Islander

AN NCS PREMIERE: TERMINUS EST — “HARBINGER

 Premieres  4 Responses »
May 182015
 

 

(Austin Weber provides this introduction to our premiere of a new single by the band Terminus Est.)

One of the coolest things about getting to write here at NCS has been Islander’s graciousness in allowing me to alert the metal masses to all the weird and new bands I know about that perhaps most people don’t. In the vein of this ongoing tradition, we are proud to bring you the debut single and first recorded song by newly formed international death metal supergroup Terminus Est.

The band was founded by Canadian native Edward Gryn, who plays guitar and performs vocals in the band. The group started out as a collaboration between him and drummer extraordinaire Hannes Grossmann (Alkaloid, ex-Obscura, ex-Necrophagist, etc.), and they had originally locked in Dominic “Forest” Lapointe (Augury, Teramobil, ex-Beyond Creation, Atheretic, etc.), but he had to bow out before writing his parts. So they recruited another highly skilled bass player, Oliver Pinard from Cryptopsy.

While the band is set to record their debut album this year, they wanted to show the world what they’ve been working on, and so today we premiere for you their debut single, “Harbinger”. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SEIN ZUM TODE — “WHITE SUPREMACHEESE”

 Premieres  1 Response »
May 182015
 

 

(Austin Weber introduces our premiere of a new song by Sein zum Tode.)

South Carolina based tech-metal mental grind patients Sein zum Tode are about to drop a new EP called Siamese Second Cousins Never Removed. To paraphrase how I formerly described them in my review of their 2013 debut beeep, imagine a fucked up merger between Psyopus and Mr Bungle’s creepier dark moments with some of their trademark carnival twists, and you arrive somewhere within the sonic realms of Sein zum Tode. As far as three-piece bands go, they create one hell of a ruckus, and it’s the interesting kind of ruckus if you weren’t able to piece that together from the preceding words.

Now that Siamese Second Cousins Never Removed is about to drop on June 2nd, we offer up a caustic sampling of it to you in the form of, “White Supremacheese”, and it’s a divine aural meeting between insanity and creative genius. Continue reading »

FATHER SYNN’S METAL CONFESSIONAL (PART 3)

 Mosh Pit  41 Responses »
May 172015
 

 

(It’s Sunday, and therefore Father Synn returns with another Metal Confessional, ready once again to hear your sins and mete out the penance.)

7 days… 7 days of sin, scandal and sodomy… oh my children, what have you done?

Yet perhaps there is still a chance, a chance to be saved, a chance to be forgiven, a chance to free yourselves from the fiery chains of damnation! Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: BLOODWAY, BONEHUNTER, MERCYLESS, ERED

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
May 172015
 

 

Happy Sunday. I thought I would recommend a few new songs. No, not that new Lamb of God song — I like it, but I figure almost every metalhead in creation already knows about it, and I’d rather focus on some things you might not have heard about.  But by all means, feel free to share your thoughts about that song in the Comments, along with any reactions to the following four items.

BLOODWAY

Costin Chioreanu is probably best known in metal circles as an incredibly talented graphic artist whose work appears on the covers of a wide array of excellent albums (including releases by At the Gates, Sigh, Arcturus, Mayhem, and Darkthrone). But he’s also the vocalist/guitarist of a Romanian band named Bloodway, whose fine debut album Sunstone Voyager and the Clandestine Horizon was released on February 27th 2014, by I, Voidhanger Records. Continue reading »

INCINERATION FEST 2015

 Concert Reviews  6 Responses »
May 162015
 

 

(Our man Andy Synn was lucky enough to attend the second annual Incineration Festival in the UK and turns in this report, with videos.)

Let me preface this review with a quick round of thanks to the people who made the festival, and my presence there, possible.

My main thanks go out to Daniel of London Metal Monthly (for whom I also write on a semi-regular basis these days) for arranging my press pass and feeding my ever-expanding ego (though at no point did I have to utter the immortal words “do you know who I am?”… which was a shame).

I also want to thank Steve and Stephen for dealing with the masses of people queuing for wristbands and for sorting my access on the day itself, as well as for all their work behind the scenes in booking the bands, venues, crew, and everything else that must have gone into a mammoth undertaking.

However, they, along with Nimai, are only the names I know of the people who were involved. For an undertaking this big – one that’s only in its second year no less – there must have been a host of other helpers and organisers working alongside them. And although I don’t know their names, I thank them as well. Continue reading »

TOURISM: BÖLZER, RITUAL NECROMANCY, PSEUDOGOD

 Metal News  13 Responses »
May 162015
 

 

We post about metal tours in North America on an exceedingly infrequent and random basis. Usually when we do it, it’s an extensive tour that really is nationwide in scope. If we’re not going to be comprehensive in spreading tour news, it seems like when we do, it ought to be about tours that would be of interest to the largest number of people. But I’m making an exception here, for two selfish reasons.

First, the bands are personal favorites of mine. Second, even though both tours involve a small number of dates, Seattle is on both schedules. This makes me happy, and I know that if I’m happy, that necessarily makes you happy, too.

BÖLZER / RITUAL NECROMANCY

I haven’t seen an official announcement about this tour by the Swiss band Bölzer and Ritual Necromancy from PDX. All I’ve seen (thanks to a tip by Facebook friend JCB) is the flyer up above, which appeared on Facebook yesterday. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: KAOS VORTEX — “TOMB OF THE UNDYING”

 Premieres  1 Response »
May 152015
 

 

Kaos Vortex are a German band who hit our radar screen when we learned in 2013 that Fredrik Huldtgren from the fantastic Swedish band Canopy had become their new frontman. The band have recorded a debut album named Seeds of Decay that’s set for a May 22 release on CD and digitally by Bret Hard Records. Not long ago we featured a killer single from the album named “Terrorizer”, and now we bring you the premiere of an official video for another track: “Tomb of the Undying“.

It’s becoming increasingly apparent that Kaos Vortex can be relied upon to deliver the kind of death metal that grabs you by the neck and shakes you all the way down to the soles of your feet. “Tomb of the Undying” begins hammering and howling right from the start, but it moves in different directions before reaching its finale. It includes jolting grooves, rapidly jabbing riffs, and slithering, serpentine lead guitar work that shrouds the punishing attack in a thoroughly morbid and sinister atmosphere. As expected, Fredrik Huldtgren’s deep growls and harrowing howls are beastly and voracious. Continue reading »

ANTIGAMA: “THE INSOLENT”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
May 152015
 

 

(DGR reviews the new album by Poland’s Antigama.)

Antigama’s Meteor was one of those albums that felt like a band finally getting a bit of much-needed spotlight. The Polish grind band, whose music strayed heavily into industrial realms while sticking mainly to the core four instruments that make up any group, hit a disc out of the ballpark with Meteor, and it served as an effective closer to the band’s time on Relapse — one that had seen the releases of Resonance, Warning, and Meteor. In their long career Antigama have spent time on different labels and now find themselves returning to Selfmadegod — who had previously handled the group’s disc Zeroland — for their seventh full-length album release with early May’s The Insolent.

The Insolent continues the band’s slow drift into cybergrind territory, one that sees them not so much playing their instruments as fully desecrating them — with chord changes that sound like the performers’ hands had to be physically yanked across the guitar by the speed at which they happen and are so jarring that people familiar with Meteor should be right at home. The Insolent is high-minded viciousness, an album that hints at a bunch of different things happening under the surface but on top is like three trains all destined for collision — and a huge chunk of The Insolent is that moment of impact. Continue reading »

THE PREMIERE OF A NEW AMIENSUS SONG AND AN ANNOUNCEMENT OF AN AMIENSUS-WARSEID TOUR

 Metal News, Premieres  7 Responses »
May 152015
 

 

We’ve been following Minnesota’s Amiensus very closely, from their excellent 2013 debut album Restoration (reviewed here), to their split that same year with Oak Pantheon, entitled Gathering (reviewed here), to the release of their cover of Forefather’s “Wolfhead’s Tree” last fall, which we had the privilege of premiering (here). And now we’re delighted to bring you a stream of the first advance track from the band’s new album Ascension — plus we’re announcing an NCS-sponsored Amiensus tour with Wisconsin’s Warseid. First, the music…

AMIENSUS: “WHAT WORDS CREATE”

The new Amiensus song is “What Words Create”, the third track in order on Ascension. It’s a dynamic, multifaceted song — dramatic, atmospheric, sweepingly melodic, and also charged with hard-driving energy. And it gets stuck in your head very quickly. Continue reading »

GODLESS ANGEL INTERVIEWS… DAVE MATRISE OF JUNGLE ROT

 Interviews  7 Responses »
May 152015
 

 

(Our Kansas-based friend Derek Neibarger — the man behind the Godless Angel death metal project and the inventor of the Cat Hand Rest©, brings us his interview of Dave Matrise, vocalist of Jungle Rot.)

I have to extend a very heartfelt thank you to Kenosha, Wisconsin. The fourth largest city in the state has given us Mark Ruffalo, the best Bruce Banner aka The Hulk. And more importantly it is the home of the death metal monstrosity, Jungle Rot.

Formed in 1994, Jungle Rot has delivered seven crushing full-length albums. With their eighth album on the way and a coveted slot on this year’s Rockstar Mayhem Festival, it was the perfect time to catch up with vocalist, Dave Matrise, to talk about what looks to be a very exciting year for these death metal legends!

******

Derek: Hi Dave! Thank you for taking time to do this interview for me! Jungle Rot entered the studio last month to begin working on your eighth album. How are the recording sessions going, so far? Do you have any idea when the album will be released, or when we’ll get to hear some new music?

Dave: Hi, yes we went into Bell City Recordings on April 17th. I could not be happier with how everything is coming out. Again, we went into the studio ready for war. We all had a job to do and everyone did it well. Knowing just what we had and what needed to be done to make this another J-Rot release. The album will be available on June 30th and I’m sure a video will be released at the same time to let everyone get a taste of it. Continue reading »

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