Islander

AN NCS ALBUM PREMIERE: DENDRITIC ARBOR — “SENTIENT VILLAGE / OBSOLESCENT GARDEN”

 Premieres  2 Responses »
Dec 212015
 

Dendritic Arbor-Sentient Village-Obsolescent Garden

 

(Austin Weber presents our full streaming premiere of the new EP by Dendritic Arbor.)

As strong a year as 2015 was for both established and new metal groups, I don’t think anyone had as impressive a year as Pittsburgh-based black metal noisey grinders Dendritic Arbor.

While I’d been tipped off to their existence prior to this year, for most people they came out of nowhere and shot right up to a fairly high amount of name recognition and warranted praise. In today’s crowded climate, that’s especially impressive. Continue reading »

SHADES OF BLACK: TEITANFYRE, INVIDUS, INVULTATION, NIÐAFJÖLL, SHIBALBA

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC, SHADES OF BLACK  5 Responses »
Dec 202015
 

Teitenfyre MCD

 

Although rolling out our year-end LISTMANIA extravaganza has been a nearly all-consuming endeavor, I’ve stolen fragments of time here and there over the last week to explore new music. Especially because time has been short, I’ve resorted (with some guilt feelings) to the harried person’s old stand-by: Listen to the first track of an album stream; if it grabs you, listen to more; if it doesn’t, move along. The first tracks of the albums and EPs featured here all grabbed me. The first and last songs in this collection are single advance tracks from albums that aren’t out yet. They grabbed me, too.

As the post title signifies, all of the music is connected in some way to black metal (though perhaps more tenuously than is usually the case in these posts). Despite that loose connection, no two bands sound alike.

TEITANFYRE

The first song in this collection is by a Russian band named Teitanfyre and it comes from an EP labeled Anno MMXV that’s projected for release by Inferna Profundus Records in February or March of next year. Metal Archives lists five Teitanfyre releases since 2008, including a 2011 debut album (Morbid Death’s Scepter), but this song has been my first exposure to their music. Continue reading »

THE REARVIEW MIRROR (STATIC-X)

 THE REARVIEW MIRROR  18 Responses »
Dec 202015
 

Rearview Mirror

 

It’s Sunday, and that means it’s time once again for a backward glance at the metal of the past. I will undoubtedly get some eye-rolls at today’s selection, but I have some personal nostalgic reasons for doing it.

Static-X was founded in 1994 by vocalist/guitarist Wayne Static after his previous band Deep Blue Dream dissolved following his bandmate Billy Corgan’s decision to concentrate on his other band Smashing Pumpkins. Static-X signed with Warner Bros. Records for the 1999 release of their debut album Wisconsin Death Trip, an album that went platinum in 2001. Five more albums followed, but in my humble opinion none of them was as good as the first one. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 2): CURSE, STYGGELSE, WAN, RAVEN MOCKER, THE REVENGE PROJECT

 Metal News, RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  8 Responses »
Dec 192015
 

Curse-Styggelse-WAN-split

 

This is the second part of a two-part round-up of new music I discovered over the last 24 hours after taking a break from our year-end LISTMANIA orgy (which will resume on Monday, in case you want to shower and freshen up before the fluids start flowing again). You can find the first part of today’s round-up here.

CURSE / STYGGELSE / WAN

On December 27, the Russian label Satanath Records, along with Black Plague Records (USA) and The True Plague (USA), will release a three-way black metal split entitled Necroholic. — and one song from each band can now be heard on Satanath’s Bandcamp page for the split. All three are really strong. Continue reading »

SEEN AND HEARD (PART 1): VADER, TOMBSTONES, ABYSSUS

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  5 Responses »
Dec 192015
 

Vader-Future of tyhe Past II

 

Obviously, we have been in the throes of LISTMANIA, and a lot more lists are coming next week. Between working my gnarled fingers to the bone getting all the lists ready for posting and writing about songs and albums we premiered last week, I haven’t had as much time as usual to peruse new songs and videos. But I did some of that yesterday and this morning, and of course I found a lot of new things I thought were worth throeing your way — excuse me, throwing your way — so much, in fact, that I’ve divided these recommendations into two parts. The second one will come later today. I’ll also have a Shades of Black post for you on Sunday.

I will tell you at the outset that I haven’t heard all of the albums featured below, only a few songs from each one. I’m writing about them now because I fear I’ll never get around to writing a full review. Also, there’s faster stuff and slower stuff collected in this two-part post, and I decided to arrange the music so you go back and forth between the two speeds.

VADER

In 1996, Poland’s Vader released an album entitled Future of the Past. That was the third album for a band that had already been in existence for more than a decade, and it included covers of 11 songs by other metal bands whose names are household words. Now, nearly 20 years after the release of that album, Witching Hour Productions has just released Future of the Past II – Hell in the East. It’s a musical celebration of what Vader refers to as “the biggest bands of the Polish metal underground of the ’80s and ’90s”. Continue reading »

NEW IHSAHN SONG: “MASS DARKNESS”

 RANDOM FUCKING MUSIC  3 Responses »
Dec 182015
 

Ihsahn-Mass Darkness

 

Sometime soon we might roll out a list of our most anticipated releases scheduled to occur in the early part of 2016, or at least ask you to tell us yours. If we make a list, the new album by Ihsahn will be on it. Its name is Arktis, and Candlelight Records will release it on March 4. Today the first advance track from the album — “Mass Darkness” — became available for streaming. Before we get to that, here are a few more enticing pieces of info about the album:

It will include ten songs and it will feature guest appearances by Einar Solberg (Leprous), Matt Heafy (Trivium), Jorgen Munkeby (Shining), Tobias Ornes Andersen (Shining, ex-Leprous), and Norwegian author Hans Herbjornsrud. The graphic elements were created by Spanish designer Ritxi Ostariz. Here’s a statement by Ihsahn about the album: Continue reading »

LISTMANIA 2015: A YEAR-END LIST FROM CRETOS FILTHGRINDER (A BAND OF ORCS)

 LISTMANIA 2015  1 Response »
Dec 182015
 

Cretos

 

(At this time of year, I remember the importance of displaying fealty to the Gore-Stained Axe-Tribe from Hirntodia, and so once again I have invited A Band of Orcs to share with the filthy human readers if our site their ideas about the year’s best albums. I am pathetically grateful to Cretos Filthgrinder, provider of lead and crunchy guitars and utterer of gutturals and growls, for accepting our invitation to share with us his year-end list. HAIL GZOROTH!)

Marduk-Frontschwein

 

Marduk – Frontschwein

This album is the best of 2015 to show beauty (only next to Cretos sexiest Orc) through Orcdor! By Orcdor I Cretos mean battle file and making lines to attack the enemy. Frontschwein captures all enemies slow or fast. Cretos fascinated with themes of war, and Frontschwein does very good since the last war efforts of Marduk’s Iron Dawn EP. HAIL MARDUK! Continue reading »

LYCHGATE: “AN ANTIDOTE FOR THE GLASS PILL”

 Album Reviews  1 Response »
Dec 182015
 

Lychgate-An Antidote for the Glass Pill

 

(We present this guest review of a fine album by Allen Griffin, who makes his first appearance at our site.)

Dedicated fans of Extreme Metal often suffer from an embarrassment of riches when it comes to finding bands who can competently produce the sounds they yearn for. What these same fans often lack are acts that can provide a sense of surprise and excitement, a feeling we might not have felt since the early days of diving headlong into the genre.

This is what makes Lychgate’s second full-length, An Antidote for Glass Pills, such a startling discovery. This group consists of Vortigern, also of The One (vocals), G.A. Chandler, also of U.K. group Esoteric (vocals), T.J.F.Vallely of Macabre Omen (drums and percussion), S.D. Lindsley (guitar), A.K. Webb (bass), K.J. Bowyer (organ), and F.A. Young (piano). Obviously, with some members being involved with other well-known projects (at least in underground circles), there is some indication this is a side-project, which would be a shame as this group seems to be at least the equal of just about any band out there. Continue reading »

AN NCS INTERVIEW: GREG ANDERSON (SUNN O))), GOATSNAKE)

 Interviews  No Responses »
Dec 182015
 

Greg Anderson-photo by Peter Best
photo by Peter Best

(NCS contributor Ben Manzella brings us this interview of Greg Anderson, co-founder and mainstay of Sunn O))), Goatsnake, and Southern Lord Records.)

I don’t really know how to introduce this. I feel like I’ve been admiring the work Greg Anderson has been involved with for so long at this point, that this interview was a very surreal experience. As I walked home from my day job, I never could have predicted that I’d be chatting with Greg at all; but this interview is essentially the conversation we had as we discussed the great records he’s been involved with making this year, as well as the shows played, along with what is being planned for next year.

******

Ben: With the new Sunn O))) album, Kannon, having been released just last week, as well as a run with Goatsnake to end the year, how has everything been going? What’s the general feeling, a bit exciting or overwhelming?

Greg: It’s been good; it’s been busy, for sure. Besides the Goatsnake release earlier this year, there was a bunch of Sunn O))) shows; so it’s been a time of switching back and forth between Goatsnake and Sunn O))). It’s been really good, really busy; but I’m glad. I didn’t exactly plan for it turn out like this, where both albums were released in the same year, but I’m happy with everything. It’s great. Continue reading »

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