AN NCS PREMIERE: UNSOULING — “FLOATING KEY”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Dec 292023
 

Unsouling is a new musical entity, a small needle in a vast haystack of metal. The project’s debut release might easily have been overlooked amidst all the straw no matter how vividly the needle gleamed, but a few important factors make that much less likely:

Specifically: Unsouling is the solo work of Feral Light‘s frontman and songwriter A.S. (Andy Schoengrund); the album was chosen for release by I, Voidhanger Records; and the cover art was created by the wonderfully talented Luciana Nedelea (don’t tell us cover art doesn’t matter because you’d be whistling in the wind around here).

So, this needle sticks out even before the playing of the first notes. Because of the music, it sticks out more like an impaling spear than a needle. Continue reading »

NEILL JAMESON CAN’T SHUT THE FUCK UP: A 2023 LIST IV

 LISTMANIA 2023  1 Response »
Dec 292023
 

(One of the perennial highlights of our year-end LISTMANIA series are the articles Neill Jameson has contributed, and we’re very happy that he’s doing so again this year. This one is the fourth of five Parts we’ll be publishing. You can find the preceding parts if you go here and scroll down. To be clear, Neill wrote the title of this feature himself.)

I guess one of the (many) hypocritical things I’ve written over the years is how I shit on others for having huge end of year lists yet here I am with fifty things that were released in the last twelve months that I want to share with everyone.

But there’s a few things to consider here, the first being the sheer magnitude of music being recorded and released every day. I can compare it to getting ready for a colonoscopy, you can’t believe how much shit keeps coming out. And, to continue the charming metaphor, most of it is absolute liquid shit. So keep that statistic in mind, my fifty is equal to my ten or twenty a decade ago, adjusted for inflation.

My second point is that those other lists are mostly dreck.

I’ve been working on myself this year and practicing self-care. You can tell it’s working. Here’s the next batch: Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): PHANTOM LUNG — “ABHORRENT ENTITY III: SOLIVAGANT”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Dec 292023
 

Today, December 29th, the Toronto band Phantom Lung are releasing the final EP in a trilogy of EPs that share the name Abhorrent Entity. The full title of the new one is Abhorrent Entity iii: solivagant, and to help spread the word we’re presenting a full stream of it for you.

We’ve previously shared our thoughts about the first two EPs in the trilogy. In an effort to sum up the first one, which was released last March, we wrote that it is “massive and mauling… so ugly and unhinged, so combative and confrontational, so ruthless and so exhilarating, that we can’t help but love it, even if the attitude might be interpreted as ‘fuck off and die!’”.

The second one, Abhorrent entity ii: moribund, was no less confrontational. As we wrote of that one, it was a ruinously destructive sonic demolition job – savage, corrosive, ravenous, and a brute-force slugfest too, yet with musical elements that at times also made the song sound grim and unearthly. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 166): TORPOR

 THE SYNN REPORT  No Responses »
Dec 292023
 

Recommended for fans of: Neurosis, LLNN, Cult of Occult

Traditionally the last post from me every month is a new edition of The Synn Report, and since it’s December that makes this one my last post of the entire year.

The group I’ve selected this time around straddle the nexus point between Sludge, Post-Metal, and Doom and have, over the course of three albums (the most recent of which, released in September of this year, was so close to making it onto my “Critical Top Ten” that leaving it off the list actually caused me physical pain) built themselves up a reputation as one of the heaviest, and best, bands in the UK.

So please, allow me to introduce you to  UK trio Torpor.

Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2023: A YEAR-END LIST FROM JOHAN HULDTGREN

 LISTMANIA 2023  3 Responses »
Dec 282023
 

(For the 13th year in a row, our friend Johan Huldtgren of the Swedish black metal band Obitus — whose 2017 album Slaves of the Vast Machine is still their latest release — has again allowed us to share with you his year-end Top 10 list, which originally appeared on Johan’s own blog.)

I rarely include this caveat, but sometimes it’s good to reflect on it. Lists like this are always snapshots in time, it’s the ten albums I picked at the time of writing whittled down from a longer list, and often times which get picked and which get left off is just mood dependent. And that is only the albums which I’ve heard; experience has taught me that I will sometime down the road find albums released this year which could easily have made the list. Regardless I hope you find something here you enjoy which you may otherwise have missed. Continue reading »

THINGS YOU MAY HAVE MISSED (BUT SHOULDN’T)

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Dec 282023
 

(Andy Synn delivers one final retrospective on albums from 2023 you may have overlooked)

Hey everyone, I’m back, feeling fully refreshed and ready to rumble after my week (and a bit) hiatus.

Before I get fully stuck into 2024’s upcoming slate of releases I’ve got two more pieces for 2023 for you all to enjoy – namely my last Synn Report of the year (coming on Friday) and this extra-big edition of “Things You May Have Missed”.

Now unlike previous editions, this one won’t just be focussing on albums from the last month (though there’s seven – I think – albums from December featured here) but will also take a look back at certain albums from the past year that I either didn’t get the chance to cover at the time, didn’t discover until much later, or just wanted to highlight one more time for people to check out.

Of course, even so there’s more artists and albums I wanted to include than I had space or time for – so I’d urge you, if you have any extra time, to check out the new Moonreich (which almost made my “Personal Top Ten“, Rosa Faenskap (which did) and Witch Ripper (which I know was on my “Critical Top Ten“, but still seems to have flown under a few radars) – but first, feel free to go through everything I’ve featured here (which I’ve broken up into separate sub-categories) and check out a few things you may have missed!

Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DEATHCODE SOCIETY

 Interviews  No Responses »
Dec 282023
 

(In the interview we present here, Comrade Aleks spoke with Arnhwald R., vocalist/guitarist in the French band Deathcode Society, whose latest album Unlightenment was released on November 24th of this year by Osmose Productions, and is well worth your time.)

How many bands do you know that use deep-sea fishes on their artwork? Diceratiidae especially… And as Diceratiidae, or any other anglerfishes, lure small fishes with their bioluminescence, so the French black metal band Deathcode Society lures listeners with the image of a hellish Diceratiidae on their new album Unightenment.

It’s the band’s second album, and as Nicolas S. (bass), Grégoire G. (drums), David C. (guitars), Arnhwald R. (vocals, guitars), and Mike Barber (guitars) are busy with other bands and projects, it took some time before they finished this one.

Honestly, I’m suspicious of metal subgenres that are tagged as “symphonic”, but Deathcode Society’s Unightenment is balanced regarding the presence of orchestrations. The fish, the name of the opening song “Scolopendra”, the video they shot for it – everything points to the band’s creativity and artistic approach to their craft. Why not discuss this? Continue reading »

LISTMANIA: GONZO’S TOP 20 ALBUMS of 2023, PART II

 LISTMANIA 2023  6 Responses »
Dec 272023
 

(To help bring life to the dead week between Christmas and New Year’s Day we continue presenting year-end lists by our writers. Today we have Part II of a two-part list by our Denver-based contributor Gonzo. You can find Part I here.)

It’s only when you start to write your year-end list that you realize how much shit you didn’t listen to each year. I’m not even sure how that happened, given that I’m borderline psychopathic about keeping track of what I listen to every week, but the result here – the top 10 in my yearly two-parter – is something I feel represents the best of what I heard throughout 2023.

I could make up for that with a list of “honorable mentions” that didn’t quite make the cut, but in all transparency, the day job and life have culminated into a real bitch of a time-suck this month. So, this will be briefer than I’d prefer, but here it is no less. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BOUNDLESS CHAOS — “RIP OUT THE ROOTS”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Dec 272023
 

We find ourselves on the bridge between the old year and the new, still reflecting on the ruins and glories of the past 12 months but also looking ahead to whatever degradations and marvels 2024 might bring.

One of those marvels is already blooming, like a viciously thorned black rose. Well, that’s one way of thinking about Sinister Upheaval, the debut album from Germany’s death/thrashing Boundless Chaos that’s set for release in January by Dying Victims Productions.

A better way is to envision a pitch-black red-eyed steed racing at you across the bridge from the gates of hell, confronting you with a choice: Vault onto it for a breathtaking, blood-pumping ride or get trampled.

You’ll see what we mean when you hear the new album track we’re premiering today: “Rip Out the Roots“. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA: GONZO’S TOP 20 ALBUMS OF 2023, PART I

 LISTMANIA 2023  5 Responses »
Dec 262023
 

(To help bring life to the dead week between Christmas and New Year’s Day we continue presenting year-end lists by our writers. Today we have Part I of a two-part list by our Denver-based contributor Gonzo, with Part II to follow tomorrow.)

While it’s one thing to have your Spotify Wrapped viciously critiqued by an army of your peers, only the truly dedicated (or most antisocial) among us will go so far as to lock themselves in a room for several days to list out – in lavish detail – what they feel are the best albums to be released over the past year.

And just like my ability to craft an absurdly long sentence to begin the exercise of assembling such a list, this year’s top picks spared no expense in grandeur. From post-metal gems to forward-thinking, avant-garde atmosphere that we all might look back on in 10 years and think, “good god, this is underrated,” 2023 had a little something for everyone in the world of metal.

I’ll get right to it, then – this is the first half of my top 20 albums of the year. For those of us keeping track at home, that means you’ll find #11-20 below and #1-10 will follow soon. (Provided my day job doesn’t try to kill me in the process.) Continue reading »

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