Islander

AN NCS PREMIERE: VINTAGE WARLORDS — “THE INVISIBLE FOE”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
May 112015
 

 

We have the pleasure of premiering for you a full stream of the debut EP by Vintage Warlords in advance of its May 19 release by Redefining Darkness Records.

Vintage Warlords are a duo consisting of guitarist/bassist/drummer Thomas Haywood (aka Plaguehammer), who has spent time with the likes of Abigail Williams and System Divide, and vocalist Conor Byers. Together they have recorded three tracks of massively heavy, void-faring death metal that deserve your undivided attention.

The music exudes a thick pall of doom and desolation, conjuring nightmare vistas of blasted landscapes cloaked in perpetual night and inhabited by monsters. Whether trudging in a diseased crawl or pounding like sledgehammers, the riffs are massive, as are the thunderous drum strikes, and the dissonant melodies are thoroughly morbid. There are passages in the songs that are slow and groaning, like the exhalation of decay or the manifestation of some post-apocalyptic hallucination — and there are also passages that drive so hard and are so rhythmically compulsive that you can’t not headbang. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: WOE UNTO ME

 Interviews  2 Responses »
May 112015
 

 

(Our Russian comrade Aleks presents this interview with members of the Belarusian doom band Woe Unto Me, with musical accompaniment of course.)

What do you know about Belarus? Okay, besides that it’s a post-USSR country and it’s ruled by the “last European dictator” as some impressionable ladies say… I think that Woe Unto Me is a good occasion to take a look at this corner of the metal scene and discover there some new names.

As for Woe Unto Me – the band plays solid and mournful funeral doom. They shared the stage with Shape of Despair in Saint-Petersburg a few months ago and I witnessed this great performance. We found some time to discuss Woe Unto Me‘s creative ways with Artyom Serdyuk (vocals, guitars) and Dzmitry Shchyhlinski (guitars). By the way, I also asked a couple of questions about Disloyal, a death metal band with Artyom on guitars.

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Salute! Woe Unto Me released its first album A Step Into Waters of Forgetfulness in February 2014. I have read somewhere that material for this album was being written for several years. What is its history?

Artyom: Greetings! Since the very inception of the band, we have focused on quality, striving to release a really well-thought-out, high-quality product at a decent level. Each of us had some guitar riffs and raw ideas, and we worked very carefully and meticulously on the arrangements. The last thing we cared about at that moment was time. We were not in a hurry; we wanted every idea to be thoroughly hatched in our heads, and to come to our minds naturally, through inspiration. Therefore, we decided to start the recording process when we had felt the integrity of each composition. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ADVENT SORROW, VALLENDUSK, ISVIND, MORTUUS UMBRA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  11 Responses »
May 112015
 

 

If you made it through all four of my weekend round-ups, or just touched down on the fourth one, then you saw that I still didn’t exhaust all the new music I wanted to recommend. What I saved for this post is a handful of new songs from the realm of black metal. But as you may have figured out from previous installments of Shades of Black, I do my best to include a variety of sounds. “Black Metal” has become a big tent that includes a lot of diversity within its shadowy confines.

ADVENT SORROW

My NCS comrade Andy Synn recommended the first song to me, which comes in the form of a video, though it took me nearly a week to finally listen to it. I shouldn’t have waited. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ALBATROSS — “A TALE OF TWO TYRANTS”

 Premieres  9 Responses »
May 102015
 

 

I can’t see you but I know you probably have a confused look on your face, or you soon will. “No clean singing” isn’t an accurate description of the song by Mumbai’s Albatross that we’re about to premiere from their debut full-length Fear From the Skies. With rare exceptions, the singing in “A Tale of Two Tyrants” is all clean; vocalist Biprorshee Das even occasionally reaches for the skies in falsetto fashion. So what are we doing with “A Tale of Two Tyrants” on our site, besides confusing people? Well, I’ll tell you.

Because “A Tale of Two Tyrants” rocks really hard. Because the song is built on a foundation of head-snapping riffs and compulsive rhythms that will get you moving. Because there are mind-bending, arena-ready guitar solos in the song by the band’s trio of guitarists that will put a smile on the coldest face. Because as much of an immediate grabber as the song is, it tightens its grip even more as it unfolds, even when it slows near the end into an earth-shaking stomp. Because Albatross do traditional heavy metal very well. Continue reading »

WEEKEND ROUND-UP (PART 4): VASTATION, MUTILATED VETERANS, FÖRGIFTAD, RAT KING

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
May 102015
 

 

Yesterday I began a four-part round-up of new songs I discovered over the last 5 days — the first three parts are here, here, and here. Even after I started the project, I found more new tracks I’d like to throw your way. All of those are in the vein of black metal, so I think I’ll save them for a “Shades of Black” round-up that I’ll post tomorrow.

For this final installment of the weekend round-up I’m leading off with three bands in the vein of crust punk or death/crust and finishing with an instrumental project. I hope you’ll enjoy all of it as much as I have.

VASTATION / MUTILATED VETERANS

Last month both Portland, Oregon’s Vastation and Mutilated Veterans from A Coruña in the Galicia region of Spain uploaded to Bandcamp one of their respective contributions to a vinyl split that will be released this summer in extremely limited quantities by Morbid Reality Records. Both songs will kick your ass so hard that you’ll be shitting from between your shoulder blades after you hear them. Continue reading »

FATHER SYNN’S METAL CONFESSIONAL (PART 2)

 Mosh Pit  80 Responses »
May 102015
 

 

(We received such an overwhelmingly positive response to Father Synn’s first Metal Confessional last Sunday that he has returned, ready once again to hear your sins and mete out the penance.)

Greetings once more my faithful congregation! Can it really have been a whole week since last we bared our souls (and, in some cases, a little more than that…) to one another? Oh, how the time flies when you’re wallowing in sin…

Surely in the last seven days some amongst you have committed yet more egregious crimes against the great name of Metal? Or perhaps you’ve simply garnered the courage to finally admit to your past mistakes?

Whatever the case, Father Synn is here once more to listen and pass judgement. Yet, as always, I will lead the way, by admitting to yet more of my own fallibilities and failings… Continue reading »

WEEKEND ROUND-UP (PART 3): ENTRAILS, CUT UP, MAZE OF TERROR

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
May 102015
 

 

I’m forging ahead with my weekend goal of collecting a dozen of the excellent new songs I discovered since the middle of last week. The first two installments of this extended round-up can be found here and here. There will be a fourth installment coming later today, and maybe a fifth one, because I’ve found even more exciting stuff since starting this project on Saturday morning. Also, Happy Mother’s Day. To celebrate, I thought we’d have some music that wants to tear your head off.

Those of you who regularly hang around here know that I’ve got a serious weakness for old school Swedish-style death metal. The first two songs in this collection are orbiting that particular star.

ENTRAILS

By my lights, Sweden’s Entrails can pretty much do no wrong. I already frothed at the mouth over the first advance track from their new album Obliteration (here), and last Thursday we got another new one courtesy of CVLT Nation. Continue reading »

WEEKEND ROUND-UP (PART 2): CRYPTICUS V. NAPALM DEATH, DESTRUKTOR, ENFOLD DARKNESS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
May 092015
 

 

I have a goal this weekend. I have a dozen new songs that I came across since mid-week that I want to commend to your ears. Rather than put them in one humongous post, the plan is to divide them into four posts, with three songs in each one — two posts today and two on Sunday. This is a goal, mind you, not a guarantee. I could be hit by a car, or a fifth of whiskey, before finishing. But I’m now halfway to achieving this goal. To hear the songs in Part 1, go HERE.

CRYPTICUS v. NAPALM DEATH

Crypticus is one of my favorite current death metal bands. The band’s maestro is vocalist/guitarist/bassist Patrick Bruss, who is also a record producer and a remix genius. You think I’m exaggerating with that “genius” label? Judge for yourselves.

This morning Patrick unveiled his remix of the title track to Napalm Death’s 2005 album The Code Is Red… Long Live the Code. The original song is fucking outstanding — but Patrick has made it five times more amazing, converting it into a 15-minute non-stop circle pit. Continue reading »

WEEKEND ROUND-UP: SVARTELDER, COFFINS, KAOS VORTEX

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
May 092015
 

 

I have a goal this weekend. I have a dozen new songs that I came across since mid-week that I want to commend to your ears. Rather than put them in one humongous post, the plan is to divide them into four posts, with three songs in each one — two posts today and two on Sunday. This is a goal, mind you, not a guarantee. I could be hit by a car, or a fifth of whiskey, before finishing.

SVARTELDER

The first song in this collection is named “Askebundet” by a Norwegian band named Svartelder. I listened to it because of an e-mail which explained that the current line-up of the band includes members of Carpathian Forest, In the Woods, Den Saakaldte, Pantheon I, and Old Forest, in addition to founder and frontman Doedsadmiral. The e-mail didn’t disclose which particular individuals from those bands are now part of Svartelder — they’ve taken new names for this purpose: Maletoth (bass, guitars), AK-47 (drums), Kobold (keyboards). But those band names were enough inducement to check out “Askebundet” — and it turns out to be fantastic. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: HAAR — “THE WAYWARD CEREMONY”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
May 082015
 

 

Following the release of two well-received EPs in 2010 and 2012, Scotland’s Haar have recorded an hour-long debut album that is being released by the Italian label ATMF.  The album’s name is The Wayward Ceremony, and we’re bringing you a full stream of all seven songs.

When I see that an album comes with cover art by Costin Chioreanu, I presume the music is going to be good. This may not be logical, but it turns out to be a completely valid inference in the case of The Wayward Ceremony. Continue reading »

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