Aug 102016
 

Colosso-Obnoxious

 

On September 9 the Portuguese death metal band Colosso will release their second album under the title Obnoxious, which refers not to the sound of the music but to the lyrical focus of the songs — “the extreme void of society, a black hole created by egos, profit and chaos.” Today we have for you the debut of a lyric video for the album’s second track, “The Unrepentant“.

By way of biographical history, Colosso burst upon the scene with a 2012 debut album called Abrasive Peace at a time when Colosso was the solo project of Max Tomé (with drums performed on the album by the esteemed Dirk Verbeuren). By the time of Colosso’s second release, the Thallium EP, Tomé had recruited a full band, and they followed Thallium with a 7″ double-single named Foregone Semblances in 2014.

And still the band’s sound continues to evolve, as reflected on the new album, with more progressive and experimental elements in the music. But as you’ll hear in the video we’re premiering, ferocity is very much a leading ingredient as well. Continue reading »

Aug 102016
 

Armagedda-3

 

(All the way from sunny Norway, our blog brother Gorger is back, this time with a special mid-week edition of our usual Sunday column focusing on metal from the past.  To find more of Gorger’s writings, type “Gorger” in our search bar or visit Gorger’s Metal.)

In Norway, pilsner, a light golden beer with a mild and refreshing taste, an eponymous brand originated in the Czech area of Plzeň, or Pilsen if you will, has by far been the beer of choice for most people for decades.

As a white wine of beers (not that it’s weissbier (wheat beer), it’s rather a pale lager), not too unlike Heineken, Budweiser, Miller Genuine Draft, or perhaps Miller Lite, I’d suppose. It’s an unrivaled thirst quencher, but for those moments when you want to enjoy some rich flavored beer, some of us have always turned to the red wine of beers, bayer (a dark lager), ale, porter, and such.

Beer is metal, but it’s not music, so by now, you’re undoubtedly wandering just what the hell this has got to to with metal. As darker, tastier types of beer have grown in popularity over the past few years, and micro breweries have popped up everywhere, we’ve seen a rash of bearded hipsters enjoying it. And whilst it’s a positive thing, it also accumulates that angered feeling of “why the hell didn’t you drink it ten years ago, like some of us did, if it’s so tasty, you fucking pussy”.

Similarly, we all have some obscure underground gems that we almost keep to ourselves, and only sport whence appropriate. If these became majorly famed, hell even trendy, that would undeniably ruin some of their magic, right? Still, I feel like I’ve had these bands to myself for ages, and time is ripe for sharing the murky grandeur with you all. Besides, this music ain’t becoming totally mainstream any time soon anyway. Brace yourself for a true pitch black attack! Continue reading »

Aug 092016
 

Feral Light-A Sound of Moving Shields

 

Feral Light come our way from Minneapolis, with a three-man line-up consisting of vocalist Jeff Scheuermann (Incarnate Deity, ex-Finger of Scorn), guitarist/bassist Andy Schoengrund (previously a member of such bands as Wolvhammer, Empires, and Manetheren), and drummer Andrew Reesen (ex-Censer). With a 2015 self-titled demo under their belts, on August 19 their debut EP A Sound of Moving Shields will be released on tape (and digitally) by Sentient Ruin Laboratories. Last month I raved about the EP’s first advance track, “Baptized In Shellfire”, and now we have the pleasure of bringing you another new song from the EP, “Hell By Compass“.

With lyrical themes that focus on the self-destructive horrors of human warfare, Feral Light draw upon the traditions of black metal, crust, and hardcore to create music that’s dark, intense, and as raw and grim as a mortal wound. But while the band are very effective at pulling the listener by the throat through a harsh and ravaging gauntlet of hopeless turmoil, the music is multifaceted — it rocks damned hard, and its bleak melodies are capable of leaving a mark in your mind as well. Continue reading »

Aug 092016
 

Singularity cover art

 

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a new song by Arizona’s Singularity.)

One of my favorite things about what we do here at NCS is our devotion to showing you new and lesser known acts, and then continuing to cover their careers over the years. While there are many bands I’ve been excited to continue covering over the years, Arizona-based black-metal-infused tech-death band Singularity are one of my absolute favorites.

We first started covering them here in 2013 when I stumbled onto some early tracks by the band, and then later helped them premiere “Throne Of Thorns” off their forthcoming 2014 full-length (and then latered review the full album). Now they’re back at it again with the upcoming Friday, September 2nd, release of a brand new EP entitled Void Walker. And we’ve got the first premiere from it with today’s launch of a stunning new song that doubles as a spacey lyric video journey for “The Refusal”. Continue reading »

Aug 092016
 

Solstice 1

 

(Our Russian interviewing fiend Comrade Aleks is back, this time presenting a conversation with Paul Kearns, vocalist of the British band Solstice.)

Solstice is a kind of unique phenomenon of the British doom scene. Being raised in 1990, the band built their reputation with two excellent professional albums, Lamentations (1994) and New Dark Ages (1998), and also with the extreme slowness with which Solstice write new songs. You’ll easily understand the situation if you remember that the band’s only original member today is the guitarist Richard M. Walker, who’s an incorrigible perfectionist. However, since 1998 the band have released a pair of splits and a bunch of compilations, though there were also demos and one EP recorded in 2013 (Death’s Crown Is Victory) with Paul Kearns on vocals.

As the band slowly strides toward their next full-length album, or maybe just to their next song, we got in contact with Paul and had a pretty cool and informative conversation, though it took some time, as does everything connected with Solstice. Continue reading »

Aug 092016
 

Witherscape-The Northern Sancturay

 

(DGR provides this extended review of the new second album by Sweden’s Witherscape.)

Witherscape’s debut album The Inheritance is one of those albums where I’m not sure where the internet fell on it as a whole. Usually you can get a pretty good sense of the fan consensus around albums a while after release, once we’ve all gotten off of the shiny new high and hindsight takes over. But The Inheritance is one of those rare albums where it seems like some folks really loved it and others were content to look at it as an interesting experiment with some odd quirks. I fell into the latter camp.

I thought The Inheritance had some incredible highs but overall it felt a bit like Witherscape were throwing caution to the wind, which is an awesome thing for a new project, but by the same token it also means that some parts just don’t work together. However, with a release like that comes the ability to analyze what really worked for you and what didn’t. If done correctly, a followup disc could make a band like this sound stronger than ever before and really execute upon the premise that (in this case) Witherscape was founded upon — which admittedly, I’m not quite sure of to this day. Continue reading »

Aug 092016
 

Kvlthammer-Oath

 

(T0dd Manning prepared this review of the new album by Indiana’s Kvlthammer.)

Extreme Metal nowadays draws from such an amazingly diverse range of influences that one would be forgiven for forgetting its essential roots in pure Rock and Roll fury, but there are always bands there to remind us of the vitality of the stripped-down approach. Indianapolis-based maniacs Kvlthammer are one such act and their latest opus Oath is a powerful statement of straight-for-the-throat Metal that any self-respecting Metalhead would do well not to pass by.

Album opener “Don’t Try” lays down the framework quite nicely with its mash-up of Motörhead and Discharge, with sprinklings of Sludge and tons of nice twin-guitar work. From there, each track touches upon so many classic elements while establishing its own niche at the same time. One might spot moments of Celtic Frost butting up against Venom and Kill’em All-era Metallica, and occasionally more current bands such as Goatwhore, Craft, and Darkthrone exert their influence as well. Continue reading »

Aug 082016
 

Darkthrone-2

 

As you know, we don’t try to keep you abreast of the many breaking news stories in metal every day, but this announcement from an hour ago on Darkthrone’s Facebook page elevated my pulse rate in a way that usually happens only when I discover a hole in the electrified fence at the loris compound and all the knives have disappeared:

“Hi folks, it’s time to talk a bit about our new album – and as I don’t like to talk or write about music much I can say that it is more serious and primitive than usual. Vocals are only done by Ted as I thought this would create a more solemn/introvert atmosphere. The album is called ARCTIC THUNDER because it is my fave bandname (old mega-obscure Norwegian band from the 80s that I asked the permission from to use as an album title). Continue reading »

Aug 082016
 

INTO THE STORM - Where the Merfalo Roam (Web Res)

 

There’s no questioning the fact that Seattle’s Into the Storm have a sense of humor. That’s evident in the play on words that stands as the title of their new album, Where the Merfalo Roam, as well as in some of their song titles, including the one we’re premiering today — “I Gotta Get the Bees Outta My Teeth“. The batshit-crazy video accompanying the song is damned funny, too — in a very strange and somewhat stomach-turning way.

But this is one of those instances when you shouldn’t leap to the conclusion that the music is some kind of goof, just because the band wear their sense of humor on their sleeves. If you do that, you’ll be in for a jarring surprise. Continue reading »

Aug 082016
 

Neill Jameson

 

(Krieg’s Neill Jameson recently completed a very well-read three-part NCS series on obscure black metal from the ’90s (collected behind this link), and now he returns to our site with a different kind of mixtape.)

Even though we’re still in the middle of the season where your chances of getting skin cancer AND being irritated at all times is still going strong, I’m attempting to be forward-thinking. Thus to take my mind off the heat, I’ve decided to write about miserable and morose music this time around. I figure if places are trying to shove pumpkin beer up our asses in the middle of summer then I might as well shove some gloomy music up whatever orifice you prefer. I’m trying to be considerate.

As some of these artists have wildly varying styles across recordings I’m just going to hone in on one specific one per, but the majority of these fine and well-adjusted folks have a lengthy resume to choose from, so don’t just take my preference as gospel, which I’m sure no one does anyway. Continue reading »