Apr 262018
 

 

Last September I came across a song called “Treachery and Id” that stopped me dead in my tracks. It was a taste of what the UK trio Nihil Eyes had cooked up on their debut album Black Path (which was mixed and mastered by none other than Dan Swanö). As I impetuously wrote back then, it made me imagine a giant rushing freight train, exploding with destructive full-ahead power, delivering a barrage of skull-cracking grooves and quickly addictive riffs, and also including a couple of eye-opening solos that swirled, soared, and erupted in a volcanic frenzy. The vocals were downright bestial, too.

Nihil Eyes self-released that album via Bandcamp a month later, but it has now been picked up for a CD and digital release on May 18th by Ultraje, a print magazine and record label based in Portugal (with an edition in Brazil now as well). This new release facilitates the introduction of Black Path to new listeners who overlooked it last fall, as well as offering a physical edition to those who already know how damned good it is. And, as is obvious, it also gives us an occasion to write about the music once again.

And so, although this isn’t really a true “premiere”, we enthusiastically present a stream of Black Path’s opening track, which shares the band’s name. Continue reading »

Sep 152017
 

 

It’s another Friday, and what are people feeling? No one answer, I’m sure. Some people are looking forward to a blow-out Friday night or just a soft weekend to clear the head. Others have jobs that will just keep on surging through the weekend, so no relief in sight (but maybe better-than-average tip hauls). And others, out of work, are just experiencing another day of hard-scrabbling and gloom.

For me, I’m looking ahead at a wedding of one of my wife’s nieces on our property, with the bride wearing a sword, and Samoan blessings before and after the ceremony, and great volumes of Mexican food and tequila, and people playing Magic after the vows have been exchanged. It’s going to be different, but I have a feeling it will be a blast.

Beyond that, I’m feeling like playing you some metal, just skimming the surface of what I’ve collected over the last 48 hours, and maybe continuing the round-up tomorrow if I get going before all the visiting family members crawl out of bed.

KARTIKEYA

On October 19th, 10 years to the day after the release of their debut album, the Russian band Kartikeya will deliver unto us a new album named Samudra via Apathia Records. We are told that the release date is also “27 Ashvina 5119 of Kali Yuga, the holy day of Diwali, on the day of the Victory of Good over Evil, by the fire of the divine light”. And we are further told that it signifies “the decimal foundation of the Hindu universe and the symbolism of Trimurti – the three highest creator-gods, the ternary power of creation, preservation and destruction”. Continue reading »