Islander

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ASCIIMOV — “ASCENSION OF THE FALLEN”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Oct 012024
 

And now, for something completely different.

What we’re about to present is a video for a song from a forthcoming album that’s the soundtrack to a dark fantasy first-person retro-shooter game developed for PCs. The name of the game, and of the album, is Hands of Necromancy II.

The project responsible for the music is Asciimov, and though you may not be familiar with that name, many of you will be familiar with the person behind it, the Spanish musical shapeshifter NHT (Oscar Martin), whose other creative endeavors (in the realms of metal) include As Light Dies, Garth Arum, and Deemtee (among others).

But what’s really different, especially in the context of our site, is the music. As a hint, here’s how the label that’s releasing the album (Darkwoods) describes it: Continue reading »

A DOUBLE DOSE OF DENVER DEATH METAL: GLACIAL TOMB, NIGHTWRAITH

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Sep 302024
 

(NCS contributor Gonzo usually helps us close the end of months with a collection of reviews, and he does so again today, but this time focusing on just two albums, both of them created by bands from Denver.)

This won’t be news to most of you, so I’ll get right to it –

The rolling thunder of the Denver metal scene cannot be denied. It’s been on a powerful sort of kick in the 2020s, and few American cities can rival the raw talent and creativity that constantly comes pouring out of it. I know this because I live here. Between the crushing ubiquity of heavy music and craft beer, this place is a veritable haven for people who wear battle jackets to bars.

And as the metal gods would have it, two new albums from two rising stars in the Denver scene have been released within a week of each other – Glacial Tomb’s Lightless Expanse and Nightwraith’s Divergence – and if you haven’t heard of either band, buckle up motherfuckers – these albums are poised to change that. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FERAL FORMS — “SADISTIC INNER HATE”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Sep 302024
 

When Everlasting Spew Records refers to the Italian death metal band Feral Forms as “one of the most vicious and ferocious bands we have ever released”, that gets our attention very fast, because this label has an extensive roster of vicious and ferocious bands. And it turns out not to be an exaggeration.

This quartet from Trieste, which features current and former members of Grime, The Secret, Claustrum, and Fierce, already made their ruthlessness plain for all to hear, through their 2023 debut EP Premalignant, but they were only warming up. If the EP was “premalignant”, their new album Through Demonic Spell is fully malignant — as you’ll discover today through our premiere of a song from the new record: “Sadistic Inner Hate“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CONJONCTIVE — “DYING MELODY”

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Sep 302024
 

More than seven years and seven months ago we hosted the premiere of a video for a song off In the Mouth of the Devil, the then-forthcoming second album by the punishing Swiss band Conjonctive. At that time the band were building upon both their debut album Until The Whole World Dies and their experiences in touring Switzerland and opening for the likes of Crowbar, Biohazard, and Aborted, among others. And now we’re hosting another Conjonctive video premiere in support of another album, a new one named Misère de Poussièr.

Seven years and seven months is obviously a long break. In Conjonctive‘s case, the interval was the result of a hiatus in 2019-2020 and significant lineup changes, including the addition of drummer Guido Wyss (formerly of Near Death Condition). But the band are ferociously making up for lost time, as you’ll find out when you listen to “Dying Melody“, because it’s nothing if not ferocious.

And the video you’re about to see? It’s a ferocious and brutal horror, so explicit in its blood-letting that it doesn’t leave much to the imagination. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: OLD WAINDS, VALONTUOJA, CALCARATA, PAENIL ERA (AND MORE)

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK  3 Responses »
Sep 292024
 

(written by Islander)

As I did in yesterday’s weekend roundup, for today’s column I’ve chosen a mix of complete new releases and advance tracks from forthcoming records. I’ve also consciously mixed up the musical styles, all of which use black metal as a touchstone but throw other stones at us as well. At the end I’ve also embedded three new videos without commentary; they’re all worth seeing and hearing, even though I haven’t tried to explain why.

P.S. In certain parts of the Christian world today is Michaelmas, feast day of the archangel Michael, who is celebrated for casting the Devil from Heaven. The Devil has had a celebrated career on Earth since then, as today’s music helps prove. Today is also probably the birthday of Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra, the author of Don Quixote, which will always inspire its readers to continue tilting at windmills, which thankfully all of today’s bands are doing. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: THAW, THUMOS, THUNRAZ, THE CURE, DISFIGURE, MARTERPÆL, KEITZER

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Sep 282024
 

Last week I filled up this column with 16 songs from 15 bands, all but two of those tracks from forthcoming records. This week I’ve taken a different tack, recommending some complete new records and singles, and fewer advance songs.

With a smaller number of bands I also decided not to arrange things in alphabetical order, other than three in a row at the start for groups whose names share a couple of opening consonants. And to break things up I stuck a curveball in the middle instead of at the end. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SÓLSTAFIR — “BLAKKRAKKI”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  6 Responses »
Sep 272024
 


Photo by Katie Metcalfe

(written by Islander)

This is the shortest SEEN AND HEARD roundup I’ve ever published, so short that it doesn’t make any meaningful dent in the volume of new songs and videos I’ll be wading through in preparation for the usual Saturday NCS column. I suppose pinning up just one critter doesn’t even qualify as a “roundup”.

But I have what I think is a very good reason for shining our faint spotlight on just one song and video today as the week ends. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ASHEN TOMB — “CAVE OF STARING EYES”

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Sep 272024
 

(written by Islander)

One good turn deserves another.

Near the end of last month we hosted the video premiere of a song suitably named “Catharsis Through Torture” from a new album by the Finnish death metal band Ashen Tomb that’s headed our way via Everlasting Spew Records. And now, near the end of this month, we’re bringing you another Ashen Tomb song premiere, this one named “Cave of Staring Eyes“.

Maybe we should say “one utterly ruinous turn deserves another”. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: HELGE — “KEEP THE FIRE BURNING”

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Sep 272024
 

(written by Islander)

On November 1st the Danish metal band Helge will release their sophomore album Gidinawendimin. They explain that the album’s title “is an ancient word from the Ojibwe people that means ‘we are all related.'” If it seems strange that a modern-day Danish band would be drawing upon the culture of an ancient North American indigenous people for inspiration, you’ll learn today that it’s not the only non-European touchstone for the band.

And while it’s fair to say that most bands who perform amalgams of black and death metal (as Helge do) tend to focus on dark and even nihilistic themes, this group has a different bent: it seems they might actually be promoting positive spiritual uplift.

For example, the song from the new album that we’re premiering today, along with an exhilarating music video, is called “Keep the Fire Burning“. It’s the song that ends the album, and lyrically it exhorts listeners to “stand aside from ego”, to forsake anger and poison, to “return to the core of the spirit,” and thus to become reborn, and to rise. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): TORREFY — “NECRONOMISONGS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Sep 262024
 

Beginning in late June of this year we began our own gradual march toward the release of Torrefy‘s new album Necronomisongs. At that point we premiered a startling song from the album named “Enslaved New World” (inspired by the Death Gate Cycle fantasy series), and also reprised a previously released single (equally startling) called “Of Wind and Worm” (inspired by Frank Herbert’s Dune). And then in August we brought you the premiere stream of “Street Reaper” (inspired by Stephen King’s Christine).

And now we’re at the end of our march. Necronomisongs will be released tomorrow (September 27th) on the Germany-based Witches Brew label, and today we’re happily sharing a full stream of all the songs. Continue reading »

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