LISTMANIA 2016: YEAR-END LISTS FROM THEMADISRAELI

 LISTMANIA 2016  9 Responses »
Dec 212016
 

NCS The Best of 2016 graphic

 

(As LISTMANIA continues at our site, TheMadIsraeli provides his year-end lists in graphical form.)

2016 was a rough year for me that kept me from really submerging myself in music the way I would normally want to. While it seems that I managed to listen to many of the releases that really mattered, I do feel like I fell a bit short. I was, however, able to put together three lists: A top-10 death metal list, a melodic death metal list, and an overall top 10 of the year, which you’ll see in the Topster’s collages below.

A few ramble notes before the lists… Continue reading »

THE DGR-NCS HOLIDAY BUYERS’ GUIDE AND YEAR IN REVIEW FOR THE METALHEAD WHO HAS TO HAVE ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING — 2016 EDITION (PART 3)

 LISTMANIA 2016  9 Responses »
Dec 212016
 

dgr-list

 

(DGR created year-end lists of great length. He wrote many words about each listed item. Your humble editor feared that the site would collapse beneath this great leviathan of words if it reared its bulk in a single post, and therefore decided to split it up, with one part appearing each day this week. Part 1 is here and Part 2 is here.)

You knew this was coming, or you would if you had been around here the last few years. It’s been a long-standing tradition here at NCS that when the Listmania series happens, I take the filter completely off and just produce a gigantic screed of words that is occasionally interrupted with album art, music streams, and album titles with little numbers next to them. This year is no different.

In my attempt to rationalize an enormous year of music, I’ve capped my list at fifty albums, ranked in order of whichever numbers my fingers were closest to on the keyboard. On top of that, I have my usual small collection of not-metal stuff, some fun stuff, my list of shame, a likely happy face where number 8 should be because I’m a moron and put the numbers in front of a parenthesis and WordPress translates that into an emoticon, and my personal favorite award that I hand out each year.

The 50-album list continues today, counting down through No. 21: Continue reading »

A ZHRINE TOUR DIARY (aka “THE EVERYTHING IS FINE TOUR DIARY”): EPISODE IV

 Metal News  3 Responses »
Dec 212016
 

zhrine-tour-diary-iv-9

 

On November 2, the Shrines of Paralysis North American Tour launched in Los Angeles, headlined by New Zealand’s Ulcerate and also including the Icelandic band Zhrine, and Phobocosm from Montreal. While the tour was in progress we posted three installments of a tour diary (collected here) beautifully written by Zhrine’s manager Bogi Bjarnason. The tour has now ended, and we have been fortunate to receive one final episode of the diary.

These tour reports, which spanned the bizarre tumult of our presidential election in the U.S., have provided a fascinating and unabashedly opinionated outsider’s perspective on the crossing of our vast continent, and it’s even more timely now that we’re in the throes of year-end listmania in metaldom — which has seen the name of Zhrine’s 2016 album appearing with regularity.

Without further ado, we present the final chapter in the “Everything Is Fine” tour diary by Bogi Bjarnason, once again accompanied by his cellphone photos — along with one final request from this end: Yes, for fuck’s sake, do it again. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ASTRAL BLOOD: “FREE OF MY SCARS”

 Premieres, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Dec 212016
 

astral-blood-free-of-my-scars

 

To celebrate the Winter Solstice today, the Minneapolis-based black metal band Astral Blood have just released the first single from their new album SYZYGY, which will be released in early 2017 by Throats Productions. The song’s name is “Free of My Scars” and it’s an irresistibly captivating track, one that’s both hauntingly atmospheric and electrifyingly vibrant.

SYZYGY is the band’s first full-length and follows the 2014 release of a self-titled EP. I started paying attention to the band when I learned that its line-up includes Joe Waller (ex-Amiensus, Adora Vivos, Sarasvati, Nuklear Frost) — who performed guitars, bass, drums, keyboards, and vocals on the new album — as well as vocalist/guitarist Andrew Rasmussen.

What you’re looking at above is the artwork for the single by Reuben Sawyer (Rainbath Visual), but also check out the wonderful cover art for the album by Jas Helena: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEPRAVITY — “NEW WORLD ORDER”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Dec 212016
 

depravity-logo

 

Necrophagist will probably never rise from the crypt where they have entombed themselves, but they seem to have been reincarnated in a new Polish band named Depravity, whose debut demo New World Order we’re premiering today.

Depravity is the solo project of a musician who calls himself Exile (also a member of the Polish death metal band Sphere). He performs bass, guitar, and gruff growls on New World Order, with a guest vocal appearance by Mikołaj “Rlyeh” Naklicki of T.S.M.E.D. and a guest guitar solo on one of the tracks by Marcin Budaj of Rockasta. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2016: LIFE METAL (A YEAR-END LIST FROM AUSTIN WEBER)

 LISTMANIA 2016  6 Responses »
Dec 212016
 

listmania-2016

 

(This is the first of several year-end lists assembled by Austin Weber that we’ll be posting this week.)

As 2016 comes to an end, I remain quite thankful to Islander for allowing me to contribute here over the last few years. I really believe in this site and our mission of sharing more of what’s out there than most other sites. So with that in mind, if anyone about to intake this hasn’t seen my prior year-end lists here at NCS, I try to do something different than most people.

My goal is to bring you a massive alternative list of my favorite lesser known releases of the year. Which means I won’t post a lot of releases that you see on other lists. Not because I didn’t dig a lot of them, but because you already know about them and will be seeing a lot of the same names being repeated elsewhere. Continue reading »

THE DGR-NCS HOLIDAY BUYERS’ GUIDE AND YEAR IN REVIEW FOR THE METALHEAD WHO HAS TO HAVE ABSOLUTELY EVERYTHING 2016 EDITION (PART 2)

 LISTMANIA 2016  6 Responses »
Dec 202016
 

dgr-list

 

(DGR created year-end lists of great length. He wrote many words about each listed item. Your humble editor feared that the site would collapse beneath this great leviathan of words if it reared its bulk in a single post, and therefore decided to split it up, with one part appearing each day this week. Part 1 is here.)

You knew this was coming, or you would if you had been around here the last few years. It’s been a long-standing tradition here at NCS that when the Listmania series happens, I take the filter completely off and just produce a gigantic screed of words that is occasionally interrupted with album art, music streams, and album titles with little numbers next to them. This year is no different.

In my attempt to rationalize an enormous year of music, I’ve capped my list at fifty albums, ranked in order of whichever numbers my fingers were closest to on the keyboard. On top of that, I have my usual small collection of not-metal stuff, some fun stuff, my list of shame, a likely happy face where number 8 should be because I’m a moron and put the numbers in front of a parenthesis and WordPress translates that into an emoticon, and my personal favorite award that I hand out each year.

The 50-album list continues today: Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: IN DEATH… — “GODZILLA”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Dec 202016
 

in-death-band

 

If you haven’t had your head hammered and your spine jolted lately, we’re going to fill that need right now. Actually, an Australian band named In Death… will do that for you. We’ll just stand off to the side and wait to sweep up the bone fragments after they’re done.

What we have for you is an official video for a track named “Godzilla” off In Death…‘s new album The Devil Speaks, which is headed your way early next year. Good name for the song, as you’ll soon discover. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: THE MANX — “MYSTERY SKUM”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Dec 202016
 

the-manx-1

 

We’re about to take a large step off our usual beaten paths, though maybe you’ll come to realize that it’s not as big a leap as first appearances might suggest.

What we’re presenting today is a music video for a new song called “Mystery Skum” by a band from Los Angeles who call themselves The Manx. The video was filmed during a 2015 tour with Nekrogoblikon and Crimson Shadows, though the song itself hasn’t yet been officially released. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MARTYRDÖD — “HANDLÖST FALLEN ÄNGEL”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Dec 202016
 

martyrdod-video-1

 

I’ve already opened the floodgates to a torrent of words about Martyrdöd’s new album List. Count yourselves lucky — I could have gone on at even greater length extolling the virtues of the album. It remains one of my personal favorite releases of this year that’s about to expire. Insofar as I’m able to create any kind of objective distance from the music despite the immense, visceral impact it has had on me, I also think it’s one of the best albums of 2016. You may now be able to imagine my excitement at the chance we’ve been given to premiere the video you’re about to see for a song from the album, “Handlöst Fallen Ängel“.

List was released by Southern Lord on November 25. The video provides an excuse for people like me to urge other people who may not yet have explored List to STOP FUCKING AROUND AND DO IT. But happily, the video is a great stand-alone combination of sights and sounds, wholly apart from the excuse it gives me to hector you about this riveting album. Continue reading »

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