ALBUM STREAM: FRACTAL GENERATOR — “APOTHEOSYNTHESIS”

 Premieres  No Responses »
May 192017
 

 

Sometimes the name that a band chooses for itself can be a significant clue to the kind of music they make. The name Fractal Generator sounds kind of cybernetic and machine-like, although fractal repeating patterns across multiple scales of size are evident in nature as well as mathematics. But then consider further that the members of this band from Sudbury in Ontario, Canada, identify themselves by number: 040118180514 (bass, vocals), 040114090512 (drums), and 102119200914 (guitar, vocals). And then consider that the name of their debut album is Apotheosynthesis.

The album was originally self-released by the band in 2015, but it has now been embraced by Everlasting Spew Records, which is releasing it on CD and digitally today (May 19th). To help spread the word, we’re bringing you a full stream of the album in video form. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: DØDSENGEL — “INTEREQUINOX”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
May 192017
 

 

The brutish compulsions and unforced vices of daily life pour us like hot clay into forms. We move and solidify into shapes, and twist into shadows. Never quite as solid as stones, but at risk of freezing in our steps. The poison of implacable cell death leeches us from our first breaths, but provides a bargain — there is glory to be found in those breaths, if we can only find it before it is too late.

All of this doom, and all of this potential for exultation… art has ever sought to capture the experience. Probably, the intensity of our creeping and bounding on the edge of the precipice can’t really be captured by art, but Dødsengel come very close. Perilously close. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW (PART 2): BARBARIAN SWORDS (VÖN PAX)

 Interviews  No Responses »
May 182017
 

 

(Guest contributor Pablo Balbontín, editor of the Spanish webzine Subterráneo, brings us Part 2 of an  interview of Vön Pax, vocalist of the Spanish band Barbarian Swords, whose latest album Worms we premiered last November in advance of its release by Cimmerian Shade and Satanath Records. Part 1 is here; Part 3 will appear tomorrow.)

 

Your relationship with labels, it’s a mess… First of all, you’re signed with Cimmerian Shade Recordings, and then with Satanath Records and The Ritual Productions. Some of them have carried out with the CD version, I think Cimmerian handles the cassette version… Why did you decide to work in this way? What does each one do? Which are their tasks? Perhaps they handle the distribution for some different countries?

Von Päx: This was organized in the underground way. I mean, we are a tiny band. Only a madman can get ahead of our music and invest in it, and we were lucky to find that. Cimmerian Shade Recordings from the USA handles the double gatefold vinyl, the double cassette edition, limited to a red one and a black one, and then a Digipack CD, which is pretty awesome.

On the other hand, Satanath Records from Rusia and The Ritual Productions from Netherlands both produce the regular jewelcase. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BARROWS — “ZENITH”

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May 182017
 

 

We’re about to fly off all of our site’s brutally well-beaten paths, and then keep soaring up and out, sort of like the leaping figure on the attention-grabbing cover of Barrows‘ new album Obsidion, which will be released on May 26th through the German label Tonzonen Records. The song from that album we’re bringing you today is “Zenith“.

This isn’t one of our infrequent exceptions to the rule proclaimed in our site’s name, because there is no singing at all on “Zenith“, or anywhere else on Obsidion. And bear that in mind as you further consider that “Zenith” is almost 13 minutes long, and includes only the barest hints of metal. What, you may ask yourself, could possibly hold my attention? Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 2): INTEGRITY, KOLLAPSE, NECROHERESY, BARBARIAN, PORTRAYAL OF GUILT

 Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
May 182017
 

 

Part 1 of this late-week round-up can be found here. I’m still not finished throwing recommendations your way, but Part 3 will have to wait until tomorrow. They’re closing the door on my airplane now.

INTEGRITY

Yesterday Integrity released an official video for “I Am The Spell“, a track off their new (12th) album Howling, For The Nightmare Shall Consume, which is described as “a conceptual foretelling of the final days of Armageddon”. It will be released by Relapse on July 14th. The lyrics tell you a lot about the sound of this new track: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): PYRRHON, DER WEG EINER FREIHEIT, PERSECUTORY

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
May 182017
 

 

I don’t know how far I’ll get with this project. I have a lot of music I want to share today, but I’m also boarding a plane for central Texas in a couple of hours. I’ve got two more parts of this round-up partially written, but still want to re-listen to the songs I’ve chosen before spilling out my impressions in print. I either will or won’t finish before I have to board, when streaming the music will become technologically  impossible.

As a last resort, I might just have to throw the remaining streams at you without my own words of wisdom. What a cruel twist of fate that would be. More likely, the series will just spill over into tomorrow.

PYRRHON

What Passes For Survival is the new album by New York’s Pyrrhon. Given this band’s track record, it will be a must-listen release, simply to discover what kind of twisting terrors their imaginations have conceived this time around. But we do now have a clue. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SOULSKINNER — “DESCENT TO ABADDON”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  2 Responses »
May 172017
 

 

Soulskinner is a Greek death metal band with a storied history, one that stretches back to 1997 when the band was formed under the name Terra Tenebrae. Although line-up changes have occurred, the band is still anchored by vocalist Gothmog and guitarist Bill Zobolas (“EL“), both of whom have also been fixtures in the ranks of Thou Art Lord, and for their new fourth album they’re joined by drummer Kostas Savvidis, guitarist Spyros Triantafyllou, and bassist Costas Analytis.

That new fourth album is Descent To Abaddon, and in advance of its May 22nd release by Xtreem Music, we have a stream of the entire album for your enjoyment. Continue reading »

BYZANTINE: “NEW WAYS TO BEAR WITNESS”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
May 172017
 

 

I’m going to make this short and sweet. West Virginia’s Byzantine have just released a new video for a new song off their new album, The Cicada Tree, which will be released through Metal Blade on July 28th. We’ve been long-time fans of Byzantine at this putrid site, and have had high hopes for this new album. Based on this song, it sounds like those hopes will be fulfilled.

“New Ways To Bear Witness” is, among other things, catchy as hell. And those other things include the fact that it’s a primal, high-energy, thundering, grooving, thrashing, ass-kicker of a heavy metal song. Main man Chris “OJ” Ojeda is in fine voice, both when he’s putting the grit into the sound and when he sends his voice soaring, and the song also includes some memorable soloing, plus a dramatic melody that suits the serious-minded lyrics. Continue reading »

THE BEST OF BRITISH, 2017 (PART 4): BELIAL / DREKAVAC / MONOLITHIAN

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
May 172017
 

 

(Andy Synn once again focuses on recent or forthcoming releases by bands from his native land, this time selecting releases by Belial, Drekavac, and Monolithian.)

Breaking with convention ever so slightly, this edition of “The Best of British” is focussed on EPs, rather than albums, providing you with a hand-picked triptych of short, but oh-so-sweet, metallic morsels to devour at your leisure.

BELIAL – NIHIL EST

Punishing Deathcore with a pronounced Technical edge, the sophomore EP by these Swindon-based savages is a crushing conglomeration of coiled riffs, convulsive rhythms, and cascading electronics — plus the occasional bone-shattering breakdown – that should appeal to anyone who considers themselves a fan of All Shall Perish, Fit For An Autopsy, and their ilk. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: THE THIRTEENTH SUN — “UNIVERSUS”

 Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres  2 Responses »
May 172017
 

 

Stardust is the debut album of the Romanian band The Thirteenth Sun, released last week by Aural Music. In multiple ways, the album represents a journey of exploration, using an escape from the confines of earth and a venturing into the limitless night sky as a metaphor for an exploration of one’s self, free of the constraints of routine and any settled expectations about the possibilities of what may lie ahead. The name the band chose for themselves and the title they picked for the album manifest the concept, as does the striking and memorable cover art by Costin Chioreanu. But of course the concept is reflected most strongly in the music itself.

The music on Stardust is not all the same, although there are unifying ingredients that pass through the album. The album’s own journey begins with a track named “Universus“, and it’s the subject of an animated video created by Costin Chioreanu that provides a fascinating visual companion to the music, and we’re delighted to premiere it below. Continue reading »

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