AN NCS PREMIERE: SUFFERING QUOTA — “GROW”

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Apr 262023
 

Adjectives like “terrorizing” and “explosive” have tended to surround the music of the Dutch grindcore band Suffering Quota like swarms of angry hornets. Of course, sensations of fury and violence are endemic to a lot of grindcore, but adjectives like those don’t always come to mind as frequently as they do with this band.

Yet those aspects of their music, while integral and vital to what they do, really aren’t all that sets them apart from a lot of their peers. What really sets them apart is the feeling that they’d get bored just blowing off the doors in listeners’ heads and wrecking the hell out of whatever’s inside. It’s got to be more interesting than that.

The stew of genre ingredients they incorporate — which include death metal, crust, and hardcore — can’t always follow the same recipe, song after song, or what’s the point of continuing to write and record? Better to make them fight for survival in different ways and see what happens. Better to keep the listener off-balance, because for sure, there’s no balance in the world either.

Well, that’s just armchair psychology from our little underground hovel, because we’re not telepaths. But when you listen to some of the music of Suffering Quota‘s new album Collide, maybe you’ll understand the point we’re trying to make. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GRAVES FOR GODS

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Apr 262023
 

(Today we present Comrade Aleks‘ interview of the Australian death-doom band Graves for Gods, whose debut album was released in 2022 by Sleeping Church Records.)

The new releases appear one after another and sometimes we have to skip something or just don’t see it. I believe that I saw Graves for Gods’ name in 2022 but the year was a mess and I didn’t listen to their album The Oldest Gods, yet the title naturally stuck in my memory.

I took my time and listened to this album. It’s amazing – absolutely grim, monumental yet material. These four huge tracks bring the feeling of comfort as you hear in them something familiar yet still exciting, classic death-doom vibes,”Celebratory Funeral Doom” as they say.

And they are Jak Shadows (guitars, vocals), Matt Spencer (guitars, bass), and Ryan Quarrington (drums). Each of them has a proper background, as all of them played different kinds of heavy stuff in other Australian bands, and each of them is focused now on creating “music for meditation or violence”. Jak and Matt will explain it better than me. Continue reading »

PORENUT – MISLIVES

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Apr 252023
 

(Andy Synn continues his streak of brilliant Black Metal bands/albums with the “new” one from Porenut)

Some of you may have noticed a trend over the last several weeks, where I’ve almost exclusively written about Black Metal (most frequently erring towards the weirder end of the spectrum too).

Looking ahead, however, I can see a lot more Death Metal and/or Sludge-related content coming down the pipeline, so it looks like I’llbe switching things up sooner, rather than later.

It would be remiss of me, however, not to take this opportunity to write something about the recently-released new album from perennial outsiders Porenut, especially since it happens to be a real dark-horse candidate for best Black Metal album of the year (so far).

Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FORMALIST — “MONUMENT”

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Apr 252023
 

Five years after our last premiere of a song by the Italian band Formalist we have been granted the opportunity to make another one.

Five years ago the occasion was the impending release of their debut album, No One Will Shine Anymore, which contained three massive tracks that were relentlessly multi-faceted and engrossing, yet also ruthlessly created waking nightmares.

Today the occasion is another impending album release, this one named We Inherit a World at the Seams, which will be out on May 25th via Brucia Records. It too consists of three epic-length tracks, collectively totaling 44 minutes of harrowing sound, and today we’re premiering the one that’s fittingly called “Monument“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SISYPHEAN — “THROUGH CORROSION”

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Apr 252023
 

Shakespeare is the author of the famous statement, uttered by a character (Antonio) in The Tempest, that “what’s past is prologue”. What he and his character meant is that history provides the context for what is about to happen in the present (in The Tempest, it was the opportunity for Antonio and his co-conspirator Sebastian to commit murder). Some might go so far as to assert that what happens in the present is fated to happen because of what has happened in the past.

In the case of the Lithuanian black metal band Sisyphean (themselves named for a legendary character), the past that is most powerfully prologue is their 2020 album Colours of Faith. That’s not to suggest that people should ignore their 2017 debut full-length, but it was Colours of Faith that really opened eyes and established high expectations. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: DEMONICAL — “INTO VICTORY”

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Apr 242023
 

(Here we have DGR‘s review of a new EP released by the Swedish band Demonical, which has been out since the end of March on Agonia Records.)

There have been a string of singles and EP releases in the past couple of months and the grouping of them has been all over the place — many consisting of bonus tracks that were on international editions or ultra-exclusive songs, others being odd experiments, and some being the more traditional “yes, we are working hard on new stuff, here’s what we’ve been up to recently”.

Demonical‘s newest EP release is along the lines of the third one, although part of the reason we’re checking in with them is due to Demonical changing vocalists, so its partly that the band are still going (which is good news, given that 2022’s Mass Destroyer was pretty strong) and partly “here’s what we’re going to sound like now” with new vocalist Charlie Fryksell at the helm.

Not to shock anyone, but the two songs present on Into Victory – the title track and a cover of The Ramones‘ “Somebody Put Something In My Drink” that plays it remarkably straight – continue Demonical‘s pattern of being particularly strong and very capable of bringing the earth-rumbling gallop that you come to this style of death metal for. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SPEEDWHORE — “HOLOGRAM”

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Apr 242023
 

This is one of those times when it feels right to just dive headlong into the song we’re premiering, and then come back to fill in the details after you’ve had a chance to extricate yourself from those giant talons on the album cover and attempt to catch your breath.

It takes almost no time at all for “Hologram” to create a mood of feral, lusting exultation. The drumming is loose and raucous. The high-toned riffing writhes, jolts, and rises up in manifestations of diabolical glory. The bass tones feel like bubbling madness. When the vocals finally arrive, they sound like a big rabid beast that can’t be brought to heel.

The song rocks damned hard but it also takes off like a scampering devil-punk careening off the walls as the guitar screams, and the band also launch into a bracing gallop as the foundation for a delirious guitar solo that kicks the music’s diabolical energy further into the blood-spraying red zone. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DHISHTI — “MARUDEPAWILLA”

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Apr 242023
 

For most people reading these words the island nation of Sri Lanka is at least half a world away geographically, and many worlds away in its history, culture, and the roots of its internal divisions. Life Is Suffering, the forthcoming third album by the Sri Lankan black metal band Dhishti, is conceptually based upon ancient traditions and practices that still exist in the country, and current ills to which they are connected. Even the band’s name invokes ancient beliefs. Here is the explanation we have been provided:

“The name Dhishti is a Sinhalese term which holds the meaning of demonic possessions. In the ancient times the people of the small Indian oceanic island of Sri Lanka believed mental illnesses are in-fact demonic processions caused by evil spirits, or Dhishti, and conducted various occult rituals and ceremonies (Thovil) to treat the effected….

“The album speaks about these beliefs, rituals and prophecies which are still to this date followed by certain groups of people…. The album’s lyrics are written in an older form of the native language, which originated over 2000 years ago. The language was selected specifically due to these rituals being originally carried out in the language of Sinhala, and to translate it into any other language would take away its originality and authenticity.” Continue reading »

PORTRAYAL OF GUILT: “DEVIL MUSIC”

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Apr 242023
 

(Here’s Wil Cifer‘s review of Texan outfit Portrayal of Guilt‘s new album, which is out now via via Run For Cover Records.)

Uncompromising and confrontational are two words that should be used when describing artists who use heavy music as their medium. You read that right. An artist, not a band. The best-case scenario is a band of artists, but when you are talking about a project that takes the kind of sonic risks Portrayal of Guilt does, the conversation turns to an art form.

These Texans do not play by the rules of heavy music, nor do they care. They make cathartic darkness, which is why they are one of my favorite new heavy vehicles of chaos for my ears. Their new album conforms when they feel like it. They used atmosphere and jarring dissonance to paint hellish portraits of inner pain externalized. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: DIONE, IDOLOS, THE ARCANE ORDER, DÉMONOS

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Apr 232023
 

I probably went way overboard with yesterday’s 11-band roundup of new songs and videos. I could have done the same today, but decided to show a little restraint. There’s still a lot of music to be found below, with two complete EPs as well as two advance songs from forthcoming albums.

I’m also happy with the way this came together, because in very different ways (some more adventurous than others) all the music is head-spinning.

DIONE (Poland)

The debut EP of the solo black metal project Dione seemed to appear out of nowhere when it was released yesterday. No previous releases under that name, though M-A does point to its creator’s previous involvement in a few other projects (which themselves don’t have many releases to their credit). This just makes the appeal of the four songs on Cosmosphere even more startling. Continue reading »

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