AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: NEKROTISK — “SULFUR AND ASH”

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Aug 082022
 

On the last day of 2021 the Minnesota-based extreme metal band Nekrotisk celebrated New Year’s Eve by releasing its debut EP, Apraxia I: Mors Certa. It was the solo work of Mehrunz Oel (aka Matt McGee), a six-track rendering of blackened death metal that impressively interweaves dire and hellish moods, searing and soaring riffage, jolting grooves, maniacally obliterating percussion, and crazed vocal tirades that are a fitting match for the frequent fretwork frenzies.

Mehrunz shouldered almost all the work that led to that EP, including recording, mixing, and mastering it and creating the cover art (with a guest appearance on the second track by James Benson of Amiensus and Chrome Waves). But his ambitions were greater than creating a studio project, and so in the coming months he assembled a talented live line-up and organized a first tour in June that took the band across the Northwest of the U.S., through Montana, Idaho, Washington, and back through North Dakota on the way home.

What we have for you today is a video that recaps that tour, set to the music of a riveting track from Apraxia I named “Sulfur and Ash“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: INHUMAN DEPRAVITY — “BEYOND RHYTHM ZERO”

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Aug 082022
 

 

Let’s be honest: the Turkish band Inhuman Depravity are in a challenging place musically, and they consciously and confidently put themselves there.

They’ve chosen to embrace an old-school amalgam of technical/brutal death metal obviously influenced by the likes of Severe Torture and Deeds Of Flesh, Disavowed and Suffocation, Brutality and Sinister. They drop those names themselves. Those bands cast long shadows, and to stand in them risks remaining hidden, out of the light, because this style is so established and has been done so well before.

But even acknowledging the risks, it’s hard to fault the band for their choice of musical lineage. For one thing, this kind of music hasn’t gone out of style despite its age — people still hunger for it. For another, Inhuman Depravity are really fucking good at what they do. We’ve got the evidence of that today, through our premiere of the first advance song from the band’s forthcoming second album The Experimendead, which is Inhuman Depravity‘s first new music in a long seven years following their debut full-length. Continue reading »

SVART CROWN: “LES TERRES BRÛLÉES”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Aug 082022
 

(NCS writer DGR has been on a roll, clearing out a backlog of reviews, and our plan is to publish them on a daily basis this week. We begin with his thoughts about the final recording from the French band Svart Crown, which was released in June by Nova Lux Production and Les Acteurs de l’Ombre Productions.)

In all honesty the events that took place after the release of Svart Crown‘s newest EP Les terres brûlées kind of took us aback when it came to writing about it. Granted, we were already late on reviewing it because it arrived in the post-MDF/pre-NWTF hangover period, but who would’ve guessed that in the time since its release the group would hang it up two weeks later? Yet here we are, now almost two months since its release, and the world is less one Svart Crown project.

Thus, writing about Les terres brûlées now is a little strange because it feels partially like we’re going to be praising the band for recognizing that it was time to call it quits and partially mourning the potential that Les terres brûlées promised, since the four songs and cover track here are some of the more ferocious material within the Svart Crown playbook.

Wolves Among The Ashes may have been divisive among the writers here (I enjoyed it, Andy ranked it as ‘disappointing’), but it’s hard to imagine anyone making it through even just the first song of this final EP without becoming convinced that Svart Crown sound absolutely mean this time around. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ISKANDR, EXCURSE, DAEMON OF OA, GONEMAGE

 SHADES OF BLACK  1 Response »
Aug 072022
 

Someday I’ll finally learn the lesson that predicting in print what I’m going to do at NCS from one day to the next is stupid. On Friday I put together a roundup of new music that I described as a way to lessen the load for the roundup I was going to compile for Saturday. And then of course I wrote nothing on Saturday.

The wreckage of that plan was the result of embarrassing misbehavior on Friday night, so it would be even more stupid for me to share details. Last night’s misbehavior was less ruinous, so I was able to get this usual Sunday column finished. It’s not as extensive as I’d hoped it would be, but at least not another complete failure.

I’ll forecast for you that in choosing the following tracks, I wandered well off the usual beaten paths.

ISKANDR (Netherlands)

In the early fall of last year I had the pleasure of premiering what was then the third full-length by this formidable Dutch duo. Looking back on what I wrote, I was a bit dumbfounded by how many words I spilled by way of introduction. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: BLACK ANVIL, DEAD VOID, PARIUS, BONES, BLODKVALT

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Aug 052022
 

Today we’ve already presented a pair of raunchy reviews, the premiere of some dismal and nightmarish black metal, and another evocative installment of a Fire in the Mountains festival report. But even with all that, I thought I’d still try to squeeze in a roundup of new songs and videos, just to somewhat lighten the load on me for the usual Saturday roundup. It will still be a crushing load, but maybe getting the following five items out there mow will leave a few vertebrae intact tomorrow.

BLACK ANVIL (U.S.)

Let’s begin with something bracing, something that’s both chilling and muscular, a song that creates tension and tightens it, becomes scathing and sweeping in its portrayal of despair, stampedes in a fury, and raises its voice in proclamations of hellish reverence. Continue reading »

FIRE IN THE MOUNTAINS 2022: DAY TWO

 Concert Reviews  6 Responses »
Aug 052022
 

(Our friend Gonzo has brought us the second installment of his commentary on the 2022 edition of the Fire in the Mountains festival, which took place in Wyoming in late July. To check out the first installment, go here.)

Saturday morning came before I was ready for it. The sunrise roused me from an intoxicated slumber, and my bladder was quick to remind me of the choices I’d made the night before. “Balls,” I muttered as I put pants on, preparing to leave the warm confines of my tent and head towards the port-a-potties near the entrance to camp.

I unzipped the tent and stepped out into the frigid morning air. The temperature had dropped by almost half of what it’d been during the day. A layer of frost had accumulated on the top of the tent. I was grateful I’d kept my Amorphis hoodie on before going to sleep, even if I had no memory of doing it. So far, the running score of this weekend was FITM: 1, Gonzo: 0. Expecting anything else would’ve been ridiculous of me.

Walking along the makeshift footpath through camp, the stunning peaks of the Tetons were looming through the morning mist. This land, this festival – there was something different about it, something almost tangible. It’s not every day you find yourself immersed in nature, surrounded by wildlife, refreshingly out of range of any cell phone service, and have eight hours of amazing music to look forward to, but that was exactly what this day would hold for the lucky 1,200 of us who made the trek to this festival. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MALAURIU — “THE LOCUST”

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Aug 052022
 

The Sicilian band Malauriu have been a prolific source of black metal and dark experimental sounds for almost a decade. As detailed in an interview of mainman Schizoid published here at the beginning of 2022, Malauriu have tended to release their music mainly through EPs and splits. In March of this year they departed from the tradition by releasing their second (self-titled) full-length, but they now return to shorter works with a new EP named De Natura Obscuritatis that’s set for release in mid-September by the Italian label Black Mass Prayers.

To help spread the word about this new EP, today we premiere a song from it named “The Locust“. Continue reading »

WEREGOAT: A DUAL REVIEW (“THE DEVIL’S LUST” AND “ORGIASTIC RAPE OF RESURRECTED REMAINS”)

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Aug 052022
 

(Hope Gould prepared the following lusty review of two forthcoming releases that feature the deviant talents of Oregon’s Weregoat, a new full-length and a split with Eggs of Gomorrh.)

There’s a lot of merit in making love: Building the anticipation, savoring the smallest sensations, relishing in the way your partner’s body responds to your touch as the mutual hunger grows. Perhaps taking the time to create some ambience for the occasion, setting the stage for a beautiful exchange of energy and intimacy.

On the other hand, there’s a helluvalot of merit in hard ‘n’ fast fuckin’. With a career centered on unbridled, animalistic depravity, Weregoat know this all too well. Their forthcoming mini-album, coming in just shy of 23 minutes, packs all the punch they need to prove size may not always matter, especially when they know exactly how to use it. The Devil’s Lust, to be released on August 12th, is a crash course in bestial passion. Like a rendezvous with an old lover, fans will find a sick familiarity in revisiting the band’s reliable tricks and a jolting pleasure in their seasoned execution. Continue reading »

A REDEFINING DARKNESS ROUND-UP: HERUVIM, ROTBORN, CONCRETE ICON, ORBICATE

 Metal News, Premieres, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Aug 042022
 

Regular visitors to our site are aware that roughly once a week we compile round-ups of new songs and videos that have seized our attention. The round-up you’re staring at now, however, is different from the usual ones.

In this instance we’re putting the spotlight on four recent or forthcoming releases from a single label — Redefining Darkness Records. And there’s another difference, because in some instances what you’ll be discovering are premiere streams of the music.

HERUVIM: SHADOWHEART EP

The first release we’re spotlighting has goals that go beyond giving you something (very good) to listen too. It’s the debut EP by a death metal band from Odesa, Ukraine, named Heruvim, and all proceeds from digital sales are dedicated to the support of the Ukrainian army in their fight against the Russian aggressors. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TOMB OF FINLAND — “COFFIN BOUND”

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Aug 042022
 

It’s not often that we premiere more than one advance track from an impending album release, much less three of them. But in the case of Tomb of Finland‘s new album Across The Barren Fields we’ve been offered the chance to do three, and have eagerly accepted the opportunity.

In the case of the first two songs we’ve presented, they were first released as stand-alone singles, and that’s true of the song we’re presenting today — “Coffin Bound“. It will be available as a digital single beginning on August 5th. But we’re also now getting much closer to the August 19th release of the album by UPRISING! Records in a variety of physical formats, and thus this latest single serves as a reminder of that. Continue reading »

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