Sep 032021
 

 

More than a decade ago the founding two members of Abstracter came together in Oakland CA under the influence of such bands as Amebix, Godflesh, Blut Aus Nord, Corrupted, and Disembowelment, with the objective of creating “dark, bleak, and suffocating music as a vessel to channel their obsession with the apocalypse and other nihilistic end-time visions”.

So say the press materials for Abstracter‘s new album, and those materials further expose the animating environments and philosophies that spawned such hopeless and harrowing visions: “…the world’s unravelling, ruin, darkness, annihilation, nuclear devastation, war, plague, and mankind’s fundamental existence as a plague and as a deeply flawed species….”

In the years that have passed since the band’s inception they have been on a continuing quest for ever more astonishing, cataclysmic, and authentic ways of expressing the most abominable aspects of human existence, drawing upon elements from black, doom, death metal, crust and drone/noise, and making their music increasingly more difficult to classify. That quest now reaches its apotheosis (so far) in Abstracter‘s latest album Abominion, which will be released by Sentient Ruin Laboratories on October 1st. Continue reading »

Apr 172018
 

 

And with this I bring to a close today’s four-part round-up of new and newly discovered music. Unlike the pairings in the first three installments of this column, there’s not much that ties these two together, other than my own liking for them.

ABSTRACTER

I liked the hell out of this Oakland band’s last album, 2015’s Wound Empire, so much so that their new one, Cinereous Incarnate, has been high on my eagerly-anticipated list. I had been holding off writing anything about it until there was a full song that I could share (which is supposed to become available sometime next week), but what the hell. I might as well make sure this is on your radar, because it has the earmarks of something stupendous — and at least I have a video album trailer created by Chariot of Black Moth if you haven’t caught it yet. Continue reading »

Feb 172017
 

 

A couple of nights ago NCS contributor Grant Skelton asked if I knew of any “psychedelic death metal”. He said he’d been hunting for that and was finding the search to be a difficult one. One song in particular leaped to my mind immediately, but I decided to do some further thinking and word-searching through previous posts at NCS. And by coincidence, I also came across an announcement about a new band that seemed relevant.

What I’ve compiled below is the playlist of songs I sent Grant later that night. I’m probably stretching the boundaries of the term “psychedelic death metal”, though it’s not exactly a recognized genre label. But I had fun putting this together and thought I’d share it. But I’d also like to ask you to chime in with ideas of your own in the Comment section.

JOHN FRUM

So I thought I’d start with that announcement about a new band (pictured above), the name of which is John Frum. The announcement caught my eye both because of who’s in the band and because of the source of the band’s name, which is quite interesting. Here’s the explanation: Continue reading »

Mar 162015
 

 

(In this post Dan Barkasi continues his monthly series recommending music from the month just ended.)

Here we go for round two of Essential Entries. You guessed it – we’re covering February this time. Yeah, yeah, suspense isn’t this guy’s strong point.

January gave us genius like Desolate Shrine and Agos, which is just what was needed to start things off right. How does February measure up? To quote one of the greatest movie trilogies of all time, “Great Scott!” If you don’t get that, I bestow upon you great shame. But yeah, February did bring the noise (no Public Enemy included). Here’s the proof, in no particular order.

A Forest of StarsBeware the Sword You Cannot See

Self-described as a secret society from Victorian-era 1895, A Forest of Stars compose music that’s as intricate and unique as their theming. Black metal with a lot of psychedelic elements is the most basic description, but really, their music is so much more. It’s a continuing story, and their latest chapter is awe-inspiring. Invest the time, as there’s a lot of layers, with the payoff being oh so worth it. Continue reading »

Jan 262015
 

 

I’m afraid I haven’t had much time to round up new music for today. My fucking day job has again carried me across the continent to the east coast where I’ll be working days and nights from now through February 8. As a result, there will be many days between now and then when there will be less content on the site than usual.

I would also like to mention that as I write this it is 13°F where I am, with a winter storm warning in effect and blizzard conditions predicted beginning this afternoon. I know this will not impress many of our readers who are used to this kind of thing, but for me I would like to say FUCK THIS SHIT.

KATAVASIA

Although I’ve had little time to myself this past weekend, I did listen to a couple of new things, beginning with a fantastic discovery named Katavasia. Continue reading »