Coming Soon: Undersmile Debut Album Promises to be ‘Hideous’

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Oxonian sludge quartet Undersmile have announced some new details for their forthcoming debut album Narwhal. 

First, near the end of last week, it was revealed on their Facebook page that producer/engineer Billy Anderson (whose impressive resume includes work on albums by such luminaries as Eyehategod, Melvins, High on Fire, and many others) is currently mixing the record.

Then, earlier today, a press release from Future Noise gave a tentative release date of 9 April, 2012.

Hel Sterne, one of the band’s two vocalists and guitarists, personally has assured me that the new release will be “hideous”.  She was also kind enough to provide the following video as a preview of what you can expect in April:

Narwhal will be the band’s first official full-length release, but is coming on the heels of their recent EP Undertaker (a split between Undersmile and Caretaker) which is available for streaming, or for purchase via either digital download or CD, at Bandcamp.

Also available for streaming or digital download at Bandcamp is last year’s EP A Sea of Dead Snakes, although sadly I have learned that the limited-run CD copies (which, like the split EP above, had been made available by Blindsight Records) recently have sold out.

Stay tuned right here for further information as it becomes available, or even better, “like” Undersmile on Facebook for updates direct from the source!

Coming Soon: Decaying Announce Tracklisting, Artwork, and Release Date for New Album

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Mark your calendar – January 2, 2012 is set for the official release of Encirclement, the second album for Finnish death metal band Decaying.  It will be made available by Polish label Hellthrasher Productions.

According to the band’s Facebook note (click here to read the whole announcement)…

The lyrics on the album are mostly handling specific events in the World War 1 & 2, but there is also other topics included.  […]

You can expect over 60 minutes worth of extremely heavy & old school death metal in the vein of Asphyx, Bolt Thrower and Death, but with a twist! This is definitely an improvement over our first effort, Devastate. Stay tuned!

I’ve heard a couple songs from the band’s previous album on Death.fm, and I have to say, I am really looking forward to some new material from these guys! 

Decaying Official Youtube channel
Decaying on Facebook

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…

Continue reading →

More Cynic News — Stream New Album for Free (Part 2 of 2)

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Ok, ok, ok.  As promised a few days ago, I decided to give this entire Cynic EP (currently streaming in full on Pitchfork) the opportunity to impress me in the way that the title track failed to do.  Spoiler alert: my opinion has actually been down-graded quite a bit.  Read on… Continue reading →

More Cynic News — Stream New Album for Free (Part 1 of 2)

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So in an earlier post I downloaded the title track from the new  EP Carbon-Based Anatomy, by Cynic (released yesterday on Season of Mist).

I went on to discuss how that particular song nearly bored me to death.  And I promptly deleted it from my downloads library as soon as I’d heard it.  But there continues to be a wordwide Cynic-mania of epic proportions… at least based on the number of hits I continue to get on that specific post (which was now nearly a month ago) compared with any of the others I have written since then.  So obviously people are really excited about this release for some reason.

Well, you might be interested in knowing that Pitchfork has got a FREE stream of the full album currently online, just click here to check it out.

Simply based on the amount of interest this has been generating, I feel obligated to take a chance on the rest of the album — in case the one advance single that was released is completely non-representative of all the other songs.  I highly doubt it, but I will be giving this an apprehensive test-drive later today.  And I will share my reactions in a follow-up post sometime this weekend.  So stay tuned for that!

In the meantime:
Carbon-Based Anatomy (CD), or (digital download).

Nothing to See Here, Folks… Just Move Along…

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From the “News that isn’t really news because everyone knew what the news was going to be before it became news, and in all honesty nobody really even gives a shit anyway” department…

So we’ve all known this for weeks now, and there’s no point even really mentioning anything, right?  Ok good, we’re in agreement.  Stay tuned for some real actual blog updates coming very soon…

Happy Nigel Tufnel Day! (whatever you’ve got left of it wherever you live…)
And as always, thanks for reading!
Sincerely, A Denizen of the Valley

EDIT (The morning after)-
Okay, okay, might as well jump on this bandwagon.
I’m embedding the official video announcement of the Black Sabbath original line-up re-re-reunion…
After the jump.
Continue reading →

Holy Shit! Could this be a New Faith No More Song?!

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Yet another entry into our series of posts about bands that are touring BUT NOT NEAR ME…

Last night in Buenos Aires, Argentina, apparently Faith No More played a song that nobody has been able to identify as one of their encores, and speculation has been running rampant as to whether it could be an indication of new material from the band??

It seems nobody knows anything definitive right now, but definitely keep an ear out, hopefully there may be some sort of news forthcoming!

Faith No More official website
Faith No More on Facebook

You might also be interested in:
Album of the Year (CD | download)
Live at Brixton Academy (DVD)
More Faith No More

More Swedish Heavy Rockers Decending on America’s Shores; Skipping the Burgh (So Far)

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Continuing a trend started in Monday’s post about Ghost, here is some info that was announced a few days ago by heavy blues/classic rock band Graveyard.  Like that earlier post, this is happy/sad news.  I’m excited as hell that these Swedes also are gracing this country with their presence.  But again, the list of confirmed dates doesn’t include any stops in Western Pennsylvania or the surrounding areas.

But lest we despair prematurely, there is one big distinction between these two announcements.  Unlike Ghost’s statement, which emphasized a total of thirteen “rituals” – even going so far as to incorporate the number thirteen in the name of the tour – which leaves pretty much zero hope for the possibility of additional dates, Graveyard have left theirs very open-ended – and clearly stated that more information is yet to come.  So at least there’s that.  I’ll be crossing my fingers and holding my breath when I pass a cemetery or whatever else is supposed to ward off bad luck.

Meanwhile, once again if you live elsewhere, feel free to peruse the tour info, and maybe you’ll be blessed with a visit from this amazing band.

Graveyard official website
Facebook page

You might also be interested in:
Graveyard – Hisingen Blues (CD | download)
Graveyard – Graveyard (CD | download)

Happy/Sad News: Ghost are Coming! But They Aren’t Coming Here!

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So I was totally excited all summer long, anticipating the fall Enslaved tour, because I’d heard Ghost was opening.  Although their debut album Opus Eponymous was released in 2010, I only became aware of the Swedish Satanic hard rock band earlier this year.  But anyway, I grew to like them so much that I didn’t much care WHO else was on the bill; once I found out they were coming to Pittsburgh in September, I was going for sure.

Well, unfortunately, a few weeks before the show was to take place, the band posted an apology on their Facebook page, saying that due to some sort of visa snafu, they wouldn’t be able to make the trip overseas.  So needless to say, I was pretty disappointed.

Then, this afternoon a headline caught my eye, and I was surprised to see that there was a new announcement in the Facebook news feed: the band of nameless ghouls are planning to finally come to North America in the beginning of 2012.  So then I was all excited once more, for approximately 2.2 seconds, or about the time it took to scan through the list of dates and see they’re not coming anywhere near me.  The closest stop on this 13-date tour is just a few hours away, but it’s across the Canadian border, and not having a passport, I’m afraid in this case I would end up with a visa issue of my own.

Anyway, take a peek at the image above and see if perhaps you’re luckier than I, in your proximity to one of the cities listed there.

For more information, check out the official website.

Ghost on Facebook

You might also be interested in:
Ghost – Opus Eponymous (CD | download)

Dia de los Muertos Celebrate Dia de los Muertos by Offering Dia de los Muertos for Free Download!

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Well, Dia de los Muertos (the holiday) has come and gone, so I may be a little tardy making this announcement, but if you haven’t yet taken advantage of this opportunity, it’s still available!  So jump on it!

Dia de los Muertos (the band) announced a few days ago that they had put Dia de los Muertos (their 2005 EP) on their website for free download.  I just got around to grabbing it this morning, myself, and haven’t gotten around to listening yet, but just based on their album Satánico Dramático, which was released earlier this year, I’d strongly urge you to follow the link at the bottom of this post!

These Los Angeleno purveyors of death-thrash have incorporated a distinctively Latin-flavored groove into their metal sound, complete with Spanish lyrics and occasional classical guitar intros or outros.  Their sudamericano-style take on a classic thrashy death metal formula makes for quite an enjoyable listen; you may find yourself wishing every day were the Day of the Dead.

Click here for the Dia de los Muertos (2005 EP) download page.
Bonus!!  Click here for the Satánico Dramático (2011 LP) download page.
Dia de los Muertos on Facebook
Find official DDLM merch here