Nov 282016
 

Wombbath05

 

As you can see, Jonny Pettersson has one of the most epic beards in metal. As those of us know who saw him front Wombbath at this year’s Maryland Deathfest, he’s also a charismatic stage presence with a huge, ferocious voice — which has put teeth and guts in releases by not only Wombbath but also such bands as Ashcloud, Just Before Dawn, Vholdghast, and Syn:drom. With 20 years of experience in extreme metal dating back to the early demos of Disfigured Victims, Pettersson has now turned his talents to a solo project named Henry Kane, whose debut album Den Förstörda Människans Rike will be released in February by Transcending Obscurity Records, and today we’ve got the premiere of an album track named “Skuld Och Begär“.

You might recognize Henry Kane as the name of the soul-devouring supernatural antagonist in the Poltergeist film series, and there’s a soul-devouring quality to the music on the album, too. But the music is also a twist on the styles of Swedish death metal that have typically been Pettersson’s meat and potatoes in his other bands — as you’ll discover in this blast furnace of a new song. Continue reading »

Nov 272016
 

convulsing-errata

 

I spent time yesterday pawing through a lot of recent releases and advance tracks by black metal bands. After some self-struggle, I picked a group of songs to feature in this post. And then late in the afternoon I got additional recommendations from various sources, and that tossed all my plans up into the air. When the dust settled, I revised my picks to include these:

CONVULSING

Convulsing was one of the recommendations that took me by surprise (thank you to starkweather and DaNasher). This is a one-man band from Sydney, Australia, whose new album Errata was released just yesterday. It caught the ears of certain listeners because the man behind Convulsing, Brendan Sloan, is also a member of Dumbsaint, who have a following. And word has been spreading. When you hear the album, I think you’ll be convinced that word will continue to spread, and damned fast and far, too. Continue reading »

Nov 272016
 

Rearview Mirror

 

For this Sunday’s backward look over our shoulders at metal from yesteryear I’ve picked two songs from a striking album released by Necromantia in 1995.

Necromantia is a hallowed name not just in the circles of Greek black metal but in the global covens of black metal fanatics as well. The band originally came together in the late ’80s, releasing their first demo in 1990 and a debut album called Crossing the Fiery Path in 1993. Their last full-length was 2007’s The Sound of Lucifer Storming Heaven, but their only new music since then (as far as I can tell) are the two tracks they contributed to their split with Acherontas in 2008.

The two songs you can stream below are the opening tracks to Necromantia’s second album — and probably their best — Scarlet Evil Witching Black. It was originally released by Osmose Productions in 1995, and then Osmose reissued it on CD and gatefold vinyl in 2014, and it’s also now available through the Osmose Bandcamp. Continue reading »

Nov 262016
 

the-loom-of-time-nihilreich

 

I hope you’re having a good Saturday, and that this post will make it even better.

I know we’ve been throwing vast quantities of music your way lately as we try to clear the decks for the coming orgy of year-end-list features, but I still have a lot of metal that I feel the need to recommend. I’ll continue trying to keep abreast of advance tracks from forthcoming albums that sound promising, but what’s really burning a hole in my head are excellent full EPs, splits, and albums that have already been released but that we’ve neglected. The best way I know to deal with that problem is to compile posts like this one, abbreviating my own reviews and letting the music speak mainly for itself.

THE LOOM OF TIME

NihilReich is the eye-opening debut album of an Australian trio named The Loom of Time. It was released in March, though I didn’t listen to it until last month despite the significant praise it received from numerous reviewers. Continue reading »

Nov 252016
 

hour-of-penance-cast-the-first-stone

 

Yesterday’s Thanksgiving round-up was so humongous that I decided to restrain myself and only include new music from four bands in this one instead of a dozen. Figuring that at least our readers in the U.S. are still feeling bloated and lethargic from yesterday’s overindulgences, and on top of that are perhaps slightly depressed at being bombarded by Black Friday come-on’s designed to part them from their money, I selected songs for this collection with a particular goal in mind: To put a few megawatts of electricity through your brain and body.

You might also find these songs to be good soundtracks for maiming and killing, if you actually decide to go shopping today.

HOUR OF PENANCE

As previously reported here last month, Italy’s Hour of Penance have recorded a new album named Cast the First Stone, which will be released by Prosthetic Records on January 27, 2017, featuring cover art created by Gyula Havancsak. Conceptually, it’s based on the thesis that “the injustices suffered during the Crusades and Colonialism do not justify the chain of hate that propagandizes the destruction of the West”. You can now listen to the album’s opening track, “XXI Century Imperial Crusade“, via a lyric video. Continue reading »

Nov 252016
 

foad-cover

 

I’ll spell it out for you: Fuck Off and Die. I’m not talking about you, of course. But Sweden’s F.O.A.D might be. Their debut album Birth of Extinction is being released today by Mythrone Promotion and Defense Records, and we have a full stream of the album for your ears. It takes no prisoners.

Birth of Extinction may be the band’s full-length debut, but F.O.A.D (who are based in Västerås) are not newcomers. They trace their roots to a formation in 1986, although an extended hiatus followed their birth before their first demo Demo-Nical appeared in 2014. Birth of Extinction includes that demo as well as an even earlier song, “Morbid Truth”, in addition to the seven most recent album tracks. Continue reading »

Nov 252016
 

flag-map-of-germany

 

(Andy Synn prepared this trio of reviews for new albums by three German bands.)

Synchronicity can be a strange thing indeed. Case in point, coming hot on the heels of my recent (and surprisingly well-received) column on “Black Metal” here we have a triple-header feature on three bands who all sit somewhere under the big black umbrella, but whose actual adherence to the term “Black Metal” varies pretty drastically.

Not only that, but they all just happen to be German in origin, which means I can collect all three groups under the “Best of German” banner which I first used (here) back in May, and pretend like this whole thing was part of some grand plan of mine, rather than a completely random sequence of events that just happens to have lined up in a way that appears to be thematically significant.

But I’ll take what I can get, because these three albums are all absolutely hervorragend Continue reading »

Nov 242016
 

thankskilling

 

Here in the good old U.S. of A. it’s Thanksgiving Day today, and so to all of our American readers, I want to wish you a happy fucking Thanksgiving. And if you’re puzzling over what to be thankful for, I have some new metal for you. You’re welcome.

That’s right, while the rest of the miscreants in U.S. metal blogdom are acting like normal, reasonably well-adjusted people and taking the day off, I’m still here like a good samaritan at the soup kitchen, feeding you nourishing metal so you won’t think no one cares about you, at least for today. As usual, I’ll also post something new on Friday, Saturday, and Sunday of this long “holiday” weekend, not because I’m better than anyone else but because I obviously have an undiagnosed obsessive-compulsive disorder.

Because it’s Thanksgiving, this holiday edition of what we normally call Seen and Heard is overstuffed, which is the condition of most Americans by the end of this day. So get ready to gorge yourself through the earholes with music from a dozen bands. Continue reading »

Nov 232016
 

destroying-the-devoid-paramnesia

 

(TheMadIsraeli reviews the new album by Destroying the Devoid, the solo project of Deeds of Flesh guitarist Craig Peters.)

So… I’m going to have to confess something here.

I really dislike the Unique Leader style of death metal.

I know that’s heresy since they are a popular label now for the genre (and one whose bands NCS has featured regularly), but I’ve never been able to get into the super-machine-tight, super-technical, turned-up-to-11 all the time brand of death metal they are known for pushing. It just isn’t my thing, which is a shame because one of their flagships, Deeds Of Flesh, are obviously a great band — I’ve just been unable to fully appreciate them. I do have great respect for that band’s guitarist and composer Craig Peters, who has immaculate technique and does write interesting riffs from a guitar player’s standpoint.

I will also admit, though, that the subject of this review is making me consider going back and checking out Deeds Of Flesh’s discography in its entirety. Continue reading »

Nov 232016
 

still-image-from-the-michel-anoia-video

 

(Austin Weber brings us another premiere, this time a video for a song from the new album by Michel Anoia.)

Way back in the early days of 2016, our esteemed editor Islander premiered a song called “Two Mountains” by the mind-boggling metal force from Lyon, France known as Michel Anoia. As he often does, he then tipped me off to the group, figuring it’d be right up my alley. He couldn’t have been more correct, as their new album Plethora has become one of my all-time favorite albums for the entire year. Now, as usual, things somehow strangely have come full circle as we unleash an exclusive music video premiere for one of  the songs on Plethora  called “La Terreur d’Exister”. Continue reading »