Islander

VATTNET VISKAR: “SETTLER”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
May 262015
 

 

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by Vattnet Viskar.)

I am glad this album doesn’t sound like its cover. After the first note you are assured that it won’t. If this is black metal it’s a very American take on it. They bring the blasting to an end for “Yearn” as they morph into more of a sludge band. There is even a tinge of melody beneath the rasp of the vocals, which are mid-ranged and overdriven at the mixing board by Sanford Parker. ”Yearn” is woven through some interesting twists and turns, before the point is pounded home and it’s time for heads to bang. This tends to be carried out in a meaner feel than Sky Swallower. Credit goes to the wider dynamic scope allowing the heavy sections to feel heavier, despite the album’s crisp production.

Slamming a blast of well-mixed double bass right into your fucking face, Vattnet Viskar make “Impact” live up to the song’s name. Like any lasting piece of art, more reveals itself when you return to it, like the doubled gang vocals that were hidden til the third listen. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: ULTRATUMBA (LORENZO PARTIDA BRAVO)

 Interviews  1 Response »
May 262015
 

 

(In this post Comrade Aleks interviews Lorenzo Partida Bravo, guitarist of Mexico’s Ultratumba.)

Ultratumba isn’t a new band; they’ve worked in the metal underground since 1995, but it’s rare to find one who knows about this bunch of brutal dudes from Mexico City. It’s strange, because this band under the guidance of talented guitarist Lorenzo Partida Bravo have already released six pretty diverse albums (and one live album).

Their full-length La Casa del Escarabajo (“House of Beetle”) was written in 2010, and it demonstrates very harsh and aggressive death-doom metal with some unusual approaches, while the band’s last work Sopa Envenenada (“Poisoned Soup”) is closer to more traditional doom, yet with pretty wild vocal lines.

Besides that I need to mention that Lorenzo has played in the thrash/death band Transmetal since 1987 and he also has a solo progressive project named simply Lorenzo Partida! Am I talking too much today? Maybe, let’s give a word to Lorenzo. Continue reading »

SHOW REVIEW: ANAAL NATHRAKH, INCITE, SECRETS OF THE SKY, PLAGUE WIDOW

 Concert Reviews  5 Responses »
May 262015
 

 

(DGR prepared this review of a show in Sacramento, California on May 11, 2015.)

I’ve often joked about my living in Sacramento as being an unfortunate situation and something of a curse. Sacramento, which could easily be described as a pretend big city and the world’s largest cow town, often within the same breath, is a city that up until the past three years or so would rarely get many touring acts rolling through town. Most of the time, those tours would hit the big cities (you know, the ones they actually care enough to include on a map of California because stuff happens there, unlike us, who get preferential treatment because we are the capitol) and then quickly jet away from the desolate wastelands of this state.

The local scene has always been vibrant but even now, with a whole bunch of venues in town and multiple concerts that likely would have NEVER rolled through before those venues came to Sacramento, I still find myself surprised. Sometimes, the stars align and we even manage to pull off something incredibly insane — like Anaal Nathrakh coming to podunk-ass Sacramento and playing in a venue the size of a large kitchen. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DISENTOMB

 Interviews  2 Responses »
May 262015
 

 

(Brutality shall reign: Our old and loyal friend Vonlughlio from the Dominican Republic interviews Henri Sison, the drummer of Disentomb from Australia.) 

I’ve been given the opportunity to conduct an interview with Henri (Drummer) of Disentomb, one of my favorite Brutal Death Metal bands from Australia.  Just last year they released via New Standard Elite their second full-length entitled Misery that was my Top 3 album in my year-end list (you can see the full list here).

This is one band that I can honestly say exactly how I found them: It was in 2011 after the release of their debut album Sunken Chambers of Nephilim. I was drawn first by its artwork, and the music turned out to be just top-notch BDM from start to finish. Continue reading »

MDF BLOG BREAK (PART 3)

 Concert Reviews  18 Responses »
May 252015
 

 

Alas, our revels now are ended. Maryland Deathfest XIII is over and in the history books, and it was an amazing experience. I’ve got to pack up and vacate my hotel room soon, and I don’t have nearly enough time at the moment to say everything I want to say. For now, I’ll show you some photos I took from the first three performances I saw yesterday (the last day of the festival), with a few words about each of those first bands I saw on Sunday. More pics and words will come in the next few days.

 

PRIMORDIAL

 I arrived late to the Edison Lot and missed the first four bands of the day, but caught all of Primordial’s set — which floored me. Alan Averill is an amazingly intense and charismatic front man, and his voice is an instrument of incredible power and passion. In the category of clean vocals, he probably took the prize for the fest, though ICS Vortex performing with Arcturus the night before was a very close second. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VARGNATT — “GRAUSAMMLER”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  5 Responses »
May 252015
 

 

Listen to the first 90 seconds of “Weltverloren”, as it moves from a lilting solo guitar melody into a racing torrent that carries the same melody, driving it home, and then changes again to a rocking rhythm, never losing its fast grip on that brilliant melody — nor its grip on you. If you’re not hooked in the first 90 seconds, I’ll be surprised.

But “Weltverloren” is far from finished in 90 seconds. Before it ends, it staggers into a pool of tears, drenched in sorrow but no less transfixing in its emotional impact, and then accelerates into an even more intense, ravishing finish. And this is only the first song in a magnificent album — all of which you will be able to hear through our premiere of a full streaam.

The album is Grausammler. The band is Germany’s Vargnatt. Continue reading »

MDF BLOG BREAK (PART 2)

 Concert Reviews  12 Responses »
May 242015
 

 

I guess I’m not strictly taking a blog break, because I’m writing this post. I just wanted to say hello and tell you that I’m having a wonderful time at Maryland Deathfest and wish you were here. I know just reading those words will make your whole day, and probably even your whole week.

Saturday was amazing, even though my traveling companions and I missed some awesome bands because our visit to the National Aquarium lasted longer than we planned, and because we were compelled to make some difficult choices between bands whose set times conflicted with each other.

But these bands I did see were just fucking fantastic:  Arcturus (pictured above), Triptykon, Antigama, Adversarial, Wolfbrigade, and Agoraphobic Nosebleed. Continue reading »

FATHER SYNN’S METAL CONFESSIONAL (PART 4)

 Mosh Pit  42 Responses »
May 242015
 

 

(It’s Sunday, and therefore Father Synn returns with another Metal Confessional, ready once again to hear your sins and mete out the penance.  I believe the enjoyment of meting out penance is the principal reason why Father Synn became a man of the cloth. )

Truly this is a momentous edition of Father Synn’s Metal Confessional, for many of our loyal congregation will surely have sinned their happy little hearts out at MDF over the past few days, and will surely have a burning need to confess their crimes.
So to them I say… step forward, and be absolved! (Disclaimer: absolution not guaranteed)

But first, as always, let me bare myself before you once again! Continue reading »

MDF BLOG BREAK

 Mosh Pit  11 Responses »
May 232015
 

 

That photo up there was taken shortly before Vallenfyre began their set at Maryland Deathfest XIII yesterday, with Waltteri Vayrynen perched behind the drum kit. Later, the band’s frontman Greg Mackintosh growled during a break in the action: “When we formed this band in 2010, we had a dream that someday we would perform in a parking lot in Baltimore. And now, praise be, we are living the dream, in a Baltimore parking lot.”

One of the better stage lines delivered during the fest so far, but some truth in it too, at least for me. For the second year in a row I’m having a hell of a time at this festival — deafened, sleep-deprived, with sore feet and an aching back — but living the dream. And the fest is only half-done. Continue reading »

ARCH ENEMY HEADLINES SUMMER SLAUGHTER 2015

 Metal News  11 Responses »
May 222015
 

 

Over time I’ve come to enjoy tours that mix and match, that cross genres and by doing so introduce Band Y to fans who come to see Band X. Of course, there’s also a risk in this strategy, especially if what you’re mixing are all well-known bands, and the fans of some wouldn’t be caught dead in the presence of the others. I’m thinking there might be some of that risk in this year’s edition of the SUMMER SLAUGHTER TOUR.

Arch Enemy has been announced as the headliner — and bear in mind, this is Arch Enemy with Jeff Loomis in the line-up. Obscura are on this tour, too, along with Cattle Decapitation and Beyond Creation. And then these bands are also on the line-up: Continue reading »

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