Islander

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): NEBULA ORIONIS — “STARTHRONE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Jan 222019
 

 

Today is the day when Casus Belli Musica and Beverina release Starthrone, the new album by the Russian solo music project Nebula Orionis, and to help spread the word we’re featuring a full stream of the recording.

The album is recommended for fans of Midnight Odyssey, Mesarthim, and Ison. It is dedicated to explorers of the universe, and in its own sounds it casts the listener’s mind out into the far reaches of the cosmos, guiding us on our way in an imagined exploration that’s full of mystery and wonder, and also the exposure to compulsive physical power. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2018’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 10): IMMORTAL, UADA, SKELETONWITCH

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2018  10 Responses »
Jan 212019
 

 

After a weekend break, I’m resuming the rollout of this series, which will continue every day this week (and beyond). Today I decided to group together tracks from some of the bigger names in the corpse-strewn battlefields of our beloved ear-gouging genres. There are some other well-known names scattered among the rest of this week’s episodes of the list, along with lesser-known names that deserve a lot more attention.

To check out the previous installments of this expanding list, you’ll find them behind this link, and to learn what this series is all about, go here.

IMMORTAL

I suppose Northern Chaos Gods surprised more than a few people, and at least provided a resounding answer to the questions about what Immortal might be able to accomplish if and when they re-surfaced following the acrimonious departure of Abbath. If there was a surprise (and for me there was), it was that the band’s ninth album, arriving nine years after All Shall Fall, would turn out to be one of their best in such an unusually long career. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: APES OF GOD — “DYING BREED”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Jan 212019
 

 

Death metal addicts with a slavering taste for the foul and the ferocious, pay attention, because we’ve got just the thing to feed your need.

What we’re presenting today is a track named “Dying Breed” by the thrashing death metal band Apes of God from El Salvador. It will appear on the band’s gruesome and slaughtering new EP, Procession of Death, which will be released on February 25th by Death In Pieces Records.

This new EP, which consists of four new studio tracks and two live tracks recorded at Megarock Fest 2018, is the fifth entry in the group’s discography, which also includes the 2018 debut album Misanthropy. For this recording, the band’s line-up includes vocalist Cesar Canales, guitarist Rodrigo Salguero, bassist Rob Malcoms, and drummer Gabriel Puente. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: OBZERV — “PLOT TWIST”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Jan 212019
 

 

As trained medical professionals it is our strenuous advice that you engage in extended neck exercises before listening to the Obzerv song that we’re presenting today. Failure to follow this directive could result in muscle sprain and vertebral trauma.

Actually, we’re not trained medical professionals, but we do have extensive experience with headbang-related physical damage, and we do know massive grooves when we hear them. You’ll hear them, and we predict you’ll be moved by them in extravagant fashion, from the very first seconds of Obzerv’s “Plot Twist“. But as the song’s title suggests, there’s more to the music than physically compulsive grooves. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 3 OF 3): VANANIDR, RAAT, 酸葬儀 ACIDFUNERAL

 SHADES OF BLACK  1 Response »
Jan 202019
 

 

Well, here we are at the final segment of today’s extensive column devoted to black and blackened metal. If you’re still with me, I applaud your perseverance and endurance. I’m sure the bands would applaud, too, since I’m about to shower three more with praise. And of course I fervently hope that you’ve found some exciting new discoveries along the way.

VANANIDR

I’m now turning to the first of three bands who’ve pleasingly seized my attention in the past. This one is the Swedish group Vananidr, whose 2018 debut album I briefly reviewed in another one of these Sunday columns (here). Vananidr is essentially a solo project of Anders Eriksson (on the album, he was aided by Karl Thunander for the drum performance). On January 11, Vananidr released a new two-track single entitled Bleak and Desolate. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 2 OF 3): ÆRA, NECROFIER, STARLESS DOMAIN

 SHADES OF BLACK  No Responses »
Jan 202019
 

 

I didn’t divide the music in today’s column evenly between the two Parts that I’d originally planned. There was significantly more in the second Part than in the first one, not only because there were two more bands there but also because many of the items were full releases rather than advance tracks from forthcoming records.

I’m using the past tense, because, as you can see, I’ve decided to divide Part 2 into two parts as well, which means there will be a Part 3 of this Sunday’s column. I hope the total magnitude of what I’m spreading before you today won’t deter you from checking out everything, because everything here is well worth the time.

ÆRA

“At speed, the songs embody cold yet chaotic ferocity. In their slower movements, they reach for haunting grandeur and wintry melancholy. Emotionally evocative and immersive music in an icy Norwegian style that’s well-suited by the drifting mists and ancient forests depicted on the cover.” That was my summing up of this pagan black metal duo’s 2017 debut EP, Of Forsaken Vows. It was a very good beginning, and inclined me to pay attention to their new full-length, The Craving Within. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK (PART 1): 1349, NORDJEVEL, DEVIL MASTER, LĘK

 SHADES OF BLACK  5 Responses »
Jan 202019
 

 

As you can see, I again had enough time this weekend to round up, and write up, enough recommendations to justify a two-part column. I’ll dispense with further introductory comments and get right to it. (P.S. – I’ve added all four of the following tracks to my list of candidates for our 2019 edition of Most Infectious Songs.)

1349

This opening song (which has an interesting background story) took me by surprise twice. First, I had no idea it was coming when it surfaced to considerable fanfare five days ago; it comes a long five years after 1349‘s last album (Massive Cauldron of Chaos). And second, the music itself is a surprise. Continue reading »

WAXING LYRICAL: SOREPTION

 WAXING LYRICAL  2 Responses »
Jan 192019
 

 

(In this week’s edition of Waxing Lyrical Andy Synn elicited thoughts from Soreption vocalist Fredrik Söderberg.)

If you don’t know, and love, Soreption, then you don’t belong on this site.

There, I said it. Now get out.

Of course if you’re still reading this then you’ve clearly either a) realised I was joking with the above statement, or b) are a total contrarian who has decided to carry on just to spite me.

Anyway, to cut a long story short, it was just over a decade ago when I stumbled across Soreption‘s debut EP, Illuminate the Excessive, in my local record store, and I’ve been an avid fan of the band ever since, following their progress through all the ups and downs of their career, even to the point of selecting their second album, Engineering the Void, as one of the best albums of 2014.

The band’s latest release, last year’s Monument of the End, continued their run of top-notch, high-octane Technical Death Metal mastery, so I’m particularly pleased to have been able to get hold of the group’s long-time vocalist Fredrik Söderberg for this latest edition of Waxing Lyrical. Continue reading »

OUR LIST OF 2018’S MOST INFECTIOUS EXTREME METAL SONGS (PART 9): THE CROWN AND CHAPEL OF DISEASE

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2018  12 Responses »
Jan 182019
 

 

Welcome to the 9th installment of this growing list, in which I’m turning back toward death metal with the two songs added today. To check out the previous installments, you’ll find them behind this link, and to learn what this series is all about, go here.

THE CROWN

The title of The Crown‘s latest album — Cobra Speed Venom — is so damned good. I’m not sure it really means anything, but the combination of those three words, especially in the context of The Crown‘s brand of music, just sounds metal AF. Very cool cover art too. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD: SWALLOW THE SUN, AKROTHEISM, OUR SURVIVAL DEPENDS ON US, TERRE, THE STEEL WOODS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  1 Response »
Jan 182019
 

 

Within the world of heavy metal, the new year is in full swing. I’ve noted more than four-dozen new songs, EPs, and albums that have been released just this week alone and that, at least on a superficial level, seemed worth checking out. But for me it hasn’t been the best week to go exploring. With multiple premieres to write each day, and the time required to compile new installments of our evolving 2018 Most Infectious Song list (one more of which is coming later today), almost all my free time has been consumed.

By chance, however, I woke up at an even more ungodly early hour than usual this morning, and got far enough ahead on today’s planned posts that I spent a bit of time digging into that giant list of new things that appeared this week. I didn’t get far, but, serendipitously, everything I checked out proved to be appealing. All those new discoveries are collected here. Be forewarned: this list includes a healthy dose of clean singing, and one not-metal track.

SWALLOW THE SUN

Swallow the Sun threw more than a few people off-balance when they released the single “Lumina Aurea“ last month. But since then they’ve followed it with two tracks from their next album, When A Shadow Is Forced Into The Light, which will be released by Century Media on January 25th. The first was “Upon the Water“, and then more recently they debuted a video for the song “Firelights“. Continue reading »

 Older Entries  Newer Entries