Islander

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: DEAD EXALTATION — “OMNIA MORS AEQUAT”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Jan 182021
 


Photographer: Aditya Ranga

 

It’s our pleasure today to premiere the third single from Despondent, the debut album by Dead Exaltation, a technical/progressive death metal band from Pune, India, who drew their initial inspirations from the likes of Cryptopsy, Cattle Decapitation, Gorod, Spawn of Possession, and Cynic.

As those references suggest, the band’s music revolves around intricate structures and technically demanding execution, without sparing the brutality, but as you’ll discover from today’s song, those aspects of the sound are not the ends in themselves but techniques for achieving other objectives, and they are not the only techniques evident in the band’s multi-dimensional song-writing.

The album’s title itself perhaps embodies multiple meanings. It connects with some of the lyrical themes, but perhaps also with tragic events that occurred during the completion of the album. When recording began, Dead Exaltation were a trio — vocalist Satyajit Gargori, drummer Aditya Oke, and guitarist Mradul Singhal (who also doubled as bassist). However, before production of the album was complete, Mradul passed away. As a dedication to his legacy, Satyajit and Aditya resolved to complete the record. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: OTHRS, BURDEN MAN, MORK, BLURR THROWER, FLOOD PEAK

 SHADES OF BLACK  2 Responses »
Jan 172021
 

 

I’ve gone off on a tangent in this week’s column. Nothing here will strike you as conventional black metal, and in many of the songs the black metal ingredients are dwarfed by others (among other things, rock beats dominate over blast-beats). But all this music struck a chord with me (many of them, in fact), and I also thought they made a pretty good playlist all joined together like this.

OTHRS / BURDEN MAN (Australia)

I have Rennie of starkweather to thank for spending time with the songs that are now streaming from this new split named Grievance, two songs by each band.

The first two are from a band named OTHRS, which is a project of Melbourne-based M.R, known for his work in Spire. Here is he joined by vocalist V.S., also a member of Spire as well as Void Stare. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2020’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 9): CIRITH UNGOL, AETERNAM, ETERNAL CHAMPION

 Exceptions to the Rule, MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2020  1 Response »
Jan 162021
 

 

CLEAN SINGING ALERT!

This past week I missed two days in the rollout of this list, for reasons explained when I was able to resume it. I also mentioned that I might try to catch up this weekend, et voila!

As the alert warns you, or maybe entices you, all three of today’s selections involve singing, and thus run counter to the rule in our site’s title. But as regular NCS visitors know, that’s never been an iron-clad rule. We have always made exceptions where exceptions are well-earned, and they are in the case of these songs. Plus, I found these songs highly infectious, so much so that I could not in good conscience omit from this list. (And these won’t be the last partially or wholly clean-sung songs to make the list.)

CIRITH UNGOL

Reunions and come-backs are a whole lot more miss than hit, but holy shit, have Cirith Ungol been hitting it out of the park since they came back together after almost 20 years of inactivity. Along with some great live shows, their 2018 single “Witch’s Game” was a sign that the band still had it. And last year brought further proof with the release of Forever Black, their first studio album since 1991’s Paradise Lost. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2020’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 8): SHAGOR, DAWN OF A DARK AGE, FIUR

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2020  No Responses »
Jan 152021
 

 

In Part 7 of this list yesterday I focused on black metal songs that featured unusual instrumentation, and I mentioned that those wouldn’t be the last songs on the list that were distinguished in that way. In fact, I’m including two more songs in this eighth part of the list that could be grouped with the ones in Part 7. And although the first track below doesn’t completely fit the bill, it still always comes to mind when I think of the other tracks I’ve added to the list yesterday and today. They all make for a great playlist.

SHAGOR

The first song in today’s installment by this Dutch black metal band may not include unusual instrumentation, but it is unusual in other ways — especially in what happens at about three minutes in. I became well and truly hooked by it the first time I heard it, and I’ve stayed hooked. I get a thrill every time I hear it, really just as big a thrill as the first time. I spilled a lot of words about “Schemerzever” in a SHADES OF BLACK column, and I’ll repeat them here: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: BASILICA — “STARVE”

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Jan 152021
 

 

North Carolina-based Basilica took shape beginning in September 2016 through the desire of three music-school majors at Appalachian State University who wanted to form a metal band in the vein of Dying Fetus, Power Trip, and Code Orange. Those three — guitarist Cameron Price, bassist Chandler Bell, and drummer/vocalist Reilly Appert — originally took the name Golgotha, and the following year they welcomed drummer Brady Kennedy into the fold, allowing Reilly to move up front on vocals, and also changed their name to Basilica.

With two EPs to their credit under the Basilica name — 2018’s Orbit Has Ceased and 2019’s Weight — they’re now on the verge of releasing their self-titled debut album on Innerstrength Records. And in advance of that February 5th release we’re now presenting the album’s second single, “Starve“. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: HOLY DEATH — “CREEPING DEATH” (A METALLICA COVER)

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Jan 152021
 

 

Just after last Thanksgiving Day, our man Andy Synn wrote combined reviews here of the three EPs released in 2020 by Holy Death, who describe themselves as “three piece death doom out of the Nevada desert by way of Los Angeles”. Those EPs — Supreme Metaphysical Violence, Celestial Throne ov Grief, and Deus Mortis — revealed a multi-faceted and evolving approach, with the most recent of those EPs demonstrating that (in Andy‘s words) “the band continue to (somehow) get even harsher and even heavier as they grow in confidence and skill”.

With those EPs stacked up in very impressive fashion, Andy predicted “there’s a very good chance that the group’s next release will be their best yet!” What we didn’t know then but do know now is that Holy Death‘s next release (which we’re now premiering) is a cover song — a cover of Metallica‘s “Creeping Death“. Not completely surprising, since Deus Mortis closed with a cover (of Entombed‘s “Wolverine Blues”), but also kind of an intimidating choice as a song to cover. Continue reading »

SHORT BUT SWEET: FOSSILIZED: “EAT OR BE EATEN”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  2 Responses »
Jan 152021
 

 

(This is Andy Synn‘s review of a new EP by the Kansas-based death metal band Fossilized, which was released on the first day of this new year.)

There’s already been quite a bit of digital ink spilled this year about the latest batch of grimy, gravel-throated, grim ‘n’ gritty Death Metal to hit the airwaves courtesy of bands like Frozen Soul and Gatecreeper, and I can understand why.

The former, for example, have built up an impressive amount of buzz, and I for one definitely enjoy the sharper, more spiteful Carcass-isms of their recently-released debut album, while the latter’s new EP suggests that they’re finally ready to step outside of the OSDM ghetto in which they’ve been trapped for a while (but which they’ve now clearly outgrown).

But while all this has been going on Kansas-based killers Fossilized have been quietly chugging (and I do mean chugging) away in the background… although by “quietly” I don’t mean in the literal sense, more in the “he was a quiet guy, kept to himself…” way that you hear right before it’s revealed that they found the remains of multiple murdered transients in your neighbour’s back yard… waiting for the rest of the world to discover the bone-crushingly brutal delights of their new EP, Eat or Be Eaten.

So if you’re in the mood for something dense, dumb, and disgustingly fun (not to mention disgustingly heavy) then get ready to chow down on six songs of pure, primal punishment. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: TOTAL DEATH

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Jan 152021
 

 

(Here is a new interview by Comrade Aleks, presenting a discussion of both historical value and current interest with Danny Molina, one of the original members of the long-running Ecuadoran death-doom metal band Total Death.)

As a doom metal qualified researcher I always find it thrilling to discover gems hidden from the eyes of a wider audience.

I can’t label Total Death from Ecuador as an absolutely underground act, because they are well-known among many, but this band being born 30 (!!!) years ago was something new for me. They started to elaborate their sound from black and death metal components, and let me tell you – their first years aren’t marked with big releases. It took time before they came to a debut full-length El Rostro Que Llevamos Dentro, and it took time before they made their sure steps into doom territories.

Total Death celebrated the end of 2020 in good form with a new, fifth, full-length album Mar de Aguas Amargas . Two of its original members, as the band’s core. Danny Molina (drums) and Ider Farfán (guitars, vocals) have kept Total Death working since 1991, and Danny told me a lot of things about the band’s past and present. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2020’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 7): GAVRANOVI, SRD, DYSTOPIA

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2020  7 Responses »
Jan 142021
 

 

Well, as you may have noticed, I missed two days in a row for the rollout of this list — the first one because I ran out of time before having to turn to my day job and the second one because the Seattle area where I live suffered a ferocious windstorm that killed the power and the internet at my home for what turned out to be 33 hours. So, I have some catching-up to do, and may do that over the coming weekend.

But for today I have three more songs from 2020 that I absolutely loved, and I have again made this particular grouping because of something they share. In this case it’s the use of unusual instrumentation in black metal (and these aren’t the only examples you’ll find in this list before it’s done). And it happens that those instruments are a big part of what makes these tracks so infectious.

GAVRANOVI

Gavranovi (Гавранови) is a Serbian word that seems to mean “ravens”. The band’s frontman is Nefas, who for almost 20 years was the vocalist for the great black metal band The Stone. A second member, Janković, who seems to be the principal instrumentalist, plays the gusle, a traditional horsehair-string instrument that dates back to the 9th century, and their lyrics emulate the form of Serbian medieval epic poetry. There also seem to be three more members, all of whom also perform vocals — Matković (who’s also credited as a guitarist), Sokolović, and Rančić. Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): SACROCURSE – “SUPREME TERROR”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Jan 142021
 

 

The EP by Sacrocurse that we’re premiering in full today is a streamlined nuclear missile, a four-track attack that’s just shy of 17 minutes in total. The length seems just about perfect — just long enough to feed a ravenous hunger for incendiary chaos, but stopping short of the point when a listener might go into a seizure, gasping for air, overcome by the speed, the madness, and the eviscerating ferocity of this audio apocalypse.

Supreme Terror is a well-chosen name for the EP, because it is indeed supremely terrorizing. But it won’t take long for you to appreciate that despite the violence and lack of sanity in the music, the technical skill of the performances is jaw-dropping, and the songs aren’t just howling storms. There is structure and dynamism within these outbursts, and more clarity in the production than you might expect from what is fundamentally an exercise in black/death warfare. Continue reading »

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