Feb 202015
 

 

(NCS writer TheMadIsraeli completes his list of thrash metal’s Top 10 albums of all time. The first five picks, along with an introduction, appear in this post.)

VI: Sepultura – Arise

It takes a lot of restraint for me not to declare this the greatest thrash album ever created.  Sepultura’s Arise is THE epitome of everything I love, need, and want in thrash metal and it’s so immaculate in its execution that attempting to quantify it is nearly impossible.  It’s brutal, it’s fast (so fucking fast), it has dynamics in the songwriting. Andreas Kisser knew how to write some of the most unique solos in the entirety of thrash metal, and Max and Andreas wrote some of the most intense, drama-filled riffage while keeping things savage and merciless.  Whenever Sepultura breaks into frantic, demon-slaying speed from a mid-paced stomp, as in “Desperate Cry”, provides me an adrenaline rush that knows no equal.  It would be fair to say I’ve listened to Arise more than 10,000 times and I’m still not sick of it.

Seriously, this album is the very definition of savagery. Continue reading »

Jun 092011
 

(NCS contributor Israel Flanders has been working his butt off to bring us music that may have been overlooked or become under-appreciated with the passage of time. Today he looks back at the discography of a trail-blazing Danish band.)

It goes without saying that there are so many good bands out there that overlooking one here or there is entirely inevitable. I would like to think I’m bringing music to you guys that’s surprising in the most pleasant of ways since I’m trying to develop a knack for digging out gems from the nether regions of the music world. Today I’m here to do an overall piece on one of the most shamefully underrated thrash metal bands in existence. Who is that you wonder? It’s Invocator.

Invocator are very important to Denmark’s music scene. They were the gateway band that proved to other aspiring musicians in Denmark, hey, you can do this metal thing in our small country and it works. Among others, they inspired legendary deathrashers Hatesphere (and if you don’t know who Hatesphere are, stop reading and come back after getting some education), and Invocator’s frontman and guitarist Jacob Hansen essentially aided in the establishment of a heavy music scene in Denmark. The man has produced so many albums it’s nuts, but not only has he done that, he has coined his own signature production sound. Invocator is Jacob Hansen’s baby and a band with a truly unique sound that I think stands out. (more after the jump . . .) Continue reading »