Islander

TOUR ANNOUNCEMENT: BYZANTINE ARE HITTING THE ROAD AGAIN!

 Metal News  4 Responses »
Apr 272015
 

 

We’re stoked to help spread the news that West Virginia’s Byzantine are hitting the road again on a new NCS-sponsored tour that will bring their unique brand of heavy metal to lucky fans up and down the East Coast in June. Joining the band for this new rampage will be some speed merchants from Toledo, Ohio — Mobile Deathcamp.

Long-time readers of our site will be quite familiar with Byzantine because we’ve been writing about them virtually non-stop since the day in January 2012 when they officially announced their resurrection after splitting up in 2008.  But at this point it would be tough to find any metalheads with good taste who don’t know about Byzantine. Their new album To Release Is To Resolve is one of 2015’s true highlights, and now lots of people are going to get the chance to hear the music live — along with choice cuts from throughout the band’s discography.

We asked frontman Chris “OJ” Ojeda for his thoughts about this new tour, and here’s what he told us: Continue reading »

THE FINE CONSTANT: “WOVEN IN LIGHT”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Apr 272015
 

 

(Austin Weber reviews the new EP by The Fine Constant from Wisconsin.)

Some of our readers may already be familiar with The Fine Constant due to my recent post about the tour on which they are still currently playing dates, or possibly from when I placed their debut album, Myriad, on my 2012 year-end list. But for those new to the band, you’re going to want to check out this impressive Wisconsin-based trio and discover what makes their music an exceptional breed of top-notch instrumental metal.

Prior to the very recent release of their new EP, Woven In Light, the band had previously dropped that dazzling 2012 full-length called Myriad. Although Myriad was an interesting and original record in its own right, Woven In Light sees the band evolving into a totally different animal with a different focus and feeling. Continue reading »

“THAT’S METAL!” — BUT IT’S NOT MUSIC (NO. 95)

 That's Metal -- But It's Not Music  9 Responses »
Apr 262015
 

 

Two months since the last post in this series. Pathetic, I’m pathetic, I admit it.

Now that my mea culpa is out of the way, let’s get on with it. I have for you on this fine Sunday ten items that I thought were metal, even though they’re not metal music.

ITEM ONE

The most metal event of the last week was the eruption of the Calbuco volcano in southern Chile. I already made a post about this yesterday (here) with a bunch of photos and videos, accompanied by a random assortment of songs by excellent Chilean metal bands, but I had to include something about it in this post, too. So what I’ve included is a video of the exact moment when the eruption began. Continue reading »

CHILEAN VOLCANIC MUSIC

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  7 Responses »
Apr 252015
 

 

Hell has visited Earth again, in spectacular fashion. This time, the portion of Earth visited by Hell is Chile, where three days ago the Calbuco volcano erupted near the southern town of Puerto Montt after being quiet for 42 years. It has become the subject of some truly breathtaking photos and videos, some of which I’ve embedded in this post after the jump.

Are there any natural occurrences in the world more metal than an explosive volcanic eruption — especially eruptions that include lightning within the volcanic plume? I think not.

So, of course I decided that I needed to include some metal from Chile to accompany the photos and videos you’re about to see. I did dome searching through the NCS archives and discovered that in just the last 18 months we’ve written about more than a half dozen Chilean bands. I’ve collected songs from each of those bands, plus a couple of others. For a change, I’m not going to write any florid descriptions of the music, but just provide the streams and some links in case you want to explore further. All the music is excellent — volcanos aren’t the only things that unleash hell in Chile. Continue reading »

THE CRINN: “SHADOWBREATHER”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Apr 252015
 

 

(Austin Weber reviews the new album by The Crinn.)

Last year at NCS I helped premiere a track by Minnesota-based mathcore band The Crinn called “Endless”. At that time, their upcoming record, Shadowbreather, had no release date. It wasn’t until very recently that the band announced that Shadowbreather will be coming out on April 28 — and it began streaming in full yesterday.

Sometimes you run into metal records that are unusually strange or mindfuckingly insane from a rhythm or tempo angle, and then, even more rarely, you run into records like Shadowbreather that do both of those things. Having had a chance to sink into the record early, courtesy of the band, I’ve had some time to decipher its nigh-impenetrable shifts and explore its labyrinthine layers over a multitude of listens. I still come away from the experience dazed yet bug-eyed, but now I feel it makes more sense.

The violent and catastrophic nature of their rhythms, riffs, and rasps collide into a mental bludgeoning with a soft side; there is a psychedelic dimension to Shadowbreather that is new to The Crinn’s music. The occurrences of this new element in their sound are not merely segues. More often than not, The Crinn infuse them within chaotic and frenetic math-grind, somehow achieving a cerebral, trippy quality that may not sound right on paper, yet works so well throughout the album. I never guessed that I’d ever be writing about psychedelic mathcore in the first place, but I’m down with it after hearing how The Crinn pull it off so effortlessly on Shadowbreather inside moments of sheer mania and murder.

Continue reading »

KING GIANT, HOWLS OF EBB, BARBELITH

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Apr 242015
 

 

I know, I said that after two more round-ups today, following three yesterday, that I’d take a break and do something else. But man, I just continue to see an hear things that I feel compelled to foist upon you. So, one more collection… but without the “Seen and Heard” title, because that’s been worked to death over the last 24 hours.

KING GIANT

I’ve really been eagerly awaiting the new album by Virginia’s King Giant. We’re all big fans of the band around here and we’ve made no secret of that over the years. And although I haven’t yet heard all of the new album (Black Ocean Waves), the song they just premiered via a lyric video is strong evidence that they’re about to deliver another winner. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 2): PARADISE LOST, NIGHTRAGE, SYMBOLIK, CONDUCTING FROM THE GRAVE, HOPE DRONE, MIRACLE OF SOUND

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Apr 242015
 

 

This is the second of today’s round-ups of newly discovered music. This one should probably be called “Seen and Heard by DGR“, because it was he who linked me to everything collected here (except the final song) over the course of this week.

PARADISE LOST

Paradise Lost is such a “name” that after four days out in the world, their new song “No Hope In Sight” has probably been heard by every sentient creature (and many non-sentient ones) who know of the band. But we haven’t featured it here yet, and since many of our readers are not earthlings, we thought a few of them might not have discovered it yet. So, here it is. DGR says: “It was good sound”. What do you think? Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: THE MONOLITH DEATHCULT — “BLOODCVLTS”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Apr 242015
 

 

(Andy Synn has finally reached his limit. And it was The Monolith Deathcult who pushed him to the brink.)

That’s it. I’m done. I’ve had all I can stands, and I can’t stands no more!

As a writer/review/self-important member of the liberal media conspiracy, I’ve come across a lot in my time writing for this site and for the various other publications which I occasionally do some work for.

But never before has a band so blatantly tried to buy my favour. And it’s just unacceptable.

You see, this is about more than just my honour and integrity, more than just my (now suspiciously full) bank balance. It’s about Ethics in Death Metal Journalism, dammit! Continue reading »

OBLIVIONIZED: “LIFE IS A STRUGGLE, GIVE UP”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Apr 242015
 

 

(Austin Weber reviews the latest release by London’s Oblivionized.)

Grindcore isn’t a metal genre typically associated with complex songwriting or accomplished musicianship. Which is usually fine, as that’s not the essence of the style or the reason why fans of grind listen to it. But every once in awhile a grind band like Oblivionized comes along with the drive and ambition to develop a sound that consists of more than straightforward 30-second beatdowns and endless power chords.

This London-based trio have generated numerous smaller demo, EP, and split releases over the years and have only now released their first full-length, Life Is a Struggle, Give Up. The wait for an album-length statement from the group was definitely worth it, though, as the band had already spent several years tinkering around and playing a lot of different sounding material, which they have distilled into a mature, cohesive, and eclectic sound here on Life Is a Struggle, Give Up. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): AZAVATAR, SEER, SLUGDGE, BEITHÍOCH

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Apr 242015
 

 

I kind of went crazy with the round-ups yesterday — three posts featuring newly discovered music by ten bands in one day — but I’m continuing to come across metal that gets me excited, so yes… here’s another round-up!  In fact, there are two of them today. After that I’ll probably have to make myself stop, at least briefly, so I can do something else. Maybe write a review of an entire EP or album? Eat something or go to the bathroom? Get a life?

AZAVATAR

I seem to be on an Art of Propaganda kick. Within the last week I’ve written about songs by two bands whose new releases are on that German label — Whiskey Ritual and Thornesbreed — and that’s on top of praise we showered on releases earlier this year by Infesting Swarm and Gloson. Now I have two more AoP bands to recommend, beginning with AZAVATAR. Continue reading »

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