Islander

AN NCS PREMIERE: WORMQUIZITOR — “MAD CROWD”

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Feb 242022
 

 

On a day many of us will remember with sadness mixed with anger, the Belarusian band Wormquizitor gives us something to remember with pleasure, from an album that’s being released through the cooperation of a Ukrainian label and a Russian one.

The name of that album is Sickness Define: Society. As its name suggests it includes songs whose themes dwell upon the maladies of our modern civilizations — domestic and social violence, drug addiction, depression, herd mentality, obsession, and impunity. It’s the work of former members of Vox Mortuis, Tryzna and Fimbulvinter, who came together in Minsk to found Wormquizitor in 2019.

The music is not neatly defined in genre terms, though black metal and thrash figure in the outcome. As demonstrated by the song we’re premiering today, the name of which (“Mad Crowd“) is also a fitting headline for the day, killer riffs, ferocious vocals, and compelling rhythms also figure in the outcome. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SULPHUR NURSE — “ROOPKUND”

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Feb 232022
 

 

Sulphur Nurse is an international experimental noise/industrial trio consisting of Eeli Helin (Lung Knots, Fawn Limbs), Dan Dolby (Catafalque, Mastiff), and Matt Finney (Clawing, It Only Gets Worse). As you can see, the members have their own separate projects that pursue divergent paths. They brought their own influences and preferences into this project, and the tracks themselves present divergences, but something united these creative forces. What was it?

Listening to their debut album Roopkund (set for release by Tartarus Records on February 25th) suggests this unifying approach in their experimentation: Have nightmares, remember them, and then portray them with the most abrasive, dismal, dread-inspiring, and hallucinatory aesthetics possible. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: BEYOND THE STRUCTURE — “WORMS OF CONSUMPTION”

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Feb 232022
 

 

Almost eight years have passed since the Estonian death metal band Beyond the Structure released their debut album Nauseating Truth. In those intervening years the band did their fair share of touring and released a 2018 EP named Machine of Progress, and line-up changes occurred as well. But now the band are returning with a new album named Scrutiny that’s set for release on April 28th by Vicious Instinct Records.

The new album reveals a band who bring notable technical skill to their performances and display adventurousness in their songwriting, and their lyricism is thoughtful and relevant to some of the most distressing aspects of human evolution and the trials of modern life. They’ve explained that, thematically, the album draws upon the works of Jean-Paul Sartre, the Strugatsky brothers, and Viktor Pelevin in ways that “deal with the crisis of existential existence, mass psychosis, and the inevitable catastrophes caused by the actions of a consumption-based society”.

Those themes come through loud and clear in the lyric video we’re premiering today for a body-mangling, head-spinning album track named “Worms of Consumption“ Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): DARKNESS EVERYWHERE — “THE SEVENTH CIRCLE”

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Feb 222022
 

 

The Bay Area melodic death metal band Darkness Everywhere bring proven talent to the table, harnessing the skills of vocalist/guitarist/drummer Ben Murray (Light This City, Wilderness Dream), guitarist Cameron Stucky (Crepuscle), and renowned producer/engineer Zack Ohren on bass. What’s more, their debut EP also includes guest vocal performances by Laura Nichol (Light This City), John Henry (Darkest Hour), and Xavier from Upon Stone.

The band’s chosen name provides a clue to their vision, but the EP’s title, The Seventh Circle, is an even more vivid signal. There they point to Dante’s Seventh Layer Of Hell, where acts of violence in life are punished in death through endless torture and agony. Souls are immersed in rivers of boiling blood and fire, imprisoned in gnarled trees where harpies feed, and abandoned on scorching plains.

Darkness Everywhere take us to this hot and unhappy place through the paths of seven tracks, each of which has a fittingly hellish theme, and we’ll lead you through each of them ion our premiere of the EP today in advance of its release on February 25th. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SUNTOLD — “THE HILL”

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Feb 222022
 

 

Once again the world finds itself on the precipice of invasion and armed conflict in Europe. One might have thought such days were long gone but now, astonishingly, memories have been revived of how world wars begin. It is thus fitting, even if coincidental, that today we’re premiering the first single by the part-American, part-Belgian black metal band Suntold, which itself delves into those chilling memories.

The name of the song is “The Hill“. In its lyrics it portrays fields drenched in the blood of many men and stinking of rotting flesh. It expresses the prayers of the living combatants that they may yet survive, that they might return to mothers, fathers, and brothers far away. It’s a timeless tale, of course, but the video roots the imagery in those global conflicts to which memories have now returned. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: VIANDE — “LES DENTS DU GOUFFRE”

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Feb 222022
 

 

For many centuries writers, painters, and musicians have exercised their imaginations in rendering visions of “the abyss” — of horrific terrors that await the extinction of life in endless chasms from which there is no escape. For some, it lies deep within the earth, opening its giant maw to swallow what now dwells in the sun. For others it is a supernatural dimension, to be revealed when hideous powers have decided the time is right. In some instances it is a frigid void, in others a realm of monstrosities, and in some cases a term for what lies within deranged minds human bent on mayhem and murder.

The French death metal band Viande have their own visions of the abyss, revealed throughout their unnerving yet electrifying debut album L’abime dévore les âmes, which can be roughly translated as “The abyss devours souls”. As you listen, your own imagination may be kindled to envision all of the different formulations described above, none of them welcoming, all of them frightening.

In the song you’re about to hear, “Les Dents Du Gouffre“, the abyss is not an empty vacuum. Things with gnashing teeth are waiting for you in the chasm. Continue reading »

AFTER LIFE: “GATES OF MADNESS”

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Feb 222022
 

 

(We present DGR‘s review of the second album by the death metal band After Life from the Basque Country of Spain, which was released on February 14th.)

It’s never easy to tell which direction the yearly handful of riff-landslide albums is going to come from. The annual tradition of finding said albums is fairly predictable at this point, and sometimes if the gods be kind then the harvest will be good and we’ll have four-to-five of them on our plates. But the areas from which they’ll come are less predictable and there’s always a chance to get blindsided.

In this case the album arrives courtesy of Spain, the group After Life, and their sophomore album Gates Of Madness. Arriving six years after their first release, Gates Of Madness moves with an extreme sense of urgency and rarely – if ever – lets up. Appearances can be deceiving because at first glance you might see the band and assume you know exactly what you’re in for, then about a minute and a half into the first song After Life completely change form into something that could see them drawing comparisons to high-speed riff monsters like Cytotoxin, Murder Made God, the sadly split-up Kronos, and weirdly enough…Meshuggah? Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: CROWN OF MADNESS — “THE MANIPULATED”

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Feb 212022
 

The origin story of British Columbia’s Crown of Madness is an interesting one, and we will eventually get to that, but we’ll begin by putting the focus where it most belongs today — on the song we’re premiering through a lyric video from this husband-and-wife duo’s debut EP, The Void.

In that song, “The Manipulated“, turbulence and discord reign supreme, from the booming and battering drumwork and jolting bass-lines to the head-bashing chords and the dissonant, maniacally skittering leads. The feverish, violent derangement in the anti-harmonious but technically proficient music is matched by the rabid ferocity of the growled and screamed vocals. But other unnerving sensations flow through the musical maelstrom as well. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GODLESS TRUTH — “THE EYECHAIN”

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Feb 212022
 

 

There are plenty of die-hard tech-death fans out there who seem to slather praise on any band who go fast and demonstrate the level of athleticism and dexterity that’s required to discharge thousands of beats and notes in a short span of minutes. For many other people, listening to that kind of music is an endurance contest, like trudging forward through a gale-force blizzard, head down and just hoping to find shelter as soon as possible. Even for those people, and maybe especially for those people, Godless Truth‘s new album will be a welcome discovery.

We don’t mean to suggest that Godless Truth is a new discovery for everyone. After all, this Czech band have been around since the early ’90s, and their new self-titled album is the fifth full-length in a career that’s approaching the end of a third decade. But 18 years have passed since Godless Truth‘s last album, and it’s been a dozen years since their last EP, so they may indeed be a new discovery for many.

Moreover, this new album is emerging at a time when blizzard bands have saturated the tech-death scene, many of them engaged in an ever-escalating arms race for speed and volume of notes and beats. In that context, Godless Truth‘s music is especially welcome, for reasons that are well-demonstrated in the song we’re premiering today in advance of the album’s March 4 release by Transcending Obscurity Records. Continue reading »

EIGHT BELLS: “LEGACY OF RUIN”

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Feb 212022
 

 

(Our friend Justin Collins  is the author of the following review of the latest album by the Oregonian band Eight Bells, which is scheduled for release on February 25th by Prophecy Productions.)

It’s been a little while since we’ve been graced with an Eight Bells release. As is probably the case with many people, I’ve lost all sense of time because of the pandemic, but it’s been 6 years since they released Landless. Granted, life sometimes gets in the way. Injuries, lineup changes, and the need to make a living get in the way of artists who make music off the beaten path, but luckily Melynda Jackson, the constant of this group, has soldiered on to create Legacy of Ruin with two new band members, Matt Solis (Cormorant) on bass and vocals, and Brian Burke (Cave Dweller) on drums. Continue reading »

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