Dec 302014
 

 

(Continuing with this year’s edition of LISTMANIA, I again invited Johan Huldtgren of the Swedish black metal band Obitus — whose latest release appears on one of the Elemental Nightmares splits (here) — to share with us his year-end list. Once again, he agreed. An expanded version of this list appears on Johan’s blog.)

As in 2013 I’ve had a very busy year outside of listening to music; life and work have kept me on the road a lot, and as a result I know I’ve missed a lot of releases this year. That said, I think this year’s list is quite strong, but I’m fairly certain that in a few months I’ll find a few albums that had I heard them earlier, would have made this year’s list. Alas there is little to be done about that, these lists are after all a snapshot in time. So here is the list of my favourite releases from 2014: Continue reading »

Dec 302014
 

 

I’ve fallen a bit behind in my efforts to collect news items and new songs I think are worthy of attention. There was some holiday recently that proved to be a distraction, plus I’ve been spending time on year-end lists of one kind or another. So this collection includes items of interest I spotted over the last 4 or 5 days, presented in alphabetical order, along with a recommendation from NCS contributor Grant Skelton at the end.

DEIPHAGO

I checked — 18 months have passed since the last time I wrote about Deiphago, reviewing the vinyl edition of a 2012 split release they did with Ritual Combat. But as far as I can tell, that split was the last recording these Filipino marauders released, and we’re now more than two years on from their last full-length, the devastating Satan Alpha Omega. Therefore, I’m really pleased to report that Deiphago have recently finished recording a new album with producer Colin Marston that should see release early next year on the Hells Headbangers label.

The name of the album is Into the Eye of Satan, and the cover art by Axel Hermann (above) is a real eye-catcher.

I have no music to share with you yet, only high hopes for a highly anticipated assault of blackened death metal. Continue reading »

Dec 292014
 

 

For the last month we’ve been rolling out a multitude of year-end lists written for our site by musicians, fans, fellow bloggers, and our own humble staff, but we’re still keeping an eye open for lists that appear at what I’ve been calling “big platform” web sites, i.e., entertainment portals with big audiences that don’t cater only to metalheads. Today, Pitchfork unveiled its list of “The Best Metal Albums of 2014”.

It’s actually a collection of multiple lists, leading off with a personal Top 25 compiled by Pitchfork writer Brandon Stosuy (author of the “Show No Mercy” column), followed by separate selections by other Pitchfork metal contributors, including Kim Kelly, Zoe Camp, Grayson Currin, Jason Heller, and Andy O’Connor, as well as David Castillo of Brooklyn’s Saint Vitus bar.

After the jump, you’ll see Stosuy’s Top 25, and by following this link you can read his thoughts about each selection and listen to sample songs; the additional lists contributed by the other Pitchfork metal writers can be found at the same place.

As for the list itself, it includes many names that have been appearing, well, everywhere (e.g., YOB, Pallbearer, and Godflesh), but it also includes some names that, although deserving, will likely appeal to a much narrower slice of listeners (e.g., Thantifaxath, Teitanblood, Krieg, and Diocletian). But perhaps the biggest surprise — and a welcome one — is the album that landed in the No. 1 spot. Continue reading »

Dec 292014
 

 

Welcome to Part 6 of our list of 2014′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. For the other songs we’ve previously named to the list, go here.

AENAON

Despite the fact that Aenaon’s latest album Extance was released almost 12 months ago, and despite the fact that it was recommended in two different posts at our site, by Austin Weber (here) and KevinP (here), I still didn’t get around to exploring its wonders until this month — and only then after it appeared on no fewer than four different year-end lists published at our site, as well as a bunch of reader lists (collected here). One of our year-end contributors (deckard cain) also nominated one of the album’s songs for this “most infectious” list, and today I’m enthusiastically agreeing. Continue reading »

Dec 292014
 

 

Three years after the release of their debut album, the Israeli band Shredhead (who are now based in Berlin) are on the brink of releasing their second full-length, Death Is Righteous, via the Danish label Mighty Music. With a name like “Shredhead”, the band provide a strong clue to their chosen style of mayhem, but we’ll take away the guesswork by giving you a taste of the new album through our premiere of the album’s third track, “The Lie”.

The song does indeed deliver a potent guitar attack, but there’s as much powerhouse groove in “The Lie” as there is whiplashing thrash. In fact, the grinding bass and explosive drumwork make a very strong impression — sort of like the impression made by a crowbar applied vigorously to the back of the neck. Continue reading »

Dec 292014
 

 

(HAIL GZOROTH! We filthy NCS human are pathetically grateful to Cretos Filthgrinder, provider of lead and crunchy guitars and utterer of gutturals and growls for A Band of Orcs, for accepting our invitation to share with us his year-end list. HAIL GZOROTH!)

1 Triptykon – Melana Chasmata

Tom G. Warrior should slay it all! Tusks up for the abysmal masterpiece that is Melana Chasmata. From the first ear-piercing guitar tone to the last oRcgelic female vocal, Melana Chasmata takes Cretos out of Hirntodia and into the maelstrom of Celtic Frost-style hooks and doom-inspired hauntings. Melana Chasmata very well could be the best offering since To Mega Therion.


Continue reading »

Dec 282014
 

 

Today we bring you Part 5 of our list of 2014′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. For the other songs we’ve previously named to the list, go here.

Up to now, every song on the list has come from an album that we reviewed at this site. Today’s entries come from two albums we failed to review, though they are both excellent. However, we did write about individual songs from both albums, so we’re not complete failures. And I thought both songs would make for a nice pairing because of certain stylistic similarities in the music — but you be the judge of that.

WOLVHAMMER

Wolvhammer is one of those few bands who made a striking start with their debut album (The Obsidian Plains) and then just continued to make strong and steady progress with each successive release. Their third album, 2014’s Clawing Into Black Sun, is not only their high-water mark, it was also one of my favorite albums of this year. Continue reading »

Dec 282014
 

 

(Today we welcome Dan Barkasi to NCS. Dan plans to provide a monthly column on new metal releases that ring his chimes, and in this post he introduces himself with a year-end list of top albums and EPs.)

Hello, fine folks of NCS! My name is Dan Barkasi, and I’m a newcomer to this fine collection of music lovers. Who the hell are you, you say? Simply, you’re looking at a guy who – like yourself – has a very keen love of music. And, yeah, this guy tends to never shut up about it. But that’s good, as I get to share lots of goodies with you all!

I’ve been writing since 2003, am 32-years-old, and have been listening to the good stuff since I hit the ripe old impressionable age of 12.  So really, about two decades of living this sort of music. That makes one feel really old!

Anyways, the subject of this monthly column is going to be what’s been rotating that’s new and fresh in my scattered brain. Maybe a mention of some classics along the way, as well.

While thinking about what the best way to introduce myself to you fine folks, the conclusion was to cook up an extensive year-end list. You’ll get to know my musical preferences – which are all pretty damn eclectic – and maybe you’ll find a few gems that you may not have stumbled upon otherwise. Great! Enough of my blathering – to the tunes! Continue reading »

Dec 282014
 

 

(Our guest Grant Skelton returns to NCS with a thought piece about extremity in metal.)

“I know your works: you are neither cold nor hot. Would that you were either cold or hot! So, because you are lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spit you out of my mouth.”
Revelations 3:15-16, English Standard Version

The psychedelic haze of the 60’s wasn’t extreme enough for an unknown heavy blues band called Earth. So they read some occult fiction and wrote a song based on the tritone diabolus in musica, the Devil’s interval. The song was named for a horror film starring Boris Karloff — Black Sabbath — and the name became their own. After about a decade, Sabbath were no longer on the fringe. Their extremity had waned. Enter thrash metal. Booze-pounding, head banging, denim-donning guys with mullets. If Sabbath, Maiden, and Priest were too slow for you, throw on some Metallica, Megadeth, and of course Slayer. If those bands didn’t do it for you, you could dig deeper underground for Sepultura, Possessed, Pestilence, Death, Dark Angel, Celtic Frost, and so on. Don’t forget the Florida death metal scene. And the Gothenburg scene that answered right back. Then there’s Norwegian black metal that gave us the likes of Darkthrone, Emperor, Immortal, and Mayhem.

Each generation of metal musicians stands on the shoulders of those who came before. Every generation builds on what came before it, creating layer upon layer of extremity. What was considered thought-provoking ten years ago is stagnant today. And yet, there is something of a veneration for the bands of yesteryear. Old bands that broke up, or stopped recording prior to the Internet age, are seeing a resurgence in their popularity. Young, new fans are hearing older music and they want it. They want to stream it and buy it. They want T-shirts, they want tickets to shows. They want a reunion album and a tour. So they buy an older album that just got remastered and released via Bandcamp. Or they throw in on an Indiegogo, GoFundMe, or Kickstarter. They want perks and prizes. They’re not content to just hit the repeat button on YouTube. They want to be a consumer of quality music, and not just a passerby. Continue reading »

Dec 272014
 

 

Welcome to Part 4 of our list of 2014′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. For the other songs we’ve previously named to the list, go here. Today we add two more songs, from two rising stars in the firmament of metal, both of whom match technically impressive instrumental skill with songwriting prowess.

BLACK CROWN INITIATE

At the moment, I can’t remember a current band whose fortunes have risen so far, so fast, as Black Crown Initiate from Reading, PA. On the strength of one four-song EP — Song of the Crippled Bull (glowingly reviewed here by TheMadIsraeli) — they landed on a slew of high-profile, kickass tours, the first of which was headlined by Behemoth (I reviewed the Seattle stop of that mega-tour here). That EP also landed them a spot on the roster of eOne Music, which released the band’s debut album this year — The Wreckage of Stars.

The album proved beyond doubt that Song of the Crippled Bull was no fluke. As DGR wrote in our review of the album: Continue reading »