AN NCS PREMIERE: THE STONE — “GAVRANOVO”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Nov 292017
 

 

Serbia’s The Stone is one of the longest-running, still-active extreme metal bands in the Balkans. Originally launched in the old Yugoslavia in 1996 under the name Stone To Flesh, the band have pursued their musical inspirations for two tumultuous decades that saw the re-establishment of an independent Serbia, brutal conflict in neighboring Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo, and cycles of political upheaval within the country as well. Dating back to their days as Stone to Flesh, the band have released eight albums, and their ninth one, Teatar apsurda is now set for release on December 9th by Mizantropeon Records.

Despite their longevity, I didn’t discover The Stone until 2014, in the run-up to the release of their last album, the brilliant Nekroza, and since then I’ve also become a fan of Kozeljnik, the eponymous side project of one of The Stone’s founding and continuing members (a two-part interview of him that we published this past May — here and here — provides a fascinating history of these bands, as well as metal in the Balkans).

Perhaps needless to say, I’ve been eager for this new album, and not surprisingly, it’s fantastic. We’re very happy to give you a taste of what makes it so good through our premiere of a song named “Gavranovo“. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW (PART 2): KOZELJNIK (THE STONE, KOZELJNIK, MAY RESULT, OCULUS)

 Interviews  1 Response »
May 112017
 

 

(Music journalist Konstantin, who in past years has written for Serbia’s Nocturne Music Magazine, makes his first appearance at NCS with this extensive interview of Kozeljnik, founding guitarist and composer of the long-running Serbian black metal band The Stone and a participant in many other groups as well. Part 1 of this interview can be found HERE.)

Proudly standing in the underground waters for more than two decades, The Stone have engraved their name as one of the pivotal names in the Eastern European black metal scene of the ‘90s. From a war-torn country under embargo where buying the latest CD of your favorite band was practically impossible to touring with Revenge and Inquisition, they have cleared their path with strength and spirit.

In a detailed conversation with Kozeljnik (The Stone, Kozeljnik, May Result, Oculus, Murder, Ophidian Coil) we recall those days; and we discuss such topics as where metal has made mistakes in the last years and why that one legendary US act decided to have special gigs in the Balkan woods years ago. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW (PART 1): KOZELJNIK (THE STONE, KOZELJNIK, MAY RESULT, OCULUS)

 Interviews  No Responses »
May 102017
 

 

(Music journalist Konstantin, who in past years has written for Serbia’s Nocturne Music Magazine, makes his first appearance at NCS with this extensive interview of Kozeljnik, founding guitarist and composer of the long-running Serbian black metal band The Stone and a participant in many other groups as well. Part 2 of this interview will follow tomorrow.)

Proudly standing in the underground waters for more than two decades, The Stone have engraved their name as one of the pivotal names in the Eastern European black metal scene of the ‘90s. From a war-torn country under embargo where buying the latest CD of your favorite band was practically impossible to touring with Revenge and Inquisition, they have cleared their path with strength and spirit.

In a detailed conversation with Kozeljnik (The Stone, Kozeljnik, May Result, Oculus, Murder, Ophidian Coil) we recall those days; and we discuss such topics as where metal has made mistakes in the last years and why that one legendary US act decided to have special gigs in the Balkan woods years ago. Continue reading »

MORE NEW MUSIC: ROTTING CHRIST, HIGH PRIEST OF SATURN, KOZELJNIK, HANDS OF DESPAIR

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  9 Responses »
Jan 262016
 

Rotting Christ-Rituals

 

Sometimes I worry that we bombard you so heavily with new music that it might become exhausting, or just unrealistic to follow what we’re throwing at you. I’m kind of feeling that way today, which is why I changed the title of this post from the usual “Seen and Heard” headline — since this would be the fourth of those in four days. But despite the different title, that’s still what this is — a round-up of recently released music we want to recommend.

ROTTING CHRIST

It seems like only a week ago that Season of Mist released the last advance track from Rotting Christ’s new album (featured here). Actually, it was only one week ago. But yesterday another track premiered. And of course I’m writing about it because I think it’s just as strong as the ones that have preceded it. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2013’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS: PART 28

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2013  2 Responses »
Feb 132014
 

Welcome to Part 28 of our list of 2013′s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs. For more details about what this list is all about and how it was compiled, read the introductory post via this link. To see the selections that preceded the three songs I’m announcing today, click here.

We’re down to the last two days of this series, with three more today and 300 more tomorrow. Just kidding — but I’ll tell you, it’s awfully hard for me to let go of this series. There are so many great songs I’m going to have to omit if it’s ever going to end. As for today’s three, I’m not sure there’s any theme that would justify this grouping. I have simply found all three to be powerful, and powerfully infectious, and I need to have them on this list before it ends.

SUMMONING

It took seven long years for this fabled Austrian band to release a new album, but it finally came in 2013: Old Morning’s Dawn. Though I am most definitely a Tolkein nerd, I’m not a Summoning nerd, having only a passing acquaintance with only shards of the band’s previous discography. Therefore, I am incapable of intelligently debating (as many others have) whether Old Morning’s Dawn stands up to so many years of building expectations. I’m also incapable of debating whether those Summoning worshippers in Utah’s Caladan Brood out-performed their masters on 2013’s Echoes of Battle, because I’ve only heard one song from that album (and I’m mentioning that comparison only because I know some of you are going to bring it up). Continue reading »

A FAST ROUND-UP OF NEWS AND MUSIC: VHÖL, ROTTING CHRIST, BEYOND CREATION, AND MEMORY GARDEN

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Feb 202013
 

As I write this (which was the night before it will be posted), I’m sitting in a hotel room in Texas with a crap-load of day-job work ahead of me on the day you will read this. Actually, I have a crapload of work I should be doing right now. And so this will be the fastest NCS round-up ever — more like an index than anything else.

So, with few words, here are news items and new music I saw and heard that I want to spread around.

VHÖL

Yesterday Profound Lore unveiled the cover to the VHÖL self-titled debut album, which you can see above. The artwork is by band member John Cobbett with design by Kevin Gan Yuen. The release date is April 16. Why do I care about this album? Because the band is composed of the aforementioned John Cobbett (Hammers of Misfortune, ex-Ludicra, GWAR, and Slough Feg), Aesop Dekker (Agalloch, Worm Oroborus), Sigrid Sheie (Hammers of Misfortune), and Mike Scheidt (YOB). For more about this band, see my previous posts. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: KOZELJNIK, BLACK TABLE, AND VON

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Feb 082013
 

My head is spinning with new music that I want to spread around and introduce to new listeners. I’m afraid I’ll never have time enough to write about all of it. Correction: I know there’ll never be enough time. I’ll do what I can, but there will necessarily be a degree of randomness in the selections. Still, I look for themes around which to organize the picks.

The theme of this post is the rich diversity of black metal. If you’re one of those people who did an eye roll at reading the last sentence, thinking that it all sounds alike, I can only say that you haven’t listened enough. Try out these three offerings as proof. They consist of new music from Kozeljnik (Serbia), Black Table (NY/NJ), and Von (California).

KOZELJNIK

This band is composed of two members: Kozeljnik, who is the vocalist, guitarist, and bass player, and L.G., the drummer. Both of them are also members of a long-running excellent Serbian band named The Stone, which I featured in a MISCELLANY post back in March 2011. Kozeljnik has released an EP and two albums (Sigil Rust and Deeper the Fall), and they’re on the verge of releasing a second EP named Null: The Acheron of Multiform Negation.

One song from the new EP is now streaming and available for download on Bandcamp (here) — “Time, Neglected in the Wound of a Martyr”. The last album, Deeper the Fall, is also available on Bandcamp (here). Last night I listened to the new song as well as the first track from Deeper the Fall, “Thetruthisdeath”. Both are them are striking, and strikingly different from the norm. Continue reading »