Islander

2020 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): THE DISAPPOINTING

 LISTMANIA 2020  40 Responses »
Dec 072020
 

 

(We don’t publish a single “official” NCS year-end list of best releases.  Instead, each of our staff members compiles his own individual list. As usual, we have begun this year with a series of lists compiled by Andy Synn. Last Friday we published his list of 2020’s best EPs, and this week we’re rolling out the rest of them, day by day. As in the past we’re starting with an installment that veers off our usual theme of focusing on music we enthusiastically recommend. Feel free to disagree — some of us here may disagree as well — but also feel free to share in the Comments your own thoughts about 2020 albums that disappointed you.)

And so it begins…

Once again I’m starting off my annual week-long listravaganza with a round-up of those albums which I felt ultimately failed to live up to their promise and potential (and, in some cases, hype).

As always, however, I come here today not to praise Caesar… but not to bury him either…. but simply to point out that sometimes, sometimes, the emperor is a little under-dressed.

Of course, if I’m being totally honest, doing this column actually makes me a little sad, as it frequently (including this time) features bands who I consider some of my personal favourites.

But, by the same token, I think it’s important, and necessary, to acknowledge that even the best bands, even the bands we love the most, aren’t perfect, and sometimes come in under the bar.

This is especially relevant to this year’s article, as it contains a number of big/famous/seminal names, all with lengthy careers behind them (and hopefully lengthy careers still before them), who – for various reasons – simply didn’t produce their best work this year.

Chances are you won’t agree with all of my choices here. Some of you may even be upset by them (though you don’t need to be, this won’t harm any of the bands – in fact it might even help them identify some weaknesses in their overall game). But, no matter what, I hope we can all remain civil and polite in the comments.

After all, we’re all here because we love music… even when it sometimes disappoints us. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: ISSOLEI, CAEDES CRUENTA, EGO, THE AMENTA, CULTED, VØIDWOMB, SUNNATA

 SHADES OF BLACK  4 Responses »
Dec 062020
 

 

Sometimes fortune smiles and these Sunday playlists just fall into place as if directed by some devilish higher lower power. In those times I move through songs I might be interested in, and by serendipity the music just flows in a way that makes sense. That didn’t happen today.

I had sorted out what I wanted to recommend, but had no good idea how to order them. I made an effort, but it’s still a pretty twisty and turny trip, made even more twisted by a last-minute addition prompted by a recommendation from my comrade DGR.

This episode is also different from most, in that it includes no complete releases, only advance tracks from forthcoming records. To spice things up, a few come with videos that will likely make you sit up and pay even closer attention.

ISSOLEI (Norway)

I decided to begin with a song called “King Apophis“, though I have very little information about the band or the release. Issolei apparently come from Trondheim, but beyond that they are a mystery. Terratur Possessions will release a debut Issolei record that includes this song, but hasn’t yet announced the title or a release date. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD ON A SATURDAY: BLACK HOLE DEITY, REX DEMONUS, SKAPHOS, OREAMNOS, STAGWOUNDER, INTEGRAL RIGOR, DUMA

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  2 Responses »
Dec 052020
 

 

For me, Friday nights always create severe risk for Saturday mornings. I know this, yet am doomed to have to re-learn the lesson. So it was that my latest lesson began last night, mixing all sorts of intoxicants over the course of two Zoom get-togethers with different groups of friends, and today the lesson has been completed in hangover hell.

Strangely, listening to raucous music seemed to help rather than hurt, though trying to write remains… challenging. Hope you get some good out of the music I picked, along with whatever guidance comes through my meager words.

BLACK HOLE DEITY (U.S.)

To begin, I’ve chosen “Railgun Combat“, the first single off the forthcoming debut EP of Black Hole Deity, whose line-up includes members Chaos Inception and Malignancy (the full line-up is Chris White, Alec Cordero, Cam Pinkerton, and Mike Heller). Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: SEA SLEEPER — “GEORGE VAN TASSEL”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Dec 042020
 

 

Today we’re premiering an official video for the second single from Nostophobia, the debut album of Portland OR’s Sea Sleeper, who have dfrawn inspiration from such diverse bands as Gorguts and Gojira, Mastodon and Blut Aus Nord. The song’s name is “George Van Tassel“. That name may mean something to some of you (the ones who are wearing tin-foil hats as they read this). For others, a bit of background is in order.

According to The Font of All Human Knowledge, “Ufology is the investigation of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) by people who believe that they may be of extraordinary origins (most famously, extraterrestrial alien visitors).” According to the same source, the roots of this “pseudoscience” date back to the late 1890s but began to truly flourish after World War II. The lineage of ufologists is a long and colorful one, and certainly one of the more colorful and influential exponents was the man for whom this new song was named, American author George Van Tassel (1910-1978). Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: BURIAL OATH — “PAGAN FIRES”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Dec 042020
 

 

It’s always a welcome day at our site when we have the chance to help spread the word about the music of Burial Oath. We had the pleasure of premiering and reviewing this Cleveland black metal trio’s debut album, Beyond the Vale of Shadowlands, back in 2017. It made a striking impression. The music was sulfurous and savage, but its ferocity was more than matched by the appeal of its dark melodies and the dynamism of its rhythms and energies. The next year the band released their second album, and we praised it as well:

“Subjugation of the Bastard Son was recorded live, and it has the sort of immediacy and visceral power of a powerhouse live performance. The vocals are persistently scalding in their intensity; the blazing, booming, and hard-rocking drumwork seizes control of your pulse; the deep bass thrum seems like a frantic heart; and the riffs are irresistible, whether the guitars are racing in a ferocious fury or jangling and jumping. The music is often black-hearted and bleak, but the energy is nevertheless explosive, and the hooks in these songs are razor-sharp…. It’s the kind of record that richly rewards a complete listen from start to finish because these dudes do such a fine job filling these songs with dynamic twists and turns, and giving each one its own memorable qualities.”

And now we’re excited to spread the word about Burial Oath again. The band are working on a new album that they plan to record by the end of the year, and as a sign of what they’re doing they’ve created a video for a new song called “Pagan Fires“, which we’re proud to reveal today. Continue reading »

ETERNAL CHAMPION: “RAVENING IRON”

 Album Reviews, Exceptions to the Rule  1 Response »
Dec 042020
 

 

(NCS writer Gonzo turns in a glorious review of a pretty fuckin’ glorious album by Texas-based Eternal Champion, which was released in late November by No Remorse Records.)

I know, I know – we’re all busy making our best-of-2020 lists and doing our best to not lose our collective shit as a result of staying inside all day. But, before the year’s end, I wanted to squeeze another review in, and it’s one that we somehow missed mentioning up to this point.

Sharpen your fucking swords, kids, because if you haven’t heard the marauding onslaught of old-school metallic warfare that Eternal Champion cooked up on Ravening Iron, gather ‘round.

One of the things I love about metal is its unending propensity to not take itself too seriously. To quote a friend from long ago who’s also the vocalist for Orange County outfit Bleed the Sky, “what most people don’t understand about metal is that it’s basically goofy dudes drinking beer and making stupid faces a lot.”

“You know, he’s right,” I remember thinking to myself while sitting in his garage at 3 a.m. drunk off my face on the vile combination of Jager and Rockstar. Oh, to be 23 again.

Those words from my friend echoed in my head when I first saw the artwork for Ravening Iron and read a little about the band in a Decibel interview. I concluded that the band was probably a latter-day incarnation of Manowar. Probably a good listen for a nostalgic chuckle or two, but nothing I’d take seriously. The over-the-top artwork and the fact that vocalist Jason Tarpey forges his own swords (while inherently badass) told me that maybe this is a pet project that was more glam than hammer.

By the might of Thor, was I wrong. Continue reading »

2020 – A YEAR IN REVIEW(S): EPs

 LISTMANIA 2020  35 Responses »
Dec 042020
 

 

(The time has come for us to again launch the rollout of year-end lists by NCS writers and guests, and as always we begin with Andy Synn‘s lists. As has usually been the case, Andy begins with his personal list of the year’s best EPs. We’ll continue with his other year-end lists every day next week.)

Well, here we are again.

Next week I’ll once again be rolling our my yearly round-ups of the “Great”, Good”, and “Disappointing” albums which I’ve heard this year, culminating, as always, in my attempt to narrow down these literal hundreds of entries into ten “Critical” selections and ten “Personal” favourites.

But, first of all, I want to give a shout-out to the many, many, fantastic, fascinating, sometimes frustrating, EPs which I’ve heard over the course of the last twelve-ish months.

This isn’t, obviously, intended to be in any way comprehensive (I never got round to listening to the new Carcass, for example, and I’m still digesting both the new Nexul and Descend to Acheron EPs),  nor is it a definitive statement about which EPs are the year’s “best” (though some of them definitely are) but my hope is you’ll all discover something new in what you’re about to read.

So, with all that out of the way, let’s get started, shall we? Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: THE LYLAT CONTINUUM — “ZERO”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Dec 032020
 

 

The song you’re about to experience is named “Zero“, but maybe it would have been better named “Infinity”, not only because of the times when it becomes vast and mysterious but also because of the multitude of eye-opening permutations you’ll encounter along its elaborately labyrinthine path — not an infinite number, of course, but still dazzling in their diversity and cumulative impact.

The song is off a debut album named Ephemeral by The Lylat Continuum, a band whose talented line-up is now split between Colorado and California, and who enlisted Evan Sammons (Last Chance to Reason) on drums and bassist Jordan Eberhardt (The Contortionist, ex-Scale The Summit) as session musicians for the album. As already forecast, the music is an adventurous blend of ingredients, and is rightly considered a hybrid, described by the band in this way: Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: EVISORAX — “TERRIBLE VIPER”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Dec 032020
 

 

On the first of June 2020 (which seems like five years ago in this time-fractured year) we reviewed the new album by the British grindcore band Evisorax, the title of which is Ascension Catalyst. Despite its multitude of tracks it was intended to be heard straight through. Nevertheless, we accompanied that review with the premiere of a video for just one of its many short, crazed blasts — and today we’re doing it again, presenting a new video for the song “Terrible Viper“.

The occasion for this new premiere is the impending release of Ascension Catalyst on vinyl by 7 Degrees Records. As you can see above, the original cover art by Soulsdue and the striking splattered vinyl that holds the music are brain-scrambling, which is exactly as it should be, given the nature of the music. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: LOCISTELLAR, SVRM, APRAXIC

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Dec 032020
 

 

We only made one NCS post yesterday, a consequence of some of our writers working on their year-end lists and myself getting ridden off the road by highwaymen from my day job. I managed to pick some things for a new-music round-up, but getting chased through the woods put an end to the actual writing. But now it’s done, a day later than anticipated. I picked more songs for a Part 2 of this SEEN AND HEARD column, but I have a feeling I’ll be chased again, so I’m making no promises.

I put these particular three songs together for several reasons, but probably the most prominent one is that all three feature powerhouse vocals.

LOCISTELLAR

Eighteen months have passed since I spent time talking with Lance Netherlin at the 2019 edition of Northwest Terror Fest in Seattle, before knowing that Locistellar existed or that Neatherlin was the band’s vocalist. I later learned that the band had been founded in London by drummer Didier Almouzni (Razor of Occam, Dragonforce) and guitarist Alexandre Lenormand (Loudblast), who then relocated to Seattle where they brought in other members, including Lance Neatherlin and guitarist Eric Snyder (Second Coming, The Crying Spell). Continue reading »

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