Mar 172015
 

 

I got enough of a break from my day job over the last two days that I was able to listen to some new music, and I’ve collected some of what I heard in this post. I knew the previous work of some of these bands and therefore wasn’t surprised by the quality. Other songs came as complete surprises — and very nice ones.

DISARMONIA MUNDI

I had lost track of this Italian duo. The last time we wrote about them was two and a half years ago. Of course, that was around the last time they released any music, and their last album was 2009’s The Isolation Game. Thanks to Andy Synn, I made the happy discovery yesterday that they have a new album coming out in June on Coroner Records named Cold Inferno. There’s a big head on the cover. Continue reading »

Sep 042013
 

The Horror Division of NCS hereby delivers unto you three new videos. We like them. We would like them better if the first band were named Avulsed Avulsed, because that would provide a second thing in common that all three videos share. As it is, they only share one thing (apart from the fact that they’re all fun to watch and hear): horror thematics.

AVULSED

When my NCS comrades and I were gathered together in Seattle last week we spoke of many important things, including which metal songs included the best opening grunts and growls. No one mentioned “Dead Flesh Awakened” by Avulsed, but then again none of us had heard it last week. It appears on this long-running Spanish band’s brand new album, Ritual Zombi, which just came out (and is available for purchase or download on Bandcamp).

As of today, however, “Dead Flesh Awakened” has become the subject of a brand new video that premiered at DECIBEL. The song starts with Dave Rotten giving voice to what sounds like a lion’s growl. More lionine growling comes later. Along with a lot of skull-cleaving grooves and grisly melody and filthy death metal goodness. Plus zombies. Don’t forget the zombies. Continue reading »

Jan 282013
 

Welcome to Part 19 of our list of the year’s most infectious extreme metal songs. In each installment, I’ve been posting at least two songs that made the cut. 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 I’m announcing today, click here.

We’re winding down. We’re nearing the end of this list. I’m thinking we’ll stop with Part 21. Or maybe Part 22. I’m still wrestling with my mind over how to finish. It’s like wrestling with a puddle of mercury.

All I’m really sure about are the three songs I’m adding to the list today. They’re all Exceptions to the NCS Rule, but they bring the power of the riff something fierce. They rock so hard they’ll break your dick, even if you don’t have a dick.  So I’m going with them even though they rely mainly on clean vocals.

MOKOMA

I heard about this Finnish band last November via a recommendation from NCS supporter jeimssi, who nominated the song “Kuollut, Kuolleempi, Kuollein” for this list. The song comes from the band’s 2012 album 180 Astetta — which turns out to be Mokoma’s ninth album. They’re apparently quite popular in Finland, though less well known outside the borders, perhaps because they sing in Finnish. Continue reading »

Oct 262012
 

I’m drowning in new videos. Beginning late yesterday, this is the third in a row of posts I’ve written for the site that consist of nothing but videos. But as much as I’d like to finish other things I’m working on, I continue to be distracted by the moving pictures and the quality sounds.

This post is full of Exceptions to the Rule around here, because all three of the new vidz collected in this post include (to varying extents) clean vocals. But all three songs have grabbed me, and I hope they’ll grab you, too. The first two are from down-under bands we’ve previously covered at NCS — Mammoth Mammoth (Australia) and Beastwars (New Zealand) — and the third is from a band I don’t think we’ve ever mentioned before, The Sorrow (Austria).

MAMMOTH MAMMOTH

I first came across Mammoth Mammoth back in May when they released their last video, which was for the title track to their third album Hell’s Likely (featured here). Since then, Napalm Records have picked up the album and will be releasing it on November 23 worldwide (order here).

I’m enjoying the album cover. I’m also enjoying the new video for “GO”, which includes a nice tip of the hat at the video’s beginning to Gojira’s “Vacuity” video and also features the same delectable woman who graces the album cover in her birthday suit (though she’s somewhat more clothed in the video). Continue reading »