many people we can get to hear it!

Don’t hog it all to yourself, be polite and share.

 
You can RSVP to International Ne Obliviscaris Sharing Day here.

**Update: head on over here to check out the new song!**

New album Portal of I can be pre-ordered here; the official release date is the 7th of May.

Ne Obliviscaris: website, Facebook
Welkin Records: Facebook

Just Released: No Anchor – Rope/Pussyfootin’ 7-Inch

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No Anchor – Rope/Pussyfootin’ 7-Inch (Self-released, 17 March 2012)

Good morning, readers. It felt like this week was never going to end, but it’s finally Friday! All we need to do is fumble our way through one more day, then the weekend will officially be here. Pretty awesome, huh? Although sometimes even just one eight-hour day still feels like it lasts forever, and besides that, it’s hard to get excited about anything this early in the morning, right?

Well don’t worry, I’ve got something to help you survive one more workday. Go grab a cup of coffee and get your headphones on, and brace yourselves for some grungey noise-rock all the way from Queensland! Brisbane’s No Anchor have just unleashed a brand new 7″ with four songs (three of which are free to download!) over an eight-minute span that should give you just the jolt you need.

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In Case You Missed It: The Matador – Descent into the Maelstrom

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 The Matador – Descent into the Maelstrom (Serotonin Productions, 21 April 2011).

 ”It raged with such noise and impetuosity that the very stones of the houses on the coast fell to the ground.“

Much like the short story of the same name, these progressive-post-doom-metal Queenslanders’ EP takes the listener on a voyage that explores unknown depths of madness.  Also like the Poe narrative, there is no telling where the experience will end up, but what is certain is that you will not emerge from the other side unscathed or unchanged.

This review is somewhat atypical, in that I will be describing each of the songs in detail, rather than just giving some overall impressions of the entire album.  Ordinarily I wouldn’t do this, but for one thing, there are only five songs on this release; also, the passage of time through the tracks seems to represent a progression – an aural journey that represents the titular descent – and it felt like this was the best way to do justice to the material.

Keep reading to join me on this voyage, and along the way you’ll come across links where you can listen to and/or download a couple of the tracks…

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