Islander

A DIRTY (BLACK) HALF DOZEN: AKROTHEISM, DIM AURA, KHNVM, NORDJEVEL, SCHATTENFALL, TOTALED

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Apr 012019
 


Akrotheism

 

(Andy Synn prepared the following reviews for six new albums from the realms of black metal.)

It’s already the first of April and, somehow, I am already about six months behind in my reviews for 2019.

To try and address this problem, this week I’m going to be grouping together a bunch of different bands/albums to try and simultaneously clear some of this backlog AND get the word out about a few new (or relatively new) releases I think you all need to hear.

So let’s begin with six (well, five and a half) examples of the black (Metal) arts, shall we? Continue reading »

AN NCS EP PREMIERE: BOB MALMSTRÖM — “LÄNGE LEVE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres, SHORT BUT SWEET  No Responses »
Apr 012019
 

 

We welcome the return of Bob Malmström to our putrid site! It may be April Fool’s Day, but that’s no joke. They really do have a new EP ready for release on April 5th (the name of which is Länge Leve) and we really do have a complete stream of it to share with you today.

Now, I do realize that, instead of applauding, the first reaction of many of you will be “Bob who?” After all, a long three years have passed since we last devoted attention to the band. But they are hardly newcomers to NCS, even though their music isn’t always right in our wheelhouse. In fact, hosting today’s premiere is something of a reunion, like the visit of cousins you haven’t seen in a long time, who set your house on fire the last time they came around. Continue reading »

DESERTED FEAR: “DROWNED BY HUMANITY”

 Album Reviews  No Responses »
Apr 012019
 

 

(This is DGR‘s review of the new album by the German death metal band Deserted Fear, which was released by Century Media in February.)

Deserted Fear sound absolutely massive on their fourth album, Drowned By Humanity. Having released discs at a fairly steady clip – one every two years for the most part – the Deserted Fear crew have had plenty of opportunities to iterate and expand upon their sound – and also to keep to the black-and-white-skulls motif that makes up a majority of their album artwork.

They have found themselves lying somewhere in the realm of a slightly more melodeath-leaning Kataklysm, with an album (to repeat) written to sound massive. Drowned By Humanity is built around big riffs, big grooves, and big hooks, making its forty-some-odd minutes feel like a hell of a lot longer. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: THIS GIFT IS A CURSE, ISSFENN, TIME LURKER, SAMMATH, VERWÜSTUNG, ZATEMNO, DE DOUĂSPREZECE STATUI ALE STĂRILOR DE UMBRĂ ALE SUFLETULUI

 SHADES OF BLACK  2 Responses »
Mar 312019
 

 

I had decided to limit this week’s column to advance tracks from forthcoming albums, but then couldn’t resist adding a single-song EP that was released on Friday (by that band in the post title with the mile-long name). I’m hoping to do another SHADES OF BLACK round-up devoted to highlighting a few recent albums, but since it’s only an idea right now, I’m not going to call this post Part 1; Part 2 may remain only an idea, depending on how the next 24-48 hours go.

Obviously, I really like everything you’ll find in this collection. Some of the music is so scorching it might leave you with third-degree burns. Other tracks are more atmospheric. And I think you’ll be surprised by some of what you find here as well. So please do give everything a chance.

THIS GIFT IS A CURSE

On their last album, All Hail the Swinelord (2015), This Gift Is A Curse made music that ruthlessly takes you apart and sends what’s left of your mind into a very dark place. It was stupefyingly heavy, implacably savage, and frighteningly eerie. We premiered one song from the album and a video for another song, but I failed to review the whole thing. I’ll have a second chance to do right by this Stockholm band, because they now have another album on the horizon. Continue reading »

THE SYNN REPORT (PART 107): LANDMINE MARATHON

 THE SYNN REPORT  1 Response »
Mar 302019
 

 

(In this March 2019 edition of THE SYNN REPORT Andy looks back at the four albums released so far by Arizona’s Landmine Marathon.)

Recommended for fans of: Gatecreeper, Bolt Thrower, Venom Prison

So the original plan for this month’s edition of The Synn Report was to feature the work of one-man Black Metal malcontent Abduction so as to line up nicely with the release of his brand new album.

Unfortunately, what Islander didn’t tell me was that he’d already arranged for a premiere (and review) to go live yesterday… which just goes to show that it’s important to communicate, kids! (Editor’s intrusion: Andy listed “mind-reader” on his resume. Mere puffery, apparently.)

Thankfully, I have a huge list of alternative Synn Report candidates to select from, which made the whole process a lot easier than you might imagine, especially since I’ve been itching to write about Arizona Death Metal quintet Landmine Marathon for ages! Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): CEREMONY OF SILENCE — “OÚTIS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  5 Responses »
Mar 292019
 

 

Oútis, the debut album by the Slovakian duo Ceremony of Silence, is one of the most mind-bending albums of the year so far, a display of such astonishing (and mentally destabilizing) brilliance that it is likely to leave a shivering gleam in the eyes of astute listeners even as they make their lists at the end of this year.

The album will be released by Willowtip Records on April 5th. We have already published an enthusiastic review by our contributor Vonlughlio, who called it “spectacular from start to finish”, “complex and extravagantly inventive at many times, straightforward and simple (and oppressive) at others”, but since we have the privilege of premiering a full stream of Oútis today, I can’t resist adding my own equally exuberant comments by way of introduction. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MOONSHADE — “SUN DETHRONED”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Mar 292019
 

 

In October of last year Art Gates Records released the debut album Sun Dethroned by the melodic death metal band Moonshade from northern Portugal. As explained by the band, the album is “a conceptual work that deals with a two-sided personification of the human condition, in the form of two romantically involved main characters that symbolize the abstract concepts of ‘good’ and ‘evil’: Lenore and God of Nothingness, the latter represented in the album cover”. As Moonshade further explain:

“Throughout this piece a story is told of which the most important events are the death of Lenore (“good”), that leads God of Nothingness (“evil”) towards a spiraling descent into wrath and madness, eventually consuming all reality, including himself, finally abandoning his pitiful existence in a sea of regrets where, in essence, he mourns his lost love and mourns the innocence of his madness. In short, Sun Dethroned functions as a parabola that highlights the need for balance while firmly stating the cost of its absence.”

Today we present the premiere of a music video made by the talented Portuguese filmmaker Guilherme Enriques for the title track to Sun Dethroned. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: EYE OF THE DESTROYER — “FACE DOWN”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Mar 282019
 

 

Judging by the song we’re about to premiere from the new album Baptized In Pain by New Jersey’s Eye of the Destroyer, the band picked an accurate name for the record. Listening to “Face Down” feels like being beaten with crowbars.

In addition to being a cold-eyed, heavyweight bruiser, this hybrid of death metal and hardcore is a humongous headbanger. That effect kicks in pretty quickly, but not before the band opens the heavens with a thunderstorm of pummeling drums, rumbling bass, and dismal, ringing chords. Then comes the gargantuan, mercilessly hammering, teeth-loosening riff that will get your head going (and your skull cracking), at the same time as Joe Randazza‘s raw, scalding howls do their damnedest to burn the flesh off your face. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ABDUCTION — “ALL PAIN AS PENANCE”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Mar 282019
 

 

Abduction is a one-man UK black metal band whose ravaging debut album To Further Dreams of Failure we reviewed (in part) in March 2017. The band also released an album last year, A Crown of Curses, and now this UK ravager already has a third one geared up for release tomorrow — March 29th — via Inferna Profundus Records. All Pain As Penance is the name of the new one, and we have a full stream of it for you today.

“Infinite Ancient Hexes” was the first track made available for streaming a few weeks ago. It seized attention immediately. On that track, as on all the others, A|V handles everything except drums, which were performed by session member EG. His drumming on that first song to be revealed from the album is powerful, driving the pace in a plundering fury while delivering neck-cracking fills along the way. Meanwhile, the riffing creates a dismal and poisonous atmosphere, a thick, desolating miasma of sound, parsed by chiming chords that are still moody but also hypnotic, and by an incendiary solo.

It made for an absolutely explosive, irresistibly head-moving herald for this album, notwithstanding the music’s aura of pestilence and wretchedness. It rocks as well as ravages, and it’s easy to get addicted to it very quickly. But there is so much more to come from this album following that opener. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): AMBER TEARS — “WHEN NO TRAILS”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Mar 282019
 

 

It was only yesterday that I wrote about a song from the new album by the Russian pagan doom band Amber Tears [Янтарные Слезы]. I knew then that we would be premiering the entire album today, and I had planned to recommend the track much earlier than I did, but I couldn’t resist. “Sing the Wind, Sing the Raven” [Спой Ветер, Спой Воронis] such a powerfully captivating song, its mood so wintry and haunting, so steeped in sorrow down to the marrow, so deeply moving, yet so glorious.

What I knew then, and can prove to you now, is that the entire album is just as captivating as that opening track. Entitled When No Trails [Когда Нет Троп], it will be released by BadMood Man Records on March 29th — tomorrow! Continue reading »

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