Islander

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

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Dec 072021
 

 

Into the winter of the soul.
Into the ice.
Foreverblack meadow, embrace new dawn, on raven’s wing,
Hear winter’s song.

Many of us assume that December is an ill-fated time of year for the release of new metal records, what with lots of fans (and writers) being preoccupied with year-end lists and year-end life diversions. But on the other hand, the onset of darkness and cold that December heralds makes it an ideal time of year for the advent of certain kinds of music, the kind that delves into the darkness that comes as the wheel of birth and death rotates into winter — and it seems that RÖKKR‘s self-titled debut album is one of those.

The words quoted above are from the lyrics of one of the album’s five tracks. Further connections to the season are found in such song titles as “Blackest Dawn”, “Into the Ice”, and of course the closing track “Winter”. But how does the music itself form the connection? Today you’ll find out — though it probably isn’t what you would expect. Continue reading »

VOICES: “BREAKING THE TRAUMA BOND”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Dec 072021
 

 

(This is DGR‘s review of the new album by Voices, which was released in late November by Church Road Records.)

I don’t think I was prepared for what transpired within the bounds of the hour-plus of the latest Voices album, Breaking The Trauma Bond. Now there will definitely be a few of you who smirk and go, ‘well, Voices being weird is modus operandi for them,’ and there is definite truth to that statement. Voices are a band  I show to people not because I fully enjoy everything they do but because when the band wrap their minds around a concept – especially since 2014’s London – they somehow manage to make some of the most fascinating and equally abrasive music out there.

The band have a core of death metal and black metal running through them but every release since 2013’s From The Human Forest We Create A Fugue Of Imaginary Rain has been so starkly different from the others that they’re a hard band to pin down, especially since they paint themselves as being sophisticated and avant-garde artistes. However, not even the early single release of An Audience Of Mannequins earlier in the year fully covers what happens within Breaking The Trauma Bond, because the two songs on that single may be the only two traditionally ‘heavy’ songs on this release. Even for Voices, Breaking The Trauma Bond is a fuckin’ weird disc. Continue reading »

CYNIC: “ASCENSION CODES”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Dec 072021
 

 

(We present Wil Cifer‘s review of the new album by Cynic, which is out now on Season of Mist.)

It was surprising to find Paul Masvidal carrying on the torch of Cynic after the death of both Sean Malone and Sean Reinert. It seems this is how he is coming to terms with it.

The tone of this album suggests he took some DMT and used aliens as his support group for this sonic therapy. Normally lineup changes of this magnitude give me pause when going into an album but a few things regarding this one gave me more reassurance, such as the fact that drummer Matt Lynch who plays on this album was recruited by Masvidal and Malone, before Malone’s death. Rather than replace Malone, the bass lines are played on a bass synth, since his style of playing was untouchable. This picks up closer to where they left off with Traced in Air as it is a return to the heavier sounds that preceded the elf-like prog of Kindly Bent to Free Us. Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2021: POPMATTERS’ LIST OF “THE 20 BEST METAL ALBUMS OF 2021”

 LISTMANIA 2021  12 Responses »
Dec 072021
 

 

As part of our annual NCS LISTMANIA extravaganza we re-publish lists of the year’s best metal that appear on web sites which appeal to vastly larger numbers of readers than we do — not because we believe those readers or the writers have better taste in metal than our community does, but more from a morbid curiosity about what the great unpoisoned masses are being told is best for them. It’s like opening a window that affords an insight into the way the rest of the world outside our own disease-ridden nooks and crannies perceives the music that is our daily sustenance.

One of those sites is PopMatters. It has been in existence since 1999. In its own words the site “is an international magazine of cultural criticism and analysis” with a scope that “is broadly cast on all things pop culture”, including “music, television, films, books, video games, sports, theatre, the visual arts, travel, and the Internet”. PopMatters claims that it is “the largest site that bridges academic and popular writing in the world”.

As in past years, last week PopMatters published a list of “The 20 Best Metal Albums“ of the year, again under the by-line of Spyros Stasis and Antonio Poscic. You’ll find that list below. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: RAT KING — “MORBOSO”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Dec 062021
 

 

In April 2017 at Seattle’s tiny Funhouse venue I witnessed one of the earliest live performances by Rat King (along with my first exposure to live performances by Seattle’s Rhine and Arizona’s Lago). I wrote about the show here, At that point Rat King was a complete unknown to me (the two key members, bassist/vocalist Daniel Racines and guitarist Ricardo Racines, had moved to Seattle from Ecuador), but they made an immediate positive impression.

At that point Rat King had a debut album (Garbage Island), an EP, and a split in their discography, and they released a second album (Vicious Inhumanity) in 2020. That second album reflected a change in style, moving toward a fast-paced and vicious blend of death metal and grind, and on their new EP Santa Hipocresía (set for release on December 10th via Within The Mind Records) they mainly stay in the fast and furious lane.

But not everything on the new EP is high-speed savagery, as you’ll discover through our video premiere today of a bludgeoning and sinister track called “Morboso” (“morbid” in English). Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MAC GOLLEHON — “BRONX MOTOR INN”

 Premieres  6 Responses »
Dec 062021
 

 

Every musician has two voices, the one that uses the larynx and the other that uses the manufactured instrument they’ve trained themselves to play. Even in the case of musicians who can sing (or growl or scream), the voice they create through a collaboration with their manufactured instrument is often so much more expressive than the other voice, and even more capable of bringing emotions to life in ways that every other human being can understand.

How that happens is a grand mystery. People spoke and sang to each other millennia before the first musical instrument was created. And when instruments came into existence, what were they used for? To speak and to sing in a different but still recognizable way, and to mimic the beat of hearts and the throb of pulses. Sure, they can be used to create sensations we think of as utterly inhuman, but even then they’re still really being used to create voices our own throats aren’t capable of creating but that convey moods we all understand — even if what we understand are nightmares.

Which brings us to the subject of this post, brass musician extraordinaire Mac Gollehon. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: PULCHRA MORTE

 Interviews  2 Responses »
Dec 062021
 

 

(Comrade Aleks has brought us this in-depth interview with drummer Clayton Gore from the U.S. doom/death band Pulchra Morte, whose latest album, the tremendously good Ex Rosa Ceremonia, was released last year via Transcending Records.)

Five men may be too many for a doom death band, but twin guitars always give a strong hint on melodic components and Pulchra Morte prove it with two albums – Divina Autem et Aniles (2019) and Ex Rosa Ceremonia (2020). All of them for years played all kinds of extreme metal – death metal, black metal, death/black metal, sludge… I believe you’ve heard names like Skeletonwitch and Wolvhammer. And Jarrett Pritchard (guitars) alongside Clayton Gore (drums) started in the Tampa-based death metal band Eulogy nearly 30 years ago! Big guys who know how to play crushing stuff, yes.

True to tell, it’s my fault for doing this so late because Ex Rosa Ceremonia was released one year ago and Pulchra Morte was in my “need-to-interview” list for awhile, but it’s better late than never. Especially as Clayton provides us a great interview, an in-depth look at band’s own life as well as a good glimpse on the difficulties of the modern underground scene. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SUNDAY: [4672] AND HEMELBESTORMER

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Dec 052021
 

 

Those of you who stopped by today expecting a SHADES OF BLACK column may be disappointed. For the second Sunday in a row, unforeseen but self-inflicted mishaps prevented me from getting it done. Like last week, my plan (I should say my hope) is to complete it in time for posting tomorrow.

Unlike last Sunday, however, I’m not going to leave a gaping hole in the site today. To avoid that I’ve prepared this very small round-up of new songs and videos, chosen in part to keep you off-balance. The first selection will put a big jolt into your cranium and nerve endings. The second one will help you calm down, and might even put you under a spell.

[4672] (Poland)

Here’s the part of this short post that will stab a high-powered voltage generator into your neck. The video is a mind-exploder too.

Both the video and the song just premiered today. The track, “[cluster_B]“, includes vocals by Łukasz Myszkowski from Antigama and Dante, and it’s destined to appear on [4672]’s upcoming sixth album, [paradigm_blindness], which is projected for release in late 2022, assuming the world lasts that long. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: COFFIN DUST, EREB ALTOR, ASENATH BLAKE, REEK, SUBSERVIENTDOMINANCE

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHORT BUT SWEET  3 Responses »
Dec 042021
 

 

I’m going to dispense with an elaborate introduction to this Saturday’s round-up of new and newly discovered songs and videos. I’ll say only that it includes one complete album, one complete EP, and an assortment of tracks from forthcoming releases — and that the music bounces around quite a it, so don’t think you’ll be allowed to lock in to any one stylistic groove.

COFFIN DUST (U.S.)

Five years is a long time between releases, but save for a very short 2019 split, that’s how long it’s been since we’ve had something new from this enormously impressive Philadelphia band. But the ticking clock got re-set yesterday when Coffin Dust released a new album (their third), the name of which is Nightmare Vision. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MORDOM — “BETRAYED”

 Premieres  3 Responses »
Dec 032021
 

 

“Combining the leaden misery of funeral doom, the hideous unconventional songwriting of death metal and the monomaniacal disgust of black metal, Mordom prove themselves to be preternaturally gifted at transmuting their darkest moods into monstrous moments of crushing sonic majesty.”

Those words aren’t ours, but instead were crafted by Decibel Magazine’s Dutch Pearce when he reviewed this San Diego band’s debut demo about a year ago. However, the description is too on-point for us to ignore. We repeat them now because Mordom‘s debut album Cry Of The Dying World is fast-approaching its December 10 release via Transylvanian Recordings.

Like the demo, the album blends ingredients of funeral doom and death metal, but also includes elements of sludge, crust punk, and post-rock. Unlike the demo, it includes the work of drummer Nathan Gonzalez joining in with the band’s founder (and his Cessation bandmate) Max Hoffman, who decided to drop guitars almost entirely for this album and rely heavily on pulverizing bass tones, plus his own harrowing harsh vocals. Continue reading »

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