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SHADES OF BLACK: ROTTING CHRIST, BETHLEHEM, DECOHERENCE, KAPALA, NIMBIFER, FALSE, FALLS OF RAUROS, YELLOW EYES

 SHADES OF BLACK  4 Responses »
Apr 072019
 

 

This edition of SHADES OF BLACK is different from most, in two respects. First, my paying job (i.e., not NCS) has been crushing me lately, including this weekend, and I don’t have time to accompany what I’ve chosen with my usual impressions and links. Second, there’s not as much music in this post as you might guess from the title of the post. I’ve made the rare decision to include three album announcements at the end of the column even though there’s no music available for streaming yet. I did that because I’m so excited about those announcements.

ROTTING CHRIST

The first item I’ve chosen is Rotting Christ‘s new video for “In the Name of God“, one of the tracks on their latest album, The Heretics, which was released in mid-February and reviewed here by DGR. As he wrote, The Heretics follows what the band have established as their “blueprint” — a “sort of larger-than-life, titanic paradigm of martial prowess turned black metal.” It doesn’t push the genre or the band’s music forward as much as it represents a summing-up of their career so far, playing to their most familiar strengths. “In the Name of God” is but one example of that. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): NOX DESPERATIO — “INCINERATIO ARCANA NOCTE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Apr 052019
 

One one level, on the surface, the new album by the Venezuelan black metal band Nox Desperatio screams “Fire!” The album title — Incineratio Arcana Nocte — and many of the song titles (all of which are in Spanish or Latin) make references to flames and to burning. But other superficial clues seem to point in a different direction. The band’s own name, the evocative cover art (by Bryan Maita), and other aspects of the album and song titles, bring to mind obscurity, despair, and haunting darkness. Perhaps, then, it’s to be expected that the music on the new album combines these two manifestations. What might be surprising is how the band do do it, and how emotionally powerful the results prove to be.

You’ll have a chance to discover that for yourselves, because today we present a full stream of the album on the day of its release by Unpleasant Records (an enterprise of one of the creators behind the fantastic Venezuelan band Selbst), preceded by a few more thoughts about the music. Continue reading »

BLOOD SPORE: “FUNGAL WARFARE UPON ALL LIFE”

 Album Reviews, SHORT BUT SWEET  1 Response »
Apr 052019
 

 

The title of the debut EP by Philadelphia’s Blood Spore — Fungal Warfare Upon All Life — manifests some of the dominant sensations of the music: It is as poisonous and uncontainable as an outbreak of black mold; it is as savage and slaughtering as a mechanized assault of heavy-caliber armament; and it is as cruel and nihilistic as a portrayal of world-ending calamity. But these aren’t the only sensations to be found within the three tracks on the EP, and the music’s rampant dynamism is a big part of what makes this such a striking debut.

Fungal Warfare Upon All Life is being released digitally today, with a CD release coming in short order, and to coincide with the release we’re presenting a full stream along with a review. Continue reading »

SINMARA AND SUFFERING HOUR: NEW MUSIC AND A U.S. EAST COAST TOUR

 Album Reviews, Metal News, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Apr 052019
 

 

NCS isn’t really a “metal news” site, unlike some places that dutifully copy-paste press releases every day, with announcements of new tours, forthcoming releases, line-up changes, etc. About as close as we come are the SEEN AND HEARD posts, but those are devoted almost entirely to streams of new songs and videos, and commentary about them. If the recommended tracks happen to come from records that are on the horizon, we’ll include that info. In other words, the music is the main thing. Trying to keep up with every day’s newsy announcements is just too daunting a task, given the limited time that the NCS slaves have to devote to their slavery.

But here we have both an announcement and new music, which are connected. Normally I would have included both in a SEEN AND HEARD post, but my fucking day job has been slamming me hard this week, and I haven’t had time for one of those round-ups. But I do have just enough time for this before turning to today’s premieres. It concerns both a new EP by the U.S. black/death band Suffering Hour and a U.S. East Coast tour that begins tomorrow, which combines the talents of Suffering Hour and the Icelandic black metal band Sinmara. As you probably know if you’re a regular NCS visitor, both bands are favorites of our putrid site. Continue reading »

A TALE OF TWO ALBUMS: FROSTHELM AND WORMWITCH

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Apr 052019
 


Wormwitch

 

(Here we have a pair of reviews written by Andy Synn, juxtaposing the new albums by Vancouver’s Wormwitch and North Dakota’s Frosthelm.)

Every time that I’ve done this previously – bundling together paired reviews for Marduk/Funeral Mist, Arsis/Revocation, and Gorod/Beyond Creation – the response to the format and structure of the article has been surprisingly positive, hence why I decided to resurrect it for this piece.

The idea, after all, has always been about using comparison and contrast as a way of both critiquing and celebrating the artists involved, not in a way that necessarily invites or invokes competition, but in a way that uses each band as a mirror or a prism through which to view and reflect upon the other.

It’s also a great way of encouraging fans of one band to check out the works of another, similar, artist, if they haven’t already (and does wonders for our google rankings too).

So, without further ado, let’s take a look at the latest offerings from Frosthelm and Wormwitch, shall we? Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: FILTHEATER — “A VEILED LOATHING THRONE”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Apr 042019
 

 

So much filth. Drowning in it, every orifice clogged with it. What does it say about us, we consumers of extreme metal, that so many of us hunger for aural noxiousness like dogs drawn to the taste of their own excrement? Hold that thought…

Filtheater, in all the most immediately obvious ways, pander to those listeners who hunger for foul and frightening experiences. Their name, of course, but beyond that the title of their new album — Blight of Sempiternal Putrefaction — and such song names as “Malevolent Transcendence”, “Amorphous Bulging Appendages”, and the track we’re premiering today, “A Veiled Loathing Throne“.

But if you ponder those titles, and others such as “Monologues of Reverence”, “Vapors of Human Sacrifice”, and “Unwelcome Illuminated Curiosity”, not to mention the cover art,  you’ll find clues to other dimensions of Filtheater’s brand of death metal, which proves to be eldritch as well as toxic. Continue reading »

CONFORZA: “REVIVAL”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Apr 042019
 

 

(Andy Synn reviews the new album by Conforza from New Hampshire, U.S.).

Isn’t it great when you stumble across a new, hitherto unheard, band, totally out of the blue?

Case in point, resurrected and reformatted New Hampshire metallers Conforza released their brand-new album, the aptly-titled Revival, last week and I’ve been listening to it pretty much non-stop ever since. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ORSO — “PANINOTECA”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  3 Responses »
Apr 042019
 

 

I must begin with Orso‘s video for the song “Mitraillette“. I intended to blurt about it as soon as I saw it almost three weeks ago, but learned soon after that we would be hosting the premiere today of Orso‘s new album, Paninoteca, so I held my tongue (barely), with pincers. Now my tongue can wag.

In watching the video I had a difficult time concentrating on the music — not that you really need to concentrate, since you can feel the music quite powerfully in your core, even without focusing your mind — because of the video’s strange combination of humor, creepiness, and the ability to induce salivation. For several minutes I couldn’t quite figure out why it was making me uneasy, watching Orso‘s band members intently devour sandwiches, and then it hit me that their heads don’t move… and they have no ears, or at least none that you can see. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: MATTIAS HEMMINBY (ELDAMAR AND ASKHEIMR)

 Interviews  No Responses »
Apr 042019
 

 

(Norway-based contributor Karina Noctum returns to us with the following interview of Mattias Hemminby of the Norwegian bands Eldamar and Askheimr.)

This is an interview with Mattias Hemminby about his one-man Black Metal project Eldamar and his new project called Askheimr.

When it comes to Eldamar, I think that the music has a great atmosphere influenced by Burzum and the greatness of Lord of the Rings. I have always found Eldamar pretty peculiar and interesting due to its pretty harmonious composition. Eldamar’s style is ambitious and aesthetically beautiful and not easy to achieve, especially taking into account all the limitations a one-man underground project faces, but in spite of this the result is favorable and I enjoy the music a lot. I think it has a touch of uniqueness in the way it has been put together, and of course its “Norwegianness” surfaces. adding a lot to it.

I have always been interested in one-man projects, and this is another one that has not only captivated me but many others. Eldamar has been well-received in the atmospheric Black Metal world since its inception and now it has a fan base. But the same composer has engaged in other endeavors in the form of Askheimr, which is a Black/Death band that draws from Scandinavian influences, particularly from Finland.

What follows is an introduction to both bands, an inquiry into particulars about composition and the thoughts behind Eldamar and Askheimr, and what we can expect in the future. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SINS OF THE DAMNED — “VICTIMS OF HATE”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Apr 032019
 

 

Sins of the Damned began in Santiago, Chile, in November 2013 with the aim of creating speed metal with South American authenticity, and devoid of lyrics that might embrace fantasy. From 2014 through 2017 they released a series of demos and splits, and a 2017 compilation collected much of that work. Now they are about to release their first album, Striking the Bell of Death, with a due date of May 3rd through Shadow Kingdom Records.

On this new album, Sins of the Damned have created something iconic, something that summons so much of what has made fierce and fiery heavy metal so cathartic and so addictive for so many decades — and in the case of this band’s own style, so dazzling and grand. The song we present today, “Victims of Hate“, is a prime example of those qualities. Continue reading »

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