Islander

KONSENSUS: “LIFE DEPRIVED”

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Jul 072023
 

(As you’ll see from the following review, DGR got his grind tank fully fueled up by the new album from the Greek one-person operation Konsensus that came out last month.)

The opportunity to open a review or writeup with ‘wow, it sure is a great time such and such genre’ is always an appreciated one. Cards on the table though, one of the best parts about being a grind fan and writing about grind music whenever the chance strikes is that it is generally always a good time for grind because the formula is so honed down and about as high or low stakes as you want it to be that someone out there, somewhere, will have picked up on the punk-as-fuck ethos of ‘what if we just play really fast and beat the hell out of the instruments behind it’ and more often than not, be pretty dang good at it.

There are obviously highlight releases every year – for fucks sake, this a Rotten Sound year – but if you likes you a good ole’ fashioned circle-pit riff and a whole bunch of energy being expelled outwards in a direction that boils down to ‘everywhere’, the hyperspeed musicians who make their grind out of all things blastbeats, heavy and fast, are able to provide. Greece’s one-man show Konsensus was one of those highlight releases back in 2021. Bravely launched during the glory years of endless frustration at people’s damned near-malicious ignorance and brilliantly armed to the teeth, New Age Of Terror was a solid hit to the system that promised a whole lot of fury for music in the future, and now in 2023 we have that in the form of a full-length under the title of Life Deprived. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: TACOS! — “CHIN UP, TITS OUT”

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Jul 062023
 

“Wisconsin probes how 8 roller-coaster riders became trapped upside down for hours.” That’s the headline of a news article that surfaced this morning, just before we put the finishing touches on this article. Using ladder trucks to reach them, it took firefighters more than three hours to get all the passengers down.

To experience getting stuck upside-down on a roller coaster ride, it would have been easier for all concerned (though only slightly less scary) if they’d just listened to the new Tacos! song you’re about to hear.

You might get some sense of that just from gazing at the cover art for this Seattle band’s new album 3, which is headed for release in August via Portland’s Nadine Records. Seeing those three children dressed from an older era skipping through a field of skulls beneath interested vultures suggests a strange trip is at hand, and so it is. You’ll also get a good sense of that in listening to this new song, “Chin Up, Tits Out“. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): GUTSLIT — “CARNAL”

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Jul 062023
 

Almost six years ago the Indian extreme metal band Gutslit released their eye-opening second album Amputheatre, and now we’re on the eve of release of their third album Carnal. As we did roughly six years ago for Amputheatre, today we’re hosting a premiere for the new album by these brutal death/grind marauders, but this time it’s the whole record you’ll have a chance to hear, all eight neck-wrecking and eviscerating tracks —

Carnal is the name of the new full-length, and as the band explain, it “explores the intricate struggles of the human psyche and the conflict between good and evil,” and features tracks that draw inspiration from infamous serial killers, offering a unique perspective on the human experience”. Carnal also marks the return of Aditya Barve (Skewered in the Sewer) on vocals and features guest vocals by Benighted‘s Julien Truchan on the track “Bind Torture Kill.” Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): UAMH — “AT THE EDGE OF THE LOCH”

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Jul 052023
 

On July 7th, Fiadh Productions will (with considerable delight) release At the Edge of the Loch, the debut full-length by the Montana-based atmospheric black metal artist Uamh. As the album title itself suggests, Uamh‘s music draws inspiration from Celtic traditions, and subtly interweaves old folk instruments, along with drumming that sounds more stripped-down and even primitive than flashy (but still makes a visceral impact).

On the other hand, with one prominent exception, the vocals take the form of raw black metal screams, and the music, which derives its greatest strengths from the ravaging and ringing power of the carefully layered guitars, is capable of searing the senses and melting hearts as well as opening the mind’s eye to breathtaking panoramas.

We have a lot more thoughts about each of the album’s five compelling tracks, all of which we’re sharing with you today in advance of the album’s release this Friday, but we ought to begin the introduction with Uamh‘s own words: Continue reading »

NOTT: “HIRAETH”

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Jul 052023
 

(What we have here is Todd Manning‘s review of Hiraeth, the new album by the duo Nott that’s set for release on August 18th by Silent Pendulum Records.)

It’s probably not helpful to call an album ‘heavy’ on a website such as No Clean Singing, but what I want to get across is that the new release by Nott, Hiraeth, is immensely, cosmically, insanely heavy. This duo, consisting of Julia Geaman on drums and Tyler Campbell on guitar, bass, and vocals, now hail from the Pacific Northwest and play a brand of death-doom that will surely cause California to fall into the ocean.

Starting with the opener “Torn”, Nott unleashes riffs that sound like a boulder being dropped off a skyscraper. They deal in a similar vein of apocalyptic atmosphere as Ulcerate but there exists an additional dimension of darkness here that sets them apart. When the occasional blast beat surfaces, there’s a darkness not unlike early Immolation. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: COFFIN MULCH

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Jul 052023
 

(Comrade Aleks admits that he has a tough time getting into death metal, but he has succumbed to the rough charms of Scotland’s Coffin Mulch, and you’ll get a sense why when you read his interview with the band’s vocalist Al today. The interview was conducted before Memento Mori‘s release of their debut album, which happened just a few days ago.)

Members of the Scottish death band Coffin Mulch played anything but death in their old days. The band’s bass-player Rich was doing traditional doom, new guitarist Derek (who joined in 2022) plays stoner still, drummer Fraser is in a sludge band, and vocalist Al sang in a couple of local bands too. But for five years now they have been cutting furious, sophisticated, and charged death metal with psychotic enthusiasm.

Spectral Intercession is their first full-length album, but even before that, the band did not sit idly and released a demo, and then a damn good EP. Coffin Mulch will enchant fans of old fashioned Swedish death metal and bands like Autopsy and Asphyx. Their focus, their passion, and their punk DIY vibe impress as well, and so I, a person who has a hard time getting into the cadaverous charm of death metal, strongly recommend you Spectral Intercession.

This killer interview with Al is another reason to pay attention to Coffin Mulch. (We thank Nathan Birk (Suspicious Activities PR) for organizing the interview.) Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): FOSSA MAGNA — “FOSSA MAGNA フォッサマグナ”

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Jul 042023
 

Those who’ve come here today looking for riffs and melodies, uplift or succor, will leave empty-handed. What you’ll find instead is “a merging of harsh minds during even harsher times,” “relentless textural soundscapes and combative tones sharpened and pointed by design in order to scrape the listener clean to the bone”.

So says the French label WV Sorcerer Productions and its co-release partners Damien Records and Hell Simulation about the self-titled debut album by an international group of noisemakers who’ve chosen the name Fossa Magna. The participants in this collaborative effort are:

Astro (Japan):
Hiroshi Hasegawa 長谷川洋

Many Blessings (USA):
Ethan Lee McCarthy (Primitive Man, Vermin Womb)

Coalminer (Philippines):
Chester Masangya & Robert Glen Dilanco Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: CRAWL — “VANITY”

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Jul 042023
 

Misanthropic-Art‘s cover image for a new split by the Swedish death metal bands Feral and Crawl is decrepit, decaying, and haunting, but also molten, an image of ancient regal grandeur now cracked, strangled by roots sprung from the earth, and littered with skulls of the dead, but something not of the earth pours forth from the eye of an obelisk.

It’s a fitting image for a split by two bands who honor the now seemingly ancient and unhealthy powers of Swedish death metal but in ways that still make it sound molten. Both bands released hellishly good albums five years ago (Feral‘s Flesh for Funerals Eternal and Crawl‘s Rituals), and the split marks a very welcome return, with each band contributing two new songs.

The split is entitled Made As Those Who Are No Longer Alive, Transcending Obscurity Records will release it on September 5th, and what we’re bringing you today is the debut of the second of Crawl‘s two songs — “Vanity“. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: NUCLEAR DUDES — “BOSS BLADES” (FEATURING DAVE VERELLEN)

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Jul 032023
 

For some of you, and especially those who frequent the grimy vermin-ridden squat occupied by this site, your first exposure to the music of Nuclear Dudes might have been “Manifest Piss Tape“, the first single from the project’s forthcoming debut album Boss Blades, which we covered here. But some other possible exposures preceded that one (the Gin and Panic and Bad at Sleep records released last year) and one other has followed it (another single from the new album, named “Year 3“).

If you’ve caught up to any of this so far, you already have a pretty good idea that the new album is going to be a sonic whirligig that’s perilous to life and limb (and sanity) no matter how tight you strap yourself in. And so it is — “a manic mix of extreme metal, synth-prog, powerviolence, and industrial noise” (to quote from the press materials), or as framed by Jon Weisnewski, the person behind the project, “a wild-eyed response to the question ‘What if Carcass and Gary Numan were locked in a studio and had to figure out how to make a record together?’”

Weisnewski‘s name alone draws attention to the album, given that he’s the front-person of the notorious Seattle bands Sandrider and Akimbo. So does the name Dave Verellen (from Botch), because he makes two guest vocal appearances on Boss Blade — and Dust Moth’s Irene Barber joins in on a track too. And speaking of Dave Verellen, one of the songs on which he contributes is the album’s title track that we’re premiering today. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HALLUCINATE — “CRIMSON RAIN”

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Jul 032023
 

In introducing From the Bowels of the Earth, the debut album by the German band Hallucinate‘s debut album (whose lineup features members of Graveyard Ghoul and Karloff), it would be extreme negligence not to explain the traumatic event that spawned it. So, we begin with that explanation, in the words of vocalist / lead guitarist Persecutor:

“From the Bowels of the Earth sprung forth from a very tough psilocybin experience right before the onset of the pandemic. It almost broke me mentally; I wasn’t prepared for it at all. I started writing the songs in an attempt to put myself back together, trying to integrate that experience. It was a very dark and intimidating display of ancient powerful archetypes haunting me with synchronistic, apocryphal, and soul-crushing revelations – not the funky-shmunky colorful hippie shit most people associate with this stuff. So a psych-stricken, kinda-prog death metal record felt most natural to tell the story, where each song represents a stage of the trip with its physiological, psychic and spiritual implications.”

The connection between that dire trip and the album’s music is reflected in the song titles, which capture the changing visions. But the connection is also manifested in the music, which is crushing death metal at its core but also thoroughly infiltrated with influences of prog and (of course) psychedelia, ingredients that don’t sound stuck on like post-it notes but instead grew of their own accord, like arteries and veins in a gestating thing that has now found flourishing and frightening life.

Today we have one of the mind-altering visions brought to life on From the Bowels of the Earth in the song called “Crimson Rain” that we’re premiering in advance of the album’s release by Caligari Records on August 4th. Continue reading »

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