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SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2): DØDSFERD, TUMBA DE CARNE, WALDGEFLÜSTER

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Aug 092021
 

 

As you can see, this is Part 2 of the weekly column I began yesterday. Because I’m hurrying to finish it before turning to the usual Monday flurry of activity at our site, I’ll dispense with any further introduction and get right to the music.

DØDSFERD (Greece)

On August 10th this Greek black metal band will commemorate its 20th anniversary of existence by releasing a new album named Suicide and the Rest of Your Kind Will Follow Part II, which arrives a dozen years after Part I. It consists of two long songs, the first of which premiered yesterday at Metal Addicts through a video made by Nikolaos Stavridakis (VisionBlack), which builds upon artwork created by Georgios Gyzis (aka Bacchus of the black metal band Grab). Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): KATAVASIA, FLESIA, KORGONTHURUS, REMAH, SÔLT

 Album Reviews, SHADES OF BLACK, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Aug 082021
 

 

After spending a ton of time listening to new songs and writing about many of them in the two enormous roundups I posted on Friday and Saturday I despaired of being able to do very much with this week’s SHADES OF BLACK column. But I got a second wind and became inspired by the varying sounds you’re about to discover.

In this two-part edition the bands whose music I chose include some old personal favorites and some very promising newcomers.  My second wind is dying, so you’ll most likely have to look for Part 2 on Monday.

KATAVASIA (Greece)

These Greek black metal luminaries, whose lineup includes members drawn from Varathron, Hail Spirit Noir, Aenaon, Melan Selas, and Agnes Vein, have a new two-track EP headed our way, and the first of the two songs — “Descending to Acheron” — has now surfaced. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY (STILL TOO MANY NAMES TO PUT IN A POST TITLE)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Aug 072021
 

 

By some kind of industry consensus Fridays have become big days for the release of new music. When you stack a Bandcamp Friday on top of that, you get a deluge of biblical proportions. In an effort to keep up with the torrent, I compiled an extra-large roundup yesterday, but even though it included 14 new songs and videos that I enjoyed it still only scratched the surface. So I decided to do it again today, and to go even bigger, though I didn’t quite make it to Z in the alphabet.

Once again, there are a lot of bigger names in this collection, and once again I’ve injected some lesser-knowns as well. I’ve also included some playthrough videos. There’s not a lot of black metal in the mix, but that’s because tomorrow is Sunday, and you know what that means. Don’t you?

A THOUSAND SUFFERINGS (Belgium)

In this first song the dark, folksy, acoustic opening grabbed me, and then I felt both swept aloft and heart-stricken by the ensuing waves of bleak but grand melody and the shattering screams. The sounds are immense, stately, and emotionally crushing, even with the softer, haunting interstitials that arrive. The music boils over into sounds of torment and fury, and becomes almost hallucinatory in its agony, which makes this rendering of black/doom even more powerful. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): FLESHBORE — “EMBERS GATHERING”

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Aug 062021
 

 

It’s our pleasure today to present a full stream of the debut album by the Indianapolis-based tech-death crew Fleshbore, which is set for an August 13 release by Innerstrength Records. It represents a redefining of the band’s sound over years of effort, and the results (to borrow some words you’ll see in the following review) are both body-mangling and mind-blowing.

In the opening track, “Momentum”, a compulsive rhythmic beat and grand ringing chords provide the introduction to an obliterating percussive assault accompanied by slicing, swirling, and darting fretwork and savage growls and screams. The music continues to morph, becoming both oppressive and eerily glorious, jolting the spine with punishing power and writhing like diseased reptiles. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A BANDCAMP FRIDAY (TOO MANY NAMES TO PUT IN A POST TITLE)

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  4 Responses »
Aug 062021
 

 

Over the last few days my NCS comrades (well, mainly DGR) have been shoveling links at me for new songs and videos, in anticipation that I would put together a round-up by today — which is a Bandcamp Friday. Most of those links were for music by bigger-name bands. The thought was that I could also add more obscure names, and that the allure of the bigger names might help introduce the lesser-knowns to more fans.

The problem is that the pile of links has grown to gargantuan proportions, which has made it tougher for me to insert as many other discoveries as I might want and still write up some thoughts about everything. Ah well, there’s always tomorrow. Here’s the A-to-Z deluge I have for today, in alphabetical order.

ARCHSPIRE (Canada)

Prepare for relentless high-speed bludgeoning and crazed fretwork mania as a big rabid mastiff barks in your face at equally high speed. Exhilarating! Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BLEEDING MALICE — “THY KINGDOM COME”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Aug 062021
 

 

Thy Kingdom Come is the debut album of Bleeding Malice from Minsk, Belarus, and it’s being released today. In the band’s words, it’s a 9-track tale “about a man with his sins and weaknesses, who for a moment realized that the scales were irrevocably tilted to one side. Memories rush one by one, but the step into emptiness has already been taken….” In telling that tale, the song lyrics use words of disgust, vengeance, and hate, mixed with words of confusion, torment, and despair.

It’s an intense and disturbing narrative, and the music is equally intense and disturbing. The album is also surprising in its amalgam of genre ingredients. You may think, as you begin to move through the album, that you’ve figured out what Bleeding Malice are all about, but they continually defy expectations with unexpected twists that strengthen the desire to continue listening, and to listen again. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: REPLICANT — “CHASSIS OF DECEIT”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Aug 052021
 

 

New Jersey’s Replicant seized attention with their 2018 debut album Negative Life, which Steve Schwegler (of Pyrrhon, Seputus, and Weeping Sores) beautifully reviewed for us. A couple of impressive splits followed that, along with an EP named Hypochondria of the Machine (reviewed here) that further marked Replicant as a truly distinctive band worth watching very closely.

Yet as attention-grabbing as all those releases were, they still might not have prepared listeners for the wild and often weird extravaganzas encompassed by the band’s forthcoming second full-length, Malignant Reality (set for release by Transcending Obscurity on September 10th). The music is wonderfully head-spinning (as well as savage), and there’s probably not a better example of just how head-spinning it can become than the song we’re premiering today — “Chassis of Deceit“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEAD SOUL ALLIANCE — “PERPETUAL RECYCLED EXISTENCE”

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Aug 052021
 

 

We’ve enjoyed watching the relentless forward progress of the Canadian death metal band Dead Soul Alliance, from the first self-titled demo in 2011 to the 2013 EP Proud To Die (reviewed here) and the 2017 EP Slaves to the Apocalypse (reviewed here), and now we have the band’s debut album, Behind the Scenes, which is set for a September 3 release by Bitter Loss Records.

From the beginning, the band has been the creative vehicle for vocalist and multi-instrumentalist W.D. On this new album he’s joined by drummer E.H., and together they’ve created a ravishing experience that revels in both the brutality and the eeriness of old school death metal, while displaying the kind of dynamic songcraft and attention to evocative melody that makes the songs memorable.

We have a great example of these qualities in the track we’re premiering today, a multi-faceted experience that presents an amalgam of rampant ruthlessness, berserker madness, and stirring melody. Continue reading »

NIGHT CROWNED: “HÄDANFÄRD”

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Aug 052021
 

 

(This is DGR’s review of the new album by the Swedish band Night Crowned, which is out now on the Noble Demon label.)

It doesn’t seem like it was that long ago that we found ourselves checking in with Night Crowned and their first full-length release, Impius Viam. Granted; a large part of that feeling is attributable to us missing the boat on the late-February release and coming around to it eight months later. Yet even considering that,  you’d have to admit that returning to the stage a year and a half later with a follow-up release is a pretty quick turnaround time.

That prospect can be terrifying, since albums released year-over-year can be pretty hit-or-miss depending on how prolific the musician is, and on top of that last year was just generally a fucking mess.  When given such a massive amount of time to be trapped inside, what else is a musician likely to do other than create, and it seems like that is the path Night Crowned chose.

The group’s second full-length came out via Noble Demon in early July and plays fully into the moodier-sibling aspect that one expects from any growing family. Bearing album art now fully in black and white, lyrics and song titles mostly in Swedish, and a less-packed run time where the only peaceful bit is the title song, Hädanfärd is a ferocious follow-up. It leans much more on the extreme side of things, and save for a few surprising deviations with clean vocal lines, it is the sort of release that never lets up, playing fully into the apocalyptic blastfest one expects from a group veering further into their black-metal inspirations. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: NOCTURNAL — “VOID DWELLER”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Aug 042021
 

 

The German black thrashing extremists in Nocturnal should need no introduction. For the last decade-plus, they’ve been scorching eardrums and adrenalizing bloodstreams in ever-more formidable and ferocious fashion, while continuing their quest for the perfect combination of sound and slaughter that best represents their violent and venomous ethos.

On the other hand, Nocturnal don’t pump out albums quickly, and it’s been seven years since their last one, 2014’s Storming Evil, with only one split to fill the space. Thankfully, they’re now ready to release their fourth full-length, Serpent Death, which includes a changed line-up to accompany founding guitarist Avenger.

What we have for you today is the premiere of a blistering track from the new album, one that will jet your energy levels into hyper-drive. Continue reading »

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