Jun 112018
 

 

We make a valiant effort to write about all or part of as many good new releases as we can each year, but despite our best efforts we’re not able to devote attention to everything we enjoy. Our cadre of regular and irregular writers is small in number, and since NCS is a labor of lust rather than an actual job or business, we must occasionally devote time to distractions such as paying work, loved ones, food, water, trips to the toilet, and sleep. I would say “we’re only human”, but of course you know we’re superhuman, just not yet godlike.

Given the unavoidable constrictions on our time and attention spans, I’ve decided (in my capacity as benevolent dictator in charge of what gets posted at NCS) that we should start sharing what people who toil at other metal forums have to say about releases we’ve neglected. This “Other Voices” series won’t necessarily happen on a regular basis, and perhaps not even weekly, but I do mean to keep it going.

To inaugurate the series I’m turning to a review penned by New Zealand-based writer Craig Hayes, who has enriched NCS with his reviews in the past but whose main outlet is his excellent blog Six Noises, where he recently posted a review of the new album by Bridge Burner, which was released on May 31. To read all of it (as you should), go HERE. What follows are excerpts, along with a stream of the music. Continue reading »

Nov 212017
 

 

(Our New Zealand compatriot Craig Hayes (Six Noises) brings us this tremendously exciting premiere of a track from the forthcoming debut album of NZ’s Bridge Burner.)

 

You’d be hard-pressed to put your finger on where New Zealand four-piece Bridge Burner sit on the extreme metal spectrum nowadays –– and that’s no bad thing. Originality counts for a lot with today’s jam-packed roll call of noise-makers. And while Bridge Burner list groups like Botch, Godflesh, and death metal legends Bolt Thrower as influences, you’ll also find that grindcore, crust punk, and even dissonant black metal feature on the band’s latest full-throttle track, “The Blood Never Lies”, which is streaming below.

The Blood Never Lies” is taken from Bridge Burner’s upcoming album, Null Apostle, which is due for release in 2018. In truth, it’s not that much of a surprise that the band display such energetic and multi-hued creativity on “The Blood Never Lies”. For a start, Bridge Burner’s members have also played in a raft of other notable bands, including Graves, Diocletian, Ulcerate, Punished, Witchrist, In Dread Response, and The Mark of Man. Continue reading »

Jul 242017
 

 

(Our friend from New Zealand Craig Hayes (Six Noises) brings us this alert about the first excerpt of sound from the new album by NZ’s Bridge Burner.)

Crusty New Zealand death metal band Bridge Burner features members who’ve played in groups like Graves, Diocletian, Ulcerate, Punished, Heresiarch, Witchrist, In Dread Response, and The Mark of Man. That’s an intimidating roll call of bands, but I’d draw your attention to the first name on that list, because the death of turbo-speed Auckland punk/metal band Graves resulted in the birth of Bridge Burner.

Graves released a couple of thoroughly neck-wrecking and nihilistic albums before calling it quits in 2015. And the band’s guitarist, Josh Hughes, went on to compose all the pulverizing music on Bridge Burner’s first EP, Mantras of Self Loathing. That release featured a crushing mix of brute-force punk and death metal, and vocalist/lyricist Ben Read howled with unhinged rage over the vitriolic barrages within. Mantras of Self Loathing’s marriage of intensity to belligerence promised great things, and Bridge Burner have recently stoked the fires of anticipation even more by releasing the preliminary mix of a storming track entitled “Illness & Loathing” from their upcoming full-length debut. Continue reading »