OUR LIST OF 2018’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 3): ELYSIAN BLAZE AND DEPTHS ABOVE

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2018  5 Responses »
Jan 102019
 

 

For the third installment in this year-end list I’ve decided to take a turn into blacker realms, and to move deeper into the underground, too. To check out the previous installments, they’re collected behind this link, and to learn what this series is all about, go here.

ELYSIAN BLAZE

Let me say up-front that long-form songs have been a rarity in these Most Infectious Song lists, because while such compositions can be truly wondrous experiences, they’re rarely what most people would consider “catchy” or addictive to the point of commanding frequent re-plays. But I consider “The Virtue of Suffering” by Australia’s Elysian Blaze to be all of those things. It is a truly memorable song, with numerous components that have gotten stuck in my head, and with such a strong appeal that I’ve been drawn back to it regularly — even though it’s nearly 19 minutes long. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE WANDERING ASCETIC — “I SING THE BODY ELECTRIC”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jan 102019
 

 

We have made no secret at this site of our long-standing admiration for the long-running Singaporean “Vedic Metal” band Rudra. And it was the wonderful memories of Rudra’s creations that peaked our interest in The Wandering Ascetic, another Singapore-based band whose line-up includes members of Rudra (vocalist Kathir and guitarist Vinod) along with bassist Jayakumar and drummer Kannan K.

The Wandering Ascetic‘s debut album, Crimson, reflects the compositional skill of Rudra, but pursues a stylistic course that’s different, though not without its own exotic accents. The album will be released on February 12th by Transcending Obscurity Asia, and today we present the second “single” from the album, a track named “I Sing the Body Electric“. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: WINDSWEPT, DOWNFALL OF GAIA, OAK, GOD DISEASE, INTO ORBIT, KRALLICE

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Jan 102019
 

 

Here are a few of the songs and videos that brightened and darkened my night. I encountered all of them in a rush of listening at full dark yesterday evening. Most of them appeared within the last 36 hours. If you’re like me, the flow of these songs will take you from a blazing high down into more cold and wretched depths, and then soaring again — and I’ll close with a stream of a new EP that was released by surprise last night.

WINDSWEPT

All three members of the Ukrainian band Windswept, including vocalist/guitarist Roman Sayenko, are also members of Drudkh, Precambrian, and Rattenfänger. Under the Windswept banner they released an excellent debut album in 2017 entitled The Great Cold Steppe (from which we hosted the premiere of a fiery song, “Shrouded In Pale Shining, So Sleeps Infinite Ancient Steppe”). Having been a fan of that album, it took about a nano-second for me to jump on the band’s new EP Visionaire when I discovered its existence last February, and (as explained here) found it to be powerfully moving as well.

Windswept now have a new album for us, which will be released by Season of Mist on February 8th. Its name is The Onlooker, and the first track in today’s collection is one released yesterday with the interesting title “Gustav Meyrink’s Prague“. (If you’d like to learn about Gustav Meyrink and of how his life changed in Prague, check this article.) Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2018’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 2): CONAN AND BLACK ROYAL

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2018  8 Responses »
Jan 092019
 

 

As old-timers among the followers of our site will remember, I have a habit of grouping songs in the rollout of these lists in a way that makes sense to me. Part of the fun is in pairing up tracks that sound made for each other, sometimes because they share genre characteristics and sometimes because the flow of the mood just seems right. I had the feeling that combining the two tracks in this installment would be a good call — but you be the judge of that. I’ll add that both tracks were initially released with videos that I quite enjoyed; the first one in particular was one of the best of last year, in my humble opinion.

I should mention that if you happen to be encountering this series for the first time, you can go here to find out what it’s all about.

CONAN

Many metal bands have come up with unique descriptors for their own music rather than rely on conventional genre terms. Most of them are simply clever (or not very clever) marketing tools rather than labels that have any meaningful connection to the music itself. But Conan’s name for their own brand of sound couldn’t be more perfect: “Caveman Battle Doom”. And I happen to have a crippling weakness for those sounds, perhaps because the music itself is so crippling. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: PULCHRA MORTE — “SHADOWS FROM THE CROSS”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Jan 092019
 

 

The American death/doom band Pulchra Morte (“beautiful death”) began to take shape in 2017 through the collaboration of vocalist Jason Barron, drummer/backing vocalist Clayton Gore, and guitarist Jeffrey Breden. Eventually they were joined by bassist Dylan Kilgore and guitarist Jarrett Pritchard, who also recorded the band’s new album, Divina Autem Et Aniles, adding it to a long list of other records he has produced and engineered (for such bands as 1349, Goatwhore, Wolvhammer, Gruesome, Exhumed, and Brutality).

But the talents brought to bear on the creation of Divina Autem Et Aniles don’t end with that quintet of artists (who collectively are current or former members of Wolvhammer, Eulogy, Harkonin, and Withered, among others). The album also includes the vocal talents of former Eulogy participant Heather Dykstra, the performance of cellist Naarah Strokosch, and additional backing vocals by Tor Stavenes (1349, Svart Lotus); it was mastered by Chris Common (Tribulation, Primordial, Exhumed, Gruesome); and it features cover art by Jordan Barlow (Goatwhore, Haarp, Psychon Vex).

We suspect all these credits will have seized your attention by now, but the payoff (of course) is in the music, and we have a hefty downpayment for you today in a premiere stream of the album’s eighth track (out of 10), “Shadows From the Cross“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: KATECHON — “RENSELSEN”

 Premieres  4 Responses »
Jan 092019
 

 

The complex of concentration camps established by the Nazis at Auschwitz in occupied Poland is perhaps an unparalleled testament to the horrors that human beings are capable of inflicting on each other. At Auschwitz more than 1,000,000 people were exterminated in the gas chambers or died of starvation, forced labor, infectious diseases, individual executions, and grotesque medical experiments. One need not resort to demonology or monsters of the imagination to find embodiments of evil — Auschwitz showed that it walks the earth in the form of man.

The terrors of those death camps provided the inspiration for the new album by the excellent Norwegian black/death band Katechon, to be released by their new label Saturnal Records in March. Entitled Sanger Fra Auschwitz, the record is the result of almost a year and a half of work in the studio by a line-up that has changed since the band’s last album, 2015’s Coronation, and the music reflects changes as well, as will become apparent from the track we’re presenting for the first time today: “Renselsen“. Continue reading »

OBED MARSH: “DUNWICH”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jan 092019
 

 

(Here we have Andy Synn‘s review of the eagerly awaited new album by Australia’s Obed Marsh, which was just released on January 8th.)

I must say, I was starting to get a little worried recently when my first two posts of 2019 focussed on a pair of highly melodic, harmony-drenched albums that ran roughshod over the site’s original (though long-since partially discarded) ethos of “no clean singing”.

Thankfully our old friends from the land of convicts and monsters… aka Australia… Obed Marsh decided to release their second album this week, giving me a chance to dunk my head once more into their bubbling cauldron of eldritch filth and fury. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2018’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 1): NECROPHOBIC AND SLUGDGE

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2018  12 Responses »
Jan 082019
 

 

Well, my fine feathered fiends, here we go again: For the 10th straight year we present our list of the preceding year’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs.

I’m going to dispense with repeating the operative definition of what I think makes a song “infectious”; if you’re encountering this series for the first time, go here to see that. But I will remind you what I do to compile the list, and why I currently have no idea how long it will be or precisely when the rollout will end.

The universe of songs I’ve considered includes a list of candidates that I began at the start of 2018 and continued expanding as the year progressed. It also includes recommendations from my colleague DGR (he’s the only staff writer who makes suggestions each year, bless his pointy long-haired head). And it includes every suggestion made by our readers in response to my invitation, in the comments to this post. When you add it all up, that universe of candidates that’s now sitting in front of me includes nearly 600 songs. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BASILYSK — “FIRE (IN THE TEMPLE OF SACRIFICE)”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Jan 082019
 

 

Basilysk pull off quite a feat on the song from their new album that we’re premiering today. In the span of less than six minutes, they deliver the adrenaline rush and convulsing infectiousness of thrash, the heaviness and harshness of old school death metal, and the kind of blazing instrumental fireworks that will appeal to fans of tech-death — and then add so many other extravagant, prog-influenced embellishments that the song becomes an experience in ever-increasing, eye-popping excitement.

The song’s name is “Fire (In the Temple of Sacrifice)” and it comes from this Philadelphia-based quartet’s new album Emergence, which is set for release on February 22nd. This track follows the previous premiere of “Sinners Of Their Own Reality“, which debuted last fall at DECIBEL, and which we’ll also give you a chance to hear in case you missed it. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2018: TOP 20 ALBUMS YOU MIGHT’VE MISSED THIS YEAR (FROM SEB PAINCHAUD, TUMBLEWEED DEALER)

 LISTMANIA 2018  8 Responses »
Jan 082019
 

 

(2016 was the year when I discovered Montréal’s Tumbleweed Dealer through their extremely cool third album Tokes, Hatred & Caffeine (and I’m still trying to be patient while waiting for TD4). The band’s main man Seb Painchaud has very expansive and very eclectic musical tastes, and a way with words, and so for a third year I asked him to share a year-end list with us. As before, he pulls us off our usual beaten paths by highlighting some favorite releases that are way outside the usual metal lists… including a lot of very interesting Not-Metal.)

 

So this year we’re going to call it a Top 20 Albums You Should Check Out. If I were to make a top 20 list, I’d waste a lot of space telling you about albums you’ve already heard and will be present on every other list you read. Do you really need to see me overcompensate for my limited vocabulary with swear words to explain that Frontierer and Sectioned dominated the scene with their amazing albums? If so, then here you go: Fuck a cock on a stick its god damn fuck your mother fucking good.

And when you have every established music website and magazine tripping over themselves to talk to you about The Armed, you don’t really need me adding to it. Do we need to discuss Mol? You either hate it or love it, but you probably know about it. And all the big tech death bands released great records that pushed the limits of the human body this year. Only one remembered to include amazing song writing. Let’s not get into a shouting match over which one it was.

It was Obscura. Those Cynic-like robot vocal hooks had me going back for more all year long, Fight me if you don’t agree.

So here is my ‘Top 20 Albums You Might’ve Missed This Year’ (yes the title changed since the opening line). Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries