AN NCS SPLIT PREMIERE: TANNÖD, RAUHNACHT, HANTERNOZ

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Nov 302017
 

 

The underground French label Antiq Records has recently released an hour-long concept split about legends of the Alps by three black metal bands from different countries that share that famous range — Tannöd from Germany, Rauhnåcht from Austria, and Hanternoz from France. The title is Spukgeschichten – Anciennes légendes des Alpes.

A few of these ten songs have previously been released for streaming, but today, as the album is being released digitally through Bandcamp, we have the full album stream in its entirety — preceded by a few remarks about the musical contributions of each band.

TANNÖD

The five tracks by the Bavarian band Tannöd that begin this new split are the band’s first publicly released output, and they make for an auspicious debut. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EXALTER — “SLAUGHTER CLEANSE REPEAT”

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Nov 302017
 

 

I must say, I really like the name of the Exalter song we’re premiering today — “Slaughter Cleanse Repeat” — because it’s so close to what I do in my listening every day, except I never really feel clean. I certainly feel more slaughtered than clean when I listen to this song, but it’s also very, very easy to repeat the experience, because it’s so damned invigorating.

Exalter’s brand of thrash, as revealed through this song, is not only catchy as hell, it’s also a vicious, jolting, galloping, hard-punching, skull-cracking rush, and the raw, rabid vocals sound like a big angry mastiff eager to taste your jugular blood. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: OBSCURE BURIAL — “DAWN OF ESCHATON”

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Nov 302017
 

 

For those who have supped from the hideous potions of death concocted by the Finnish band Obscure Burial in their two previous demos — 2012’s God’s Abomination and 2014’s Epiphany — the prospect of a debut album has provoked a mixture of fear and relish, and that frightful hungering only intensified when the band released a single from the album named “Imago Mortis” last summer, and a further sonic abomination named “Necrophagous Ritual” more recently.

We don’t have long to wait for the album. Self-titled, it will be released by Invictus Productions (who also brought us those demos) on December 15. And you don’t have long to wait for further signs of the album’s mind-mangling black/death sorcery, because we have a third track for you today: “Dawn of Eschaton“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MANIPULATION — “CONFESSION”

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Nov 302017
 

 

It’s our pleasure to ruin your eardrums, splinter your spine, and leave your mouth open in a ghoulish, drooling smile with our premiere of a track by the Polish death metal band Manipulation.

The band have been around since 2001. Their debut album The Future of Immortality was released a decade ago… but it is now getting a facelift and a reissue, courtesy of the Belarusian label GrimmDistribution. And by “facelift”, I mean that it has been remastered, with new artwork and fresh vocal insanity by the band’s new frontman. Continue reading »

THE NEAR FUTURE OF NCS: A FORECAST OF THE REMAINING WEEKS OF 2017 (AND SOME NEW MUSIC BY MARIJANNAH)

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  10 Responses »
Nov 302017
 


…a photo from a place I’m about to visit again…

 

I’m never sure how many people make visits to our site a clockwork part of their day, like a piss upon rising, or a morning coffee, or a shot and a beer at the end of the workday, or a way of re-setting the mind before entering the Land of Nod at night. But I like to think it’s more than a few of you, and so in fairness to those people, I’m writing this post.

Today is the last day of November, and so one month remains in the countdown of our completely arbitrary but ingrained measurement of a milestone in our lives — the passage of one more year. Because this is a metal blog, that means we are about to enter, in full force, our year-end LISTMANIA. But this year will be different. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 91): KERALA

 THE SYNN REPORT  5 Responses »
Nov 302017
 

 

(In this 91st edition of THE SYNN REPORT, Andy Synn explores the three albums of Vancouver-based Kerala, including their brand new record, Biorealizations.)

Recommended for fans of: Neurosis, Behold the Arctopus, Krallice

 

Canadian duo Kerala describe themselves as “Progressive Sludge Metal” on their Bandcamp page, and while there’s certainly some serious proggery and churning sludgery to be found throughout their discography, this particular label could be accused of giving a slightly misleading impression of the band’s sound.

Yes, there’s a lot of gritty, gut-wrenching Neurosis-isms present in their music – most notably during their debut – and there’s also a hefty helping of Dysrhythmia-esque instrumental chaos at work too, something which steadily develops as the band grow in experience and ambition… not to mention some abrasive, Gorguts-ian overtones to be found during their heavier moments, along with an almost Meshuggah-like sense of texture and tension bleeding into their most recent album.

As you might imagine then, this makes for one extremely heady (not to mention heavy) concoction, which definitely isn’t for the faint of heart. And yet, that being said, for all their obvious complexity, the band’s songs still have a certain amount of hookiness and catchiness to them – even if it is of a highly irregular and unconventional sort. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE STONE — “GAVRANOVO”

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Nov 292017
 

 

Serbia’s The Stone is one of the longest-running, still-active extreme metal bands in the Balkans. Originally launched in the old Yugoslavia in 1996 under the name Stone To Flesh, the band have pursued their musical inspirations for two tumultuous decades that saw the re-establishment of an independent Serbia, brutal conflict in neighboring Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo, and cycles of political upheaval within the country as well. Dating back to their days as Stone to Flesh, the band have released eight albums, and their ninth one, Teatar apsurda is now set for release on December 9th by Mizantropeon Records.

Despite their longevity, I didn’t discover The Stone until 2014, in the run-up to the release of their last album, the brilliant Nekroza, and since then I’ve also become a fan of Kozeljnik, the eponymous side project of one of The Stone’s founding and continuing members (a two-part interview of him that we published this past May — here and here — provides a fascinating history of these bands, as well as metal in the Balkans).

Perhaps needless to say, I’ve been eager for this new album, and not surprisingly, it’s fantastic. We’re very happy to give you a taste of what makes it so good through our premiere of a song named “Gavranovo“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BEASTIALITY — “RIDERS OF IMMINENT DEATH”

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Nov 292017
 

 

As you gaze upon that macabre artwork above, which so vividly renders a boiling eruption of demonic forms and other unspeakable abominations from an unsealed crypt, imagine if you will a soundtrack to such a foul and frenzied orgy. But don’t overtax your imaginations, because we have a perfect soundtrack already, one extracted from the album adorned by that hellish image.

The album has the entirely appropriate title Worshippers of Unearthly Perversions, and it is the deviant work of a band from Stockholm with the entirely appropriate name Beastiality. This is the band’s first full-length album, and it will be discharged by Invictus Productions on December 15, with the apparent aim of bringing 2017 to a premature end under a toxic pyroclastic flow of black speed metal. The excerpt we have for you is a track called “Riders of Imminent Death“. Continue reading »

BENEATH THE NCS RADAR (PART 28): MEPHORASH, SHEIDIM, VOODUS, THE WAKEDEAD GATHERING, ECFERUS, MINNERIKET, NODFYR

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  4 Responses »
Nov 292017
 

 

(Our ally Gorger from Norway returns to NCS with an even half-dozen underground gems from 2017 that we haven’t previously reviewed. To find more of his recommendations, type “Gorger” in our search bar or visit Gorger’s Metal.)

 

In an attempt at getting up to speed, I’m presenting no fewer than six releases. Short ones the lot of them. Mostly EPs, but also a split and a single. Last time around, I made the error of including a formerly presented release. To make sure I don’t do the same mistake again, I start off by doing the same mistake deliberately this time. Continue reading »

PUTREFUCK: “DROWNING IN THE ROTTED SLUDGE SWAMP”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Nov 292017
 

 

(Vonlughlio reviews the new second album by the Mexican/Spanish due Putrefuck.)

I feel honored to do a small write- up for the new release by Putrefuck, one of my favorite bands in the gore-grind genre. I first found the band thanks to Sick Reviews and some friends like Mr. Aguilera back in 2015 with the release of their debut album Impending Necrophilia In Fresh And Pale Cadavers Arriving To The Morgue.

The project formed in 2013, and the two masterminds behind this sickening idea are Mr. Davila aka Shitter (vocals, guitars) and Mr. Adrian Emocaust (drums). You could say it’s an international group since one member resides in Mexico and the other in Spain. Their love for gore-grind, facilitated by the internet, got these two into Putrefuck. Continue reading »

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