Islander

FALSE: UNTITLED (2015)

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
May 132015
 

 

It has taken me longer to write this review than I had planned, despite the fact that I couldn’t wait to get my hands on the album. Apart from the quality of False’s untitled EP in 2011 and their split with Barghest in 2012, their live performance last summer at the Gilead Fest in Wisconsin (which included some of the material from this album) left me stunned and almost breathless. Yet in retrospect, the very qualities that made that performance by this Minneapolis black metal band so gobsmacking were the ones that delayed this review:

The album is so unremittingly intense, so overwhelmingly powerful, so emotionally draining, that it has taken time to absorb it — and I’ve had to leave more than the usual amount of time between listens, just to clear my head and recover from each listening experience.

Searing intensity is the signal feature of False’s full-length debut (also untitled). And because it includes an hour’s worth of music spread over only five long tracks, that’s a lot of intensity. Much of the time, the music is warlike and tumultuous, the kind of senses-filling cyclone of sound that repeatedly conjures images of nature in the throes of a vicious deluge. Listening is like being cast into a storm-tossed craft on a heaving sea — with a battle between gods raging in the black skies overhead. Continue reading »

CREATIVITY, REJECTION, AND PERSEVERENCE

 Mosh Pit  11 Responses »
May 132015
 


Leonid Pasternak — “Throes Of Creation”

(We welcome back guest writer Grant Skelton with these thoughts on… exactly what the title of the post says.)

I received a recent email whose contents I’ve been mulling over for the last several days. The email came from a metal musician but, as is often the case with me, we ventured onto a rabbit trail of a conversation. It turned out that the musician and I shared a similar interest in H.P. Lovecraft. That fact alone is not surprising, because Lovecraft’s fiction has provided metal bands with lyrical fodder for decades. (Side note: If you happen not to be familiar with Lovecraft, Amazon has a $0.99 Kindle ebook with over 150 of his short stories. See the link at the end of this article). When I mentioned that I was a fiction writer trying to publish a first novel, the musician compared that to the process of writing, recording, and releasing an album.

The first phase, he said, was the creative phase. It is fun and rewarding, but it is also hard work. The second phase, which I anticipate can be enjoyable if you’re a business-minded person with a lot of grit in your bones, is the uphill battle of getting your product out there. Or as he put it, a “whole gauntlet of navigating the various gatekeepers and industry contacts.” Continue reading »

AZAVATAR: “AZAVATAR”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
May 132015
 

 

(Wil Cifer turned in some thoughts  about the debut album by the German band AZAVATAR.)

On a whim while clicking through my in-box I came across AZAVATAR’s debut album and decided to give it a spin and was surprised at the quality of songwriting that followed. This German band boasts vocals that are grim and scraping, closer to a croak than not. They are eager to blast beat you into submission if given the chance. I am glad these guys are not on the Deathspell Omega bandwagon, as that seems to be the case with every other band in my in-box. The drums do get a little overzealous toward the end of the opening song (“KVLT“) as the riffs grow more restless, but it’s not a total prog-out. This album is brought to you by the letter K as “KVRSE” comes after “KVLT“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: HYPOTHERMIA — “SVARTKONST”

 Premieres  1 Response »
May 122015
 

 

Sweden’s Hypothermia began as a two-man collaboration more than a decade ago, but has now expanded into a three-person force consisting of vocalist/guitarist Kim Carlsson (Kall, ex-Lifelover), drummer Richard Abrams (Sitra Ahra), and guitarist Hans Cools (Kilte, Trancelike Void). The band’s fifth album, Svartkonst, which features a guest appearance by violinist E.B., will be released on May 15 in Europe and May 19 in North America by Agonia Records, and we will now give you a chance to hear the album in its entirety.

Each of the five songs on Svartkonst stands quite well on its own, each one with its own personality and pallet of emotional colors, but the album is more than a collection of individual songs. The overall effect of hearing it from beginning to end is greater than the sum of the individual parts. It builds an enveloping atmosphere that induces introspection, memory, imaginings of places not visited, and maybe even of lives not yet lived. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DISTANT SUN — “KILL THE FREMEN”

 Premieres  5 Responses »
May 122015
 

 

Is that an awesome album cover or what? It’s by W. Smerdulak (Arkona) and it adorns the forthcoming debut album by Russia’s Distant Sun. To give you a taste of what it holds in store, we deliver the premiere of a song named “Kill the Fremen”.

Distant Sun claim a lot of influences, including Annihilator, Iced Earth, Blind Guardian, and Rage, and their music tends to be a fusion of melodic European power metal and American speed metal and thrash. You’ll get a sense of that from this new song.

The speed-metal riffs are kings on “Kill the Fremen”, but the jolting, galloping, hard-jabbing riffs that are their partners are damned strong, too. Listening to this song is like sticking electrodes right into your ear canals and spinning the power dial up into the red zone. But the band also switch up the tempo and throw in an off-speed melodic segment that enhances the song’s dynamism, which is further embellished by the mix of snarls and clean song in the vocal department. And what’s not to like about a yell-along refrain of “KILL! KILL!”? Continue reading »

HIGH ON FIRE: NEW ALBUM, NEW SONG, NEW TOUR

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
May 122015
 

Lots of news about High On Fire and new HoF music today.

First, we received a reminder that the band’s new album, Luminiferous, will be released on June 16 via eOne Music. It was recorded at Salem, Massachusetts’ GodCity Studios with producer Kurt Ballou. You can see the artwork above,

Second, the group premiered a new song from the album named “The Black Plot” via Rolling Stone — and I’ll have a bit more to say about it in a minute.

Third, the band announced a headlining U.S. tour that begins on July 30 in San Diego and finishes in New Orleans on August 23. Along for the ride will be Pallbearer, Lucifer, and Venomous Maximus. Here are the dates: Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: VANUM, HADIT, DRUZHINA, NIDRA

 Exceptions to the Rule, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
May 122015
 

 

From my wanderings through the interhole and the NCS mailbox yesterday I came across four diverse new songs that grabbed me. So I thought I would put you in their clutches as well.

VANUM

I paused in my wanderings to hear this new song from Vanum based on the disclosure that the band consists of K. Morgan of Ash Borer and M. Rekevics of Fell Voices, Vorde, and Vilkacis. All those bands are quite good in my estimation, and so I was curious to hear what the union of these talents had produced. Profound Lore must have been intrigued, too, because they’re releasing Vanum’s debut album Realm of Sacrifice in June (digital and CD), with vinyl coming later via Psychic Violence. Continue reading »

NOISEM: “BLOSSOMING DECAY”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
May 122015
 

 

(Our pal Leperkahn took a break from his studies and wrote this review of the new second full-length by Baltimore’s Noisem.)

Hi guys. As some of y’all who’ve lurked around this cult for a while might know, my writing output has plummeted considerably more or less since I started up my time here at The University of Chicago. Put briefly, UChicago surely earns the unofficial slogan “If I wanted an A, I would’ve gone to Harvard”, and taking four paper-based classes doesn’t leave oodles of time to wax ecstatic about the wax I’ve been literally of metaphorically spinning.

That said, when I have a moment (or pretend to have a moment, to the chagrin of future me), I still like to pop in here and give my two cents about stuff I’ve been digging that might not have been properly reviewed here yet. Also, in the case of Noisem, I’ve got a streak and reputation to keep up here – I’ve reviewed everything they’ve done for NCS except for the split 7” they put out with Occultist, and even that was mentioned in my review of their Consumed 7”. Thus, I’m here once again, and for good reason – if you thought Agony Defined or any of the material released from these guys since then has been good, just wait until you dig into Blossoming Decay. Hell, even if AD wasn’t your cup of tea, give this one another shot – it’s a whole different beast from its predecessor(s). Continue reading »

GODLESS ANGEL INTERVIEWS… BOB TAGGETT OF IHATE

 Interviews  2 Responses »
May 122015
 

 

(Our Kansas-based friend Derek Neibarger — the man behind the Godless Angel death metal project and the inventor of the Cat Hand Rest©, returns to NCS with this interview of the man behind IHATE.)

When I think of places around the world which have been the birthplace of great death metal, I typically think of well-known metal spawning grounds such as Florida, Brazil, New York, and Sweden. The last city that comes to mind is Waterbury, Connecticut. Thanks to IHATE, I’ve been shown the error of my ways.

IHATE is the twisted brainchild of multi-instrumentalist Bob Taggett. His musical prowess is easily on par with the death metal greats, delivering crushing slabs of riffage over steamroller percussion. My introduction to IHATE came in the form of the super-creepy music video for “Stretcher”, a first-person view of a psychopath stalking his victim. The track comes from IHATE’s full length demo, which features the familiar gurgling roar of none other than Chris Barnes, from Six Feet Under.

I was incredibly fortunate to be granted an interview with Mr. Taggett, who was more than happy to talk to me about the origin of IHATE and what we can expect next from this remarkably talented musician. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SHIT — “SULPHUR THE RIGHT”

 Premieres  5 Responses »
May 112015
 

 

In the annals of “no fucks given”, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better example than a band who call themselves SHIT. Not “The Shit”, as in “this band is The Shit!”, but simply SHIT. However, as you’re about to find out, it’s obvious they do give a fuck about at least one thing — their music.

As proof of this, what we have for you today is the premiere of a song named “Sulphur the Right” from the second full-length by SHIT, entitled Scavengers Of A Dying Sun. The ominous symphonic overture in the song sets the stage, and what follows immediately is a flensing surge of black/death metal that alternately blasts like a storm, romps with a crust-punk rhythms, and stomps with steel-toed boots.

The music is loaded with mind-warping, dissonant riffs played at dazzling speed and blazing drum fusillades aimed straight at your skull. Skull fracture isn’t the only risk you will run when you hear this track — the thoroughly nasty vocals display the ravenous hunger of a beast ready to sink its huge jaws right into your throat. Continue reading »

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