Islander

SEEN AND HEARD: GOAT TORMENT, MORTIFERUM, ANOMALY, TACOMA NARROWS BRIDGE DISASTER

 Album Reviews, Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Aug 262021
 

 

As you can see, I found time to stitch together another round-up of new music today. As usual, it barely scratches the surface of new songs and videos I’ve spotted this week, but I thought the choices would collectively give our visitors whiplash, and it pleased me to think so.

The music I’ve chosen for today comes from three pre-established personal favorites and one newcomer that’s already made a very positive first impression.

GOAT TORMENT (Belgium)

We begin with a supercharged adrenaline rush, a track that delivers storming, Marduk-like sonic warfare which marries bullet-spitting and bomb-throwing drums, wild, incendiary riffing, dominating vocal savagery, and an exotic wailing solo with an Arabian flare. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: DEVOID OF THOUGHT — “OUTER WORLD GRAVES”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Aug 262021
 

 

With the kind of genius planning and execution that built the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, the “Iron Dam” in Zhumadian, China, and the tower in Pisa that subsequently leaned, we published our review of Devoid of Thought‘s new album yesterday, 24 hours before premiering a complete album stream today.

But truth be told, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing. A multiplicity of writings, even so closely juxtaposed, may catch more eyes and ears — and this album definitely deserves more eyes and ears. As yesterday’s reviewer Mr. Synn proclaimed:

“Outer World Graves is definitely a big step up from the band’s previous material, dealing in a blend of slithering muscle and otherworldly menace reminiscent of bands like Blood Incantation, Mithras, and Zealotry… a sort of ‘post-Demilich, post-Deeds of Flesh‘ approach that marries punchy, predatory riffs, gruesome, gut-churning grooves, and tormented technicality to an eerie, unsettling atmosphere of proto-cosmic dread”. Continue reading »

MISCELANY NO. 79: ASTHENIC SYN, CABINET, SCALD

 MISCELLANY  No Responses »
Aug 252021
 

 

In the early days of NCS I began a recurring series called MISCELLANY, which got up to 78 installments before it died away from neglect. The self-imposed rule for that series was that I would pick bands I’d never heard before and listen to one song (or maybe two) from something new they’d released, record my immediate impressions, and then leave it to readers to decide whether to explore further. That strategy allowed me to sample from albums and EPs that I didn’t have time to listen to completely or review in full, without knowing in advance how the music would strike me (or you).

As you can now see, I’ve decided to revisit this format today, as a way of highlighting some new discoveries I’ve made. In each case here, except for one, I didn’t have any idea how the music would strike me, but dipping my toes in these waters proved to be a good idea (I bought all three of these). So, start wriggling your own toes, and let’s begin.

ASTHENIC SYN (Russia)

This first album is the one out of today’s three that wasn’t a complete shot in the dark. It was recommended to me by Rennie (from starkweather), and I can’t think of any instance where he’s steered me wrong. As a further inducement to check out Asthenic Syn (from Stavropol, Russia), he mentioned that the music made him think of Kriegsmaschine, a reference which drew me like flies to honey. The fact that the individual behind this solo project has taken the name illwisher sealed the deal Continue reading »

FILTH IS ETERNAL: “LOVE IS A LIE, FILTH IS ETERNAL”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Aug 252021
 

 

(Our old friend Justin C returns to NCS with the following review of the new album by the re-named Seattle band Filth Is Eternal, which will be released on August 27th by Quiet Panic.)

We’ve all been there. Grandma wants to hear some of the rock ‘n roll music the crazy kids are making these days, and Fucked and Bound is an obvious choice. Grandma needs a shot of adrenaline, not some droning doom, after all! But will the name be too off-putting? Especially after church?

Well, the band has made your life a little easier now with a new name, Filth Is Eternal. No, they haven’t changed the name in a craven attempt at Top 40 success, or probably even for Grandma. It just turns out that getting the word out about all your hard work during a pandemic, with no live shows plus social media platforms flagging you left and right for potentially being naughty content, your choice might come down to a name change or complete obscurity, as the band explained to Decibel last month. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): VEIL OF CONSPIRACY — “ECHOES OF WINTER”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  4 Responses »
Aug 252021
 

 

The seasons trace a cycle of death and re-birth in the natural world. Winter is commonly regarded as the season of death, the descent of bitter cold and stricken leaves, of creatures in hiding and comforts lost. These days, of course, death seems more ever-present than ever, with no regard for seasons, even as we think of baking heat and burning landscapes rather than frigid domains. Sometimes it seems that we’re in the midst of an endless winter of the soul.

Winter is the main protagonist of the forthcoming second album by the Italian band Veil of Conspiracy, and when you hear the band’s mesmerizing amalgam of doom, death, and black metal, you can easily understand it as a transfixing portrait not only of the season but of the darkness of our own freezing journeys through grief, despair, and solitude.

Echoes of Winter is the album’s name, and today we have a full stream of it for you in advance of its release this coming Friday by BadMoodMan Music. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): RUIN — “SPREAD PLAGUE DEATH”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Aug 242021
 

 

For those familiar with the previous recordings of the California death metal band Ruin, it will come as no surprise that their new album Spread Plague Death is ruinous — ruthlessly unapologetically ruinous, in multiple ways. It’s titanically crushing, subhuman in its savagery, grotesquely filthy in its sound, and unrelenting in its devotion to building a macabre atmosphere of mutilating depravity and horror. It also happens to be perversely contagious and neck-wrecking as well as sadistically grotesque.

The band’s success in creating such tremendously obliterating destructiveness coupled with so many blood-congealing terrors, and doing so over the course of more than 44 minutes without overpowering a listener’s endurance isn’t a matter of happenstance but of calculation. It’s a testament to the band’s songcraft and an attention to detail that might not be expected, given how steadfastly brutal, morbid, and maniacal their strategies are.

You’ll have a chance to discover this for yourselves, assuming you’re not faint of heart, because we have a full stream of the album for you, just a few days away from its August 27 release by Nameless Grave Records and other allied labels. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MENTAL TORMENT

 Interviews  No Responses »
Aug 242021
 

(Here, Comrade Aleks presents his interview of members of the Ukrainian band Mental Torment, whose new album Ego:genesis will be released on September 29, 2021.)

Mental Torment (Kyiv, Ukraine) was born 12 years ago. Back then the doom/death scene in the ex-USSR territories had already started to grow and develop, yet the guys took their time. Thus Mental Torment’s debut album On the Verge… saw the light of day in 2013. They pointed in the direction they wanted to follow, and though such a doom/death piece couldn’t offer any innovative ideas, it was ok. The band was silent for a few years playing occasional gigs and announcing a rotation in the lineup but out of nowhere Metallurg Music proclaimed the release of Mental Torment’s sophomore work, ego:genesis.

The official press kit sounds curious: “The album will bring a fresh view of the traditional Doom Metal genre. From acoustic ballads and funeral vibes to sludgy and modern progressive music.”  As you know “traditional doom” is associated with clean-singing bands whose names are known to any doom-cultists, and at the end of the day I tell you that the second part of this official statement is correct, as Mental Torment really add the afore-mentioned sludge and post elements to a classic doom death fundament.

So, ego:genesis turns to be absolutely another new chapter in the band’s discography, and Mental Torment‘s collective mind is ready to give us some clues about how all of this happened. Continue reading »

NECRONAUTICAL: “SLAIN IN THE SPIRIT”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Aug 242021
 

 

(Here’s DGR’s review of the latest album by the UK extreme metal band Necronautical, recently released by Candlelight/Spinefarm.)

Necronautical are a band we’ve been lucky enough to cover since their first record. They’re a somewhat familiar name around these parts since all of their releases have been here and they’ve been the subject of a Waxing Lyrical piece too. In fact, the group’s newest record – and second for Candlelight Records – Slain In The Spirit is now my own third go for a review with this group. So there’s something of a written record of the band here as they’ve grown and evolved into the creature they are today.

We’ve watched as they’ve shifted in terms of both subject matter and the meaning of their name, expanding the group’s lyrical and philosophical reach into explorations of the mind. What was initially a sea-inspired voyage started to become journeys into deeper recesses of spirituality — still nautical, but less literally than before and, given the creeping influences of symphonic black metal on the group’s sound, increasingly ‘necro’ with every release.

Slain In The Spirit is the latest expansion of that, as it works as a natural evolution of what the band started on Apotheosis. The songs presented here are about as expansive as they were on the previous release but this time around, Necronautical have become a little bit more focused in the two years since Slain’s predecessor. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: GOLDEN GOD — “FLESH”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Aug 232021
 

 

We’ve written repeatedly about the genre-splicing metal band Witchtrip from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, premiering music from all three of the EPs they’ve released so far, including 2021’s Sledmetal. But it’s not Witchtrip that’s the subject of today’s premiere, so why are we mentioning them?

Well, it’s because today’s band, Golden God, is a Witchtrip side project that includes three of that band’s five members — Sean Kaye (guitar/vocals), Josh Buors (bass/vocals), and Adrian Meijn (drums). Golden God will soon be announcing their debut EP, and what we’ve got today is a track from it named “Flesh“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: MALIGNAMENT — “CALL TO ARMS”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Aug 232021
 

 

In November 2019 I came across the debut demo of the Finnish black metal band Malignament (reviewed here) that halted me in my tracks and sent my heart racing. It combined ferocious strength, a sense of panoramic scale, and intoxicating melodies of unbridled emotional power that penetrated deeply.

It was thus terrifically good news to learn that Malignament had completed work on a debut album. Entitled Hypocrisis Absolution, it’s an eight-track pageant of war and woe that builds upon the promise of the demo and really is breathtaking from beginning to end. And thus we’re thrilled to premiere an album track named “Call of Arms” today, in the lead-up to the album’s September 24 release by Primitive Reaction. Continue reading »

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