Islander

SHORT BUT SWEET: NAPALM DEATH — “RESENTMENT IS ALWAYS SEISMIC – A FINAL THROW OF THROES”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Feb 162022
 


photo by Gobinder Jhitta

 

(DGR wrote the following review of a new EP by Napalm Death that was released on February 11th by Century Media Records.)

Once again, I find myself at the altar of reviewing a Napalm Death release since it’s one of the things that has commanded much of my listening time. They’re good at hijacking my attention like that.

Considering the scramble that seems to be happening for bands to release ‘something, anything‘ in the last few years as touring continues to take a hit from the ongoing pandemic, EPs have become an increasingly bizarre proposition. They’ve always been fairly nebulous throughout the years, often a collecting pool for stuff that didn’t make an album after recording sessions or previews of whatever bundle of ideas might be currently rattling around in an artist’s head while they try to figure out where to take their project next.

Right now, EPs have expanded that nebulous sensibility to being these increasingly huge catch-alls of anything and everything – which can make for some incredibly all-over-the-map listening sessions thematically. In the case of Napalm Death‘s newest release, Resentment Is Always Seismic – A Final Throw Of Throes, that weird thematic sensibility is just a continuation of what the band have been doing over the past couple of decades, because outside of their obvious ‘pillar of grindcore’ status the band have always been willing to indulge an ambitious and strangely artistic side – so much so that they have added whole eras of ‘weird death metal’ to the hybrid of current industrial dirge and hardcore punk repeatedly beating the shit out of each other that the band currently love to play with when they’re not dishing out their usual genre staples. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ET MORIEMUR — “OSHIMA”

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Feb 152022
 

 

The Czech band Et Moriemur have branded their music “existential doom”. Their label Transcending Obscurity Records uses the phrase “atmospheric doom/black metal”, while Metal-Archives has selected “atmospheric death/doom”. The one thing you can’t call it is “conventional doom”.

Certainly, the subject matter of their records has become increasingly unconventional. Epigrammata, their last album and their best to date, represented an attempt to cope with the dying or death of those they loved, but used lyrics in ancient Greek and also drew upon the Latin mass for the dead, with the album structured to follow the progression of a traditional Requiem.

Now Et Moriemur have ventured again into unusual territory. As its name suggests, their new album Tamashii No Yama (set for release on April 8th) draws inspiration from Japanese history, myth, and culture, and the instrumentation itself includes the shakuhachi as well as cello, harp, violin, and viola. It will also give Epigrammata a serious challenge as the best album these adventurous Czechs have produced to date. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GLEMSEL — “SAVN”

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Feb 152022
 

 

In 2020 the Danish black metal band Glemsel released their first two recordings, a 28-minute EP named Unavngivet (which means “untitled”) and a demo that had no title either, both of which we reviewed. Together they gave listeners a 10-song demonstration of the band’s capabilities — which were formidable.

Through those releases Glemsel demonstrated the ability to quickly carry listeners away. Collectively, the songs were persistently dark in their moods but included beguiling twists and turns. Among other things, they married discordant yet seductive melodies with hurtling drums and vicious vocals, and brought into play ominous, otherworldly, chiming guitars and dirge-like marches. They raced and ravaged in displays of ferocious ecstasy and painted panoramic portraits of heart-rending melancholy. All the while, the band embroidered their music with accents that made the experience even more riveting.

Those first steps left no doubt that Glemsel were very good, and left us eager for a full album, which is finally about to arrive. It does have a name (Forfader) and it’s now set for release on March 18th by Vendetta Records. Today we’re very happy to present its first (and only) single, a song named “Savn“. Continue reading »

FADING AEON: “THE VOICES WITHIN”

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Feb 152022
 

 

(This is DGR‘s review of the new second album by the German melodic death metal band Fading Aeon, which was released last December.)

Many, many, many moons ago in a long forgotten time I reviewed the debut release by German prog-melodeath act Fading Aeon. The group’s first release was a solid hybrid of the mass of genres that melodeath has become over the years, including pulling in influences from folk metal bands to the more long-form and journey-minded groups like Be’Lakor.

Debut releases hold a lot of potential and Fading Aeon’s A Warrior’s Tale was one style of ‘promising’ release, with much of it feeling like it was the group laying a foundation for things to come. While they had already solidified in a sound for that release, it still hinted that the group had more ideas toying with them than what had initially been put down. Where the group would head in their followup was an interesting prospect at the very least, so while it may have landed in a quieter time of the year in the opening weeks of December 2021, Fading Aeon saw fit to act upon that with their sophomore album The Voices Within. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): THOUGHT TRIALS — “FULL OF SOUND AND FURY, SIGNIFYING NOTHING”

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Feb 142022
 

 

What is it that is “full of sound and fury, signifying nothing”? In the words of Macbeth after learning of his wife’s death, it is life itself — “a walking shadow, a poor player that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more… a tale told by an idiot….”

There may be no speech in all of Shakespeare that is more laden with pessimism and despair than that one in Act 5, scene 5 of the great tragedy. That this phrase was chosen by Thought Trials as the title of this Buffalo band’s new album signifies something. As described by Thought Trials‘ sole creator Josh Martin, the album “is a study of the fragile human psyche and how our journeys are shaped by trauma and misadventure. Each song explorers a different facet of mental health, sometimes from a place of optimism – and sometimes not”. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: IATT, GENTIHAA, SENZAR, NAFRAT

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Feb 142022
 

I suppose that after the gigantic swarms of new music I compiled in this past weekend’s two posts I should have let you catch your breath, but I had a hole to fill in our schedule before an album premiere coming later today. So I quickly grabbed some of the newest songs and videos I discovered, most of which I heard and saw for the first time this morning, accompanied by some immediate reactions.

IATT (U.S.)

“Seven Wandering Stars ” is a stylistic kaleidoscope that’s being spun almost faster than would allow you to keep up, shifting in flashes from black metal to prog and jazz fusion. In keeping with the rapidly changing variations, the vocals include both razor-edged shrieking and morose singing (by guest Jake Superchi of Uada). There seems to be a violin in the mix too, performed by Ben Karas (Thank You Scientist, Windfaerer). Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: RITUAL DEATH, HELL MILITIA, CIRKELN, MOSAIC, CHARCA

 SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Feb 132022
 

 

What I’ve chosen for this week’s black metal column provides a good variety of music for heathen tastes (or at least I think it does). It includes reissues of some older EPs, a trio of recently revealed tracks from forthcoming albums, and one full-length that came out about 10 days ago.

RITUAL DEATH (Norway)

I remember hearing about this band, most likely through Karina Noctum‘s interview of T. Ciekals, though the focus of that interview was his band Djevel. But I didn’t follow up to see what Ritual Death was all about until noticing that the Russian label Living Temple Records had released tape and digital editions of two Ritual Death EPs on February 11th of this year. Continue reading »

OVERFLOWING STREAMS: DEMONICAL, MALIGNANT AURA, EGGS OF GOMORRH, TROGLODYTE, MROME, BLOOD TORRENT, CONFESS, 1/2 SOUTHERN NORTH, BHLEG, END REIGN, KORYPHEUS

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Feb 122022
 


Demonical – Photo by Jens Ryden

For the last three weeks I’ve stayed away from hard liquor because I’d forgotten where the off-switch was. Beer and wine were still on the alcohol menu because, for whatever reason, it was a lot easier to find the off-switch. But last night I hung out at a bar with an old friend. I’d never been to that particular bar and was surprised to see a bottle of Brennivin sitting on the shelf. I couldn’t resist. This morning I’m brutally reminded why I decided to stay away from the hard stuff for a while.

Fortunately, I picked all the music for this round-up after hours of listening that happened before I met my friend. Because I’m getting a late and painful start this morning, I’m going to launch this post without any commentary about the songs. I’ll probably come back and add the commentary later today, not because anyone needs that but because I like doing it; at least I like doing it when my head is functioning.

Part of the fun in making these choices yesterday was discovering that I could present them in short blocks, creating small groups of songs that seemed to work well together. In doing that I divided the music into five Parts. Hopefully you’ll get what I was thinking, but even if you don’t get the connections I hope you’ll still dig the music. I sure as hell did. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: ΑΧΕΡΟΝΤΑΣ — “BELIAL – THE ENN OF BELIYA’AL”

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Feb 112022
 

 

The Greek black metal coven Acherontas has long been known for the vital connection between their occult spirituality and their music: Each fuels and guides the other. There is no reason to think that has changed (to the contrary, it hasn’t), but with their new album The Seven Tongues of ΔΑΗΜΩΝ the band have announced their entry into a new phase of existence, a final reincarnation and a new era of continuity that is in part signified by a new expression of their name: ΑΧΕΡΟΝΤΑΣ.

As captured in the album’s name, it consists of seven ritualistic hymns, expressed as offerings upon the altars of Seven Gods — a “Mission of Seven Hells and Seven Destinations” — still rooted in ancient esoteric sources. In the progression of the album, the third offering invokes the name of Belial — “Belial-The Enn of Beliya’al” — and we present it to you today through a diabolical lyric video. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: HELGE — “DEPRESSIVE WATERS”

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Feb 112022
 

 

The video we’re about to present features a song by the Danish black metal band Helge — a song that’s ferocious, intensely unnerving, and rhythmically riveting. It also features imagery that’s unnerving in its own way, even though much of it makes use of natural settings.

The name of the song is “Depressive Waters“, but the music, although unmistakably dark, isn’t what most people would consider depressive black metal, nor is it a portrayal of quiet suffering, inconsolable sorrow, exhaustion of interest and energy — or surrender.

Helge‘s mastermind Helge Nørbygaard has explained the feelings that the song is intended to capture: “When your head is spinning and thoughts so dark become your reality. Trying to release the pain and the skin becomes red. So far away from the heart, nothing but hate and despair. Then it’s all about how much you listen to your own heart, either you rise up or become history”. Continue reading »

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