Mar 182024
 

(As you can see, we have a song premiere, but first, an album review.)

After listening to parts of Venomous Echoes‘ 2023 debut album, Writhing Tomb Amongst the Stars, this writer immediately spewed forth words while my mind was still boggled, among them such adjectives as “maniacal”, “freakish”, “insane”, and “demented”, and referenced the conjunction of “full-tilt demolition in the low end and spell-like alien wailings that seem to reach our shores from deep space”.

I also quoted a friend’s impressions: “If Choir meets Portal and Impetuous Ritual in Strapping Young Lad’s City is in your wheelhouse you can’t go wrong with this onslaught brought to you by Benjamin Vanweelden.”

Upon learning that Mr. Vanweelden had had recorded a second Venomous Echoes album that I, Voidhanger Records would be releasing this spring, I already knew that I would have to hear it, and that I would have to make sure before listening that I wouldn’t need my brain to function in even its usually disjointed condition for several hours afterward. No great shock to see that the album’s name is Split Formations And Infinite Mania.

Well, now I’ve listened, and I find myself in shuddering but exhilarated agreement with the label’s summing up of the new album as “an intimate and personal experience into a universal cosmic horror apocalypse”. Continue reading »

Mar 182024
 

(Andy Synn kicks off his week with the new album from Dödsrit, out Friday)

There’s a certain type of person – trust me, I’ve encountered them a fair few times – who becomes inordinately angry if you try to talk about Dödsrit as being a “Black Metal” band.

But, of course, I highly doubt that Dödsrit themselves are all that fussed about the ongoing “he said, she said” of whether or not they’re “Black Metal enough” for the purists (surely that would be antithetical to the whole ethos of the genre anyway?) since they’ve been far too busy building an impressive career for themselves, on their own terms, to care about such petty concerns.

However – and here’s where things get interesting – the question of whether or not Dödsrit are still a Black Metal band, or how much of one they are, is actually very relevant when it comes to the release of their new album… though, perhaps, not quite in the way you might expect.

Continue reading »

Mar 172024
 

Yesterday I read that in the annual St. Patrick’s Day parades in the Irish Channel of New Orleans, float riders toss cabbages and potatoes to the people on the street, a unique twist on the Mardi Gras practice of throwing strings of beads to revelers.

Although a flurry of cabbages would be entertaining, I’ll have to aim some other things at your head on this Paddy’s Day — spiky obsidian things dipped in poison or hallucinogens, some red with heat and some freezing.

Of course, I felt compelled to lead with music from a couple of Irish bands before crossing the waters east and west.

P.S. This column is late-appearing because I can’t hold my Saturday night Jameson shots and Guinness back like I used to. and my spouse and friends kept me up way past my bedtime. Continue reading »

Mar 142024
 

On March 15th — tomorrow! — the Quebec band Backstabber, now featuring a revised lineup since their last album, will release their new EP, a four-song assault called Patterns of Domination, but today we’re giving you a chance to hear all of it without delay.

Before we get into some detailed thoughts about the music, here’s the band’s description of what the EP represents:

“Loosely based on James Redfield’s The Celestine Prophecy, Patterns of Domination delves into the 4 patterns that serve as means to canalize someone else’s attention and energy. Together, they form an endless cycle of consumption that completely breaks down the victim from the inside out. Like fresh air. These are the first songs with the new members of the band and they contributed a lot to this album.” Continue reading »

Mar 132024
 

(Andy Synn highlights three more home-grown heroes)

Some of you may have noticed (or maybe you haven’t, I don’t know how much attention you all pay to what we do around here) that my “Best of British” articles rarely feature any of the “bigger” names (relatively speaking) from the UK scene.

Partially that’s because, obviously, the site’s general ethos is to dedicate more of our time and energy to the less-exposed, less “mainstream-friendly” bands out there, but it’s also because, to be honest, a lot of the bigger names and famous faces just… don’t really do it for me.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s lots of bands whose “mainstream-friendly” sound still appeals to me – bands who play and perform with just as much conviction and creativity as any of their more self-consciously “underground” cousins – but there’s a certain formula for success, carefully curated and algorithmically adjusted for maximum appeal, that some groups follow which simply sounds hollow to my ears.

But I think it’s safe to say that none of these three bands – one we’ve covered here before, one we’ve clearly overlooked for far too long, and one making their highly anticipated (and already highly praised) full-length debut this year – are what you would call “formulaic”.

Continue reading »

Mar 122024
 

(Andy Synn has a lot of love for the new album from a little band called Judas Priest)

It’s been well-documented by now, I’m sure, but it’s worth reiterating that – despite our slowly growing profile (and, as an aside, let me say thank you to all of you for continuing to read, and recommend, our various well-intentioned witterings) – our focus here at NCS is more on covering and critiquing (positively, for the most part) less well-known and more underground/under-exposed acts, rather than the big names and famous faces.

So when a little bird told me about a new album from a bunch of up-and-coming young whippersnappers by the name of Judas Priest – great name by the way guys, I’m surprised it wasn’t already taken – I decided to take a chance and give Invincible Shield a listen, since it’s always cool to be able to say you were into a band right before they blew up, right?

Continue reading »

Mar 122024
 

We are very pleased today to premiere a complete stream of the newest album by the Spanish death/doom metal project Ornamentos del Miedo. Entitled Escapando a Través de la Tierra, it will be released by Tragedy Productions and Meuse Music Records on March 15th.

This stunning new opus is again the solo work of Angel Chicote from Burgos, who was responsible not only for all the vocals and instrumentation but also the mixing, mastering, and artwork.

Lyrically, the songs address “interest disguised as friendship, mental illness, forgotten memories”. “Here there are no more demons, monsters or fantastic beings than those that life gives us”. But while the lyrics may express recognizable vagaries of human life, the intensely atmospheric and emotionally moving music transports the listener to realms far, far away from the mundane. Continue reading »

Mar 112024
 

(Andy Synn steps up to take communion with the new album from Ecclesia, out now)

While our site’s name may be a little tongue-in-cheek (even if some people seem to take it way too seriously) it’s true that we don’t write about the clean-sung variants of Metal – Trad, Power, “classic” Doom, etc – very often.

But there are certainly exceptions to this “rule”, and today’s exception goes by the name Ecclesia Militans.

Continue reading »

Mar 102024
 

What the hell happened? This collection of new black metal is appearing an hour later than it should have. I finished it at 10:00 and then I looked at an electronic clock and suddenly it was 11:00, without anything happening during that hour.

My first thought was that the music I picked had skewed space-time. The music, as you will see (or rather, hear), is certainly epic enough to cause such an upheaval. But then I discovered the reason was much more stupidly mundane. I gather that on a Sunday next November this column will appear an hour earlier than when I finish it. I look forward to being surprised again. Incipient dementia has its rewards.

AUSTERE (Australia)

Yes, “epic” is an overused and often poorly used word, but even worn-out words still mean something and sometimes are still better than the less-abused alternatives. And yes, “Cold Cerecloth” is epic. It’s also epically infectious. Continue reading »

Mar 092024
 

Like yesterday, I had enough time to compile a very big roundup of new music for this Saturday. It includes two full EPs and seven individual songs, most of them from forthcoming releases, presented in alphabetical order by band name.

Like yesterday, there’s so much to hear here that I’ve attempted to cut back on the usual volume of impressionistic words so I can finish this before I turn into a pumpkin. Also like yesterday, I think there’s a lot of variety in the music I picked.

Unlike yesterday, I decided to focus on more obscure names from different corners of the metalverse.(P.S. For newcomers here, there will be yet another roundup tomorrow, focusing on black metal and its kindred.) Continue reading »