OUR LIST OF 2018’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 8): GAEREA, ALL MY SINS, IN TWILIGHT’S EMBRACE

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2018  6 Responses »
Jan 172019
 

 

As forecast yesterday, I’ve decided to stay in blackened realms for this next installment of songs for the 2018 list. The following three tracks are very dark in more ways than one, and they all made a big emotional impact when I first heard them. They’ve stayed with me since then, and although you could easily pick other tracks from each album for the list, the vivid memories of those first experiences have inclined me toward these.

GAEREA

In the run-up to the release of this Portuguese band’s debut album, Unsettling Whispers, I wrote about no fewer than five of the tracks as they were made available for public listening, ultimately trying to capture what the band had done on the songs in these words: Continue reading »

IN TWILIGHT’S EMBRACE: “LAWA”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Nov 022018
 

 

If my brain worked better or if I kept better notes about interesting phenomena I could provide an exhaustive list of all the 2018 albums released by notable bands with little or no advance fanfare. Off the top of my head I can name Panopticon, Sargeist, and Kriegsmaschine. And now I can name one more, because yesterday the Polish blackened death metal band In Twilight’s Embrace released a new album without warning.

This is the band’s fifth full-length, following hot on the heels of last year’s Vanitas, which we premiered and reviewed here (at length). Because everyone can listen to it now, and because I’ve only listened to it twice (in rapid succession), having been surprised by its appearance as much as anyone else, I’m only going to share some immediate impressions of Lawa… and they’re obviously positive ones or I’d be keeping them to myself (since at this site we only write about what we want to recommend). Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): IN TWILIGHT’S EMBRACE — “VANITAS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
Sep 192017
 

 

Almost exactly two years ago we had the pleasure of premiering the third album by In Twilight’s Embrace. True to its name, The Grim Muse was vicious, but also electrifying, bursting with magnetic guitar melodies that were given room to shine in even the most turbo-charged and barbaric of the songs. It proved to be one of 2015’s highlights, and something of a breakout release for a band who were demonstrating a new level of both songwriting and performance skill.

And here we are two years later, fortunate again to premiere a new full-length by this Polish band. This fourth album is named Vanitas, and it’s set for release on September 22nd by Arachnophobia Records. And to waste no time answering the question that most fans will be asking, it is at least a match for the quality of The Grim Muse, and in this writer’s opinion even better. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: IN TWILIGHT’S EMBRACE, THE HOWLING VOID, WAR POSSESSION

 Exceptions to the Rule, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Aug 152017
 

 

Non-blog life is rapidly encroaching on me, so I’m forced to make this round-up short. But it’s sweet. It’s short but sweet. I just made that up… pretty good expression, don’t you think?

IN TWILIGHT’S EMBRACE

For me and many others, The Grim Muse by Poland’s In Twilight’s Embrace was one of 2015’s highlights — a multifaceted and uniformly strong melodic death metal album loaded with fantastic riffs, memorable lead-guitar melodies and solos, powerful performances by the rhythm section, and absolutely ferocious vocals. We had the privilege of premiering the full album stream, and then last year we also debuted a full stream of their next release, an EP named Trembling that also consisted of tracks from the recording session for The Grim Muse.

Today I was excited to learn through an announcement at DECIBEL that the band’s fourth album, Vanitas, will be released on September 22 (through their longstanding label partner Arachnophobia Records). At the same time, DECIBEL premiered a track from the album named “The Hell of Mediocrity“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): IN TWILIGHT’S EMBRACE — “TREMBLING”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
May 192016
 

In Twilight's Embrace-Trembling

 

For me and many others, The Grim Muse by Poland’s In Twilight’s Embrace was one of 2015’s highlights — a multifaceted and uniformly strong melodic death metal album loaded with fantastic riffs, memorable lead-guitar melodies and solos, powerful performances by the rhythm section, and absolutely ferocious vocals. The band are now following that stand-out album with a new three-song EP entitled Trembling, which will be released by Arachnophobia Records on May 25 (which is also the day set for Arachnophobia’s release of a vinyl edition of The Grim Muse). Today we bring you a full stream of the new EP.

These three new songs were recorded by the band during the same sessions that produced The Grim Muse, but were set aside with the idea of this EP specifically in mind. True to the band’s penchant for creating variations in their core sound, each song is distinctive, no one of them quite like the other two — yet all three are both dark and blistering. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): IN TWILIGHT’S EMBRACE — “THE GRIM MUSE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  9 Responses »
Sep 072015
 

In Twilight's Embrace - The Grim Muse front HQ

 

The Grim Muse is the name of the third album by Poland’s In Twilight’s Embrace. It’s due for a September 15 release by Arachnophobia Records in this, the band’s tenth year of existence. Two excellent songs from the album have premiered so far (one featuring guest vocals by At the Gates’ Tomas Lindberg), but we have the pleasure of bringing you a stream of the entire album.

“Melodic death metal” may be the closest simple genre description for this music, but it’s also one that would be misleading to a lot of listeners, in part because there is considerable variety among the album’s 11 tracks and in part because the record’s overall atmosphere, like its name, is grim — and vicious. If we’re going to use that genre term, let’s at least call it Melodic DEATH Metal. Continue reading »