31 No-one Survives, 32. We need a Gimmick, 33. Powercore, Nekrogoblikon
It's a while since I posted about any songs, and I drafted this a while ago, so I thought it was about time I posted it.
The first 2 songs come as a pair, not really because the songs follow on from each other, but the videos do and while I love the songs, the videos are really what makes them extra special. Whenever I listen to the songs I see the videos in my head now. Once you've watched them, you may or may not think this is a good thing, but what has been seen cannot be unseen...
First some background on Nekrogoblikon and how I came to know and love them. Back in 2013 Iron Maiden announced their only show that year would be at Download. I'd never been to Download before, though I'd always quite fancied it, and that was enough to convince me to go. Sadly because of a combination of its proximity to July 4th and my then boss being worried about letting me have holiday too near that because I'm so indispensable (really not, I couldn't contemplate going for the whole weekend. Which was a massive shame because although I remain meh about Slipknot, I'd have happily watched them to see what they were like in concert, I think Turisas were playing then too, and on the Sunday, Rammstein headlined and I'd have loved to see that.
As it was though the Saturday was a good day to go. UFO, Mastodon, Motorhead, and Queens of the Stoneage were all playing, so we had a good line-up of extremely decent bands to watch. I had noticed on the poster that there was a band called Nekrogoblikon on the line up too. I'd never come across them before, but with a name like that they seemed like they had to be checked out. I certainly wasn't disappointed :-) For one thing they have a song called Prince of the Land of Stench which has samples of dialogue from Labyrinth on it, so that was never going to disappoint. Then the fact they have a goblin as a member of their band who is basically their Bez, but without maracas, I mean how could I not love them! The fact the rest of their songs are great too was a bonus and upon my return from Download I bought their first 2 albums I loved them so much.
Anyway, onto these particular songs. Starting off with No-one Survives, while you might start off thinking this is going to be some dodgy LARP video it actually features a day in the life of the band's goblin member John Goblikon. He doesn't have the best of days it has to be said. Waking up late is never a good start, which makes him late for a presentation at work where you're introduced to Brad, his main rival. You're also introduced to the object of John's affections, Kayden Kross (if you think you recognise the name or the face, I'd not necessarily admit it out loud as she's an ex-porn star). The day doesn't necessarily turn out the best way it could, but I'll not spoiler it for you. One thing I will say is, since they're metalcore they do use the rasping scream-style of singing for a lot of their songs. I know that is one of the things which makes a lot of styles of metal inaccessible for many people, but if you can stick with it, it's worth it to see the video through to the end.
No-one Survives, Nekrogoblikon
That video was a surprise viral hit for them, which then spawned the idea for the next song and video. They realised that having a gimmick is one of those things which helps you get famous. Sadly since they didn't have one, they needed to find one and this video is about their quest to find their particular gimmick. They try various styles of video to see which works for them. I particularly like their Justin Timberlake rip-off and their satanic metal ones. But I do think their end solution to the problem is particularly good.
One word of warning, there is some swearing in this, which you can clearly hear in this, so don't play it if you don't like the f-word, or if there are kids around.
We need a gimmick, Nekrogoblikon
The final song Powercore I've included for a couple of reasons. The first, because I really like it, I like the words and the melody. The second because the video was shot at various summer festivals in 2013, so yep, it has scenes from the performance at Download which Bethran and I were at. That means that we actually appear in the video!!! Ok, so we're not recognisable in the slightest, but somewhere out in the crowd you can see in the big blue tent we're there, so I'm counting it. I'm *in* a Nekrogoblikon video!
Powercore, Nekrogoblikon
Ok, so I can totally see how these guys won't at all be to everyone's taste, but I think they're fantastic. I tend to play them at work if things are frantic. This prompted the question from one ex-boss as to who they were. When I told him his comment was "I think I'm sorry I asked". They are great live and as I think I put in my end of year review, when we saw them live last year John Goblikon came down into the crowd, so I've also kissed a Goblin and yes, I did like it :-)
The first 2 songs come as a pair, not really because the songs follow on from each other, but the videos do and while I love the songs, the videos are really what makes them extra special. Whenever I listen to the songs I see the videos in my head now. Once you've watched them, you may or may not think this is a good thing, but what has been seen cannot be unseen...
First some background on Nekrogoblikon and how I came to know and love them. Back in 2013 Iron Maiden announced their only show that year would be at Download. I'd never been to Download before, though I'd always quite fancied it, and that was enough to convince me to go. Sadly because of a combination of its proximity to July 4th and my then boss being worried about letting me have holiday too near that because I'm so indispensable (really not, I couldn't contemplate going for the whole weekend. Which was a massive shame because although I remain meh about Slipknot, I'd have happily watched them to see what they were like in concert, I think Turisas were playing then too, and on the Sunday, Rammstein headlined and I'd have loved to see that.
As it was though the Saturday was a good day to go. UFO, Mastodon, Motorhead, and Queens of the Stoneage were all playing, so we had a good line-up of extremely decent bands to watch. I had noticed on the poster that there was a band called Nekrogoblikon on the line up too. I'd never come across them before, but with a name like that they seemed like they had to be checked out. I certainly wasn't disappointed :-) For one thing they have a song called Prince of the Land of Stench which has samples of dialogue from Labyrinth on it, so that was never going to disappoint. Then the fact they have a goblin as a member of their band who is basically their Bez, but without maracas, I mean how could I not love them! The fact the rest of their songs are great too was a bonus and upon my return from Download I bought their first 2 albums I loved them so much.
Anyway, onto these particular songs. Starting off with No-one Survives, while you might start off thinking this is going to be some dodgy LARP video it actually features a day in the life of the band's goblin member John Goblikon. He doesn't have the best of days it has to be said. Waking up late is never a good start, which makes him late for a presentation at work where you're introduced to Brad, his main rival. You're also introduced to the object of John's affections, Kayden Kross (if you think you recognise the name or the face, I'd not necessarily admit it out loud as she's an ex-porn star). The day doesn't necessarily turn out the best way it could, but I'll not spoiler it for you. One thing I will say is, since they're metalcore they do use the rasping scream-style of singing for a lot of their songs. I know that is one of the things which makes a lot of styles of metal inaccessible for many people, but if you can stick with it, it's worth it to see the video through to the end.
No-one Survives, Nekrogoblikon
That video was a surprise viral hit for them, which then spawned the idea for the next song and video. They realised that having a gimmick is one of those things which helps you get famous. Sadly since they didn't have one, they needed to find one and this video is about their quest to find their particular gimmick. They try various styles of video to see which works for them. I particularly like their Justin Timberlake rip-off and their satanic metal ones. But I do think their end solution to the problem is particularly good.
One word of warning, there is some swearing in this, which you can clearly hear in this, so don't play it if you don't like the f-word, or if there are kids around.
We need a gimmick, Nekrogoblikon
The final song Powercore I've included for a couple of reasons. The first, because I really like it, I like the words and the melody. The second because the video was shot at various summer festivals in 2013, so yep, it has scenes from the performance at Download which Bethran and I were at. That means that we actually appear in the video!!! Ok, so we're not recognisable in the slightest, but somewhere out in the crowd you can see in the big blue tent we're there, so I'm counting it. I'm *in* a Nekrogoblikon video!
Powercore, Nekrogoblikon
Ok, so I can totally see how these guys won't at all be to everyone's taste, but I think they're fantastic. I tend to play them at work if things are frantic. This prompted the question from one ex-boss as to who they were. When I told him his comment was "I think I'm sorry I asked". They are great live and as I think I put in my end of year review, when we saw them live last year John Goblikon came down into the crowd, so I've also kissed a Goblin and yes, I did like it :-)