Islander, Author at NO CLEAN SINGING

Islander

AN NCS PREMIERE: GODHUNTER AND DESTROYER OF LIGHT

Jul 142015

Endsville is the apt name for a forthcoming split by the Tuscon/Vancouver collective who call themselves Godhunter and Austin-based Destroyer of Light, with each band contributing a long EP’s worth of material. It will be released on July 24. We now have for you the premiere of two songs from the split, one by each band.

Your average highly paid therapist would devote years attempting to figure out what’s “wrong” with people who like this kind of music. It’s not food for the soul, it’s poison. It’s not shelter from the storm, it’s a hard shove into the deluge. Forget “life-affirming” — this is a rendition of all that’s wrong with life, except for the life-saving power of a titanic riff, and therein lies part of the answer. I don’t know what the rest of the answer is.

I do know this — a lot of life for a lot of people is no damned good, and to find music that both powerfully captures its ugliness and despair and yet somehow takes you away from all that at the same time, that’s a gift, and both these bands have it. You can move to these songs (you probably won’t have any choice), and you can lose yourself in them, too. Continue reading »

AN INTERVIEW WITH MOREAN — PART 1: DARK FORTRESS

Interviews 8 Responses »

Jul 142015

(Andy Synn had the chance to interview the Dutch artist Morean about the three bands in which he is currently involved — Dark Fortress, Noneuclid, and Alkaloid. We’ve divided the interview into three parts, which will appear on three successive days. Today’s focus is Dark Fortress. Check out the next two parts here and here.)

So, first of all, I just want to say thank you for agreeing to answer these questions for me/us. Both Venereal Dawn and Metatheosis were amongst my favourite albums from last year, and it’s looking very likely that The Malkuth Grimoire will end up in my top ten at the end of 2015 too.

Now, obviously I’m a big fan of all the bands you’re involved in, so this is probably going to be a pretty long and in-depth interview, but let’s start with a simple question… how the hell do you find the time for all of this?

Morean: Thanks for the compliments! How do I find time? Well – I don’t. I have to steal whatever time I put into one band, commission, or project from all the other bands and projects. It’s a problem almost everyone in all these bands has, and it’s getting worse. It’s also the reason why it takes years sometimes before a band is able to get into the studio or back on the road. Continue reading »

OLD WITCH AND KEEPER: A SPLIT

Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET 3 Responses »

Jul 142015

(Grant Skelton makes a quick pitch for the new split release by Old Witch and Keeper.)

There have been some amazing splits released of late. I’m still heavily imbibing the Altars Of Grief/Nachtterror Of Ash And Dying Light split that came out this past Friday. I recently discovered another split that should also be in your collection. Old Witch and Keeper will be releasing it this Wednesday, July 15, via Grimoire Cassette Cvlture/Cvlt Nation. The hideous, but completely appropriate, artwork was designed by Meghan MacRae at Cvlt Nation Design.

According to their Facebook page (here), Old Witch is the solo project of Stephen H. Heyerdahl. Heyerdahl could not have christened this project with a more fitting name. While listening to it, I felt certain that sweet Henrietta was going to erupt from my living room floor and swallow my soul. Good thing I always keep a boomstick within reach. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ANTROPOFAGO — “ÆRA DEMENTIÆ”

Album Reviews, Premieres 1 Response »

Jul 132015

On August 14 Kaotoxin Records will release Æra Dementiæ, the second album by Antropofago from France. Last week we brought you the premiere of a new song named “Helter Skelter“, but today we’ve got for you a stream of the album in its entirety.

Antropofago score a rare hat trick on this new album. They’ve created a big shot of aural adrenaline, delivering the kind of vicious, jolting power that most death metal fans crave, but with the kind of intricate, inventive instrumental flair that will stimulate your higher faculties as well as the reptile part of your brain. And in addition to those achievements, they’ve made songs that are also heavy-grooved and very infectious. Continue reading »

PANOPTICON: “AUTUMN ETERNAL”

Album Reviews 9 Responses »

Jul 132015

Panopticon’s sixth album, Autumn Eternal, is finished. It will be a long wait until most people have a chance to experience it — it’s not scheduled for release until October 16, 2015. But for an album inspired by and named for Autumn, it’s only fitting that it come with the changing of the colors in the trees and the first bite of chill in the air. I can also assure you, as one among the fortunate few who have heard the album, that although the wait will be long, your patience will be richly rewarded.

All of Panopticon’s albums beginning with 2012’s Kentucky can be thought of as remembrances of time and place, functioning both as outlets for Austin Lunn’s creative impulses and also as records, or snap-shots, of particular experiences and the physical environments where they occurred. They have been inspired to a significant degree by the beauty of nature, and, as carefully constructed and richly layered as they are, you also get the sense when you hear them that they have been written and recorded with great passion.

In these ways, Autumn Eternal is like the last two albums that preceded it. It’s bursting with emotional intensity (it may be the most intense Panopticon album so far). It’s filled with powerful, sweeping melodies. It’s multi-layered, atmospheric, immersive, and memorable. But because Panopticon’s albums are such personal works, because they are snapshots of time and place in the life of their creator, there are also differences in the music as compared to those last two albums. People change, and Panopticon’s music continues to change as well. Continue reading »

HELLBASTARD: “FERAL”

Album Reviews 2 Responses »

Jul 132015

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by the long-running British band Hellbastard.)

Hellbastard‘s new album features guest appearances from sensitive souls of Amebix. This proves to be more metal than the recent Amebix side-project, Tau Cross.

There is a slight Motörhead tinge to the vocals during opener “In Praise of Bast – Feral”, though they get really fucking cool around the chorus, when drenched in effects and set back into the mix. Otherwise, it gets off to a pretty thrashing start.

“Outsider of the Year” takes you back to that place in the ’80s where metal and punk met. The guitars and the drums fit tightly together to pack a dense punch into these riff. The lyrics are more punk and have a sharp sense of humor to them. What the vocals might lack in range they make up for in attitude. This album is well-produced and everything sits right where it needs to. This is right in line with some of the more on-the-fringe thrash that I listened to as a teenager. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: RUNAR PETTERSEN (INFERNO FESTIVAL)

Interviews 1 Response »

Jul 132015

(Andy Synn interviews Runar Pettersen, press manager of the long-running Inferno Festival, which has been staged in Oslo, Norway, since 2001.)

To start with, I wonder if you’d be able to give our readers a bit of a condensed history and background to the festival, as I don’t always like to assume everyone who comes to our site necessarily knows the ins and outs of the festival scene, particularly in Europe. So when/why did the festival start, who was involved, what were the early years like?

It started out as a two day festival in 2001. The festival boss, Jan-Martin, used to run a small club called Mars here in Oslo, and used to book bands there. He wanted to book Borknagar for a gig (after he ran into guitarist Jens F. Ryland one day), and when they were looking into dates for the show, there happened to be an open spot on Easter at Rockefeller. So from this Borknagar gig came the idea to turn it into a two-day festival. There weren’t any similar festivals back then, only much smaller or much larger outdoor festivals, so it was very unique. Only Norwegian bands played the first year and, when it turned out to be a success, it was all set to continue on the next year. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: EL HIJO DE LA AURORA, MATUS, THE GRAND ASTORIA

Album Reviews, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 2 Responses »

Jul 132015

(Comrade Aleks decided to try his hand at round-up duty today, with new music from three bands to throw your way.)

It is Summer, it is time to relax, and this brief overview is an exception to NCS rules, because today I’d like to approach some new releases from the world-wide psychedelic scene. If you’re open for new melodies in a retro style, if you see bright colors as music speaks to you, and you have few minutes, then take a look here…

Here are brief overviews of three new albums by El Hijo De La Aurora and Matus (both bands are from Peru) and the Russian project The Grand Astoria.

El Hijo De La Aurora – The Enigma of Evil

El Hijo De La Aurora (Son of the Dawn) is an experimental psychedelic doom project which was created by Joaquin Cuadra after his departure from another Peruvian band playing in a similar direction – Don Juan Matus. Joaquin and his companions discovered the enigmas of both mortal and spiritual worlds throughout two full-length albums, Lemuria (2008) and Wicca: Spells, Magic and Witchcraft Through Ages (2010). It took almost five years to continue their researches on a third full-length record under the name The Enigma of Evil, which was released on CD by Minotauro Records. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: “NAKED // MOON”

Exceptions to the Rule, Premieres 6 Responses »

Jul 122015

Two young Baltimore bands, Naked and Mother Moon, have joined together on a new split recording — Naked // Moon — that will be released by Feeble Mind Records on July 30, and today we bring you a full stream of the split.

NAKED

Naked is the solo project of 20 year old Carl Smith, and Naked // Moon marks his third split release. The two songs from Naked, “Die // Slow” and “Weep”, were performed with only guitar and voice.

“Die // Slow” is a dreamlike mirage of reverberating guitar and deep looping chords that pulsate and warble as Smith’s voice rises and falls like a moonlit tide. The shimmering, atmospheric song succeeds in casting a spell that’s both sorrowful and sublime. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: WOLFHEART, KRISIUN, WINDHAND, ENABLER, INFRA

Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC 6 Responses »

Jul 112015

Happy Saturday. A whole bunch of metal bands I like released new songs this past week. I didn’t jump on all of them with my usual alacrity because I was burning the candle at both ends with a combination of day-job crap, personal crap, and late-night drinking with good friends (not crap), followed by hangover crap. I will make it up to you: Our other writers stand ready to mow your loans or hand-wash your underwear. I stand ready to direct those operations from afar.

In addition, in this post I’m going to stream some of those things I missed, plus one new discovery at the end.

WOLFHEART

Tuomas Saukkonen is one of those rare metal artists who just doesn’t seem to make a misstep. After closing down a multitude of other projects (including Before the Dawn and Black Sun Aeon), he turned right around and released a great album in 2013 (Winterborn) under the name Wolfheart. He has completed work on a second Wolfheart album entitled Shadow World that will be released by Spinefarm on August 21. After the jump, check out the music video for a new song named “Aeon of Cold”. Continue reading »

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