Oct 272020
 

 

(Andy Synn is celebrating his decade of writing for NCS with a collection of 10 reviews, one for each year….)

You know what I discovered this weekend?

I’ve now been writing for NCS for ten years.

I know. Mind = blown.

Over the last decade I’ve had several different jobs, moved house multiple times, and seen various relationships – both good and bad – come and go. But NCS has consistently been one of the few constants in my life which has helped keep me going through thick and thin.

So I want to say thank you. Thank you to all the bands for all the great music over the years. Thank you to all the readers and commenters (the good ones anyway) for all the kind words, “witty” banter, and support. Thank you to the rest of the core NCS crew, for always having my back (even if/when they disagree with what I’ve written, which inevitably makes them wrong and me right).

And thank you most of all to Islander for allowing me to become a part of the site. Hopefully one day you’ll finally understand just how much you’ve helped change my life.

Anyway, in honour of this momentous occasion I’ve picked out ten albums – one from each year I’ve been writing here, including this year – which I overlooked when they first came out. Continue reading »

Dec 222019
 

 

Welcome to the second Part of this week’s foray into black and blackened metal. I’m hurrying to get this done, so I’ll dispense with any further introduction — other than to encourage you to check out the music in Part 1 (here) if you haven’t already.

CULT OF ERINYES

I’ve been following and writing about this Belgian band since just before the release of their second album in 2013 (Blessed Extinction), but I’ve fallen down on the job since I failed to yell at you in advance about the impending release of their latest album Æstivation (which now features the prolific Déhà as a full band member, along with members of Wolvennest and LVTHN). But now the album is out — having been released just yesterday by Amor Fati Productions. The benefit of my foot-dragging is that (after a bit of yelling from me) you can dive right into the entire record on your own without delay. Continue reading »

Feb 282016
 

Svarttjern-Dødsskrik

 

I guess I went overboard with this collection of new metal in a blackened vein. Believe it or not, even though eight bands are featured in this round-up, I made a lot of hard choices, leaving behind many other new releases I also heard over the last week that I thought were good. But eight is still a lot for a single post. Hope you won’t be deterred by its length from giving everything here a listen.

I organized these songs with a quartet of full-throttle assaults at the start, followed by a trio of more ritualistic, strange and/or atmospheric selections, and concluding with one final head-crusher.

SVARTTJERN

Norway’s Svarttjern signed with Soulseller Records for the release of their fourth album Dødsskrik, which our friend eiterorm tell us is Norwegian for “Scream of Death”. The song I have for you is the first advance track from the album, “All Hail Satan”. Continue reading »

Sep 212013
 

When I staggered to bed last night I had a few ideas percolating about what I would post today. When I staggered out of bed this morning and started wandering through the interhole those ideas went out the window, and instead what you’re about to hear took their place. By chance I listened to three new songs in a row that really grabbed me. By chance, they’re all shades and phases of black metal, with interesting twists. I wasn’t familiar with any of the bands before listening to these new tracks, and with luck like this I should probably buy a lottery ticket today.

CULT OF ERINYES

This three-person Belgian band have recorded their second album, Blessed Extinction, which will be released in digipak format on October 21, 2013, by the Italian label Code666 Records. They’ve just begun streaming an advance track named “自爆 (Jibaku)”, which I discovered thanks to a Facebook post by Nico at Kaotoxin Records, who’s an acquaintance of mine and a friend of the band.

If the song consisted of nothing but the hurricane of cutting guitars, thundering percussion, and acid vocals with which it begins, I’d be happy enough, because that first phase of the song shoots a megawatt charge straight to the brainstem. But the song holds in store much more than that. Continue reading »