March 2016 - Page 3 of 12 - NO CLEAN SINGING

SHORT BUT SWEET: HISSING — S/T

Mar 252016

I’ve been meaning to write about the 2015 self-titled EP by Seattle’s Hissing for a long time, but now that it’s being re-issued in CD format by Jeff Wilson’s Disorder Recordings today, I’ve been given a second chance to make amends for my past failings — and the band have a couple of noteworthy tours beginning this week that I’d like to spread the word about as well (they’re playing in Seattle this very night along with Lycus, Un, and Eye of Nix).

As noted, Hissing are based here in Seattle, and this EP was their debut release. There’s not one moment of reassurance in its roughly 20-minute run-time, not even in the minute of silence that begins the “Outro” track, when you’re left to stew in your own juices before being surrounded by what sounds like some kind of ghastly industrial assembly line backed by the sound of altered strings. Continue reading »

MANTAR: “ODE TO THE FLAME”

Album Reviews 3 Responses »

Mar 252016

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Germany’s Mantar, coming next month from Nuclear Blast.)

When I say that Ode to the Flame, the second album by German blackened sludgemeisters Mantar, is one badass motherfucker, you’d best believe that I mean it.

Fuelled by rage and empowered by the divine spirit of “the riff”, practically every aspect of it – from its punishing, stone-cold grooves, snarling, punked-up hooks, and monstrously heavy guitar sound – is a huge step up from the band’s debut, with Messrs. Hanno (vocals/guitars) and Erinc (drums/vocals) upping their game on pretty much every level.

Bristling with barely restrained aggression, and gifted with a brash, belligerent swagger and a malicious streak a mile wide, it’s also the first album in a long, long time, to fill that twisted, Nachtmystium-shaped hole in my heart, though its tar-soaked and sludge-encrusted underbelly and downright surly demeanour mean that the final product offers up a much different experience than Judd and co’s self-loathing anthems. Continue reading »

BENEATH THE NCS RADAR (PART 9)

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 12 Responses »

Mar 252016

(Straight outta Norway, our friend Gorger is back with a new edition of his series recommending releases that we’ve managed to overlook. And be sure to check out Gorger’s Metal.)

“Hot on the heels” after part 8, here’s part 9 of stuff that Islander and other contributors have overlooked in the abundance of releases. Well, that’s what I wrote almost two weeks ago before slipping into a new hiatus anyway.

Today I bring you black metal and atmospheric/symphonic derivatives thereof, thrash, tech-death, blackened death, and a blackened thrash gem from down under that you could sort of sort under Islander’s Tourism posts. Not in that order, though.

Also, I originally increased this post from the usual four to five, as I recently came across an elder piece that I’ve fallen in love with. But than, when assembling the collage above, I realized that five just wasn’t doing, and thus it grew to six.

Let’s get to it, shall we? Continue reading »

COVERS: BENIGHTED IN SODOM AND KAUAN

Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 3 Responses »

Mar 252016

I’m working on a Friday round-up of new songs, but I decided I would carve these two out from the larger group and post them separately. Both of them are covers of well-known songs. The first one is actually a cover of a cover.

BENIGHTED IN SODOM

The prolific Matron Thorn seems to be one of those people for whom making music is as essential to his continued existence as oxygen and food are to the rest of us. He’s the principal creative force in Ævangelist — whose next release will be a split with Blut Aus Nord (!) — as well as a new project I’ve written about before named Death Fetishist, but one of his longest-running solo projects is Benighted In Sodom, and that’s the name under which he recorded the first song in this little collection. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: VARISCYTHE — “HOLLOWED MIND”

Premieres 4 Responses »

Mar 252016

Last fall the Dutch metal band Variscythe released their debut album Deluding Paradigm, which followed EPs released in 2011 and 2013. Today we’re bringing you the premiere of the band’s video for the new album’s third track, “Hollowed Mind”.

In “Hollowed Mind”, the band combine jolting rhythms and rapid-fire riffs, spidery lead guitar flurries and gut-punching drum work, agile bass somersaults and ferocious vocals — along with melodic hooks that are catchy but with an undercurrent of darkness (and bit of dissonance in the mix, too). Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): INFINITE DEATH — “IN DESPAIR”

Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET 1 Response »

Mar 242016

Almost exactly two years ago I came across a debut EP named Beyond the Gates by a Southern California band named Infinite Death, and spilled some words about it here. Infinite Death have now completed work on a follow-up EP called The Endless Suffering, and today we’re bringing you the premiere of the EP’s second single, “In Despair“.

Infinite Death make no bones about the fact that they’re inspired by Gothenberg-style melodic death metal, and for fans (like me) of that distinctive, Swedish brand of metal, The Endless Suffering will be a welcome dose of well-executed, high-energy extremity. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: THANATOPSIS — “YOUR DEMISE”

Premieres 4 Responses »

Mar 242016

We’re about to bring you a blast from the past that’s now very much a part of the present.

Thanatopsis are originally from Oakland, CA, where the four founding members, Chris Stolle, Dave Couch, John Bishop, and Thom Hall got together in 1992 under the name Existence. Shortly thereafter, the band changed their name to Thanatopsis, after the poem by William Cullen Bryant, which translates to Meditation upon Death.

Between 1993 and 1997, the band released four demos and played some high-profile shows in the Bay Area, gaining a reputation for their distinctive approach to death metal. However, the group officially disbanded in 1997. There was a brief reunion in 2004 when the band played one show with death metal brethren Deeds of Flesh and Vile, and one show with Agent Steel, but beyond those two successful shows, the reunion was short-lived. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ABNORMALITY — “SWARM”

Premieres 3 Responses »

Mar 242016

Just about 10 days ago we excitedly reported about the advent of the title track to the first album since 2012 by Abnormality from Massachusetts — Mechanisms of Omniscience — which is coming our way on April 29 via Metal Blade Records. And now we get to bring you the premiere of the new album’s opening track: “Swarm“.

You’d better be sitting down before punching the play button on “Swarm”, because it detonates like a megaton warhead right from the start. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: EVER-FROST — “THE HIVE MIND”

Premieres No Responses »

Mar 242016

Ever-Frost are a five-man band who make their home in Modena, Italy. Their debut album Departing of Time appeared in 2013, and in January of this year they released a new EP entitled Undefined Colors. To help spread the word about this new creation, we previously premiered the EP’s final song, “Phoenix Rising”, and today we’re helping spread the word about a brand new video for a song called “The Have Mind”.

Ever-Frost have drawn inspiration for their music from bands that range from Dark Tranquillity to Soilwork to The Faceless. “The Hive Mind” is a galloping, jabbing, tension-ratcheting, high-energy slice of melodic death metal that makes space for a scintillating guitar solo (and a booming breakdown, too). Continue reading »

HELGAMITE: “HYPNAGOGIA”

Album Reviews 4 Responses »

Mar 242016

Here we are, nearing the end of 2016’s first quarter, and an unheralded album by a Virginia band I previously knew nothing about turns out to be one of my favorite releases of the new year. The band is Helgamite, the album is Hypnagogia, and it’s brilliant.

Sometimes a short genre description tells you all you need to know about a band, but not here. Helgamite call their music “Dark psychedelic Appalachian stoner doom”, and I guess that’s fair enough as far as it goes, but it really doesn’t go nearly far enough.

That phrase might make you think you’re in for not much more than a dose of primitive fuzzy riffs shrouded in Sabbathian gloom and a scattering of trippy guitar solos — you know, the kind of thing that’s been done to death but never seems to die. And… you would be dead wrong.
Continue reading »

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