Islander

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): BAST — “NANOÅNGSTRÖM”

 Album Reviews, Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 212018
 

 

The UK trio who Bast popped lots of eyes wide open with their 2014 debut album Spectres, but they’ve outdone themselves with their second full-length, Nanoångström, and we have the great good fortune of presenting a full stream of the record on the verge of its release by Black Bow Records.

That trio — vocalist/guitarist Craig Bryant, drummer/vocalist Jon Lee, and bassist Gavin Thomas — have created a ceaselessly fascinating and immensely powerful experience through an alloy of sludge, doom, black metal, and progressive metal. In the band’s words, “Nanoångström continues our trajectory into narrative-driven arrangements and experimental compositions; set against a bleak science fiction backdrop, it explores the human conditions of loss, isolation, and change in the wake of time’s passage.” Continue reading »

HAPPY NINTH BIRTHDAY TO US!

 Birthday Posts, Metal News  63 Responses »
Nov 212018
 

 

Measured within the span of a human life, nine years old is still childhood. In metal blog years it’s more like middle age. A few others out there are older than NCS, but not many, and a lot of our former peers have died and turned to dust. Mere stubborn survival continues to be some kind of triumph, and so once again I’m celebrating another milestone: We’re nine years old today, having posted our first article on November 21, 2009.

I continue to be amazed and thankful that we’re still here, that so many good friends are still devoting themselves to writing for NCS on a purely volunteer basis, and that so many readers are still willing to pay attention to what we’re saying and streaming. As usual at this time of year, I want to begin by thanking some of those friends who have been here the longest, keeping the grinding gears of our gruesome machine in motion. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: ANTICHRIST MAGAZINE — “A TRIBUTE TO BURZUM”

 Metal News, Premieres  2 Responses »
Nov 202018
 

 

Antichrist Magazine is a Ukraine-based publication devoted to metal and rock that was founded in 2003 by Oleksandr Maksymov. Originally a print publication it was converted to an on-line-only presence in 2014. On November 21st (tomorrow), Antichrist will officially release a stream-only musical compilation entitled A Tribute To Burzum, and to help spread the word we’re presenting all the music today.

While Burzum’s alter ego Varg Vikernes has become a controversial figure (to say the least), the music of Burzum undeniably has had a major impact on the evolution of black metal, and is thus a worthy subject for a tribute such as this one — for which Antichrist Magazine recruited 16 bands, as well as the Germany-based solo artist Katarina Gubanova, whose performance closes the compilation. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: DANIEL WARREN JOHNSON

 Interviews  No Responses »
Nov 202018
 

 

(KevinP returns to NCS after a long absence with the following interview — and the main subject of the interview is a metal comic book named MURDER FALCON.)

Here is my interview with Daniel Warren Johnson — comic book writer and artist, metal enthusiast, and unfortunately a stinking Red Sox fan.

 

K: So is this the first interview you are doing for a “metal” site, as opposed to the endless parade of comic-only related ones and conventions?

D: Yes! All my interviews so far have only been for comic book sites. I think there’s quite a bit of overlap between the worlds of metal and comics, but I don’t see it brought up a lot. So as a lover of both, I thought that MURDER FALCON might do well at bringing the two camps together. Glad to be here! Continue reading »

ABYSSAL: “MISANTHROPE”

 Album Reviews  4 Responses »
Nov 202018
 

 

(Grant Skelton reviews the new album, released on Halloween, by the Mexican funeral doom band Abyssal.)

Way back in April, I reviewed a compilation album by the Mexican funeral room band Abyssal. Fernando Ruiz, the band’s vocalist, gave me the privilege of teasing Abyssal’s next release. At the time, the band provided the title Misanthrope, with a tentative release date of late summer. Although delayed until Halloween, Misanthrope has (thankfully) arrived. Continue reading »

THE “MOST INFECTIOUS” EXTREME METAL SONGS of 2018: AN APPEAL TO OUR READERS FOR HELP!

 MOST INFECTIOUS SONGS-2018  50 Responses »
Nov 192018
 

 

You may have noticed that on Friday we announced the beginning of our annual LISTMANIA extravaganza. For those of you new to this orgy, our LISTMANIA blockbuster comes in four parts:

First, we re-print assorted lists of the year’s best albums, leeched from other big web sites and magazines, like the one on Friday from DECIBEL, which always seems to become the starting gun. Second, we will provide a post in which our readers’ can share their lists of the 2018 albums and shorter releases they enjoyed the most (we’ll be asking for those on November 29th, so get ready). Third, we post the year-end lists of our own staff and assorted guest writers. And fourth, I’ll roll out my list of the year’s Most Infectious Extreme Metal Songs.

And that last list is the subject of this request for help.

In case you’ve become an NCS reader since this time last year, here’s what this Most Infectious Song list is all about: Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: OF WOLVES — “BLOODSHED”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  No Responses »
Nov 192018
 

 

As recounted by The Washington Post, “As night fell on April 4, 1968, newly declared presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy stepped in front of a microphone atop a flatbed truck in a poor, predominantly black neighborhood in Indianapolis. Looking out onto the crowd, Kennedy turned and quietly asked a city official, ‘Do they know about Martin Luther King?’”

King had been assassinated just a few hours earlier, as Kennedy had boarded a flight for Indianapolis. In response to Kennedy’s question the official told him, “We’ve left it up to you”.

What Kennedy then said to the waiting crowd over the next six minutes was what many historians have called one of the most compelling speeches in U.S. political history — the brother of an assassinated president announcing another traumatic assassination just two months before he would also be killed. Understanding the impulse for revenge, in which violence would beget more violence, Kennedy instead called for love, wisdom, and compassion. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: MALVENTO AND THE MAGIK WAY — “V.I.T.R.I.O.L.”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Nov 192018
 

 

In hermetic mysticism, V.I.T.R.I.O.L. is an acronym standing for “Visita Interiora Terrae Rectificando Invenies Occultum Lapidem” — “visit the interior of the earth, and purifying it, you will find the hidden stone”. Just as vitriol was a substance used in alchemical practice for the transmutation of metals through successive purifications, at an esoteric level it represents a similar process, one of self-destruction and regeneration that is intended to lead to a transmutation and a union with the divine. The term might also be interpreted as a way of saying  “look within yourself for the truth”.

“V.I.T.R.I.O.L.” is also the title of the first of four tracks on an unusual new split album entitled Ars Regalis created by members of two esoteric Italian black metal bands, Malvento and The Magik Way (created by former members of Mortuary Drape), and we present a lyric video for the track today — preceded by a few more words of introduction that may help shed further light on what you’re about to experience. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: SØRGELIG — “DIE IN VAIN”

 Premieres  No Responses »
Nov 192018
 

 

The Greek black metal band Sørgelig, who share three members with another band we’ve written about before (Isolert), released their first EP in 2017 (Forever Lost) and then an excellent debut album (Apostate) this past spring. They have chosen to follow the new album with another EP, this one entitled Devoted To Nothingness, but it’s one that represents a few changes.

First, while Sørgelig‘s four-man line-up remains intact, the EP is the creation of only two of those members — vocalist Odious and multi-instrumentalist N.D. On this EP, N.D. performs guitars, drums, vocals, and bass on two tracks (and guest Konstantinos S performs bass on four others, including the one we’re presenting today).

Second, as compared to the music on Apostate (for example), this revised line-up has chosen to channel their hatred and malice toward life through a more raw and lo-fi expression of black metal — though they have not abandoned some of the key ingredients that made their debut album so seductive. Continue reading »

POST MORTAL POSSESSION: “PERPETUAL DESCENT”

 Album Reviews  3 Responses »
Nov 192018
 

 

(This is Vonlughlio’s review of the new album by Pittsburgh-based Post Mortal Possession, which was released on November 17th by Lord of the Sick.)

This time around I was given the opportunity to do a small write-up for Post Mortal Possession‘s debut album Perpetual Descent, which was just released by Lord of the Sick Recording. This band is from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and was formed back in 2013. Prior to this debut full-length, they released two EPs,  Possessing Entity back in 2014 and Forest of the Damned in 2016.

I became aware of the band’s existence when The Chicago Domination Fest 2017 lineup was announced and their name was among the ones to be found there. So, I decided to check their EPs and thought they were good — there was talent for sure — but (at least for me) nothing special. Continue reading »

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