SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: VITRIOL, SAASTA, RUDRA, PESTILENGTH, SAN LEO

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Nov 042023
 


Vitriol – photo by Peter Beste

It’s been a hell of a week for yours truly, emphasis on hell. In an average week now, the release of new metal is a deluge. This past week, another Bandcamp Friday pushed the storm-surge higher. Fittingly, as I write this, the rain is coming down outside like a fucking monsoon, a rarity here in the usually drizzly Pacific Northwest.

On top of that I decided to get the latest covid vaccine and the latest flu shot on the same day early in the week. When you have as much gray hair as I do and have spent the majority of your life smoking, getting both of those shots was strongly recommended. In hindsight, getting them both at the same time was a dumbass move.

Sore arms for a few days, of course, and all my energy also evaporated for a few days too, as it did with every previous covid jab. But this time my head and lungs got congested like someone had flooded them with concrete slurry and my nose ran like a leaky faucet. That has slowly improved, but I’m still congested and damned tired of that.

The combination of a big flood-tide of new music and a misery-clogged head isn’t a great combination for this usual Saturday column. Although I’m still happy with today’s picks, there should have been more. At least you can’t hear me hacking and snorting, so that’s one blessing. More blessings to follow…. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SANCTUM SATHANAS — “INTO THE ETERNAL SATANIC DAMNATION”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 032023
 

Well, strictly speaking, this isn’t a premiere. Due to getting our wires crossed, the album we’re writing about was actually released by Inferna Profundus Records two days ago. But what the hell, it will be a premiere for some of you landing at this page who haven’t yet discovered the album, so we’re forging ahead anyway.

And to be sure, Into the Eternal Satanic Damnation is an album worth discovering. It’s the debut full-length by the Chilean band Sanctum Sathanas, which is principally the project of Magister Nihilifer Vendetta 218 (aka Magus Xem Deitus) from Funeral Fullmoon, Blood For Satan, Faustian Spirit, and Vanagandr, joined for this album by drummer Unholy Tormentor.

You already understand, of course, that the album is a form of wrathful devotion to Lucifer (and indeed “Wrathful Devotion” is the name of the record’s closing track). Yet realizing that will still leave many questions unanswered about how the devotion is expressed and whether it will prove inspirational to listeners — questions answered today. Continue reading »

“BLACK METAL: EVOLUTION OF THE CULT” – THE RESTORED, EXPANDED & DEFINITIVE EDITION

 Interviews  5 Responses »
Nov 032023
 


photo by Ester Segarra

(Comrade Aleks has brought us a very special interview with Dayal Patterson, the proprietor of UK-based Cult Never Dies, with a focus on the dramatically expanded second edition of his seminal 2003 book about black metal.)

There are a few books dedicated to such an important extreme music genre as black metal, and Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult is the first one you really need to know. First released almost ten years ago, it remains a key tome, answering almost any question one could have regarding all the contradictions and rumours you might hear about the blackest of arts.

Those aren’t empty words, as the book’s author Dayal Patterson performed absolutely in-depth research and managed to keep his work away from just a collection of bare facts. The book was filled with fresh interviews getting first-hand information from the bands, and from afar, it looked like fair and solid work.

It was released by Decibel back then, and now by Dayal, who already runs his own well-known publishing company Cult Never Dies. It’s not just a publishing company but “the home of metal literature, a publishing house, merchandise company, label and mail order dedicated to underground metal and cult art”.

Dayal was returned the rights to Black Metal: Evolution of the Cult, and he spent the last entire year preparing its massively reworked anniversary edition. The new edition is significantly bigger than the original one: it contains one and a half times more text, twice as many photos, and twice as many interviews. Ambitious, isn’t it?

The book is available for preorder in late November and will be dispatched shortly before release. Meanwhile, we had a great interview with Dayal, and it should be interesting to any black metal fan.

Continue reading »

БѢСЪ: “Ѿ ЛУКÁВАГѠ”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Nov 032023
 

(Here we present Didrik Mešiček‘s enthusiastic review of the just-released second album by the Russian black metal band Бѣсъ.)

Well, that’s a lot of signs we’ve not seen before, isn’t it? It turns out this is some sort of old Russian Cyrillic (possibly Old Church Slavonic?) that even I, as a Slav who can generally read Cyrillic, can’t decipher. (I found out after writing this intro that the band translates the album title to “Ov the Devil”.)

Behind the name hides a Moscow-based black metal band, founded as recently as 2019. I first noticed them with their debut album, Кощунства (2020) which already had some really cool tracks and ended up just missing my top 20 list that year. Ѿ Лукáвагѡ was released on October 27th independently. Continue reading »

GALUNDO TENVULANCE: “LUNAR ECLIPTURE”

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Nov 032023
 

(Here is DGR‘s review of the debut album by the Japanese band Galundo Tenvulance, which was released in August by the Spiritual Beast label.)

In spite of the constant theme of the world being in ever increasingly garbage shape, the year 2021 did give me a gift in the form of Japan’s mouthful of a name melodeath group Galundo Tenvulance.

I’ve never looked up the meaning behind the name nor do I have any interest in doing so — I couldn’t bear to have the magic broken for me. I gain an inordinate amount of joy out of seeing that name placed in large font across our website – no doubt to more than the few raised eyebrows that I could imagine.

Prior to this year the young group had only had two EPs and a single to their name, with the EPs perfectly placed to be written about right around the time there was just enough of a lull in metal releases that I could really dive in and analyze the band as they grew into their own and tried new things.

Galundo Tenvulance‘s year-over-year churn has resulted in us covering both their 2021 EP Tenvulance and their 2022 EP The Disruptor Descends. In the time since, the keyboard-wielding younglings have had their lineup shifted about, a new face joining complete with new voice on the vocal front. All in time for the release of a 2023 full-length via Spiritual Beast entitled Lunar Eclipture. Continue reading »

FOREVER PLAYING CATCH UP (2023 EDITION) PART 3

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Nov 022023
 

(Our old friend and former NCS writer Austin Weber is returning to our page today with the third part of a multi-part series of reviews that we plan to run day after day until completed. You’ll find Part 1 here and Part 2 here.)

Despite the incredible volume of music covered here at NCS, there remains a plethora of noteworthy releases yet to be shared in this space. Chalk it up to how much damn good stuff deserves the limelight and doesn’t get it because we all know this site already covers more than most as is.

As I’ve done in the past, join me for another multi-part feature that touches on music I strongly believe you should listen to—or at the very least, stuff worth checking out at a minimum. You be the judge. Onwards! Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: MANIPULATOR — “DRAWING SECRET CIRCLES”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 022023
 

You can tell from the title of this feature that we’re about to host an album premiere. But it’s not a typical album premiere — far from it.

Apart from the atypical nature of the audio experience, the noisemaker behind this project also created a video for the entire record, divided in a way that provides separate moving pictures for every one of the record’s 20 tracks. You’ll see the video below. In addition, we’re including the artist’s commentary about the songs.

But that’s not all. There’s also a video game that’s being released today — a free video game — with each level of the game play corresponding to a track on the album, and other experiences featured through Art Mode because some of the tracks don’t last long enough for you to do anything but stare.

Oh, and the record is also being released with an art book that features companion art pieces which visually tie-in with the music video and the video game. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CARCINOID — “MORBID CURSE”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 022023
 

The last time we premiered music from the Australian death metal band Carcinoid was four years ago, the occasion being the run-up toward their album Metastatic Declination. Back then we urged you to “prepare your hardened ears for a mutated offspring of death and doom that’s as foul as a rotting corpse, as punishing as a jackhammer applied to the spine, and as horrifying as a runaway cancer”.

Since then Carcinoid have released a couple of splits, and now they’re returning with a new record named Encomium to Extinction, which brings five new tracks and nearly half an hour of total music, thanks to an evil conspiracy between Me Saco Un Ojo Records and Headsplit Records.

Once again we have a premiere, and this time our best advice is to get your fucking necks loose. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DETHRONED — “VINUM CREATURAE”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 022023
 

The world inexorably revolves around the sun, and in time what was old sometimes becomes new again. So it is with the German black metal band Dethroned, a group whose roots stretch back to 1993 with the band Mysticism (and then became Dethroned in 1995).

Since then Dethroned‘s progression has been a continuing story of silence and revival, but beginning in 2016 their releases have become somewhat more consistent, with a debut album in 2017 (Bluotrunst), an EP in 2020 (Christentod), and now a second album named A Bridge to Eternal Darkness that’s set for release on December 1st by Dominance of Darkness Records.

What we have for you today is the premiere of “Vinum Creaturae“, the second song to be revealed so far from the upcoming album. In the video accompanying the song, lightning flashes and storm waves crest and crash against a rocky shore. When you listen to the music, you’ll understand the choice of those visuals. Continue reading »

TITO’S WEEKLY METAL RECS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Nov 022023
 

Our friend Tito Vespasiani from Everlasting Spew Records (and other metal endeavors) is back with another weekly playlist of recommended heavy songs. This second one, like the first one last week, includes 20 tracks, with commentary about a few of them below. The full stream is at the end, and on Spotify here.

Defleshed – Grind Over Matter

Defleshed is BACK!

“Who?” Some fans out there could say. Oh come on, DEFLESHED! Under the Blade! One of the best thrashy death bands ever, grindy at times (like in this album) and one of the most aggressive and crushing bands as always. Continue reading »

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