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ORATION FEST MMXVIII (SECOND NIGHT)

 Concert Reviews  1 Response »
Mar 092018
 


Reykjavik wall art

 

The second night of the third and final installment of Oration Festival took place at the Húrra bar in Reykjavik, Iceland on the night of March 8, 2018. It proved to be just as thoroughly enjoyable as the first night (reviewed here), although the music took more deathly turns, and ultimately concluded in a marvelously bewildering and beguiling way.

Last night the bands who performed, in the following order, were these: Mannveira (Iceland), Devouring Star (Finland), Abominor (Iceland), Abyssal (UK), Slidhr (Ireland/Iceland), Sortilegia (Canada), and Virus (Norway).

As before, the group of friends from Seattle and elsewhere who’ve been sharing this experience with me convened for food and drink about two hours before the first band was scheduled to begin the night. Yes, two hours, because our group has a proven tendency over the course of many previous festivals to talk like there’s no tomorrow, lose track of time, and arrive late if we’re not careful. Which of course is what happened last night even with the two-hour head start. Continue reading »

KILLING ADDICTION: “OMEGA FACTOR”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Mar 092018
 

 

(Today, Xtreem Music is reissuing the 1993 debut album of the Florida death metal band Killing Addiction, and to celebrate, we’re presenting Todd Manning’s review.)

It’s amazing how an album can transport you back in time, evoking crystal clear memories of your past, especially when you haven’t even heard it before. That’s exactly what happened to me when I listened to Killing Addiction’s Omega Factor, which is being reissued by Xtreem Music on March 9th. By midway through the first song, I was already reminiscing about when my first Death Metal band used to practice in my parent’s garage, and about our first show, which occurred mere weeks before this album originally hit the streets in the spring of 1993.

What these Floridians produced was a great marriage of the Death Metal of their own region mixed with New York Death Metal, full of intense grooves (which would go out of fashion within a couple of years), and a peppering of Thrash-holdover riffs, even sneaking in the occasional blast beat here or there. Continue reading »

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE (AND A REVIEW): ERYN NON DAE. — “ABANDON OF THE SELF”

 Album Reviews  2 Responses »
Mar 092018
 

 

(Today, Debemur Morti Productions releases the new album by the French band Eryn Non Dae., and to help spread the word we’re presenting a full stream of the album along with the following review by Andy Synn.)

A quick google search for Eryn Non Dae. will likely tell you two things.

One, that the band apparently don’t deserve an entry on Metal Archives, despite having two (now three) extremely impressive albums under their collective belt.

And, two, that the most common genre tag applied to their music is that most nebulous of all descriptors, the dreaded “Post Metal”.

But while I can’t do anything about the former (MA’s arcane, and somewhat consistent, criteria for inclusion are beyond my control), I can definitely do something to correct – or at least, amend – the latter. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: ABOLISHMENT OF FLESH — “INHUMAN ANATOMY”

 Premieres  1 Response »
Mar 082018
 

 

The Texas death metal band Abolishment of Flesh began life in 2006 under the name Abolishment, but after releasing a demo and a 2008 album the name was changed, and on April 20th Unholy Anarchy will release the first full-length under the band’s current name. Entitled The Inhuman Condition, it’s an 11-track assault that comes highly recommended for fans of Cattle Decapitation and Suffocation.

Today we’re bringing you an exclusive stream of the album’s opening track, “Inhuman Anatomy“. It will require only about three minutes of your time, but it will nonetheless leave you battered and breathless. Continue reading »

ORATION FEST MMXVIII (FIRST NIGHT)

 Concert Reviews  4 Responses »
Mar 082018
 

 

The third and final edition of Oration Festival began last night in Reykjavik, Iceland. The first night of the festival featured performances (in this order) by NYIÞ, Naðra, Auðn, Asagraum, Sinmara, and Aluk Todolo. A big group of friends and I made it to the venue just as NYIÞ was beginning, and I stayed through Sinmara’s extraordinary set but was too drained of energy by that point to hang in there for Aluk Todolo.

So, what you’ll find below are thoughts about all the performances except the last one, accompanied by three videos that I made from the side of the stage and an assortment of photos. The dark, blurry, amateurish photos are mine; the really good professional quality ones are by our Seattle pal Tanner Ellison. Continue reading »

DECIBEL MAGAZINE 2018 TOUR: ENSLAVED, WOLVES IN THE THRONE ROOM, MYRKUR, KHEMMIS

 Concert Reviews  3 Responses »
Mar 082018
 

 

(An NCS fan who we’ll call Barbarian Mike turned in this guest review of the presentation of DECIBEL Magazine’s 2018 tour in Seattle, Washington, on March 6, 2018.)

Whether you consider yourself a fan or not, it’s impossible to deny the status and reverence Enslaved has earned within the community of heavy music. Over a span of 27-years and 14 studio albums – barring live-show DVD’s, splits, and demos – it’s hard to imagine any band as capable as this one in maintaining a passionate fan base and consistently sold-out live performances.

In spite of this success, Enslaved are a band who don’t rest on their laurels, or coast on their hits of yesteryear. In fact, they appear to be continually invigorated by the challenge of creating something new, to pursue new ideas and sounds. It only makes sense that they would headline one of the bigger tours within heavy music – the DECIBEL Magazine 2018 Tour. Needless to say, I was excited to attend the event at Seattle’s own El Corazon. Continue reading »

AN NCS VIDEO PREMIERE: NONE — “CORRODED”

 Premieres  5 Responses »
Mar 072018
 

 

For those of us who live in the U.S. Pacific Northwest, the damp forests and snow-covered mountains are ever-present. Even when they’re not in the forefront of your mind, they loom in the distance. To be in the midst of them, particularly in the winter when mist and fog blur their hard lines and the cold eats into the skin, is both an awe-inspiring and a haunting experience… and a relief. In the midst of that communion you can think, “at least we haven’t fucked this up yet.”

Many musicians who’ve spent time in the PNW are drawn to capture such sensations, or they draw inspiration from them (though of course many are just as prone to make the kind of forgettable music you can hear on the radio any damned place). Some are more successful than others in channeling the gloom, the grandeur, and the isolation of these ancient places that are heedless of our own fleeting presence yet can lend us their strength, or pronounce their condemnation. The Oregon group NONE do that very, very well. Continue reading »

TOTALSELFHATRED: “SOLITUDE”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Mar 072018
 

 

(This is Wil Cifer’s review of the third album by the Finnish band Totalselfhatred, which will be released on April 27th by Osmose Productions.)

 

Depressive Suicidal Black Metal was never going to be the next big thing in metal. It was however a nice dark and emotive break from a steady diet of blast beats. Chances are, if you are reading this review you don’t need a refresher course in this sub-genre. You also are aware that this band from Finland occupied the top tier of the genre along with Shining and Lifelover.

While not pulling the numbers in terms of record sales that Shining has, they are arguably the keenest of musicians when it comes to making this style of music. There is plenty of evidence on Apocalypse In Your Heart (2011) to support this, making it the album against which their newest release is going to be measured. Continue reading »

AN NCS PREMIERE: DEATHSPIRAL OF INHERITED SUFFERING — “BLISS INFERNO / LE GRAND NÉANT” (AND A REVIEW OF “METAMORPHOSPHOROS”)

 Album Reviews, Premieres  1 Response »
Mar 062018
 

 

Metamorphosphoros is one of those rare splits in which the participating bands collaborated in the creation of a conceptually integrated sequence of songs, in this case a musical vision that’s devoted to “Theion“, the divine fires of transformation — the medium for a purifying immolation of the self, bringing about a Descent into the abyss, and an Ascent and eternal Transcendence through Death.

The participants in this album-length cathartic experience are three underground black metal bands from different countries: Precaria (Mexico), Deathspiral of Inherited Suffering (U.S.), and Dominus Ira (Russia). The album will be released by the distinctive I, Voidhanger Records on March 30, and today we’re fortunate to host the premiere of one of the album’s ten tracks — an offering by Deathspiral of Inherited Suffering (“DIS“) entitled “Bliss Inferno / Le Grand Néant“. Continue reading »

MOURNFUL CONGREGATION: “THE INCUBUS OF KARMA”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Mar 062018
 

 

(Wil Cifer reviews the new album by Australia’s Mournful Congregation, which will be released on March 23 by 20 Buck Spin (North America) and Osmose Productions (Europe).)

I am noticing a trend in metal this year with bands who are cult icons in their respective sub-genres moving in more streamlined and accessible directions. Perhaps these bands at this place in their careers felt this was needed. This is evident right from the opening melody of this Australian band’s newest release.

This offers a much lighter shade of sonic splendor than what moved Mournful Congregation’s 2011 release The Book of Kings. Their 2011 album is what this album must measure up to for me. The Book Kings caught me up with a more emotional majesty in my initial listen to it. They have offered glimpses of their former glory leading in to this album. Continue reading »

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