Sep 212019
 

 

I had originally planned to post most of this collection (all but the opening song) nearly two week ago. I obviously didn’t get it finished then, and other obligations and ideas have kept pushing it side in favor of other posts since then. As the days have passed, a couple hundred other interesting songs have surfaced, from which a more “hot off the presses” round-up might have been assembled. But I decided just to pull this one off the shelf instead, brush off the light coating of dust, and present it on this Saturday.

In different ways, the second through fifth songs in this collection are off the usual beaten paths here at NCS, different in different ways from the kinds of music we usually focus on. The first one, which is more recent, is more in the main line of our usual interests, but I’m so excited by it that I didn’t want to defer recommending it. It’s also surprising, and not completely out of place in a post devoted to deviations from the mean.

STRIGOI

It’s not an overstatement, at least among those of us who toil at NCS, that whatever groups Greg Mackintosh becomes involved in (in addition to Paradise Lost) will be worth checking out, sooner rather than later. With Vallenfyre now ended, he has turned to Strigoi, a group he created with the aid of Extreme Noise Terror and Vallenfyre bassist Chris Casket, and so far, no one else aside from drummer Waltteri Väyrynen, who did studio session work on Strigoi’s first album. That band name, we’re told, refers to “the troubled spirits in Romanian mythology who could rise from the grave and assume an entirely different form”. Continue reading »

Feb 142017
 

 

I was tempted to name this post “Eye-Catchers“, especially since I haven’t written a post in that series for years, but since I was already quite familiar with most of the bands whose new artwork caught my eye, they didn’t really fit the theme of that series. But the new artwork is damned appealing, and so is the promise of new music from these groups.

And that’s how this post begins — with eye-catching new artwork for four forthcoming albums. Following that, I want to recommend advance tracks from four other forthcoming releases, which themselves also include eye-catching cover art.

ANTROPOFAGUS

The first piece of attention-grabbing artwork I’ve collected here (above) was created by the Chilean artist Nekronikon for the new album by Italy’s Antropofagus. Entitled M.O.R.T.E. – Methods Of Resurrection Through Evisceration, it will be released May 12 on CD via Comatose Music and on vinyl via Everlasting Spew Records. Continue reading »

Jul 192015
 

Alfahanne album cover

 

Happy goddamned Sunday to one and all. I spent a lot of time yesterday making my way through new songs and short releases that I had noticed over the last week and found quite a lot to like — so many that I planned four posts about what I found. I’m not sure I’ll succeed in writing all four of them before the new week buries me in other things, but I’ll at least do the first two today — a two-part collection that includes seven new songs from forthcoming albums and one new single. I’ve arranged them in alphabetical order by band name, and the first four are collected here.

ALFAHANNE

The second album by Sweden’s Alfahanne, Blod Eld Alfa, will be released by Dark Essence Records on September 11, and the label has now debuted a song from it named “Skallerormsgift”. It features guest vocals by Kvelertak’s front guy Erlend Hjelvik. (The album also includes guest appearances by Nattfursth (Sorhin), Spellgoth (Horna, Turmion Kätilöt), and Shining’s Niklas Kvarforth). Continue reading »

Jan 162014
 

I intended to post this round-up of recommended new things yesterday, and even then the news and new music included herein was a bit dated. But life got in the way and I wasn’t able to finish it until now. In the meantime, even more new things hit my fractured radar screen. And so, if life will just stay out of the way, I’ll have another round-up for you later today.

ALFAHANNE

According to a press release I received, Alfahanne are a Swedish band formed in 2010 with members who have been in the black metal scene since the early 90’s in bands such as Vinterland and Maze of TormentPehr Skioldhammer (vox and guitar), Fredrik Sööberg (guitars), Niklas Åström (drums), and Jimmy Wiberg (bass). They released a split named Grym with Sweden’s Shining last year, which I haven’t heard. They’ve now recorded a debut album, Alfapokalyps, which is due for release via Dark Essence on February 10 in both CD and vinyl formats (orderable here).

In addition to featuring eye-catching cover art (above), the album includes guest vocal contributions from Niklas Kvarforth (Shining), V’gandr (Helheim), and Hoest (Taake). Recently, the band started streaming an advance track named “Såld På Mörkret”, which includes Hoest’s contribution as a vocalist. It’s a helluva song. Continue reading »