AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): THORIUM — “THE BASTARD”

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Sep 182024
 

(We welcome French metal writer Zoltar to NCS, and he makes his debut here with the following introductory review of a new album by Thorium which we’re premiering in full today in advance of its September 20 release by Emanzipation Productions.)

Thorium is an interesting beast. Not exactly just another side-project nor a full band per se, they do rear their ugly head whenever their leader and main man Michael Andersen of Withering Surface fame feels like it. And as it turns out, looks like lately, the man does really feel like playing good old and no frills death metal. And it shows.

In a way, The Bastard isn’t just some kind of reaction against the few years and painful gestation of the last Withering Surface – although that did play a small role, but I digress. It’s first and foremost the 49-year-old Andersen‘s love letter to the classic sound he was raised upon back in the late ’80s and early ’90s when a less confident and juvenile, yet already passionate, version of himself started dabbling in the underground through tape-trading and his own Emanzipation ‘zine.

Early reports of an album meant to originally be titled Sverige (that’s ‘Swedish’ for you in, erm, Swedish actually) proved at first to be a tad misleading as suggesting a sound firmly stuck in the early ’90s Stockholm style of Entombed, Grave, and so on. Then again, whereas there’s barely any fuzzy outpouring of the famed HM-2 pedal to be found here nor any D-beat parts and though it was ultimately retitled, it still somehow makes sense. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ASGRAUW — “APADA”

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Sep 182024
 

At the end of October, just in time for Samhain night, the Dutch black metal band Asgrauw will return with their sixth album, Oorsprong. It is unusual in more ways than one, including its conceptual storyline — and it is indeed an epic story that the album tells. Drawing upon Mesopotamian mythology, it is described this way by the labels that will release it:

“The album’s narrative is inspired by the Annunaki, the ancient deities said to have come from the sky. Through a blend of storytelling and music, Asgrauw weaves a tale that highlights the legacy of these celestial beings and offers a perspective on the modern age as seen through their eyes, culminating in a dramatic portrayal of humanity’s fate.

“Asgrauw takes you through the stories of Anu and Alalu, Enki and Enlil, but also those of Gilgamesh and Nergal for example. How centuries of struggle for land and gold drove exotic species to turn primates into a slave civilization and by portraying themselves as divine beings, could keep them under control.”

Each song on the album is a chapter in this narrative about gods and men, and the rise and fall of empires, and we’re premiering a video for one of those musical chapters today — a song called “Apada“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): AVERNUS — “GRIEVANCES”

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Sep 182024
 

The first new album from Chicago’s Avernus in 27 years, which will be released at the end of this week by M-Theory Audio, is something like the closing of a circle (and the opening of other circles). Having been formed in 1992, and with a couple of early demos under their belts, they caught the attention of Marco Barbieri at Metal Blade, who became primarily responsible for including them on that label’s Metal Massacre 12 compilation, and would have signed them to something bigger on Metal Blade if Barbieri had had his way.

Avernus did go on to release their debut album …Of the Fallen on M.I.A. Records in 1997, and they followed that with a few more demos plus an EP, but the band fell away, releasing no new music after 2003… until this year.

Barbieri is now the president of M-Theory Audio, and thus the label’s release of a new Avernus album is a reunion that’s been decades in the making. Avernus has itself experienced a reunion, with a current lineup on the new album that includes three of the band’s original founding members (Rick Yifrach, Erik Kikke, and Rick McCoy), plus James Genenz (also a member of Jungle Rot), who joined the band in 1997.

Reunions of any kind are generally occasions for reminiscing and nostalgia, but this reunion has led to something new, an album of new music made by people who necessarily are very different people than the ones who made …Of the Fallen and all those demos in the ’90s — different because time re-makes everyone, in ways small or large.

What this particular reunion has accomplished, you will discover today, because we’re now premiering a full stream of the new Avernus album. Its name is Grievances. and it is stunning. Continue reading »

TYPHONIAN – THE GATE OF THE VEILED BEYOND

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Sep 182024
 

(Come and learn why the new album from Typhonian, out Friday on Transcending Obscurity, has reaffirmed Andy Synn‘s love for Death Metal)

Do I like Death Metal?

It seems like a pretty dumb question – I mean, I’ve toured with Hour of Penance, Blood Red Throne, The Monolith Deathcult, opened for Cryptopsy, Mithras, Darkane, and more – so of course I do!

But I get where people are coming from when they ask this question, because when it comes to many of the current “big” bands in the Death Metal scene… well, I’ve generally been a little more guarded with when, where, and how I dole out praise than a lot of other writers.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve thrown a lot of love at artists like Tomb Mold, Ulthar, and Bæst, and am eagerly awaiting new albums from both Tribal Gaze and Ingurgitating Oblivion (though, spoiler alert, I’ve already heard the latter and will be reviewing it later this month), but I can’t help but feel like a lot of the more notorious names are playing it far too safe, happy to regurgitate the same recycled riffs and second-hand song ideas with only the most minor of variations (if any), because they know their audience will eat it up anyway.

Luckily, for every derivative disappointment that comes across my desk there’s almost always someone else doing something a little bit more interesting (to me anyway) – and while it was Typhonian‘s previous album (which you can, and should, read more about here) which initially piqued my curiosity, with The Gate of the Veiled Beyond they’ve really grabbed my attention.

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GIGAN – TRANS-DIMENSIONAL CROSSING OF THE ALTA TENUIS

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Sep 172024
 

(Andy Synn gives his first impressions of the opening track from Gigan‘s upcoming new album, which we are premiering below in advance of the album’s October 25 release by Willowtip Records.)

If you’re not familiar with the extra-dimensional extremity of Chicago’s Gigan then you might want to check out both my Synn Report on the band from way back in 2016 and my review of their fourth album, Undulating Waves of Rainbiotic Iridescence, from 2017 (which was the last time we heard from them).

Trust me, you’ll want to be fully prepared for what you’re about to experience.

Because going into this one blind could well be hazardous to your health.

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: RECKLESS MANSLAUGHTER — “BEFOULED COMMANDMENTS”

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Sep 172024
 


hideous cover art by Lucas Korte

(written by Islander)

Reckless manslaughter is a crime that would send you to prison for a very long time, unless you’re listening to the music of Reckless Manslaughter, which isn’t a punishable offense in most jurisdictions — at least not yet.

It must be said, however, that the forthcoming fourth album of this German death metal band, aptly entitled Sinking Into Filth, often sounds like intentional homicide (and the mutilation of the victims) rather than the recklessly negligent taking of life — as well as a descent into horrid depths where souls stripped of flesh now suffer.

You’ll see what we’re getting at when you listen to the song we’re premiering today in advance of the new album’s joint release by Memento Mori and Fucking Kill Records. The name of this evil song is “Befouled Commandments“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SØRGELIG — “INEXORABLE GREY”

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Sep 172024
 

(Written by Islander)

“In the lightless darkness of the world below, where the cold, grey waves of the river of forgetting lap against the shores of unceasing, stygian night, there the nameless and the soulless, tragic and deplorable, gather to exchange tales of bleak eternity and whisper secrets born of blood and promises. With sickle and stone they climb the thousand steps to moonlit night, there to gather the dreams of the sleeping, to reap the screams of the foolish and harvest the spirits of those who have turned the world of legends into a world of decay and ruination.”

With those chilling words Tragedy Productions sets the stage for its release of a new album named Φθορά by the Greek black metal band Sørgelig, which the label further describes as “a tapestry of tragic tales and blackest magic”, “a glorious exposition of blasting ferocity and freezing wickedness”, but also as including “haunting sounds that invoke unsettling imaginings of broken ghosts in empty ballrooms, spinning forever in dusty, tear-stained waltzes”.

To help set the stage further, today we bring you the second song from Φθορά to be revealed so far. Its name is “Inexorable Grey“, and Sørgelig introduce it with these words: Continue reading »

WANDERING INTO BLACKENED REACHES — 4 CRITICAL BLACK METAL ALBUMS YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED

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Sep 172024
 

(In this article our Vietnam-based contributor Vizzah Harri brings us four reviews of four unusual albums from blackened realms — albums created by Skeletal Augury, Cemetery Trip, Conifère, and Xw​î​n.)

The following 4 albums have been on my to-do list for months. You won’t find a slew of reviews on their Bandcamp pages sharing the praises from bigger media outlets. I couldn’t even find many reviews of the albums themselves out there. And partially this could be because of it being one hell of a year for black metal, but isn’t that just every year?

If you like black metal, you’re bound to love at least one of what I’m sharing with you today. The only order here is chronological because I don’t have a favorite amongst them and their styles diverge violently. There were more albums which I will hopefully be able to get to soon, but 4 is a nice number for its tetraphobic propensities in East Asia. The number 4, you see, signifies shaking hands with Elvis (I only learned that slang phrase for death today). Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GORGERIN — “GORGERIN”

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Sep 162024
 

(written by Islander)

As trained self-defense advisers we urge you, before listening to the EP we’re about to premiere, to armor up with ballistic helmets and kevlar vests, and hunker down behind the thickest steal plating you can find. You might also want to have some antiemetics on hand, and a strong sedative available for the aftermath too.

Okay, we’re not trained self-defense advisers or medical professionals, but we do know gutting and gruesome goregrind when we hear it, and that’s what Québec-based Gorgerin catastrophically discharge on their self-titled mini-LP, now set for release by Gurgling Gore on September 20th. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ODIUM HUMANI GENERIS

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Sep 162024
 

(Today we present a very good interview by our Comrade Aleks with vocalist and guitarist Biały from the Polish black metal band Odium Humani Generis, in company with our premiere of a song from their forthcoming album Międzyczas – which you can find here.)

Odium Humani Generis isn’t a new name in the Polish black metal underground. The band have existed since 2015, and their second album Międzyczas will be released on September 27th via Malignant Voices.

Międzyczas is an evolution of Odium Humani Generis’ sound, which started with their debut album Przeddzień (Cult of Parthenope, 2020) and the following EP Zarzewie (Folter Records, 2022). The band’s name derives from Tacitus’ expression in his work Annales. In it he wrote about emperor Nero blaming the early Christians for the malicious arson in Rome.

“Odium humani generis” literally means “Hatred for the human species/race”, but if you expect totally nihilistic and full-of-hatred raw black metal as the title demands, then you’ll rather be surprised. Międzyczas is quite depressive and melodic black metal, even a bit intricate. I found the album good enough to dig deeper and share with you what I’ve found. Continue reading »

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